Furever Loyal

by Riley Storm

  Normally, Kaelyn, as the mate to the ruler—whether it be the Queen to the ruling King, or King to the ruling Queen, it mattered not—would normally never be allowed to take the throne. With nobody else to assume the position, however, she had stepped up and taken the reigns. So far, no one had seriously assailed her seat, but until she had secured more allies, Kincaid could not count on her help.

  He was on his own.

  “Kincaid?” Haley called softly from the bedroom.

  Well, maybe not completely on his own.

  “Hey,” he said, leaning against the door frame and gazing in at her. “I got us some fresh breakfast. I figured you might like that better than more tuna or granola.”

  “Coffee?” she asked fuzzily.

  “Ready to go. Probably cooled to the perfect temperature by now.”

  Sitting up, she yawned and stretched, arms raised high above her head. The covers fell away, exposing her breasts to him.

  “I see you checking me out,” she teased, not covering up.

  Kincaid shrugged. “Wasn’t really trying to hide it. You’re gorgeous, and I enjoy seeing you like this.”

  Haley blushed, but not as strongly as she might have, not after the night they’d shared. A lot had been revealed about them, and he’d seen every inch of her, explored every bit that he could touch.

  “How about that coffee?” she joked, making a shooing motion as she slipped from the bed, giving him one last eyeful of her deliciously soft skin before he left the room.

  Chuckling to himself, he prepared her coffee as per the instructions called to him through the door while she dressed and got ready.

  “What possessed you to get up so early?” she asked, covering another yawn. “And did you really brave the outdoors in that getup? You let people see you?”

  “Just the drive-through lady,” he said, earning him a quiet snort. “As for why I’m up? I couldn’t sleep, Haley. Too many things running through my head.”

  She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder, both as comfort to him, and also out of tiredness, he was sure.

  “Did you manage to get anywhere?”

  “No,” he said unhappily. “I spent too much time being angry that my own family is convinced I’m a traitor.”

  “It’s not a personal thing,” she said, turning her head so she could kiss his shoulder through the sweatshirt. “They’re just looking at the evidence in front of them, that’s all. After all, you told me someone is a traitor, and they all know it. If you saw this evidence for someone else, you’d be acting on it as well.”

  Kincaid didn’t like it, but she was right. Although he prided himself on seeing everything, with the way he’d been acting, if Kincaid were someone else, he’d assume he was guilty as well. More evidence was needed to disprove the allegations against him. That was the only way he could sort this out.

  Haley sighed and snuggled up closer to him. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Nodding, he couldn’t help but realize that the frame job wasn’t the only thing he needed to figure out. Whatever this was, between him and Haley, he needed to come to a conclusion soon. It was obvious neither of them had expected it to go down this path, but things had boiled over into physical interests the night before, and though he couldn’t be sure, he didn’t take it as a one-time-only sort of event.

  Just another layer of confusion for him to sort through. Emotions were not his strong suit, especially his own.

  Do I have emotions about this? Feelings? Or is this just a proximity-based attraction, given that she’s both smart and beautiful?

  The thing was…he didn’t know. Nor did he have the slightest clue about how to proceed with her from there, other than to keep acting as he had up until then.

  “What are you going to do next?” Haley asked, taking another sip of coffee and standing upright again.

  Thanking her silently, he brought his mind back to the big issue. Solve that, then he could spend time figuring out just what the hell was going on between him and Haley, without worrying about Kvoss breaking in at any moment and going for this throat.

  Haley frowned at him when he didn’t immediately answer. “You do have a plan, don’t you? We escaped from jail, fled across the city to live in the projects. You had better have an idea of what we’re going to do next, Kincaid!”

  “We need more clues.”

  “Right. Okay, I’m no super-sleuth, but I’ll drink to that.” She had some coffee. “How do we get them?”

  “The restaurant,” he said, trying to sound more decisive than he felt. “It’s the only thing that seems to have a connection, without having shown it yet.”

