by Dianna Love
“It might be the same if I had intended to share all I know right now, but that’s not the case.” She cut back around, now having to look directly into intense eagle eyes, which had darkened in a bad way.
Sensing the Guardian’s irritation, now Rory had the urge to pull her to him and talk her way out of this mess, but she bulldozed ahead. “I will make good on my offer and I’ll gladly tell you everything I know about the camps they kept me in, how they operate, and the people involved. I may not know their names and specific location details, but I’m good with faces.”
When she paused, the Guardian took his time before asking, “What is the catch?”
“I have to save the man I consider a brother. The man who helped me escape. He escaped after I did, but he doesn’t speak good English when he gets flustered and he has problems with his power.”
Justin took a slug of coffee, put the cup down, and asked, “What kind of power? What is he?”
Rory waited to see what she’d say.
Siofra said, “I don’t know how to describe what he is, because he doesn’t seem to know. He has moments where he can’t control his body and he talks to himself. He said he’d lived in the mountains of China for a long time before being brought here six months ago.”
“Is this Baatar Chinese?” Justin asked.
“I don’t think so,” she said, concentrating hard on her answer. “He doesn’t have their facial features and he’s huge. He has an odd accent. I don’t know what it is, but not Chinese.” She clasped her hands in front of her and said, “All he wants is to be free to find peace. Like I said, he has more strength than a human his size, but one time he had a seizure of some sort and passed out. I thought he’d died. He needs someone to be there when those moments get bad. I have no allegiance to the Cadells. If you help me find Baatar and promise to help him, I agree to spend two days answering any questions you have on them. But ... only if I can go free after that as well.”
Rory’s heart and his jaguar screamed no.
Not because he didn’t want for her to find her friend or to live free, but because he didn’t want her to leave at all. He wanted her where he could keep her safe from Cadells and any other threat.
If the Black River pack or Cadells got their hands on Siofra again, she would die. He knew it.
But the longer he stayed around her, the more difficult it was to fight his animal who wanted her as their mate and to stick to his own conviction of never mating.
What was his option, then? Ask Justin or Cole to go with Siofra?
What if something happened to one of them and they didn’t make it back? From what Rory had been told, Gallize mate for life. That would leave either Tess or Eli a widow with no hope of a mate for the rest of either woman’s life.
Tess was pregnant.
Just because he felt this insane need to put his neck out there to keep Siofra safe didn’t mean he should risk his friends’ lives or that of any other Gallize shifter.
Justin pissed him off on a daily basis lately, but he and Cole always had Rory’s back and he had theirs.
Silence blanketed the room as they all waited on the Guardian’s decision. He sat forward, leaning one arm on the table when he spoke to Siofra.
“I will agree to this if you can find Baatar in one week.”
Her face fell. “One week? That’s not enough.”
Not losing his temper, the Guardian explained, “My shifters stay very busy dealing with closing down Jugo Loco operations, protecting humans and innocent shifters, plus aiding in the protection of national security here as well as in other countries. Even if it takes months of planning, when we send a team in, they handle most operations in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. A week is extremely generous.”
She brightened and her voice filled with relief. “Oh, no problem. I don’t want an entire team. I can’t take more than one person with me anyhow. Baatar would be wary if more than one accompanied me. He trusts no shifters and would believe I was being used for a trap. No team. Just one, please.”
The Guardian sat quietly then said, “You may have one, but your deadline is still going to be seven days.”
Rory mentally thanked his boss, because he needed a deadline. He’d decided he couldn’t dump this on Cole or Justin. He’d have to do his duty and keep his hands to himself, which should be simple with Siofra pissed at him.
She sat up. “Okay, then I agree, but I want to leave immediately.”
Rory drew in air to argue that this could wait for them to leave in the morning.
The Guardian said, “You may leave as soon as you and our shifter are ready. Justin will assign someone to take Rory’s place. That shifter will have what he needs, plus he’ll arrange for whatever you need, then you can leave.”
“What?” Rory said on a blast of exhale.
His boss looked up sharply. “Is there a problem?”
Rory hated saying the words that came to mind, because it would not go well, but that didn’t stop him. “I’m here now and ready to roll. I know everything there is about this situation, so we could leave immediately.” There went his chance to wait until morning.
Justin addressed Siofra. “You two seem to be at odds right now. Sure you wouldn’t prefer someone else?”
“You mean like you, bear?” Rory asked with a sarcastic cut. He was trying to protect the son of a bitch. “Tired of being home already?”
“You’re a piece of work lately, you know that?” Justin muttered.
Siofra stewed quietly, but said, “If he’ll leave tonight, I’ll go with ... him. I only need his expertise and muscle. Anyone would be fine.”
Rory glared at her.
She must have felt it. She turned and glared right back.
He got it. She was still angry he wouldn’t let her take off on her own back at the park. She had a point about them having no reason to hold her when she’d committed no crime beyond trying to survive.
In her shoes, he’d be out of patience.
Justin grinned for the first time since coming in the room. “If our boss has no objections ... ” Justin paused and looked to the Guardian who gave a curt nod before the bear finished saying, “Then good hunting, cat.”
