Diamond in the Ruff (Pedigree)

  "Caleb, you know I never back down from a fight once I've got my jaws locked. I'll just shake and shake till either there is submission or destruction." He shrugged his bony shoulders.

  "Darcy, there are an awful lot of guards here. Most are armed," Katz said quietly, glancing in Corra's direction briefly.

  Darcy turned to Corra. Her features were in a smooth mask. The high color of her cheeks and the glitter in her eyes gave her away.

  "Take your sister and Bryah and go. I don't ever want to see you here again." Corra kept her eyes on Darcy's. She didn't dare look at her brother or Bryah, who remained still in Rollo’s fist.

  Corra would do anything to protect Bryah.

  "I'm not meant to be an agent like you are, Darcy. I have too many weaknesses. I've always done what I had to in order to survive."

  She looked down at the floor. "Caleb, keep Bree safe for me."

  This couldn't be happening.

  Darcy always seemed to know what to do.

  Fear crept upon him as he stared at Corra.

  They weren't going to experiment on her like had been done to Travis.

  The old man said he wanted her to be their queen. She was facing the same fate now that she had just helped him get out of.

  Corra stepped away from Darcy and moved closer to the old man. "Hey, I could dig this place. Way nicer than any shithole I've lived in before. Just so I'm clear, what does this gig entail?"

  The old man smiled up at her. "You are going to be the finest Queen Bitch this family has ever seen."

  Caleb sucked in his breath.

  "Don't you worry. I'll find you the best bull studs, and we are going to have the purest pups this side of the border."

  "So, you just want me to breed?" She dropped her eyes to the floor. "And if I'm not cool with that?"

  "That's the deal. Your acquaintances here go free. You agree to the position and live comfortably. If not…" He shrugged. "They won't go free, and neither will you." He turned hard eyes on her.

  Corra held his stare for a long moment, then walked over to stand in front of Rollo. "Let her go." Her voice was soft as she faced him.

  He didn't move.

  "Grandfather, if I agree to do this and make things easier for you, I want this asshole gone. He terrorized my mother while she was dying."

  The gorilla frowned at Corra then slid his gaze to the old man, who waved him to put Bryah down.

  As soon as he flexed his fingers, giving her enough space to wriggle free, Bryah sank her teeth deep into the flesh of his finger.

  He roared, flinging her away. She bounced off one of the sofas and rolled across the carpet. Caleb instantly dropped to his knees to retrieve her.

  Corra glanced back at Bryah.

  "She's okay," Caleb said.

  Darcy couldn't take his eyes off of Corra. In the weeks since he'd met her, he'd seen many of her different facets. This one, he would never have wagered on. Would never have even guessed.

  Corra walked up to Darcy and reached up to lift a necklace up over her head. It was the pendant Professor Columba had given her. Taking Darcy's hand in her own, her icy fingers slid along the back of his. She slipped the jewelry into his palm.

  "Please thank Sylla for her help. It's very important to me that you give this back to her." Curling his fingers over the object, she gave his hand a little squeeze. "Please," she whispered and didn't move until he slipped it into his pocket and nodded.

  She gave him a weak smile. "All right then, that's that. Please get them out of here."

  Darcy opened his mouth to protest.

  She quickly held up a hand to stop him. Something flickered in her eyes, and the words died.

  "I need to be here."

  "She's made her choice, man," Caleb said, grabbing Darcy's arm.

  Darcy rounded on him. "Just like that? It's that easy, huh?"

  Caleb's jaw was set, but he gave him a sharp nod.

  “What just happened?” Katz asked, turning confused eyes in Zeek’s direction then landing on Darcy. “This was supposed to be a negotiation for the two of you to be together.” Her lower lip quivered.

  "Come on, Katz," Darcy said, putting an arm around his little sister and kissing the top of her head. "Family is everything," he whispered. “For some more than others.” He held Zeek’s gaze as he led Katz out of the room after Caleb with Bryah riding on his shoulder, glaring at Rollo.

