The black cat was the first to arrive, and while the wolf was on his left, the cat arrived from his right. Like the wolf, the cat seemed to make eye contact with him, then looked at his broken leg. Again, the almost disappointed chuff.
Both the wolf and the cat lifted their heads to look in the same direction, and it was a minute or more before Paul heard what sounded like a stampede heading his way. The piercing shriek of a raptor split the night overhead, and Paul was just in time to see an enormous shape cross the star field on silent wings and begin a lazy circle around his location.
Movement drew his attention away from the huge raptor circling overhead, and Paul screamed at the sight of a massive cat with huge, curved incisors that stopped at the wolf’s side. Neither seemed to pay him any attention as the wolf proceeded to nuzzle the huge cat’s shoulder as its tail set off in happy wagging. A chuff preceded the black cat’s arrival on the sabertooth’s right, and it joined in the nuzzling as well.
After a few moments, the sabertooth cat took a step forward, and both the wolf and the cat stopped nuzzling to stand at its side. Then, over the course of maybe three seconds, the sabertooth cat became the same young man who told Paul to run. He was just as nude as Paul, and he moved into a single-knee crouch just a few feet from where Paul lay.
“Well, this is rather unfortunate,” the young man remarked. “You’ve given us a rather nice hunt up till now. But… I suppose ‘hunt’ is rather misleading as we knew where you were the whole time.”
“You did?” Paul asked, frowning his confusion.
The young man pointed up just as the massive raptor whooshed by overhead. “Yep. We have air support.”
“I suppose this is where you kill me, then,” Paul said, his tone resigned.
The young man shrugged. “Sure, if that’s really what you want.”
“Huh? What kind of idiot wants to die?”
The young man chuckled. More movement drew Paul’s attention, and he bit back another startle response as animals closed in around them. Wolves—normal size, these—bears, foxes, deer, elk, a couple lions, a couple tigers… all these and more soon surrounded Paul and the young man.
“My name is Wyatt,” the young man said, “and I am the Alpha of Precious and Godwin County. In preparing our case for the warrant, we did a deep dive into your background. Who you are, what you’ve done, all that stuff. What we found was a man who enjoyed hunting and life in general and went out of his way to keep from being a bad guy. You don’t seem like one of those so-called sportsmen who only chase trophies, and you’ve turned in twice your legal limit every year to the state’s Hunters for the Hungry program.
“So, here’s the situation. You didn’t shy away from the challenge. You didn’t try to cheat. You didn’t just give up. In our eyes, you’ve earned the choice. If you choose, you’re free to leave Godwin County, alive and well but still under the sentence I declared earlier; the posters are already printed. The other option is to join us, the Shifter Nation of North America; pick your breed, and if you prefer something not represented in town or the county, we’ll fly one in.”
Paul scanned the crowd once more. “You mean all these animals here are people?”
“Yes,” Wyatt answered. “The dire wolf is Karleen Vesper; the melanistic jaguar is Gabrielle Hassan. Sheriff Clyde Wilson is one of the wolves, honestly not sure which one right now.” One of the wolves lifted its right foreleg and waved ‘hi.’ “Okay… guess he’s that one.”
By this time, Paul almost tuned out Wyatt’s voice. He gazed at something that had fascinated him since he was a small boy. He knew they were vicious predators, but that didn’t matter. He’d always had a soft spot for grizzly bears.
“Can I choose a grizzly?” he asked, his voice strained from the pain coursing up his leg.
The lone grizzly in sight chuffed and nodded once.
“Wait,” Paul held up his hand. “What about Lewis?”
Wyatt grinned. “We’re letting him sweat the night in the town jail. We told him the whole town and half the county turned out to hunt you. I figure around noon tomorrow we can sit down and have the same chat with him that we’re having right now. He doesn’t seem to be a bad sort, just made a couple poor decisions.”
“So… how does this work?”
“Well, I don’t recommend what I went through to become a shifter,” Wyatt remarked, and half the animals chuffed and displayed other signs of amusement. “I’ll leave it up to Hank.”