  Haley sighed. “Let me guess. You want to go break into the restaurant and snoop around, don’t you?”

  Kincaid knew how she felt about that. About breaking the rules, of circumventing the law, and causing damage and mayhem in general. She found it abhorrent, and likely wouldn’t want to support him in it—which made it a good reason that he didn’t have that in mind. Not this time. It was time to try something a little less…obvious.

  “Not quite,” he told her with a grin. “Here’s what I’m thinking…”

  29

  “Why couldn’t you have just broken in?” she complained, trying for the tenth time to shift into a more comfortable position.

  Kincaid, seemingly completely at ease in the cramped conditions of the SUV, just grinned. “I’m playing by your rules. I thought you’d be happy.”

  She glared at him. The big vehicle was more than spacious enough for riding around in, but after six hours of sitting in it without getting out to stretch, she was going stir crazy. How the hell did he manage to continue looking so calm and collected?

  “Wait, so you’re not happy about this?”

  Sighing, she squirmed around some more. “I’m not answering that question.”

  Kincaid chuckled.

  “It’s not funny.”

  He waggled a raised hand. “Weeellll, it kind of is,” he said, a big smile on his face. “I try to do something to make you happy, to impress you, and now I’m in trouble for it. Come on, you have to admit there’s just a little bit of irony there.”

  “Only because you’re not dying of discomfort.”

  “Not true,” he countered. “I simply am ignoring it. Shoving it to the side. I have larger priorities right now than a few hours of discomfort, and if they reveal to us what we need, well, then it’s worth it, isn’t it?”

  Haley thought about that. “Yes. But I still want to get out and stretch.”

  “You could try the trunk?” he suggested, pointing between the front seats, over the back row and into the spacious rear.

  “Rude.”

  Kincaid threw up his hands in defeat. “Just trying to help. But we can’t get out of the car. We need to keep an eye on the restaurant, just in case we see someone we know. This is how we’re going to get our break. I can feel it. Whoever it is, they know we’ve escaped by now, I’m sure of it. So, they’ve got to be wondering what we’ll do next. Our goal is to outwait them.”

  “That could take days,” she moaned, covering her eyes. “How am I supposed to handle that?”

  “In silence?” he quipped.

  Haley glared at him even harder. “Ha ha. Very funny. Guess who’s sleeping on the couch tonight?”

  Kincaid stuck out his tongue. “While we wait, why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself?”

  She froze. What? Why did he want to know more about her? “Umm. Like what?” she squeaked out, stalling for time.

  “I don’t know. Hobbies. Pets. What are your parents like? Are you from here originally? Gone on any vacations lately that were awesome?”

  “Oh. Like that. Umm. I don’t have any pets,” she admitted. “Though I always wanted a dog. Not like, not one of those little yappy rat-dogs though.”

  “So what, like a Rottweiler or something?”

  She laughed. “No, I’m not big enough to control one of those. I was thinking something med
ium-sized. Like a spaniel of some sorts. We had a Brittany spaniel growing up. Beautiful reddish-brown and white coloring. Such a wonderful puppy.” She smiled at the memory. “She passed away in my final year of university while I was at school. I haven’t had the courage to get a pet since, it hurt too much.”

  Kincaid reached out and squeezed her hand. “I understand. She sounds like a wonderful dog.”

  “She was. Why, one time when I was younger, my parents left me at home under the care of my grandparents, while they went away for a weekend with some friends to a cabin. And they told my grandparents they’d left a ham in the sink, defrosting.” She started to giggle. “Imagine the confusion when they went to prepare dinner, and there was no ham. They started blaming me of course, though I wasn’t exactly the type known to do that, but I was only ten or eleven, so you never know, I guess?”

  Kincaid was grinning. His face was fixated on the restaurant, but his eyes, those beautiful blue-gray eyes, kept glancing over at her repeatedly.

