by Dianna Love
In human form, Adrian’s boss wore a business suit, which had to be custom tailored. Everything about that man was perfectly put together right down to his elegant shoes. He could be forty, if he was human, but the eyes in that face were still shaped like his eagle.
Power rolled off him as he strode forward.
He paused at the edge of carnage and shifters still in wolf form. Then he raked a gaze over Adrian who had moved in front of Jaz.
Adrian said, “I can explain all this, sir.”
“That is quite possible, but you are shielding the Golden Kodiak wolf shifter, who is wanted for multiple shifter murders by SCIS.”
Jaz dropped her head down on Adrian’s back and whispered, “Give me up, Adrian. I don’t want you to go down with me.”
He replied with a fierce, “No. You are mine to protect.”
Chapter 34
Even if Adrian considered giving Jaz over to SCIS, which he wouldn’t for anything in this world, his wolf would snap and never come back. Red was back with him and they could heal.
But only if Jaz and Tarski were safe.
Jeans and a T-shirt covered Adrian in a blink.
Jaz stepped around him with an assessing look. “Where’d you get clothes?”
Adrian replied, “From my boss. He’s pretty powerful.”
“Ah, that’s right. I forgot about him clothing everyone at the tiger’s compound.”
That comment drew a questioning look from the eagle shifter.
Scarlett walked over to Jaz and stood by them in solidarity. “You’re not going to SCIS unless it’s over my dead body.”
Gan stepped up right beside his mate and put his arm around her. “Everyone else dead bodies, not yours.”
The Guardian stood thirty feet away. Justin, Cole, Vic and Hawk stepped up with two on each side of the Guardian.
Adrian hated to go against his brothers, but he had to stand for Jaz. He meant his words. She and Tarski belonged to him and Red.
Red spoke mind to mind. Yes, we protect them.
Adrian’s heart warmed at hearing those words in Red’s normal voice. He’d intended to keep Red close and not let him down on this.
Jaz swung around to face the Guardian. “I’m feeling severely underdressed.”
Tossing a droll look her way, the Guardian moved his hand. He clothed her in jeans, a short-sleeved blue cotton shirt and sneakers. She glanced at Scarlett, who was dressed identically, and snorted.
Adrian turned, took them both in, and shrugged. That had to be more comfortable than if the Guardian had used female clothes from the last hundred years since his boss had lived through three centuries.
“Now, Adrian, you may explain,” the Guardian directed.
“Let me out!” yelled from way behind Adrian.
He turned. “Who’s that?”
“Tanza,” Jaz said. “Reinhold locked her there until he could swap her to the Blood King for you.” She looked at one of the wolves still in down mode. “Please go release Tanza.”
He came to his feet and ran past them.
Adrian had to get talking if he wanted to clear Jaz’s name. He started off, “Jaz did kill Kaiser.”
She muttered, “Great opening line.”
He sighed. “I have to tell them everything.”
“You could have started with why that happened.”
Justin said, “Those two sound like they’re married.”
Vic called out, “Are you mated?”
“Silence!” boomed from the Guardian. Power blew across the entire group fast. Everyone stopped talking.
Tanza came running up with the wolf that had shifted and remained behind her naked.
“Are you Tanza?” the Guardian asked.
Tanza’s eyes went to Reinhold’s body that had shifted back to human. She went over and knelt by him, then started crying.
Adrian had to cut this off before it got worse. He started reporting to the Guardian quickly. “Sir? When you brought me a note in Wyoming, it was a letter from Tanza. She’s Leonard’s sister, my friend who died overseas. She asked me to help find the person who killed their brother, Kaiser. When she described the woman, I knew it was Jaz. I’d met her when she and I helped Scarlett and Gan escape a mixed pack of shifters trying to get her sister’s baby. I’ll let them fill in the details on that later, if you want.”
His boss nodded curtly, still unhappy.
Taking a shuddering breath, Adrian continued. “I have evidence that Kaiser was kidnapping female shifters to sell in a slave trade. Jaz noticed females disappearing from this pack and started watching over one named Daisy. She walked up on Kaiser as he was abusing the woman and stepped in. Daisy escaped, but Kaiser attacked Jaz.”
