Chapter 2

Lindsey

"Lindsey!" Maya screamed, startling me awake.

I could smell the man before I even opened my eyes and growled menacingly.

"Shit! She"s waking up. Grab the kid and get the hell out of there," someone yelled.

I instantly jumped up, half shifting in the process. Maya grabbed hold of one of my legs while Dante held tightly to the other. They weren"t scared of me for some reason, but these men had every reason to fear me.

"Get out of there. It"s not worth it," the man yelled.

I roared and swatted the large man away as if he were little more than an irritating bug. If my claws hadn"t killed him in the process, the sickening crunch of his bones slamming against the thick metal bars certainly did.

His partner was rushing to close the door to my cage, but not before I picked up the remains and tossed them away. The kids already saw far too much. They didn"t need to sleep next to that sort of trash.

"What is going on in here?" a new voice boomed.

"It k-k-k-killed him," the man stammered.

"I warned you she has some weird attachment to these kids."

"But we got a strong offer for just the girl, boss."

"I don't give a shit how strong an offer it is. It"s not worth another life lost, now is it?"

"No sir. But if you"d just let us use Anastasia, we could subdue the beast and take the children."

"Do I look like a complete moron? Do you really thing we haven"t tried that? This one isn"t like the others. Her powers don"t work quite the same, you idiot. All Anastasia"s powers do is piss her off even more."

"But how is that possible?"

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know? Would you like me to bring her in here and show you?"

"N-no sir. I trust you."

I snarled, causing them both to jump back. They quickly left the area.

There were certainly benefits to being me. I stretched and recalled the beast within me. It had taken me years to gain that kind of control of it.

Back in my skin, I took a deep calming breath, not wanting to further scare the kids.

"Are you two okay?"

Two sets of small arms hugged me tight.

"That was a close one," Dante said. "You were almost a goner, Maya."

"Nah. Lindsey would never let anything really bad happen to us."

Her confidence in me was disturbing. No one should trust me like that. Hell, I couldn"t even trust myself.

I wasn"t always like this. Technically, I wasn"t even a witch, not really, but I"d been genetically engineered to be one. Even I didn"t know the full extent of my powers.

For years I'd been lost deep within the depths of the beast I"d become. It had taken every ounce of strength and a lot of perseverance to overcome it. I didn"t relish relinquishing control over like that, but there was little I wouldn"t do for Dante and Maya.

What can I say? I"m a sucker for children.

While I called them my twins, they weren"t mine, and they weren"t twins. As far as I knew, they weren"t siblings or even the same species, just two little kids stuck in a shitty situation. They deserved so much better, and I was determined to shelter them from as much of the madness in this world as possible.

"Where even are we?" Dante asked.

"Venezuela," I told them. "I heard some of the dock workers mention it when they were unloading it and you two were down for naps."

"Are we going to get sold?" Maya"s big eyes looked up to me, filled with so many questions that I didn"t have answers to.

"There"s always that possibility. You know that."

"But they have to keep us together, right? You won"t let them take us away from you, right Lindsey?"

"Maya, you know I can"t promise that."

"But you"ll do everything you possibly can, right?" Dante added.

"Right. We seem to be all settled in for the night, so why don"t the two of you snuggle down and try to get some sleep."

"Okay," Maya said with a yawn.

They had their own beds, but neither would use them. Instead, they waited for me to settle down and then they curled up on either side of me.

When Dante shivered from the cool air, I sighed. Then I called my beast forward just enough for my arms to shift into wings covered in black feathers that I knew would keep the kids warm through the night. But after waking to Maya"s screams, I knew there would be no sleep for me tonight.

*****

Much to my amazement, I did sleep, but not much. I awoke the next morning feeling groggy and stiff. When I went to scratch an itch on my nose I realized I was still partially shifted and quickly corrected it.

I was getting much better at doing stuff like that, making the beast feel just a tiny bit less intimidating. We were learning to work together much like my wolf and I had done so long ago.

Tears pricked my eyes at the thought, but I quickly pushed it aside. Now wasn"t the time to get emotional.

We"d only arrived yesterday and sometimes there was a delay in sales. There was never a way to tell how long we"d sit in holding like this. It could be a day, or it could be a month. The only thing I knew for certain was that this was no place for children. Maya and Dante deserved so much better.

I looked down at their angelic faces still deep in sleep. Somehow, I was going to have to find a way to get them out of here. If we were back in the States I"d have resources and places to hide us, but Venezuela? How the hell was going to get out of here and back home?

The first step was going to be looking for an opportunity. That sort of opening could come along at any second, but we"d have to be ready. I knew I could fly myself out of here, but across the entire Gulf of Mexico to get back home would be a lot for just me, let alone flying with two pups in tow. Still, if that"s what it took, that"s what I"d do. We could always hop from island to island or stay to the coastline and follow the shoreline. It would take time, but as long as we were free, that would be okay.

My whole body stiffened as I heard the rattle of cages in a rhythmic way.

Anastasia.

How any of our kind could be so sadistic and work for a Collector was beyond me.

"Lindsey," she said cheerfully. "Good morning."

"Shh." I didn"t want her waking the twins.

"Did you just shush me?" she asked, sounding overly indignant.

I gritted my teeth to force myself to stay quiet.

"That"s what I thought," she said smugly. "Besides. If I wanted your little brats awake, all I"d have to do is this."

She snapped her fingers and suddenly vines were sprouting from Maya"s hands and covering the sides of the cage as she awoke screaming.

"You"ve made your point, Anastasia. Stop it. Please."

With another snap of her fingers, she smiled sweetly through a small hole in the vines. "Well, since you said please."

A second later I heard the cadence resume as she walked on to torment others as she ran a stick slowly against the bars of the cages.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked the sweet girl in my lap as she sat there sobbing.

"Why does she have to be so mean?" she whispered.

"I really don"t know."

I brushed the hair from her face and wiped her cheeks dry.

"There. All better."

Her little arms were thrown around my neck as she hugged me tightly.

"I suppose the good thing about this is that we have a bit of privacy now."

Maya looked around and smiled. "Like our own little fort."

I grinned and nodded until I felt Dante start to shake next to me.

"Oh no. It"s a new vision," Maya whispered.

"Maybe."

I gently rubbed his back to soothe him.

While Maya could grow vines, Dante was a very young seer. His visions scared him and often came in the form of dreams. But sometimes when his body quaked at night it was simply nightmares.

"Look," she whispered pointing to his hand.

I sighed. "Did his paper and pencil make it?" I asked, looking around.

She opened her small backpack and pulled them out. The second Dante gasped and jolted upright, she shoved the pencil into his hand and passed him the notebook. He began scribbling frantically, knowing he wasn"t fully coherent yet.

Once the vision passed, he stilled and his eyes cleared.

He looked down and frowned, then he shoved the notebook into my arms.

"He"s looking for you, and he"s coming."

I glanced down at the dark haired man with light eyes and dimples. He was very handsome and not at all scary, but Dante"s visions were never wrong. And there was no good reason for this stranger to be after me. That could only mean one thing—trouble was coming my way and I needed to prepare to run.