by Petra Landon
The Alpha strode forward to the wizards.
“Raoul Merceau.”
The man that Tasia surmised to be the Guardian studied the Shifter watchfully with a hint of wariness while the blonde extended her hand to the Alpha with a sunny smile.
“Sienna McAlister” she said brightly.
There was a collective drawing of breath from the audience of Shifters watching avidly. Tasia couldn’t help but smile inwardly at the sight. Shifters had a well-known aversion to physical contact, especially with strangers. And the Alpha was not exactly known for his warm fuzzy feelings towards Magicks who cast spells.
Hmm, so the woman is either unpracticed at Chosen norms or doesn’t care to observe them. Her power indicates that the latter is more likely. How very intrepid of her.
Either way, Tasia decided that she liked her. Anyone who could walk into a Lair to hold out her hand so confidently and graciously to the Alpha before an audience of inhospitable Shifters definitely had her approval. To the Alpha’s credit, he extended his hand to shake hers after an infinitesimal pause. This was not the first time that Tasia had observed this. The Alpha never let his personal feelings show, no matter how he felt about a Chosen. Except when it came to her, of course! She doubted that he ever allowed anyone to get even a hint of his emotions or thoughts, except possibly Duncan on the rare occasion. It had something to do with his phenomenal need for control, she’d concluded.
“Alpha” the woman acknowledged, revealing that she had known exactly who the Shifter she’d extended her hand to was.
“Miss McAlister” he responded politely before turning his attention to the man beside her.
“Jason LaRue” the man made no move to extend his hand, simply gazing back composedly at the Alpha.
“The Guardian” the Alpha stated, his voice even with no trace of animosity.
“Yes, Alpha” the Guardian responded, his even voice matching the Alpha’s.
Aha, so this particular circling of each other by the two men was about the incident at the Registry, Tasia realized. The Guardians must be reeling from the humiliation meted out to one of their own. Despite the Guardians’ personal opinions on the dubious actions of their comrade-in-arms, a Shifter Alpha delivering the punishment in so public a way had to have struck a nerve. They’d have preferred to dispense justice to their fallen comrade themselves and thus, avoid this stain on their sterling reputation. It must really gall them to be asked to work with the very Shifter who’d meted out rough justice so publicly to a fellow Guardian.
The Guardians had been the pre-eminent and only group responsible for policing the wizards for centuries. The GCW had been formed to safeguard the more vulnerable wizards – to prevent the ones with less magic from being trampled upon by the powerful Magicks. It was the GCW that had come up with the magic level certification now mandatory for all wizards as a way to identify the vulnerable ones as well as the really powerful ones that they needed to keep an eye on. Only the cream of the crop was accepted into the GCW after stringent magic and aptitude tests. Once inducted into the Guardian Council, the wizards underwent vigorous training before taking their place amongst their illustrious peers. Until the advent of the CoC and the appointment of the First Wizard, they had been the only recourse for a wizard with a grievance or one seeking to redress an injustice. Rumors hinted that the appointment of the First Wizard had cramped their style and that certain older members of the GCW were very vocal about this.
Tasia watched as the Alpha introduced the two wizards to the rest of the room. This was the Shifter team the Alpha had hand-picked for the new mission. He had stated his goal for the mission to Chicago clearly to Tasia when offering her a new partnership with the Pack - dig up something that he could trade to Faoladh for information about the Guardian. That information would be critical to determining whether she had been the intended target of Guardian Anderson as the Alpha suspected. Faoladh was their best bet for this – he had the influence, the connections and the resources to ferret out the information they wanted. That Faoladh seemed intent on helping the First Wizard investigate Lady Bethesda, probably for his own reasons, helped their cause. The Alpha also had an ulterior interest in information about the Guardian. He had told Tasia that he intended to teach the powerful wizard a lesson. It would be like killing two birds with one stone. Tasia didn’t doubt the Alpha’s stated intentions to her but she also suspected that he hadn’t told her the entire truth about this new vendetta of his. He had held something back from her.
