“Is this why we couldn’t find the corrupted shifters after Orion vanished?” Jeques breathed, looking ill. “Was there nothing to find?”
Thinking back, I tried to recall how many had been at Kizin Mountain. Perhaps fifty, for sure. But the freedom fighters and Bloodfang ranks had once been in the hundreds. Maybe the thousands.
“Was Orion working for the SB all along?” I wondered.
“We’ll have to figure that out another time,” Xander said. “So, Orion knows you, what you can do, and your relationship with Tiani. So did the Greyclaw. Damn.”
"Guess we'll find out when they come to get me," Iris said. There were exclamations from Xander, Jeques, and Fallon. My head bowed, my heart a dull, thudding wound tearing in my chest. Iris caught my hand. "No, listen. Give me a Hopper. I'll go with them, get Tiani, and come back."
“That is a reckless, stupid plan!” Fallon cried. “You could be killed. You could be…”
“They want the translations,” Iris said. “So, if it is Orion, at least he’s now realized what a huge mistake he made.”
“Iris,” I said, and my eyes lifted to hers.
“Can you think of anything else?” she asked. “Any other ideas where Tiani isn’t killed because I was a coward?” There was silence in the room. “You would all willingly leap into the fray for someone you cared about.”
Sitting there, it was like the walls were crashing in around me. The thought of Iris not being here with me, alone at the mercy of these cruel bastards…I couldn’t tolerate it. I couldn’t let her go.
The plan came together, and I glanced up at Xander, who started. His eyes bored into mine, and he wanted to say no, but he couldn’t deny the logic of it. It made perfect sense.
If we could get them to bite.
“You all right, boss?” Jeques asked, looking at Xander.
He forced himself to smile and nod, even as a muscle in his jaw worked. "Sure. Let me talk to Finch and Beylore. You guys sit tight."
“I should get changed,” Iris said and got up, pressing a kiss to my cheek.
There was silence, and when I looked up, Fallon and I were alone. “You’re going to let her go?” I shook my head. “You’re going to stop her?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“What?” Fallon demanded, and she paled. “Kal, no, whatever you’re thinking—”
Getting up, I crossed over and hugged my cousin. “You’ll tell the family?”
“You’re such a stupid jackass of a bear,” she said and gripped me more tightly. “Kal, there has to be another way.”
“And you’re the best cousin a guy could ask for. Tell Rett that, too, in case I don’t see him.” I ruffled her hair when I stepped away. “I can’t let my mate face this alone.”
Fallon gave a tight nod, and I went upstairs.
Iris was in what was now our room, wearing camo pants and a black shirt, the old Winfyre standby. Her back was to me, and I watched her checking over things, pulling her hair into a ponytail as she stepped up to the window. I stepped in and shut the door, not sure what to say until the words were in the air between us.
“I love you.”
She whipped around, eyes huge and red. “Kal, I…”
“I’ve been in love with you since I first saw you,” I said and softly snapped my fingers. “Like that. Gone. Completely yours. Started falling and haven’t stopped.” Letting out a laugh, I crossed the room and sank down on the edge of the bed. When we’d woken up this morning, I’d never thought… Iris half-turned, watching me. “It scared the shit out of me. You did, too.”
Iris took several deep breaths. “Kal, I’m trying really hard to keep it together right now.”
“And I should have told you sooner,” I said. “You’re my mate.”
She nodded and rubbed at her face. “I thought so.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Iris. I wanted you to know.” I blew out a breath. “There’s something else I should tell you, before you say—”
I was cut off by Iris’s crashing into me, arms around my neck and lips against mine. We kissed savagely, sweetly, and everything in between. Until we broke apart, gasping, and simply held onto each other.
Finally, we heard Fallon calling for us up the stairs.
“Tell me when I get back,” Iris said and kissed me again. “And I’ve got something to tell you, too.”
“Can’t wait,” I said.
“Everything in place?” I asked Tristan and Luke in a low voice as we strode along. Ahead of us were Xander, Fallon, Jeques, and several other shifters. Behind us were Sierra and Iris, Sierra trying to give Iris pointers in a shaking voice. “Tristan?”
