Knowing it was folly, she dared to dream that one day it just might be the place she called home. Suicide mission or not.
Middle of the night as it was, the city was alive and vital. Vampires, shifters, and Otherkin alike were busy with the hustle and bustle of their nightly activities. Small shop owners with their doors wide open to the night air waved and smiled, inviting Mira’s small group inside for a peek at their wares. Although she was tempted, Mira didn’t stray from her path. But she did promise herself plenty of time for exploration when they came back victorious. She smiled and waved back at those who were courteous to her. Being a prisoner had not stripped her of manners, though some might have thought that was the case.
Not all passersby looked on Mira’s group with friendly eyes, however. She noticed more than one wayward glance or suspicious glare from residents of the city. She expected as much for her companions – humans, after all – but not to her from her own kind. Their visible anger made Mira feel ill at ease. The Council was already breathing down her throat; she had not considered having to win over the city inhabitants too. The hope of peace, the small spark she’d been holding onto so fiercely, suddenly dimmed.
“They know you brought the humans,” Stryker answered her unasked question, thankfully without a hint of anger or condescension in his voice. “You’d be hard-pressed to find any popularity right now.”
Mira shrugged, hoping to hide the worry she felt rising to the surface. “I don’t need popularity, just acceptance.” In truth, she needed both. Not necessarily popularity in the traditional sense, but kinship, companionship – people like her who valued her. Being a slave for so long and having her only value be the amount of wins she’d racked up had skewed her sense of self-worth. Deep down she longed for someone to like her for something beyond her ability to rip a throat out.
“Acceptance you can have easily enough. You’re one of us. But them...” Stryker cocked his head sideways and glanced back at the human trio following behind. “They’ll probably never find acceptance here as long as they remain human.”
Still pushing for her to turn them, even after she’d put her foot down. Would he ever stop? “I still think that’s petty. Just for the record.”
Now it was Stryker’s turn to shrug, but he wasn’t doing it to hide anything, Mira knew he didn’t care one way or the other. “It is what it is. We just have to deal with it.”
“Maybe not. We’re going on a suicide mission, remember?”
“Always the optimist, aren’t we?”
“Realist. How many times do I have to say it?”
“Well, realistically, we do stand a chance. We just need a good plan to get in and get your vampires released. I’m quite certain they can take care of the nitty gritty parts of continuing their freedom.”
“Delicately put,” Mira snickered. Why must everyone pussyfoot around the topic of drinking blood?
“I do try. Maybe you should too.” His smile went far beyond playful, but the message was as serious as the grave.
“Is that your nice way of telling me to shut up and let others do the talking?” Her mouth had always been a problem. And though she hated to be reminded of that fact, she knew there was truth there. She often let it run wild, and this was not the time for it. At least Stryker was trying to tell her nicely; that was more courtesy than she’d been given in more years than she could count.
“No. Don’t shut up. Your input is valid... just maybe try not to piss anyone off with it. Filter your words. We’re trying to be on the same team here.”
“You and my friends back there are on the same team. But... the Council... I have my doubts.”
“They have the best interests of our people at heart, as hard as that may be to believe from your standpoint... And, yes, when I say our people, I am including you.”
“Well, when I say my people, I am talking about my fri...” The word was right there on the tip of her tongue, and still she had trouble saying it. “Friends.” She hadn’t really had friends in so long. But that was what they were.
“And I mean to include them too. But for the Council’s sake, filter... okay?”
Mira sighed. He was right. “I’ll be as nice as I can be.”