They had met last evening for the first time since she’d agreed to work with the Pack for a trial period of three months. When she had walked into the Pack Room for the Alpha’s briefing, the Shifters there had contemplated her with mingled surprise and curiosity. Tasia with Hawk by her side had chosen to ignore the speculation. The last few days had been busy ones for her. Her meagre belongings had been packed up and stowed away in Caro’s parents’ garage and her studio had been vacated. Sara, Caro and Hawk had all pitched in to help her when they could. To her considerable surprise, Evgeny and Joaquim had also showed up this morning to help cart the packed boxes for her. Hawk’s lack of surprise at their presence indicated that their information had come from him. Tasia had thanked the two Shifters profusely for their assistance, embarrassing both the exuberant Evgeny and the reticent Joaquim.
“This is Tasia Armstrong” the Alpha’s voice introduced her.
Tasia caught the brief spark of recognition followed by astonishment in the Guardian’s eyes when the Alpha introduced her. He recognized her name, she realized. The recognition in the Guardian’s brown eyes caused Tasia to stiffen involuntarily.
Calm down! So, he knows who I am – the wizard who was the catalyst for Raoul Merceau to go after a Guardian. I work for the Pack now. I’ll need to deal with the occasional Guardian as part of my new job. Get a grip, Tasia.
“Pleased to meet you” the Guardian extended his hand to her deliberately, the expression on his face studiously blank.
Aware of the room’s collective eyes on her for her first meeting with a Guardian after the Registry, Tasia attempted to shake off her anxiety. She shook hands with the Guardian, murmuring a polite greeting. When she turned to greet the woman beside him, Tasia couldn’t help but gasp out loud. Pale and white as a ghost, the blonde looked like she might faint. She swayed unsteadily in place and the Guardian made haste to place his hand around her to steady her.
“Alright, Sienna?” he asked in a low voice, his concern obvious.
Tasia could sense the Shifters’ avid gazes on them, agog at the intriguing little scene. She cast a sidelong glance at the Alpha only to catch him watching the wizards with a faint crease between his brows. The gold eyes flashed to Tasia with unmistakable warning as he took a deliberate stride that brought him closer to her.
Sienna glanced up into the chocolate brown eyes, his concern as effective as a douse of cold water to bring her to her senses. God, how could she have been such a fool, she berated herself. Typical of her to decide to have an epiphany in the midst of a roomful of powerful Shifters watching her like hawks!
“I’m fine, thanks” she assured him quietly although she continued to lean on Jason until she had managed to regain her equilibrium. “Must be the jetlag.”
It was a poor attempt at a joke for they had merely flown from southern California to San Francisco but Jason took it typically in stride. He smiled reassuringly at her, only letting go of her once he was sure that she could stand on her own.
“Perhaps it might be better to leave the discussions for tomorrow” he suggested to the Alpha.
“Certainly” Raoul assented suavely. “We’ll have plenty of time on the flight.”
Tasia watched the two wizards take their leave after another quiet word with the Alpha. The room buzzed with the low hum of conversation as Hawk slipped into place beside her.
“Want to bet that the sudden onslaught of jetlag was brought on by hearing your name” he whispered wickedly beside her.
Tasia turned her astonished gaze to meet his twinkling eyes.
“What? Don’t tell me that the thought hadn’t crossed your mind. Tsk, tsk, Miss Armstrong. And here I was silently patting myself on the back for proving such a good mentor and teacher” he teased.
Tasia, used to Hawk’s teasing by now, ignored the rest of his banter to focus on the crux of the matter.
“Teacher of what?” she inquired with her voice pitched low, incredibly conscious of the Shifter’s inhuman hearing. There were a lot of Shifters in the room tonight.
“Teacher of what, she asks” Hawk repeated dramatically, unconstrained by her concerns. “Of Chosen politics, my naïve and innocent child, of course!”
The last was said with such a world-weary sigh that Tasia couldn’t help but burst into giggles that she attempted to stifle hastily.
