Panthers of Brigantia Shifter Box Set

by Lisa Daniels

  Standing on the banks of the river, she took a deep breath and walked up to the cabin. The sound of voices let her know that the cabin’s occupants were already worrying about Caspian’s arrival. As she neared, she could see through the window. The woman was thin and beautiful, her red eyes shining brightly even in the shadows of the cabin. Her jet-black hair shone in the light provided by the sun. The man standing in front of her was holding her shoulders. Heaven studied him as she moved forward. His black hair was striped with blond highlights, which was reversed from the coloring of most jaguar shifter hair—usually they had blond hair with black streaks. His eyes were even more startling once she realized that they were not reflecting back the color of Miracle’s eyes. This champion had red eyes. Harmony froze, trying to figure out what that could possibly mean, and ended up eavesdropping as her mind tried to process what was in front of her.

  “Calm down, Maverick. He’s not going to come here and try to kill me right away. You of all people should know that he keeps his word.”

  “Yes, I know, and his word binds him to kill you.”

  “He can’t as long as the prophecy stands. If he were to kill me now, it almost assures him of it coming true. It was the one deterrent that kept people from killing my kind.”

  “But he wasn’t deterred, Miracle. He killed your entire family. How many prophecies did he hear as he slaughtered them?” At these words, Heaven crouched down, her breathing getting shallow as her own guilt crept in. Caspian had suffered horribly after that, so much so that she had thought he would find a way to kill himself. It was one of the few times when she had appeared to him since her sister’s death, taking on his pain so that he could continue.

  “He wasn’t alone when he killed the rest of my kind.”

  “He is the only one of the assassins who is left now! What does that tell you about his abilities, Miracle? He’s the best. The absolute best at what he does.”

  Heaven closed her eyes. One of three Maverick, one of three.

  “Please, if I can trust him, why can’t you?”

  “I just… Miracle, I don’t want to lose you.” Heaven peeked in the window as Maverick rested his forehead on Miracle’s. “I can’t.”

  “You won’t. I swear it.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  Miracle laughed, “At the risk of unleashing a slew of other prophecies, I have seen us together in Ishtar.”

  “All three of us?”

  “More, actually. There was a guardian and a druid, I think; they join us at some point, but I know nothing about any of the people today, besides you and Caspian.” Heaven stood up, knowing that Miracle needed to stop talking before she made things worse. She began to walk toward the door as Maverick pressed for more information.

  “Could you describe them? Perhaps I know who—”

  Miracle lurched forward, clutching her stomach and shaking her head furiously. Maverick crouched down and placed his mouth on hers, completely distracting her from the images. Slowly he stood up, pulling her close.

  Heaven crouched down again, her cheeks blushing furiously. I shouldn’t have seen any of that. Shouldn’t have heard any of that.

  Quickly moving around the side of the cabin, she began knocking on the door.

  Miracle’s voice whispered, “He’s earlier than I thought.”

  “Me too. It’s not like him to arrive so early in the day.” Maverick’s voice traveled through the door, the only indication that he was moving toward it. The absence of the sound of footfalls was just another sign that he was trained by Caspian.

  The door opened, “We weren’t expecting—oh.” The fierce, red eyes went from furrowed to wide as he looked down at Heaven.

  She gave a little curtsey, “Hi. I was in the neighborhood and, um, yeah, I needed to pass on word.”

  Miracle appeared beside him as Heaven spoke. She blinked, trying to take in the unexpected visitor. “What word? Did something happen to Caspian?”

  It wasn’t a question Heaven was expecting. She never expected any questions, which always made it difficult to keep her focus. She began to move her hands as she talked, as if they could say the words she couldn’t find. “Yes. Well, not anything for you to know about. He... yeah… don’t ask him. He needs to focus.” She shook her head, “No, that’s not why I’m here. Just treat him normally so he can pretend.”

  Maverick’s eyes were full of concern as he looked at her, “Are you alright?” He stretched out a hand.

  Heaven took a step back and shrunk from his touch, “Oh, no, please. Um. I don’t, um…” She lightly scratched her cheek, trying to force herself to focus, “The heart, they are now controlling the entire city and a few miles around it. You know this,” she pointed at Miracle, “and you told Maverick.” She smiled, hoping they would understand what she was trying to say.

  Miracle looked at Maverick, a crease in her brow. “I’m sorry, I—what do you mean about a heart and controlling a city?”

  Maverick was almost glowering at her, “Are you saying that they aren’t in hiding anymore? That the Unwashed are openly controlling the people of Ishtar? How do you know this?” He took a step forward, and Heaven immediately took another step back. “Are you being controlled?”

  Fighting back every urge to run, Heaven shook her head, “I control myself. If they ever got me, everything they did would be destroyed. But I’m not involved because I have my own fights and messes to clean.”

  “What?” the couple asked at the same time.

  Heaven waved a hand, pulling herself out of the current time stream and back into her safe haven. Channeling Maverick’s wavelength, she jotted down a quick prophecy, then allowed herself to be harshly pulled back into the time flow. Stumbling backward, she played it off as fumbling for the scrap of paper in her hand and losing her balance. “Here. It’s a prophecy. She said it. You wrote it.” She stretched out a hand and made sure her fingers were at the very edges. As soon as Maverick’s fingers touched it, Heaven yanked her hand back.

