by Riley Storm
“Thank you,” Jessica said, taking her time, the idea coming to her as she spoke. “Now, I said we should do what the Canim expect from us.”
“Fine, I’ll play along,” Klaue said unhappily, crossing his arms in front of his chest and pouting. “What do they expect us to do?”
“Okay, bear with me here.” She snickered at the term bear. Neither of the shifters seemed amused. Spoilsports. “Right, anyway, first off, thank you both for being so protective, that means a lot. In different ways.” Walking forward, she reached out and uncrossed Klaue’s arms so she could hold both his hands, giving them a squeeze, hoping he would see she wasn’t feeling insane or suicidal, but that she actually, maybe, had a plan.
“What you need to know first of all, is what I heard.”
The two bear shifters—and the Queen’s Guards—went still.
“My sister, as you know, is mated to Lorran who, according to Klaue here, is the Captain of House Canis. Am I right?”
“Yes,” Kaelyn said quietly, the Queen looking at her with an intensity that would have left Jessica unnerved before the events of the past week.
“I was visiting her, and went to go get us another bottle of wine, when I heard voices coming from his study. Three, to be precise. One was Lorran’s. One was the mage, though I never caught his name. The third was too muffled to make out, I’m sorry. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it.”
She ran her hands over her head and through her hair, recalling just what she’d overheard that night. “There appears to be a schism in House Canis,” she said slowly. “The older shifters, such as Lorran and the mystery speaker, they despise you all. Hate you with everything they have.”
“No surprise there,” Klaue said. “Look at what they did to us, corrupting dozens of our number into acting on their behalf and trying to usurp control. Despicable.”
“Well,” Jessica said in a lighter tone. “What you might not know, is that apparently, many of the younger ones wish to foster closer relations with you. They want to put aside the blood feud of old and stop the hostilities.”
“Yeah right,” Klaue scoffed, but the Queen just remained quiet, encouraging her to continue.
“If that were so untrue, then why would the older shifters be conspiring to plot against the younger? To kill them before they can take control of the House.”
“Is that what you heard?” Kaelyn asked, coming closer. “You heard them talking about it?”
“They need to be eliminated,” she repeated in her best impression of a male voice. “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.”
Both Klaue and the Queen stared at her in astonishment.
“You’re talking about a purge within Canis,” the Queen said quietly.
“That’s how I interpreted it,” Jessica agreed. “I couldn’t keep my surprise quiet, and one of them heard me. I had to run. I only escaped with the help of my sister, and wound up here in front of your gates. You know the rest.”
“If this got out,” Klaue said quietly.
“Then Canis would be where we were weeks ago,” the Queen finished. “Now I understand why you were so reluctant to tell us.”
Klaue came over to her and put his arm around her protectively. “Thank you,” he said softly.
“That is quite the revelation,” Kaelyn agreed. “We’ll have to consider how we use that information, but it doesn’t to apply to the situation at hand, and your sister specifically. Not right now, at least. You had a plan?”
“Yes,” she said, feeling encouraged. “I’m well aware they want to kill both of us. We know that they will, right?”
The pair of shifters nodded.
“And they aren’t likely to let the attack on Moonshadow go either, are they?”
The Queen and Klaue shook their heads.
“Not on your life,” Klaue added vocally. “They’re jealous fucks, and they know it was us, even if they can’t prove it.”
“Well, think of it from their side. What better way to get revenge on everyone involved, than during this exchange? They know you’ll be there,” Jessica said, pointing at Klaue, “and probably many of the others. Possibly even the Queen herself.”
“You think they’re going to betray us. Ambush us,” Kaelyn said.
“Absolutely. I’ve been around them, spent time listening to what they think of you. They believe you to be naïve, too stupid to expect such things. They will let their prejudices guide their actions, and they will try to wipe you all out.”
“That’s great,” Klaue muttered. “Just another reason not to do this. I take it you have something to say to encourage us to do it?”
She grinned. “I say that you waltz in their naïve as fuck. Pretend like you’ve thought it over a great deal. Let them ambush you.”
“Uhhh,” Klaue looked at Kaelyn, then back at Jessica, like she was insane. “What?”
Jessica pulled back her lips, showing her teeth. “Then you spring your own ambush, and rescue my sister.”
“Do you have any idea how much danger this puts you in?” Klaue howled in protest, shaking his head, waving his hands. “No way. It’s not happening.”
Kaelyn rubbed her jaw thoughtfully. “Klaue.”
“She is not putting herself in danger like this. I won’t allow it.
“Klaue.” The Queen’s voice hardened.
“Yes my Queen?”
“That’s what we’re going to do.”
“Absolutely not. No way. We will find something else for her to do.” Klaue was still shaking his head.
“Klaue?”
He took a deep breath. “Yes, my Queen?”
Kaelyn turned to smile at him sweetly as Jessica watched the back and forth with growing amusement.
“Make the arrangements.”
Klaue sagged. “Yes, my Queen. I’ll see to it.”
Jessica leaned in close to the Ursa Queen. “You have got to teach me how to do that.”
