High House Ursa: The Complete Bear Shifter Box Set

by Riley Storm

  “The fifth century, yes. I believe 410 A.D., to be specific.”

  “How do you know that’s when you originated?” She was growing curious now.

  “Well, for starters, our records show that we were the ones who sacked Rome. With the help of humans, of course.”

  “I’m sorry. What? Shifters sacked Rome? How did that bit of information just get lost?”

  He grinned. “We won. That’s how. With the vampires dead—oh yeah, the vampires ran Rome. The Senate was their ruling council. That’s why we went after them. Terrible creatures.”

  Haley gasped. “I’m sorry, did you just say vam—”

  “Wait a minute,” Kincaid said, leaning forward. “Here we go. Look, see that man there?”

  Trying to put her brain into some semblance of order after the bombshell he’d just casually dropped on her, Haley followed his finger as a large man got out of a black armored car.

  “Yes. I see him. Is he a vampire?”

  “What? No. They’re extinct. Don’t be silly. No, that man is Krawll!” Kincaid crowed quietly. “I knew he had to be linked to it.”

  “Oh. So what does that prove?”

  “Uh, nothing. Yet. But he’s linked to it, you bet your ass.”

  Together, they watched as Krawll looked around before entering the Family Restaurant. It was certainly a sign there was something going on, but it didn’t give them any actual information.

  “I think we need to go in there,” Haley said heavily. “We’re not going to get anything useful here.”

  “I know.” Kincaid rubbed at his chin. “I want to give him time though.”

  “Time for what?”

  “I don’t expect he’s going in for food. So I want him to go meet whoever it is he’s meeting. Then we’ll go in, find him and whoever, and unravel the next piece of this mystery.”

  They sat back.

  “So…vampires?” she asked.

  “Yes. Vampires controlled Rome. They were powerful, evil, sadistic creatures. We wiped them out, then got into a fight with the human mages. That lasted until about a hundred years ago, when we finally got the upper hand and wiped out their strongest mages in a huge battle in Alaska in the early 1900s.”

  “You sound like you were there,” she commented, interested in the way he spoke of it.

  “No, but my father was. He died in the eruption.”

  Haley blinked. “The what?”

  “The Novarupta volcanic explosion. Not a natural thing. The mages caused it in an attempt to wipe out our forces.”

  “You mean the Ursa?” She struggled over the uncertain term.

  Kincaid shrugged. “We often use Ursidae to mean plural, though either one works to be honest. And no, this was a joint effort. All the great houses and the minor ones came together. Ursa. Canis. Drakos. Raptere. Panthera. We all took them on, after centuries of warfare.”

  “Holy shit. Does Drakos mean what I think it does?” she asked, wondering what the two others were as well.

  “If you think it means dragon, then yes.”

  She was still watching the restaurant while her brain tried to wrestle with all these implications. Another black car approached. This one was a limousine, but also looked heavy and protected.

  “Who the hell is this?” she asked as another tall man got out. He was somewhat slender compared to Kincaid or Krawll, but still powerful-looking. Just not as bulky.

  “That,” Kincaid said, sounding victorious. “Is Laurent Canis himself! I knew those two had to be in league with one another. No way. I can’t believe our luck!”

  Haley was watching another person emerge from the limo, however, a person that brought back a lot of memories.

  “Now we can hopefully figure out what the hell is going on.”

  She swallowed. “I might be able to help with that,” she said a little hoarsely.

  “What? What do you mean?”

  Kincaid turned to look at her, but she just pointed at the woman standing at Laurent’s side.

  “See that woman?”

  “Yes. That’s his mate. Melanie Canis.”

  “Canis might be her last name now, Kincaid. But back in college, when I worked on the campaign trail with her, she went by another name.”

  “She did? What? What was the name?” he asked, leaning over eagerly.

  Haley turned to face him.

  “Melanie Girard.”

  30

  “Holy shit.”

