Marked by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #4)(47)

Even so, I was a stranger around here, and it would only be a matter of time before I was stopped. I stuck to back alleys and deserted sections, taking a roundabout way to Boon Lakin’s house. Between him and Aunt Mafiela, he was more likely to listen to me, and more importantly, believe me. I really needed to talk to someone who wouldn’t dismiss me as crazy right off the bat.

I arrived outside Lakin’s small, one-bedroom home after some twenty minutes, then parked my stolen steambike at the curb. The curtains in the living room window fluttered briefly as I strode up the path, telling me that my arrival had not gone unnoticed.

“I’m not taking visitors right now,” Lakin called as I knocked on the door.

“Oh, for Magorah’s sake, Boon, open up,” I called, using my real voice. “It’s me!”

There was a long pause, followed by the sound of footsteps. Lakin flung open the door, staring at me in disbelief. “Sunaya? Is that really you?”

“Don’t I look stunning?” I asked, fluffing my illusion’s short hair sarcastically and batting my eyelashes. “Seriously Lakin, let me in.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea –” Lakin protested as I pushed past him, dropping my illusion as I stepped into the small entrance that connected the kitchen and the living room.

“You!” an accusing voice shouted, and I started at the sight of two shifter males, bird shifters judging by their slender frames and hawkish noses, sitting on the couch. They were wearing red Resistance bands on their upper arms, though they wore shirts and jeans instead of uniform khakis. One of them jumped up, and I ducked as he flung a trio of throwing knives at my head.

“What the f*ck!” I shouted, returning fire with one of the chakrams in my pouch. It embedded itself in the wall above Lakin’s couch as the shifter twisted away, but I didn’t care – the projectile was just a distraction. I took a flying leap at the guy, and he let out an honest-to-Magorah squawk as I brought him crashing down to the ground.

“That’s enough,” Lakin roared just as I yanked one of my crescent knives from the holster on my thigh. He grabbed me by the back of my collar like an unruly cub and yanked me off the shifter. “This is my house, not a battleground,” he seethed, glaring at the two Resistance soldiers. “You will behave. All of you.”

“She is on the Resistance kill list,” the first shifter screeched, jabbing a long finger in my direction as the second shifter scrambled to his feet again. “You cannot expect us to sit here and do nothing!”

“Then I refuse to negotiate with you,” Lakin said coldly. “Get out of my house.”

The two bird shifters shared a long look, and I knew they were having a mindspeak conversation. Eventually, they turned back to Lakin as one. “We will agree not to harm the traitor Sunaya Baine, so long as we are under your roof. That promise expires as soon as we leave your property.”

“Right,” I sneered, getting to my feet. “Because the Resistance is such an honorable group.”

“Shut up, Sunaya,” Lakin snapped without even looking at me. I blinked, astonished at the aggression in his tone – he’d never spoken to me like that. But then I noticed the way his nostrils flared and how his color was up, and I remembered my heat. Yeah, it was mostly under control, but my body was still giving off pheromones that any red-blooded male would scent from a mile off. The other two shifters weren’t affected because they were birds, a completely different species of animal that couldn’t procreate with me. But Lakin was a jaguar shifter just like me, and he and I could definitely make some cubs if we set our minds to it.

You are not making cubs with Lakin, I told myself as the heat surged within my veins, setting off that hungry ache in my lower belly. I’d already put that thought to bed a long time ago, the moment I’d realized Lakin would never truly be able to accept me. Yes, he liked me, but he was afraid of my magic. As Resinah had pointed out, accepting my mage heritage was key to controlling myself, and thus mastering my powers. If Boon knew how I felt, he would try to overcome his fear of my magic, but it would always be a part of him. And I couldn’t live beneath the shadow of that fear, not if I wanted to gain full control over my powers.

“Can you send her away so we can finish our discussion?” the second shifter asked, shooting me an annoyed look. “We were here first, and her intrusion is very rude, regardless of who she is.”

Lakin sighed. “I’d like to know what she’s here for, first,” he admitted, finally turning his yellow-orange gaze my way. The hunger in them was unmistakable, but for the moment, perhaps because of the witnesses, curiosity seemed to be trumping animalistic need. “I’m assuming you didn’t just come here to say hi.”

“Well, I did want to check on you,” I said, retreating to the recliner – a new piece of furniture that hadn’t been there the last time I was here. “But really, I came to bring important news about the Resistance’s plans for shifters. And actually, it’s news I think you’ll want to hear too,” I added, glancing at the Resistance soldiers.

Shifter One scoffed. “What plans could you possibly know about, that we don’t already?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and arched a brow. “How about their plan to dispose of you all – all shifters, I mean – as soon as they’ve defeated the mages?”