  “They found it the next day, half-eaten and wedged down the side of the couch!” she explained, laughing loudly. “Somehow, this dog had gotten up onto the counter, stolen the ham, eaten half of it, and then buried it away.”

  He joined in her laughter as the image of the wily ham-stealing dog blossomed fully.

  “I haven’t thought about that story in years,” she said as she calmed down. “I miss that dog.”

  “Why don’t you have another one then?” Kincaid asked, turning to look at her for a moment.

  Haley thought about it. “I guess I just never felt the time was right. A dog is a big commitment. Not as much as a child, perhaps, but a big one anyway, and I suppose I never felt ready for it.”

  “I understand.”

  “What about you? I would imagine pets are probably not so welcome in an environment around massive bears?”

  “Basically. Though you’d be surprised at the number of stray cats that seem perfectly at ease living on the property. So we’re not unused to them. But no, I’ve never had a dog before.” He started rubbing his chin. “Though if we all started adopting them, and naming them after Canis shifters, that would be a hoot.”

  Haley giggled at the image. “Yes, yes it would.”

  “What do you do for fun then? What are your hobbies?”

  She mulled it over and came to a depressing conclusion. “I don’t really have any,” she admitted. “I like to read. I enjoy wine. Now that I say it out loud though, that sounds like the makings of an alcoholic.”

  Kincaid renewed the smile on his face. “I doubt that.”

  “I wasn’t serious,” she admitted. “Still, maybe I should take up something in my spare time.”

  “That would be good. What would you do?”

  “Maybe paint,” she mused. “I’m not really a sporty person, but there are paint nights around town, and groups and such. I’m sure I could get involved in something that way.”

  “That sounds good. I could use some new wall décor.”

  “Ha.” She stuck out her tongue at him.

  “See, this is productive. Time well spent out here. We’re getting to know one another.”

  She lifted her eyebrows in disbelief. “Really? This coming from the guy with basically superpowers, who also tells me there are people running around who can use real honest-to-God magic. Do you realize how much I don’t know about you?”

  “I can’t use magic,” he countered.

  “That’s…I didn’t mean. Argh! You know what I meant,” she pouted.

  “I know. You only have to ask questions. If I can explain, then I will. But you’ve seemed remarkably calm about it all, to be honest with you. I…I’ve been unsure on how to approach it. To ask you how you’re taking it.”

  “I’m still having a hard time accepting it, and I’ve seen you change multiple times. Hell, I rode on your back while you ran through the forest like a wild man. Except you were a bear, larger than anything that should exist. It…I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s scary, to think about in depth. Like…just how much else don’t we know? Have you and your kind always been around?”

  “Not always,” he admitted. “The first records come just before the fall of Rome.”

  “The fall of Ro…that was like, fifteen hundred years ago,” she gasped. “Like, what was it, the 400’s or something?”

  “The fifth century, yes. I believe 410 A.D., to be specific.”

  “How do you know that’s when you originated?” She was growing curious now.

  “Well, for starters, our records show that we were the ones who sacked Rome. With the help of humans, of course.”

  “I’m sorry. What? Shifters sacked Rome? How did that bit of information just get lost?”

  He grinned. “We won. That’s how. With the vampires dead—oh yeah, the vampires ran Rome. The Senate was their ruling council. That’s why we went after them. Terrible creatures.”

  Haley gasped. “I’m sorry, did you just say vam—”

  “Wait a minute,” Kincaid said, leaning forward. “Here we go. Look, see that man there?”

  Trying to put her brain into some semblance of order after the bombshell he’d just casually dropped on her, Haley followed his finger as a large man got out of a black armored car.

  “Yes. I see him. Is he a vampire?”

  “What? No. They’re extinct. Don’t be silly. No, that man is Krawll!” Kincaid crowed quietly. “I knew he had to be linked to it.”

  “Oh. So what does that prove?”

  “Uh, nothing. Yet. But he’s linked to it, you bet your ass.”

