No. I paused. Sodding know-it-all. Okay, maybe.

They will always be your friends, no matter what they do or where they go. And the Brethren might not want them. I don’t think either of them have made their intentions known yet.

But Corrigan had already told me that he did want Tom. And Betsy had acquitted herself well in her evaluation so I couldn’t see why they’d turn her down either. I sat back down on the sand.

I have to go, projected Julia. Anton seems to be getting rather worked up that Lynda won’t leave him alone. Stay safe, Mackenzie.

Yeah, I sent back, and Julia severed the link.

Alex was sitting up and looking at me rather alarmed. “What the hell is going with you?”

“That was Julia. It’s just…it’s nothing.” I didn’t want to get into it. Tom and Betsy’s potential defection was just too complicated to explain and I wasn’t sure that Alex would understand my feelings about it. And the information about Anton was just too disturbing.

“Mack? What do you mean, that was Julia?”

“Huh? Oh, she can project to me the way that she can to the rest of the pack.” I said absently, my mind on other things.

“And could John do this too?”

I didn’t answer.

“Mackenzie, this is important. Could you hear John’s Voice too?”

“Sure. And Corrigan’s as well.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Mackenzie.” He pulled me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. “Only alphas can use the Voice and only then with their own shifters. Corrigan of course can use it with everyone, but then he’s mega powerful. But even he wouldn’t be able to use it on a human.”

I looked at him stupidly. “Alex, he can because I’m human and I can hear him. No alpha has ever had cause to use the Voice on a human so they’d never know if it works or not. And besides, John always said I could hear him because I spent so much of my formative years with the pack. It’s not a big deal.”

“Dude, it is so a big deal. Do you really think that alphas haven’t tried to compel humans before now? They’ve spent centuries trying to do that. Imagine the power they’d have if they could. They can’t, believe me.”

I became aware that my mouth was gaping open at him. I snapped it shut. “He can’t compel me though. And even you knew I was human straight away, Alex. ”

“Well, yeah, and you still seem human. But you can’t be. Even without the compulsion side of things, there is no alpha, no matter how strong, who could use the Voice on an out and out human.”

I wasn’t quite sure how to handle this new piece of information on top of everything else. I’d spent so long wishing desperately that I wasn’t human, but I’d come to accept that I couldn’t change who I was no matter how much I wanted to. And now that I was resigned to being human, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be anything else. I’d heard John’s Voice for so long that I hadn’t ever thought to really question why I could. I struggled to find a reason why. “Can you hear an alpha’s Voice?”

“No, only shifters can, I told you.” Alex’s voice was emphatic.

I felt more doubt creeping in. “And I’m definitely not a shifter.”

He sank back down. “No, you’re not. There’s nothing shifter-like about you. But I’m still telling you that it doesn’t make sense that you’re human either.”

Great. I was just a freak. Now I wasn’t a shifter or a human. Could my week possibly get any worse?

I noticed that Lucy was looking concerned but trying very hard to keep her gaze focused on the portal. At least the distance between us and the hum of the gate, meant that she wouldn’t have heard any of my conversation with Alex. I tried to look nonchalant and unconcerned by crossing my legs and leaning back. Unfortunately I was feeling anything but that. Alex stood up and walked towards the water’s edge. I had to admit that part of me wondered if he was trying to stay away from me now that I was clearly something very strange indeed. Perhaps I was contagious. The pit of my stomach felt warm with hurt and confusion. And then I wondered if the fire I felt in my blood when I got worked up, wasn’t just a side-effect of a red-head’s fiery temper. Maybe it was something else. Maybe I was a monster. Maybe that’s why it was my fault that John was dead.

I lost myself in my thoughts. At some point Alex came and sat back down next to me but I barely registered him. At least he left me in peace to sort through what I was thinking. After a while I roused myself slightly, however, and looked at him. I thought I’d ask him what he thought about my bloodfire, and whether it might be connected somehow to everything else. In fact, I’d even drawn a breath to speak when, all of a sudden, the ripples in the portal began to fluctuate wildly and the humming increased dramatically in volume. Something was coming through.

I immediately leapt to my feet and pulled out my left dagger, poised for action. Across the sand, I could see both Lucy and the racist prick tensing. Being shifters, they didn’t need to particularly carry weapons – their shift did more damage more quickly than virtually anything else even remotely legal would. Alex was backing away slowly from the portal itself. I gripped the dagger’s hilt tightly.

“Come on Iabartu, you bitch,” I whispered. “Let’s finish this.”

