Manix shadow bred book 1, p.15
Manix (Shadow Bred Book 1), page 15
This morning, I was making everyone a massive breakfast, with Luisa sitting in a highchair beside me, eating fruit while I cooked something more substantial. Muffins, bacon, eggs, and sausages were definite, but I should really ask Naja what she enjoyed. Maybe call down and get a delivery. Hell, maybe I could go into town.
I looked over at Luisa. “What about you, Little Bit? What do you like?”
“Scream!” she yelled.
I snorted. “You got that right. Hmm, scream..” Deciphering toddler-speak was hard. “Ice cream?”
She went off on an excited tangent of gibberish with the word yes interspersed in there, so I was taking that as an affirmative. “Okay, Little Bit. I’m putting ice cream down on the list.”
I turned toward the hall to grab the notepad. I’d make a list and then email it. Spinning back to the kitchen, I noticed a scent that shouldn't be there.
Then I spotted a figure on the porch.
“Gatlin!” I roared, shifting to my Manix Beast form as I raced back to Luisa, lifting her out of her highchair and into my arms.
Gatlin, Finlo and Seven all appeared nearly instantly. I couldn’t find Naja or Raiden, but I assumed they were still further in the house. I held Luisa safe in my arms, and now that the panic had lessened, I realized it was Wilkie and his primary Beta.
Fucking Wilkie.
I realized the baby was stiff in my arms and I drew back to look at her. “Sorry, Little Bit. It’s just me, but kind of fluffy. Like a mouse, see?” I twitched my ears, and she lifted a tentative hand to stroke the soft fur on my face. She still looked a little pale and her face was scrunched in consternation, but she didn’t cry or freak out the way you’d expect a child to react to what was essentially a monster holding her. Maybe she still knew it was me?
“Take the baby to the back,” Finlo rumbled, already fully shifted too. I did what I was told, my scaled arms around Luisa protectively. As I made it to the door of Raiden’s room, it was pulled open and Raiden dragged me inside. Naja grabbed Luisa, her face pale.
“It’s okay, Omega. I’m sorry for scaring you. It’s just Wilkie. I just acted instinctively.” I held out my hand to her. “I’m sorry.”
She grabbed it and squeezed. “Better to be too careful, right?”
Raiden nodded, but his face went really red. Uh oh. “Fucking Wilkie. I’m going to tear him another asshole.”
He slammed out of the room, and for once, I was torn. Well, not really. Raiden could handle himself, and I didn’t think Wilkie’s Pack were actually a threat. They were showboaters and assholes, but wouldn’t act out in violence. Well, probably not until my hot-headed Omega started throwing punches. Then it would be a brawl. I could talk him down, but I couldn’t leave Naja and Luisa either on the off chance I was wrong. That Wilkie’s Pack was more desperate than I thought. Without the pheromones of the heat, I liked to think that most of my kind would be civilized. But you could never be sure.
I opened the door and I could already hear the snarls. Naja put her hand between my shoulder blades. “Are they a threat to Luisa?”
I shook my head. Wilkie was a dick, but he was an old school dick, which meant he wholeheartedly believed that hurting a child should have the punishment of death. Manix were do or die when it came to that. But they also considered you eligible for the Legion Force—our army—at fourteen, so it was a bit of a grey area. But a girl, and a toddler at that? There was nowhere on earth she would be safer than in Manix territory.
Naja shifted Luisa onto her hip. The baby, despite the drama of being whisked away, didn’t seem as perturbed as last time, like she already knew we would keep her safe.
Naja waved a hand at the door. “Well, let’s go shut this shit down then?” She pushed me through the door and marched down the hall. The Goddess had apparently blessed me with two fiery Omegas. Lucky me.
At the end of the hall was a cacophony of growls and snarls, and I pushed her slightly behind me. I wasn’t much of a fighter but I was still shifted. When we strode into the room, all snarling and conversation stopped.
Wilkie scented the air, and I knew what he was sensing. The lack of heat. There was only one way that happened, and it was when the female Omega’s body had completed its physiological purpose and handed off her eggs.