  Kincaid sat back into his seat.

  “This is the proof we need, right?” Haley asked.

  “Please tell me the camera got it. We need those pictures.”

  “I’m sure it did,” she said, pointing to the camera he’d bought that morning. They’d mounted it to the dash of the SUV and pointed it at the entrance. “It’s set to record and we changed the memory card perhaps an hour ago. It should still have plenty left.”

  Kincaid nodded, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. “Amazing. Of course, we still need to get them to admit to it.”

  “What, exactly, are we getting them to admit?”

  “This is a revenge plot,” he said, slamming a fist into his palm. “It all comes together now. Samuel Girard must be related to Melanie. Based on their ages, I’d have to say either son or nephew. She obviously knew he was a mage and didn’t tell anyone, which is a crime in itself, but she told her mate, who used his own power to come after me, to try and have me both killed and discredited by my House.”

  “Can we go after them for that?”

  “Sort of,” he said unhappily. “Not the way I’d like to, at least.”

  “What do you mean? How would you like to?”

  “I’d like to kill the slimy sonofabitch, teach him a permanent lesson about coming after me,” he snarled. “Unfortunately, that’s not feasible.”

  “What? Why not?”

  He glanced over at Haley, surprised at her question.

  “I never said I approved of the action. I just figured you people had some sort of trial, or ability to challenge someone. Ritual combat or something. You’re all old world like that. A duel! That’s what I was thinking of. You’re going to challenge him to a duel?”

  “No,” he grumbled.

  “Good. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

  Strangely enough, she didn’t say the same about Krawll or Laurent. While Kincaid didn’t wish for her to develop a bloodthirsty side, he knew it would be difficult for her to adapt to life among shifters if she couldn’t accept that death was a constant companion for them.

  “I wouldn’t get hurt. Not against him. I doubt Laurent has done any fighting in years. Probably a decade or more. His position as Reaver has him in charge of business aspects. He sits fat and pretty in a chair. Still, I can’t touch him.”

  “Why not?”

  “First, I need proof. Actual proof that they are conspiring against me, and that I’m not working for them.”

  “And if you get that?”

  He grimaced. “Even then I can’t do anything.”

  “Why the hell not? If you have proof he’s guilty, that should be enough, right?”

  “He’s guilty of sending me money, yes. There’s no rule against that though. Crimes are on a House by House basis. To Canis, what he’s done isn’t a crime. Because he’s a Title Holder, he’s effectively untouchable. If he was just some lackey, I could go end this already. If I went after him in a fight, Canis as a whole would be forced to respond. It would mean open warfare between the Houses.” He shook his head. “I can’t bring that upon my House, Haley. Not even for my own personal vendetta.”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “What the hell can you do then?”

  “I can clear my name.” He growled, baring his teeth savagely. “And I can certainly deal with Krawll. This is dealing enough to prove he’s taking money from the enemy. People saw him try to kill me during the challenge. I’m sure a thorough investigation and questioning will reveal more.”

  “And Laurent just gets away
with it, free and clean?”

  Kincaid shrugged helplessly. “I’ll handle it the political way. I doubt anything will come of it, but it’s all I can do.” He stared at the restaurant. “First though, I need that proof.”

  “I get the feeling I’m not going to like how you’ll do that. Am I?”

  He reached into a pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, giving her half. “This is more than enough, plus there’s the rest at the safehouse. Take a cab back. Walk a block away, then hail one. Pay him extra to drop you off several units away. Go inside. I’ll be back for you eventually.”

  Haley rested her right arm on the dash, leaning over onto it while looking at him like he was crazy. “You want me to go back to the safehouse. On my own.”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you going to be doing?”

  “Getting my proof, and I don’t want you to get hurt while I do it,” he said, his protective instincts kicking in around her. He had proof now. Proof that things weren’t all they seemed, and it was within his grasp. All he had to do was reach out and pluck it. But it would all be for naught if Haley got hurt during it.