Tanza looked over her shoulder sniffling then screamed, “She. Killed. Kaiser.”
Softening his tone, Adrian said, “Yes, Tanza, but her wolf tried not to. Kaiser was jacked up on Jugo Loco. When her wolf had his beaten, she put her teeth on his throat. We all know that means you should surrender, because your opponent is showing mercy. But he was out of his mind. He yanked away, ripping out his own throat. She went hunting Daisy to prove what happened, but I’m guessing Daisy is probably dead. She might have been captured by the Blood King, because she vanished while Jaz’s wolf kept Kaiser busy.”
Tanza said nothing, just turned back to her father. Then she sat down in the dirt and dropped her head into her hands.
Justin stepped over and took in the bodies. “There really is a Blood King, huh?”
“Yes.”
The Guardian asked, “Is he among these deaths?”
Adrian gave a headshake. “Unfortunately, no. When you sent me, Vic, and Hawk hunting the person capturing the women, I also went to find the location where Daisy disappeared after she ran from Kaiser and Jaz.”
Jaz jerked around at him. “You did?”
Adrian put his hand on her arm. He just needed to touch her, to know she stood beside him safe and alive. “Yes, I wanted to see if there was any connection with the areas we were searching. That’s how I matched Kaiser’s scent to one I’d found at another kidnapping location.” Adrian turned to Scarlett and whispered, “Can I mention what you did?”
“You bet.”
Adrian explained how Scarlett had given aid to find more on the kidnappers. She’d recognized something others had missed in traffic cam videos. “The Blood King used his male wolf shifters dressed like women, who pulled up at a location in a family van, visited a few minutes, then departed.”
Scarlett added, “The kidnappings happened during that moment.”
Adrian concluded, “I think once we all sit down and debrief, you’ll understand why I am adamant that Jaz did not murder Kaiser. What’s the second killing SCIS wants to pin on her?”
Hawk gave that answer. “Someone called in a tip about a jackal killed in Clarenceville. They found Jaz’s blood and scent at the spot.”
Adrian argued, “But no body, right?”
“Right.”
“I saw that jackal.” Adrian kept addressing the Guardian, the only one he had to convince of Jaz’s innocence. “Someone did a professional cleanup in the few minutes it took me to go back after I’d walked away. I’m guessing a second jackal that had been there during the fight, then drove off, came back and probably made that call anonymously.”
Jaz spoke up. “I did kill that jackal. He was trying to kidnap a female fox shifter.”
Scarlett inserted, “SCIS could have a snitch inside the agency. I keep telling them they can’t depend on jackal shifters. They need to tighten their personnel vetting.”
The Guardian took a moment then asked Adrian, “Were you able to find the person Elianna spoke of in her visions?”
“About that, sir, uhm ... no. I have no idea what Elianna referenced. Jaz did kill the alpha here—”
“He challenged me to a fair fight and every wolf in the pack present knows this,” Jaz grumbled.
Adrian said squeezed her arm. “Hang with me on this
, babe. I have things to explain that you don’t know about. A woman in our group had a vision that you would kill the alpha and said you had to meet my boss. All of her visions come true.”
Jaz gave him a look of disbelief. “You’re joking?”
“No, but this may be the one time her vision doesn’t happen exactly the way she expected.”
Stepping forward as he spoke, Justin interjected, “Hold on. She’s my mate. She said Adrian would find another woman besides you.”
“No, he’s not,” Jaz snapped back.
Adrian grinned like an idiot.
Jaz turned her fury on him. “You think that’s funny?”
“I think it’s adorable.” Then he kissed her quickly. “I love the sound of you being possessive. But they’re not talking about a woman I’m interested in.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks picked up some color. “Okay. Who is she?”
Adrian opened his mouth and closed it, then looked at his boss.
The Guardian said, “We are unusual shifters, which requires equally unusual mates. She would have been helpful to us.”
