The Prophecy (Saga of the Chosen Book 1)

by Petra Landon

  “Beats me” he confessed candidly. “I’ll admit that I was as curious as you when I first heard the gossip but the whispers about the Guardian’s crimes were successful in diverting my attention to other matters. The whole affair is bizarre enough that the part of her being affiliated with a Shifter Pack quickly moved very low on most people’s gossip radars. All anyone knows about her is that she’s a low level wizard under the protection of the Northern California Pack.”

  He had paid attention to the gossip, of course, as he did to all such gossip in their world. Being well informed of the happenings in their world was part of his job. And this particular one had been closer to home than most for there was a fellow Guardian entangled up in it. There had been rumblings amongst the senior Guardians over this particular affair. Some had wanted to investigate how a fellow comrade had come to be accused of such shady doings against the same Magicks that he was sworn to protect, while others had argued that the upstart Alpha, no matter how powerful, needed to be taught a lesson for meddling in their affairs. Jason could acknowledge to himself that he had been distracted by Sienna as well as the First Wizard’s briefings on Chicago. But now that Sienna had asked for his help, he’d make some inquiries. Shifters were territorial, tended to keep away from other Chosen and lived in very strict hierarchical Pack structures. Faoladh had smartly exploited this very Pack command structure to stop the near decimation of the Shifter population by constant fights over territory and dominance. Jason was curious to know how a wizard had landed herself an invitation to join such a tightly controlled structure, especially one run by the uber aggressive, unpredictable and unsocial Shape-shifters.

  “I’ll make some inquiries, Sienna. I’m rather curious myself about her association with a Pack” he acknowledged.

  “She must be important to the Pack. Why else would the Alpha introduce her to us?” Sienna commented rather naively.

  “There’s no mystery about that one” Jason’s lips quirked in wry amusement. “It was Merceau’s way of showing me the metaphorical middle-finger. I’m a Guardian. He knows that I’ll recognize her name when I hear it, so he makes sure to have her in the room to introduce to us.”

  “You believe it’s just the usual games that Chosen play?”

  “Yeah” Jason nodded. “Although Merceau has a reputation for not playing those types of games. I wonder” he remarked quietly, his expression one of reflection.

  “What?” Sienna prompted after a few minutes of Jason ruminating silently.

  “It’s well known that Raoul Merceau hates wizards with a vengeance and never engages with any non-Shifter Chosen unless they interfere with what he considers his business. I wonder whether there is more to your girl from the vision than what meets the eye.”

  “Could the Alpha be coercing her in some way, Jason?” Sienna whispered, appalled by the prospect. She had always felt an affinity to the girl in the vision. And now that she had seen her in the flesh, this emotion was compounded.

  “I doubt it” he reassured her. “From what I know about him, Merceau is more likely to ignore someone like her than coerce her. And he did come to her assistance when she was in danger, along with a substantial army of his Shifters who surrounded the Registry at his command. I don’t know what led up to the events that night at the Registry, Sienna, but that Guardian was up to no good. The local wizards have enough proof to hold him, so Merceau did save her from a tight spot. I’d say that’s a fair assumption that he means her no harm.”

  “Why does he hate wizards?” she asked him after a short pause, mollified by his explanation.

  “Something to do with his ancestry. He’s one of us. His mother was a Charbonneau from down south.”

  Sienna arched her eyebrows in surprise. The Charbonneau family had produced generations of very powerful wizards as she knew well from her study of wizard lore. The direct line was thought to have died out a few generations back although some of their descendants still played an active role in wizard politics. Even after she had isolated herself from the day to day affairs of the Chosen, whispers of a young Shifter Alpha making a name for himself had reached Sienna. She hadn’t of course recognized him as the Alpha they were about to meet until Jason had filled her in on the details on their way to San Francisco to meet with the Shifters. The wizards whispered his name with awe, respect and a healthy dose of fear. Sienna was aware that he was fast climbing the ladder to Shifter greatness. She had, however, been unaware of his wizard heritage until now.

