by Riley Storm
“Sorry,” she said with a chuckle. “What’s the happier news?”
“What? Oh, I don’t know. I just wanted to change the subject,” Zoe said, and the sisters shared a laugh.
“That’s going to require more wine,” Jessica told her, holding up the empty wine bottle. “I’ll grab it for us. Then we’ll come up with something good, I’m sure.”
Pushing herself up out of the plush couch, she set her empty glass down and sauntered out of the sitting room. Lorran was some sort of bigwig with House Canis, a werewolf lord of some sort—Jessica didn’t care enough to pay more attention than that—and his quarters within Moonshadow Manor reflected it.
She walked along the hallway toward the wine room—one of the few places she’d memorized the route to and from—idly looking at the pictures on the wall as she went. The door slid open quietly at her touch and she stepped into the climate-controlled room, glad she’d brought the empty bottle with her. There was a dizzying selection available.
“This one will do,” she softly proclaimed to the empty room after a search, finding something that looked vaguely familiar. They were all in languages she didn’t read, but the logo was the same, so that was good enough for her.
Making her way back to the sitting room, she slowed as she heard raised voices from up ahead. After a moment of searching, she identified them as coming from behind the double sliding doors that led to Lorran’s study. Curious as to what was going on, she crept forward as silently as possible, until she could just barely make out the words being said.
“We can’t wait much longer,” one of the voices was saying. “They’re gaining more support with every passing day. Not enough to challenge us seriously yet, but enough that we should be taking them seriously.”
“We are.”
Jessica bit her lip. That was Lorran’s voice, and he continued speaking.
“Ever since Laurent was killed and his mate fled, things feel like they’ve been in disarray. We need to get things sorted out so we can move against these upstarts.”
She’d never heard Zoe’s mate talk like that. So angry and full of hatred. What other secrets was he hiding from his mate, she wondered? Who were the upstarts, and what were they trying to do? This probably wasn’t a conversation she was meant to overhear, but curiosity was a powerful motivator.
“Their desires are pathetic,” a third voice said, speaking with more calm. “We cannot let them sway us from our path. Ursa must die, or at minimum be brought to heel! I will not tolerate their continued insolence. Our first plan was more successful than we could have ever hoped, but that bitch Queen of theirs is proving more resourceful than anticipated.”
Jessica had no idea what they were talking about, though she knew that the “Ursa” they were referring to could only mean House Ursa, the bear shifter line of shapeshifters. Although she’d been spying on her sister when Lorran had first revealed the true nature of his beast to Zoe, Jessica hadn’t bothered to learn much more about it. Just knowing that such creatures existed was enough for her.
“I want your ideas.” It was the same voice speaking, the third person. It was tantalizingly familiar, but distance and the doors were muffling it enough that she couldn’t figure out who.
“They need to be eliminated,” the first voice said again. “The sooner the better. Canis and Ursa will never be friends, no matter the wishes of these young bloods. If they can’t accept that, then they will be put down like any disobedient dog.”
“Agreed,” Loran said, chiming in. “The softness of these young whelps is abhorrent. We need not be friends with everyone. We are Canis. It is our right to rule!”
Jessica was horrified. They were talking about killing members of their own House!
“Murderers,” she gasped, taking a quiet step backward.
But she’d forgotten about the wine bottle in her hand, and it clunked off the wall as she moved.
A split second later, the double doors flew open and an evil man she’d never seen before loomed over her, lip curled back in a terrifying leer. Big black eyebrows knotted together, matching the thunderclouds brewing in the depths of his eyes.
“Well well,” he sneered. “What do we have here? A spy?”
2
The wine bottle shattered into a thousand tiny pieces as she whipped it up and into the man’s face. Both of them stared in shock, caught completely unprepared by her sudden aggression. Jessica gaped at the stem of the bottle still in her hand, the only fragment still intact. Red wine mixed with blood as it dripped down his skin, pooling around the pieces of glass protruding from his cheek before falling to the floor in a steadily increasing stream.
