A Lion's Heart

by A. C. Arthur

  Just like when she was a child waking from a bad dream, Kalina kept one arm around Nisa’s shoulders and grasped Nisa’s hand with her free one.

  “It’s been an eventful night,” Kalina began when Nisa was still trying to get the right words to form in her mind.

  “It’s been an eventful week,” she said. “Or more like the last six months.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Nisa looked to her mother. To the familiar hazel eyes and bronze hued short hair. She knew every part of her mother’s beautiful face and the different tones of her voice. Her mother’s scent was unique, the sound of her heartbeat still welcomed even though Nisa was now an adult.

  “Did you know that Decan was at Headquarters all that time?” Nisa asked her. “Did you know he was in our home?”

  Kalina replied immediately, “I knew when he first arrived. I knew of the meetings your father was having with him. And I knew of the plan to send him here with you.”

  “I knew too,” she said and then sighed. “I didn’t then, but now, thinking back, there were times that I felt different.”

  Her mother’s lips lifted in a soft smile. “You were awakening.”

  “No,” Nisa answered immediately. “I had my awakening long before that. You said I was early with my first shift, but it was still before I met Decan.”

  “I am speaking of another level of awakening,” Kalina told her. “Think about it as a new awareness of yourself and everything around you.”

  Nisa waited a beat, recalling the times she’d felt tense in the last six months and that she’d attempted to do as she always did and please herself. It had grown increasingly harder to reach her own precipice. Her body wanted more. Even her mind had changed. When she would lay down to sleep at night her thoughts that normally circled around creating something new and innovative for the shifters, or fighting for the shifters, or trying to figure out how to change the world for the shifters. But with each night lately, her mind had grasped the fact that she was lying alone in a bed. That was why she hadn’t minded when Decan first lay in the bed beside her and why she’d accepted these past nights that she spent in his arms.

  “The awakening of a shifter female and a mate,” Kalina continued rubbing her fingers over her daughter’s. “It’s different than simply accepting that you are a shapeshifter, Nisa. Because mine came so late in my life, my emotions and actions were different. But yours, I could see it blossoming in you in the weeks before your father announced this trip.”

  “You knew I had a mate out there and that I would soon find him?” Nisa asked because as much as she prided herself on knowing about the Shadow Shifters, she was now accepting that she hadn’t paid nearly as much attention to the origin of the shifter mating as she should have.

  “No,” Kalina said with a slow shake of her head. “I didn’t know who. Not at the time. I just knew that something was changing in you. I hoped that this mission would bring you closer to your place in this world. I think it did.”

  Nisa slipped her hand from her mother’s and brought her fingers to rub her temples. She didn’t know what to think at this moment, or how to come to terms with all that had happened in a seemingly short amount of time.

  “He’s not who I thought he was,” she said after a few moments. “He’s done things…unsanctioned things from what Mackey just said.”

  “You believe the human who has created camps to house the shifters that he captures, then tortures and kills them?”

  Her mother’s question was spoken in a level tone as if to soften the blow of shock she had in her daughter. Nisa rested her elbows on her knees and leaned forward.

  “Decan did not deny the accusations. He’s been keeping secrets this whole time,” she said. “From me, from dad and the Assembly.”

  She was speaking specifically of Keller’s bunker and all the things that Mackey had said Keller and Decan had done in the past year. None of it was mentioned in the databases. There was no record of any assignment that Decan and Keller were on that would have taken them above ground or anywhere near Mackey and his camps. None.

  The comlink on Kalina’s wrist buzzed and she looked down before dropping her arm from Nisa and standing.

  “Ary has news about Cole,” she told Nisa. “But before I go I want you to think about something.”

  Nisa stood as well because she planned to go to the medical center with her mother.

  Kalina pushed back the hair that had fallen onto Nisa’s forehead. She touched her daughter’s cheek as she smiled gently at her.

  “Finding a mate is unlike any other experience a shifter will ever have. There is no rule book as to when or how it occurs. It is just there one day and you are tasked with believing and accepting.”

  “What if I don’t accept? What about love?” Nisa asked.

  “Do you feel like you are in love with Decan? Think about it, Nisa. Think about your feelings from months back up to now. Consider how you felt in those first moments he was near you and in the moments tonight when things were happening and there was a chance that you could never see him again.”

  Nisa did think about those things. She thought about how tender and enticing his touch was and how heart wrenching it had been to see those horrible scars on him. She thought about how horrible five years in the SIC must have been for him and how she might feel if it had happened to her. Then she thought about how he hadn’t told her father she was sneaking out to run above ground, but instead had followed her to protect her. Then, she thought about Marlee and the secret mission he and Keller seemed to be on.

  She sighed heavily and replied honestly, “How can I know if I love him when I’m not even sure I can trust him?”

  It had taken him longer than usual to calm down.

  Hell, Decan wasn’t certain he was totally calm at this moment. Not this time.

