by Amelia Jade
“What he means is that you have yet to introduce yourself. We know not whether you are friend or foe,” he said smoothly, diplomatically even.
Gray smiled with false cheerfulness. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.” His look said he didn’t mean any of it.
“My name is Armen Cardiff,” he said with equal false politeness. “I run—”
“I know who you are,” Andrew said.
Gray stiffened at the disgust and dismissal in his boss’s voice, instantly on edge once more. Whoever the man was, Andrew didn’t like him. That meant Gray didn’t like him. A lot.
“Ah, so you have heard of me?” Armen seemed pleased by that prospect.
“Unfortunately,” Andrew said. “Now, what the hell are you doing in Cloud Lake?”
“Well, as it would seem, we have an issue. There was an incident at one of my facilities the other day. Something was taken from me.”
Gray did his best to remain neutral, his face as impassive as he could make it, despite the sudden sliver of fear that stabbed through his defenses. He knew exactly what Armen was talking about now. The raptor was referring to Gray, who had broken into a secure facility in Cadia and released the four remaining Kronum shifters being treated/held there. Somehow they had tracked it down to him, and now this man was here to apprehend him!
He summoned his bear, keeping it near the surface and ready, honing his instincts with its abilities, prepared for any outcome. If the man thought he was going to take Gray without a fight, he was dead wrong.
“You may stand aside, Gray,” Andrew said in a gentle yet commanding voice.
Spinning, he fixed his boss with a look, keeping his body between him and Armen. His eyes widened and he tried to convey his point without saying anything or giving away any concrete body language. Andrew’s eyes fixed on him. Gray let his eyes open just a bit wider, hoping Andrew would pick up on it. There was a long pause, and then his boss gave the smallest, barest, minutest shake of his head.
Gray nodded sharply without hesitation and stepped aside and then behind the chair that Armen chose. Confident that his friend knew what he was thinking, and that he was told it wouldn’t be an issue, he stayed a foot behind the chair, arms at his sides and ready in case Armen launched himself across the table. Cardiff might not be able to take Andrew in a straight fight, but he could surprise him, strike him with a tainted weapon, something that was a bit of a specialty of his kind. Gray was taking no chances.
“So, something was taken from you?” Andrew prompted once everyone was tensely settled.
“Stolen, really,” Armen amended. “And yes, it was.”
“I see. So, why are you here then? Shouldn’t you be back looking for it?”
Gray couldn’t see it, but he just knew that Armen was smiling that false smile of his. His knuckles popped as he squeezed fingers into a fist. God, what he wouldn’t give to wipe the smile off Armen’s face just then. One punch, that’s all I need. One solid punch to the back of his head. That’ll teach him.
“Well, I would be if I still believed it to be back there.”
Gray frowned. The more the man spoke, the more he got the impression that Armen wasn’t referring to the Kronum shifters that he’d rescued. Even if he regarded them as less than human, referring to them as “it,” there were still multiple “its” that had been taken. Unless Armen was only concerned with one of them for some reason? He needed to find out.
“So, someone stole something from you? An object?”
Armen hesitated, which caught Gray off guard. What was it about the question that had made him hesitate? The part about someone, about stealing, or about an object? Damn he hated these games. Why didn’t Armen just come out and say it!
“So, what can we of the Cadian Embassy do to help you with this issue?” Andrew asked. “We have not heard of anything being stolen from Cadia and brought here, or else we might have recovered it already.”
“I’m sure you would have,” Armen agreed politely. “But we have kept it under tight security. We don’t want it to get out that one was, ah, lost.”
“Lost?” Andrew asked, his tone chiding, “I thought you said it was stolen?”
“It must have been,” Armen said instantly. “There is no other way it could have gone missing like this.”
“Well, if I don’t know more, then I suppose I cannot help you, now can I?” Andrew said politely.
Armen looked behind him at Gray, as if to say “Get him out of here, and then we can talk.” Gray just stared back, and then at the last moment he bared his teeth in a predatory smile at the little birdie.