  “I want to stay with you.”

  “No,” he said, perhaps a little more harshly than he wanted. If she needed to get mad at him to go, then so be it. As long as she was safe.

  “Why not?”

  “Because things are going to get ugly in there,” he stated bluntly.

  “I’ll wait here. In the car. I’ll be the getaway driver,” she said, putting on a brave face, though he could tell she didn’t want to volunteer herself for something like that.

  “No. I need you back at the safehouse.”

  “Why?!”

  “Because I need you,” he snapped. “I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.” He stared straight ahead, upset with himself for speaking so freely.

  Haley was silent for several minutes before she replied. “Okay,” she agreed at last. “I’ll go back. You get your proof, then you come get me. Understood? No delays. I don’t want to sit around wondering what happened to you.”

  “I will,” he said, giving her a fierce stare, hoping it conveyed more than just the confusion he was feeling at himself.

  Not that Kincaid had any idea what he wanted to convey to her. Everything was a mess, and as soon as he went in there and got Krawll, he planned on straightening it out. Starting with that traitorous asshole.

  “Come get me,” Haley replied, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. “Promise me.”

  “I promise,” he said, and before he could stop himself, he grabbed her face and kissed her hard.

  They broke apart and Haley sucked in a breath. “You had better come back to me after that,” she stated emphatically, then ducked out of the SUV.

  Kincaid spared one final thought of her, of how much he approved of her, then he put Haley out of his mind. It was time to start putting his life back together. He waited for her to go around the corner, then he left the SUV, pausing to properly stretch his body after sitting still for so long, and to grab one other thing.

  Then he started across the street, ignoring the traffic as it came to a halt, horns blaring at him. It didn’t matter if that alerted the occupants inside to his approach. There was nothing Krawll could do to escape him now.

  Kincaid walked up to the front door, and then simply walked through it, not bothering to open it. Wooden splinters and glass shattered everywhere as he came in like a wrecking ball. Patrons shouted, stood up, and those closest to the door scattered like fish when a rock is tossed into their pond.

  He scanned the seating area, but there was no sign of either of them, not that it surprised him. Turning to a terrified employee, he growled in his darkest, most threatening voice. “Where are the private rooms?”

  Hand shaking, the hostess pointed to a door in the back that blended well with the wall. “There. Through there. Up the stairs.”

  “Thank you,” he said, starting forward.

  People hurriedly got out of his way as he approached the door. He was about to violently kick it in when he realized there could be innocent staff back there. So instead, he tore it off the hinges and dropped it behind him, entering like a demon freshly released from hell.

  The commotion from the next story told him they were aware of his presence, but he didn’t care. He didn’t stop. He took the stairs, kicked in the door, and raised the camera in his hand, snapping pictures rapidly of all the occupants. Krawll. Laurent. Melanie Girard. Together, in the same room.

  “Say cheese, motherfuckers!” he shouted happily, yanking the memory card from the unit and shoving it in a back pocket, even as he tossed the camera at Laurent to keep him distracted.

  Krawll came at him wildly, but Kincaid was ready. He’d taken a measure of the man during their trials and found him to be wanting. Twisting to the side, he snap-kicked out, taking Krawll just below the knee and sending him spinning to the ground.

  “What do you think you’re doing!” Laurent bellowed. “You cannot come in here.”

  Kincaid snapped up a piece of the door and in the blink of an eye had the sharpened edge against Laurent’s throat. “If you test me one more time, I will shove this so far into your jaw you’ll look like a tootsie-pop. Understood?”

  The terrified Canis lord nodded frantically and backed away as Kincaid turned to deal with Krawll. “As for you, you won’t be so lucky. You’re going to face justice before the Queen, and I will gladly play the role of executioner,” he snarled, meeting the wild charge from the traitorous bear shifter.