“Well he’s my mate,” Jaz claimed. “So don’t go playing matchmaker for him.”
Adrian forgot about everyone and turned to Jaz. “You would accept me?”
“Already did, wolf man.” She smiled.
This had to help her case. Adrian quickly announced, “We want to mate, boss. She’s perfect for me and she’s helped me heal my mind ... and my heart. My wolf Red is much better and attached to her wolf.”
Raising a hand to his head, the Guardian seemed to have a headache. Did he even get those?
His boss said, “We shall discuss this back at headquarters.”
“No, we’re not,” Jaz argued.
Adrian cringed. “It’s going to be fine, babe.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Yes, it will be as soon as your boss agrees we can mate, because what he thinks clearly matters to you.”
“Adrian has the kind of power that can kill when mating some shifters, Jazlyn,” the Guardian said, starting to sound out of patience and just a bit angry.
Adrian marveled at that, because his boss seemed always to be the vision of calm unless his shifters were in danger.
No Gallize shifter wanted that eagle shifter pissed off.
“Hey, my power is no slack either,” she popped off at the Guardian, then hurried to qualify, “But I use mine to heal.”
Adrian lifted a hand. “Let me have a minute to talk to Jaz, boss.”
“I thought you told that woman you wanted to mate with me, too,” Jaz accused Adrian, clearly not happy with him trying to mollify his boss.
“I did.” How could Jaz doubt him? Wait a minute. Adrian asked, “Did she tell you I said that? I was in wolf form.”
“Yes,” Jaz snapped. “I was, too, but you told me you loved me.” Her fiery eyes torched him.
“Shit fire, Jaz. I do love you. Don’t ever think I don’t mean that.”
Scarlett frowned and sarcastically noted, “I can only imagine the honeymoon with you two being so lovey right now.”
“What woman?” the Guardian demanded and everyone stopped talking again.
This time, Jaz explained, “This is going to sound crazy, but Adrian and I have agreed our crazy matches, so I don’t care. I met this woman when I was chained up in a truck with her and three others captured for the Blood King. She was weird and helpful when she wasn’t annoying me.”
Adrian stopped her with his hand. “Is that the same woman we heard in our wolf forms?”
“Sounded like her.”
The Guardian’s tone changed to one of genuine interest when he asked Jaz, “What did this woman say when she spoke to you in your wolf form?”
“She told me Adrian and I were both special. That it was our job to use our powers to heal each other. She asked if I wanted to mate Adrian. I told her I would, but I didn’t want to tie him through a bond to a woman who might end up facing death because of Kaiser.”
“Not happening,” Adrian said without question. He checked on Tanza, who had stood now, and moved away from her father. Her wrecked face said she’d hit her limit of losing family. His heart bled for her. He’d find a way to reach out to her, if she’d even talk to him.
Jaz hadn’t slowed in answering the Guardian’s question. “The woman said something really weird, now that I think about it. I don’t know if I want to repeat it.”
Adrian encouraged her, “Go ahead. We keep no secrets in our group.”
Blowing out a stream of air, Jaz scratched her head. “Okay, here goes. She said Adrian and I were children of Vercane.”
Adrian stared at her. His heart thudded hard. He looked around to find the Guardian, Justin, Vic, and Hawk with shell-shocked expressions.
Jaz complained, “Look at your peeps. Knew I shouldn’t have told anyone that but you.”
When the Guardian got his voice back, his tone made a radical change to reverent. “What was this woman’s name? What did she look like?”
Shrugging, Jaz said, “She called herself Percee. Tall. Long black hair and ratty clothes, but we all looked rough at that point.” Jaz paused. As if just realizing something, she slowly lifted her gaze and stared at the Guardian’s face. “She had no animal scent, but said she was a shifter. Sometimes she hid her eyes, but one time she allowed me to see her eyes glow silver and reshape in an odd way. I just figured out what she is. A bird shifter ... maybe an eagle. Her eyes resembled yours.”
Adrian’s skin tingled with goose bumps. He asked, “Is that who we’ve been looking for, boss?”
