by Petra Landon
“This camera you mentioned” he said abruptly. “Did it capture anything we should take care of?” The query was delicate.
Passionately demanding lips, a tongue boldly tasting her while hands clasped her to him, plastering her intimately against a muscled body she could still feel the imprint of. Mindless desire, regardless of danger, in a cage between a Wizard with too many secrets to hide and a Shifter who’d barely survived going over the edge.
Tasia shoved the memories away with an effort. The camera had certainly caught them in an intimate clinch but that would only cause her some awkwardness and possibly embarrassment, if released in the public domain. It was what had come before that would cause the Alpha much more than mere embarrassment. The images of the wild eyes and feral expression on the Shifter’s face as he fought to subdue his beast while he hammered relentlessly against the bars holding him in like an animal, uncaring of the damage the silver did to him, flashed through her. That roar of a beast, frantic to free itself, even as he struggled to quell it in a battle to bring himself back from what was certain death rang through her mind. No, he would not want those images of his desperate struggle in the cage to get out.
“Yes.” She turned to Duncan. “There’s footage the Alpha would consider very private.”
Duncan took his eyes off the road to shoot her a searching glance. Whatever he glimpsed in her face must have satisfied him for he used his blue-tooth device to dial a number without another word.
“Duncan, do you have them?” Hawk’s voice, frantic with concern flooded the car.
“Yes. Can Sara and you meet me at Raoul’s?”
“Sara’s here with me. We’ll be there in thirty.”
“Duncan.” Hawk’s voice came through clearly. “Is Tasia ….” It trailed off. The Alpha could take care of himself. It was Tasia that Hawk and Sara had been worried about. She was more vulnerable.
“She’s fine” Duncan reassured him.
“Was Alph their target, then?”
“I’m not sure, Hawk.” his voice was grim. “For now, don’t talk to anyone. Just meet me at Raoul’s.”
“Will do.” Hawk signed off.
Duncan turned to Tasia. “Do you think you might recognize the house if we drove by the neighborhood?”
“I can try” she said uncertainly. That mad rush from the house had been chaotic, fueled by adrenaline and a sense of urgency.
“How far from the house where I found you?”
Tasia thought back to that adrenaline-fueled run through the semi-dark streets and the stares of the few bystanders as they watched a shirtless man and a woman in an oversized shirt run through the streets like the devil was after them.
“Fifteen minutes, may be less. I was winded — I slowed him down. I don’t think we got that far.”
“All right.”
Duncan dialed another number.
“Beltran” came the smooth tones of Luis.
“Raoul and Tasia were held hostage in a house on Russian Hill, close to Leavenworth. I need some help canvassing the neighborhood.”
“Can do” Luis acknowledged. “What am I looking for?”
“It was Wizards who held them. See what you can do, Luis. I’ll join you in an hour.”
“How are they doing?”
“Tasia is fine but Raoul needs to heal. He has silver poisoning” Duncan said circumspectly.
Alpha Protectors could not afford to be vulnerable, even within the Pack. Ambitious Shifters were always waiting in the wings to take advantage of a momentary lapse — that is how Packs worked. Now that the Alpha had been found, alive but debilitated, Shifters would come streaming out to challenge him while he was not at full strength. The only reason Duncan had shared this bit of information with Luis was because he trusted the Were-Alpha. Duncan needed more manpower than his own Shifters could offer to trace the Wizards that had mounted the assault. If they waited for Raoul to heal, the Wizards would disappear into thin air, and the trail would go cold.
There was a short silence on the other end. Luis understood the subtext — the Alpha was in no position to deal with anything. The English Shifter would take care of the Alpha he looked upon as his protégé, Luis knew. But Duncan required assistance to nab the Chosen that had attacked the Alpha.
“My Shifters and I will do our best to locate the house, Duncan.”
“Thank you, Luis. I’ll see you soon.”
“And we’ll keep this information to ourselves, Duncan” Luis assured him, before signing off.
Duncan turned to Tasia as he came to a stop before a newish looking building of steel and glass.
“I’ve to ask you something, Tasia.”
Tasia nodded, a little numb, as the aftershocks hit her.
