Surprisingly, the inside of the building was much more welcoming then the outside. Soft cream coloured carpet extended down the massive hallway and seemed to spread into the rooms on the sides. Someone had gone through the effort to smooth out the walls so that the paintings hanging up were all level. The paintings themselves were beautiful landscapes that I was pretty sure were taken close to the compound we were in now.
As we softly padded down the hallway following behind Wyatt and his two guards, I could hear doors opening allowing curious shifters a chance to stare at us. Some called out greetings to Wyatt while others watched us with varying looks of distrust. I decided to send out little tendrils of my power, nothing the shifters could sense but I imagine my brothers being attuned to me could.
Can you feel anything?
Subtly turning my head so I could see Clay, I responded.
A little, the usual suspects but what’s strange is the hope.
Hope?
Yes. Not just from Wyatt either, from almost all of them. It’s like they all believe that we can help.
And shifters don’t accept help from anyone. You’re right, that is odd. I’ll let Flint and Hawk know, maybe they can think of something. I’ll update Dad too.
Withdrawing my tendrils of power for the time being, I decided to break the silence by asking Wyatt some questions.
“So, where abo-”
“WYATT!!!” The feminine scream sounded from in front of us and was soon followed by a woman covered in blood.
“Laurie!”
Racing forward with Wyatt, we reached the woman, only to notice the blood wasn’t hers.
“Laurie, my love, what happened?” Wyatt’s frantic tones were loud and echoing along the hallway.
Clay, tell Flint and Hawk to be on guard.
Already done.
“He attacked one of the women. The Leo is going to kill him. Do something! He’s going to kill our son!” The female shifters voice grew more difficult to understand as her sobs grew louder.
“Wyatt. Lead us to him now.” No response, Wyatt seemed too dazed. So I slapped him. “Wyatt! Now!”
“Of.. of course. Urm, yes… follow me quickly.”
Racing after Wyatt, I didn’t pay any attention to the corridors we ran down until we came to a large door which had loud snarls and howls erupting from it.
Taking in the scene in front of us, the four of us quickly snapped into action. I launched at the large cage that stood in the middle of the room, pushing a large shifter that stood in front of it out the way. Clay had landed in front of a large group of shifters, whilst Hawk stood guard over Flint who had thrown himself at the side of a gravely injured shifter. Grabbing her wrist, Flint started to send his healing power down her arm to encourage her body to heal its own wounds. At the sight of the emerald power coating Flint’s hands, the shifters by Clay and the one shifter by me started to grow more restless.
In sync, to coral the growing violence, Clay, Hawk and I summoned our angelfire weapons. At the sight of them, the shifters eyed us all warily again but had stopped their attempts to do us harm.
“Now, if everyone has finished throwing their little tantrums, can we discuss the subject at hand?” I could tell they didn’t appreciate my analogy but I couldn’t care less at that moment.
“Tantrums?”
I turned around at that deep voice to see one dark eyebrow cocked at me. Sending out little tendrils of power, I took a little taste of the shifter in front of me. I could tell he was powerful, maybe the most powerful I had encountered, and he was some form of feline. The Leo then?
“Yes. Tantrums.” Turning back so I could see Flint, I called out, “How she looking?”
“She’s stable. I’ve closed all the wounds and fixed her broken bones but she’s lost a lot of blood. She needs rest.”
“Clyde.” The voice from behind me calmly called out. “Take her to the medical wing.”
A burly shifter, presumably Clyde, came forward to pick the female shifter up. Both Hawk and Flint took a step backwards but kept an eye on the shifter until he left the room. Feeling better now the injured female was out of the room, I gave the feline shifter behind me my full attention. Standing about Flint’s height but not quite as wide, he had dark tousled hair that matched the short stubble on his face. Dark golden eyes stared at me from a tanned face with no hint of what he was thinking.
“The Leo I presume? I’m Autumn, these are Clay, Flint and Hawk.” Each nodded as I mentioned their names. “We’re the angels you hired. Now be a dear, let me do my job and stand back for a minute.”
Turning my back on his stunned face, I focused on the shifter that had remained quite throughout everything. Standing in the cage, I could tell he was Wyatt’s son, the family resemblance clear. Closing my eyes as my brothers stood guard over me, I let out my power more strongly than before. Gasps echoed in the distance of my mind from the shifters in the room as they felt my power brush over them before it moved on to the shifter in the cage. Focusing on that shifter, I felt around with my power. There! Now I had a lock on the oily feel of the Demon riding his mind, I asked the shifter behind me a question.
“So, Leo, you gonna believe me when I say Wrath is influencing his decisions or do you want proof?”
“The name’s Alexander.” I heard him move until he was stood next to me and I focused on the feel of Wrath so that I wouldn’t flinch. “I’ll take the proof.”
Rolling my eyes internally, I spoke aloud. “Yeah I figured you would. Clay is going to act as a bridge between our minds allowing you to sense what I am sensing.”
“How will I know that I am sensing something real and not something you are creating?”
I opened my eyes briefly enough to glare at Alexander. Closing my eyes again to refocus on Wrath, I responded coldly.
“I’ll pretend you didn’t just question my honour. We’ll have lesson time after this. Clay.”
In my mind, I could feel Clay reaching out to Alexander and forming a connection between the two of us allowing him to feel my power. When the connection was formed, I heard a sharp intake of breath as Alexander felt what was residing in the cage.
“Satisfied?”
“Yes.”
“Clay break the connection.”
“What was that?”
“That was Wrath.”
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