38
“This is a perfectly creepy meeting spot,” she muttered as the driver parked the SUV next to a weathered limestone mausoleum. The thing was huge, with four spiral towers in the corners and intricately-carved figures on every wall. Gargoyles lined the roof, and two proud lions sat on either side of the entry.
“Former King of House Panthera,” Klaue said quietly. “Rumor has it he was a dick.”
Despite the gravity of the situation and their location in the middle of a cemetery, Jessica giggled. Klaue had that effect on her, he could always make her laugh. It was something she valued highly, and she made a mental note to tell him that once this was over and they had a chance to speak privately.
The chill invaded her personal space the instant she opened the door and stepped out, shivering lightly at the brisk drop in temperature until her body acclimatized to it. Pulling the zipper up tightly on her jacket, she fought back the weather and told her body to suck it up. It was winter.
“You okay over there?” Klaue asked before coming around to her side of the vehicle.
“Yeah.”
It was a lie. They both knew it. Jessica was beyond nervous. Whatever was planned, she didn’t know a single detail. The less she knew, she argued, the less she could give away with body language. If there was one thing she’d learned about shifters, it was that they could read a human with extreme ease. If Jessica knew the code words or timings of anything, she was liable to give it away.
Which meant she was in the complete dark. All she knew was that Canis was likely to ambush them with hidden men, and that Klaue and his Queen had arranged to counter that with overwhelming force of their own. That was it. When, where and how it would arrive was a mystery.
“It’s going to be fine,” he assured her, reaching up and ruffling her hair.
“Stop that,” she growled, playfully swatting at his hand before straightening her hair. “Now my
hands are cold,” she complained, shoving them back in her pockets.
“You have gloves,” Klaue teased pitilessly. “I can see them sticking out of the pockets your hands are in. Maybe put them on?”
“When I’m ready.” Looking around, she eyed the group that was going to escort her to the exchange. Most were men she recognized from the raid. Exchanging glances, she nodded in thanks to each one of them individually. This was the second time they had stuck their necks out for her, and she appreciated it, and the loyalty to Klaue that it showed.
“What is this place?” she asked, noting the number of torches burning from various crypts and tombs. All of them were ornate. In the center were three much larger buildings, all carved from stone, towering over the rest.
“This is where royals of the five Houses are buried,” he explained as they slowly walked toward the center and the cluster of larger buildings.
Jessica frowned. “Five Houses? I thought there were only four. Ursa, Canis, Panthera, and the bird one.”
“Raptere,” Klaue supplied, taking her right hand from her pocket and engulfing it in his, holding it tight. “There is another, though they haven’t been seen in a little over a century. House D—”
“Dragons,” she whispered in silent awe, staring at the most majestic of the three large buildings at the center.
Four-legged winged lizards perched on the corners of the giant square tomb, each one easily ten feet tall and carved in intricate detail down to the tiniest of scales. They were nothing, however, compared to the spire that rose from the center. Made of pure gold, it reflected the light of a dozen torches on the roof, illuminating the gigantic dragon that curled around the spire. It was easily thirty feet tall, its wings stretched out wide to either side, head glaring down fiercely at the entrance, daring any who came to be sure they wished to enter.
“House Dracos, yes,” Klaue confirmed, his voice subdued.
On either side of them rose equally massive representations of bears and wolves, but they were creatures she saw in everyday life, even with their outsized proportions. But a dragon. That was something else.
“You mean they actually exist?” she asked.
“Yes, though they haven’t been heard from in a long time, so there’s a bit of a debate on the subject.
“Is this where all the ancestors of the major Houses are buried?”
“No. Only those who have done great deeds and are voted in by their respective Councils. This is where the best of us lie.”
They spent another few moments there, in the presence of many of his ancestors and beyond. Then one of Klaue’s men motioned, and he put an arm around her protectively as they pulled back to one side of the open space in the center of the three tombs.
Opposite them came the delegation from House Canis. It was large, nearly a score of them, compared to only seven from Ursa. She smiled tightly, thinking the numbers to be about even at that point.
The wolf shifters came in a ragged mob, none of them seeming to really care or even note the presence of the Ursidae, which she could see was irritating her guard. Probably exactly what they wanted.
“Yeah, they’ve got something planned,” Klaue whispered quietly. “No doubt about that. Even for these pricks, they’re too arrogant. Hell, they’re practically giving it away. How do they think we won’t notice that?”
One of the other men spoke—it was Kasperi, she noted, twin swords running down his back, hidden from view but he turned for them to see—answering the mostly rhetorical question. “They’re cocky in victory and will expect us to just see it as them rubbing it in that they’re getting what they deserve.”
“Oh, they’re getting what they deserve,” another—she couldn’t see who—muttered under his breath.
“Careful,” Klaue warned, and she tensed.
Was it going to explode before the exchange had even been made? She couldn’t see her sister yet. It was possible the Canim were that arrogant, they thought they could just kill them all here and now. She wouldn’t put it past them. Still, they had to make some show of being honest. They would probably claim that the shifters who attacked were rogues, disavowed by the House, just like the Ursa Queen would have done if any of Klaue’s raid team had been captured.