The grizzly in question lumbered over to stand across Paul from Wyatt. He took a couple sniffs that made Paul lose a bit of color, then lowered his massive head and bit Paul’s thigh above where his leg was broken. Paul screamed and passed out.
12
The next day, we brought Paul Burkett to the town jail and released Lewis Mitchell, prior to giving him the same choice as Paul. Lewis almost passed out from sheer relief that we did not in fact maim, rend, shred, kill, or otherwise devour his longtime friend. Paul seemed like he wanted to find Lewis’s reaction funny, and he probably would have… but the experience of being hunted was too fresh in his mind. After some discussion and a thought, Lewis asked about becoming an eagle shifter. One of Sheriff Clyde’s deputies was an eagle and agreed to see to the matter right there.
About a week after settling the matter of Lewis Mitchell and Paul Burkett, Lyssa—the feline councilor—returned to Precious. She traveled light, bearing only an attaché case and an overnight bag. She arrived in town via hired car, which promptly reversed course and left town mere seconds after she stepped onto the sidewalk.
Karleen left the diner just as she arrived and walked to meet her. Lyssa saw her approach and smiled a greeting.
“That didn’t look anything like the SUVs I’ve seen councilors travel in,” Karleen remarked as she stopped a respectful distance from Lyssa.
Lyssa shook her head and glanced back at the car as it went out of sight. “No. It certainly isn’t. I’ve given our discussion a great deal of thought, and I’d like to visit Precious for a while and explore the possibility of a relationship with Wyatt… assuming everyone involved is still agreeable to the idea.”
Karleen eyed Lyssa’s overnight bag and arched an eyebrow. “Surely, that doesn’t carry all you need for a stay measuring into a while.”
“Oh goodness, no. I shipped my luggage before leaving Chicago, because even first-class customers lose luggage all the time.”
Wait… what? Karleen blinked her confusion. “You mean you didn’t fly in on one of the Council’s jets?”
Lyssa shook her head. “No. I’m on three weeks’ leave from my Council duties. It’s the first time off I’ve taken in decades, and honestly, I think everyone was happy to see me take it. I can be a little fierce when it comes to work, and this will give them a break as much as me. If things don’t work out here, I’ll use the remaining time to visit my family in Oklahoma. I have a few things to deliver to Alpha Wyatt, and then, I’m officially on my own time.”
“I think Wyatt’s in the town’s administration building, but I’m not sure,” Karleen remarked.
“That’s something I’ve wondered since I first came to Precious,” Lyssa said. “Why don’t you call it ‘City Hall’ or something like that?”
Karleen shrugged. “No idea. I’ve only been here since the kidnapping case. You’ll have to ask one of the old timers.”
“The Council is still working with the Magi Assembly for the next phase of that investigation,” Lyssa remarked as they fell into step beside each other. “I’m not sure where that will take us.”
The ladies fell into a companionable silence as they walked down the sidewalk. Just as they approached the town’s administration building, its doors opened, and Wyatt stepped outside. He looked their way and smiled, then headed their way.
“Hello, ladies,” Wyatt said in greeting as he gave Karleen a kiss. Then, focused on Lyssa. “You’re back sooner than I expected.”
Lyssa smiled her own greeting to him as she said
, “Well, the Council arrived at a decision on the matter of our treaty with the United States, and I felt it was a good pause point to take some time and explore the relationship we discussed, if you and your partners are still agreeable to the idea.”
Wyatt grinned. “As long as you’re okay with there being no hierarchy between you three, I’m fine with it. My cat is rather firmly in favor of you.”
“It was a couple days after we left before my lioness stopped sulking. She was very put out with me about leaving you. But before we get too far into that, I’d like to discharge the Council business so I can be one-hundred-percent on my own time.”
Wyatt nodded. “That’s perfectly agreeable. Should we invade Alistair’s office and ask Sloane to join us?”
“That might be best,” Lyssa replied.
Karleen cleared her throat. “If we’re going to ask Sloane to join us, Alistair’s office will be rather packed. Why don’t we invade the conference room instead?”
