A Lion's Heart

by A. C. Arthur

She shook her head and grinned. “Nope. I’m stuck here for the time being but nobody really trusts me enough to give me an assignment or invite me to lunch. So, after I finish razzing you about your new mate and her father who may just pummel you for daring to touch his child, then I’ll probably head down to the pool for a while.”

  Decan frowned. “Don’t get comfortable here,” he told her. “Until you can produce some documents confirming your family and their whereabouts, you’re still an unlisted shifter. Most unlisted shifters are rogues. So if you want to keep playing with this team, you’d better come up with some proof that you belong here.”

  She stepped closer to him, planting her palms on his chest. When he flinched slightly, because her touch wasn’t Nisa’s, Kyss had the audacity to smile broadly.

  “I belong wherever I am,” she told Decan. “You should probably start thinking that way instead of constantly searching for your place in this world. It was in the military. Then it was in the SIC. Now you’re here. Make the best of it and move the hell on. Your bitterness smells almost as bad as that damned calor.”

  She’d pushed away from him before Decan could do the honors and sashayed her hips down the hallway leaving him to stand there alone. And pissed off because her words had been too close to the truth.

  “You’re way off script,” Keller told Decan the moment they were standing in the back of one of the storage rooms.

  “Let’s just talk about what went wrong last night,” Decan said.

  He wasn’t in the mood to talk about what he knew Keller was referring to. Especially not after is run in with Kyss half an hour ago.

  Gold had been leaning against the back wall, one foot flat on the wall, hands at his sides. While Keller had stood with his legs spread, hands on his hips the moment Decan approached. They’d used the secure comlink Keller had provided to schedule this private meeting. So far, after Keller’s check of the Central Headquarters bunker, he’d found that this was the only place in the entire facility that had no camera coverage. That was most likely because the only doors down here were magnetically sealed and code and key operated. So the Shadows didn’t fear anyone would break into the storage rooms, nor did they think any shifters would come down here to meet and plan what was sure to be seen as the biggest betrayal to Roman Reynolds and his reign in all of shifter history.

  “We had a lead on Mackey,” Gold stated. “Keller called me and I went to back him up.”

  “You left Nisa and Kyss,” Decan told him.

  “They weren’t his assignment,” Keller cut in.

  Decan looked at the cougar with narrowed eyes. “I have a cover here and thanks to me, so does Gold. You’re the outsider, Keller. They don’t even know you’re back from the sea voyage.”

  “That proves how dedicated I am to this mission. They’ll know what I want them to know about me, when I want them to know it,” Keller said evenly.

  “Nisa’s going to figure out how you got into her system and when she does, she’s immediately going to zero in on you as a possible culprit in the break-in of those classified docks on her holodeck. So don’t get too cocky,” Decan said in a tone that was as irritated as he felt.

  His shoulders were aching and for a moment while he’d walked down here he’d thought it might be related to carrying Nisa last night. Of course he’d frowned on that thought because there was no way a six-foot five-inch shifter who weighted two hundred and forty-seven pounds and could lift double that amount, should have had any problem lifting a female who weighed no more than one hundred and thirty pounds. Besides, the pain would have begun sooner if it were because of carrying her. It had just begun as he’d left his room and headed this way.

  “And she’ll be wrong,” Keller replied nonchalantly. “Still, by the time she does all that, we’ll have achieved our revenge and the Assembly Leader will be so beholden to us he wouldn’t dare think of punishing me,” Keller said confidently.

  Gold smirked and said, “Mackey was on his phone when we caught up with him on the first floor of the building last night.”

  If there were one thing Decan knew about his friend, it was that he was goal-oriented. Once Gold set his mind to something, there was no going back. Killing Ewen Mackey and bringing down the Ruling Cabinet for what they’d done to his parents, was something Gold had worked toward all his adult life. Decan was happy to be totally on board with helping his friend and exorcising his own demons at the same time.

  “And what happened next?” Decan asked, turning his attention completely to Gold.

  “The bastard was on the phone planning the next murder,” Keller interrupted again. “He never paused in his conversation or even turned to see us as we came up behind him. I could have attacked him right then and ended this!”

  And Decan knew that’s precisely what Keller wanted to do. Hell, if he walked up on Ewen Mackey he’d want to kill first and deal with consequences later too. Ewen Mackey and his sadistic friends ran the SICs throughout the world. They trapped, caught and caged shifters and then tortured them to get whatever information from them they could before finally killing them. That fire that broke out a year ago, sending everyone in the camps into a chaotic state, was the best thing to ever happen to Decan. It was also the scariest.

  “We have to do it the right way,” Decan insisted. “It’ll be quicker if we had the entire Ruling Cabinet together.”

  “How are we going to do that? They’ve no doubt been on guard since their family members were targeted. And after last night, I’m almost positive they won’t be leaving the comfort of their homes for a while,” Gold said.

  Decan shook his head. “No. Ewen Mackey is an arrogant bastard. I heard him too many times in the SIC taunting the shifters and giving orders for unspeakable things to be done to anyone who dared disobey him. He’s evil and twisted and of all the people and different species on this earth, he’s the one not fit to live.”

