by Chloe Cole
The last thing he wanted to do was leave her, but the best way to ensure her safety if she lived through her injury was to eliminate the threat and buy her some time to heal.
With the warrior within healing, roused and fused with the energy of a mighty beast, he propelled his new four-legged form out to face his enemies.
Chapter Eighteen
He tried to run, but there was a definite difference perambulating on four legs instead of two. Instead of balancing his weight through his shoulders as a human did, he had to distribute it by coordinating his front and back strides so that the right front paw met the back left, and vice versa.
"Fuck," he growled to himself in frustration as he made several missteps and stumbled over his paws.
Stop fighting your body, a voice from deep within him whispered. The animal knows what to do.
He didn't know where the thought came from but it seemed like good advice considering there were attackers on the outside of the bunker waiting to destroy him.
Almost as hard to get used to was his heightened sense of smell, each aroma sending a thousand messages to his brain. He caught the bitter musks of his adversaries wafting on the night breeze mixed with the acrid odor of burning pine and charred flesh. Lingering scents of aggression, anticipation, wariness and fright roiled around, distinct particles in the air. He was almost certain he could track the locations of other shifters against the map intimately etched in his memory by days of study of this terrain. The only question was if they were alive or dead. But there was a simple solution that made the raging beast inside him light with feral glee.
He would track every single one of them until there was no doubt.
I'm coming for you, assholes.
Dan took in deep whiffs as he moved over the grounds in a grid pattern. One shifter hung on the sharpened branches in the pit Mina and Taya dug. Though he could hear the creature’s whimper, the heavy scent of blood marked him as a ready-to-eat meal waiting to happen.
He tracked three more shifters to the ridge right above the bunker. Two were dead, but one was still alive and well. Partially shifted from man to wolf, he stood just yards from the ruined skylight, sniffing the ground before him.
The potential threat to Mina propelled Dan to action. He stayed downwind, moving as fast as his legs would carry him up the craggy rocks. When he was about ten feet away, he leapt forward with a growl, extended his lethal claws, drawing long rents in the wolf’s fur. The animal threw back its head and howled--a cry of pain or a call to its brethren, Dan didn’t know. It was short-lived, though, as Dan took the window of opportunity. He sunk his fangs into the other shifter's neck at the jugular and shook his massive head violently, to and fro. Hot blood filled his mouth and the creature went slack, dead in an instant.
With a disgusted chuff, he threw the carcass aside and roared. It was primal, forged by the defeat of his enemy and his need to dominate all around him. He wasn't just a bear-shifter. Coursing through him was the knowledge of his true nature. He was alpha, born to lead. No one would best him.
This night of discovery was his.
This territory his and the woman below?
His.
The animal part of him understood this intimately even as the human part still struggled for purchase. But there was no time to parse his life. Drawn by his roar, another converged on him, this one a lioness.
He reared back on two legs, slashing a paw out to swipe the cat from thin air as it charged. It yelped as it hit the rocks, but with a shake of its sleek head, came skulking back for round two. This time, Dan didn’t wait for her to get close. He charged forward, and used his size to barrel into her. She spit and snarled, twisting in every way she could to find purchase for a bite. He held on tight as they rolled down the slope toward the bunker entrance, his greater bulk allowing him to keep her fast in his grasp. As they crashed into the rocks, she sank her fangs into his fur, but he maintained his hold as they hit the graded road below.
With a feline cry, the shifter jerked and wrenched in his arms, finally breaking free. The stunned, wounded creature shook her head and then, with a snarl, turned and disappeared into the shadows.
He wanted to chase her. Wanted to end it for sure then and there, but it was a waste of energy. He was stronger, but she was fast as lightning, and he needed to make sure he had enough energy to continue this fight.
And what a fight it had been already.
He stared out at the scene before him with stunned eyes. It looked like an apocalypse. The end of days. Fire engulfed the trees on the left of the lake, snapping and popping as crimson flames licked at tortured bark. The trees to the right above the bunker fared no better, and heat rolled off the mountain in waves.
He spotted Etienne above the flames, spewing fire at the lower edge of the blaze. Dan realized he was laying down a firebreak to slow the spread of the inferno. If the flames didn't die down soon, there would be nothing left on the mountain but ash and stone.
He couldn’t begin to guess how many of their enemies managed to flee the wrath of that massive beast, but Dan finally understood the full weight of Mina's statement that everyone wanted a dragon on their side.
Etienne was a force to be reckoned with.
Dan rose up on two legs to hone in on his surroundings with all his senses, but all he heard was the crackle of flames and all he smelled was death and smoke.
No more fear. No more bloodlust.
They had won this battle.
He couldn’t contain the roar that broke from his chest, echoing against the burning mountain. Taya must’ve heard and came soaring toward him, fury on her soot-streaked, bloody face. She already had her crossbow cocked and ready to fire when her jaw dropped in shock.
"Dan?" she demanded, sniffing at the air before lighting to the ground gracefully beside him.
He opened his mouth but realized no words would come out so he nodded his head.
