Blood Bearon (High House Ursa Book 5)

by Riley Storm

  Rachel was damn proud of them, even as she marched along the rows of desks to get her ass handed to her by the boss himself. Things had been going so well, or so she’d thought.

  While three quarters of the force was busy securing the scene at the bank, returning the gold, and processing the prisoners, Korred had struck the city once again. Completely unhindered.

  “Corningstone!”

  She came to attention in front of Sheriff Dottner’s desk, waiting as her boss closed the door. This was going to be bad, she could feel it.

  “Last night was a grade-A clusterfuck, Detective.”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry, Sir. I thought we had the guys responsible for the attacks in Plymouth Falls.”

  “Well, while you had us all focused on one spot, somebody hit another eight properties throughout the city.”

  Eight. She’d known there had been a spate of them, but that was more than she’d even expected. This was bad. Really bad.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Sir.”

  Dottner sighed and leaned back in his chair. “You can tell me if these were all owned by that Ursa company. Or your partner can at least. I need to know if this is the same group, or copycats trying to turn our city into a battleground.”

  Rachel tensed as she saw the Sheriff look past her out into the office. He frowned, then returned his attention to her. Curiosity burned at her to know what he’d been looking at, but she kept her eyes laser focused at a point on the wall above the Sheriff’s head. Now was not the time to earn more of his ire. Even if she felt it was somewhat misplaced.

  After all, her plan had succeeded. They had caught four men, all of whom had confessed or been implicated in prior attacks. One of them was still sporting bruises from where Khove had knocked him out in the restaurant, before it had been bombed to hell. How was she supposed to know there were more of them? Even Khove hadn’t predicted that would happen.

  But he did warn you that you hadn’t gotten the big bad guy. Korred is still out there.

  Could one man have been responsible for all eight attacks? It seemed unlikely, but if he truly was a mage like Khove insisted, then anything should be possible. Not that Rachel could tell Dottner about that. She barely believed what she was thinking, and she’d seen evidence such a world existed outside her own. Dottner would just strip her from the case.

  “Well, anything to say for yourself, Corningstone? Do you have another plan?”

  “Do you?” she fired back, losing her temper at last. Dottner was a good man, and she disliked getting on his bad side, but he was overwhelmed, and it was showing.

  The silence in the room was frosty. For a moment, she thought he was going to lose his top on her. Then, incredulously, the Sheriff leaned back in his chair, motioning at one next to her.

  “Sit.” It wasn’t a request. She sat.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry,” Dottner said.

  Rachel carefully kept her face blank, not letting the emotions and thoughts racing through her head show. This was most unexpected.

  “You did a good job last night,” he continued. “But regardless of that, whatever is going on out there, gang war or something else, it’s not slowing. Maybe we made a dent in their plans. Maybe we didn’t. But I just got my ass chewed out by the Mayor this morning.”

  She nodded slowly, beginning to understand what was going on.

  “He’s on the verge of panic, Detective. Calling in the FBI. Getting the governor to declare a state of emergency. The whole nine yards.” Dottner’s normally handsome face twisted in a mixture of disgust and dismay. “If that happens, the Feds will come and intervene. They’ll take over, and you can bet your ass it won’t reflect well on any of us. I don’t have plans for advancement, I’m quite happy being Sheriff of Plymouth Falls, but I won’t let that happen to any of my officers. Understood?”

  “Understood, Sir,” she said sharply, appreciating the respect from her commanding officer and his desire to protect those under his command.

  “So that means we need to crack this case wide open. I’m going to need you and Khove to be on your game.” He frowned. “Where is that giant anyway? Usually, he sticks out like a sore thumb in the office. I want to know what other progress you have, ideas, clues, anything.”

  Rachel did her best not to flinch at mention of Khove, but her efforts obviously weren’t enough. The Sheriff’s eyes bore into her.

  “What is it, Detective?”

  “It’s just me now, Sheriff,” she said firmly, hoping if she spoke in a confident voice, he might not push her.

  Ha, fat chance.

  Leaning over the desk, Dottner stared at her in concern. “What? Why? You two make a great team. I thought he would just be getting in the way when he showed up, but I was wrong. What happened, where did he go?”

  She bit her lip, choosing her words carefully. “He didn’t agree with my way of handling this case to conclusion.”

  Dottner snorted. “Right. That’s some fancy bullshit, Corningstone. Figure it out, because right now you aren’t handling shit, are you? Find him, make nice for the sake of our town, and get me some more leads.”

  “Yes, Sir,” she said sharply, letting her anger seep through, enough for him to know she didn’t appreciate his lecturing, and stood up to leave.

  “This is the biggest, most important case we’ve ever had, Detective. I’m not here to play politics. I’m here to protect this city. You had better be as well. Don’t let your personal prejudices get in the way.”

  “Yes, Sir,” she repeated, and left the office before saying something she would later regret.

  Dottner was a good boss overall, and he wasn’t wrong when he said she needed to put personal feelings aside to solve the case. Innocents were going to get hurt otherwise. Unfortunately, Dottner had no idea why she had sent Khove away. And she couldn’t tell him.