Wilkie was old school; he knew what the lack of heat meant. His eyes whipped between Finlo and Raiden—he always refused to acknowledge Gatlin as Alpha due to his mixed heritage—then back to Naja.
“You did it? It worked?”
Raiden looked at him, wild-eyed. “That’s none of your fucking business. Leave.”
I looked at Wilkie’s Betas, because Wilkie only ever had Betas. I understood their forlorn look of longing. They didn’t have a male Omega, although Raiden’s sister, who was part of their Pack, was a Beta. She provided the softness to their hard edges. Gatlin hated her, but I saw her for what she was. Sad. She knew she was a substitute for what the Pack really wanted. Wilkie had always made that known in no uncertain terms. The man was an asshole.
Stephan, Wilkie’s second in command, murmured softly in his ear, “We should go.”
Wilkie gave Naja a hard-eyed glare. “With her, we could attract another Omega male. I could have a litter of cubs. Pass on my genetics to the next generation.”
Ew.
Naja, bless her heart, screwed up her nose. “Ew. Unlikely, asshole.”
Apparently, it was now too much for Gatlin because he roared, his fangs bared and his chest heaving. “Get out!”
I implored Stephan with my eyes to do the right thing. He was a nice guy when he wasn’t under Wilkie’s thumb. He’d cleaned me up that first week after I’d arrived in Maxton, after the other kids had kicked me into the dirt and stomped me to make sure I stayed down. He motioned for the two other Betas to move, which they did, but they remained in their fully shifted forms.
Wilkie was the last to leave, and he eyed both Raiden and Naja hungrily. “The Legion will hear of this. They’ll pass the Omegas over to a more worthy Pack. A Pack that will strengthen the Manix bloodlines rather than weakening it.”
With that, he strode out the doors, jumped the porch railing and landed effortlessly on the ground. He was right about one thing—he did have good bloodlines.
But he was crazy if he thought we’d give her up without a fight.
28
Naja
Fuck. I tried to not be that person, the one who bemoans her life and wallows in self-pity. I knew for a fact there were people out there who had it worse than I did. The ones who were at the bottom of a barrel of misery from which there was no return, and that was their reality day after day. Fuck, I’d met some of those people.
But I couldn’t help but think that maybe Fate liked to kick me around a little. I’d obviously done something to piss her off, so that whenever I got the tiniest ray of happiness, she made sure to snuff it out as soon as possible.
Or maybe she just wouldn’t let me wallow on the fence. Maybe she liked to drive me to hard decisions so I got to my happiness quicker. I was going to go with that because the other option was too depressing to consider.
I was sitting out on the porch swing, moving backward and forwards softly while Luisa played beside me. She was already more secure here, happier. She wasn’t even overtly perturbed by the terrifying visage of the guys in their Manix forms.
I liked it here too. And it wasn’t just the orgasms, though they were pretty amazing. I liked the company. The safety. I liked that they were a family, though I wasn’t sure I even knew what that was supposed to feel like.
If I ran, I’d be running forever. I wanted to pretend that I could circle back in a few years and grab Luisa. That I could offer her any sort of life except one of transience. But I knew if I left, I’d never see her again because I could never be that selfish.
If I took what they were offering, I could be free…Or I could be dead. And so could they. And Luisa.
I leaned my head back against the swing, and pushed us gently. The guys had left me alone to make my choice, so I didn’t feel pressured, I guess. I knew what they wanted me to do.
A figure blocked out the sun and I realized it was Seven. He was looking down at us, his shirt long since gone. He made my mouth water, like he was a feast and I was just on the other side of the glass window looking in. He could be mine, if only I had the balls to open the door. He gave me a half-smile. “May I sit?”
I nodded and shuffled Luisa into the center of the swing so Seven could sit on the other side. The whole apparatus groaned under his weight but held. He took over the gentle swinging motion. “You should stay.”
I opened my mouth to tell him all the reasons I couldn’t stay, including endangering them all, but he held up a hand to stop me. “But if you want to leave, you need to do it now and never return. Even if you leave Luisa, don’t come back.”