  She’d stopped him from killing Mackey. He wished she hadn’t. Then again, he recalled the feeling of total contentment as he’d heard her voice through all the chaos that had broken out around him. It had been like a bright light through the darkness Decan swore he’d been in for the last ten years. Longer than that, if he were being totally honest. Growing up without his family had taken a bigger toll on him than he’d ever admitted. Until now. Until her.

  He could leave now. Cole Linden was back and that’s what the Assembly Leader had wanted him to do. Mackey was now a captive of the Shadow Shifters, the irony in that hadn’t gone unnoticed. To an extent Decan figured that may have been better than the quick death he’d intended for the evil bastard. He would likely never see above ground again and even though he was pretty sure Rome would never order the man killed or tortured, living underground among the very species he detested wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for the twisted leader.

  There was no way that Decan was getting the job of Faction Leader now. Not with the calor surrounding him and the Assembly Leader’s daughter. So there was nothing more here for him. He could move back to the eastern zone with Keller and they could continue to work to dismantle the Ruling Cabinet and all the havoc and destruction it had caused in the last years.

  But he could do none of that without seeing her first. One last time, he told himself, and then he would walk out of her life. Decan had never heard of companheiros that did not stay together, so he had no idea how that scenario would actually work out. What he did know was that she deserved better. She deserved a mate she could be proud of, one that could stand beside her and fight for the same causes as she and her father before her. Decan wasn’t that shifter.

  He turned the corner into the medical center where he figured Nisa would be since the rest of her family was here waiting for information about Cole Linden. The first person he saw was the Assembly Leader.

  “I’d like a moment, Decan,” Rome said with a nod of his head toward one of the doors across from the waiting area where he was standing.

  Decan thought about telling him it wasn’t necessary and that he would simply leave righ
t now, but he silently walked toward the door instead. Letting himself inside the tiny bright room, he waited while Rome followed and closed the door behind him.

  “Tell me about what happened up there tonight,” Rome said.

  Roman Reynolds was a force. There was just no other way to put it. The man had been one of the top litigators in the country, running a billion dollar law firm and sitting comfortably on his family’s fortune. He had been unanimously named Assembly Leader and was respected throughout the world for the strides the Shadows had taken in the years of his rule. Decan had nothing but respect for the man, even if he didn’t agree with all of his methods.

  “We received news of a private meeting Mackey was having with some of the Ruling Cabinet members. It was my decision not to take a full team above ground to carry out the mission. Once the attendees of this meeting were either contained or deceased, we left the premises. Blaez Trekas and his pack were there. Something left Cole Linden in the middle of the street. We brought the Faction Leader and Ewen Mackey back with us.”

  That was a succinct and fairly accurate version but Decan could tell by the way Rome was looking at him that it wasn’t going to be enough.

  “Is that all?” Rome asked.

  Decan waited a beat before replying. “That is what happened while we were above ground.”

  And that was not a lie. It had happened that way. The fact that the mission above ground was unapproved and their goal was to kill and not kidnap which they ended up doing, was an omission. Not a lie.

  “You took my daughter with you on this mission?” Rome asked him.

  “Yes, sir,” he answered immediately.

  He was not going to tell Rome that his daughter had followed them into an unauthorized situation that involved guns, shifters fighting in cat form and something big and powerful enough to cause the ground to tremble. That was not an option.

  Rome flexed his hands at his sides. He was standing with his back facing the door, his legs partially spread, arms at his side. “Did you really think I had no idea what was going on?” he asked. “I’m the Assembly Leader. I’m the one the Shadow Shifters look to for guidance. My team and I took down Sabar, Crowe and Boden. We’ve been to the Gungi and back and forth across the US fighting for our cause, for our lives. So when some young renegades think they’ve got a better idea and decide to work outside my authority, I make it my business to watch every step they take carefully.”

  Decan did not reply.

  “I knew who you were before your father introduced us and I knew who your friends were. Keller Cross believes he’s been operating under the radar but I know about his bunker in Florida. I also know that he was the one who hacked into the vehicle security. X received an alert on the vehicles and I had Jace call you to see what was going on. And while I don’t have proof just yet, I’m inclined to believe he’s the one who broke into two classified files on the holodeck. Although, I have yet to figure out why.”

  Keep your enemies close. Isn’t that what Nisa said her father had taught her? But he wasn’t Rome’s enemy, at least he didn’t believe so.

  “Our mission was personal,” he said to the Assembly Leader.

  “Because you knew I wouldn’t approve,” Rome replied. “We do not kill without being provoked.”

  “We were provoked. I was tortured and scarred for five years. Gold’s parents were killed right in front of him. And Keller lost everything he’d worked to build when Mackey and his cohorts exposed him as a shifter and beat him until he had no choice but to shift in front of an office full of people and attack. A pregnant woman died in the stampede of humans hurrying to get away from the vicious cougar, scarring him mentally for the rest of his life. If that’s not provocation, I don’t know what is.”

  “We’ve all lost in this war, Decan.”