“What?” he snapped. “Yes.”
“Now you know how it feels,” I said lightly, and Tristan gave me a stricken look. “Dude, I’m kidding. Tryin’ to lighten the mood.”
Luke and Tristan both knew of my plan, the former in a silent rage, and the latter in a not-so-quiet one. These idiots were going to blow my cover if they didn’t chill.
This is why Rett isn’t here, I thought wryly.
“There are so many friggin’ things that could go wrong,” Luke suddenly said in a harsh whisper. “You tellin’ me this is the best damn plan we could come up with?”
“Unfortunately,” I drawled. “We’re a bit short on time.”
We’d gone over it from as many angles as we could. At the very least, Iris had to be there to meet whoever it was that wanted her. But we would demand proof of life. There was always a chance they’d taken Tiani’s ring and not her. Or that Tiani might have already departed this world.
Grimness hung over my thoughts. There was no doubt in my mind the Greyclaw were somehow involved. Or was this Orion trying to get back at Winfyre again?
“Did we let our guard down?” Tristan muttered.
Neither of us answered him. We’d arrived, and Tristan moved off to the side, folding his arms tightly across his chest. Sierra went up to him, and he pulled her against him, hard. Luke briefly gripped my shoulder.
Then Iris was standing next to me, and my arm was around her waist. Inhaling her scent and letting her soft hair rub across my cheek, I said softly, “We need proof of life, Iris. No proof, you don’t go.”
“I can’t leave her to die, Kal.”
“It could be a trick.”
“She’d never take off that ring,” Iris said.
“Kal.” Xander’s voice pulled me away from Iris after I gave her a reassuring squeeze. His dark hair was messy, and his blue eyes stormy. “What if we brought in Yana?”
“There might not be time for that,” I said. “If we’re lucky, Tiani will be with them. I don’t think she will be, though. My guess is that it will be a guard and an augris.”
“Clever and risky to keep so much in the dark.” He paused, and we both glanced at Tristan, who scowled darkly.
“Think he’ll ever forgive me?” I asked.
“It was his idea,” Xander replied, as we both looked away as Tristan kissed his mate rather vigorously. “You were against it.”
When we looked back, Sierra had vanished, and Tristan had shifted into a tiger, tail lashing in absolute fury. Luke, shifted into his massive wolf form, came up and nudged him.
Then his hackles went up, and around the clearing, everyone tensed. Xander and I moved over to either side of Iris, while Fallon stepped out in front, radiating cold fury.
“Hello, Winfyre.” Shauna Lind, Luke’s murderous ex, was grinning at us. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a neat bun, and she was wearing a military-grade black coat buckled to her chin and camo pants. Shifters and men in masks flanked her. “Miss me?”
Chapter Forty
Iris
There were some people you despised at first sight. Some primal instinct jumped up your throat and made you recoil in disgust. And, as pretty as the blonde leading the charge might be, the way her skin stretched with her smile made me shudder to think what monster was hiding beneath.
She
looked at me, and I suddenly felt absurdly young. Too foolish to be involved in such machinations. But my fists clenched as I got a grip and glared at her.
We were standing in a clearing a little beyond the gates, an agreed upon neutral meeting spot. Nothing about it felt neutral now as Xander stepped forward and held out a hand.
“You’re working with her, Norson?” he asked coldly, and one of the men took off his mask, revealing Hamlet Norson, fair-haired, arrogant, and handsome. “Do you even know what she is?”
“Helpful,” Norson said, and his men chuckled.
Oh, so this was all showmanship and posturing. I rolled my eyes. Next to me, Kal crackled with rage, and I suddenly wished I hadn't been coy earlier. I should've told him how I felt. I'd thought those words, unsaid, were like a talisman. I had to come back.
Now I wasn’t so sure. Everything was happening too fast.
“You’re holding the life of one of your own for her kind of help?” Xander was revolted, and I could see his calm cracking. “When the other territories—”
“Wake up, Bane,” Norson interrupted. “There’s a war coming with the Tiselk. They’ve aligned themselves with the Excris, and they are coming for us.”