“Why you little bitch!” the unknown shifter snarled, reaching for her.
Jessica screamed, ducked under his grip, punched him in the dick and took off down the hallway, ignoring the howl of pain that seemed to follow her like a living entity, growing louder as she went. Thunderous footsteps soon followed in pursuit, chasing her down.
She ran like the wind itself, arms pumping furiously, long wavy straw-blonde hair bouncing wildly behind her. Left, then right, a frenzied panic down a straightaway before she reached out to grab a wall panel and swung herself to the left down a side passage. The entire floor trembled as something large went skidding past her, tumbling to the ground as it tried to mimic her turn.
“Leave me alone!” she screamed as whoever—or whatever, she thought, reminding herself of where she was—came after her with renewed energy. “I didn’t hear anything, I swear!”
It didn’t make a difference. They weren’t going to take any chances. Not with a secret like that. Jessica had overheard their dastardly plan, and now they would have to silence her. It was nearly more than she could handle. Nearly.
A decade plus of working on a factory line had left her hardened to a lot of things. She’d seen gruesome injuries, and listened to some of the worst dregs of humanity come through her line. She’d long ago learned to defend herself from their advances, some of which had turned nearly violent. All those experiences served her well now, as she was able to immediately determine just how much danger she was in.
The answer: a lot.
Her first priority had to be escaping. Get to the garage, steal a car, and get the hell away from Moonshadow Manor. Once she had some distance between her and her pursuers, she could think a little more clearly.
“Come here,” someone snarled.
Jessica ducked low on instinct. A second later, a hand swiped through the air where her neck had been. Whoever it was, they were right on her tail. Thankfully, the corridor hit a four-way intersection ten feet ahead. Leaning to her left, she let her body indicate which way she intended to let her momentum carry her. A victorious growl from just behind said her pursuer thought he had her.
But instead of heading left at the intersection, Jessica left herself go nearly limp, hit the wall just before it ended, and rebounded off to the right, pirhouetting as she drew on figure skating skills nearly two decades old, and dashed off down the opposite hallway.
Risking a glance over her shoulder, she saw the same evil shifter she’d hit with the wine bottle stumble to a halt, fooled by her momentum. His eyes followed her, and a grin split his face.
A sinking sensation filled her stomach a moment before she was snatched up in some sort of pale-green cloud. It wrapped around her lower body and lifted her from the ground, keeping her immobile.
“Let me go!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, struggling violently. The more she squirmed though, the more the cloud crept up her limbs, preventing them from moving. Eventually, she fell still when it reached just below her breasts.
The evil-looking man strode closer, and she could see his hand was outstretched toward her, fingers constantly moving back and forth. Was he controlling whatever it was that had her caught up like a fly in a spider’s web?
“I’ll let you go when I’m ready to let you go,” he said, his tone filled with false niceties. “And that wil
l be after you tell me just how much you heard.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “I told you, I didn’t hear anything. Just a muffled voice. I didn’t know you were in the room, and it startled me as I was walking by with the new bottle of wine. Next thing I knew, you were at the door towering over me like you were ready to kill me for some reason. I panicked.”
“And hit me with the wine bottle,” he hissed, making no move to let her go.
“Yeah.” She didn’t apologize. They both knew the game. It might have been Jessica’s first time playing with him, but she wasn’t naïve. “How are you doing this?” she asked, looking down at the green cloud wrapped around her.
“You are living in House Canis, yet know nothing of the world around you,” the man spat. “You’re here on the good grace of charity alone.”
“I’m beginning to suspect you don’t like me very much,” she said casually, trying to distract the man, to keep his attention on her.
“You are a human. It’s nothing personal,” he chuckled nastily. “I despise your entire race.”
Jessica looked him up and down. “You appear pretty human to me.”
“Pah!” the man spat, standing in front of her now, looking up at her as she floated two feet off the ground. “I am a magi, you pathetic inbred fool. I am nothing like you.”