Taunting us. That’s what they would be doing.
Then Lorran appeared, bringing Zoe along with him. Jessica growled at the sight of his hand clamped firmly on Zoe’s shoulder, forcing the terrified woman along. All Jessica saw was her baby sister, desperately in need of saving. She knew the man was useless, but even Jessica hadn’t realized just how bad it was. He was pathetic. Using her sister all along? What for, she wondered, then remembered that at the time, he’d been up for election to his position.
“That bastard,” she spat. “He never loved her. He just needed her so he could gain power. How did I not notice that before?”
The answer, of course, was that her sister had seemed happy, and that was what Jessica wanted most. It blinded her to the reality of the situation. Her vision was clear now, however, and she saw Lorran for the monster he truly was.
Klaue squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. We’ll get her out of there. It’s almost over.”
“I just wish I could tell Zoe it’s going to be okay.”
“You can,” Klaue said as he stepped forward next to her, while opposite them, Lorran did the same and brought Zoe with him. “They would expect that.”
“It’ll be okay, Zoe,” she said, calling out across the distance.
The wolf shifters snickered to themselves, but they were quieted by a chorus of deep bass growls from the assembled bear shifters. Both sides took a deeper interest in the exchange now, forming lines behind their respective representatives, glaring at one another across the fifty-foot gap.
“Klaue,” she said suddenly, struck by an urge to speak, to say something that hadn’t been at the front of her mind for the past two days, but was right there now.
“Yes? What is it?”
“There’s something you should know.”
He looked down at her, eyes bright and as blue as the day she’d first met him. “This maybe isn’t the time to be revealing more secrets,” he hissed.
“So, you came to your senses after all,” Lorran sneered, interrupting her. “I knew you would. You Ursidae are so predictable like that. Never willing to do what it takes. Oh well,” he said, coming to a halt on his side of the halfway point. His position meant Klaue would have to come a few steps closer to the other Canim to do the exchange properly. No doubt it was intentional.
“As opposed to lying to someone for seven years and pretending to care about them, all for a seat on the Canis Council? That’s just pathetic, Lorran. I knew there was a reason I didn’t like you, besides your smell.”
“So feisty!” Lorran said, clapping his hands together, letting go of Zoe’s shoulder. “I always did appreciate that about you, Klaue. You never backed down from a fight.”
“Hand the girl over,” Klaue said, as if tired of it. “Let’s get this done with, before I wipe that smile from your face. Permanently.”
“Ooooh, I’m shaking in my boots!” Lorran laughed, mocking the bear shifter.
Probably not a good idea, she thought.
“Send over the fugitive first,” he added, dropping the laughter and turning stone-faced.
“Do I look stupid? You and I, step that way,” Klaue said, jerking his head away from Jessica.
The two shifters shuffled off to her right one step at a time, until they were out of reach.
“Girls, switch sides,” Klaue said.
Jessica looked at him. She desperately wanted to finish telling him, but if she did, everyone would hear. They would all make fun of her. Did she really care though? It wasn’t about them, it was about her and Klaue.
“Jessica,” Zoe said, embracing her as they met in the middle. “What are you doing?”
“It’ll work out,” she said to her younger sibling. “Trust me, okay? It’ll be alrigh
t.”
“Oh, enough of this,” Lorran called, sounding exasperated. He put something to his mouth and blew on it.
Jessica didn’t hear a thing.
A second later, wolves came boiling out of all three temples as Lorran laughed and chucked the dog whistle away.
39
Klaue and his men were all taken aback by the rapidity with which Lorran and the rest of the Canim turned on them. He’d expected it to take longer. All of them had.
Training kicked in, however, and he lunged forward, dropping a shoulder into Lorran’s midsection with as much force as he could. There was no time to finish the job. Turning on his heel and dashing toward the two sisters, he shouted at them to move, pointing toward the oncoming rush of bear shifters. Many of them had drawn weapons as they charged into the center of the clearing between the tombs, forming a protective circle around the women.
“It’ll be okay,” he said, reaching in and giving Jessica a squeeze on the shoulder.
The speed of it all had thrown his plans into disarray. His reinforcements were close, and the shouting and yips of the wolves as they stalked around him and his men would tell them that it was time to come running, but nobody had thought Lorran would move so fast. It would be at least a minute before the plan could be put into action. Still, he had a part to play.
“Spread out a bit,” he muttered, and the circle widened slightly. Pulling a disc out of his pocket, he cracked it in half and dropped it on the ground, then turned his back and joined the circle, growling and daring any of the wolves to come closer.
There had to be nearly fifty all told now, between the original eighteen and the reinforcements. They were circling too fast for him to get an accurate count, but he had faith in his guess.
“What’s the plan now, boss?” Kasperi asked, his dual swords—both of them now the uranium-edged versions, not the straight metal from their duel before—held at the ready. Klaue knew just how painful a strike from one of those would be. It would open a wound that wouldn’t close, not until the radiation that played havoc with shifter DNA was removed.
“The plan is to—”