Steel Heart

by R. J. Blain

  The doubt in Lauren’s voice would haunt me, too. “Does it feel like he brought anyone else into the pack?”

  “No, it doesn’t. He never managed to ensnare you into the pack, though. We’d wondered about that. He forced you to stay in the house without you being in the pack. We couldn’t make sense of it. For all we could tell, he believed you belonged to him.”

  “I’m a stubborn tiger with zero desire to be bound to him in any shape or form. I’m just sorry there wasn’t anything I could do to help you sooner.”

  “Smart woman. No, we don’t blame you for resisting him. We only wish we could have, too. And we definitely don’t blame you for anything. You did what we thought was impossible. I’m grateful you accomplished the impossible.”

  Arguing wouldn’t help matters, so I forced my thoughts back to business. “Let’s tear this place apart. If you find anything regarding the government, let me know. I can deal with it—or I know who to contact. Does this area have phones, or will I need to find a telegraph station?”

  “Yes, we’re connected. We got lines last year. We can call most major cities, but the call quality is poor. Ferdinand said he has a phone.”

  A phone changed everything. Calling the Secret Service would light a fire under my aunt’s ass faster than a Starfall stone. “I need that phone.”

  Rachelle waddled off and waved her hand. “I’ll look for the phone and give a shout when I find it. I can’t read, anyway—but I’ve seen a phone before.”

  She wasn’t the only wolf who couldn’t read, and they joined the heavily pregnant woman in her quest for the device. None of them could, which made the pack’s house the perfect place for Ferdinand to store research material without worrying about the women figuring out his plans.

  “Okay. He probably has an office in here some—”

  “Phone!” Rachelle announced. “In here.”

  Well, I wouldn’t complain about early access to Ferdinand’s phone, although I would have preferred a few more minutes to prepare and to think about how to explain everything that had happened over the past month.

  I went in the room where Rachelle proclaimed there was a phone to discover a paper-filled office. “Thank you, Rachelle. This is probably going to be where we figure out what he’s been up to. Do you want to get off your feet?”

  “I’m fine so far, but thank you. I’ll help the others tear this place apart. I bet the bastard has cash squirreled away somewhere. Once we find the money, I’ll take care of feeding us properly. I was worried he’d make us eat those poor goats and the chickens. They’re such sweet animals.” Her expression soured. “We’ll eat properly at the pack’s house. You, too. You must be starved. You’ve eaten so little since you’ve joined us.”

  I was, but my stomach took mercy and didn’t gurgle a demand for food.

  “I’ll have to tell them somewhere where we’ll be. What’s the best place?” I asked.

  “The pack’s house, I guess. We’re all comfortable with it, and it’s clean. You know the address?”

  “I know it.” I couldn’t get out of wolf country fast enough, and if I had my way, I’d never step foot into Knoxville ever again. I went to the phone, picked up the receiver, and put it to my ear, bracing for a dead line.

  The tone left me weak from relief, and I sat in the chair before the overburdened desk, and spun the rotary dial as I’d been taught. After a click, the phone rang.

  “Secret Service dispatch,” a woman’s voice answered. “Please identify yourself.”

  I drew in a deep breath and prepared myself for the chaos. “It’s Stiletto. I’m in Knoxville, Tennessee, and there’s a pack of women with me who also require assistance.”

  “Please stay on the line, ma’am. We are now in process of tracing your call. What is your current situation?”

  “Pissed off, mostly. Ferdinand, formerly of Dawnfire, is dead. Marie, one of the wives of the Lancers’ Alliance’s guild leader, was likewise an accomplice. She is also deceased. There is something planned for three to four weeks from now, but I’m not sure what, but they plan on using the Hope Diamond for their plot. There’s paperwork here that needs to be sorted through which might tell us more.”

  The papers would tell me more, and I was relieved I wouldn’t have to play stupid even a minute longer.

  “What is the current status of the Hope Diamond?”

  “Around my neck as usual,” I complained. “I am also in possession of Steel Heart and Sunder.”