“How bad did things get tonight?”
The question put things in perspective for Tasia, helping to clear away the cobwebs. They weren’t done yet — there would be time to make sense of everything later. Tasia glanced away, trying to buy time. She felt torn. Duncan was fiercely protective of the Alpha. Yet, there was a part of her that was reluctant to discuss the events in the cage, almost as if doing so would be a betrayal of the Alpha’s confidence.
Duncan’s wise eyes studied her. He’d need to take a different tack, he realized, comprehending that Tasia was torn. Something had happened in the cage that she was reluctant to reveal.
“The plan is for Sara to watch over Raoul while Hawk, you and I join the search for the house you were held in” he explained. “I want to recover the camera. But I’ll stay, if he requires watching over. Raoul seemed himself when we talked earlier, but it was a brief chat. Silver touches Shifters very differently. If he requires an intervention, Sara’s not the right Shifter to leave in charge.” Thus, delicately Duncan probed her.
“I don’t know how silver poisoning works on a Shifter” Tasia said slowly, her eyes tangled in the English Shifter’s wise ones.
“He’ll wake up once his system has rid itself of the poison. That’s how we heal. But if the poison has already affected him adversely, then all the healing in the world won’t do any good.”
“He’s …” Tasia hesitated, unsure how to say what she wanted to convey to Duncan.
“His usual self?”
“He was when he broke through the cage and hid us for you to find.” He’d been completely his old self. Well, not completely, she amended silently. There had been the flare of passion between them, very unlike the cold and reserved Alpha.
Duncan waited patiently, confident that she had more to say.
“There were some moments in the cage, before …” Her eyes were stark, hinting at something catastrophic in her cryptic words.
Duncan’s expression tightened ominously. “This is what you believe the camera captured?”
“Yes.” Tasia nodded, thankful that Duncan had understood.
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands” he promised.
Raoul had flirted with danger tonight, Duncan realized grimly. Tasia was being circumspect with him, but it was clear that the silver had triggered memories of the past in Raoul. Probably pushed him close to the edge. Fury coursed through him, at the realization. Raoul had worked so hard to leave that behind, to rise over everything that had been done to him.
“Did he hurt you, Tasia?” he had to ask.
“No.” She shook her head, her voice more confident. “I was never in any danger from him. But I don’t think he’d want anyone to see him struggle …”
“No, he wouldn’t” Duncan agreed grimly. “Come, Tasia” he invited her. “This is Raoul’s place. Let’s make him comfortable until Hawk and Sara get here.”
The phone trilled, interrupting the man lost in thought. He glanced at it. Aah, he mused with satisfaction. This would herald good news. The Alpha would now learn the consequences of crossing a man like him.
“Yes?” he inquired expectantly.
“I’ve some bad news, Boss” the voice on the other end said apologetically.
“What
kind of news?” Perhaps the Shifter required more silver to precipitate his journey to inevitable defeat, he mused. No matter, he had access to more silver. Though, by his calculation, the Alpha had already been exposed to enough to hasten his fate. The information provided by the blood sucker had only been partially correct. Though his reaction to silver had been as the Vampire had promised, the Alpha was able to absorb extraordinary amounts into his blood. That made the Alpha more invincible than the average Shifter, hard to defeat or even pin down.
“The Shifter escaped.”
“What?” he screamed into the phone, his pleasant dreams of revenge demolished unceremoniously by the short statement.
“I’m sorry, Boss.”
“How?” he demanded incredulously. The Alpha had been exposed to silver for a whole day before being imprisoned in a cage reinforced with it. How on earth had he managed to escape, he wondered.
“We don’t know, Boss. He kicked down the door to the room. We tried to confront him but he was manic.”
While his employer grappled with the news, the man provided more details, a tad hesitantly. “He broke through the cage, Boss. It’s a mess.”
“How’s that possible?” The man, his hopes dashed, shook his head, flabbergasted by the escape.
“It’s lying drunkenly on the bars. He broke through the door at the bottom.”
The man shook his head again, attempting to make sense of the stream of revelations. “Did he injure the girl in any way?” he asked hopefully.
