Seven Psychics Read online

  I’d never fainted in my life before, but finding out that I’d become a monster overwhelmed me to the point where my mind shut down completely. The last thing I saw before I fell was Garrett leaping forward with blinding speed to catch me.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I was only unconscious for a few minutes and woke up to find myself lying on the couch with my head in Kala’s lap. She was running a hand through my hair and her touch was soothing and almost hypnotic. Remembering why I’d passed out, I shot to my feet, startling myself with how fast I’d moved. Mark and Reece were huddled in the kitchen, whispering together. They’d turned the kettle on and it was helping to mask their conversation.

  Bailey and Walker watched me, keeping their expressions carefully neutral. They were waiting for me to freak out, but I forced myself to be calm and took a seat next to Kala again. “I take it you’re both shape shifters like me?” I asked the pair. I’d known all along that there was something strange and otherworldly about the agents. Now that I finally knew what it was, I was far from relieved.

  “Hardly,” Walker replied in an insulted tone. “I’m a cougar. And I don’t mean the kind that hunts younger men.” Her wink was just short of lecherous. Flynn rolled his eyes and sighed at her inability to remain serious.

  I had no problems believing that she turned into a mountain lion with every full moon. It all made perfect sense to me now. Their strength, speed and uncanny ability to track their prey were due to their inner beasts. “What about you?” I said to Bailey. He seemed far less excitable than Kala and I couldn’t picture him as a big cat.

  “I’m a were-constrictor,” he said with a straight face.

  I blinked in confusion. “A what?”

  “Half man, half snake,” Walker explained. “None of us transform completely into animal form. I’m not even sure if that’s possible.”

  “Oh.” Half snake, half human sounded familiar and I placed it in a few seconds. “Does that mean you’re a lamia?” I’d read about them in a book a few years ago. “I thought they were female.”

  Bailey shrugged in response. “I guess I must be pretty rare then.”

  Thinking back over everything that had happened since I’d arrived at the compound, I shook my head in disbelief. “Everything you guys told me was a lie,” I accused. “You weren’t given injections to enhance your senses.”

  Kala looked at me sadly. “Actually, we were. We were normal kids before we were kidnapped. The men that took us injected us with the virus. According to the research notes that Mark found, they wanted to document our transformation. They’d have kept us locked up and used us as lab rats for our entire lives if he hadn’t saved us.”

  “Why are our bedrooms soundproofed?” I asked. That was something that I’d been wondering about ever since I’d first arrived at the base.

  “Our hearing is very acute,” Flynn said. “We’d never get any sleep if they weren’t soundproofed.”

  “This is surreal,” I complained and covered my face with my hands.

  Two pairs of footsteps approached and a mug was placed on the table in front of me. I smelled Mark’s cologne and Reece’s pine scented soap. Coffee wafted from the mug. I could even smell the cream and sugar in it.

  “Alexis,” Mark said gravely as he took a seat, “I need you to understand a few things.”

  Picking up my mug, I took a healthy swig and the liquid didn’t burn me as it normally would have so soon after being made. “What things?” I asked dully.

  “You can’t return to your normal life,” he said as gently as possible.

  Cradling the mug, I tried to contemplate not returning to Texas. “What are you talking about? Are you saying that I can’t go home?” Not that the ugly yellow and brown house would have been my home for much longer anyway.

  Agent Steel shook his head sorrowfully. “I’m afraid not. It would be far too dangerous.”

  “For who?”

  “For everyone,” Kala answered. “Modern books and movies about shape shifters make us sound like we’re harmless to humans when the full moon rises.” Her tone was bitter and the others nodded in agreement.

  “They’ve romanticized our kind and portray us as being able to control our animal natures,” Bailey said with a twist of his lips.

  “You won’t be like that at all,” Mark said. “You’ll have no control over your hunger. Your instinct to kill and feed will take over with every full moon.”

  Garrett had remained standing rather than taking a seat with the rest of us. I turned to him when he spoke. “We’re monsters, Lexi,” he told me plainly. “We’re killing machines that hunt anything that tastes good.”

  I shivered at his bleak expression. “What tastes good to our kind?” I asked awkwardly, still unwilling to admit to myself what I’d become.

  “Just about anything that flies, swims or walks,” he replied softly then stalked off towards the gym.

  The implications of what they were all saying finally sank in. “I take it I have to stay here in the compound,” I said.

  “It’s the safest place for us,” Kala said gently. “Mark has kept us from hurting anyone since we all began to change when we turned fifteen. As the oldest, I was the first to transform. Reece and Flynn had their first change a year later.”

  Another thought occurred to me and I turned a troubled gaze on Mark. “Does this mean that I can’t join the Army?” It had always been my ultimate dream and I knew that he was about to shatter it.

  “One blood test would be all it would take for them to know that you aren’t human. They’ll figure out what you are and they will destroy you,” he said with profound regret.

  “They kill shape shifters?” I said in an appalled tone. “How is it that the TAK Squad even exists then?”

  Flynn fielded that question. “Only the highest officials in our agency are aware of what we are. They’ve entrusted Mark with keeping us under control. We’re the only supernatural beings that work for the PIA.”