  The stones would cause me problems, but in a way, I appreciated their presence.

  They shined whenever I felt truly alone, as did the Hope Diamond.

  Sunder, however, scared me. Whenever I looked at it, I got the feeling it hungered, and it wouldn’t stop until it devoured every weapon in the world. I wondered if any Starfall stone could protect against its power.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  Assuming I wasn’t able to stop Ferdinand’s plan or otherwise dispose of his prized weapon, I had plans for Sunder.

  “I will make your primary agent aware, and I will have him dispatched to your location immediately.”

  “Agent Randal?” I asked, unable to keep the waver out of my voice.

  “Agent Randal is still your primary agent, ma’am. I regret to inform you Agent Simmons was killed in the line of duty. He was given full honors at his burial.”

  I closed my eyes and sighed. “I was with him when he died. I’m aware. I didn’t know if Randal had survived.”

  “While Agent Randal was injured, he has since recovered and has been working on finding you.”

  “Have you gotten a trace on the call?”

  “We have confirmed you are located in Knoxville.”

  I told the woman the address of the pack’s house and how to get there. “We’re going to get as much information as we can from one of the conspirators. They wanted the Hope Diamond as part of their plan.”

  “Understood.” The woman barked orders, relaying my information to someone nearby. She also gave marching orders for Randal to head towards the Knoxville area along with a team. I waited until she finished before saying, “There are numerous women who were bitten by Ferdinand against their will. Thirteen, I think. At least several of them are pregnant. Can you request Cleo and Todd? They’re…”

  I hesitated, unwilling to call them damaged despite it being the truth. They’d gone through too much.

  “Traumatized,” the woman supplied. “Yes. We have been briefed on the consequences of a wolf’s bite and what happens to women following the death of their mated wolf. I will put in the request, and I will find others who should be able to assist with your situation. Were you bitten?”

  “I would call myself unpleasantly tenderized, pissed, and so help me, if my tiger isn’t with Randal, I will not be happy.”

  She chuckled. “Understood, ma’am. I am certain someone will ensure that Head Tiger accompanies your agent to Knoxville. He has been an active participant in the search for you.”

  I bet. “Tell him I’m fine, please. It won’t help much, but he may be a little less growly.”

  “I will do that, ma’am. I—”

  The woman yelped, and the line clattered. I wondered who had barged in when word had spread I’d called in.

  “Jesse?” Anatoly growled.

  “Don’t you growl at me,” I replied, and to make it clear he shouldn’t push my buttons, I hissed at him.

  He hissed back.

  I narrowed my eyes. “I am reserving my roar for when I can do so in your face.”

  “And mine will be louder. By far.”

  In his dreams. I had weeks of frustration to work out, and unlike in Fort Lauderdale, I wasn’t near dead from illness and injury. “I’m fine. Bring me my agent. I took care of the problems personally, but I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Anything.”

  “Marie was involved.”

  Anatoly sighed, and in his voice, I heard defeat and grief. “We know. Todd knows.
He figured it out when she abandoned their youngest foal and left town following the attack. Nobody has been able to track where she went; she’d hop trains, go somewhere, get on a train again, and move on before anyone could catch up with her. He’s beside himself with rage and grief. His little girl doesn’t understand why one of the other mares has taken over her care. The herd’s a mess, and they’ve been doing a lot of soul searching—and learning if anyone else was involved. None of the other mares were. Just Marie. She was still in the herd when she died.”

  That bitch. “I dumped her body, buried her with some rocks, and I regret I showed her even that courtesy after I finished her off. I carved my mark her forehead right down to the fucking bone.”

  “I’ll let Todd know. Is that what you wanted?”

  “She had a clean death. Frankly, I should’ve drawn it out and made her suffer. She betrayed Todd.”

  “And she forgot you deal with traitors in one way: you kill them. Are you all right?”

  “I’m all right. I was tenderized, but Ferdinand was an old and stupid wolf. He couldn’t even draw me into his pack. He’s bitten a lot of women. Some are pregnant. I thought Todd might help.”

