by Petra Landon
“I did, didn’t I?” he acknowledged cryptically. “You did the right thing” he stated, the approval clear in his voice.
“Umm … thanks” she flushed, looking away and back down into the depths of her mug.
She concentrated on staring down at the cooled tea as she felt the cold eyes brush over her. Tasia refrained from a shiver. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
Raoul narrowed his eyes at the bent head. She was attired in the short black skirt and white shirt that formed her work uniform. He realized that he’d never seen her in any other clothes.
“You don’t have your stuff with you yet” he noted suddenly.
Tasia chanced a fleeting glance at the Alpha.
“No” she shook her head. “I haven’t been back to my apartment.”
“Hawk” Raoul called out imperiously to draw Hawk’s attention from where he stood in conversation with Duncan. “Get someone to pick up whatever she needs from her apartment. It’s looking like she might be here awhile.”
“Will do, Alph” Hawk concurred. Despite the intense hunt for them, there had been no sign of the rogue Shifters. It was like they’d disappeared into thin air.
“Why did Markham approach you?” the Alpha asked Tasia curiously.
She glanced up at him, hesitant to answer this particular query. And frankly, not sure that she wanted to inform this sardonic and cold man about what she believed was her colossal stupidity and naiveté that had allowed Markham his opportunity to go after Sara.
“He evinced an interest in Tasia” Hawk informed his Alpha briskly at Tasia’s hesitation.
Raoul’s eyes snapped to Hawk, his surprise obvious. There was a short silence before the Alpha turned back to Tasia.
“He asked you out?” he asked evenly, an unusual note in the usually brusque tones that caused Tasia to bristle. She didn’t intend to go out with anyone - certainly not one of Shifters! But the Alpha needn’t look so startled at the possibility of anyone showing an interest in her.
“He did it the old-fashioned Shifter way, Alph. With food” Hawk jumped in once more with an explanation.
The Alpha’s tawny eyebrows arched silently at Hawk’s words. Tasia couldn’t tell whether it was surprise or curiosity that caused his reaction.
“I understand that Sara attempted to explain Shifter tradition to Miss Armstrong and Markham used that as an excuse to go after Sara” Duncan explained calmly.
“Did you intend to turn him down after Sara’s explanation?” Raoul asked Tasia, an unexpected gleam in the gold eyes that Tasia failed to interpret.
“Yes” she stuttered. “I … was trying to turn him down diplomatically when he engaged Sara.”
“You are not a Shape-shifter, Miss Armstrong, though you happen to currently reside at the Pack Lair. The usual Pack rules don’t apply to you. Do not hesitate to state your opinion to the next Shifter who asks you for it” Duncan chimed in unexpectedly in his precise way.
“We Shifters tend to be primal and instinctive by nature. Subtlety is usually wasted on us” the Alpha added in his brusque detached way. “Next time you want to turn a Shifter down, be blunt. Save your finesse for other Chosen, witchling.”
What other Chosen!
“Every Shifter in this Pack knows that you were extended Pack protection by the Alpha Protector himself” Duncan said gently after a brief glance at Raoul’s face. “He didn’t merely endorse another Shifter’s request to do so; he made the decision to extend it to you. No one will dare mess with you for fear of facing Raoul’s considerable wrath.”
Tasia nodded slowly. If she understood what Duncan was hinting at - she could keep herself aloof from Pack politics and matters if she chose to. She might have been extended Pack protection for aiding Hawk but it was the Alpha who’d made the decision and every Shifter knew it. Unlike Sara, messing with her would earn the Alpha’s wrath and the other Shifters weren’t keen on tweaking this particular tiger’s tail. No kidding, her run-ins with the tiger had been no walk in the park either!
“Anything new on the mercenaries?” Raoul asked Hawk.
“No sign, Alph. It’s like they’ve disappeared into thin air. I’m wondering if it’s time to hit up our contacts for some official help in tracking them down” he suggested.