Pretty bird...pretty bird…
A glare from Andrew straightened his spine and wiped the look from his face, but not before Armen got the point.
“You can speak in front of my guard. He’s very loyal and can keep a secret.
Armen seemed unhappy, even resorting to looking at Andrew for a long time, as if the weight of his stare could convince the gryphon shifter to change his mind. Fat chance of that happening. He’s one of the most stubborn SOBs I’ve ever met. Eventually Armen came to the same conclusion and he shook his head with an irritated little sigh.
“Very well. But if this gets out, I will hold you personally responsible.”
Gray simmered at another threat to his friend. It wasn’t the first, and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last. Andrew had racked up a number of enemies in his past, enemies who had thought assigning him to Cloud Lake would be getting him out of the way. Now that the town was becoming vitally important to Cadia itself however, opinions back home had changed. People were trying to oust him from power, but so far he’d managed to avoid any serious challenges to his position.
“I’m sure you’ll try,” Andrew said dryly, uncaring.
His eyes spoke volumes though, as they flashed with a fire that Gray knew meant he was about five milliseconds away from being able to toss the pale-faced monstrosity from the office like a bouncer at a nightclub. It had been too long since he’d been able to do that, and he almost begged for Armen to slip up again. Please, he thought, give Andrew that last impetus to flick his fingers at me. I’m ready, I promise.
Armen jerked as if stung, and Gray flexed his other hand, letting the sound of knuckles popping reach the intruder once again. It wasn’t necessary, but a subtle reminder that nearly three hundred pounds of angry shifter stood right behind him wasn’t a bad thing either.
“Yes, well. Anyway, a subject has gone missing. We believe that he has come here.”
Gray arched an eyebrow. A subject? Sounded more and more like they were looking for one of the Kronum shifters he’d rescued. Yet what he couldn’t fathom was why they were so interested in only one of them. He’d not picked up any special vibes from them before. Nor had Harden mentioned anything noteworthy either. It wasn’t making any sense with the information currently available to him, so he leaned back slightly and let Andrew gather some more.
“A subject? Human or shifter?”
There was a moment of thought, then Armen answered. “A shifter.”
“Okay. What can you tell me about him? We’ll keep our eyes open.”
“I can’t. Operational security, you understand,” Armen said dismissively, as if Andrew should have known that all along.
“Then why the hell come and talk to me, if you won’t tell me anything?”
“Because, I need you and your men to be on the lookout for a shifter in Cloud Lake, one who doesn’t belong. Who doesn’t have permission to be here.”
Gray snickered at the look Andrew gave Armen.
“That is what my men do, Mr. Cardiff. We patrol the streets of Cloud Lake, ensuring that the shifters who are allowed to be here behave, and that those who aren’t supposed to be here are returned to Cadia.”
Gray bit his tongue as he realized where his boss was going. He could hug the man.
“All the shifters who come to Cloud Lake with proper permission are given a signed and sealed envelope. Then they are requ
ired to present that envelope to me. I, as well, am given notice ahead of time via telephone of all incoming shifters, so that I know to be expecting them.”
Armen nodded. “Yes, yes. I am aware of all these procedures.”
“You are?”
He was walking right into it. Gray couldn’t believe it. How could he not sense what Andrew was doing to him? It was clear as daylight.
“Of course.”
“Excellent,” Andrew said, sitting forward. “This should be easy then.”
“What should be easy?” Armen asked, confused.
“Why, me processing your envelope indicating your authorization to be in Cloud Lake.”
There it was. Boom.
Armen sputtered. “This is top secret, Mr. Raskell!”
“Ambassador,” Gray rumbled dangerously.
“What?” the gaunt aerial shifter snapped, forced to crane his head up at him.