“Not that we know of, Boss. He took her with him.”
“What about the camera — did it get anything?”
“He broke it. We had no time to look through the footage. I got everyone out of there as quickly as I could.”
The man thought furiously. “Is there any way to trace that house back to us?”
“No, we cleared everything out.”
“Okay. Listen carefully, Jay. All hell’s about to break loose. The Pack will overrun the city, thirsting for blood. Make sure you and your men are gone by morning.”
“We will be, Boss.”
The man hung up, his expression grim. He glanced around the luxurious suite in one of the oldest hotels in San Francisco. It had all been to no avail. Perhaps, he should’ve left Merceau alone, he mused. Maybe tweaking this particular Shifter’s tail again had not been his best decision.
“That one” Tasia said excitedly, pointing at a large gray house. “I’m pretty sure that’s the one, Duncan.”
Duncan parked by the house. Two cars full of Luis’ Shifters came to a stop behind him.
“Let’s check it out” he said to Tasia. “It’s empty.”
Hawk, Tasia and Joaquim exited the car with Duncan. An hour ago, the four of them had joined the search with Luis’ Shifters. Tasia burrowed into the jacket Sara had lent her, the house an uncomfortable reminder of the tensely terrifying events from earlier.
Luis and his Shifters huddled briefly, before Duncan led them to the house. It was now well after midnight, and the neighborhood was silent, the streets empty. The Shifters moved on light feet. This was their turf and they knew it well. One of Luis’ Shifters shuffled forward to work on the lock. The other Shifters surrounded him, hiding him from Tasia’s view.
At her evident curiosity, Hawk leaned down to whisper. “Travis used to break into houses in a different lifetime.”
Travis soon had the door open. After another glance around the neighborhood, the Shifters slipped noiselessly into the dark house. Hawk produced a flashlight for Tasia and she led them up the stairs to the third floor. The room, where the Alpha had engaged in the epic struggle earlier, looked just as they’d left it. Tasia swung her flashlight over the upturned cage, where her perceptions had been challenged tonight. It lay lopsided with a gaping hole where the door had been torn off. Duncan ignored the cage to canvass the room, intent on finding the camera, but the other Shifters muttered amongst themselves.
“This is where the Alpha was held?” Luis asked Tasia, his eyes on the cage. There was a note of incredulous fury in his voice, incongruous since Tasia had never seen the usually taciturn Were-Alpha lose it before.
Tasia confirmed his suspicions mutely.
“Tasia and Alph were held in the cage together” Hawk, mindful of a few details from Duncan, chimed in grimly.
The cage served to remind them all of how Shifters had been subjugated through the ages. Some Chosen still considered Shifters little more than unthinking beasts, forgetting that it was the human counterpart that was always in control of a Wyr.
“It’s barely enough to hold one person” one of the Shifters muttered.
The others murmured in agreement, a palpable sense of anger and injustice rising in the room.
“I’ve got it” Duncan announced abruptly. “Let’s get out of here.”
Luis turned to him, as they started down the stairs. “What do you plan to do, Duncan?”
“Raoul will decide what to do, when he wakes up” Duncan said firmly. “But I intend to have a name for him when he does.”
“He’ll go on a rampage” Luis warned softly, the image of the mangled cage lying lopsided on its bars still fresh.
“I, for one, will not stop him” Duncan announced with a grim look at the other Were-Alpha.
“Neither will I” Luis admitted “But you’re right, Duncan. It’d be good to have a name for him to channel his rage.”
“I’ll see you back at the Lair, Luis.” Duncan directed another grim look at the other Were-Alpha. “It’s time the Pack is informed about this.”
Luis’s expression blanked. The Pack was about to enter a period of turmoil, until the Alpha was back on his feet.
“I took the memory-stick from the camera” Duncan informed Tasia in the car. “Raoul will have it when he wakes up.”
Duncan studied her. Once he made his announcement at the Lair, he’d have his hands full with the Pack. Raoul’s condo had already been secured by his Shifters mounting a round-the-clock guard while the Alpha recuperated. Tasia would be safe there, Duncan decided.
