The War Priest

by Ann Aguirre

  Dour. Dutiful. Dogged.

  Personal tragedy drove Callum McRae to join the Order of Saint Casimir fifteen years ago; now he’s in charge of a hold he hasn’t lived in for years. Supplies are scarce, he has no knack for dealing with people, and the Gols are at the gates. To make matters worse, he’s also battling an attraction so powerful and forbidden that it imperils his very soul…

  Canny. Cheerful. Charming.

  Joss Bristow seems bright and cheerful, but she’s hiding a well of sorrow that fuels her music. She’s also prone to leaping before she looks, exactly how she ends up besieged at Burnt Amber. Though she wanted to get to know Callum better, she never imagined that falling for him could cost her life.

  He’s the dark of night, and she’s the sun that shines just for him. Two wounded souls have never needed each other more, but between his holy vows and the devastation of war, the odds are stacked against them…

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgments

  The Story So Far

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Author’s Note

  THE WAR PRIEST

  Ann Aguirre

  For everyone who’s been eagerly awaiting

  the epic saga of ‘cat chases bear’

  Copyright Information

  THE WAR PRIEST

  Copyright © 2020 by Ann Aguirre

  EPUB Edition

  Edited by Victoria West

  Cover art by Kanaxa

  Print design by Kanaxa

  Proofreading by Lillie

  Formatting by BB Ebooks

  Content warning: This story contains violence, death, and mentions suicide (off-page).

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any form whatsoever, without written permission from the author except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews or articles.

  Acknowledgments

  First, thanks to the readers who have been eagerly awaiting Callum and Joss’s story since the beginning. It took me a long time to write, but at last I’m delivering their tale, and I hope you love them as much as I do. Grumpy bear monk + sunshine cat singer = true love.

  Thanks to Karen Alderman and Fedora Chen for their beta-reading insights. Much appreciation to Rachel Caine, Bree Bridges, Lilith Saintcrow, Kate Smith, Melissa Blue, Kate Elliott, Yasmine Galenorn, Alyssa Cole, Suleikha Snyder, Donna J. Herren, Thea Harrison, and Charlotte Stein for emotional support during a difficult year.

  So much appreciation to Kanaxa for the gorgeous cover art. My editor, Victoria West, polished this book beautifully, and thanks to Lillie for the wonderful proofreading. I couldn’t do it without the whole team.

  Finally, thanks to my family. I appreciate their support more than I can say.

  Please enjoy this story and look forward to the rest. Only one book left! Are you excited for the epic conclusion? Thanks for sticking with me and keep telling paranormal romance fans about the series.

  The Story So Far…

  In The Leopard King, Latent shifter Pru Bristow went after the pride leader, Dominic Asher, who had holed up at the seer’s retreat after the death of his wife, also Pru’s best friend. With the conclave approaching, Ash Valley couldn’t afford to let Dom’s second, Slay, run the show. It was rocky going, and they were attacked by Eldritch assassins. In the furious fight that followed, Pru finally shifted and saved Dom’s life.

  In time, she convinced Dom to come back to Ash Valley because the fate of the pride rested on completing the conclave and renewing the Pax Protocols (a peace treaty between supernatural communities). Her success didn’t come without a cost, however. She agreed to become Dom’s mate and lead the pride alongside him.

  Their return startled a lot of people, Slay most of all, because he’d always thought that Pru would wait for him forever. Since he didn’t want her when she couldn’t shift, she didn’t want him once she could, and Pru devoted herself to working with Dom to make the conclave go smoothly.

  That wasn’t in the cards. Though the attendants all arrived safely, the Pine Ridge wolf pack and the Burnt Amber bear clan hated Lord Talfayen of the Eldritch, and nobody knew what to make of Prince Alastor of the Golgoth. Everything that could go wrong, did, including the murder of an Eldritch envoy. Talks broke down, culminating in treachery, but the Eldritch Lord’s plot went awry, as the bombs he’d set detonated too soon, catching his own people in the trap. King Tycho of the Golgoth attacked thereafter and it was all Ash Valley could do to hold.

  Meanwhile, Dom and Pru tried to keep things together while falling in love. They did battle with their enemies and each other, before eventually admitting their true feelings. Slay vanished mysteriously and the leading couple finally had a wedding party, once Ash Valley was safe. Soon after, the visiting dignitaries departed, and the Numina prepared for war.

  In The Demon Prince, Dr. Sheyla Halek reluctantly agreed to take charge of Prince Alastor Vega and work on synthesizing the medicine he needed for his rare illness. Since she preferred research to treating actual patients anyway, she didn’t hate the idea, but she was quite annoyed to be saddled with someone she considered an enemy. For his part, Prince Alastor liked the prickly doctor at once and spent a good deal of his time trying to charm her.

  They left Ash Valley together—with her ostensibly in the role of company medic—and became closer through an arduous journey to Tycho’s likely next target: the unprotected city of Hallowell. Alastor tried his best to woo Sheyla, and while she wasn’t susceptible to his brand of charm, she did admire his determination to do the right thing for his people. Slowly, they drew together, because he understood her, and she—without realizing it—quietly partook of Golgoth courtship rites.