“That’s the spirit” Hawk remarked approvingly. “I was beginning to wonder where all that lovely spirit had disappeared to” he added more soberly.
Attempting to stifle her laughter with a hand over her mouth, Tasia cast a quick glance around the room. A few Shifters watched them although most were congregated around the Alpha, who directed a fulminating look at the two. It had the effect of silencing Tasia. Hawk on the other hand, irrepressible as always, merely winked at her.
“Come on, Tasia. I think Alph has serious matters to discuss with us” he remarked.
Raoul waited until he had the attention of everyone in the room.
“We leave early in the morning. Plan to spend at least two nights in Chicago. Since our mission is for Faoladh, he has arranged for us to be guests of the Chicago Pack.”
An audible groan went up around the room. Tasia couldn’t tell whether it was at the prospect of being guests of a Pack or just specifically the Chicago Pack. In response, the Alpha directed a grim look at them all.
“Make an attempt to be gracious guests” he commanded. “And watch your backs” the last was added softly.
As the Shifters moved to disperse, the Alpha caught her eye.
“I want to talk to you about something” he said brusquely. “Can you stay for a few minutes?”
Tasia assented readily, surprised by way he had couched it. Though done brusquely, he’d made sure to request unlike before when he had always commanded. A tiny part of Tasia, wary, anxious and unsure about the new deal she’d struck with the Alpha, relaxed at the gruff request.
“How are you, Tasia?” Duncan inquired politely in his precise way. “Hawk tells me that you’ve given up your apartment to move into the Lair.”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad that you’ve decided to work with us” the brown eyes were sincere as they met her gaze.
“Yes” Tasia murmured a little uncomfortably, her eyes unconsciously drawn to the tall tawny-haired man in discussion with two of his Shifters. “We’ve decided to try a three-month trial period.”
Hawk opened his mouth but Duncan, wiser in the ways of the world, shot him a warning glance that effectively shut down Hawk’s argument to persuade Tasia to give the Pack a chance.
“I’m pleased that you’ve decided to give us a chance” Duncan said mildly. “And I know that Hawk agrees with me on this.”
Warned by Duncan’s glance, Hawk contented himself by vigorously shaking his head in assent.
“We might just surprise you yet, Tasia” Duncan remarked softly as the Alpha sauntered over to them, having ushered the last of the Shifters out of the Pack Room. “You might find that you have more friends amongst us than you think you do.”
Disconcerted by Duncan’s cryptic words, Tasia stared at him in confusion.
“I had a call from Faoladh this evening” the Alpha remarked, drawing her attention. “His people have been attempting to trace Lady Bethesda’s footsteps after the explosion in Chicago. Based on our theory that she had an elaborate plan in place to disappear months before Chicago, he put his men on tracing her whereabouts by following the financial trail of the Lombardi Family - the one that the leech who broke into The Vault with her belongs to.”
He paused briefly as the three of them hung on his words.
“They’ve had some success. We now have proof that Lady Bethesda was alive after the explosion. She was traced to O’Hare International where she boarded a flight. They were able to confirm that she landed safely in New Delhi, India where her trail goes cold again.”
“India” Hawk exclaimed. “Why India?”
“When you consider that some of the oldest and mystical magic originated in India, I’d say that she was in search of powerful allies for whatever she’s been busy cooking up” Duncan responded sagely.
“Faoladh has been in touch with some of the local Packs in northern India, trying to pick up her tracks again” Raoul explained. “For now, this new information stays between us. But now that we have conclusive proof that Lady Bethesda did not die in the explosion, anything we discover in Chicago, no matter how insignificant, will help Faoladh’s team trace her current whereabouts.”
He looked directly at Tasia, the gold eyes sober.
“We will have two wizards, one of them a Guardian, accompanying us. Be very careful and take no chances. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve already done your part for this mission. We’d never have gotten this far without you.”
Tasia stared back at him, perplexed by his words.