The quiet serenity of Caldera Grove made an impression on more than just Mira. She caught the same sparkle in Lucian’s moss-green eyes that she’d had on her first visit. This city was unlike anything she’d seen before. Even in her early human days on the farm, she’d never experienced such oneness with nature, and no doubt Lucian, Curtis, and Sarah never had either. Raised in New Haven’s concrete jungle, the lush green nature-loving city contrasted so sharply it bordered on unbelievable. Patchwork carpets of lush green grass surrounded the buildings, creating a gentle buffer between each and the road they walked on. Trees sprang up unobstructed, some even growing through the houses near which they had taken root. Branches jutted out oddly from walls with special holes in them to give the tree room to grow over time. This closeness with nature had perplexed and intrigued Mira the first time she’d seen it. Now, seeing it through the eyes of her companions seared into her mind how utterly different these two races had become. That planted tiny seeds of doubt in her mind. What if the humans and the Otherkin could not get along? What if their differences were insurmountable? She was preparing to risk life and limb going back to the human city, but her human friends here could be in peril.
Doubt and worry had been foreign concepts to Mira in the past. And that was how she liked it. These new protective feelings caused a small uncomfortable pang in her chest.
She’d rather be fighting than constantly concerned for the wellbeing of others. Tedious and troublesome worries dampened her sharp edge, and she needed to be on her game when they headed back to New Haven.
“How long have you all been here?” Lucian’s amazement could not be contained.
“Since just after the Iron Gates were built.” Stryker’s tone did not betray any emotion. Even if it had, Mira doubted Lucian was truly listening. He had wandered over to a large garden and was admiring the flowers still open and reaching up to the moonlight. Childlike in innocence, he almost squealed in delight as he bent down to touch the soft petals. Moonlight might have muted the pinks, yellows, and purples, but that did not seem to dampen his appreciation of them. Lucian plucked a large five-petal white and yellow flower.
Before he could stand and turn with his new treasure, Stryker was on him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Lucian wasn’t the only one confused by the wolf’s sudden aggression. “Sorry. I just...” His eyes frantically searched for a safe place to land and when they met Mira’s, Lucian scrambled over to her. “A flower for the lady.”
All the highborn Elite rose right to the surface, washing away the awkwardness he’d shone only moments prior. He held the flower to Mira. “Please... for you.”
Now she was truly confused. Did she look like the kind of girl you gave a flower to? What was he playing at?
Silent moments passed with him holding the flower and Mira standing frozen in her spot looking utterly confused, not wanting to take it.
Stryker took a deep loud breath. “We do not remove the flowers from their place, so that all may enjoy their beauty.”
“My apologies.” Lucian addressed Stryker, but his gaze was fixed on Mira.
“I don’t want the flower,” Mira finally said, relieved to have a legitimate reason to reject the offered gift. “Especially if it will piss off our hosts.”
Lucian put the small flower through the button hole of his shirt. “We come from different cultures. Giving a flower is...”
Stryker cut him off. “I don’t care about your ways. We are not in your city. What grows in the ground has its own purpose. Flowers are beautiful to look at and provide pollen for the bees – who in turn provide us with honey as well as continual pollination. It is a cycle that should not be broken just for the sake of turning a pretty woman’s eye.”
Testosterone a
nd the unchecked aggression between the two men were beginning to get on Mira’s nerves.
“Perhaps we can just move on.” Sarah’s small voice seemed to do the trick. Both men snapped to attention. Mira was never more thankful for the interruption she provided.
Stryker’s temper subsided. He turned to the older human woman, his voice much calmer. “Yeah. Keep heading down this road. We’re nearly there.”
Lucian moved quickly to rejoin his two human friends, and Stryker matched pace with Mira.
“Didn’t you just tell me to be nice, not five minutes ago?” Mira asked.
“Yes... to the Council. Your friends are not that important.”
“Careful, wolf. They are important to me.”
Unfazed by her warning tone, Stryker shrugged. “No matter. They will have to learn out ways. Play by our rules, if they plan to co-exist here.”
She couldn’t argue that fact. This place went beyond culture shock... in a good way, and would take a lot of getting used to. “They will. Give them time. What is your problem with Lucian, anyway?”
“He’s human.”