Rory couldn’t make up his mind if he was relieved or not. Justin’s short tone and the Guardian’s grim expression didn’t bode well for his future.
Ferrell had no trouble. He growled softly like he did when he got his way.
The Guardian stood. “I’d like to see you for a moment, Rory. Justin, would you make arrangements for transportation and whatever Siofra needs?”
“Yes, sir.”
Rory followed the Guardian out with one last look at Justin, who he’d expected to be smirking. That wasn’t the case. His friend met his gaze with one of disappointment.
He didn’t have time to ask Justin what the hell that was all about when the Guardian couldn’t be happy with Rory. His boss had to have noticed the tension between him and Siofra.
Just what Rory lived for, a road trip with a pissed-off female.
Ferrell sent him the image of a happy jaguar riding in a convertible with Siofra driving.
Bastard.
Rory fully expected to catch hell for getting involved with a woman he was supposed to be guarding. What if the Guardian had only agreed out there to end the meeting so he could tell Rory in private that Justin was going with Siofra after all?
The Guardian had the ability to make any decision he chose when it came to his Gallize shifters. But that decision would be a problem.
Rory couldn’t stand aside and let her go with someone else. He had serious concerns about keeping Ferrell contained if that happened.
He had his argument ready, even though odds were against him winning an argument with the boss.
As soon as they were alone, the Guardian turned to him with a rigid composure that never seemed to hiccup. “You’re still killing your jaguar. I think I know why.”
Chapter 21
Rory swallowed
hard, searching for anything to say. Why would the Guardian say he was still killing his jaguar? Things weren’t fixed yet, but he was managing. With nothing better to use as an argument, he blurted out, “My leg has healed perfectly.”
“I saw that and what Siofra did was impressive, but you haven’t healed your jaguar. I can feel your power waning.”
That was not what Rory expected to hear. “I understand, sir, but I will fix this and get better.”
“Even if you can, which I am having serious doubts about, you’re volunteering yet again.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I may still send someone else,” the Guardian said, and not in a threatening manner. He simply stated his position.
Rory met this problem head on. “Who else would you send?”
“We have others, including four of our team who have returned from overseas. We need them here and they need time away from that environment.”
“I don’t think this woman will trust anyone else.”
“Oh? She doesn’t seem particularly happy with you right now. Why do you think she trusts you at all at the moment?”
Rory reminded himself to never play verbal chess with this eagle shifter. “She’s angry with me because I wouldn’t let her take off right after talking to Mother Cadellus. My duty required I keep her safe and bring her to you, which I did.” He considered sharing everything and realized he was not doing his duty by holding back anything he’d learned. “Also, we have to be careful dealing with her around the Cadells. Mother Cadellus didn’t realize I was a Gallize, but that was probably due to not meeting me in person.”
“It was,” the Guardian confirmed. He asked, “Does Siofra know you are a Gallize or that we exist?”
“No, sir, not that I can determine. The Cadells basically treated her as a slave, maybe worse. I’m slowly getting pieces of her story. She opened up some at dinner.” Now that Rory thought about it, his ability to gather intel, once she was speaking to him again, might work in their favor.
“We can’t expose anything around Siofra,” the Guardian warned. “Even if she does give us intel on the Cadells, she’s hiding something and I think it’s about her brother.”
“You caught that, too, huh?”
“Yes.”
“I agree that she’s holding back information due to a sense of loyalty to this guy, but I’ll find out what’s going on, sir.”
“You still haven’t told me why you volunteered for yet another mission,” the Guardian pointed out, not letting it go.
Rory didn’t have the kind of ego that pushed him to brag, but neither would he sugarcoat the truth. “I’m the best choice, plus I’ll work on her to uncover everything I can on the Cadells while hunting this Baatar.”
Crossing his arms, the Guardian stood in an obstinate pose with his feet apart and his expression firm. “Why are you the best choice?”
Don’t lose patience with the Guardian. Rory wiped that from his mind before his thoughts pushed out unintentionally.
But, damn, why should he have to constantly explain himself when he’d just done it in the conference room? “I’m thinking you want the team from overseas to have some decompression time once they come home, which leaves that group out, sir. Everyone else I know about here and abroad are all assigned, which leaves me, Justin, Cole, Vic and Adrian. Vic is doing great, but he hasn’t gotten comfortable here yet and we all know why Adrian can’t do this.”
Rory, Cole and Justin had lobbied to prevent the Guardian from putting Adrian and his wolf down even when Adrian stood there asking for it. Their friend had suffered extreme abuse for a shifter while captured overseas. By the time they found Adrian and extracted him, his wolf had started going mad.
But he was showing improvement in Wyoming in a special area where he could roam all he wanted.
The Guardian sighed. “I can’t leave Adrian there forever, but you’re correct. He’s not ready to be among humans yet.”
Seeing victory within his grasp, Rory nodded. “Right. Justin and Cole are mated. I’m not. I see this as simple math since Siofra will only agree to one person accompanying her.” After laying out his argument, Rory felt a level of confidence over making a valid point.