A barking laugh escaped Kal, who strode forward. "So, this is the poison you've been dripping in their ear, Lind?" His question was low and dangerous. "There is no war with the Tiselk, you shithead. The Bloodfang and the Stasis Bureau are your real concern." Kal was glaring at Lind, his chest rising and falling with the kind of fury that made me wonder what she'd done. "No matter what mask or mouthpiece they're using. We didn't realize yours was still in rotation."
"Spare us the self-righteous speeches, Deacon," Lind said with a familiarity that made my stomach twist. "Still think it could've worked between us, big guy." Her voice dropped to a purr, and I saw the malice in her face as her eyes darted to Luke. "Hear my ex is a daddy these days. Too bad grandpa isn't around to meet him, huh?"
There was a soft, terrible snarl to my left, and I saw Luke standing there, staring her down. Tristan had maneuvered himself between them, and a bone-cracking sadness seemed to come from all four Alphas. I remembered something Reagan had told me, then. How withdrawn Luke had been when she’d first met him, how he’d held himself together as carefully as Kal. And she'd alluded to an ex who'd used the information against Luke to go after his father.
I pulled in a gasp, remembering the bounties and the way people had turned on each other.
No way, I thought, and a hand went to my head, a sudden sharp headache pounding through it. She turned in Luke’s dad for a bounty, and they killed him.
I had no idea how I knew it, but I did. It was one of those strange, sure moments of clarity, and I shook a bit from the shock of it. And for a second, it was like I was seeing into the oily sheen of her black heart, the swirl of hatred and fear, the never-ending torment behind her cruel smile. How much Lind relished causing pain because it was all she knew.
“Where’s Tiani?” I asked and pushed forward. Kal caught my wrist. “What do you want with me? The book?” I held up Orion’s original. “Fine.” I met Lind’s cold eyes and didn’t quake, although something in me recoiled. “Nothing is worth more than a life.”
I thought I could see the nightmares in her eyes, the way the cash she had earned was splattered with dark red.
“What about yours?” Lind asked mockingly, and her eyes went to Kal’s. “She’s cute.”
“No matter how much you get, Lind, it always has that stain, doesn’t it?” I asked.
“Oh, dear, did you ask me something? I forget.” But something about the twist of Lind’s mouth said I’d discomfited her. “Norson.”
"Tiani is fine, Iris," Norson said in an unexpected and warm voice. "She can't wait to see you. And I promise she's alive. Unhurt."
I let my lip curl as I ran my eyes over him. Trying so hard to be the big bad boss and not caring how he got there. He’d let his ego get the better of him, and the pride of the Greyclaw wasn’t enough. He wanted the Tiselk; he wanted the kind of respect that the Northbane carried.
“Why was her ring covered in blood, then?”
Norson’s eyes flickered and darted to Kal. There was a clarity to everything that I couldn’t understand. But I did know, knew in my bones, that Norson had thought the Alphas would shelter me from it. That my mate wouldn’t want me to worry.
“My mate doesn’t coddle me or condescend,” I said. “He respects me. And if you hurt her…”
Norson laughed, a sneering expression coming over his face. “You’ll do what? Oh my, Iris, thinking you’re so important because someone paid attention to you for a change. Please, there’s no way the likes of you can keep him entertained for long. Pretty or not, he’ll—”
Kal let out a snarl, and Xander made a movement, probably holding him back. “Norson,” the leader of Winfyre said, “I’m about three seconds from letting my shifters tear you apart.” The soft, deadly promise of those words made the hair rise on my neck. “Answer Iris’s question, politely, or I’ll be happy to let Kal teach you some manners.”
Norson’s face contorted, and Lind stepped forward. “You’ve already screwed this up once, Norson. Let me handle it.”
Something flickered in the air between them, and Norson fell back, abashed. Bits and pieces were coming together, something nudging in the back of my mind. I put a hand to my head again, the lights around me suddenly too bright.
“Iris, are you okay?” Kal asked in a low voice, his hand on my neck.