  “With all due respect, Assembly Leader, this is not a war,” he said barely holding on to his anger at the moment. “You packed every shifter up and put them into a life of hiding with no escape plan. You’ve created this underground world with all the luxuries you could possibly think of. You’re using your personal fortune to finance the bulk of this effort and you think that’s fighting a war. I know what it means to fight a war! I’ve been on the frontlines of battle and this is not it. Not down here.”

  Rome gave a curt nod. “So you and your friends decided that the smart move was to take the battle to the doorstep of those responsible. Well, I can tell you that in the beginning, the other FLs and I contemplated doing the exact same thing. The problem with that was collateral damage. How many innocent lives would be lost because we stormed into what was once the White House, or the new Ruling Cabinet’s house, shifted into our cat form and killed the ones responsible for causing the widespread panic about our kind? How many of the people who we want to convince we’re not animals, would see that as an animalistic act?”

  “We just think differently,” Decan told him, refusing to back down.

  “We’ve lived differently,” Rome said. “We come from a different cat species. But our goal is the same, Decan. I not only wanted to keep you close so that I could be there to stop you the moment I felt like you were messing up for more than just yourself, but I also wanted to show our people that we could come together. That we could work on one accord.”

  “One accord meaning your way,” Decan said.

  “One accord meaning the right way,” Rome stated and then turned to open the door.

  When he had his hand on the knob, Rome paused and then turned back to look at Decan.

  “In addition to leading the Shadows, you should remember that I’m her father.”

  His gaze was intent, the yellow of his cat’s eyes, flickering between the dark brown of his human ones.

  Well, damn.

  “I have no intention of hurting her,” Decan told him because he didn’t. That had never been a possibility for him. Which also solidified the fact that leaving her was the best idea.

  “You will have no mission, no revenge to appease, no life, if you hurt her,” Rome said and then walked out of the room.

  CHAPTER 16

  Rome stood behind the podium in the Grand Hall of the Central Zone Headquarters. It was the largest meeting space in the facility with three hundred cushioned seats, burgundy carpet and warm beige painted walls. Rome wore a dark gray suit with the silver Topétenia insignia pen on his left lapel. On the wall behind him were the shields of each tribe. They were positioned around the newly designed Shadow Shifter shield that signified their unity and loyalty to each other.

  As Rome looked out to all the shifters in this zone and his family seated on the front row, he thought that what he was about to do was for all of them. It was his job to unify his people and to carry them into the next generation with the smartest and most innovative ideas possible. He believed he was about to do the right thing.

  “Keller Cross of the Bosinia tribe is on his way back to Assembly Headquarters for debriefing and reassignment,” he began.

  “Golden Harris has been quarantined due to the poison that was on the blade Lial Johansen used on him. The medical staff as well as one of my Lead Enforcers, Ezra Preston, will be searching for the exact poison and how best to rid Gold’s body of its toxins.”

  There were a few murmurs throughout the room and Rome made a point of looking all around as discreetly as possible. He inhaled deeply as he stood there quietly, searching for any scent, any sign of infiltration, but found none.

  “Cole Linden, who served as the Central Zone Faction leader since its inception, has been found.”

  There were applause and cheers but none that wiped away the block of concern Rome still carried for his friend.

  “He is currently in a comatose state,” Rome continued. “Lead Curandero Ary Delgado is not sure how long he’s been this way or how long he will stay in this condition. She will continue to work with the medical staff to find a way to bring him out of it.”

  He found Kalina’s gaze and held it for endless mo
ments. She was his rock. The one who had held him last night as he’d cried for the friend that he’d missed these last twenty years, and for the possibility that he may not ever open his eyes again. She was also the one who had soothed his irritation that Decan Canter was his daughter’s mate.

  When Kalina nodded Rome stood taller. He removed his hands that he hadn’t realized he’d clenched against the side of the podium and prepared to speak again. To say the words that he knew would take many in this room by surprise. As for him, he’d known it would come to this. Baxter and Eli had told him the time for the Shadows was now. And he’d listened. Over the years Rome had gained a newfound respect for the Overseer who had raised him and who loved Nisa as his flesh and blood granddaughter. He’d also come to appreciate the Seer who Rome had watched being trained and recognized his leadership abilities and loyalty long before any other callings had come to the young jaguar. Together, their foreshadowing abilities had aided Rome on numerous decisions made on behalf of the shifters. He hadn’t liked their last prediction, but none of this was about him. Regardless of what others might say.

  “Decan Canter will be the Interim Central Zone Faction Leader from this day until I give further notice.”

  Nisa looked crestfallen and Rome instinctively wanted to go to her. To pull her up and hug her close the way he used to when she was a little girl. But his little girl had grown up. He wasn’t sure when or what the hell he’d been doing while it happened, but she wasn’t the spitfire that used to hide under his desk and read books while he was working just so she could be close to him. No, his baby girl had stopped following him around a long time ago. He’d just been too busy to realize that when she stopped following him, that meant she would inevitably find another man to look to. He only prayed—for the lion’s overall safety—that Decan was up to the challenge.

  The meeting ended shortly after his announcement and Jace’s brief address to the shifters he’d been responsible for in the last twenty years.