by Riley Storm
That would have to wait until after they cleared his name and ensured she didn’t lose her job. In the meantime, Haley had to stay focused on the mission at hand, a mission she currently had no part in. Kincaid was off attempting to save it all, and until she heard from him, she was forced to stay here.
“In the basement. Locked up. By myself.” She was currently stretched out on the sole couch, staring at the ceiling, wishing there was a television. Right then, she would watch just about anything.
Being confined was driving her crazy. Being confined and not knowing what the hell was going on out there was making it even worse. For all she knew, the world could be ending, aliens invading, and she wouldn’t know a thing about it until she was forced to emerge for supplies.
She imagined exiting the basement to a war-torn reality. Buildings crumbled to dust from alien weaponry, smoke filling the sky. Overhead jets would flash past until one of them was taken out by some sort of energy beam. Nearby in the shadows, she would see flashes of movement, furtive and swift. Noises would reach her ears. Noises made by no human throat. Then they would come for her and she would be forced to run.
Easy does it with the overactive imagination.
Getting up from the couch, she started to pace, trying to work off some of the nervous energy building up in her limbs. The wait was going on three hours now, and she didn’t know how much longer she could stay cooped up in the dungeon without any sort of contact from the outside world.
You just spent an hour on the phone with Dani.
Haley needed more than that, though. She needed—
Kincaid. You need Kincaid. You want him back, you want to be near him.
“Stop it, or I’m bringing back the aliens,” she warned her mind. “We’re not doing this now.”
Sighing, she went back to the couch. There wasn’t even a radio. Just the ancient landline, the receiver barely a generation past the rotary dialer. She contemplated dialing out, seeing if she could somehow get herself connected to Ursidae Manor. Maybe she could reach the Queen and—oh, who was she kidding? As soon as anyone there realized who it was, they would either disconnect her or start doing that fancy tracking thing where they located her number.
Maybe she could take a nap. That would be the perfect way to leapfrog forward in time to where something actually happened.
Getting up off the couch, she went to the bedroom and flung herself down. At least he’d had the decency to make it a king-sized bed. Haley sprawled out luxuriously, worming her way down into the covers as the foam-topped mattress sank her into its depths, almost like a cocoon of warmth.
She was dozing off, happy thoughts of Kincaid, whipped cream and something else tickling her brain when the house creaked. Angrily, she lifted one eyelid.
“What the hell took you so long?” she called lazily, just glad that Kincaid was back.
When there was no reply, she brought herself back to wakefulness and slipped out of bed. The steel panel was still in place, and nobody else was down there. Must be the steel shifting as the temperature drops at night.
No further sound came, so she shrugged it off and hopped back into bed.
A moment later, she heard a loud thump and the steel panel flew inward as explosives blasted it open.
“Excellent work, thank you,” she heard someone speak from the stairs, obscured by the smoke from the charges.
Haley slipped off the bed to the floor and then under it. There was nowhere else to hide, she was trapped in the bedroom as footsteps came down the stairs. Only one pair, she judged, but still, the only people who might be coming in here after her would be shifters. She had no hope in hell of overpowering them.
The only thing she could hope was that they were from Ursa, not Canis. At least that way, she would—probably—be treated decently.
“I know you’re in here,” the same voice called.
Haley felt a chill run down her spine. She knew that voice. It didn’t belong to anyone from Ursa. She was screwed. Royally screwed.
“Come out from under the bed, will you? You can’t be anywhere else.”
Haley stayed frozen. The person was guessing, they had to be. They couldn’t know for sure. Could they?
Someone walked over to the bed, casually lifting it and flipping it against the far wall.
“I told you dear, I know you’re in here. Now stop making this difficult.”
Haley stood up, staring her kidnapper in the eye, a hulking Canis shifter standing behind her, proof that she hadn’t heard everyone come downstairs. “You,” she said with as much vehemence as possible.
“Yes, me. Get over it.”
Then they snatched her by the hand and dragged her out of the safehouse.
34
It took all he had to stay still. To not charge across the floor of the building and attack Laurent Canis.
Kincaid stood before the Court, the ruling body of all shifters. Twelve stone chairs stood in front of him, nine of them occupied. The center three were empty. They belonged to High House Drakos, and despite the power struggles that had emerged since the great House had disappeared from the world, none of them was arrogant enough to repurpose the chairs for their own use.
To the right was the trio from High House Canis. To the left, his own Ursidae. They were the only voting members of the board. House Panthera’s representative sat to the very right, mirrored on the far side by that from House Raptere.
The twelfth chair was on Kincaid’s right, sitting apart from the other eleven. In fact, it faced the rest of the Court. That was where the Viceroy sat. Currently, it was occupied by the King of High House Canis, though Kincaid knew it should be Kaelyn, his Queen, who occupied it. She was fit for the position, unlike the old Canim King.
“Why is he here?” the Canim King—Laurien—asked with tired irritation, pointing at Kincaid.
From her chair, Kaelyn responded. “He is here because of a concerning issue.”
“Concerning who?” Laurien drawled.