  23

  Corra thought for sure her heart was shriveling as she watched her friends leave, not so sure about her choices now.

  She had to get them out of the way.

  She sucked in a deep breath, brushing away the image of the expression on Darcy's face. The incomprehension as he looked at her like a stranger. Rolling her shoulders, she turned her attention back to her grandfather and her uncle.

  The opportune moment had presented itself, and she was going to see it through.

  This was what she’d always wanted. She was right where she needed to be to get what she needed.

  Closure.

  She turned as Zeek walked back into the room after ensuring they'd all left the building. "They're gone?"

  He nodded, resuming his place by the door, blocking it.

  "Good."

  She remained quiet another moment, listening, watching her grandfather watch the flames in the fireplace. She listened for the distinct sound of Darcy's car starting. That special tenor of a sports car engine as it revved and sped away.

  From her pockets, she pulled two small objects and slipped them into her ears, pressing her finger against the one in her right ear.

  "Joe?"

  "Copy." His voice was faint in her ear.

  She nearly sagged in relief.

  "What?" the old man said, turning to Corra.

  "We're good?"

  The old man nodded.

  "Good to go," Joe said in her ear.

  "Copy," Corra said

  Seconds later, a piercing, high-pitched sound filled every particle of the compound. Even with the plugs in her ears, Corra thought her head would explode.

  Her grandfather dropped to the floor, clutching his head.

  The sound lasted a full minute.

  Zeek's father, still in his gorilla form, roared at Corra menacingly. As he took a step toward his fallen boss, more sound erupted as FUC agents descended on the building.

  Rollo took another step toward Corra, raising his arms as though to pummel her into the floor. A tear of clothing heralded a second gorilla, which jumped into the space in front of her, taking the hit.

  Next thing she knew, a sandy-gold blur came leaping in through the open window onto the back of the older gorilla.

  Movement drew her eyes to where her grandfather had been replaced by his dog form, and she realized that his advanced age must have protected him with degenerative hearing. Looking at his snarling teeth, he was every inch a menacing old ring fighter. His head swung between her and the wrestling gorillas wrecking his fancy study.

  Darcy was knocked from the shoulder of the older gorilla and rolled across the floor.

  In a flash, Corra was in her dog shape, leaping to block the old man's lunge before he could get his powerful jaws around Darcy's throat.

  It was his lifetime in the rings versus her street brawling experience.

  A streak of gray bounded in through the window next as Caleb landed on the gorilla fighting their cousin.

  As Corra and Darcy faced the snarling old man, she could hear the FUC agents battling the armed guards outside.

  She turned to see if Caleb was all right, as Rollo towered over him.

  Then Zeek's arms hammered down hard on his father's chest, thumping him right out the open window.

  Someone shouted, "Get out of the way so I can tranq him!"

  The response was an angry roar like she'd never heard before, rippling up her spine and setting her hackles on end. Then silence.

  Her grandfather was cornered.

  Zeek shouldered both Corra and Darcy o
ut of the way, facing the old dog.

  The dog lunged with all the fight he had.

  Zeek caught him in his massive muscular arms. He'd spent a lifetime in the rings too, and he was much younger and bigger.

  The dog writhed and snarled, but Zeek's arms were bands of iron around him. Then he ran toward the window and jumped out.

  Darcy, Caleb, and Corra all stood in the wreckage of the study, furry sides heaving as they panted, looking at one another. Darcy swept his body alongside Corra's before he leaped onto the sill and down from the first-story window. Caleb grunted as he followed him out onto the estate's sweeping lawn, filled with FUC agents and Karak hired-men standing over Terry family thugs, who were restrained face down on the freshly clipped grass.

  Glancing back at the window, Darcy saw Corra looking out, hesitating as she struggled to find the right angle to jump down. After a moment, she landed with an awkward thump. Running up to him, she sniffed at his wounds, giving them a lick, then nosed the soft spot behind his jaw before running toward the area of gathered agents.

  Squeezing between bodies into the central clearing, he came upon an expected sight.

  Mom?