  Which is why Decan was going to kill him.

  And he was going to do it in the same heartless way that Mackey had killed Marlee—a knife through his back. Or in Decan’s case, the large incisors of his lion piercing through the bastard’s spine.

  “He’s going to continue on as if nothing happened last night. Sure, he’s going to up patrols and pick up anyone they even remotely believe is a shifter and throw them into another SIC or kill them right there on the street. But, he’s also going to demand his cabinet members come out and continue their own specific brands of torture and disrespect to humans and shifters alike,” just to prove his point.

  “So when do we strike?” Keller asked. “Full moon’s in three nights.”

  “We’re not wolves, we don’t need the full moon,” Gold stated.

  “No. He’s right,” Decan said. “Ever since that supermoon nineteen years ago, the world has literally been out of whack. The weather, the other beings now surfacing—”

  “Yeah, like that big ass black wolf that broke through the window last night. Who the hell was that and how did he know we were there?” Gold asked.

  Decan didn’t want to say too much about Blaez Trekas, not even to his two closest friends. He felt like he could trust the lycan, but if what Blaez had told him was true and he’d been helping Cole Linden to hunt humans and save shifters since the Unveiling, then there had to be something in that for the lycan. The fact that Cole had disappeared once again in an explosion in Sedona was suspicious. The lycan thought so too.

  “The full moon can strengthen some creatures and weaken others,” Decan said. “That’s what we learned in school.”

  “They did not teach supernatural shit in the human public school system,” Gold quipped.

  “No,” Decan told him. “That was the class taught by the old shaman in the Serfin complex near San Antonio. He taught me all about other species in this world and in other realms. Most people in the class with me thought it was all a myth, and at first I’d considered it might be. But then I saw that big ass black wolf last night and realized that everythin
g the shaman had said was true.”

  Gold nodded. “So what now?”

  “Now, we go above ground the night of the full moon. We corner Mackey and make him assemble his band of killers and then we get rid of them all. It’s that simple,” Keller stated.

  “And that dangerous,” Decan announced. “He’s going to be expecting an attack.”

  “Not if we send him some entertainment first,” Gold suggested.

  Decan was immediately shaking his head. “Out of the question. We don’t know who the hell Kyss is or why she’s really here.”

  “She said she’s here to help,” Gold said.

  Keller laughed. “She helped you get off over and over again, that’s about all.”

  “Shut up!” Gold yelled. “You would have accepted her favors if she’d offered them to you.”

  “But she didn’t,” Keller said. “Because she knew she wasn’t my type.”

  “Nobody’s your type, that’s the problem,” Gold continued. “You just toy with all these females, never taking any of them to your bed. It’s cruel and unusual punishment.”

  “It’s the way of the world,” Keller continued.

  “If we’re finished,” Decan said. “Find out who Kyss really is. I want to know everything about her before we consider bringing her in to this. We’ll stay here until the full moon and then we’ll take care of this once and for all.”

  “And then what?” Keller asked Decan. “You think you and your companheiro are going to live happily ever after?”

  Decan did not respond, but sent a death glare Keller’s way insisted.

  “Think again buddy. That royal beauty is going to kick your ass so far to the curb when she finds out you not only lied to her, but you betrayed her father and his legacy at the same time. Calor or not.”

  Decan ignored Keller’s final words and left the two shifters in the storage room. He was finished with that meeting and finished with hearing input on what was going on between him and Nisa. It was nobody’s business but his. This plan had been in place since the moment he’d been helped from beneath the rubble of that collapsed building during the fire. He wasn’t about to change it now, not even for a female who caused him physical pain when she wasn’t near.

  CHAPTER 13

  The moment he entered his room Decan knew he wasn’t alone.

  The pear scented candles on the dresser, the nightstand and the bookshelf was sort of a giveaway. But it wasn’t the only one.

  She was here. Her scent—their scent—was stronger than the candles and he eagerly stepped inside, closing and locking the door behind him. The room seemed to be full of her and not just by aroma. Decan actually felt as if the cold and unfamiliar room that he’d been assigned for his stay was somehow warmer now. He knew it was silly, just as much as the pain in his shoulders had ceased the second he’d opened the door. Still, it was no less true.

  “What’s this?” he asked when she stepped out of the bathroom.

  She looked better than Kyss and all her efforts to be sexy and alluring and she was only wearing shorts and a tank top. A very sheer red tank top that allowed him to see her black lace bra without applying any heightened senses.

  “I thought I’d bring dinner to you,” she said. “You know, since you obviously have something against the dining hall here.”

  He didn’t have anything against the dining hall. But he had tried to convince himself that the pain in his shoulders was because he hadn’t worked out in the last few days. He needed to work out and then his muscles wouldn’t feel so tense. It had worked, hadn’t it? His muscles weren’t feeling tense any longer.

  And he was no longer thinking about the gym.

  “I wasn’t hungry,” he told her when she continued to stare expectantly at him.

  “Well, I am,” she said and moved to the bed where she’d spread a blue blanket over the plain white sheets.

