High House Ursa: The Complete Bear Shifter Box Set

by Riley Storm

  He watched the weight shift, her arm muscles flex and then she lunged. Kasperi spun inside the strike, grabbing her arm, holding the blade away from him, plunging it deep into the wall to the side.

  “Snap out of it,” he growled, kissing her, waiting for the magic to dispel.

  Amber bit him.

  “Ow!” he yelped, pulling his face back, staring wide-eyed at the stranger in his mate’s body.

  “Step away!”

  Kasperi’s head jerked up, staring down the hallway as Kvoss the Assassin appeared, magic blooming in his hand from the relic he held within. The bloody fool was going to kill her! Kasperi knew it immediately, in the set of his jaw and the nastiness of his eyes. Someone was going to die today.

  Using his distraction, Amber kneed him in the groin, wrenching herself free from his grip as he hopped away in pain.

  “Kasperi, get down!” Kvoss bellowed, raising his hand.

  “No!” he shouted, diving forward, snatching up his blade just as Kvoss released the spell.

  Kasperi came to his feet, both hands gripping the hilt of his sword as he held it in front of him, willing magic through it with a fierceness he’d never known before. The torrent of red flames stopped dead as a green barrier arose in the hallway. Kasperi snarled and with a force of his will, sent the barrier flowing back down the hallway. The magic was wild, ragged, tearing up the hallway as it went, but it hit Kvoss, blowing him backward into a heap twenty feet farther away.

  Something crunched behind him. Spinning, Kasperi dropped to one knee, blade raised above his head just in time to catch Amber’s strike as she chopped downward with her arm. Like before, his blade glowed red-orange, catching the magical strike on its edge and shattering Amber’s magical creation.

  He stood, towering over her, blade to her throat.

  “Please, Amber. Stop. Whatever this is, stop it. Take control.” He shuddered. “I can’t do this to you.”

  Amber’s arm stretched forward, and magic began to swirl around her elbow, making its way down toward her fist as she tried to reform the weapon. Kasperi shook his head, near to tears as he pressed his blade to the soft exposed skin of her neck. She would never make it. A trickle of blood welled up around the wound.

  “Amber,” he pleaded. “You’re going to kill me. I can’t. I can’t kill you. So for me, stop this. Please.”

  I love you.

  The words wouldn’t come, he couldn’t force them out, but he felt the power they gave him, the vibrant energy. Kasperi harnessed it, not entirely sure what he was doing. He couldn’t hit her himself, couldn’t kill her. But this magic, this was something entirely different.

  “Forgive me,” he whispered, and with a reluctant thought, Kasperi punched her in the face with the magic of his love, if that was what he was truly feeling.

  Amber reeled backward, the magic on her arm slowing, but not going out. Reaching deep into his heart, Kasperi took all his feelings toward her, scooped them up and then slapped her across the face with them, before punching her again.

  His mate whirled around and fell to the floor, hitting her head on the wall. It pained him to watch her, to know he was the one hurting her, but if it kept her alive, it was worth it. Amber lay in a heap, moaning softly. But she made no other move to attack him.

  Footsteps came thundering down the hall toward him. Expecting it to be Kvoss again, Kasperi whirled, sword coming up, blazing with magic once more.

  The two soldiers from earlier skidded to a halt, eyes going wide.

  “The Magi,” Kasperi rasped, suddenly weak. “Where is he?”

  “We couldn’t find him,” the first soldier said.

  “But we did find this.” The second tossed something silver and circular at Kasperi.

  Catching it out of air like a Frisbee, he whirled and dropped to a knee, going to wrap it around her neck.

  Just before he could clasp it together, a hand came up and slid between the two ends.

  “No.”

  33

  Amber saw Kasperi tense above her, ready to strike, but she shook her head, weakly gripping one end of the collar, not trusting her arm to stay there on its own.

  “No,” she repeated as her head slowly cleared. “Not again.”

  “Amber. You just attacked me in our quarters. Tried to kill me. Slice me up. Multiple people saw you using magic on me. You have to put it on.”