A giant harpy eagle launched from the tallest tree and soared overhead.
The Guardian slowly looked up with an astonished expression. He whispered, “It’s her.”
Had that female eagle wanted to join them, she could have, but she took off at super speed and vanished.
No one seemed to know what to say.
Adrian hooked an arm around Jaz and hugged her. “Your stock just shot through the roof with this group.”
“Does that mean I get to live?” she said with a dark chuckle.
“No one will harm you,” the Guardian declared. “You are one of us and I am honored that you wish to mate with Adrian.”
Jaz whispered, “Adrian, this group is bat-shit crazy, but I still want you.” Then she told the Guardian. “Thank you. What about SCIS?”
Scarlett burst out laughing. “They are not going to be a problem, girl. Wait until you find out exactly what’s going on, but none of us can talk about it outside our group.”
Justin said, “What are we going to do about this pack, boss?”
That question seemed to jar the Guardian out of his moment of awe. “With no alpha, they’ll have to go to an enclave.”
The wolves all started howling.
The one in human form near Tanza said, “We’ll all die if that happens.”
Tanza assured him, “We will not go to an enclave. This is our home.” She turned to face the Guardian. “This is my home. I’ve lost all my family. I will not give up any of it. I don’t give a flying flip who any of you weirdos are.”
Cole stepped forward and explained, “You can’t keep a pack without an alpha. Some packs even with an alpha can’t remain outside an enclave if they can’t manage difficult wolves. If we walk away and keep your secret, SCIS will eventually find out and investigate. If you can’t prove you have someone responsible who can rule the pack, which we all know means being able to put down a threat to humans and any others, they’ll take you off this land. I’m sorry.”
“Hold everything,” Jaz interrupted. She pointed at Tanza. “No problem. She’s Reinhold’s rightful heir. She’s the new alpha. I explained that to the pack after Reinhold died in our fight.” She turned to Tanza. “You must have heard everything said from where you were locked up. I’m sorry about your father, but he was killing all the wolves with his sickness. He killed your mother, too, who was not Kaiser’s mother.”
; Tanza’s eyes turned watery. When the tears started falling again, she swiped an angry hand over her face. “I heard.”
Adrian wouldn’t hold the ugly way Tanza had spoken to Jaz against the young woman. She’d suffered more than her heart could take.
In a gracious move, Jaz said, “Thank you. I’m actually a healer. If you can hold this pack, I will offer to come and help heal, if you need me.”
“No.” Tanza sniffled. “I’m not dominant. They’ll kill me at some point, even if it’s an accident. They’re not stable, but they don’t deserve to be shunted away to a reservation.” Pinning a sharp look at Jaz, she said, “You killed the alpha. You’re now responsible for this pack.”
Shit fire. Adrian hadn’t seen that coming. “Uh, babe, what are you going to do?”
Jaz shoved a hand through her hair and looked at the expectant faces of the pack. Then her gaze met Adrian’s. “How do you feel about running a pack with me?”
This just got weirder. He asked the Guardian, “If she’s willing to accept the role of alpha, I want to stay here with her. She is the only mate I’ll ever have. What should we do?”
Stepping carefully over body parts, the Guardian walked up to Adrian and Jaz. “I have known two of our shifters who took over packs they had become close to while living off the land. Both of those were over a hundred years ago, before the current climate we live in today with shifters who are exposed to humans.”
Jaz and a few others gasped at the mention of a hundred years ago. Adrian had yet to tell her his boss had lived three hundred years.
What about that harpy eagle every Gallize here believed to be the female guardian?
He and Jaz had lots to talk about, but right now the boss had the floor.
“I think taking on a pack might be a positive, Adrian. You’ve gone through a lot in the time since your last overseas mission. I feel you’ve always wanted a place to call home and those to care for. If you choose to do this, it would be with my blessing. You would still be part of our family as well, able to request support any time.”
Wrapping her arms around Adrian, she whispered, “How bad can running a pack of screwed-up wolves be?”