at Damali and Marlene in awe. Cain stooped and gently touched Marlene's warm, healed hand and drew his fingers back in utter amazement.
Cain finally stood and raked his hair and paced away from Carlos's side. "She is a true queen. A goddess... if not an angel."
Damali continued to hold Marlene as though she were a long-lost doll that had just been found. She refused to even move aside for Shabazz. She simply kept petting Marlene's hair, her face, and then would crush Marlene to her breast again. She didn't care what any of them were talking about as she and Marlene sat on the sofa, the whole team huddled into the small confines of Jose's grandfather's house.
But when Kamal came to the door, all peace in the house was shattered. Shabazz drew Sleeping Beauty with such swiftness that no one could even speak.
"Be clear!" Shabazz shouted. "While she's in the flesh, Marlene is my wife!" He cocked the gun to the side, dead aim at Kamal's forehead. "Astrally or any other kinda way you step across the divide, you die.
Fuck a shape-shift and hand-to-hand, I'll blow your brains out. As long as she's living with me, she made a personal choice! This is the last time, I'm telling you!"
"She saved my life," Kamal snarled. "Back in Bahia, years ago, mon. She and I were meant to be--this makes three times she almost died on your watch!" Kamal's voice broke as tears streamed down his face. "I had a mortal were-jag bite, and she didn't let me die. I let her leave me," he said, slapping his chest, "to save her pain, and now this?"
"I don't give a damn!" Shabazz hollered, his finger slowly depressing the trigger. "You're a dead man walking!"
"Don't," Damali whispered. "You kill him, 'Bazz, and your soul is lost to this team."
"Your Neteru is correct," Cain said slowly. "I killed my brother with the same rage, and was lost. What purpose does it serve to bring back the love of your soul, to only be separated by the chasm of Hell? You have won. She made a choice to be with you until her end of earth time. Let that be enough."
Marlene stirred and sat forward slowly with Damali's help. "Shabazz... don't become lost to me," she whispered. "I love you." She glanced at Kamal. "I love you, too, but it's time to say good-bye... permanently."
Kamal closed his gleaming were-jaguar eyes, unconcerned about Shabazz's gun. He allowed his shoulders to drop and the battle bulk to fade to normalcy. His upper and lower canines retracted as he held up his hand. "I will always love you, Marlene," he whispered. "You will always be my angel of mercy... and more importantly, always my friend. I'll see you on the other side, when we die, and when none of this matters."
Shabazz pulled back his weapon and lowered it as Kamal turned and loped away. "Not even in Heaven, motherfucker," Shabazz muttered and then slammed the front door. Tears still glistened in his eyes as he glanced around the team, looked at Marlene, and then sought the solitude of the kitchen to csllect himself.
Carlos rubbed his palms down his face, gripped by the scene of two men who had been competing for a woman's love for decades. He glanced at Big Mike, who simply nodded and calmly walked through the house to go to Shabazz's side for support. What the fuck was happening to his world... to the team?
Damali gathered Marlene into her arms again and kissed the crown of her head, searching the faces around her for answers that weren't there.
"Since this was a hit attempt by the feds, unfriendly ones--and obviously not the guys that sent us on the mission before, and they're onto us," Dan said, his tone reverent. "We're gonna have to move underground, from now on. I put stash, IDs, weapons, all over, like Carlos had showed me. Did that after we knew who abducted Berkfield, the first time out. We've got unmarked accounts; I separated some of what we had. Swiss banks and whatnot," he said, glancing at Carlos for approval.
"Good looking out, young buck," Carlos said, nodding and glancing at Yonnie. "Never completely trust the authorities. They've got agendas, and the last one almost killed Mar."
"Sho' you right," Shabazz said, coming back into the living room from the kitchen, Big Mike bringing up the rear. Shabazz gazed down at Marlene. It was obvious how badly he wanted to hold her by the way