So many emotions stole my breath. Anger, outrage, fear, desolation. How dare he tell me I couldn’t come back for Luisa? Who the hell did he think he was?
“I know what you’re thinking, but you don’t know my Pack—you can’t see the effect you’re having already. You fit with us like you were made to be here, like you were meant to be one of us. Raiden is absolutely smitten, and Ellar? I’m pretty sure if you left today, his heart would break anyway.” His eyes turned sad. “The longer you wait, the more attached we all get, and the more your leaving will break us.”
I shook my head like I could shake his words from my brain. “I barely know you. You can’t say that; you may hate me in a month. You can’t know that they will feel anything for me.”
The look he gave me would have made weaker women quake in their boots. I was being purposefully obtuse, because I couldn’t take the responsibility of one more person’s happiness on my shoulders, let alone five.
Seven picked up Luisa, shifting her onto his knee and scooting closer to me. “Don’t run. Stay and explore this thing we have. Build something with us. It’s a risk—we know it too.” He gripped my hand. “You’re worth the risk.”
We sat in silence for a little longer, and eventually Luisa got bored and began to explore the porch on her own. Like any true shifter child, she loved being outdoors, being one with nature. She loved it here.
I snorted internally. I loved it here, I just refused to admit it to myself. I felt like I was home. Maybe that was the feelings of the inner Manix I never knew I had, or maybe it was just because it smelled like freedom, I don’t know.
Seven didn’t say anything else, but I found myself moving into him, borrowing his strength as my brain whirled with ‘what-ifs.’ The uncertainty of the future was plaguing me. I rested my head against his arm, closing my eyes because for once in my life, I was sure that there would be someone else there to watch Luisa.
I could rest. I was barely twenty-one and I was exhausted. Seven brushed my hair off my face, but didn’t try to manhandle me any more than that. He was just an anchor. I blinked my eyes open and looked up at him. He’d told me that they wanted me to stay. That they would suffer if I left.
“Do you want me to stay?”
He took his eyes off the baby for a moment to meet and hold my eyes. “More than I’ve wanted anything in my whole life.”
I swallowed hard, nodding and dragging my eyes away in case he saw how much his words meant. “Then I’ll stay.”
The low thrum in his chest was the only reason I knew he’d heard my words, and that he was happy as we fell back into an easy silence.
While Seven’s response to my decision had been subtle, Raiden’s was the exact opposite. He’d whooped for joy and gathered me in a hug that threatened to crack ribs. He’d kissed me hard and I’d kissed him back. Finlo had grinned and bundled me up into a hug of his own, and Ellar had kissed me with a heartbreaking tenderness. Gatlin had smiled and looked pleased, and I had a feeling that was something significant. He was a man of action though.
“We should get ahead of Wilkie. He’ll be getting his shit all figured out so he can present himself as the best possible candidate for the last female Omega, but if we walk into the Legion as a fait accompli, then it’ll be harder for them to find a reason to protest,” he said, as we sat around the dining table that night.
I nodded, watching Finlo take a sleeping Luisa off to her crib. At this rate, I was going to lose my Mom-biceps. The ones you get from deadlifting thirty pounds twelve hours a day. It was nice though, almost too nice. I felt guilty, though I didn’t know if I was guilty that they had to do my job for me, or guilty that Luisa wasn’t getting the same one on one time with me she used to get.
On second thoughts, probably not, considering normally I’d be at work twelve hours of the day. Still, residual guilt was a bitch.
“Okay, so we go and see them tomorrow. What do I need to know?”
Everyone looked at Finlo as he walked back into the room, and he sighed. “I hated high school. Why do I always get stuck with the academic questions?” he whined, then he grabbed me and dragged me to the couch, settling me on his lap. “On second thoughts, I’d be okay with these studying arrangements.” His big hand wrapped around my thigh, and I silently willed him higher. Gatlin cleared his throat pointedly, and Finlo stuck out his tongue.