  “I’ll never wear that again,” she stated fiercely, eyes blazing as she moved herself into a more comfortable seating position. “What you say just now, what happened. That wasn’t me, Kasperi. It wasn’t me doing that.”

  He frowned at her, but stayed silent.

  “Thank you for not killing me, by the way. I really do appreciate that.”

  “Is it really you?” Kasperi asked softly. “Are you…you, again? You’re not going to try and kill me.”

  She smiled, reaching up to stroke his cheek. Kasperi jerked away slightly, looking at her hand out of the corner of his eyes, but when he saw that she wasn’t trying to stab him with a blade, he relaxed. Amber felt his skin, the warmth and heat of it, noting the way his pulse was hammering in his neck.

  “It’s me,” she assured him. “I promise. It’s a better me, actually. I feel…stronger. In control.”

  Angry voices and shouts sounded from down the hallway behind Kasperi. With his help, she stood, noting that Kvoss and three of his men were advancing toward them, blades in one hand, magic blooming in the other.

  “Don’t stop until she’d dead,” Kvoss hissed. “We have proof of it this time.”

  Kasperi stepped forward before she could do anything, holding up his sword. The silver-gray blade sprouted red-orange fire from the hilt to the tip. Kvoss wavered and slowed, but he and his men continued to advance, filling the hallway.

  “That’s far enough,” Kasperi growled, taking a step toward them. “Stop there.”

  The Assassin opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the fire on Kasperi’s blade turned a brilliant jade green. Kvoss and his Asps stopped this time, witnessing the burgeoning of Kasperi’s powers as he moved into a different level of magic, one that the non-mages couldn’t hope to match.

  “Amber.”

  Kasperi spoke to her, even as he held the others at bay, other shifters filling the hallway beyond.

  “Yes?”

  “I’d suggest you explain what just happened, because though I’m not going to let them kill you, you did just lose control and try and kill me. Now is a good time to speak up.”

  She nodded, then realized Kasperi couldn’t see her. “That wasn’t me,” she said.

  “What?” All of the nearby shifters seemed confused.

  “It was my body,” she admitted. “But it wasn’t me. Not even the me who has lost control. That’s still me, it’s just a darker side of me. This wasn’t me. Period.”

  “What are you saying?” Kvoss snapped. “You have split personalities?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No. I mean that someone else was in control of me. Forced me to do what they wanted.”

  “How do we know you still aren’t under their control?” Kasperi asked warily, turning slightly to keep her in his peripheral vision, while still blocking Kvoss and the others.

  “When you hit me and I fell, I slammed my head off the wall. That jarred the connection, and I was able to reassert control and sever it.”

  “Tell her to put the collar on,” Kvoss snapped.

  “I will never wear the collar again,” she spat back. “I am through with being controlled by other things, by other people.”

  There were hisses from the Asps as she said that. Even Kasperi looked furious.

  “Mind control magic is illegal,” Kvoss said. “For reasons very much like this one. It is illegal on all levels. Us, the Mage Council. Even the Fae never used it, because it invited too much turmoil and destruction. Like the humans and their nuclear weapons.”

  Kasperi nodded. “How did one of the Canim get in here and do this to
her? Who was it, Amber? You must describe him to us, so we can track him down and kill him. We must free everyone under his control.”

  “Canim?” She shook her head. “Haven’t you been listening to what I’ve been saying? It was one of you.”

  “Who?” Kasperi asked icily.

  She could see in his eyes he already knew who it was. There was only one answer, one answer that made any sense.

  “It was Korred.”

  “How dare you accuse one of us to cover up for your weakness!” one of the Asps screamed.

  Before Amber could say anything, Kvoss casually backhanded his subordinate away. “Be quiet,” he said, his voice oddly tight. Then he leveled a finger at Amber. “Speak.”

