by Riley Storm
“Company.”
Her first urge was to whip her head around and locate whatever the problem was. Something told her that wasn’t a great idea, that she should be more discreet.
“Company?” she asked, trying to get as much information from her suddenly tight-lipped dance partner as possible. “What kind of company?”
“The unpleasant kind.”
Thinking it over, she wondered if he’d been lying to her all this time. “The police? I thought you weren’t in any trouble with them?”
“Not the police.” He slowly twisted them both as they danced, until they faced the other way. “See the three men coming into view?”
She spied them. Three older gentlemen, late forties, perhaps early fifties. Well-dressed and well put together. Only two things made them stand out to her; first, was that Kirell had pointed them out, but even if he hadn’t, the second thing that made them stand out was the death-stare they were directing at Kirell. All three of them stood so still they could have been statues, their eyes locked on to Kirell with eerie intensity.
“Who are they?”
“Canis,” he rumbled so deeply she could feel the anger through the vibration of his chest.
Canis. She knew that name. But from where?
The Canis family! One of the three founding families of Plymouth Falls. Right. Loren never mentioned that they hated each other, though. Would have been nice to know before I walked into the middle of some kind of blood feud.
“Is there going to be a problem?” she asked cautiously, preparing to distance herself from the men.
She hoped not. The three Canis men looked like they would be a handful. They were tall as well, though an inch or two shorter than Kirell if she had to guess, and not as bulky. They held themselves confidently though, looking unafraid of her date.
“We should be okay,” Kirell assured her. “This is neutral territory.”
Neutral territory? What the hell have I gotten involved in? “So why are they staring at us like we would make a delicious snack?”
“I’m not entirely sure.”
He wasn’t telling the truth. Her ears couldn’t tell if it was an outright lie, or that he had a suspicion but didn’t know for sure; either way, she was sure Kirell knew more than he was letting on.
“What exactly should we do, then? I’m not overly fond of getting between you four.”
“Just keep dancing.” Putting action to words, he twirled her gently. “I’m not the only member of my House present tonight. Things should be just fine.”
“Should be?” she squeaked. “That doesn’t sound very positive. Are things normally not?”
Kirell’s face darkened. “In the past it would have been perfectly fine, but things have changed lately. I’m not sure what to expect.”
The storm of emotions associated with what he’d just said threatened to overwhelm Natalia. Until now, Kirell had been mostly calm and always collected. With the two sentences he’d just spoken, however, she’d been nearly washed away by the torrent of feelings he showed.
Kirell must have recognized it too, because his face cleared up immediately, replaced by the immobile mask she saw most often.
“Should we leave?”
“No,” he said forcefully. “I’m not letting those mutts see any weakness.”
Mutts? What the hell is he talking about? She was starting to notice that when Kirell got distracted or let his emotions shine through, he started talking weird. Like earlier, he’d said he wasn’t the only member of his House in attendance at Leblanc.
Something weird was going on and Natalia was having a hard time deciding if she was comfortable with continuing or not. There were too many unanswered questions and unexplained occurrences for what was supposed to be a simple transaction between the two of them.
“Uh, okay.”
So—she just kept dancing. The song finished and another one started. Two more went by before she saw that the men had finally left their post. A casual glance around the room didn’t show them anywhere.
Thus, she wasn’t surprised at all when Kirell stepped back from her as the current song ended; he gave a little bow. Surprised, she managed an awkward curtsy before letting herself be led from the floor.
So formal.
“I guess now is as good a time as any to leave.” He glanced over at her. “I apologize for cutting short the dancing.”
“Short? I had a great time. Thank you. I haven’t danced like that in a long time.”
They collected their jackets and left. On the way out, she saw Kirell exchanging friendly nods with several other males, all of whom had a similar look to himself. They were tall with muscled bulk filling out their suit jackets. They could have been cousins; they looked similar enough.
“Members of your House?” she asked, putting an emphasis on the last word. She wasn’t sure why, but it felt right to pronounce it that way.
“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate.
They made it to the car without trouble. Forgetting that Kirell was big on chivalry, she went for the door herself, only to find him doing the same. She tried to step to the side to allow him to open the door, but her foot caught on her dress. Pulling it would probably have ripped the dress, and she hesitated.
It was the hesitation that was her downfall, because momentum kept moving her upper body, and in the blink of an eye she was unbalanced. The pavement came toward her swiftly. Bracing herself for the impact, Natalia winced, sticking her hands out, but something stopped her short.
Opening her eyes, she found one of Kirell’s arms wrapped around her waist as he held her above the ground. He was bent over her, his face mere inches from her own. She gasped at the proximity.
“Thank you.” She was nearly breathless, shocked at his reaction. And at his closeness.
Her eyes were watching his, while his watched hers. A burst of adrenaline raced through her as she realized he was drifting closer. They were going to kiss, she could feel it. It was one of those moments.
Then, just like that, his mouth was there, covering hers. His warm lips pressed against her, and she responded, arching slightly into him, kissing back.