‘Yes, I’m…” I looked at him and blinked. “You’re keeping something from me.”
“What?” he asked, startled. “I…”
“You’ll get no proof of life, Northbane,” Lind said. “You got the ring, the letter. You brought Iris and the book. We take her, and we let Tiani go. We don’t, and Tiani dies. It makes no difference to me.”
Something about that struck me as wrong, and I shook my head.
“Take me instead.”
My entire body went cold, and I whipped my head around to Kal. He wasn’t looking at me but at Lind, sure and steady. “I was a codebreaker in the service. Iris has no part in this. I didn’t take her because she was a Riftborn; I took her because she was my mate. And you know the lengths that I’ll go to if something happens to her. This is easier. No fuss, no complaint.”
“What?” I cried out. This is what he'd been keeping from me, the bastard. “No, Kal, you can’t.”
“Kal will help you, and we will owe you one favor for his safe return in one month.” Xander was struggling to keep his breathing even, the first time I’d seen him lose control, and mine cracked. “As well as Tiani Elkhadi’s. Don’t comply, and we come looking. You don’t want that.”
“Kal, no, no,” I said and grabbed his arm, trying to get him to look at me. “You are not doing this. You’re—I’m the one you want.” I pointed at myself and tried to rush forward, but someone grabbed me, strong hands keeping me in place. “Stop, let me go. I’m the translator. Billy Sarrow knew that! That’s why he went after me. Kal, don’t you do this—don’t you dare.”
“Shut her up so I can think!” Lind barked, and I choked with rage. “Mm, can’t say I saw this coming. What’s the catch?”
“No catch,” Kal said and pulled out black cords from his pocket. Fallon made a sound in her throat, and other shifters stirred, muttering. For the first time, a dark panic seemed to swamp the Northbane, and they understood they weren’t getting out of this one. They were going to lose. We were going to lose Kal. I was going to lose Kal.
“A gesture of goodwill,” my mate added.
“Inhibitor bands,” Lind said, and I started, staring at them. “On an Alpha. This I have to see.”
I resumed fighting, and the man behind me let out a grunt. Tristan. “Don’t let him do this,” I screamed. “Stop—stop, Kal, no, no you can’t.” I was becoming incoherent, and sobs were pushing up my throat. “You’re-you’re my—”
My family.
<
br /> “Come on, Iris, calm down; he’s got this under control,” Tristan was whispering.
“No, no, no!” I begged.
I watched as Xander took the bands and put them around Kal’s wrists held out in front of him. Kal winced, and I watched as they switched off his ability to shift. Sierra had told me about them, in a jovial and laughing voice, but now there was nothing funny about them.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Tristan said in my ear. “I promise. Please calm down.”
“What’s to stop her from killing him like she did Luke’s dad?” I snapped, and he made a shocked sound. “And something—they’re not saying something. About Tiani and Orion.”
“This has nothing to do with Orion, sweetie,” Lind called over.
“Bullshit,” I spat.
“You’ve served your purpose, so shut up,” Lind snapped. “You’re giving me a headache.”
“Kal,” I pleaded. “Kal, let them take me, please. I can’t…”
He glanced back and gave me a soft, sweet smile. One that said everything.
You’re stronger than me. You can handle it. And I have to do this, for you, for Winfyre.
“Kal, no,” I whispered.
He was going to get Tiani back and see what they were up to. It was the perfect spy situation. So perfect, in fact, that it sounded like an exploit worthy of the Sphinx herself.
Suddenly, I became conscious of the furious heartbeat and ragged control Tristan had. Sierra was going to go with Kal, invisible and in disguise. She had a Hopper and would get them out.
For a moment, I relaxed. It was a wild plan, but it would work.
Until I saw the leap of loathing and triumph in Lind’s eyes.
She’d find another way to get the damn codebreaker if that’s what it came to. But she wasn’t going to miss this opportunity to take out one of the Northbane Alphas. It would teach the Greyclaw not to screw things up like they had with Lisay.
Ice Bear's Bid (Northbane Shifters Book 4) Page 31