by Petra Landon
“Tasia” Hawk prompted as he held the heavy door open for her.
Tasia made her way into the bright room with the huge collection of books, to follow Hawk to a set of chairs by the fireplace. Hawk fiddled with the fireplace to start a bright fire.
“I assumed that was decorative” she exclaimed, gesturing at the fireplace.
“It’s rarely used but works just fine” Hawk commented with a smile as he seated himself. “It’s a chilly evening and I thought you might appreciate a warm fire.”
He’d noticed how cold Tasia found it at the Lair. The Shifters’ high metabolic rates always kept them too warm for comfort, so the Lair was climate controlled to a temperature guaranteed to cool off Shifter bodies.
“I do” Tasia responded gratefully. She slipped off her low-heeled black pumps to tuck her stockinged feet comfortably under her on the couch before taking a sip of her tea.
Hawk contemplated her thoughtfully as he sipped his coffee.
“Have you decided to stick with us for the time being?” he asked off-handedly.
Tasia hesitated, searching for the right words to answer his query.
“I hope that today’s incident hasn’t warned you off, Tasia” he reiterated soberly, the dark eyes grave.
“You were right” Tasia acknowledged, her gaze on the tiny swirls of steam arising from the mug in her hand. “About needing someone powerful to watch my back! Your Alpha is offering me a safe haven until the mercenaries are no longer a threat to me.”
“And then” he prompted.
Sara can give you some pointers on how to live with Chosen without causing any waves – something you will need to master unless you plan to hide out for the rest of your life.
Duncan’s wise words reverberated silently in Tasia’s head. Her father had meant for her to steer clear of other Chosen and live incognito amongst humans. Yet recent events had proven that a low-key existence might not be enough to safeguard her from drawing unwelcome attention. And that she might occasionally find herself in need of powerful allies when that happened.
“Perhaps we might be able to come to some kind of mutual agreement” Tasia stumbled to a halt. Hawk’s expression brightened at her words, encouraging Tasia to a halting confession. “I have abilities that the Pack could use in return for protection, should I be in need of it. It will depend on what the Alpha asks of me though. The more magic I use, the greater lies the risk of its discovery.”
She’d had the day to ponder this very question. Duncan’s perceptive and sage advice in the afternoon had gone a long way to sway her.
“Good” Hawk said approvingly. “I like where you’re going with this, Tasia. If you’re considering a longer term engagement with the Pack, then, as your friend, allow me give you a piece of advice. The Chosen always play games and you need to be able to pick up on the unstated undercurrents. We Shifters tend to be fairly straightforward and less subtle than the others, so it should be easier for you to pick up on our cues.”
Satisfied that he had her full attention, Hawk continued.
“For example, I told you that I built the fire especially for you. What does that say to you?”
“That you’re a thoughtful guy.”
“That I am” Hawk replied with a grin. “Anything else?”
“That it is unusual to have a fire in here” she speculated thoughtfully.
“No Shifter will ever build a fire because he doesn’t need the warmth of one” Hawk said bluntly.
Tasia flashed back to that night at the vampire nest when the Pack had come to her rescue. She could remember the warmth of the Alpha’s body as he cradled her close. It’d been a very chilly evening. Yet he’d been radiating heat despite the shirt that he’d sacrificed to tend to her wounds.
“Why?”
“Very high metabolism” Hawk said simply. “Comes with the territory.”
“High metabolism and a keen sense of hearing. What else?”
“Every sense is elevated including smell, touch, taste and sight, not just hearing” Hawk explained. “Most of us get very good at extrapolating our extraordinary senses to detect when someone is lying, nervous, scared or even aroused. We can see much better in the dark than any human. You must never forget that at an elemental level, we are akin to animals with their senses and instincts.”
“How can you tell when someone is nervous?” Tasia asked curiously. The other senses, she could understand.
“Pulse speeds up along with other physiological reactions.”
“And …” Tasia paused.