“His title to you is Ambassador,” he growled, leaning forward in a show of physical intimidation. Gray suspected that Armen wasn’t used to being intimidated, but instead respected and obeyed. The dual attitudes from him and Andrew of dislike and uncaring had to be throwing him at odds. A little bit of play-acting to liven up the savage bear shifter stereotype wouldn’t hurt either.
“Ah, right, my apologies. Ambassador,” Armen said, his voice almost squeaking. Not quite, but almost. It was close enough.
“People have come here secretively before, Mr. Cardiff,” Andrew replied sternly. “All of them have had permission. They just got it from a higher level. If you don’t have permission to be here, then I’m sorry, but I must insist that you leave and go back to Cadia. Otherwise I’ll be forced to follow procedures.”
“Procedures?”
“I’ll have to throw you in our jail cell. Underground.”
Armen was furious. He stared daggers at Andrew, but the game was over and they both knew it. He’d come here to try and intimidate them into admitting that it had been they who had taken the Kronum shifters from him. But by not following procedure, he’d given Andrew all the reasons necessary to politely tell him to fuck off and go back to Cadia. Now all that remained to be seen was whether Armen would do so peacefully or not.
Personally, Gray hoped he wouldn’t. It had been too long since he’d gotten to beat someone’s face in who truly deserved it. Armen was a relative stranger, but there was no doubt that he could do with a good face-pummeling courtesy of one Gray the bear shifter. A wintry smile raised the corners of his mouth up, just enough to spur Armen out of the chair and toward the office door.
“I’ll escort him to the edge of Cadia,” Gray said politely. “Although I’m sure he knows the way, since you certainly came in on foot, correct, Mr. Cardiff? You didn’t land on the roof and bypass the guards to better try and surprise us, and in the process break one of the sternest rules of being a shifter in Cloud Lake, did you?”
He was referring of course, to the fact that shifters were not allowed to assume their animal forms within the boundaries of any human town or city, Cloud Lake or otherwise. That rule was, truthfully, played with fast and loose, but as long as no formal complaint against a specific shifter was lodged, they could generally get away with it.
“Of course not,” Armen said with a sniff.
“Mm-hmm. I’ll have to ask Hector then about why he didn’t let us know of your arrival.”
“Enough, Gray,” Andrew said at last, cutting him off. “Please ask Hector to ensure Armen gets to the border swiftly and without issue.”
“Of course, sir,” Gray said with proper deference to his boss’s position.
“And Armen,” Andrew said with false friendliness. “Thank you for warning us about this shifter. We shall keep our eyes open. If you do decide to be of more assistance in this issue, by perhaps giving us a physical description or a name or something, then feel free to call me.”
Gray walked the shifter out to the lobby, informed Hector of the goings-on, and then asked his fellow guard to escort him to the edge of the city with all haste.
Hector, already irritated by realizing that Armen had purposefully abused his power to sneak inside, nodded in understanding, picking up on Gray’s temperament toward the falcon shifter with ease.
“I’ll get it done, sir,” he said.
Gray gave Armen one last glare, and then headed back to Andrew’s office once the pair had exited the front doors. Hector was a good man, also loyal to Andrew and the concept of doing the right thing. He could be trusted to ensure Armen was given all proper forms of sendoff, including a polite “get the fuck out and stay out” message.
“Well, that was fun,” he said, pushing the solid-wood door open and flopping down into one of the chairs opposing Andrew.
The flimsy wood squeaked and protested the forces being exerted on it, and he froze with a grimace on his face until the noises subsided. “Dammit, I keep forgetting about how weak these stupid things are.”
Andrew didn’t reply, his eyes focused on the far wall.
“Something wrong?” he asked after a moment.
“No. No not really. I’m just trying to understand something,” Andrew said, blinking and turning his attention to Gray.
“What? That Armen is a dick? Who the hell is that guy by the way? You sounded like you knew him.”
“By name only. I’ve never met him, and after having done so, I would have been okay if I never had. What an ass.”