“Uh huh.” Jessica tried to look bored. “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…”
The man frowned. “What?”
“Then it falls unconscious like a duck,” she said, altering the old saying as Zoe swung the metal vase at the man’s head.
An instant after it connected, the field holding her disappeared and she dropped to the ground with a yelp. The magi groaned from where he lay on the floor. Could it truly be a magician? Was magic real as well? Jessica had no time to contemplate that. More footsteps were coming, and she needed to get the two of them out of there.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing Zoe’s hand. “We need to go. Now!”
They dashed forward.
“What’s going on, Jess? Why was he chasing after you? What did you do?”
Jessica hissed. “Nothing but overhear him talking about wanting to—”
She was interrupted as Lorran came around the corner ahead of them, blocking the way.
“Jessica,” he said warningly, looking past her at the groaning mage. “This needs to stop.”
“I agree. Get out of our way,” she snapped.
“Get out of our way?” Lorran asked haughtily.
“Yes. We’re leaving,” she said, walking straight forward.
“You should stay,” he said warningly.
“Jess,” Zoe hissed. “What the hell is going on? I don’t want to go.”
“If I stay here,” Jessica said under her breath, “They’re going to kill me, and possibly you too, just for helping me.”
“Is that true?” Zoe asked, speaking louder. “Are you going to kill Jessica? Are you going to kill me too, Lorran?”
The shifter sighed. “I can keep you safe, my love. You know that. As long as you are with me, you will come to no harm. I…cannot promise anything with Jessica. She has to make that choice, and even then.” He shrugged. “I do not know.”
“Zoe,” Jessica said, glancing over her shoulder. The mage was getting to his knees. He was moving slowly, but in another minute or so he’d be back upright, she figured. Time was running out.
“Come on, Jess. Lorran will do his best to protect us. I don’t know what happened, but we can sort this out. Okay?” Zoe turned to look at her. “Trust me.”
Jessica was about to protest, to tell Zoe that she was insane, but something in her sister’s eye caught her attention. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
“Okay,” she said heavily. “Fine. There’s no way I would escape anyway, I guess.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Lorran said confidently.
Together, the two of them started forward. Jessica let her shoulders slump in defeat, head bowed, nearly dragging her feet with every step. When they were about ten feet away, Zoe hurried forward into the arms of her mate.
“Lorran, who is that man?” she asked, pointing at the nasty man in all black who was just now regaining his footing behind them.
“That is—”
“I’m sorry,” Zoe whispered, and drove her knee into Lorran’s groin as hard as she could. “Run!” she screamed.
Jessica reached out for her sister’s hand, but Zoe pulled back.
“What are you doing?” she shouted, gaping.
“If I go with you, they’ll kill me too. If I stay, he’ll protect me. You can survive, Jess. I know you can. I…I don’t have those skills. Go! Get out of here, now. Don’t make me waste this.”
Jessica looked at Zoe, hating herself for what she was about to do, but her younger sister was right. Lorran would be furious, but he would forgive her. The man, for all his faults, appeared to love her dearly.
The same could not be said about Jessica. Both Lorran and the other man would come after her. She couldn’t stick around. But Zoe was wrong. They could survive. Together!
“Just come with me,” she hissed. On the ground, Lorran was slowing his rolls, the wails of pain beginning to lessen. It wouldn’t be long now. “We can make it, the two of us!”
Zoe hesitated, then, with a jerky nod, agreed. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Not so fast!”
They spun to see the other man, the mage, thrust his hand forward at them. Another green cloud roiled forward, right at Jessica.
Just before it got to her, however, Zoe shrieked and threw herself at the cloud. The tendrils of pale green smoke wrapped around her victoriously.
“GO!” Zoe screamed. “Run, Jess. Don’t waste this.”
“Fuck!” she shouted, just as Lorran pulled himself to one knee.