Normally, Kincaid would have been irate over the casual dismissal coming from the Canim King, but his attention was solely focused forward, on Laurent, who sat in his chair with a smug smile on his face. Was he so confident in the protection of his King that he believed himself untouchable?
Kincaid was worried that he might be right. Even with the evidence the Queen was preparing to show the rest of the Council if Canis stuck together, there was quite literally nothing they could do.
To Laurent, he thought, letting a confident smile spread slowly across his face, watching as Laurent slowly focused on him. That’s right, wonder why I don’t look terrified, why I’m not panicking. Wonder and worry, you useless prick. Two can play your game.
“I bring a complaint forward against Laurent Canis,” Kaelyn said formally. “I accuse him of purposefully tampering in the business of High House Ursa, including the forceful abduction of the mate of our Hunter.”
Although Kincaid had been informed by his Queen beforehand that she would use the title to which he wasn’t yet fully entitled, to hear it spoken aloud was something else. Despite the gravity of the situation and Haley’s unknown status, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride at what he’d accomplished.
Now to ensure that it doesn’t end up meaning jack shit.
Because, as proud as Kincaid might be of himself, if he couldn’t share it with Haley, then it would all be for naught. He would cast it aside in a heartbeat if that’s what it took to bring her back to him safely.
“Do you have any evidence to present?” Laurien said, sitting up a little straighter at the gravity of Kaelyn’s words.
Kincaid was simply there because he was involved. He wouldn’t speak much, it wasn’t his place, but he knew that accusing a Title Holder of one House of abducting the mate of another Title Holder wasn’t something to wave away, even for the Viceroy. That was why the Queen had chosen to address Kincaid that way.
“I do.” Kaelyn motioned and one of her aides started a video playi
ng on a screen on the far left wall. It was of Krawll.
Kincaid watched not the video, but Laurent. He watched the man begin to squirm as Krawll detailed every bit of the plan that he’d learned. By setting Krawll up to be eliminated by Kincaid, Laurent had created an enemy out of him. Krawll had only been too willing to spill his guts in exchange for a stay on his life.
The video ended and all eyes turned to the King of High House Canis. Laurien sat in his chair, no longer resting lazily on one arm, impatiently waiting for the session to be over. Now he sat upright, his thick black eyebrows knitted together as fierce jade eyes glared at Laurent.
Kincaid didn’t need to be a mind-reader to know that Laurien was verbally castrating his idiotic Reaver. There was no way around it. The King knew what had to be done.
“Do you have this man’s mate?” the King asked, his voice cold and harsh.
Laurent, by comparison, was beginning to panic. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheek and he fidgeted. “I do not!” he shouted back.
“Liar,” Kincaid hissed, speaking for the first time. He took one step forward but stopped there, visibly restraining himself from taking another stride. Now was not the time for this. They had planned for it. He couldn’t screw it up now.
“I demand that you deal with this,” Kaelyn said. “If you will not, then Ursa shall.”
Kincaid kept his face neutral only through years of experience. Kaelyn had not told him she was prepared to go that far. By announcing so publicly that Ursa would handle the matter if Laurien did not, she was essentially announcing a death threat upon Laurent’s head. If the King chose to protect him, that would mean outright hostilities between the Houses.
Ursa was not ready for any sort of conflict, not on that level. Too many had died during the uprising, and they still had to uncover the true mastermind of that plot. Kincaid stared at his Queen, urging her not to push the situation. He would handle it on his own if need be. Disavowed, stripped of all support and protection.
He would find his mate no matter the cost and save the rest of Ursa from bearing his own burden.
Fearful that he might be forced to such a position, Kincaid’s head slowly swung around to look at the Viceroy, to wait for his decision. It wasn’t long in coming, thankfully.
“You leave me no choice, Laurent.” The Canim King drew himself up, sitting straight back in his chair. “I hereby relieve you of your position as Reaver of High House Canis and strip you of your seat on this Court. You will see to it that this man’s mate is returned to him.” Laurien glared coldly across the distance. “Now, get the hell out of my sight.”
A rustle ran around the room as Laurent fled, formal robes flapping. Kincaid tried not to snort at the sight. Most of the people in the room wore suits or, in the case of a couple of the older women, dresses. Laurent was such a pompous ass, he’d had actual robes done up to signify his position.
Kincaid watched him go, a predatory look on his face. The King may not have been happy about what he’d been forced to do, but everyone knew he’d been aware of what Laurent was doing. Kaelyn had threatened war, and he’d caved. There was no way that would be good for the relations between the two great Houses, but there was nothing Kincaid could do about that now.
Or at least… He could do nothing but find his mate, and deal with a member of High House Canis who no longer enjoyed the same protections he had several minutes earlier. Now, he was just a commoner. He was vulnerable. Once Kincaid caught up with him, Laurent was going to pay the price. It was why he’d fled so hastily, attempting to get back to safety before Kincaid came after him.
At a nod from his Queen, Kincaid left the chamber at a slow walk. His part in the business was finished, and anything else they had to discuss didn’t concern him, although Kincaid suspected all parties would probably seek to adjourn. It wasn’t often that a Title Holder was so efficiently stripped of his power against the wishes of that House’s leader.
Laurien had to be furious, and Kincaid suspected retaliation was coming.