  A sandy-gold lioness had her powerful jaws locked around the throat of the older gorilla, keeping him pinned to the ground while agents stood with weapons ready. A tranquilizer dart protruded from Rollo’s flank.

  Zeek stood by a pair of agents in FUC sweats. Next to him, the old man, back in human form, was also dressed in sweats, with cuffs linking his wrists behind him.

  Joe Suricatta stepped forward, waving someone over with some standard-issue FUC sweats, who dropped them on the grass for Darcy. Once shifted and dressed, he approached his mother.

  "Mom?"

  She blinked, eyes rolling up in his direction. She didn’t move.

  "You can let go now."

  Katz and Bryah came running across the grass toward them.

  On seeing their mother, Katz pulled clothing from her over-sized handbag and dropped it next to her.

  Bryah was back in the clothes she'd left in his car.

  Several FUC trucks rolled up. "Okay, load everyone up," Joe shouted, and the lawn broke into a hive of activity.

  Darcy watched as all the thugs were lined up, wrists cuffed or zip-tied.

  Corra stepped in front of Zeek, halting the line. “Not this one,” she said to Joe. “He helped us.”

  She looked up into Zeek’s stony face. “Thank you.”

  “Any time, cuz.” His expression morphed as he grinned at her while someone cut the ties binding his wrists.

  Darcy walked up to Corra, drawing her attention away from Zeek, and gave her a long look. She held his steady gaze.

  "Are you all right?" she asked him.

  He nodded. "Are you?"

  She turned away from him and walked toward Zeek's father, by now in his human form. "You're never going to terrorize anyone ever again. I don't care that you were doing the old man's bidding."

  He answered her with a smirk before being shoved into a truck.

  Her shoulders drooped, and she drew a long breath then turned her head in Darcy's direction.

  He opened his arms, heart slamming in his chest in case she turned away again.

  She didn't. She walked into his space and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  "We need to talk."

  As she pulled away just enough to look up into his face, it was her turn to smile. "Maybe after a drink or five."

  He chuckled. "Date at the Hub?"

  "Mm-hmm." She nodded against his chest.

  Corra opted to ride back to the Hub with Zeek, and Caleb and Bryah joined them. Darcy had already said he'd catch up after talking to his mother and sister.

  “I stink of gorilla palm sweat. I need a bleach shower when I get home.” Bryah said, breaking the silence of the long drive. “No offense, Zeek.”

  “None taken,” Zeek said. He looked at Caleb in the rearview mirror. “My mother is going to meet us in town,"

  "Aunt Sheila? I haven't seen her in years. Why is she coming?"

  Zeek shrugged his big shoulders.

  “Thanks for coming through, man,” Caleb said.

  “Mom always emphasized the importance of family.” He said, his voice quiet as he stared out over the steering wheel at the rolling pavement.

  Corra touched Zeek’s arm with a gentle squeeze and glanced back at Caleb with a tentative smile.

  Bryah grinned at her from next to Caleb.

  As soon as they walked through the Hub door, Bryah got behind the bar with Carl to help serve drinks. Corra slid onto a barstool.

  Next to her, Caleb sighed and took a long pull from his beer, then turned his attention to Corra.

  They smiled at each other.

  His big hand dropped over hers. "What a night, eh?"

  Her head bobbed. "Yeah, I'm still processing. Everything seemed to happen on fast forward."

  The door opened, and Caleb glanced over Corra's head. He blinked. "Aunt Sheila's here."

  As she turned to see the woman, Zeek went forward to greet his mother, who pulled him into a hug. Despite her diminutive size, she seemed to envelop him.

  Sheila’s eyes found Caleb as she released her son. She rushed forward as Caleb got off his barstool to envelop him too.

  Corra got to her feet, and the woman turned to her.

  Their father's sister.

  Corra could see the resemblance to herself and Caleb.

  She looked like the kind of woman that had endured a lot. Her face was a road map of secrets with pinch lines at her mouth and worry lines between her brows. Despite that, she looked on Corra with kind eyes.