“Arousal?” he piped up.
She nodded.
“We can smell the pheromones.”
Tasia digested his words thoughtfully while Hawk sipped his coffee.
“Shifters are also control freaks. It’s a matter of survival for us. No matter how powerful a Shifter is, he’s only as good as his control over his beast. One slip and his Pack will ensure that it never happens again.”
Tasia fixed her expressive gray eyes on him, a silent question in them about his hint.
“Yes, permanently” he confirmed dryly at her unspoken query.
“Like all Chosen, no matter what kind, we live and die by the Supreme Edict. Thou shall not reveal your brethren to the not Chosen. If you let your beast control you, you run the risk of breaking the Supreme Edict. The Alpha is responsible for every Shifter in his Pack – it’s his job to root out any Shifters on the verge of losing control of their beast. That is why we do not like mercenaries. They are rogue Shifters with no Pack and hence no Alpha to ensure that their control never slips.”
“It’s a tough world and a ruthless one where no sign of weakness or indecision is tolerated. However, loyalty is rewarded and your Pack is your defense against the outside world. The Pack is our family and no matter what individual differences we have, when a Pack mate is threatened, the Pack will come through or die fighting for the cause. You will have to make up your mind whether you want that world, even as an outsider with just Pack protection. Do you understand now why there can be no middle ground, Tasia?” he asked frankly.
“I think I do” she responded softly. “It is so …” she paused, at a loss for the right words to describe her feelings.
“Complicated?”
“Yes and more!”
“It has been my experience that anything worthwhile in life usually is” he stated with a quiet strength.
“I will help you. And so will Sara. You need us, Tasia, and I want to see you safe. I also think that Sara and you will be good for each other.”
“That’s what Duncan said” she exclaimed in surprise.
“Duncan is not one to let grass grow under his feet if he can help it” he agreed.
“You like him” the realization hit Tasia suddenly.
“He’s my Were-Alpha.”
“It’s more than that. You like him. I can sense it.”
“Sense, huh? Could it be that you’re learning more from the Pack than we know” he teased lightly before acknowledging her declaration. “I do.”
“He implied that Sara has had a tough time in the Pack?” she prompted.
“Yes” Hawk sighed. “It’s complicated. Sara and I are a little different from the other Shifters.”
“You have two animal forms” Tasia prompted quietly. “Is that what you mean by different?”
And you can change from your animal form in seconds, unlike the minutes that it takes other Shifters!
“There are other differences” Hawk acknowledged. “It differentiates us from other Shifters and the Pack hasn’t forgiven us for it. The only reason this Pack accepted us was because of Alph.”
“The Alpha?” Tasia exclaimed.
Nothing that she’d seen so far of the Alpha Protector had given her any hint of an Alpha who fought the Pack to be inclusive of two Shifters different from the rest.
“Yeah! Packs vote when a new member requests to join it. Normally it’s a mere formality because one parent is usually a member
of the Pack and so the children are welcomed once they show evidence of being able to shift.”
“Were your folks part of this Pack?”
“The Pack structure had undergone a change after Faoladh organized the were-packs more formally but they had been of this Pack.”
“They were gone by the time you guys came of shifting age?”
“Yes. My Mom died at childbirth and my Dad passed away in our early teens. They got together in the teeth of their respective families’ opposition. The families wanted nothing to do with us and there wasn’t much support from their Pack mates. We have that part of our history in common, Tasia.”
Tasia nodded. She’d told the Alpha this bit about her parents and Hawk seemed to have noted the similarity.
“I’m sorry, Hawk. It must’ve been a tough time.”
“An early lesson well learnt I assure you, Tasia. When children first shift in their early teens, they have no control over their beast or even the actual art of shifting. That is when the Pack steps in to hand them over to a Were-Alpha to train. Otherwise, they’re marked rogue and put to death by the Alpha Protector whose territory they live in. No chances with the Supreme Edict!”
Hawk stopped to gaze broodingly into his mug.