"Oh my god," she gasped. "Did you know? Wait. How come we didn’t know? We should’ve been able to scent you or--" She broke off at his patient but silent stare. "Crap. You can’t shift back, can you?”
At that moment, filled with adrenaline and his heart racing, it seemed like an impossibility. Dan shook his massive head.
"Okay,” she said, clearly making an effort to sound calmer than she felt. “This is no big deal. It’s going to be fine. Etienne can talk you through it. Let’s go back to the bunker and check on Mina."
Dan nodded furiously and turned to lead the way but a sudden, stiff breeze and an unfamiliar scent drew his attention to the skies above. A massive animal soared directly over them, the size of a tractor-trailer. At first glance, he thought it was Etienne, but then he realized the animal was larger and covered in royal blue scales whereas Etienne was emerald.
The fearsome predator glided to perch on the edge of the skylight, peered in, and then dove into the building headfirst.
"Mina!" shouted Taya. She leapt through the obliterated bunker door, and Dan followed, guts churning as he chuffed and roared. They both slid to a stop when they reached the mess hall to see the great beast with Mina in his talons as he shot through the hole in the ceiling. He spread his wings against the bright moon and, in a flash, was gone.
Gone.
A firestorm of intense heat flashed through Dan’s weary body, peaking at painful levels, then ebbing, taking all his remaining energy with it. He slid to the concrete strewn with broken glass. He couldn't move if he wanted to. Despair overwhelmed him and the battlefield euphoria that had gripped him leaked like blood from his body, leaving him broken. Maybe the shift to bear form damaged him in some inalterable way.
And maybe that's for the best. To crawl off and die an animal's death. He didn't deserve one fitting of a warrior now that he’d allowed his woman to be taken by the enemy.
Etienne strode into the hall, buck naked, speaking to Taya in furious whispers. A moment later the Frenchman bent over him and ran a hand over Dan's shoulder.
"It’
s going to be okay, mon ami," he said.
Dan raised his head and roared at Etienne like the sick animal he was, cornered by his circumstances. He couldn’t save Mina himself and couldn’t form the words to tell his friend to go get her.
"Relax," Etienne said calmly. "The first shift back is always difficult. Take deep breaths. You’re going to be okay."
Dan put his head back on the cool, glass-covered floor knowing he'd never be okay again. He welcomed the sting of the shards digging into his flesh.
Because Mina was beyond his reach. Location unknown, and probably dead.
He hadn’t protected her, and now she was gone.
The sounds of everyday life jumbled in Mina’s brain as she tried to sort them out in spite of the haze coating her brain like thick smog.
Food cooking in a kitchen.
The tick of a grandfather clock.
Footsteps on a creaky wooden floor.
She couldn't make sense of any of it. She’d been in Colorado where the air was dry and thin. Now her nose was filled with humidity and the cloying scent of musty fabric. Sunlight stained the back of her eyelids red and she tried to open her eyes, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. The attempt alone exhausted her and, with a whisper of defeat, she fell into darkness again.
Fevered dreams replayed battles recent and past. Shifters in all forms came at her, one after another. She fought them all furiously again, though for each foe she vanquished, a new attacker sprang, more determined than the last to wrest the life from her body.
Fangs scored her. She healed. Talons tore into her flesh. The wound sealed fresh and whole in minutes. Then an arrow came soaring her way, striking her straight through the heart. She stared at it, protruding from her chest.
An arrow has feathers, she thought giddily. I have feathers, too.
She could fly away from this pain on her wings, go further than before, past the bounds of mortal earth to the halls of where warriors rested.
She was so very tired.
But there was an arrow in her heart and it held her fast to the earth.
Dan.
Where was Dan?
"Mina," she heard again. "Are you with us, little bird?"
Rene? Yes. It was Rene.
She tried to speak. To ask him where they were…what had happened, but the words wouldn’t come.
"Yes," agreed the ancient dragon. "Sleep. They can all wait until you awake.”
Chapter Nineteen
Two days later, Mina stared up at the stone building before her, dread filling her stomach with acid.
Labeled to the outside world as the Ménagerie Institut du Paris, most people thought it was an animal rights organization. To others it just was one of many strangely named Parisian brotherhoods with obscure and cloak and dagger purposes with roots that ran back to the Middle Ages.
To Mina, it was the belly of the beast.
How had they gotten here? Rene must have done some fancy talking to even get them to consider her case. She’d asked him time and time again how he’d managed it but all he would tell her was that he’d had to rely on the help of an old friend.
Not all that comforting, but better than being shot at.
Her brain flashed back to that moment and a shaft of pain spread across her chest. Not from the pain of the arrow, but with the reminder of the devastated expression on Dan’s face when he’d realized she’d been hit.
She couldn’t think about Dan right now. He and Etienne had been called and knew she was all right. She had to focus on getting through this trial in one piece and protecting her three conspirators from further attacks. Only then would she allow herself to think about her own heartache.
"Excuse me, Mina. I have to speak to Gerald." Rene moved from her side to walk toward the dragon lord Council member, leaving her to stand in the middle of the atrium of the Council building alone.