Swiftly, she pulled back a boot, slamming it home into his groin once more, trying not to wince in sympathy pain. Then, with one last pained glance at her trapped sister, she took off down the hallway, unable to hold back the agonizing scream that ripped from her throat as she fled toward the elevator.
The second the metal doors closed around her, the tears fell. She’d left her. Left Zoe behind. Images of her baby sister trapped in that green cloud filled her mind, and would haunt her for a long, long time. She was fairly positive Lorran would forgive Zoe, blaming it on her love for Jessica, but there was no real way to tell.
And she’d left her with him. Lorran was one of the schemers, one of those who wanted to kill a bunch of members of his own house! And her sister was not only staying with him, she was mated to him! It was crazy. Jessica had never been Lorran’s biggest fan, even before the changes of the past few years, but he’d at least been acceptable in her eyes before then, just not exceptional.
The chimes announced she was at the garage level. The doors opened, but the area outside was empty still. No pursuit had followed her just yet. Lorran and his conspirators would probably be hesitant to call in backup, because if she got the word out about what she knew, they would be exposed.
Still, Jessica had no time to waste. She darted to the section of the parking garage she knew housed Lorran’s cars, finding the lockbox filled with keys. The keycode hadn’t changed, and she swung the door open, eyeing the rows of keys to cars both antique, flashy, and what she wanted.
Snagging the silver ring from the hook, she hit the unlock button. There was no need to search for the vehicle. The hulking behemoth stood out among the hypercars and other flashy automobiles like a sore thumb. But as Jessica hopped inside the full-sized military-converted Hummer and turned the engine over, she’d never been happier that Lorran hadn’t listened to Zoe’s pleas to get rid of the thing.
The Beast, as she’d nicknamed it, came to life with a roar that filled much of the underground. The entire cab shook, but she didn’t care. Speed would help, but the solidity of the vehicle was going to be even more worthwhile. Gunning the engine, she didn’t bother steering around th
e cars on her way to the entrance. Jessica simply went through them.
The push bar on the front slammed into a Lamborghini, pushing it back into a Ferrari, a McLaren and several other hypercars she didn’t recognize, but that had to be expensive. Carbon fiber siding flew everywhere as the Beast rumbled through—and in one case over—another car.
Once she was free of them, Jessica punched the accelerator and the Hummer picked up speed as it went up the curving ramp, tires squealing as she hammered down her foot, not taking the turn slowly at all.
She shot up into the night, the suspension bouncing wildly as she cleared the top of the ramp and nearly went airborne for a second.
“Yeeha—AHHH!” Her shout of triumph turned into a scream as something huge slammed into the side of the Hummer, rocking it up on one side.
The Beast came back down and she nearly concussed herself on the roof, it bounced so heavily. But most importantly, she kept her foot down. Looking in her side view mirror, she had a split second to glimpse a fearsome visage of flashing teeth before something very large and very furry ripped it from the vehicle.
Instinctively, she swerved hard to the left and hammered on the brakes. A massive canine form flew past her side window with a howl, the headlights illuminating a giant mist-gray wolf as it rolled several times.
Jessica didn’t give it a chance to get up. She pushed down on the pedal and the bar at the front of the Hummer slammed into the werewolf, the heavy-duty steel bending slightly as it flung the wolf forward and off to the side.
A blast of some sort of red energy streaked by her driver’s side window, gouging out a black divot from the concrete driveway. Jessica screamed and blasted away from the House at full speed, weaving back and forth as randomly as she could. Two more red bursts flew by her, and something screeched across the roof of the Hummer, but nothing penetrated the cab.
In her rear view, she saw a wolf try to catch up, but the Hummer kept accelerating, and eventually left it behind.
Just before she disappeared into the woods that hid the manor from the outside world, Jessica saw a pair of headlights light up the sky behind her. They were coming after her now. The chase was on. She wouldn’t be able to outrun them, that was for certain. No, she needed to find safety.