She turned a knowing eye on him. “It goes beyond his humanity. You only prickle like this when he’s around me.”
“He has feelings for you.”
“So?” She’d thought the same thing, but that didn’t matter much to her. She’d never dared to open her heart again. Not since Theo’s death all those years ago. Emotions were messy and more painful than any lightbox the humans could concoct.
“He’s human.”
“You’ve said that.”
“He has no business having feelings for an Otherkin.”
“Really?” Not that she was putting herself on the market, but she didn’t much like the wolf’s implication that Lucian’s species took him out of the running. The fact that Stryker claimed her to be of his kind, though, really threw her off guard. She’d never really felt she belonged anywhere before. “Is that all?”
Stryker hesitated. “Yes.”
Mira had to hold back her snickering. She rather enjoyed seeing the wolfman trying hide whatever it was he was feeling.
“Well. Feelings are pretty useless things anyways. And besides that, I’m not spoken for, so whoever wants to have feelings can have them. I’m certainly not going to stop them.”
If an Alpha could look wounded, Stryker was making a good attempt. Either way, it wasn’t a good look for him. Maybe she’d struck a nerve with him. He couldn’t really harbor feelings for her. He’d only just met her. She scoffed silently. Feelings are such messy things.
The hurt extended to Stryker’s tone. “If feelings are so useless, then why didn’t you take the flower he offered you?”
Mira shrugged, more to herself than in response to his question. Why hadn’t she taken it? Lucian looked terribly awkward holding it. She knew he’d been offering it as a kindness, but somehow, doing it in front of Stryker felt so wrong. “What am I going to do with a flower? Hold it while it dies?”
Stryker smiled and tousled her black hair playfully. “You could place it in your hair.”
She couldn’t contain her laughter. “You’re kidding, right? What kind of girl do you think I am? Next you’re going to tell me I should wear a dress.” That’ll be the day.
“I can see why you’re not accustomed to people having feelings for or around you. You lack any girlish qualities.”
“Is that supposed to insult me?”
“Did it?”
“You’ll have to try harder than that.”
“Only if you give me plenty more opportunities to do that.”
Now who was the one playing games with feelings? That odd awkward sensation came back, doubly so when she spotted Lucian’s concerned expression. He’d stopped short and stood with his arms crossed, watching like a man ready to go to war.
“Something wrong?” Mira asked, but she had the sneaking suspicion she knew the answer.
“Just concerned... wondering how we should go about things... with regard to the meeting.” All diplomat, but Lucian’s tone spoke volumes of what he really wanted to say. He was just as annoyed with her talking to Stryker as the wolf had been with Lucian’s interactions with her.
“You’ll do best to let me and Mira handle things.” Diplomacy had left Stryker, and his response dripped with condescension. “Speak when spoken to. Be brief and respectful.”
Lucian’s lips pursed tight. His nostrils flared with each breath, but he held his tongue.
The testosterone was thick enough to choke her, and she needed to snap these two idiots out of it. “Lucian’s input is invaluable,” Mira said. “He is, after all, an Elite of the city. That brings with it some important inside information. He will speak when he has need to. And so will our friends.” She motioned toward Curtis and Sarah.
Hints of apprehension flashed in their eyes. Sarah sighed. “We don’t want to cause any trouble.” She clung tightly to her husband. “We’re just glad for the chance to have a home and will do whatever is needed of us.”
“And that is exactly what the Council needs to see. Humans are not the enemy. They can co-exist.” Mira was never more proud to have Sarah along. They might have gotten off to a rocky start, but she’d proven many times over that she was an asset. “Now, we just need to make sure you and Lucian set that example too.” She glared at Stryker.
He met her eyes, staring back with all the power of his Alpha status behind him. “I will do my part. You make sure to be polite – all of you – and we will get through this.”
“Oh... I’ll kill them with kindness.”
That snapped the Alpha from his dominance stare and in an instant, the aggression faded into genuine amusement. “I’d like to see you try.”