“Raoul has a spare room” he said to her. “Use it, Tasia. Sara will stay with you and my Shifters will make sure no one disturbs you.”
“What about my room at the Lair?” Tasia looked uncertain, confused by the new arrangements.
“The Lair is not safe now, Tasia. Not for you. Raoul’s, on the other hand, will be guarded like Fort Knox. It’s the best place for you right now.”
Tasia stared at him, clearly bemused by the turn of events.
“I’ll hold down the fort at the Lair, until Raoul is back on his feet” Duncan explained. “You’ve had a rough twenty-four hours, Tasia. Rest up and call me if you need anything. Your cell has my number now.”
Tasia tried to process what Duncan was telling her.
“Alph’s in no position to defend himself, Tasia” Hawk chimed in soberly from the back seat. “Once the news gets out in the larger Pack, some Shifters might seize the opportunity to challenge the Alpha.”
Tasia turned around to stare at him.
“This is how Shifters rise in a Pack” the usually taciturn Joaquim unbent enough to explain to her, not unkindly.
Duncan glanced at her shocked visage. “It’s better for you to stay away, just in case things go south at the Lair. Joaquim will be right outside the condo, in case you require any assistance.”
Chapter 12
The Pack grapples with the fallout from the assault
Duncan strode into the Lair with Hawk by his side. A pall hung over the building, a sense of uneasiness and disquiet, like the lull before a storm. Their Alpha, the formidable Shifter who held their fractious Pack together with his power and strength, and his sheer personality, was missing. Regardless of what came next, this was a period of uncertainty for the Pack. And the Shifters did not deal well with uncertainty. They functioned well in the hierarchy of a Pack where each Shifter knew his place in the totem pole. Uncertainty, on the other hand, led to fights ove
r dominance and position. And, eventually, a gradual descent into chaos.
Duncan strode into the Pack Room, a purposeful air about him, unlike his usual laidback demeanor. The Pack Room, even at this late hour, teemed with Shifters. As he entered the room, the Shifters turned en masse to stare at him. Duncan caught a glimpse of Luis, his attitude one of heightened watchfulness. Duncan signaled to the Shifter on sentry duty to leave the door open. What he said here he intended the whole Lair to hear.
“Most of you have heard that the Alpha was ambushed with silver bullets last night” Duncan announced. For once, Duncan did not call the Alpha by his name, a symbolic nod to tradition he knew the Shifters would note. This was no longer about Raoul. This was about the Alpha Protector of the Northern California Pack. “What you might not know is that he was injected with silver by his captors and thrown into a cage reinforced with silver.”
Duncan paused, as the room gasped.
“How is he?” Maartje asked, not hiding her concern.
“There’s too much silver in his blood. He needs to heal.” Duncan was blunt.
The English Shifter glanced around the room to gauge the reactions. There was palpable shock at the modus operandi — the use of silver against a Shifter was considered particularly egregious. There was outrage at the caging of a Shifter. There was also concern for the Alpha scattered around the room — Raoul Merceau was a popular Alpha. He’d earned the respect of his Shifters by the fair way he dealt with them, by his prowess and dominance as a Wyr, as well as his ruthless and adroit handling of the Pack and its affairs. Shifters throughout the ages had been and would continue to be predisposed to muscular leadership — that was the only way to guarantee a stable Pack, safeguard the Pack’s interests in the wider Chosen world, and retain absolute control over Pack territory. Duncan also sensed a hardening resolution in the gathered Shifters that the perpetrators be punished quickly — with this came a hint of anticipation of some blood-letting. Their natural aggression would always make Shifters enthusiastic at the prospect of a fight. But cutting through the cauldron of emotions running high in the room was an undercurrent of watchfulness and unease about what the short term held for the Pack. This last one was what Duncan intended to address. The rest he’d leave up to Raoul to handle once he was back on his feet. Duncan was confident that Raoul could handle the fallout with his usual adroitness, as well as punish the perpetrators. But first, Raoul needed to fight off the silver poisoning his system. And Duncan was here to give him all the time he needed to heal, by keeping the Alpha’s metaphorical chair free from any untimely challenges.