It was crazy! She barely knew him or anything about him, yet here she was, being held a foot off the ground with one arm locking lips with a man she’d met at a club the night before. That was most certainly not her style, but it didn’t matter. Kirell was blasting aside her defenses, the heat of his touch melting her walls down even as it warmed her against the slight evening chill.
Yet she couldn’t deny he was a good kisser. Soft lips, just the right amount of tongue. It had her craving more. He would pull back ever so slightly, and she went after him, wanting it to go on for one second more. Natalia knew she was playing right into his hands by letting herself be enticed, by showing she was just as into it as he was, but she didn’t care. Not right then. Maybe it was that last glass of wine.
Who cares, it’s just a kiss.
Almost as if by telepathy, Kirell pulled back, lifting her to a standing position. “I…um.”
She smiled, feeling her face heat up. “I know. It’s okay. I think. But I should probably go home.”
Kirell hesitated.
“What?”
“If we’re going through with this, you have to come with me. There’s um, a lot you need to know.”
She wasn’t sure if that was a ploy to try and get her into bed or not, but the awkward delivery was unlike his usual confident manner when it came to her. Hoping she wasn’t making a huge mistake, Natalia made the snap decision to go with him. Most of all, she was curious as to just what it was he was going to show her.
“I have to tell Loren, at least, so she doesn’t freak out when I don’t come home.”
“Of course. You’re free to talk to her as long as you don’t mention anything you see once you arrive.”
“Uh. Okay?”
“It’ll make sense shortly, I promise. The whole cryptic mystery stuff is annoying, but necessary. You�
�ll understand.”
Kirell smiled that disarming smile of his and pulled open the car door for her. “If it helps, it’s a longer drive on winding country roads. We’ll get to have some fun with the car.”
“Sold.”
Natalia slipped into the bucket seat, looking through the window as Kirell closed the door and turned away to walk around.
Cute butt.
She was staring at it for three or four seconds before she realized he hadn’t moved. Leaning forward she looked around him to see what was going on. What she saw made her heartrate spike.
11
“Ursidae scum.”
He turned slowly, thankful the door was already closed.
“You’d better go home. Run back to mommy.”
Kirell looked at the trio tiredly. “Seriously? Does anyone know you three mongrels are out here acting like a bunch of teenagers?”
“You aren’t welcome here,” one of them sneered, taking a step forward. “Don’t come back to the Leblanc.”
“Piss off. It’s neutral territory, you bloody idiot. You don’t have a claim on it.”
“Not anymore. The times are a-changing, and you filthy degenerates are no longer welcome.”
Kirell snorted, squaring up his stance to the instigators. “Riggghhht. Well, last time I checked, none of you three was in any sort of position of power in House Canis.”
“High House Canis,” the same one snarled, coming closer.
Pegging him as the leader, Kirell sized him up. Tall, with the more lithe athletic body of a wolf shifter, compared to the bulk of himself and his bear cousins. One on one, Kirell should have no problem taking him down, assuming nobody brought anything special to the fight.
His biggest worries were irradiated material, which played havoc with the modified DNA of shapeshifters, or any magical items. He had no defenses ready for either of them, but considering their action was likely unsanctioned by House Canis, it seemed unlikely they would have anything like that.
That just left the fact that they had numbers in their favor. Given that he was twenty years their junior at least, he felt confident that he could get the drop on two of them, his faster reflexes and relative youth giving him the edge there. But three? That wasn’t looking so good. Especially if any of them were trained.
“Sorry, High House Canis,” he replied at last. “My sincere apologies.”
Judging from their expressions, they realized he wasn’t sorry at all.
“You had better leave, before we make you.”
Kirell dropped his voice. “Did you just threaten me?”
“Nobody wants you around here. Don’t come back.”
Curiosity was getting the better of him by this point. Kirell wasn’t the only Ursidae present at Leblanc. It was a common enough dining spot for both Houses, that on any given night, a half dozen or more members of either were likely present. He couldn’t recall this trio giving any of the other Ursa trouble tonight.
“You know guys, I’m starting to feel like you have a grudge with me. Care to tell me why?” Maybe if he got them talking, he could diffuse the situation, figure out a peaceful way. He didn’t feel like getting into a fight in front of Natalia on their first date. He needed her to stick around, and violence was going to scare her off more likely than not.
“Traitorous piece of shit,” the leader spat, his green eyes flaring in the light from the lamps on either side of the path to the restaurant.
“What did you just say?” he snarled, momentarily losing his composure.
“Yeah, that’s what we thought. Coward.”
Kirell was getting riled up now. They sure knew how to get under his skin.
They also know what happened to our House.
The news of outright fighting inside Ursidae Manor had, to his knowledge, been kept tightly controlled. He’d suspected that Canis had a hand in what happened but had no proof of it. Now he had his first inkling. If these three nobodies knew about it, then most of Canis did too.
Someone is talking to them. Someone who doesn’t want us to succeed.