  Eventually, they decided to embark upon a wartime romance because their passion could no longer be denied. They’d only stay together until Hallowell was safe. Afterward, they’d go their separate ways, because Sheyla belonged in Ash Valley, and Alastor had heavy responsibilities to his people. Since she couldn’t have a relationship, even a brief one, with a patient in her care, Sheyla turned treatment over to a colleague and focused on researching Alastor’s medicine.

  Neither one cared to admit how deeply they’d fallen for one another, and the risky romance only intensified, set against the backdrop of impending doom. When Tycho’s forces invaded, it seemed like all might be lost, but Alastor eventually won against incredible odds, mounting a successful defense of
a critical foothold in the war effort, though not without painful loss and sacrifice. He also secured the allegiance of Tycho’s surviving forces, which was when Sheyla left him, as per their original agreement.

  Realizing he couldn’t live without her, Alastor chased her down and officially proposed in front of her family, offering to make her his queen once he liberated Golgerra. Though her relatives were skeptical at first, eventually they agreed, and the demon prince was set to live happily ever after with his physician-queen. This decision meant rejecting other marital offers, however, which would have a fascinating impact on the war effort elsewhere.

  In The Wolf Lord, Thalia Talfayen finally rose to power, but with enemies all around, she realized she needed to make a strategic political marriage to cement her position and claim the Silver Throne. After her first choices turned her down, Thalia was left with the roguish leader of Pine Ridge, Raff Pineda.

  About the only thing Raff and Thalia had in common was regard for their people, though they certainly had different ways of showing that care. That led them to pursue a marital alliance, which got off to a shaky start due to Raff’s propensity for breaking the rules. When the first activity was disrupted by a vicious attack by House Manwaring and Raff was gravely injured, Thalia acted swiftly and decisively to save his life. On his recovery, Raff committed to the marriage of convenience, pledging aid to House Talfayen in return for their support later when the war reached Pine Ridge.

  This wedding was anything but convenient, however. Someone attempted to murder everyone at the head table, a tragedy prevented only by Raff’s acute sense of smell. Sadly, Lileth, Thalia’s aide, was fatally poisoned. A grief-stricken and enraged Thalia was determined to punish those who helped rival Eldritch leader Ruark Gilbraith infiltrate the fortress. With some help from her new right hand, Ferith, Thalia soon discovered secret tunnels in and out of the Daruvar fortress. Meanwhile Thalia’s former head Noxblade, Gavriel, joined forces with tiger shifter Magda to search for both the missing Ash Valley second, Slay, and the insurgents loyal to Thalia’s traitorous father.

  Unfortunately, Thalia’s plan to act as bait to uncover the enemy succeeded a little too well, leaving both Thalia and an injured Raff cut off in the tunnels. They fought their way out and took refuge from a sudden snowstorm in a rustic Animari hideaway. The shared danger heightened their burgeoning attraction and they finally consummated their marriage. Realizing they had an opportunity to flush out the traitor in their midst, Thalia and Raff worked with tiger shifter Titus to retake Daruvar as their feelings for one another deepened.

  Titus pretended to be a bounty hunter returning to their bodies, and a bloody battle ensued. Once they won the day, Thalia discovered that her ‘cousin’ Tirael was a traitor who had staged a coup in Thalia’s absence. Just before Tirael’s execution, the woman told Thalia that they were, in fact, half-sisters, courtesy of old Lord Talfayen. Thalia silenced Tirael with a personal execution, but her problems were far from over.

  The other houses were still in open rebellion, and her own people seemed to be doubting her fitness to lead, as they didn’t wish to send children to train as Noxblades until the succession was settled. Thalia tried to talk it over with Raff, but he had a distinctly Animari outlook, which led to conflict between the two lovers. To further complicate matters, a young wolf named Sky awakened as a Seer and required Raff’s comfort and attention. Thalia stumbled on an intimate scene and misread the situation, leading her to make a drastic decision.

  Thalia embarked on a suicide mission to triumph or die. She witnessed the hardship her people had experienced first-hand and learned more about the growing problem of a strange drug called gray tar. At long last, Thalia discovered her gift during the hunt-kill mission inside Braithwaite, Ruark’s stronghold. As she’d left without consulting Raff, he could only help from afar by sending drones to act as a distraction. That feint was enough to save her. With Raff’s air support, Thalia and Ferith took on House Gilbraith and won, whereupon Thalia broadcast a message of conquest all over Eldritch lands.

  A triumphant Thalia returned to Daruvar with Ruark Gilbraith’s head to claim the Silver Throne as the new queen. Other Eldritch houses quickly dispatched vassals to pledge their loyalty and various Animari and Golgoth dignitaries came to pay their respects as well at her coronation. That success gave Thalia the courage to claim her man and she professed her love for Raff, who had been hers all along. But with a marriage of convenience transforming to one of true love, there were still more seeming impossibilities yet to occur…

  In The Shadow Warrior, the story overlaps chronologically with The Wolf Lord. At the start of The Shadow Warrior, Noxblade Gavriel d’Alana (aka Death’s Shadow) and Animari security head and tiger-shifter Magda Versai reluctantly joined forces. Molded since childhood to be the perfect deadly weapon wielded by Eldritch royalty, Gavriel was devoted to Princess Thalia Talfayen to the exclusion of all else. The life of a Noxblade was lethal and lonely, and the loss of his brother Oriel in a fight with the Animari, further isolated Gavriel.