One of the guards at the security kiosk, a jaguar shifter, eyed her with suspicion even though they’d been allowed past the checkpoint. Others, milling in the atrium waiting for entrance to the audience hall, watched her from afar. Word had spread quickly that Valkyrie Mina Silva would be tried for breaking shifter law. And she wouldn’t be surprised one bit if the bastard who had used her for target practice was in this very building.
The thought made her blood boil and her chest ache again all at once.
A commotion rose at the security kiosk and Mina turned to see a half dozen Valkyries striding in. Even more startling was that the most respected elder of her kind, Hilde Hrist, led the pack. Her name meant "battle shaker" and it was true that Hilde was known to overthrow the status quo, but Mina hadn’t expected her to come. She rarely attended Council meetings because she had little patience for bullshit, and the powers that be here were practically steaming with it.
A definite twist, and Mina couldn’t help but wonder if her presence would help or hurt.
"Of course we are carrying our weapons into the Council Chambers," Hilde said loudly. "Speak with your supervisor, little pussy. We are the only shifters that are allowed to do so. Now move aside and let us pass."
For an instant she felt sympathy for the poor jaguar shifter manning the security desk. The grim resolve on Hilde's harsh face was enough to drain the courage from any shifter. The statuesque blond didn’t wait for a response. Instead, she waved her Valkyrie sisters through the metal detectors one by one, each with their bows and quivers strapped to their backs, to the screaming protest of that machine. People in the atrium murmured as Hilde and the group formed a protective phalanx around Mina.
"Hilde," said Mina bowing her head in respect.
"Mina," replied Hilde, nodding in kind.
"I did not expect you to come."
"Nor," said Hilde coolly, "did I expect one of our kind to be tried for a crime such as this."
"I followed my conscience and I did what I felt was right," Mina said with no apology in her voice. In spite of it all, she would do it again. There was no point in lying to her brethren. They would see the truth of her heart in her aura regardless.
Hilde nodded, a grudging respect lighting her sea-foam eyes. "Yes, well, they like to use us for that when it’s convenient and it lines up with their own politics. When it doesn’t?” She shrugged one beefy shoulder, her lips twisting into a grim smile. “In any case, you have my support, if it counts for anything."
It did. But before Mina could thank her, the Council doors were thrown open. The seneschal, a stately werewolf shifter, stood in the middle of the doorway.
"Here ye, those with business before the European Council of Therianthropists, approach and enter first to take your places. Others who wish to observe may gain admittance for whatever seats are available."
Rene walked confidently toward the group of Valkyries.
"Hilde," he said with a wide smile. "We are honored by your presence."
"Still the glib charmer, Beauchamp," she said, a blush staining her cheeks.
"One must keep in practice."
Hilde scoffed. "Let's go take our seats."
Rene took Mina's arm.
"What are they doing here?" hissed Mina, as quietly as she could manage.
Rene gave a maddeningly casual shrug.
"We've had occasion to talk. But mostly about you."
Mostly? Again there was no time to parse this as the crowd parted before them and Mina reached the seneschal.
"Mina Silva," she announced and then looked over her shoulder, "and party."
He stepped aside to allow them admittance.
Mina walked down the aisle of the Council hall. It was a wide semi-circle auditorium with a platform set dead center. Bright lights shone on the dais. A long table and eleven chairs sat in the middle of the stage. Two wood tables sat in the space between the rows of seats and the platform on either side of the aisle.
An usher at the bottom of the aisle indicated that Mina should take a seat at the table on the right. At the left table sat a shifter dressed in a pinstripe suit. A
ggression poured off him in an orange cloud as he spotted Mina and the entourage behind her.
"Monsieur Babbage," murmured Rene with a nod of his head as he arrived when he reached the table.
"Mr. Beauchamp," said the man, his voice pure ice.
"Who is that?" asked Mina.
"The prosecutor."
A prosecutor was better than an executioner, she guessed, but only slightly. And he was a jackal shifter, no less. She’d been around long enough to know that the combination meant he’d stop at nothing to win, whether he was on the right side or the wrong side.
The Valkyries took their seats behind her table and Mina resisted the urge to look behind her to see who else joined them. Others with Council business found their seats, and then the rest of the audience was let in. Finally the great oak doors were shut, with security posted in front of them.
Preventing more people from coming or her from going?
The seneschal walked out on the stage and cleared his throat.
"Here ye. All who have business or who witness these proceedings stand for this Council."
Eleven shifters, dressed in judge's robes entered, six from one side and five from the other, and took their seats at the table on the dais. There were two from each of the major shifter groups, avian, feline, canine, and ursine, though the werewolves, because of their large numbers, had their own representatives.
One dragon, Gerald Osling, sat in the center chair. He picked up the gavel at his elbow and slammed it onto the table before him.
"We are here assembled," he said, "to discuss issues on the agenda, hereby previously published on our interweb and available for inspection by those with such clearance to do so. On the Council are representatives of each group. Their names are known and published in the docket for today. However, we are only eleven because the leader of this Council recused himself. The court reporter will enter all names serving the Council today into the transcript. Ms. Secretary," he said nodding his head to the cat shifter on his right, "what is the first item on the docket?"