  “What does PIA stand for, exactly?” Finally, my curiosity would be quenched.

  “Paranormal Investigation Agency,” Mark replied. “The Track and Kill Squad is just one small branch of a far larger organization.”

  “We have our own nickname for our team,” Kala said with a hint of a smile.

  I cocked my eyebrow in enquiry.

  “Welcome to the Shifter Squad, Lexi Levine,” Flynn said, then grinned.

  I smiled back at him almost unwillingly. My life had been turned upside down and it would never be the same again, yet I couldn’t be mad at the people who had become my friends. It hadn’t been Reece’s fault that he’d turned me. I’d become a shape shifter through a quirk of fate. He stood in the gym with his back to us, wearing a shirt for once rather than going half naked. He was straining to lift a ridiculous amount of weights. My eyesight was now so good that I could easily read the amount that he was lifting. The set of his shoulders told me that he felt he was to blame for my situation. I wished I could tell him that I didn’t hold him accountable, but he’d made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with me. The least I could do was respect his wishes.

  Mark reached inside his jacket and took out his cell phone. “I have to let Philip know about this development.”

  I was on my feet and had snatched the phone out of his hands before he even registered my movement. I had my father’s private number, but he rarely used his cell phone while he was on duty. It was doubtful that I’d have been able to reach him on a normal cell phone anyway. Mark had the number of a satellite phone my dad’s team was using and I’d have a far better chance of reaching him with it. “You’d better let me break the news to him,” I said.

  Seeing the wisdom of my decision, he nodded. “It’s number three on speed dial.”

  With a nervous flutter in my stomach, I waited for the phone to ring. It was answered quickly by a voice that I didn’t recognize. “This is Major Franks.”

  “This is Alexi
s Levine,” I said. “I need to speak to my father, Philip. It’s urgent.”

  Major Franks hesitated for a moment before replying. “I’ll wake him up.” His tone implied that he doubted that whatever I had to say could actually be very important.

  I only had to wait for a couple of minutes before my father came on the line. “Lexi? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “No, Dad, I’m…fine.” That wasn’t true, but I wanted to try to break the news to him gently.

  Hearing my hesitation, he became even more suspicious. “Where are you?”

  “I’m still with Agent Steel and his team in Colorado,” I said. “Look, Dad, something has happened and I need you to brace yourself. Is this line secure?” If it wasn’t, then I couldn’t tell him what had happened to me. I had to be sure that our conversation was private before I could divulge my news.

  “It’s secure,” he confirmed. “What happened?” His tone was dire and it was one he didn’t use very often with me.

  “I was accidentally infected with a disease,” I said softly. “It’s incurable.”

  No doubt seeing visions of me lying in a pool of blood and bodily fluids, he could barely manage his next question. “What have you been infected with?”

  “Lycanthropy,” I forced out and was met with silence. “I’m a werewolf, Dad.” So much for breaking it to him gently.

  This time, the silence stretched out for a lot longer and I was beginning to think I’d lost the connection. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said finally and hung up. He didn’t waste time with questions or accuse me of being crazy. It made me wonder what sort of things he’d seen if he could so easily believe that werewolves existed. Clearly, he knew the types of creatures that Mark and his people hunted. It now made more sense why he’d allowed me to team up with the squad in the first place. His trust in Agent Steel must have been absolute for him to give his permission for me to temporarily join the team. His trust had also no doubt just been shattered.

  Tossing the phone back to Mark, I dredged up a weak smile. “If you start running now, you might have a chance of finding somewhere safe to hide. I hear Australia is nice at this time of the year.”

  Agent Steel froze in the act of putting his cell phone away. “Philip is coming here?”

  Even Reece went still as he waited for my answer.

  “Yep. And he’s really, really angry.”

  Mark swallowed and exchanged worried glances with his team. It would take my father at least twenty-four hours to reach us. When he did, the Shifter Squad would face a danger far greater than anything they’d ever encountered before. They’d be facing an enraged father with unparalleled marksmanship skills and the will to destroy anyone or anything that had hurt his only child.

  My new status as a shape shifter had been caused by an accident, but I wasn’t sure that would even matter to my father. Mark had promised that he’d keep me safe and he’d failed. My dreams had been stolen from me and I would never have a normal life now.

  Garrett half turned, as if he could hear my thoughts. My feelings for him had deepened with the intimacy that we’d shared and that he couldn’t even remember. He knew how I felt about him and he’d been counting down the days until I’d be out of his life forever. Our eyes met for a moment that seemed to last for an eternity. It was hard to say which of us felt more despair at the thought of being trapped together for the foreseeable future.

  Other Titles by J.C. Diem:

  (The Mortis Series)

  Death Beckons

  Death Embraces

  Death Deceives

  Death Devours

  Death Betrays

  Death Banishes

  Death Returns

  Death Conquers

  Death Reigns

  If you would like to be advised of any new releases, please visit my website: www.jcdiem.com and sign up to receive my newsletter.

  Coming in January 2015

  Zombie King – Shifter Squad Book Two

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two