  Animari Wolf leader Raff Pineda was on the verge of marrying Thalia, so to his displeasure, Gavriel was forced into close contact with Magda. For her part, although she was ostensibly guarding Raff as he courted the princess, Magda had a secondary personal mission – find out what happened to fellow cat Slay from Ash Valley who disappeared during a battle. Did Slay leave voluntarily to conspire with the enemy or was he taken captive? Surprisingly, Gavriel offered to help track Slay in the surrounding Eldritch territory.

  Despite their outward differences, Gavriel and Magda were both loners tormented by their own secrets and hidden desires. Magda was haunted by a curse that kills any potential mate that she loves. Having lost two people to this horrific curse, Magda knew she was destined to be alone. With the princess no longer needing him, Gavriel figured there was not much reason for him to live, so why not seek a glorious death? Gavriel was also isolated by having had to keep his submissive sexual preferences a secret throughout his life. However, Gavriel’s deepest desires were revealed to Magda during an intense sparring session. Despite herself, Magda was intrigued and attracted to Gavriel and enjoyed playfully baiting him.

  During their hunt for evidence that Slay had been transported through Eldritch territory, Magda and Gavriel were forced to fight some insurgent Eldritch loyal to Thalia’s deceased father. Ominously, those attackers appeared to be zombie-like killing machines. Finding out what transformed these warriors and who was behind it, became an imperative. Their enforced closeness gave Magda and Gavriel the unique opportunity to see beneath the masks they showed the world, to the damaged individuals underneath—and the more they discovered, the more attracted they became. To make sure her curse did not engage, Magda figured that a sexual liaison based on friendship and not the heart would be perfect. For the first time in his life, Gavriel felt free enough to experiment with his sexual desires.

  As their hunt continued, they discovered a small group of Eldritch, starving and on the run from a civil war between various houses. But the real danger came from the Dead-eyed warriors who descended on Ancalen. These Deadeyes took a drug, gray tar, that appeared to remove their souls (or free will) and leave them merciless killing machines. Unable to abandon the survivors, Magda and Gavriel escorted the small band to Kelnora and safety even though it meant losing Slay’s trail. As Magda and Gavriel spent more time together protecting each other’s backs, the trust between them grew so that they felt comfortable sharing their pasts and the events that shaped them; including Magda’s curse and how Gavriel and his brother Oriel were abandoned to be raised by the Noxblade Guild.

  Magda and Gavriel headed to Ancalen to learn more about the Deadeyes. Once there, they fought and destroyed the Deadeyes they found, but more importantly Magda discovered the drug was an Animari medicine from the Burnt Amber lab. Someone in the bear-shifter clan was illegally providing the medicine to the Eldritch. Unfortunately, during the fight Gavriel was badly wounded and poisoned. In a d
esperate attempt to save him, Magda gave him a transfusion using her own blood.

  No sooner had Gavriel recovered when they received a desperate message from Daruvar informing them that Thalia’s cousin Tirael turned traitor and that Thalia was undertaking a perilous quest to kill her enemy Ruark Gilbraith. They returned to the fortress to await the outcome of Thalia’s dangerous mission. Thalia was triumphant and claimed the Silver Throne as queen. During Tirael’s coup attempt, Lileth, Thalia’s aide, was killed. Gavriel learned that Lileth left him a letter. In that letter was the confession that she was his mother and that he and his brother were born of her rape by Lord Talfayen. The news meant that Thalia and Tirael were his half-sisters. Devastated and angry, Gavriel turned to Magda for comfort and the two of them decided to leave to finish their previous task and find the rogue loyalist stronghold.

  After informing Callum McRae, War Priest of Burnt Amber, what they had learned about gray tar and the traitor in his midst, they returned to Kelnora and heard of a suspicious group gathering on the Finger Islands. Magda and Gavriel were transported to the island where they discovered that it used to be Perlsea, the stronghold where secret Eldritch experiments led to the creation of the Golgoth race. With the element of surprise on their side, Magda and Gavriel fought and destroyed the rebel raider’s enclave. Gavriel blew up the stronghold, while Magda took care of the guards. However, Magda was shot during the fight and nearly died from poisoning. Magda managed to survive and reunite with a desperately worried Gavriel. As they waited for their boat to return, they had life and love affirming sex, which terrified Magda as she realized that her love for Gavriel triggered her curse. When Gavriel didn’t die on the morning he was supposed to, he told Magda that when the Seer spoke of the curse and said “only death” could stand up to the shade that haunted her, he meant Gavriel, who is known as “Death’s Shadow”. Neither Magda nor Gavriel wanted to return to their previous, so they decided to start over, together.