  “Do you trust him?” Sienna inquired. She was well aware that no wizard truly trusted a Shifter. What she wanted to know was whether he trusted the Alpha in this particular matter of investigating her mother.

  “Not as far as I can throw him” Jason declared promptly. “Like I said, his disdain for wizards is well known. And I wouldn’t trust any Shifter Alpha with wizard business anyway. However, the First Wizard trusts Faoladh on this matter and it is Faoladh who handpicked Merceau for this investigation. The First Wizard has hinted to me that the Alpha has come through for us before and that I should offer him our full co-operation.”

  They contemplated each other in silence, the full implications of Sienna’s revelations simmering silently in the air between them.

  “The GCW will investigate what happened last week in San Francisco before they take any action against Anderson. When that investigation is complete, I’ll ask to see a copy of it. They’re sure to have some preliminary background stuff on Tasia Armstrong. We can take it from there. Sound good, Sienna?”

  “Yes, sounds very good.”

  “Meanwhile, I’ll reach out to some friends and attempt to dig deeper into what happened at the Registry” Jason continued. “We are not the only ones who have made note of Merceau’s uncharacteristic reaction and the bizarre circumstances surrounding the whole affair. I was distracted by other matters at the time, so I let it go. Now, I will get to the bottom of this affair. It should lead us to more information about Tasia Armstrong.”

  Sienna nodded gratefully. Jason would come through for her, she knew. Right now, he had an important mission to complete and could not allow himself to be distracted from it. She wished fervently that she’d kept her wits about herself tonight and had a chance to interact with Tasia Armstrong. It might very well have been her only opportunity to get to know the girl from her vision a little better.

  “I would never have guessed that she’d turn out to be a wizard” she remarked abruptly, her mind silently visualizing that scene in the arena so familiar to her.

  Jason turned his attention to her.

  “What did you think she was?” he asked curiously.

  “I had her pegged as an Ancient. Although …” she stopped at the first stirring of an elusive sliver of memory. Towards the tail-end of the vision, there had been some hint of indication of a link with Shifters!

  “What?”

  “A small detail I’d almost forgotten; something that occurs at the end of the vision. Towards the end of the dream, I attempt to make my way to her, intending to stand with the girl in the arena when something unusual happens. Something that astonishes me.”

  “Aargh, I can’t remember it! The memory is so elusive” she cried out in frustration.

  “It’ll come to you eventually” Jason reassured her.

  The girl from her vision was turning out to be quite a mystery, Sienna mused. A wizard so entangled up with Shifters that an Alpha Protector had had a public spat with the Guardians for her. Sienna hoped fervently to be given another opportunity to interact with the girl before their mission with the Shifters here was complete.

  Chapter 15

  Uneasy partners head to Chicago

  Tasia glanced at the shuttered expression on Hawk’s face as he drove silently through the streets of San Francisco. They were on their way to the airport to catch their flight to Chicago. He was silent this morning, far from the entertaining and teasing companion that she’d become accustomed to.

  “Something worryin
g you, Hawk?” she inquired tentatively.

  “No” he directed a small smile at her. “Just not properly awake yet.”

  Unconvinced by her friend’s response, Tasia decided to bide her time before she attempted to breach his defenses again. The Alpha had demanded an early start and dawn was just beginning to break in the sky as they made their way to the airport. The streets revved up slowly, soon to become venues for the familiar scenes of jam-packed early morning office traffic that tended to clog up the routes towards the highways. Store fronts still lay shuttered, not yet the scenes of frenetic activity by shopkeepers setting up for the day’s business. Tasia gazed blindly at the streets, oblivious to all signs of a city waking up, preoccupied by Hawk’s unusual dourness. She had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what had him so preoccupied. Hawk fit into the Pack like he’d grown up in its dangerous and dysfunctional bosom. After his disclosure in the Pack Room about Sara and his early circumstances, Tasia had made sure to observe his interactions with the larger Pack whenever the opportunity presented itself. He seemed to have a knack for knowing when to back away and when to challenge – an important trait in most Chosen but absolutely essential in a Shifter. Sara, on the other hand, was a very reluctant Shifter and it showed in her interactions with her Pack. Her Were-Alpha and some of her were-pack mates looked out for her while the rest of the Pack seemed to mostly look askance at her, much as they would at a strange creature that they couldn’t quite figure out. Most Shifters tended to ignore Sara while a few attempted to take advantage of her, like Markham, the Shifter who had instigated a fight with Sara to settle scores with Hawk.