  “I went in this morning to practice,” she said, coming up to Kasperi’s side and resting a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve been getting a lot better at control. Like I’m starting to figure it out. I left Kasperi snoring in bed and asked Korred if he could help,” she said. “The Magi agreed. We practiced. I showed even more growth. He seemed happy, and told me he wanted to work on something new, but first I had to clear my mind. To let go of the magic. He stripped it from me.” She shuddered. “That was the last time I had control, until I woke up slumped on the wall just there with a massive headache.”

  “So you don’t remember anything that just happened?” Kvoss asked, disbelieving.

  “No, I remember it,” she whispered, looking apologetically at Kasperi. “But vaguely, disassociatively. Like I was watching over my own shoulder. It’s weird to describe. It was me, but it wasn’t me.”

  Kasperi was trembling. “I’m going to kill him,” he said with a calmness that terrified her.

  Kvoss nodded. “We should go have a chat with him. See if she’s telling the truth, or just trying to cover her own ass.”

  Amber wanted to protest, to tell them she didn’t want any more violence, that her presence had already caused enough harm. Couldn’t they find another way to solve this without more death?

  One of the shifters who had tossed the collar at Kasperi shuffled forward. “The Magi isn’t in his quarters. Or his training area. We checked. One of us went to each.”

  More footsteps sounded, this time approaching from behind, from the Grand Hallway. Amber, Kasperi, Kvoss and the others all turned to watch someone approach.

  She recognized him. It was the same guard from the fight the day before. Khove was his name. He was the Queen’s bodyguard.

  “Khove,” Kasperi said warily. “What is it?”

  It was only then she saw the sickly pale look on the shifter’s face. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

  “The King will see you now,” Khove said weakly.

  34

  Kasperi walked into the Throne Room three steps behind the shaken Khove. The head of the Queens’ bodyguard had refused to explain anything else. He’d simply turned and started walking back to the Throne Room after making his announcement.

  After pleading gently with Amber, Kasperi had left her behind. She’d been through too much just recently. Whatever was going on here, it was his problem to deal with. The last thing Amber needed was to be taking House Ursa’s problems onto her own shoulders. She was carrying enough weight.

  “What the fuck does he mean by King?” one of the Asps whispered, trailing behind.

  Kvoss growled at them to shut up, but said nothing more. The Assassin hadn’t said a word since Khove spoke, also acting uncharacteristically quiet.

  “What the fuck is this?” Kasperi barked loudly as his eyes fixated on the stone seats at the back of the room.

  Two seats had remained empty ever since Klaue had been appointed to fill the spot of Champion. First was that of Knight, or heir to House Ursa. Nobody had been appointed to fill that yet, not since the previous Title Holder was killed during the uprising several months earlier.

  The second was the Throne where a King would sit. Like the Knight, the previous King had been killed in the uprising. Out of respect to her fallen mate, a black shroud had covered the seat. She would never take another mate, and the seat was supposed to sit empty until the next mated pair ascended to the Throne in the future.

  Now, however, the shroud was gone, and in its place sat Korred.

  “Get your ass out of that seat, Magi,” Kasperi barked, pointing a finger at the man. “You show serious disrespect. Honor the fallen King properly.”

  “You will address me as King,” Korred hissed, fingers slithering out from the depths of his robes sleeves and grabbing the Queen’s hand, holding it possessively.

  Kasperi’s jaw dropped open. Behind him, Kvoss inhaled sharply and the Asps muttered dark words to one another.

  “My Queen,” Kasperi said once he’d recovered his voice. “You can’t possibly be serious? This man is not your mate…Kaelyn?” he asked quietly, noticing for the first time the look upon the Queen’s face.

  It was fixed. Impassive. Unmoving. Almost…robotic. Completely unlike the woman that had come to rule House Ursa over the past months.

  “Kvoss, are you seeing this?” he asked quietly out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Yes.” The Assassin’s clipped reply confirmed his thoughts.

  It was the same look that had been on Amber’s face not twenty minutes earlier when she’d tried to kill him. The evidence of what was truly going on was clear now. The Queen hadn’t taken Korred as her mate for some unknown reason. Nor had she decided to relinquish her seat.

  Korred had forced her to, when he’d cast his mind control magic upon her.