“Not yet” Raoul directed. “The situation is too volatile to involve the cops, even peripherally. I don’t like the idea that we know absolutely nothing about these Shifters. This whole thing smells fishy as hell. We need to go back to the beginning. Why’d they pick San Francisco in the first place? My Pack is not exactly known for the quality of our welcome.”
“To mug wizards” Tasia muttered in response, not quite realizing that she’d spoken her sudden realization out aloud.
“What?” the Alpha bit out, focusing his attention back on her.
“Umm …. there have been reports of wizards being mugged all over the city” she stammered under the sardonic gaze.
Raoul narrowed his eyes at the girl.
“And what makes you think that these Shifters are involved?”
Damn, damn, damn … should have watched my mouth!
“I … uh … overheard them talking about it when they came after me.”
“Overheard” Raoul repeated in a dangerous voice. Hadn’t they already covered this aspect of Shifter behavior – Shifters never allowed themselves to be put in a situation where they’d be overheard.
Tasia straightened her spine in an unconscious gesture of courage as she glanced into furious gold eyes.
“They didn’t let me go that night because of any bystanders nearby” she explained quietly. “I worked magic to hide in plain sight in the alley. The only reason I overheard them was because they thought that I was gone. Their plan was to kill me and make it look like a mugging gone bad.”
“And when were you planning to tell us this?” he asked bitingly, his voice vibrating with anger to send shivers down Tasia’s spine.
“I …” she flailed around in desperation.
The fury in his eyes seemed to boil over at her response. Duncan chimed in before the Alpha could erupt.
“Anything else you remember from that night, Miss Armstrong. Please think back carefully. Every little detail could potentially help us in locating them.”
Tasia tried to recall that night in the alley. The near darkness, the panic and fear when she realized that it was the Shifters from before and finally, the effort of holding onto the illusion she’d created while she waited for them to give up and leave.
“One of them called the other Mick.”
“The big hairy one?” Hawk inquired.
“No, the big one called the other one Mick. Mick talked of an employer that he didn’t want to explain this mess to. I think the one you killed was called Hal. I got the impression that someone hired them to do the muggings.”
“Are you sure that the two rogues are involved in the assaults on the wizards? Perhaps they were simply planning to use their knowledge of the muggings to hide their assault on you” Duncan suggested.
“No” she said slowly, thinking back to that night. “They talked of the other muggings and staging mine to look like a mugging gone bad. And I believe that only a few people at the Registry know about these muggings.”
“And you do?” inquired the Alpha, his tone uncompromising.
Tasia hesitated. The Registry had merely given her a generic warning to be careful. It was Caro who had warned her that she met the victim profile while providing her the details. But Tasia had a feeling that the Registry wouldn’t be happy with her for sharing this information with the Shifters. She also sensed that the Alpha was testing her with his question. They had come to her aid when she’d needed it. He’d also lied to the vampires to protect her secret. She did owe him for that – perhaps it was time to demonstrate some trust. After all, she had entrusted more powerful secrets to the Alpha – this was small fry compared to what he knew about her abilities.
“There have been reports o
f low level female wizards being mugged in town for a few weeks now.”
She paused as the Alpha’s expression transformed slowly from furious to thoughtful.
“Specifically L3 and lower” she added quietly.
Duncan exchanged a glance with the Alpha. This was bad. If it got out that Shifters were mugging wizards, it would create bad blood between the wizards and the Pack. Even if it was known that the Shifters were mercenaries, the Pack would be blamed for not running a tighter ship.
“Level 3 female wizards! That’s too specific a victim profile” Hawk exclaimed in surprise.
“They knock them out and take off with their money and valuables if they have any though no one has been harmed yet” Tasia added. “The puzzling thing is that low level wizards aren’t exactly rolling around in riches, so it seems kind of pointless. Unless they’re going after them because they’re soft targets since they have practically no magic to fight back.”
The three men stared at Tasia.