“Don’t get me wrong, Tasia. I know why things have to be this way. But Sara and I, we had no one to advocate for us. No one willing to pressure the Pack that refused to let us join them. We were essentially being condemned to die without a chance at a life. I tried unsuccessfully to get a meeting with the Alpha Protector. No one around him would even allow us to see him. We were lowly non-Pack Shifters that the Pack didn’t even want. He could’ve wiped out our very existence without ever meeting us.”
“You must’ve been desperate” she said quietly, deeply affected by his heartfelt words. At least, she’d had her father to teach her the ropes. It sounded like Hawk and Sara had been left to the wolves to fend for themselves. And what wolves!
“We were. Then Alph went to bat for us. He found out about our situation, I don’t know how. He’d just gained control of the Pack and he stared down the Pack Council for Sara and me.”
Tasia had been told that the group of Were-Alphas, who led the were-packs that comprised the larger Pack, formed the Pack Council. How much influence a Council held within a Pack was very much dependent on the Alpha Protector who led the Pack.
“Can he do that?”
“The Alpha Protector of a Shifter Pack can do whatever the hell he wants. Especially one who can back it up with raw power! Raoul had come from nowhere to lay claim to the Pack a few months before. He’d defeated the previous Alpha Protector to command the Pack, so the Council knew well what he was capable of. He called a meeting of the Council and declared that he was going to accept the twins.”
“Did anyone oppose him?”
“I’ve never been told the details of that particular meeting. Basically the Council blinked and we were accepted into the Pack. The next challenge was to find a Were-Alpha willing to be responsible for our Shifter training. Duncan stepped up and that’s how we ended up in his were-pack. He has all the Uncommons anyway, so it made sense. If no Were-Alpha had agreed to take us on, then Alph would’ve been responsible for our training. He was too busy trying to control his newly won and fractious Pack. It would be a few years before he had everyone convinced that going against his wishes is a very bad idea” the last was said with a smile.
“The Uncommons?” she queried. Tasia could well believe that the rest of the Shifters knew that going against the Alpha Protector was a bad idea!
“That’s what we call Shifters with rare beast forms. Sara and I have two – it makes us unusual. The wolves refused us outright and the Avian were-pack was ambiguous to say the least.”
“How do you have two animal forms?” she asked curiously.
“We come from two very powerful Shifter parents. My Dad was a formidable Were-Alpha. I guess their offspring ended up with an animal form from each parent. It’s certainly unusual though not unheard of for offspring of two powerful Shifters.”
“Your Mom was a Shifter” Tasia blurted out in astonishment. She’d heard that female Shifters were rarely capable of procreation. Something to do with their DNA being in a state of flux to allow for shifting – made it impossible to carry a child to term! In fact, most powerful Chosen, male and female, had a very hard time procreating. The magic in their blood made them powerful and, in a lot of cases, immortal but it also made them infertile.
“A very special one” Hawk responded with a faraway look in his eyes. “My Dad told us that she came from very old magic.”
“Like the Ancients?”
“No, Shifter magic but very old. Navajo magic” he added as a puzzled Tasia stared at him.
That makes sense. Some of ancient Shifter tribes had more magic in them. And the Navajo Shifters are very old indeed.
“What happened to the previous Alpha Protector? Is he still part of the Pack” Tasia asked curiously.
“Challenges to an Alpha Protector or a Were-Alpha, for that matter, are fights to the death” Hawk stated quietly.
There was another long silence as Tasia reflected on his words.
“So that’s why you urged me to trust your Alpha?” she said slowly, understanding a little more about Hawk’s faith in the Alpha Protector.
“He can be cold, detached and ruthless but he was fair to Sara and me. Once Alph decides to bat for you, he’ll let nothing and no one stand in his way. And he has the power to back him up. He’s young for a Shifter this powerful but he can fight like the very devil. I’ve seen him in action and he’s formidable.”