Kincaid’s own priority was to find Haley. To free her. There was so much that had gone unsaid between the two of them, and Kincaid wanted to fix that. He needed to fix it. He desperately wished that he’d made more use of the time they’d already had together. Being open with his emotions wasn’t something that came easily to him, but he wasn’t the locked safe that many of his comrades were. It was time for him to show that to her, to show Haley that not only could he address those issues, but that with her, he wanted to.
That was really what it boiled down to in the end. It had taken her being snatched from him for Kincaid to come to the conclusion that not only did he care deeply for Haley, but that she meant a lot to him and she was more important than he could ever have guessed, when he’d first stood before his Queen and listened to the upstart accountant accuse him of treason against his House.
Haley Meynard was his mate, and he was going to get her back.
To do that, however, he needed Laurent to give up her location. The former Reaver of High House Canis had a slight lead on him currently and was probably almost at the parking lot by now. Kincaid suspected that the pathetic swine probably thought himself safe from retribution by now, that his safety was all but assured if he could just return to Moonshadow Manor.
Even Kincaid wasn’t so stupid as to consider assaulting High House Canis’ seat of power. Ursidae Manor might be a palace, but Moonshadow was a fortress. There was no way he would get access to Laurent there, and the Canim had to know that. If he made it back, he would likely never leave again, living his days out on the massive grounds.
And Kincaid would never find his mate.
Which is precisely why you never had any chance of escaping in the first place, you idiot. You don’t think I planned for this exact scenario?
Kincaid grinned, lips peeling back to expose teeth as he stepped out into the cool night air.
He was going to enjoy extracting Haley’s location from Laurent.
35
By the time he pulled up to the agreed upon location, the others were already inside. Not for the first time, Kincaid was forced to acknowledge the man’s efficiency. He had a lot of talent in certain areas. Being friendly was perhaps not one of them, but just then, it didn’t matter.
Walking up the few steps to the back door of the warehouse, he knocked twice, paused, rapped twice more, then entered right away. Nobody jumped out of the dark at him but he could sense the presence of at least two men, one to either side. They stepped farther back into the dark as he let the door shut behind him, cutting out the dull yellow-orange glow from the few lights that still worked outside.
It bothered Kincaid that they’d had to go and ask for aid from the one man he least wanted it from, but there was no denying he was uniquely suited to the task.
“How did everything go?” he asked, walking forward and stopping short of a circle of light, letting himself stay mostly hidden in the shadows. Both the people tied down to the chairs would recognize his voice, but the added theatrics of the situation would help.
“Boring,” Kvoss replied from the far side. “I expected a greater challenge from both of them, though he, in particular, was disappointing.”
Kincaid arched an eyebrow at Laurent, who was tied to the leftmost chair. “You didn’t put up any sort of challenge? Pathetic.”
The beady-eyed Canim looked around the room frantically, but the gag in his mouth prevented him replying. Next to him, his mate sat, her eyes focused on Kincaid’s shadow, glaring daggers at him.
“Your mate has more courage than you. Pull yourself together,” Kincaid said, becoming more disgusted with the man every second he was forced to spend around him.
They were in the middle of an Ursidae warehouse on the outskirts of Plymouth Falls. Kincaid would have preferred to take them both back to the manor, where more methods of…questioning…were located, but every instinct had told him that would just take him farther from Haley.
She was somewhe
re in the city, he knew that much. They wouldn’t have risked taking her back to Moonshadow, which meant they were nearby, and he intended to get the answers from Laurent no matter what it took. Kincaid’s eyes strayed to Melanie. No matter what, his mate was more important than his ethics or morals just now, and he had no doubt that the bitch had been involved in it to some degree. She would pay too.
“Thank you for your help,” he said as Kvoss paced around the circle of light to come to stand next to him. “I’m sure it can’t be easy helping me.”
“I’m not helping you,” Kvoss said coldly. “I’m acting upon orders from my Queen.”
Kincaid rolled his eyes. He’d been trying to extend an olive branch of sorts by actually thanking the Assassin, but it appeared that Kvoss had no interest in mending things up anytime soon.
Oh well. Soon enough, I shall be reunited with Haley and I’ll be a Title Holder of House Ursa, and this little shitstain will no longer be able to act like an ass to me.
“So, where shall we start then?” he asked, turning his attention back to the two prisoners.
“I long to hit him,” Kvoss said dryly. “But I fear that he’s ready to crack without us having to apply any real pressure to the situation, and that would be…unfortunate.”
Kincaid grinned. “You know, for once I think we agree on something.” His eyes swung over to Melanie. “Melanie Girard,” he said calmly. “I take it I killed one of your brothers?” he said with a laugh, putting as much contempt into it as possible.
Beside him, Kvoss cleared his throat.
“What now?” he asked, tired, turning to face the Assassin.
“We both know I killed Samuel Girard. My strike got there first.”
Kincaid sighed. “I know you think that, but you see, we actually have proof that you’re wrong, Kvoss.”
He couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the confusion on Kvoss’ face. The Assassin was rarely left befuddled or unsure of himself, but right now, Kincaid had him dead to rights and it felt great.