“One of my friends at the Registry warned me since I fall in that demographic. She wanted me to be careful out there” she explained.
Hawk’s expression hardened.
“The Pack will see you safe, Tasia.”
Tasia smiled at him.
“I know” she acknowledged.
The Alpha watched the byplay silently though he said nothing.
“Perhaps it’s time to make some discreet inquiries at the Registry, Raoul?” Duncan suggested.
The Alpha nodded. “So someone hired those rogues. The question is why?”
“Curioser and curioser” Duncan commented.
“Exactly! Add more Shifters to the search, Duncan. I want them found. Meanwhile, I’ll ask around at the Registry to see if we can get more information” Raoul said.
“Discreetly” he stated with emphasis as Tasia glanced up in some alarm. “This is called the Pack Room for a reason, witchling” he remarked sardonically. “Nothing said here is ever open for public dissemination.”
Chapter 7
Faoladh asks a favor
The truck jolted through the woods over the rough track. Twilight had fallen and the forest projected a calm and serene albeit untamed beauty to the observer. Raoul knew from previous visits to meet with Faoladh that this bumpy ride was the last leg of his journey to visit the Shape-shifter recognized by all Shifters as the most powerful of them all. Faoladh lived at the edge of the Canadian Rockies where the wildly beautiful and untamed national parks of Banff and Jasper provided him plenty of open space to run free whenever his inner beast beckoned. It was lovely country – no wonder Faoladh had chosen this particular swath of land to put his roots down. As for Raoul, he’d been a city boy all his life until that year after his father’s passing. That year had left so many scars on him that San Francisco had been like a breath of fresh air. The hills, the ocean and the bay were enough to satisfy his beast. Some Shifters hated living amidst crowds, especially those full of humans. Not this Shifter! Anything was better than that year in isolation while he fought to prevent his beast from taking over.
The truck came to a stop at a little clearing amidst the trees. Raoul disembarked to follow the young Shifter who had flown him over from Calgary International Airport. Faoladh did not go to any particular lengths to hide the location of his home from other Chosen. But he insisted that all guests be escorted from Calgary airport by his own people.
The young Shifter set a brisk pace for ten minutes before leading Raoul into another clearing. This one was much larger with a few one-storey structures scattered in the space. The Shifter ushered him towards what looked like a large shed that Raoul knew from experience was Faoladh’s sound-proof Pack Room. Niall Donaghue, known amongst the Chosen as Faoladh, came forward to greet him. Of medium height and lean with the dark Irish good looks of his ancestry, he looked like a charming and easy going man in his late thirties. In his case, appearance certainly was deceptive. For one, Faoladh had lived for at least a couple of hundred years more. Rumored to have made his name in the old country as a Shifter in his early life, he had migrated to the new world during the years of mass migration by his fellow countrymen. His moniker had been given to him in the last hundred years, not only to pay homage to his Irish roots but also because the Irish considered their Weres to be guardians and teachers.
True to his moniker, Faoladh had played the role of elder statesman in the Shifter world - cajoling, persuading, commanding, maneuvering and organizing Shifters into Packs with distinct non-overlapping territories. Before, hundreds of Shifters had died every year in fights over territory and dominance. Now, the Pack culture that he had fostered and that came so instinctively to Shifters ensured that the powerful Alpha Protectors who ran their Packs with ruthless efficiency protected their turf and Shifters with equal gusto. Faoladh was not all sunshine and goodness though. He was as ambitious and ruthless as they came, more so than most Shifters. He’d have to be, to be unanimously accepted as the most powerful Alpha by the most volatile and aggressive group of Magicks in the Chosen world.
“Raoul, my friend. It is good to see you” Faoladh greeted him.
“It is good to see you too” Raoul said formally, lowering his head ceremoniously before the only Shifter he acknowledged as his Alpha. Faoladh was no stickler for tradition but Raoul was not a Shifter who took issues of dominance lightly. He was not a traditionalist when it came to Shifter customs by any means but he took dominance issues very seriously. The way he saw it, when two Shifters didn’t know where they stood on the command chain relative to one other, it paved the way for the kind of mayhem and bloodlust that lurked just below a Shifter’s skin waiting to break forth.