  A brown wicker basket sat in the center of the blanket. She climbed onto the bed on her knees and reached inside of it to take things out—napkins, paper plates, utensils and food. Sandwiches, chips, drinks. Decan walked closer to the bed.

  “I was told we should have a date,” she talked while she worked. “That’s what normal…I mean humans, do right? They go out on dates and then talk about stuff.”

  “Stuff?” he asked and rubbed a hand down the back of his head.

  She looked up at him, smiled and then shrugged. “Yes. Stuff. I tell you about my life. You tell me about yours.”

  “You’re the daughter of the Assembly Leader and a Topétenia shifter. Your mother is a beautiful and compassionate leader. Your father is a deadly black jaguar who leads with conviction. You like to sneak above ground and run wild through the forest. Your cat is as breathtaking as you are,” he said. “Is there something else I should know?”

  “Ah,” she said and shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  Nisa smiled again and Decan resisted the urge to climb onto that bed, push all the food to the floor and strip her. After the stripping there would be moaning, and clawing, and yes, more pleasure than he’d ever known.

  “But what about you?” she asked. “All I know about you is that you were ten years old when your parents left you above ground to go to school. You have two sisters and you grew up with Gold.”

  Decan shrugged. “That’s all there is to know.”

  “I don’t think so,” she said. “But let’s eat first.”

  Decan was hungry, but it wasn’t for food. The fact that he could see all that she’d gone through what she called a “date”, said it was important to her. That made it important to him. Besides, it would be a lot easier for him to talk to her about which direction her work for the Assembly should go in next.

  “You were in the military which is a group of soldiers fighting to defend its country, but you do not particularly care for working with a team,” she said after they’d both finished a whole sandwich.

  She was sitting on one side of the huge bed and he was on the other.

  “I’m not adverse to teams,” he told her. “I’ve just found that it works out better when they’re all working toward the same goal.”

  “Equality for all,” she said. “Isn’t that what we should be working toward?”

  It sounded good, Decan thought. It also sounded a little naïve, all things considered. But a big part of him wished for what Nisa had just said, if for nothing more than to make her happy. When had that begun to make a difference for him? A long time ago, Decan admitted. The nights when he decided that it was better to follow her above ground so that she could have her run instead of telling her father that she was sneaking out.

  “I’m glad you brought that up,” he told her. “How soon do you think you’ll have the new computer system up and running here in the Central Zone?”

  Changing the subject seemed like the right thing to do. Until she blinked and looked over to him with eyes Decan had never seen before. There was disappointment in the brown orbs. Undeniable and packing more of a punch than if she’d physically assaulted him. He wanted to kick himself for not giving her the type of date she’d wanted, for just a little bit longer.

  “I’ll be working on it for the next couple of days. Since my dad gave the order for all zones to migrate to the new system, we were able to have the groundwork installed throughout the last few months. X did the traveling to oversee the initial process,” she said without skipping a beat.

  “The security shields are stronger on the holodeck?” he asked her.

  She’d just finished wiping her hands with a napkin and tossed it inside the basket, before settling back against the pillows. Her legs were crossed at the ankles as she looked relaxed in his bed. This space was just as close to belonging to Decan personally as any other location in Oasis. Since he’d returned he’d never stayed in one place long enough to call himself settled. And when he had spent those months at the Assembly Headquarters, the room on the floor beneath Nisa’s room, only served as a resting place fo
r the time he wasn’t following her around or in meetings with her father. This bed, after this time spent with her, would never be forgotten in his mind.

  “Definitely much stronger,” she told him. “But not only on the holodeck. We’ll implement that new technology in everything from the comlinks the guards and enforcers carry to the vehicles we all use. That way nobody will ever be able to disable our tracking device without us knowing.”

  Decan’s head jerked in her direction.

  “Yes. I figured that out just before we left Keller’s place. And I know that Keller Cross is still listed as being on some explorative sea voyage,” she told him. “I figured you would tell me why when you were ready.”

  Dammit. Decan was so not ready to tell her any of that.

  “Have you ever heard of a mercenary?” he asked her.

  “I have,” she said, “Just not in Oasis. There’s no need for any such profession here.”

  “But in the world above there used to be. Now, after so much change has occurred, the job has taken a different turn, but Keller loves it. And he loves fighting for the Shadows in whatever capacity he can.”

  “I cannot ignore that bunker, or the fact that he has some type of technology designed to hack into the controls of our vehicles. I’ve already drafted an addendum to our maps and once the holodeck is installed everywhere his ability to get in and do what he wants will be severely hampered,” she told him.

  Decan did not have the heart to tell her that it didn’t matter what she designed, Keller was not going to be deterred. He also couldn’t help but feel as if he were stuck between two worlds.

  “So what else do couples do?” He found himself asking, because flipping topics seemed to be his go-to method for surviving his time with her now.

  Decan was no doubt wishing he’d kept that last question to himself right about now. Because Nisa had been quick to figure out another way she could learn about the shifter that had invaded her world for the past few days and that she was increasingly afraid was overrunning another part of her.