  Her hands reached up to cup Corra's face. "I have so much to tell you both." She turned back to Caleb. "Things I couldn't tell you before today."

  Emotion filled Caleb's face just before he glanced away, waving at a table in the back corner. "We should sit."

  Corra lead the way while Caleb ordered more drinks before joining them.

  "I'll keep it short for tonight. There's plenty of time to catch up later. I wanted to tell you…" She stopped and drew a deep breath.

  Zeek rubbed her shoulder.

  "I wanted to tell you that your mother didn't die alone. I stayed with her. She was well cared for in her last days, and you were both in her thoughts to the end." She rubbed her hands together, not looking at either of them.

  Corra's heart ached. Caleb placed his hand over hers again, drawing her gaze.

  They had needed this.

  Finally, Sheila raised her eyes to Caleb. "I couldn't tell anyone; Dad kept everyone under a heavy hand. I have so much to tell you," she said again, raising her glass to take a sip.

  When she put it down, she gathered together a hand each from Caleb, Corra, and Zeek and placed both her own over theirs.

  She cleared her throat. “After things went poorly between Rollo and I, I began to see more clearly where my father was leading this family. I couldn’t do anything. I was slowly shut out.” She took another breath. “Dad decided he was going to get the pureblood legacy out of your parents.” She said to Caleb and Corra. “But your mother left, and then she became sick, and by then, I’d already made sure I wouldn’t have any more children. He was determined to ensure his legacy was going to live on through the two of you. He just had to make you see reason and assume the roles he’d laid out for you. Caleb leading the family business while Corra ensured the best of our breed.”

  Sheila dropped her gaze to their hands.

  Corra’s heart ached for her aunt. Her sense of guilt seeped from her. She swallowed her rising anger.

  “He’s a twisted, domineering old man,” Corra said, squeezing Sheila’s hand in return.

  “I wish you’d told me this before,” Zeek said to his mother, sliding his arm around her. “But I understand why you were afraid to.”

  The pub door opened, and Sylla Columba entered, followed by Darcy and his mother and sister. His eyes swept the room, stoppi
ng on Corra.

  Caleb gave her hand a squeeze. She looked up at her brother then back to Darcy.

  "Do you think he'll forgive me?"

  He shrugged. "I would. But I can't speak for him. You'd best go talk to him."

  "Go on," Sheila said. "Give me a few moments to collect my thoughts," she said, patting Corra's other hand.

  Corra got up and walked toward Darcy.

  Gold-green eyes rimmed by thick black lashes followed her progress. He'd changed back into his own clothes. She reached up to smooth the collar of his shirt. "Look at you, always so well put together."

  He glanced down the length of her. She still wore the FUC sweats. "You look perfect."

  "I want to apologize."

  "Nothing to apologize for."

  "You're not a tomcat."

  "Tomcat?" Mrs. Karak's sharp voice pulled Corra's attention.

  "Ehm, yeah, I said that." Her cheeks flushed as she turned back to Darcy. "You're not, and I'm sorry."

  He smiled at her. "I can't believe you went in there like that.”

  Darcy jerked his head in Sylla's direction. "She wants to talk to you and Caleb." He reached an arm up to flag Caleb and wave him over.

  Seeing Corra turned in her direction, Professor Columba approached her as Caleb joined them, and she smiled at Corra. "Thanks for getting my pendant back to me. That was quite the incriminating conversation you recorded of your grandfather this evening."

  Corra shrugged. "He's a talker."

  "It's getting late. I wanted to thank you on behalf of the Academy director and the FUC organization." Sylla smiled at her. "You advanced our timeline in finding and bringing these guys in. Hopefully, with them in custody, we can work on the rest of the fight ring network. What you did, Corra, all of you, was very brave. This will go a long way to helping other shifters get out of these situations." Her eyes twinkled as she looked at them. "Great job tonight, cadets. I'm sure Joe will be after you for reports."

  Professor Columba smiled at each of them in turn before moving off to order a drink.

  Corra's breathing eased as she stared into Darcy's eyes, not realizing she'd been holding her breath.