  His rich voice uttered the words she had scribbled down seconds before.

  Changing tides bring the weak to the top

  Toppling vision and seizing control of their home

  Baiting the weak is required, and brings death

  Unbeknownst to the weak, the pair move on alone

  Until death returns two-fold

  Accompanied with a life of their own.

  His eyes read over it. “What do you mean? I never heard this, and I certainly didn’t write it.”

  Heaven began to nod furiously. Quickly looking in the direction where Caspian would emerge, she said, “You did. Look, your handwriting. You jotted it down, so you can use it to help.”

  Miracle looked over it. “How did you—”

  “It’s not mine. It’s very, very old, but this is where it fits.”

  “How old?” Miracle looked at it. “It clearly fits into what Maverick has been telling me, but the Unwashed have not been around for that long. If you didn’t live in recent times, this would be absolutely nonsense. Humans are clearly the weak, but no one would have thought they would have gained control. People would have thought it was fake. And the rest of this is still just gibberish.”

  Heaven bit her lip, “It all makes sense, even if I hate what it means.” She shook her head, refusing to let it sidetrack her. “This meant I had to come, but I am not here.” She pointed at the paper, “It’s older than Caspian. But I always knew all prophecies were important. I was raised on them being too important to discard, no matter how impossible they sound. We tracked them because it was the only solution. No prophecy is nonsense, they just don’t make sense until later.” She grabbed her dress, her hands kneading the fabric. She was nearly out of time. “What matters now is that Miracle said it and that Maverick wrote it. Even if you didn’t, that’s what he needs right now.”

  “What who needs?” Maverick was looking at her with pity. Heaven’s stomach lurched as she recognized the emotion.

 
Gritting her teeth, she said, “Caspian. It is what he needs right now to get through this. You know he makes a wrong decision, but he may have already made it. I don’t know, it’s not me. But he’s lost right now. And if you are going to survive, you need to be the one who said this.” She jabbed her finger at Miracle. “And you need to have written that.” She jabbed her finger at Maverick. “I wasn’t here.”

  “I don’t understand what is happening.” Maverick looked at her.

  “Watch his eyes. You know the signs. This is how you can repay him for everything he has done. This is how you start to repay him. Return him to his senses because if I get any more deeply involved… There’s no time. No more time.” Heaven started to shake her head and stepped away. Maverick reached out for her again, so she spun on her heel and ran around the cabin. Maverick looked at Miracle, then shifted. His long, sleek body raced after their visitor, but as soon as he rounded the side of the cabin, her scent disappeared. Maverick stalked around the area, certain that she had managed to use her power to hide her scent, but no matter how far he went, there was no trace of her.

  He returned to Miracle. “She disappeared.”

  The seer looked at him, “No one can just disappear.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Miracle and Maverick looked at each other for a fraction of a second, communicating what they were thinking before turning to look at Caspian.

  Chapter 3

  A Rough Start

  The smile on the assassin’s face looked normal, but there was something in his emerald-green eyes that made Maverick gasp. Trying to play it off as surprise, he leaned over, his hand squeezing Miracle’s shoulder as a sign. His other hand thumped his chest as he pretended to be choking. Standing up, he smiled back at his mentor, “Sorry. You startled me. We really weren’t expecting you this early. Anyway, a beautiful blue bird. Miracle was hoping to have it for a present, a pet, but the bird just disappeared.”

  Caspian narrowed his eyes, “A bird? Really?” The intense look in his eyes said that he didn’t believe anything Maverick had just said. Then a smile settled firmly on his face. “Perhaps it flew away.”

  “That’s the thing. She ran around the cabin, then—poof—gone. If she had flown away, Miracle would have seen it. But nothing. So, where is she hiding?”

  Caspian placed a hand over his mouth, the hint of a smile playing on his lips. Whatever had happened, they weren’t going to tell him, but he didn’t see how it mattered given what they were about to face. “Well, perhaps you can find your little bird later. Keep in mind that a bird isn’t always a bird.” He winked, then strode past them toward the cabin. “I have some interesting intel, so we should probably talk about this before we move out.”

  “About that, we have some rather unsettling intel as well.” Miracle began to follow Caspian.

  Maverick stepped between them, “Or, rather, a prophecy. Here. This is what I was able to write. If you would please not repeat it in her presence.”

  Caspian looked down at the piece of paper Maverick proffered. “You hardly need to warn me about prophecies.” He took the paper and looked at it. His mouth pursed as he read, then his eyes looked up at them from under his long lashes. “You said this?”

  Miracle looked at Maverick and nodded, knowing that saying anything would make it easy for Caspian to tell that she was lying. He was now very much in assessment mode, and there was something behind it that scared her. The assassin was usually terrifying, but this was something different. The last time she had been in his presence, Caspian did not scare her. But a lot had changed since then—Miracle now had a reason to live, to want to come out the other side of what they were about to face. With the way things were going, Caspian was acting wild, unpredictable, and she no longer felt certain that the threat of a prophecy would stop him.