It was the clearest evidence he was going to get that traitors still existed in the ranks. Kirell tried to control his anger at this confirmation of his suspicions, but it was proving near impossible.
“Look, he gets so cute when he’s angry. Turning all sorts of shades of pink.”
Kirell roared and stepped toward the group. He remembered Natalia too late. His anger had gotten the best of him, and the wolf shifters had been waiting for this all along. They jumped at the chance, fanning out as they ran toward him.
His only chance was to fight smart. That meant unexpected. What would they expect most from him? To stand up and trade blows, of course. They’ll be ready for me to try and overpower them.
So Kirell did the opposite. He closed, and without warning went low, ducking below the strikes, while also going for the quiet one on his right, the one who hadn’t spoken yet. Grabbing up the man’s leg, Kirell lifted him clear of the ground.
Blows rained down on his back as he kept up his momentum, the upside-down shifter not giving up. Unfortunately for him, not too far behind them was the cinderblock wall of Leblanc. When Kirell slammed to a halt and ducked his shoulder, the hapless shifter snapped forward, slamming into the concrete with his shoulder blades first, then the back of his head.
Then Kirell used his strength, smashing both fists into his face in quick order as concrete dust drifted down around them. The shifter wasn’t out completely, but he was for now, and Kirell had no time to waste.
Rolling to the side, he dove out of the enraged attacks of the two who had spun to follow him.
“Stop running!” the leader shouted.
“Come at me one at a time then, if you haven’t been neutered.”
If there was one thing wolf shifters hated more than anything else, it was being compared to domesticated canines. Unfortunately for them, it was ridiculously easy to do so, and the results were always entertaining.
Both shifters lost their minds and came at him in a berserkers rage. Uncontrolled. Uncoordinated, and intent on closing until they could hit him.
He took advantage of the way they tossed aside their training, ducking telegraphed punches and constantly dancing from one to the other, causing them to mis-time their strikes.
“Sit!” he bellowed when one of his blows connected solidly to the smallest lackey’s jaw, tumbling him back onto his ass. “Stay!”
The leader was howling with rage by this point, but Kirell hadn’t emerged entirely unscathed. There were two of them, both far stronger than any normal human, and he’d taken several blows. One of his eyes was rapidly swelling, and he was pretty positive at least two ribs were badly bruised. He just hoped they weren’t broken.
“Fight me like a man!”
Kirell raised a scathing eyebrow at the last standing shifter—the one he’d slammed into the concrete wall was still conscious, but had slid down into a sitting position, looking around without realizing where he was. “Do you realize the hypocrisy in your statement? You came at me with three of you, like the cowards you are, but you want me to stand and fight you like a moron? Christ, how dumb are you people?”
The leader charged, swinging before he even came into range, looking more like a windmill than a fighter. Kirell watched the arms, judging, stepped to his right and struck a solid blow right to his temple. The silver-haired male dropped like a sack of stones, eyes rolling up into the back of his head. Wincing at the noise the skull made when it impacted the concrete, Kirell tried not to retch. That was going to leave a mark, if not worse.
Shifters were resilient and healed quickly, but head injuries were still nothing to be trifled with. Brain hemorrhaging could kill a shifter just as easily as a human, if too much damage occurred before the system could heal itself.
“Are we done here?”
The Canis he’d knocked on his ass was back on his feet, but after Kirell spoke, he took a more careful look at his friends,
both of whom were in no condition to fight. He hesitated, then; with a glare that promised it wasn’t over between them he went to check on his barely conscious friend.
“That’s what I thought.”
Forcing the pain down, Kirell walked around to his door.
“Kirell!’ Natalia gasped as he slid into his seat.
Leaning over the center, she started fussing over him. “Your eye!”
“It’ll be fine,” he assured her, firing up the engine. Despite his bruised state and the pain from his ribs, the purr still brought a smile to his face.
“Shall we get out of here?”
He glanced over at her, watching the way the gold in her eyes flickered in the lamplight, noting the concern in her expression. She was worried about him. That was sweet of her. He almost told her that he would be healed in a couple of hours but decided that he wasn’t up to explaining the why behind that.
It was time to go home.
12
“This is where you live?” She was staring, completely agog as they pulled off the road, approaching a thick gate with the emblem of a huge bear worked into the wrought iron.
“Welcome to my House,” he said as the gate swung open swiftly and silently.
Natalia took it all in with growing incredulity. The drive out into the country had been fun, the car taking the turns smoothly, accelerating out of the bends at a rapid rate and much to her delight. Kirell had offered to let her take the wheel, but she’d turned him down. She didn’t have three and a half million dollars in case she wrecked it. Maybe next time, she’d said.
The driveway dipped immediately, heading downward through a large valley before rising again and disappearing into a forest. A stone wall that the gate was worked into extended out to the left and right as far as she could see, standing easily ten feet high. Between that and the start of the forest was wild grass, flowers and small shrubs, looking like a meadow out of some sort of animated movie.
“It’s beautiful,” she remarked, awed by it all.