  Which meant she had to suck it up and call Khove. At least until they apprehended their man. Then she could switch tactics and send the leader to jail. Khove would be pissed, but in the end, she figured he would understand.

  If not, too bad for him.

  Pulling out her phone, Rachel blinked in surprise to see a message waiting from Khove. Had he read her mind? She opened it.

  Call me. We need to talk.

  32

  He paced through the half-empty parking lot of the biggest hardware store in town. Although it was a Saturday afternoon, it was quiet.

  The people were scared, he knew. Nothing like this had ever happened to Plymouth Falls before. Nobody knew where the attackers were going to strike next, and they didn’t want to be a part of it. Businesses were shutting down early, he’d heard, letting their employees go before it grew dark out. They didn’t want to risk anyone being on hand, and Khove agreed with them.

  Although the five shifter Houses had inhabited the area around Plymouth Falls for centuries, and were responsible for most of its industry and even the founding of the town itself, they mostly kept to themselves. Little, if any of their internecine combat ever spilled out into the streets. There were rules against it.

  Korred no longer cared about those rules, and he was determined to tear down anything he couldn’t have. The only one able to stand in his way was Khove, and a brave but unprepared police lieutenant. They were a pitiful force against the power the former Magi could bring to bear, but they would have to be enough. They would have to.

  “Khove.”

  He jerked upright, pausing mid-step when Rachel spoke his name from behind him. Slowly, he put his right foot down, pivoting on it until she entered his view.

  Standing there in the empty parking lot, wind casually whipping at her blonde hair, unnaturally blue eyes staring right back him, Khove couldn’t help but admire her beauty. She wore black pants that clung to her legs, and a warm but tight jacket that gave her full access to the utility belt around her waist. The gold badge was affixed to the breast of the jacket. A cap embroidered with the logo for the Plymouth Falls Sheriff’s
Department sat upon her head.

  “Rachel,” he said softly, tilting his head in greeting.

  They stood staring at one another. Her pale cheeks grew rosy as the cold whipped at them, and the tip of her pointy little nose turned even brighter. There was little Khove wanted to do more than step closer to her and share his warmth, but he restrained himself.

  There was a wall between them now, a barrier stronger than anything mortal hands could make. Differing ideologies spread them apart and prevented either from closing the gap. Neither could accept what the other believed in, but they would have to deal with it in the meantime, at least.

  Perhaps when it was over, they could sit down, talk and work through it. But not now. There simply wasn’t time.

  “I’m here because we need to stop Korred,” she said at last, her mouth barely moving as she spoke, voice as tight as her body language. “Got it?”

  “Got it,” he said sourly. “Same reason I’m here.”

  Rachel nodded, but didn’t say anything. Khove bit his tongue, keeping quiet himself, even as he was nearly bursting with things he wanted to tell her. Now was not the time for personal issues, he told himself. That would come later.

  “Dottner says we made a good team,” Rachel said at last. “It’s probably the best bet we have for catching this guy.”

  There was something about the way she spoke. Trying to be polite by complimenting the way they worked together, and through it, complimenting him. Yet the way she said it…

  “Dottner forced you to contact me, didn’t he?”

  Rachel flinched, refusing to meet his eyes. “No, it’s not like that—”

  “My Queen made me message you,” he admitted, speaking quickly.

  “So we’ve both been forced into this? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” Rachel asked, kicking at the ground with the toe of her boot. “Great.”

  He smiled despite the situation. “It’s not like I didn’t enjoy working with you, Rachel. On any level. That wasn’t ever the issue.”

  For just a moment, warmth returned to her eyes, but then she got a hold of herself and they became flat again, staring at him, but not into him. It wasn’t the look one gave a friend, or a lover. It was a glance exchanged between strangers.

  “Whatever, it doesn’t matter,” she said sharply, shuffling from side to side. “We have a job to do.”

  “It does matter,” he argued, standing his ground. “I also feel like we make a great team,” he said, stressing the present tense. “I still wanted to keep working with you all along. I left because I didn’t want to be a burden to you. Not because I wanted to.”

  “I don’t think that really matters right now, Khove.”

  “It always matters.” He looked skyward in frustration at how things had gotten to this point. “I’m sorry for not being up front with you from the start about how I intended for this all to end. I—I’m not used to working with humans, under your laws.”

  A cloud of steam formed around her face as Rachel blew out air from her nose. “You’re sorry for not telling me you intended to kill someone. But you’re not sorry about wanting to kill Korred?” she asked, her tone as frigid as the air around them.

  Khove’s own anger rose to match hers. “Of course, I’m sorry about that,” he snapped, sending Rachel back a step, in surprise. “How can you ask such a question? I’m incredibly sorry it’s come to this. Do you have any idea how many friends I’ve buried in the past four months? How much my family has lost? The pain we’ve suffered and that we carry around on a daily basis. Do you?”

  She started to respond but he wasn’t finished.

  “I would just as soon not be responsible for more of the same,” he ground out, pulling himself up to his full height. “You have to understand something, Rachel. We are not like you. We are not human. I look it, but I’m not. We have a different society, different rules and customs. We don’t live by yours. Death is the only justice in our world.”