  “You will address me,” Korred half-screamed, bits of spittle flying out from under his hood. “I will not tolerate any disrespect.”

  “Then you should have earned our respect, instead of putting the rightful Queen under your illegal magic spell,” Kasperi growled. “Or taking control of my mate and having her try to kill me!”

  Looking around, Kasperi tried to take stock of what was going on. The other seats were empty, though he knew that the Reaver and Herald of the House were away on business. Where were the others? For that matter, where was the rest of the Queen’s Own? The only bodyguard in sight was Khove.

  There was enough animation on the bodyguard’s face to let Kasperi know the man wasn’t under any control. Not magically. The body language was not anything like what he was used to, however; it was down, dejected, almost like he’d swallowed his pride and agreed to follow the Magi’s orders, simply so he could continue to do his job and protect the Queen.

  Knowing Khove, that was exactly what he’d done. The man was fanatically loyal, and would sacrifice anything about his self to protect his Queen. If Khove tried something, the Magi would kill the Queen, and that would be that. No wonder he looked sick to his stomach. He must feel beyond impotent and helpless in this crazy scenario.

  “I will have your loyalty,” Korred said, speaking loudly, voice simmering with anger at Kasperi’s earlier questions, but ignoring them.

  “Are you insane?” Kasperi blurted. “You’ve lost your mind, haven’t you?”

  “Of course not!” Korred snapped. “I’ve been working toward this for a long time, you short-sighted fool. Do you know how much power and energy it takes to craft a spell this powerful, to overwhelm a mind such as this?” He stroked the Queen’s arm lovingly.

  Kasperi shuddered in disgust, trying not to retch at the lecherous old man’s actions.

  “I never intended it to go this way of course,” Korred continued, sounding distracted as he watched his fingers move up and down the woman’s bare arm. “So many people just couldn’t follow simple directions. Couldn’t do as they were told! Kill who they were supposed to kill. So now I’m forced to do it myself. To rid this House of the weakness that has infested it.”

  Kasperi inhaled sharply, things becoming crystal clear. This was him. The traitor. He was right here, sitting on the throne. All along, they’d wondered who it had been, operating from the shadows, making people dance to his hidden tune. It had been th
e Magi all this time!

  He half-turned to look at Kvoss. The Assassin was staring at the throne, the same sickly look on his face as on Khove’s. For weeks now, they’d been operating under the assumption that it was him, that the Assassin was the traitor. Instead, it was the Magi, the man who had come to Kasperi’s aid, who had helped him and Amber when nobody else was going to.

  Kasperi’s fury grew. He’d trusted the mage, believed in him and allied himself with him against the others. And all along, he’d been allying himself with the worst traitor to ever infect House Ursa.

  He felt sick.

  “Now,” Korred continued nonchalantly. “You two will come into the fold. You will swear your allegiance to me, and help me lead this House back to glory and power. Or you will become my…guests.”

  Kasperi’s eyes swept to the stone chairs devoid of the other Title Holders of House Ursa. Now he knew where they were. They must not have been willing to sign on to this madness. What a surprise.

  “I take it the new guest quarters are located below us, with comfortable beds of natural earth elements?” he said sarcastically, thinking of the dungeons hewn straight from the rock.

  “That would be accurate,” Korred sneered. “I take it you pick them?”

  It was decision time. Whichever path he chose, it would have to be for the good of his House. Kasperi couldn’t make this personal. House Ursa was at a critical juncture, and his actions could sway it one way or another. The question was, which one gave them the best chance to stop the Magi before he made things even worse?

  Getting tossed in the dungeons seemed counter-intuitive to everything. Locked away, likely with some sort of magical restraint similar to Amber’s collar, and without his blades, Kasperi would be precisely useless to everyone.

  So either he swallowed his pride like Khove and did as the Magi demanded…or he took the third option. He fought.

  Going up against the Magi, even with his newfound powers, was not a challenge that Kasperi relished. He was too new. Too raw. The brute strength may be there, but the Magi had decades of training on him. Could he hope to defeat him?