  Together, they watched as Krawll looked around before entering the Family Restaurant. It was certainly a sign there was something going on, but it didn’t give them any actual information.

  “I think we need to go in there,” Haley said heavily. “We’re not going to get anything useful here.”

  “I know.” Kincaid rubbed at his chin. “I want to give him time though.”

  “Time for what?”

  “I don’t expect he’s going in for food. So I want him to go meet whoever it is he’s meeting. Then we’ll go in, find him and whoever, and unravel the next piece of this mystery.”

  They sat back.

  “So…vampires?” she asked.

  “Yes. Vampires controlled Rome. They were powerful, evil, sadistic creatures. We wiped them out, then got into a fight with the human mages. That lasted until about a hundred years ago, when we finally got the upper hand and wiped out their strongest mages in a huge battle in Alaska in the early 1900s.”

  “You sound like you were there,” she commented, interested in the way he spoke of it.

  “No, but my father was. He died in the eruption.”

  Haley blinked. “The what?”

  “The Novarupta volcanic explosion. Not a natural thing. The mages caused it in an attempt to wipe out our forces.”

  “You mean the Ursa?” She struggled over the uncertain term.

  Kincaid shrugged. “We often use Ursidae to mean plural, though either one works to be honest. And no, this was a joint effort. All the great houses and the minor ones came together. Ursa. Canis. Drakos. Raptere. Panthera. We all took them on, after centuries of warfare.”

  “Holy shit. Does Drakos mean what I think it does?” she asked, wondering what the two others were as well.

  “If you think it means dragon, then yes.”

  She was still watching the restaurant while her brain tried to wrestle with all these implications. Another black car approached. This one was a limousine, but also looked heavy and protected.

  “Who the hell is this?” she asked as another tall man got out. He was somewhat slender compared to Kincaid or Krawll, but still powerful-looking. Just not as bulky.

  “That,” Kincaid said, sounding victorious. “Is Laurent Canis himself! I knew those two had to be in league with one another. No way. I can’t believe our luck!”

  Haley was watching another person emerge from the limo,
however, a person that brought back a lot of memories.

  “Now we can hopefully figure out what the hell is going on.”

  She swallowed. “I might be able to help with that,” she said a little hoarsely.

  “What? What do you mean?”

  Kincaid turned to look at her, but she just pointed at the woman standing at Laurent’s side.

  “See that woman?”

  “Yes. That’s his mate. Melanie Canis.”

  “Canis might be her last name now, Kincaid. But back in college, when I worked on the campaign trail with her, she went by another name.”

  “She did? What? What was the name?” he asked, leaning over eagerly.

  Haley turned to face him.

  “Melanie Girard.”

  30

  “Holy shit.”

  Kincaid sat back into his seat.

  “This is the proof we need, right?” Haley asked.

  “Please tell me the camera got it. We need those pictures.”

  “I’m sure it did,” she said, pointing to the camera he’d bought that morning. They’d mounted it to the dash of the SUV and pointed it at the entrance. “It’s set to record and we changed the memory card perhaps an hour ago. It should still have plenty left.”

  Kincaid nodded, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. “Amazing. Of course, we still need to get them to admit to it.”

  “What, exactly, are we getting them to admit?”

  “This is a revenge plot,” he said, slamming a fist into his palm. “It all comes together now. Samuel Girard must be related to Melanie. Based on their ages, I’d have to say either son or nephew. She obviously knew he was a mage and didn’t tell anyone, which is a crime in itself, but she told her mate, who used his own power to come after me, to try and have me both killed and discredited by my House.”

  “Can we go after them for that?”

  “Sort of,” he said unhappily. “Not the way I’d like to, at least.”

  “What do you mean? How would you like to?”

  “I’d like to kill the slimy sonofabitch, teach him a permanent lesson about coming after me,” he snarled. “Unfortunately, that’s not feasible.”