  “It’ll be good for him. How many?”

  “I don’t know exactly. At least five? One’s due soon. I asked for Cleo. He’s good. Ferdinand wasn’t taking care of them. They’re malnourished, Nate. I had to convince him he should feed them more, but they haven’t eaten enough.”

  Using his nickname would send a message, one that went beyond my usual formality with my tiger, especially as I reserved Ana for when I teased him.

  Anatoly sighed. “I’ll make sure they’re taken care of. Forced?”

  “All of them.”

  “And you?”

  “I’ll heal. He didn’t want to sully himself on a damned cat.”

  Anatoly growled at that. “You’ve earned ten bites and anything else I feel like doing to you for that comment.”

  Damn. I grinned at the thought of my tiger finally snapping and going for me like he meant it. I planned on enjoying every moment of it. “It’s nothing a little time won’t fix. I ripped the bastard’s throat out, took his stuff, and left him to rot. I’m now in his house looking through his shit and using his phone.”

  “Good. You’re sure you’re all right?”

  “As I said, I’ve been thoroughly tenderized, but I’ve been through worse beatings. I’ll be back in shape before you figure out how to get your ass on a train and get here. Ferdinand and his asshole accomplices intend to take on the government using the Hope Diamond. How, I’m not sure exactly. I’m presuming something combustible; he had a lot of books about various technology that used combustion.”

  “We’ll be ready for them. But I’m coming for you. It’ll be twelve hours, roughly. It depends on when the next train leaves. But it won’t leave without us. Someone was calling the station when I came in.”

  “How did you get in there so quickly, anyway?”

  “I’m wired because I told them if I didn’t hear about you immediately, I would kill somebody. I only get looped in about anything involving you, but that’s all I wanted. There’s a lot of chatter on the line right now. I was just down the hall on my way to a meeting. I have skipped the meeting. I’ll toss the First Gentleman into the crater if he tries to make me go to that damned meeting.”

  Anatoly snarled, the phone clattered, and I wondered who’d get the receiver next. According to the snarls, growls, hisses, and other feline displays, Randal had barreled in and wanted a piece of my tiger.

  Waiting bore fruit, and whoever had won the battle for the phone panted.

  “Are you finished?” I asked, careful to keep my tone mild to keep my tiger somewhat calm, assuming he’d kept hold of the phone.

  “For now,” Anatoly replied. “I’m sitting on your agent. It’s my turn with the phone, and I refuse to relinquish it to anyone. You’re mine.”

  Tigers. My tiger, in particular, would need a great deal of nibbling and cuddling to calm down. “Yes, yes. Go catch your train and bring my agent with you. I have to finish robbing this house, and then we’ll meet up at the pack’s house. Don’t be late.” I sighed. “I want a hug, and I want my nibbles. But my neck hurts because Ferdinand tore up my throat thinking that’d actually work. It didn’t. And I don’t care how much it costs, not a single damned one of these will scar. I’ll kidnap your mystic if I must, damn it. I’ll assault the damned President of the United States if needed!”

  “Everything will be fine. If Henry can’t and your aunt doesn’t coerce one of her mystics to take care of it, I’ll take care of it. How bad is it?”

  “Every time he couldn’t get a bite to stick, he’d try again. He assumed they were working a little, and that he just had to bite me enough times to make it stick. And they just don’t heal. Well, they’re healing now.”

  “Because he’s dead. How badly does it hurt?”

  I wouldn’t tell him the nips, nibbles, and bite he’d decorated me with had hurt more than Ferdinand’s pitiable efforts; he’d beat himself up over it before adding a few extra bites to the mix because he could. “It hurts. I’ve dealt with worse. My shoulder? That was worse.”

  “I’ll be there soon. I’m going to give the phone back to the dispatcher so we can catch the train.”

  “Tell Randal I’m okay.”

  “I will. And you better still be okay when I get there.”

  The phone transferred hands again, and the dispatcher asked, “Will you be safe until a team can reach you?”