Huh, if he believes that I’ve already done my part for this mission, then why hire me to work with his Pack. Doesn’t he still need information to trade to Faoladh? How on earth am I supposed to help him get dirt on the Guardian unless I use my magic.
Had she misunderstood his intentions or motives, Tasia wondered, her doubts and suspicions flaring again.
“We will visit the Registry that was the epicenter of the explosion. There might be a few eyes on you – an unfortunate byproduct of the current gossip. Be very careful. Remember that nothing and I mean nothing is as important as protecting your cover” he finished with emphasis, the gold eyes holding her intently.
Tasia nodded as if in a trance. What had gotten into him, she wondered in astonishment. Was this the same man who had insisted that he wanted to teach the Guardian a lesson. How was he planning to accomplish that unless she was able to give him something to trade with Faoladh? And how would they determine who the Guardian had been searching for here in San Francisco, she wondered silently.
Tasia watched in a daze as the Alpha turned his attention to Hawk. Duncan directed a searching glance at the Alpha before directing his attention to her.
“He’s more bark than bite when it comes to you” he murmured softly with a smile at the confused expression in her eyes. “It’s the nature of being an Alpha. You can never afford to display even an ounce of weakness. Shifters are best managed by an exemplary display of testosterone. Always remember that.”
Tasia glanced involuntarily at the Alpha only to catch the gold eyes on her as he listened to Hawk. His eyes held a strange expression in them. He had to have heard Duncan’s words to her and yet he chose to ignore the exchange. What the hell was going on here, she wondered. Later, after some sober reflection, she was to realize that Duncan had been trying to send her a subtle message about the Alpha. Her experience with the Pack had made her appreciate the English Shifter’s wisdom – he’d always given her great insight as well as good advice. And she knew that he was the only Shifter in the Pack who seemed to understand the Alpha well.
“See you tomorrow, Tasia” Hawk reminded her as he headed out. Hawk had promised to give her a ride to the airport in the morning.
“Wait up, Hawk” Duncan called out. As Hawk exited the room in the company of his Were-Alpha, the Alpha sauntered over to her.
“There’s something about the Guardian that bothers you” he remarked.
Tasia raised puzzled eyes to meet his gaze.
“LaRue” he explained. “The Guardian set to accompany us to Chicago. He seems to make you anxious for some reason.”
Ab
out to refute his statement, Tasia paused as it struck her that the Alpha was right. She had reacted uncharacteristically to the wizard’s presence tonight. She’d actually had to make an effort to pull herself together, if truth be told. However, never in a million years would she have expected the Alpha to note her reaction though. Hawk, yes - since he knew her so well. Even Duncan, for he always noticed everything. The Alpha perceiving it was a huge surprise.
“Do you sense something from LaRue that makes you uneasy?” he asked again, his voice even as he questioned her.
“No” Tasia hurried to assure him. “I think I’m just a little jumpy because of the other Guardian” she muttered, not looking at him. This weird anxiety thing about Guardians was so unlike her. Truth to tell, it had her a little rattled.
“Okay” he said after a short pause. “Let me know if he says or does anything that makes you uncomfortable. We’re doing the wizards a favor here and I’ll be damned if I allow them to show us any attitude” he emphasized quietly.
At his words, Tasia’s eyes snapped up to meet the intent gold ones.
Did he just acknowledge that he considers me Pack for purposes other than our bargain – since when am I one of ‘us’?
“Alright?” he asked again, the gold eyes unusually candid, unlike all the other times when it’d been hard for her to fathom what went on inside that enigmatic gaze.
“Yes” Tasia found herself responding softly.
“Hmm” the handsome face was contemplative. “There’s also the mystery of the woman. I don’t know why she had such a strong reaction to you but I’m going to find out.”
“Hawk thinks that she reacted because she recognized my name.”
“No” he said confidently with a thoughtful expression on his face. “She went white before I even said your name. It’s like she’d seen a ghost. Could she have met you before?” he asked diplomatically.
Tasia, who understood exactly what he was asking her, shook her head emphatically.