Chapter 3
As before, the moment she walked inside of the large dome-shaped Capitol building, the ominous pressure of her task began to weigh heavily on her. Something about it, maybe the official nature of the place, the order of it, gave her pause.
The long, slender receptionist, Selene, stood immediately upon their arrival. Ignoring the trio of humans and Mira, she batted her long eyelashes at Stryker. “You’re late. The council has been waiting. But I’ll bet they can forgive you this once.”
The sickeningly sweet way she spoke to him made Mira want to gag. Thankfully, Stryker was all business, cutting off what would have most likely have been more simpering conversation by walking straight to the elevators. “We’ll head up, then.”
Mira and the others followed without giving a second glance to Selene. Mira was sure the Otherkin woman felt the slight, but she didn’t bother to look back and satisfy herself by seeing the angered expression.
By the time they reached the Council chambers, all signs of animosity between Lucian and Stryker had faded. Uniting against a common foe will do that; something Mira had learned in the arena many years ago. Everything came down to putting on a good show – another skill Mira had learned in the arena. Funny, she mused. Just another day... but in a different arena.
Alec wasn’t really her enemy, but neither was he friendly to her or the humans she called friends. Though obviously competing for her approval, Mira appreciated the way both Stryker and Lucian handled themselves, especially after seeing the hateful glare in Alec’s eyes as they came to the door of the conference room.
The dwarf’s displeasure was unmistakable, and he aimed it all directly at Mira. Not even giving the humans a second glance, his eyes bore into Mira’s with the threat of death behind them. Sure, she’d thwarted his plan to have no human set foot in Caldera, breaking rules...that was something Mira excelled at, but her intentions were honorable. And the deal she’d made went well beyond the crime they accused her of committing. She did not deserve his ire, but had to hold back her own inner rage. Put on a good show, that’s all I need to do now. Nail down details to their plan and get the hell out of here. Should be simple.
Without a word, Alec motioned for them to enter. The room was huge and filled by
a table cut from a solid plank of natural wood, preserved in a high-gloss finish. “I’ll gather the rest of the Council. Please. Make yourselves comfortable.” His words were congenial enough, but the daggers his eyes shot at Mira spoke to his true feelings.
“I don’t trust that guy,” Lucian said, taking a presumptuous seat at the head of the table. “He agreed too quickly to let us in. He has an agenda.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” Mira agreed. “But we need shelter, and you need protection.”
Maybe it was the way she said the word protection – she hadn’t intended to insult him – but Lucian suddenly straightened in his seat, and the high-born Elite in him returned. “I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself.”
Mira had to fight not to roll her eyes. Men. Always having to prove they’re the biggest and baddest. Stupid. “Now’s not the time for playing the tough guy. We all know you’d be dead in a week living out there in the badlands.”
Lucian’s expression cycled from embarrassed to appalled. He turned away from her, only to find Stryker’s steely glare. When he opened his mouth to speak again, Mira cut him off before the sound escaped his lips. “Any human would be dead out there. The deal I made was to ensure you remained alive.”
“And no one appreciates that more than we do,” Lucian said, indicating Curtis and Sarah.
The older human male cleared his throat and stood proudly next to his wife. “Yes. We all appreciate what you have done. Never before could I have imagined that a vampire would be our savior. You’ve certainly show me the error of my thinking.”
Sarah smiled. “Yes. Me as well. When we first met, I was hoping you’d burn in the daylight.” Mira snickered. She’d certainly gotten that impression on their first encounter. “But you’ve saved me and my husband so many times in this last week. We owe you our lives.”
The appreciation party was nice, but Mira didn’t need to hear their thanks.
“Get on with the but.”
Despite his aggravated expression, Lucian laughed. “Always so blunt. What we’re getting at is... You’ve done a lot and we trust you, but be wary of the deals you make with the Otherkin.”
Revolution Page 2