After a long minute of remaining very quiet, the Guardian said, “More and more, I’m hearing you use the reasoning of not being mated as your decision for volunteering.”
Lifting a shoulder in dismissal, Rory said, “I’m being logical. Why risk a Gallize shifter who is mated when finding a Gallize female is so rare for any of them?”
“Them?” the Guardian said pointedly. “What about you? Don’t you want a mate?”
Damn. The Guardian should have been a cat. The man was seriously sly.
Rory might as well be straight with his boss, because trying to outmaneuver the Guardian was an impossible task.
But as Rory thought through his answer, he realized something annoying. The Guardian realized the truth. “Why ask me a question you already know the answer to, sir?”
Funny how Siofra had asked Rory the same question not long ago.
Sounding more thoughtful than irritated, the Guardian said, “I suppose I do and that bothers me. I shall be more direct. Why do you not want a mate?”
Rory scratched his forehead. He would have denied it if asked in passing by anyone else.
Taking a deep breath, he told his boss, “Let’s just say that I have my reasons.”
“I’d like to hear them.”
Rory should have expected this conversation at some point. The Guardian knew all of them better than they knew themselves.
All but Rory. He knew himself and his future like no one else. “I don’t think I should mate, sir, because I don’t want to procreate.” No other man would have to suffer through this. “I don’t think ... ” Rory caught himself before he said something potentially insulting.
“It’s fine,” the Guardian said. “I want you to speak the truth.”
If Rory got it out all at once, like ripping a bandage, maybe it wouldn’t feel so bad. “There shouldn’t be another one like me.” He quickly added, “I respect you and my Gallize brothers, but I ... I feel that I should be a man or an animal, not both. I don’t think being a shifter is natural.”
“You are correct.”
Rory had been preparing to have his head taken off, not hear his boss agree. “Sir?”
The Guardian explained in a compassionate voice, “We are not natural beings, not when compared to humans. We are supernatural and here as a result of the Gallizenae druidess who wanted children in spite of her destiny of remaining a virgin. She would only gift mothers pure of heart who carried a baby boy worthy of her gifts. That makes you very special.”
Rory had delved into the history of the Gallize in the early days of being a shifter. He’d had a tough time wrapping his head around a powerful druidess with the ability to shape shift, who would never have her own children but still wanted to leave her mark on the world.
His boss said, “From all I’ve learned over my three centuries in this world, the goddess must have known that one day shifters of all kinds would be discovered and her Gallize descendants would be the true guardians of this world.”
It sounded so much better when his boss talked about that than when Rory dwelled on what he was when alone in his head. He admitted, “I have thought about her reasons, too. I do believe you and my teammates belong here, and definitely with mates, but ... I don’t.”
When the Guardian said nothing right away, Rory added, “I can’t see wasting a mate on me when I don’t believe in who I am or that I should be here.” Plus, if he hadn’t been born a shifter, his brother would still be alive. As a human, Rory could have been around for Tyler and listened to his brother when Tyler wanted to talk about shifters.
Rory had been too angry and embarrassed. He’d argued with Tyler, telling him not to get involved with animals. Rory had left early from leave and returned to his overseas duties or he’d have been with Tyler when his b
aby brother attended a shifter meeting where he died.
“Could something else be influencing your beliefs?” the Guardian asked.
Rory asked, “Are you hearing my thoughts, sir?”
“No. I would not intentionally do so.”
“Sorry, I do know that.” But if a Gallize shifter projected strongly enough, the Guardian might catch the words by accident.
Reminding himself to keep his thoughts calm, Rory made one thing clear. “Regardless of how I feel about mating, I’m committed to doing my duty until I sense signs of the mating curse. At that point, I’ll continue to do my duty to all of you and deliver myself to you. I’ve shared none of those thoughts with my teammates. I don’t want them to ever doubt my abilities or sincerity when it comes to depending on me in a critical situation, because they come first. Can you now see why I’m the best one to send with Siofra?”
“I can’t say I agree with your reasoning for being the best one to
send—”
Ah, crap. Here it comes. He’s pulling me off this task.
“—but I will not stop you from going,” the Guardian finished. “I’m torn over allowing it, but I believe your leg is healed. Cole and Justin are to join me to hunt for the tiger. Justin’s mate had a vision that the tiger shifter is in serious emotional trouble, which is understandable.” He paused a moment. “I want you to understand one thing, Rory. No matter how much power Siofra has, even if she’s a Gallize, she can’t heal your jaguar.”
“You think she’s a Gallize, sir?”
“I honestly can’t say. She has significant power, though ... I sensed a Cadell influence when I first met her. I couldn’t be positive, which has never happened when I encountered one of them.”
“You think Siofra is one of them?”
“I understand it is hard for you to accept, but that does not diminish my concern.”
Rory had forgotten that she might be a Gallize. Either that or he intentionally blocked the thought, because he couldn’t imagine seeing her with another man, even someone she called a brother.
But a Cadell? She’d definitely been telling the truth about how they’d treated her and her disdain for the Cadells. Still, she had power.