  He unclenched fists he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and forced himself to walk back and forth. Rachel, to her credit, stayed silent this time.

  “If Korred were to be spared, there’s so much more to it than you can understand. It would bring about more death. More pain and loss. Not just for the innocent humans that would be affected by his actions, but to my family. To our rivals.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked, and he could see the confusion writ on her face.

  “Our politics rarely spill over into your world,” he explained. “But the other Houses, Canis, Raptere, Panthera, they would see us as weakened. Unfit to rule, if we let someone like Korred go, after all the death he’s inflicted upon us. They would come for us. For our holdings, our lands. And we would be forced to fight them. More would die, because Ursa would never go down without a fight.”

  “Then we would arrest them too,” Rachel said, but he could tell she didn’t believe it.

  “Right,” he scoffed. “Rachel, we’ve lost over 100 of my brothers and sisters since Korred first instigated the uprising four months ago. How many arrests have you made for that?”

  She gasped at his statement. “100?”

  “At least. I don’t even know the final count,” he admitted. “It hurts too much to know. How many of those did you know about? How many of our rivals did you arrest? None. Because you don’t know about it.”

  “Khove, I am so sorry,” Rachel said. “I truly am. But I cannot just let you cold-bloodedly murder someone. I can’t have that on my conscience, do you understand?”

  “I’m not thrilled about it either,” he admitted. “But I understand why it must happen. Still, perhaps in the meantime we can accept a truce between us? Finding him and stopping him is the most important now, we must do that before he hurts anyone else.”

  Rachel didn’t reply right away while she considered his proposal. It was the best Khove could offer her. He had no intention of letting her take Khove into custody, but if she could accept that he meant to at least consider the idea while they found him, then he would have to accept that burden as well.

  Just another weight of responsibility that leadership had to bear. Already, he hated it.

  “I don’t like it,” she said at last, holding up a gloved hand before he could protest. “But I don’t have a better plan. Like you said, protecting the town is the most important thing in all of this. Korred must be stopped.”

  He nodded in agreement.

  “Speaking of which, any ideas?” she asked, clearly wanting to move beyond the subject of Korred’s death.

  “Nothing,” he admitted.

  “Great. What about any of your family? Can they help? The more manpower the better. The Sheriff’s office is stretched pretty thin these days.”

  He shook his head. “No. They are at the Manor, manning its defences, protecting it against the attack we know Korred is building toward. There’s not much to deploy to Plymouth Falls.” Khove shrugged. “You’re going to have to make do with me.”

  Rachel’s mouth twisted into a ghost of a smile. “Well, it’s not much,” she said, caution underlying the joking tone. “But I suppose I can make it work in a pinch. Let’s get to work.”

  Khove didn’t respond verbally, simply inclining his head, but internally his heart was soaring at the lighthearted attempt at banter. It wasn’t much to go on, but perhaps there was a chance they could sort this out after all.

  Maybe.

  33

  “Why are we here?” she asked as Khove directed her to park in front of the local animal clinic. “Are you sick?”

  All she got in return was a glare from two silvery-gray eyes beneath drawn eyebrows.

  “What? I thought that was a good one,” she muttered.

  “You should have asked me if I had rabies before you kissed me,” he fired back.

  Rachel got out of the police cruiser, closing the door in his face, taking a second to regain her composure. She should have known joking around with him would lead to fli
rting. It just felt so natural, it made holding back harder than ever. But she had to, she reminded herself, because he was planning to kill their target.

  “Why are we actually here?” she asked. “It’s not even open, they’ve gone home early. Like everywhere else.”

  “I know,” Khove replied as he grabbed a pair of duffel bags from the trunk. “But we’re not here for that. Not really.” He gestured up the sloping incline to the single-story building.

  “We aren’t?” Rachel was confused now. Why else would they be there?

  “No. We’re here because the motel across the street is the single largest Ursa property that Korred hasn’t struck yet, and I can’t see him leaving it untouched.”

  “You think he’s going to strike it tonight,” she asked, looking up into the sky to the west as the sun began to set below the horizon.

  “Yes,” was all Khove said in reply.

  “So, shouldn’t we, I don’t know, call in backup or something?” Rachel suddenly felt exposed. “Nobody knows we’re here. Do you have a plan?”

  “No. I know. Yes.”

  They reached the top of the slope and Khove headed around toward the rear. Rachel followed hot on his heels.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, trying not to snap at him. “When are you going to inform me about what’s going on? And just where are we going?”

  “Out of sight,” he said.

  “Khove, there’s a police cruiser in the parking lot. Don’t you think he might, oh I don’t know, see that and figure out that we’re here?”

  “Exactly. I’m planning on it.”

  Rachel frowned. “Wait. You’re planning on him seeing the cruiser and coming over here to get us? Isn’t he some sort of super powerful magician?”

  “Mage. Magicians practice illusion and sleight of hand. Korred uses real magic.” He undid the latch and walked into the fenced-off gravel area at the back of the clinic where she assumed the animals were let out to play.