That was another thing Gray liked about Andrew. He spoke his mind, and didn’t care.
“No kidding.”
“Anyway, he heads up a division that Cadia would rather its people not know exists.”
“Why do I not find that shocking at all?” he said with a frustrated sigh. “You know, ever since that stupid war with Fenris, I feel like our government hasn’t been its normal self.”
Andrew nodded, and for a moment the two of them were silent. Nearly a year earlier, humans intent on eliminating shifters had engineered a war between Cadia and its biggest rival, a shifter territory called Fenris. Cadia had won, but barely.
“I know that King Ryker is making improvements, but he’s up against a big, entrenched bureaucracy that likes its power. It’s just a matter of time until he topples them, I hope.”
Daxxton Ryker was the king of Cadia, its overall ruler. But like all monarchies over time, the politicians surrounding him had worked hard to nullify much of his power. Things at the highest levels of government were at a bit of a stalemate, and as such, those people with their own agendas, like Armen, were allowed to run free.
“Do I even want to know what it is he does?”
“Probably not, but you’re going to ask me eventually, so I’ll just tell you now that he is in charge of Cadia’s intelligence arm.”
“Seriously? That’s the guy in charge of intelligence gathering?” Gray threw his head back in annoyance.
The stressed chair collapsed underneath him in response. Gray hit the floor hard, receiving splinters and minor cuts all up and down his arms, upper legs, lower back, and worst of all, his ass.
Above him Andrew howled with laughter.
“But come on. Why is that asshole in charge of something so important?”
“I don’t know,” Andrew said, getting up and walking around the desk to give Gray a hand to his feet. “But what I’m more curious about is why he came here.”
“He wants one of the Kronum shifters back, obviously. They must not have been done pumping them for information.”
Andrew bobbed his head from side to side as he considered the point.
“Maybe. But I’m not convinced. I think there was something else. I’m going to look into it some more. In the meantime though, let’s get the word out that we might have an unauthorized shifter on the loose here.”
Gray’s eyebrows rose. “You’re taking him seriously?”
“Armen is an asshole. He’s done things in the name of intelligence gathering that are deplorable, yes. But he’s also damn good
at his job unfortunately. I have no choice but to respect it. Besides, the Kronumites are well hidden with the Koche brothers, aren’t they?”
“Yeah. Nobody will find them out there.”
“Good. I’ll look into it from my end. You see to it that the normal channels are keeping an eye open, or if they’ve heard of anything yet.”
“You got it, boss,” he said, turning on his heel and heading out of the embassy and into the midday light.
Andrew had a point. If someone else had escaped, they needed to find them, and soon. Still, Gray was convinced that it had all been a show to see if they knew anything about the missing Kronumites. How they could have tracked it to him, he wasn’t sure. He’d been extra careful, even going so far as to wear a mask to conceal his face during the rescue.
Gray’s heart ticked a little faster as he realized he may not have gotten away as easily as he’d hoped.
Chapter Ten
Kelly
Pulling the plug, she sat in the bath for a few moments longer as water swirled down into the drain. The effort to get up continued to evade her until the last few inches remained. That combined with the slight chill of still being wet finally spurred her into action. Awkwardly propping herself up into a sitting position and from there to her feet, Kelly snagged the smaller towel, rubbed it over her hair, and then swept her hair up in the towel and set it on her head.
Then she grabbed the larger version and dried her body quickly before slipping into a robe, something she’d scrimped and saved from her weekly budget to be able to afford. The Cadian shifters had been generous enough to build shelters for all the women, and they also gave them money on a weekly basis for food. Kelly had stretched that budget for several weeks to be able to afford the robe, one of her few indulgences.
She didn’t regret it at all now as the thick terry cloth warmed her up even as it snuggled in close to her skin all soft and plush.
Now this is the life of luxury. Sheer perfection.
All that was scheduled for her evening was a marathon of whatever was on the television, followed by passing out extra early just because, and sleeping in, also just because.