“Always the killjoy, that one. Okay, so the Manix are governed by the Legion. They were the Manix army in the old days, and were separate to the Alpha ruling family. When the ruling family was killed during an attack a couple of centuries ago, the Legion took control. They make the decisions, dole out the punishments and generally see to the day-to-day running and defense of Maxton. They are run by an Alpha General, who is our Alpha now, I guess.” He slid a look to Gatlin, whose face looked stony. Ah, there was history there, but now was not the time to mine that secret. “There’s only a couple of thousand of us left, so it isn’t a taxing job. But we keep a specialist elite force of warriors on hand, the Legion Force, and everyone gets combat training from childhood. Generally, we are just like a normal Pack of supernaturals. We follow the same social hierarchy as, say, wolves.”
“Except we are stuck a hundred years in the past with our social values,” Raiden growled from where he’d flopped down on the other end of the couch.
Finlo squeezed me harder. “Yes, except that. With us all being separate from the greater part of human or supernatural society, our views tend to be conservative to the point of detrimental. Half-caste Manix are treated with general disdain by some elements of the community, irrespective of their strength. Omegas are like the 1930s housewives, intended to be seen and not heard. Anything out of the ordinary is viewed with suspicion, and basically it’s open season for the strong to prey on the weak.”
I wanted to be outraged at the barbarism, which I was, but wasn’t human society still like this in some places? It wasn’t just a Manix condition, that's for sure.
I looked around at them all and suddenly understood them better. They were the ones that were cast outside the mold. The different ones. It was what made them so unique, so special.
“And what’ll happen tomorrow?”
Gatlin gave me a purely crocodile grin. “Tomorrow we blow their tiny little minds.”
29
Raiden
I’d wanted to stay home with Luisa, but Gatlin had put his foot down. We needed to show a united front, and if the cub and I stayed home, he’d have to leave Finlo and Seven with us for protection. I got it. He hated the idea of splitting up his Omegas right now, but still, this sucked.
This morning, Gatlin had smelled the change in my physiology that meant that at least one of the zygotes had taken. I was pregnant.
I’d never thought I could be so happy.
Or so scared.
It was like a switch had flicked in my brain now, and the people and places I’d known my whole life were suddenly potential threats to my cubs. I eyed them all warily, knowing that they’d pick up the change in my scent too, if they focused on it hard enough. Maybe the sight of Naja would distract them enough they’d miss it.
It wouldn’t fool the Legion though.
Finlo was on the phone to his dads, who’d all meet us at the Legion headquarters. It sounded like it would be something impressive, but really it was just an ordinary wooden building. Behind it were barracks for single men in the Legion Force and some of the peripheral workers of the Legion. Families had homes around the outskirts, some provided by the town, and others—like us—had built on land bought and annexed from the Legion, a benefit granted for Manix who formed their own Packs.
We pulled the ATVs up to the front steps of the Legion HQ, and I helped Naja down. Ellar climbed off with Luisa in his arms, and already I could feel eyes on us from every direction. Finlo’s parents, all four of them, walked down the steps to meet us. They were there for support, and given the wideness of their eyes, they were taking in all the new scents, including my pregnancy.
Selena’s grin got impossibly wider. “Congratulations again,” she murmured to Finlo under her breath, though I could tell what she actually wanted to do was yell it so every person in Maxton would know she was going to be a grandma.
“Thanks, Mom.” He gave the older Manix woman a hug. He looked at his dads, the ones who hadn’t come around the other day—Jeff and Jack. “Did Wilkie make it here first?”
Jack shook his head. “No, and you can bet we would have heard about it by now. Come on, the Alpha General will be having his daily update with the rest of the Legion Generals. Can’t think of a better time to spring this on them,” he said with a grin. Jack was a rabble-rouser, that was for sure. Finlo was definitely his kid.
Gatlin held his head high as he walked inside. It was an average-looking building, but the men inside held our future in their hands.
Selena stopped Naja with a hand on her arm. “Would you like me to watch the little one for you?” She asked it softly, her face reassuring and open. I watched Naja hesitate, her natural suspicion of people warring with the warm sense of rightness that Selena naturally gave off. I could have reassured Naja, but it had to be her choice.
