Moonlit Mirage

Chapter Nine

The next sixty seconds blurred into chaos.

Ragnar was on his feet instantly, pulling Xena up with him, his entire demeanor shifting from careful patience into something sharp and lethal, the predator beneath the man surfacing in the hard set of his jaw and the way his eyes flared gold even in human form.

"Stay behind me," he said, already moving toward the front of the house. "No matter what happens, stay behind me."

Mira grabbed a bag from beneath a shelf, herbs, vials, things Xena didn't recognize but assumed served some purpose beyond decoration and followed close behind, her earlier composed stillness replaced by brisk, efficient urgency.

Kane met them in the main room, jaw tight, eyes already flickering amber. "Three vehicles. At least eight of them, maybe more I haven't counted yet. They're not bothering to hide their approach."

"That's not Blackthorn's style," Ragnar said, frowning. "He prefers subtlety. This is a message."

"A message that says what?"

"That he's done being subtle."

Xena's pulse hammered as she watched the two men exchange information with the clipped efficiency of people who'd faced danger together before, every instinct in her screaming to run while some deeper, newer part of her insisted on standing exactly where she was.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked.

Both men turned to look at her, surprise flickering across their expressions like they hadn't expected her to offer anything beyond fear.

"Stay safe," Ragnar said firmly. "That's all I need from you right now."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only answer I have time for." His hand found her shoulder, brief and grounding, amber eyes meeting hers with an intensity that cut through her panic just enough to steady her breathing. "I promise you, Xena, I will not let them take you. Whatever happens out there, hold onto that."

Before she could respond, the front windows shattered inward, glass spraying across the room as something massive and fast crashed through the opening, landing in a crouch that radiated barely controlled violence.

The creature that rose to its full height wasn't entirely wolf and wasn't entirely man, caught in some terrible half shifted state, fur and muscle and exposed fangs arranged in a shape that made every primal instinct in Xena's body scream danger.

Ragnar moved before she could fully process the threat, shifting mid motion with a speed that defied the careful, controlled transformation she'd witnessed in her apartment. This wasn't gentle or measured. This was violence given shape, an Alpha meeting a threat with everything he had.

The two wolves collided with a force that shook the floor, snarls and crashing furniture filling the air as Kane shifted as well, throwing himself into the fight to even odds that, judging by the sounds coming from outside, were rapidly becoming worse.

"We need to move," Mira said, grabbing Xena's arm and pulling her toward a hallway leading deeper into the house. "There's a secondary exit through the back. If we can get you clear..."

A second crash sounded from the kitchen, glass and wood splintering as another attacker breached the house from a different angle. Mira shoved Xena behind her, vials already in hand, murmuring something low and rhythmic that didn't sound like English or any language Xena recognized.

The attacker that emerged from the kitchen doorway wasn't shifted at all — fully human in appearance, tall and lean, moving with a predatory grace that made Xena's skin crawl despite his ordinary face. His eyes found hers immediately, recognition and triumph flashing across his expression.

"There you are," he said, voice almost pleasant, like they were meeting at a social gathering rather than in the middle of a violent invasion. "Damon's going to be very pleased."

Mira moved to intercept him, throwing whatever was in her vial directly at his face. The man recoiled, snarling, skin where the liquid touched blistering and smoking in a way that made Xena's stomach turn.

"Run," Mira gasped, already weakening from whatever effort that spell had cost her. "Xena, run, now!"

Xena bolted down the hallway, heart slamming against her ribs, the sounds of fighting echoing from every direction until she couldn't tell which way led to safety and which way led directly into danger. She burst through a side door into the cool desert night, gravel biting into her bare feet, the safehouse behind her lit by chaos and violence she couldn't fully comprehend.

She made it twenty feet before something solid slammed into her from behind, knocking the breath from her lungs and sending her crashing to the ground.

"Got her," a voice said above her, rough and satisfied.

Xena twisted, fighting against hands that gripped her with bruising strength, screaming for Ragnar with everything she had left. But the chaos inside the house swallowed her voice whole, and the last thing she saw before something sharp pressed against her neck and darkness swallowed her vision entirely was the burning silhouette of the safehouse against the desert sky, Ragnar nowhere in sight.