There was a terrible rumbling and a figure started to emerge slowly. Initially it was difficult to make out what it was. Unfortunately, however, it was also immediately very clear that whatever it was, it wasn’t Iabartu. She’d been about five feet tall in Alex’s scrying and this figure looked to be about twice that. It was definitely humanoid, however. I squinted, trying to make it out. One muscled leg that looked the size of a tree trunk came into sharp focus. Its foot was bare but very hairy with long sharp looking toenails. Ick. I shifted my stance deciding to aim for its Achilles’ heel. I wasn’t sure exactly what would happen if I attacked it in mid transport - it would usually be considered extraordinarily rude to do so – but circumstances dictated that this was not someone here to pay a friendly visit. I could end this in a second if I managed to hit the right spot though.

I snapped back my wrist and let the dagger fly, when, at the same moment, a furry shape barreled into the thing’s knee, knocking the entire vulnerable spot that I’d been aiming for out of the dagger’s trajectory. My weapon thudded uselessly into the sand. Fucking idiot shifter. Who had half a brain now? Before I could react further, the rest of the creature completely materialized, reaching down with one fell swoop and picking the offending werecougar up, before shaking it violently and flinging its body away. The human hater’s were shape lay broken and still.

Lucy had shifted as well, into her sleek honey badger. She at least had more sense than her buddy, however, and held back, eyes watchful and assessing. I called on my fire and let it seep throughout my veins from my heart to the tips of my fingers. It thudded and flickered in intensity. Bring it on. The thing was completely focused on Lucy and roared at her so loudly that I felt the vibrations on the sand under my feet. It remained stupidly unaware of me at its back, however. She bared her sharp teeth and prepared to attack, giving me a chance to perfect my aim, hopefully without any interruptions this time.

I threw, and knew straight away that I was close to the mark. My shot wasn’t quite swift and true enough however. The dagger embedded itself in the beast’s ankle, just missing the vital Achilles’ heel. Shit. It shuddered in pain though, head whipping around. Involuntarily I took a step back. It only had one huge eye, smack bang in the middle of its face. Christ, a Cyclops. I took in its long dark hair, tied back with a piece of rope and its skin that was swarthy and weathered. A loincloth covered its genitals but other than it was completely naked. I supposed I should be thankful for small mercies. A naked ten foot tall one eyed beast was not at the top of my ‘otherworld neighbours I’d like to meet’ list. Something dangled off the string at its waist but, at this distance, I couldn’t quite make out what it was. It didn’t look large enough to be a scary weapon at least. The Cyclops roared at me and, even from metres away, I felt globules of warm spit on my face combined with the hot rank air of its breath. No, I was not a fan.

It turned back to the front, seemingly dismissing me as unthreatening, so all I was presented with was its lean back. I prepared to attack again whilst Lucy made her own move, rushing the Cyclops, and snapping and biting at the same ankle I’d already injured, but it dodged her teeth and ran past her. And towards Trevathorn.

Chapter Eighteen

I stood for one brief moment, then reacted and took off after it. Lucy joined me, scampering along the sand and yet easily keeping up. I pelted down the beach, feet scuffing the sand as I sprinted in hot pursuit. Alex yelled something behind me but it was indistinct and his words were whipped away in the sea wind.

It was imperative that we stopped it before it reached the village. I dreaded to think what damage it might incur if it got there. Imagining busloads of eager tourists being swept aside by the Cyclops’ long arms, I ran even faster. This was probably not going to turn out well if I didn’t stop its parade fucking fast. Way Directive Twenty-two: Wherever possible, the human world must be shielded from the otherworld.

The Cyclops was an ungainly, clumsy thing, but its long legs enabled it to keep just ahead of the pair of us. It gouged out huge prints in the soft sand as it skewed its way along the edge of the dunes. At one point it leapt over a salt crusted log, stumbling ever so slightly as it landed on the other side. This was our chance. I jumped at it, feet first, and struck it in the back before I fell back onto the sand. It collapsed onto its knees and roared again, and Lucy sprang onto its back and held on with her sharp teeth, ripping into its flesh.

I jumped back up and pulled out my knife, taking advantage of its position to move in front of it and block its path to Trevathorn. I swiped at it a few times but couldn’t quite connect, so I lifted a booted heel and kicked its lowered face with every ounce of power and strength that I had. It groaned and pulled itself up, scrabbling at Lucy on its back, connecting with her body and throwing her off before taking off in the direction that it had just come from. I ran after it again, starting to pant with the exertion.