  The two went down in a crash, Melanie taking that moment to escape, leaving her mate cowering in the corner. Kincaid drove an elbow into Krawll’s side, taking a knee to his upper leg in return. Plunging his hand into the floor, he ripped up a piece of the hardwood and stabbed it into Krawll’s calf.

  Ignoring the splinters in his own hand, he made a fist out of it and drove it into Krawll’s face. The impact sent pain lancing up his arm, but it also drove some of the giant pieces of wood deep into Krawll’s face. One of them even gouged the massive vein in his forehead and blood started pouring from the wound.

  Kincaid rolled free and the two of them got to their feet, thick red blood flowing freely down the right side of Krawll’s face, blinding him even as he tried to wipe it away. Kincaid came close, ducked and went at the blind side, hitting him hard in the ribs. At least one cracked under the blow.

  The slightly smaller shifter doubled over in pain, only to receive Kincaid’s shoulder to his jaw as he drove upward. Teeth clacked, several breaking, and Krawll’s eyes rolled back into his head as he fell backward in slow motion.

  “Timberrrrr!” Kincaid shouted, giving him a lazy push in the forehead.

  Krawll hit the ground limply, out cold from the brutal impact.

  Kincaid took a moment to savor his victory, then grabbed the unconscious Ursa traitor and tossed him over his shoulder with a grunt.

  “You’ll pay for this!” the Canis lord shrilled.

  Kincaid looked over at him. “I didn’t touch you. But I still could. Are you sure now is the best time to start acting tough?”

  The man stood up, brushing himself off, for once acting like a shifter. Now that the fighting’s over.

  “You can’t do anything to me. Do you know who I am?”

  “That’s the only reason you’re not a corpse on the floor,” Kincaid snarled.

  “You’ll regret this.”

  “I doubt it,” he spat, turning toward the exit.

  It was time to go home.

  To end this.

  31

  Without Kincaid, the safehouse felt cold and unwelcoming. Even as she put her weight into the steel panel, sliding it closed to block the stairs, the room began to close around her. There were no windows, nothing to let daylight in. Gloomy and a little dank, despite the attempts to make it feel light and airy with bright colors and furnishings, it did little to help her mood.

  Not that she was feeling depressed. D
ismayed at the way her situation had become, worried over what her employees were thinking about her absence, those were emotions she should be feeling.

  Should be.

  To an extent she was, it was not like they didn’t exist. The problem was, they weren’t her priority. Not even close. In fact, they were shoved far to the back, her brain creating space for her to worry and fret over something else.

  Kincaid.

  Wandering over to the cupboard, she started rummaging through it. “Why the hell couldn’t he stock this place with some booze? Wine. Red wine. That would be perfect,” she muttered to herself, continuing the search even though she knew it was pointless, that alcohol was not on the list of things a safehouse needed.

  I should have stopped and gotten some.

  But Kincaid had been explicit in his orders that she go right back to the basement. Normally, Haley detested when someone tried to order her around, but in this situation, she’d been forced to agree with him. This was the smart choice, the one that would keep her safe and out of harm’s way.

  She didn’t like it, and she liked the way he was going to resolve this situation even less, but this wasn’t her world, and she needed to remember that. They did their business differently than anything she was used to. Violence wasn’t a last resort with them, it was the first choice.

  They’re more like their wild cousins than they like to admit.

  He was going to be fine, she told herself again. And again. Kincaid had taken down Krawll once already in combat, and she had every confidence he would do it again. He would defeat the man, prove that he was being framed, and then she could leave this stupid place and go back to her life.

  Her normal, boring life. One that had been devoid of a lot of things. It hadn’t been a pleasant revelation, but it was hard to deny it.

  “I have no life.” She ground the words out, forcing herself to say them aloud, to admit the truth of them.

  All she had was her job. It paid well, and she was wealthy enough that if she didn’t spend recklessly, she’d never need to work another day in her life. Money wasn’t why she’d gotten into the profession in the first place—not this sort of wealth at least. Now it was all she had.