  “I should be. We’re going to lie as low as we can, but we’ll be ready if anyone tries anything.”

  Without Ferdinand holding the entire pack of women hostage, I could do what I did best: fight.

  We exchanged a few pleasantries before hanging up. Turning to Lauren, I said, “We tear this place apart, and after, we will go to the pack’s house. If anyone interferes with us, retaliate. Violently. You are wolves. Show them you are not prey. If the pack house isn’t safe, we’ll go to a hotel and pay for it with Ferdinand’s money.”

  They bared their teeth in a wolfish grin promising blood and misery to any who crossed them.

  Ferdinand had damaged them, but they weren’t broken.

  It was a good start.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ferdinand had kept all of his illegal dealings locked in an iron safe, but not even three inches of metal could bar me from gaining access. My anger provoked the Hope Diamond, which devoured the iron in a shower of sparks. Sunder joined in, and what the Hope Diamond didn’t consume, it did. The Starfall stones gleamed blue before darkening. The wolves stared, their mouths hanging open while blue and black smoke finished engulfing the safe and leaving only its contents in its wake.

  “Do you think that counts as a burst?” I asked, waving my hand to in a futile effort to clear the air. It took almost twenty minutes for the scentless haze to dissipate. A stack of papers, a pile of cash, and a shocking collection of Starfall stones littered the floor, spilling everywhere without the iron walls of the safe containing them. I went for the stones first, which glowed in a rainbow of colors beneath the light of the Hope Diamond.

  I assumed they, too, belonged to some weapon clan or another. At the rate I was going, I would be the sole owner of every weapon clan stone in existence. I slipped the stones into my belt pouch with the others, discovered they wouldn’t all fit, and crammed the rest into my pockets as the damned things refused to leave me alone.

  Rachelle peeked into my pouch. “Why would Ferdinand want those Starfall stones? They don’t look special.”

  “They belong to various weapon clans. All part of his ploy to destroy the United States government, I presume.”

  “That fool.”

  The possibility—no, probability—of Ferdinand being involved with the original theft of the Hope Diamond bothered me. It colored my thoughts, adding a dark miasma to everything that had happened. My heart still hurt whenever I witnessed my horse�
��s struggles to recover from her sickness. Adrian had kept his word, but she had just gotten to the point she could be ridden again before Ferdinand had kidnapped me and taken me to Tennessee. “If Ferdinand is involved with what I think he is, I’ve seen horses sick from whatever it does. It’s very hard for them to recover. It took a lot of help for Miracle to survive. She did, barely. If they weaponize this thing like they want, a lot of people will die.”

  If anything could weaponize that mysterious toxin, it was the Hope Diamond.

  “We’ll stop them,” Lauren swore. “I won’t see that bastard’s plans survive. Not now.”

  Without Ferdinand’s bite on them, the women could once again exercise true free will. For that alone, coping with my time in Tennessee had been worth my while. I wished I could kill him over and over again, once for each time he’d stolen someone’s life and forced her to do his bidding.

  All I could do was focus on the little things: because he’d bitten so many, they’d escape his death with little consequence—I hoped. I’d obeyed his commands for their sake, enduring bite after bite while pretending I wavered a little more, faking obedience to keep his ire from landing on the true victims of his crime, the women of his pack.

  I never wanted to smell so much fear again.

  “I don’t know how involved they’ll let us be. But we’ll try.”

  While it would be rude, I could leave right before they were scheduled to arrive, acquiring horses and beginning a mad dash across the country.

  Taking the train would be faster.

  “Who is coming?”

  “A very small army of stubborn people, I expect. It’ll probably include my mate, who is a Siberian tiger, my aunt, who is a grizzly bear, my uncle, who is also a grizzly bear, and my other uncle, who is a rabbit. He’s the most blood-thirsty rabbit to plague the United States, so you watch out for him. The stallion who will take care of you and your puppies will probably be coming. Marie’s stallion. Todd’s a good man, although he’s definitely a whore of a horse.”