Atomic Mage by Garrett Carter (short books for teens txt) 📕

"She is a basilisk and very dangerous my Cade, we should kill her immediately her kind feeds upon the blood of other races to fuel their body and blood magic..... or?" Mina's judgment of the basilisk woman trailed off as she decided on her fate with a firm authoritative look in her eyes.

"You will not use your powers on us and answer our questions if you want to live to see tomorrow basilisk, do you understand?" Mina's ultimatum was met with a vigorous nod from the basilisk woman as Cade brought the woman an arm's length away from them, to hover in front of them.

"First we will have your name then we will discuss what we will do with you," Mina said as she took point on the basilisk woman's interrogation.

"M...My name is Sabine, Dresk, and I apologize for attacking you, but it has been a week since I have last fed, please do not kill me, if you release me I will not trouble you again." Sabine answered with tears in her violet eyes her light and airy voice cracking.

A little thrown off at the snake woman's near breathless voice attached to the slim body barely into womanhood, that had just taken down his fierce mate, Cade barely heard his mate begin her questioning of the basilisk.

"Well Sabine I would ask you to tell me all you know of Rista and her slave camp, we were on a quick stop to destroy it when you attacked me." Minas question was met by a face contorted into rage as twin fans dropped from the mouth of the suddenly hissing basilisk woman.

"I know nothing of the camp but of Rista I know I want her dead for her murder of my mother a for nothing more than her body and what she could sell it for."

Her vehement reply caused Cade's eyebrows to raise at the storm of rage and hate the bloomed in Sabine's landscape it was so intense that he felt it as if he were inside of it.

"Why can I feel your mind now when I had no idea you were here earlier," he asked curious at how the sudden attack had caught him off guard allowing Sabine to get the drop on his mate.

"My race's mental resistances are very formidable, allowing us to hunt others to fuel our magic," Sabine replied shyly to his question.

"My Cade she could be useful in our attack on the slave camp, right now we are mostly relying on your power to see us through to victory, a little added muscle, after Sabine has had time to recover, not to mention her mental resistances would help even the fight with Rista." Mina completed her defense of Sabine with a small clawed hand to his chest.

"Why should we trust her with our lives, she not minutes ago was ready to make you a meal, without even a how do you do. She might have a vendetta against Rista, but once that is settled then what. She could decide we are better off dead?" He asked his questions while looking between the two shorter women.

One his wife/mate and the other, as he took a moment to take her in, the first thing he saw she was very thin from starvation almost to the point of emaciation.

Even if she looked like 50 miles of bad road, was she a woman who was at least honorable enough to trust in the coming fight?

Looking to the other woman Mina eyed her speculatively before asking "I would like you to join me and my mate it this fight, I know some about your race, you would be a great help to us to ensure my mate lives long enough to bless me with his kits. So will you join us in this fight, I might even have a way to keep you fed for the foreseeable future if my mate agrees?" Mina finished her request and promise with a knowing grin.

"I have no problem with helping you in your fight and the idea of never being as hungry as I am now fills me with more happiness than you can ever know, so yes I will join you happily." Sabine's impassioned response caused a little of the misgivings he had for the basilisk woman joining them to lift from his shoulders.

"If we agree then welcome to the team, may our foes tremble at the sound of our names," Cade said with passion and a little bit of humor.

"Now, how my mate are we going to keep our little snake fed, and no killing any sentient beings that would leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth and I hope we can avoid having to hunt for less savory types to keep her topped off. That sounds like a more than full-time job to keep up with not to mention troublesome to keep a stocked pantry as it were?" He finished the last part of his declaration by looking at their new member in the eye.

He was a little put off when he noticed the look of thinly veiled adoration he only used to seeing from Mina when she was being coy, or from Tony when she was in the "mood".

His thoughts of Tony distracted him enough that he missed Sabine's shocked realization of being caught admiring the tall black man, and her subsequent muted blush as she looked down and away from Cade.

Mina didn't miss the byplay between her mate and the young snake woman, a small smile coming to her face as she laid out her plan to keep Sabine fed, one she hoped her mate would agree to.

"My Cade the plan for