  In some ways, the Pack treated Sara like they did Tasia for they were both considered outsiders. The difference was that Tasia’s unique circumstances made the Shifters wary of tangling with her for fear that it might incite the wrath of their Alpha, something the Shifters steered clear of. Sara did not have the luxury of that kind of protection. She was defended by her Were-Alpha although the way the Pack worked, it took a few times for Duncan to stand up for Sara before the rest got the message. At first, Tasia had assumed that Duncan’s power within the Pack was derived from his having the ear of the Alpha. But she’d realized gradually that she was mistaken. These were Shifters – such considerations did not exist in their DNA. Duncan was feared and respected within the Pack, not because of his proximity to the Alpha Protector but because he was a dominant Shifter more than capable of holding his own. She had observed how some of the other Were-Alphas sometimes gave way to Duncan on matters of the Pack.

  “Is Duncan going to Chicago with us?” she asked Hawk.

  “Yes.”

  So, it is Sara he’s worried about. Just as I suspected.

  Sara worked for the City Planning Commission; one of a very small number of Shifters who worked with humans. The Northern California Pack was a rich one and, unlike other not so well off Packs, it could afford to provide employment opportunities to all its Shifter members. And yet Sara had chosen to not work for one of the myriad Pack businesses. Her way of asserting her independence on matters where she could, Tasia had realized. Tasia was slowly beginning to comprehend the extent of Hawk’s concerns for his beloved twin. Sara was a misfit in the Pack and, in the long term, this would cause serious problems for both Sara and Hawk. This was why Tasia had subtly thrown Sara together with Caro when her two friends had found themselves united in their concern for her. After an awkward beginning, Sara had been won over by Caro’s natural effervescent friendliness. Tasia continued to encourage the burgeoning friendship while a watchful Hawk said little to discourage it.

  “You’re worried about Sara” she stated quietly, taking the bull by its horns.

  “A little” he confessed after a short pause. “I’m loath to leave her behind with neither Duncan nor me to keep an eye on her, especially after Markham.”

  Tasia stared at him, struck anew by the gravity of his concern. She was very fond of the Shifter girl and Hawk’s words served to remind her of how cutthroat and brutal the Shifters could be towards those that they deemed unworthy of their Pack.

  “Did you talk to Duncan about this?” she inquired tentatively.

  “Just a word in passing” he acknowledged. “He told me not to worry about Sara. That he has it under control.”

  Relieved by his words, Tasia prodded him gently.

  “Duncan would never say that unless he truly does have the matter under control.”

  “Yeah” Hawk sighed. “I know that.”

  “I think he had a word with Atsá” he confessed after a short pause. “Alph has put Atsá in charge of Pack matters in his absence.”

  Atsá, she knew, was the white-haired Native American Shifter who commanded enormous respect within the Pack. He was also the Were-Alpha who Hawk seemed to have a somewhat awkward and, she suspected, prickly relationship with.

  “Sara and I” Hawk paused. “We have a rather thorny relationship with Atsá. That he’s our grandfather makes the matter more complicated” he dropped the bombshell casually.

  “Grandfather” Tasia exclaimed in astonishment. “You mean he’s … “

  “My mother was his only progeny” Hawk responded. “He was against her marriage and especially against her having children. When she died, he broke off all contact with us. While not precisely against Sara and I joining the Pack, he nevertheless refused to support our claim to it. The relationship, which before our joining the Pack, had been non-existent has since been strained, to say the least. We manage to stay out of each other’s way by unspoken agreement.”