“Thank you for answering my summons so promptly, Raoul. I need you to do something for me” Faoladh said easily, inviting Raoul to seat himself.
“Of course! How can I help?”
“What do you know about the wizard his people called the Oracle?” Faoladh launched into the reason for his summons promptly. Although charming with easy going old-fashioned manners, he was never a man who liked to beat around the bush.
“I’ve heard of him” Raoul responded thoughtfully. “A powerful wizard with the gift of the Sight. He died about twenty-four years ago in rather mysterious circumstances, if I recall.”
“You’re correct. He was renowned as a Seer – a rare successful clairvoyant with a series of proven successes on some crucial forecasts that he’d made about us Chosen. There have been rumors amongst the Chosen for a long time that he had a vision almost a year before his death. At that time, the representatives of the various factions had just come to an agreement on the composition of the CoC. The decision makers of the wizard world had gathered at the Oracle’s home to pick the one who would be First Wizard; their representative on the very first Council of Chosen. The Oracle made a prophecy that night about three powerful Chosen siblings, all female and born of different fathers, who would one day come together to change the very foundations of our world. It was an exciting time for all Chosen – the first Council where every Chosen would have representation and the dawn of a new era of co-operation between the different factions of Chosen. The wizards made note of the prophecy because it was the Oracle doing the foretelling but they didn’t give it much significance. It sounded too vague and not significant enough during this transition to the first-of-its-kind co-operation between the Chosen. Lady Bethesda, his wife and a powerful wizard in her own right, disappeared the next morning, leaving behind her husband and child without any explanation.”
“A few months later, reports of Chosen children being killed started slowly trickling in. As you know, we Chosen, even as children, are not that easy to kill, so someone with a lot of magic was obviously on the prowl. I’m sure that you can imagine the kind of outrage this generated in our world.”
Raoul nodded, astonished by Faoladh’s revelation. Chosen had a hard time procreating; it had been so for generations. If not for their longevity, they would have been extinct by now
. This had been one of Faoladh’s primary arguments to sway the Chosen into forming the CoC. No one knew what the reason was – it was widely thought to be a side-effect of all the magic in their blood. It was well known that Chosen with less magic had an easier time procreating! This made the birth of a Chosen child a time of celebration for all Chosen. Thus, the advent of a child killer was a horrifying proposition for their world. Like the human world, they’d had their share of murderers, even the occasional serial killer but never one who targeted children.
“Then reports started filtering in that it was Lady Bethesda who was on the child killing spree. There were reports of eye witnesses to these murders, some so believable that the wizards were left in crisis. Lady Esmeralda, the new wizard representative to the CoC, was placed in an untenable position. The Council was newly formed and we were fumbling our way through the new equation between various factions, some of whom hadn’t even spoken to each other for centuries, when this crisis fell into her lap. She knew that if she didn’t get to the bottom of this quickly, the CoC would turn unitedly against the wizards for it was one of theirs who was rumored to be targeting our children. The First Wizard managed to convince the Council to give her a little time to deal with Lady Bethesda before they let their combined forces loose on her. A contingent of ten Guardians, including the Oracle, who was a high-ranking member of the GCW, was sent in to capture Lady Bethesda.”
Raoul could well comprehend how precarious the situation had been for the First Wizard. The only way to avoid all-out war with the rest of the Chosen had been to send in a ten-strong detachment of Guardians. The Guardian Council of the Wizards or the GCW recruited only the best and most powerful amongst the wizards. They were universally respected by all Chosen and, on occasion, even recruited by other Chosen to handle their rogue elements. By sending ten Guardians to capture one wizard, no matter how powerful, the First Wizard had been sending a message to the other Chosen – that the wizards took this matter very seriously.