  Caspian looked at Maverick, “And you wrote this?”

  Maverick remained cool as he pointed to the paper, “Do you doubt my handwriting after all of these years?”

  Caspian looked between them, then back at the paper. Folding it up, he handed it back to Maverick, who stuck it in a pocket. “Good. Then we all seem to be caught up and have an idea of what we are about to face.”

  “Wait, you already know this to be true?” Maverick put a hand on Caspian’s shoulder to stop him.

  Caspian brushed the hand off before turning. “I will remind you about the last time you touched me. Keep that in mind and do not touch me again.” There was a low growl in his voice, causing even Maverick to take a step away from him. The familiar smile soon spread across his face. “You know that it takes me a while to forgive, so let me get there before you press me any further.”

  “Are you alright, Caspian?” Maverick could not help but ask, and immediately regretted the question.

  Caspian went into a little dance, his voice turning from a threat to something innocent and lively. “The world’s a stage and we all have our roles to direct our fears. It’s naught but another day for which we will eternally pay. Laugh it up for now because tomorrow comes soon. And in its presence, all shall descend into ash or tears.” When he stopped, he was leaning forward in a posture that was frequently made by jesters the world over.

  Maverick rolled his eyes, “Forget I asked.”

  Miracle watched the two of them, her heart rate a bit elevated. She could not fathom what was happening, but was not about to ask what they meant.

  Caspian’s eyes went to her. Pulling a rose out of the air, he stretched out an arm to her, “A rose for a unique flower.”

  She stretched out her hand to take it. Just as she was about to grasp it, Maverick snatched it from Caspian’s hand. He let out a roar and dropped the rose.

  “Oh, apologies. I didn’t warn you of the thorns.” Caspian smiled at Maverick, as the pupil sucked on his fingers. A drop of blood fell to the ground. “Now, remember your place, and I shall remember mine.”

  Miracle cleared her throat. “I believe that we have more important issues. Antagonizing each other hardly seems like the best way to start.”

  The assassin stepped toward her, his hands held out as if to say he meant no harm. It was far more menacing than it looked, and she took a step back without realizing it. “Quite right, speaks the woman who would destroy worlds.”

  “I don’t destroy worlds,” Miracle frowned and folded her arms across her chest.

  Caspian moved in close to her again, the smile never relaxing. He moved like a predator, not an ally. “And I say you have already. After all, every life you take is someone’s world gone, and for others destroyed. Did I not destroy your world when I killed your kin? Indeed I did, even if you didn’t know them well. How much harsher to live with all the lives lost because of what you did for Ishtar? All for a little praise and a palace where you could be pampered.”

  Maverick pulled Miracle away from Caspian. “That is quite enough, Caspian. What has gotten into you?”

  The assassin blinked for a few moments, then shook his head. “My apologies. It was a very rough day.” He rubbed his temples. “We have enough danger ahead of us without whatever is going on here getting in the way. I won’t say any more about it if you will forget it happened. And don’t—” The assassin stopped for a moment and looked toward the cabin, something catching his attention.

  Maverick looked at Miracle as Caspian seemed momentarily distracted. “Of course. About what we need to do, how are we supposed to get around it?”

  Caspian slowly turned to look at them, “You didn’t take the time to fully understand the prophecy, did you? I can understand that.” Caspian snatched the paper out of Maverick’s pocket. “Here. You know that the city is under control, but we have a seer. And not just any seer.”

  “Are you saying she’s bait?”

  “No, she is the announcer. I am the bait.” He flashed a smile at them. “There is no one else that it could be. Even the prophecy says so. And while I am being noble, you two rush in and do whatever it is you do to break up th
e heart.”

  Maverick’s eyes flicked to Miracle, “Are you planning on sacrificing yourself, and you expect me to just let you?”

  “I’m the bait, not the body. Do you really think that a few humans can kill me?” Caspian gave Maverick a look.

  “But it talks about death. And if I’m reading it properly, we walk alone until we die, too. This doesn’t seem like a mission from which we will return.”

  “Are you afraid, my little apprentice? If so, I can leave you behind to fret about your life until it passes you by. I, for one, cannot just sit idly by and watch the slaughter of innocence.”

  Maverick glared at him, “That isn’t what I’m saying at all. I would like to try to think of a plan that would not get us all killed.”

  “Oh!” Miracle’s eyes widened, “No, it isn’t saying we die. It says that we will be joined. By more people.”

  “What?” Maverick turned to look at her, “That’s not what it says.”

  “Yes, yes, it is.” She began pointing at Caspian excitedly, “There’s death. An assassin. Remember, I told you that—wait, that’s not right. There were only five of us, not six, and the other was a guardian. I’m quite certain because of his—” Before she could finish, her body began to convulse.

  “Excuse me,” Maverick grabbed her and began to kiss her, forcing the words to recede.

  After a couple of minutes, Caspian began to cough. “If this goes on, I just might start to blush.”

  Miracle was smiling as Maverick pulled away from her. Suddenly, Caspian’s face appeared just a few inches from theirs. “Am I allowed to do that, too, when—”