“Sounds like he forced them to take you, yet the Pack still hasn’t accepted either of you” she remarked gently.
“I’ve made some friends over the years but Sara … she’s had a tougher time of it. Shifters are a fairly chauvinistic bunch and a female Shifter who makes it clear that she’s not interested in fighting anyone to prove her dominance is not someone that they know how to handle. An aggressive and volatile Shifter - everyone is used to that. In fact, that is the norm. Duncan’s clinical beat down of Justin Markham as a public lesson for daring to lay hands on one of his Shifters is the kind of thing that we understand perfectly well. On the other hand, Sara’s befriending of a wizard who is temporarily camped at the Lair because the Alpha wants to repay her debt to the Pack is inexplicable. I know exactly how the Pack thinks. Sara should’ve known that Markham would go for her if she ran interference with his plans and if she didn’t, that is on her. And why shouldn’t Markham have some fun with the wizard. It’s not their problem if she’s ignorant of Shifter traditions.”
He paused before continuing with a wry smile.
“They’re my people and I understand them. Sara - she understands them but she is not like them and therein lies the problem. In the early years, I fought her battles for her. Against her wishes, mind you. But I’ll be damned if I let any Shifter beat up my sister to prove his toughness to the Pack. Then Duncan stepped in and ordered me to let him deal with it. He’s Sara’s Were-Alpha and the way he sees it - it is his job.”
“And” she prompted as Hawk fell silent.
“He’s done a very good job. Duncan’s very smart, powerful enough to control a were-pack and he’s formidable in a fight. Most importantly, he’s good at using all the weapons in his arsenal at just the appropriate time. I was just a hot-headed Shifter trying to protect his sister.”
He paused to meet her eyes soberly.
“Sara is not happy here, Tasia. And I’m not sure that she will ever be. However, she’s a Shifter and she needs to belong to a Pack, so we make the best of it.”
The quiet shush of a door startled Tasia. She glanced involuntarily at the massive steel one that they’d come through. It remained stubbornly shut.
“You all done, Alph” Hawk called out cheerily.
Tasia froze in the act of glancing at the door.
Not him, please, not him! I dese
rve a break.
The large figure of Duncan, impeccably dressed as always, walked into her line of sight.
“Miss Armstrong” he greeted her politely in his proper English way.
Tasia nodded politely, ill trusting her voice to not betray her sudden nervousness. Duncan, she could deal with. It was his companion that Tasia wasn’t keen to meet again. Duncan turned his attention to Hawk to ask him something about what Tasia assumed was Pack business. Tasia tightened her clasp on her mug. She was afraid her trembling hands would betray her nervousness to the silent observer whose presence she could sense behind her. She took a tiny sip of the tea that had cooled by now, hoping to calm her racing heart.
Raoul stared speculatively at the nervous girl on the couch beside Hawk. She’d been leaning back cozily against the cushions with her feet tucked up under her, shoes discarded by her side and the mug held between both hands as she chatted easily with Hawk. Their entrance had caused her to freeze up and grasp her mug tightly with fingers that betrayed her sudden tension. Something Duncan had said about Sara flashed through his mind. Seems the witchling was getting quite an education in Pack politics!
“I heard about the excitement this afternoon” he remarked as he came to a stop beside her.
Tasia glanced up, her movements slow and deliberate, to meet the cold gold-colored eyes with some trepidation.
“Sara” he reminded her gently as she stared at him speechlessly. “And Justin Markham.”
A look of surprise flashed in the expressive gray eyes. Tasia had assumed that the afternoon’s event would be too insignificant to be brought to the attention of the Alpha Protector. Especially one who commanded a Pack of five hundred Shape-shifters!
“What kind of Alpha would I be if I didn’t know what went on in my own Lair” he said, his voice very soft as the gold eyes stared down at her.
Tasia flushed unexpectedly, flustered by the cold gaze. It made her rush into hasty speech.
“You said no magic” she reminded him. “So I ran for help instead.”