  An incident early in her association with the Pack flashed through Tasia. When Sara had been laid low by Justin Markham’s attack on her, the dignified Were-Alpha had surprised Tasia by approaching her one day to ask how her friend fared. His concern had left a lasting impression on Tasia since not many Shifters had inquired about Sara’s welfare. She had chalked it down to his innate graciousness but now she couldn’t help but wonder if there had been more to his inquiry.

  “He was concerned for Sara after the attack, Hawk” she turned to her friend impulsively. “I remember because so few Shifters made the effort to ask after her. What if he wants to reach out to you both but is struggling to make headway? Perhaps he regrets his earlier behavior.”

  “Perhaps” Hawk’s tone indicated that he remained unconvinced.

  “Forgive me” she apologized immediately. “It’s just that I don’t have any family left. You guys do. I’d give a lot to call someone my own” she added, striving to keep her tone light.

  At the simple words delivered straight from the heart, Hawk’s face twisted with emotion.

  “We are your own, Tasia” he said softly. “Neither Sara or I plan to ever give up on you, I warn you” he added, the teasing note back in his voice.

  But the conversation seemed to have succeeded in banishing his dark mood and he reverted to his usual entertaining self as they neared the airport.

  “I’m looking forward to the blonde’s reaction when she claps eyes on you again” Hawk remarked gleefully. “To faint again or to try to explain away the earlier attempt at it, that is the question!”

  Her mind reverberating with the Alpha’s warning regarding the woman’s possible motives, Tasia found herself girding up subconsciously for the upcoming meeting.

  To their concerted surprise, it was the woman who made a beeline for Tasia. Accompanied by the Guardian, the woman seemed almost giddy at catching sight of her on the plane, Tasia mused in astonishment.

  “Hi” she struck her hand out to Tasia with a friendly smile, plopping herself down across from Hawk and Tasia. “I’m Sienna McAlister. Sorry for phasing out on you so spectacularly last night. Not sure what happened there.”

  “Tasia Armstrong” Tasia returned with an answering smile.

  “Jason told me what happened to you last week. I hope you’re fine” the blue eyes held concern and sympathy.

  “Yes, thank you” Tasia murmured politely.

  Ha
wk, eavesdropping shamelessly on their conversation, straightened up from his indolent position beside Tasia. The Alpha and Duncan, engaged in quiet discussion a few seats ahead of them and to the right of the central aisle, seemed to suddenly go on alert. Tasia could not see the rest of their party, who were seated behind her on both sides of the aisle. The only other person within her line of sight was the Guardian. Jason LaRue’s face remained buried in the newspaper he was reading, with no outward sign that he had overheard their conversation.

  “I’m glad that you had friends willing to come to your aid” Sienna’s tone was sober.

  “We Shifters don’t abandon our friends when the going gets tough” Hawk remarked casually from beside her before Tasia could respond.

  “I think Tasia is lucky to have such Shifter friends” Sienna responded composedly, meeting Hawk’s dark gaze directly.

  “Yes, I am” Tasia acknowledged candidly, her fleeting glance encompassing Hawk, Duncan and the Alpha’s narrowed eyes as he watched the scene unfold before him.

  “Do the wizards plan to punish the Guardian for his crimes?” called out a voice from the back of plane.

  Both Tasia and Sienna craned their necks to look behind, almost as one. The Shifters didn’t bother for they knew who the voice belonged to. The only Guardian amongst them continued to read his newspaper with casual indifference to the conversation around him. The voice belonged to Elisabetta, the beautiful and powerful Were-Alpha. Dressed in a deceptively simple cream dress that fit her like a glove, she lounged beside Luis Beltran and Stefan Simeonov, a Were-Alpha with electric blue eyes that Tasia was always careful to keep her distance from.

  “I hope so” Sienna answered simply, meeting the challenge in Elisabetta’s green eyes head on, without any prevarication.

  “You hope so?” Elisabetta gave a tinkling musical laugh that failed to hide her amusement. “Hope is a useless emotion, usually the last recourse of those who either have no power to change anything or no inclination to rock a boat extremely favorable to them. Which one is it for you, witch?”