Using his captors’ distraction to his advantage, Chayton jerked free of their hold and lunged to take the baby from JuJu’s arms.
“No,” he rasped.
Dixie reached to grab the hem of his vest. “What are they doing?”
There was a low hiss from the elders. “The child is fated to destroy our homeland,” they said.
“What?” Dixie’s voice was shrill with fear. “She’s just a baby.”
Chayton clutched the baby to his heart. It was the first time he’d been allowed to cradle the sweet weight in his arms, but he’d loved his daughters from the moment he’d sensed that Dixie had conceived.
There was nothing he wouldn’t sacrifice to protect them.
Including the future of the Pantera.
“We don’t know that’s what the vision meant,” he rasped.
“What else can it mean?” the elders demanded, quoting back the words that had fallen from his own lips. “The blood of the Shaman’s firstborn shall carry the taint of Shakpi, releasing her powers upon the lands of the Pantera.”
He shook his head, stepping back. “You called me because your magic is already faltering. How can a newborn child be responsible for that?”
“Who is to say?” He had an impression of seething frustration just below the surface, although the elders continued to block his efforts to see beyond their magic. He was more immune than most humans to the mystic powers, so the fact they were able to keep him from seeing into their faces was annoying the hell out of him. Or maybe it was just a reaction to the fact they wanted to kill his daughter. “Perhaps we have failed in our duties,” the elders continued. “Or perhaps time has weakened the bonds of Shakpi’s prison.”
“You would sacrifice the life of a babe on vague words that could mean anything?” He edged backward, sensing the door was only a few feet behind him. “Or nothing?”
“We must protect the Wildlands.”
“A little late for your concern now, isn’t it?” he charged.
There was a ripple of shock among the Pantera. “What do you mean?” they demanded.
Chayton lifted his chin. He’d had time to think over the past six months. He now realized that the elders had known all along how dangerous it was for him to open a direct doorway to the world of the dead. Which was no doubt why they left the task to the rare humans capable of manipulating the magic instead of trying to find a Pantera to perform the dangerous ceremony.
“You forced me to travel too often to the ancestors in your obsession to control the fate of your people, and allowed something evil to be released,” he accused.
The air heated with the anger of the elders. “It’s true we have discussed the possibility that Shakpi has used your journeys to the spirit world to infect you and now through you, your child.”
Fury raced through Chayton. “Your arrogance created this disaster, and yet you would use an innocent baby to try and cover your asses.”
There was a hiss of disbelief at his accusation before the elders moved toward him. “The sacrifice is demanded. Give us the child.”
“Sacrifice?” Dixie clutched the younger twin in her arms, her face flushed. “Chayton, tell me what is happening.”
The mist shimmered, as if annoyed by Dixie’s interruption. “Sleep,” they muttered.
Instantly Dixie fell into a deep slumber, the babe still tightly held in her arms.
Chayton bit back a curse at the sight of his wife’s ready response to the command of the elders. Then, without warning, he was struck by a sudden, crazy plan.
His magic was limited, but he did have a small trick taught to him by his own father.
As the attention was turned toward the sleeping Dixie, Chayton reached into his pocket for the small flint he always carried. Then, concentrating his thoughts on the chiseled quartz, he felt it grow hot in his hands. Desperate, he poured every ounce of magic he possessed through his fingers and into the flint, waiting until the stone was searing his skin before he tossed it in the direction of the elders with a low word of ancient power.
On cue, the flint exploded into a searing white flame.
The elders cried out in shock while the two Hunters rushed to beat out the very real fire.
Instantly, Chayton was through the door and heading out of the house. He’d leaped off the porch and entered the nearby woods before the Hunters were on his trail.
Under normal circumstances a mere man wouldn’t stand a chance against the lethal Pantera.
Even in their human forms they were stronger, faster, and their senses far more acute.
But Chayton wasn’t just a man. He’d been trained by his father to become one with nature, allowing him to flow through the difficult terrain with a fluid ease. More importantly, he was far more familiar with the area than his trackers.
Choosing a route that would take him through marshy land so he could disguise his footprints as well as hide his scent, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him for a full hour. Only when he was certain the Hunters weren’t about to tackle him from behind did he pause to carefully unwrap the blanket from the child in his arms.
Briefly he was distracted as the babe opened her eyes, regarding him with a solemn gaze that revived his flagging strength.
He was going to do everything in his power to protect his daughter.
With that thought, he pulled a dagger hidden inside the legging of his moccasin. Then, ignoring that trusting little gaze, he made a tiny cut on her foot. The babe let out a startled cry, but thankfully drifted back to sleep as he used the blanket to wipe the few drops of blood. He tossed the blanket into a nearby channel of water before making a much deeper cut into his forearm, swiftly smearing the blood on the mossy bank.
If he had any luck at all, the Hunters would believe he’d been attacked by an alligator or killed by some other predator.
If not…
He gathered the babe in his arms and took off.
If not, then he would keep running until the day he died.
CHAPTER ONE
THE WILDLANDS
2013
Moonlight glazed the lush foliage in silver as Talon crossed the boundary into the Wildlands. He stopped to take a deep breath, the magic in the air bubbling through him like the finest champagne.
Shit, he’d been gone too long.
Four weeks and two days to be exact.
He grimaced. He hadn’t expected Parish’s order to hunt for the traitors to lead him away from the Wildlands. It’d been enough of a shock to accept that there could be Pantera in their sanctuary who were willing to betray their own people. Hell, Parish had denied it even when the evidence was right in front of his face.
But after locking away Vincent and Savoy, and beginning his search for Pantera with the Mark of Shakpi branded on their heel, he’d learned that two Geeks had gone on the run, slipping away without leaving word with their families.
Talon had been in instant pursuit, at last tracking them to a cramped apartment in Baton Rouge.
A grim smile touched Talon’s lean, starkly handsome face. He’d been pissed that he’d been forced to waste a month of his time tracking down the bastards, and even more infuriated that he might miss the upcoming Dyesse Fete—the celebration of the birth of the Pantera, and the most important holiday in the Wildlands.
Since the Elders had begun to notice the stagnant pools of decay at the fringes of their land it’d been feared that the tradition would die away. Just another sign that the Pantera were hovering on the brink of extinction. So it was hardly surprising that they each waited with baited breath each summer for the bloom of the purple water lily that would trumpet the beginning of the festival.