“Excellent idea,” Wyatt agreed. “Do you mind inviting Sloane while I get Alistair and text Gabrielle?”
Pivoting toward the hotel across the street, Karleen set off. Wyatt turned back toward the door he just exited and offered his arm to Lyssa, saying, “Shall we?”
I collected Alistair, and all three of us went to the conference room. We had just assumed our seats when Gabrielle, Karleen, and Sloane arrived. I sat at the head of the table, as the Alpha of Precious should, and Karleen and Gabrielle did a quick rock-paper-scissors to see who would sit at my immediate right. Lyssa watched with obvious amusement as they tied twice in a row before Gabrielle won with scissors versus Karleen’s paper. Sloane sat three seats further down the table from Karleen.
Alistair assumed the seat at my immediate left as Lyssa sat to his left, and I rapped my knuckles on the table. Not sure why I did that, but it seemed appropriate if Lyssa was acting as a councilor at the moment.
“You bring word from the Council?” I asked.
Lyssa nodded and opened her attaché case. “It took some effort, but we eventually unearthed our copy of the treaty between the Shifter Nation of North America and the United States. It specified that our point of contact with the United States government was none other than the Secretary of State. The treaty contained no provisions as to the manner of our contact, should we wish to contact the government, but the Council debated the matter and ultimately voted to create a new position for the Shifter Nation. The new position is titled ‘Consul,’ and has the authority to act in the name of the Council for the greater good of all shifters in North America.”
I had a bad feeling about where this was going, and I just had to ask, “Did the Council mean ‘consul’ in the diplomatic sense or the Ancient Roman sense?”
“A blend of the two, actually,” Lyssa answered, her expression shifting to an almost predatory smile, “and the Council charged me with delivering the Consul’s writ of authority.”
Without missing a beat, she withdrew a scroll sealed with wax and a purple ribbon. She stood and walked the short distance to approach me, then extended the scroll to me.
“Wyatt Xavier Magnusson, by the authority vested in me by the Council of the Shifter Nation of North America, I hereby name you Consul of the Shifter Nation.”
I felt my shoulders slump. “I didn’t want to be Alpha of Precious and Godwin County. I’m only two months into that, three months being a shifter at all… and now, you’re throwing this at me? Is the Council collectively high or something?”
Lyssa laid the scroll on the table in front of me and returned to her seat before addressing my concerns. “Wyatt, you have shown yourself to be mature, reasonable, and very level-headed. You have the strength to defend your decisions with tooth and claw if necessary, but we have no record of you ever seeking such conflict. You come to the shifter world with a fresh eye, having no prejudices or preconceptions. You also have strengthened our relationship to the Magi community. I submit to you that there is no one else who should carry this title and authority.”
“You people are enough to drive a man to drink,” I groused, heaving a sigh for flavor.
“Don’t bother,” Karleen countered. “It takes an entire pony keg for a shifter to feel a slight buzz.”
Well, at least I’d never been one to drink. I looked from Karleen to Alistair, then Gabrielle. “What do you three think about this?”
They all looked to one another, and Alistair filled the silence. “From a ‘multiple birds with one stone’ viewpoint, it’s a master-stroke. As Lyssa said, you’re conscientious, even-handed, level-headed, and mature. Your grandfather and I have tried for years to stabilize relations between shifters and Magi, and your becoming a shifter—not to mention a primogenitor—has only buoyed our efforts. Karleen’s assistance to Vicki has not gone unnoticed within the Assembly, and Connor and I have both felt a subtle shift from both sides. Yes, of course… it’s only been three months, and no great changes that aren’t major disasters can take place in such a short amount of time. But there have been small steps toward neutrality—for lack of a better term—from both sides. All because you have maintained your relationships with family while forging new ones with the shifters.”
I turned to Gabrielle and Karleen. Both nodded toward Alistair, and Gabrielle opined, “What he said.”
Talk about a fine kettle of fish. I did not need this extra complication in my life. Not at all. A small part of me still wanted to continue the ‘why me’ refrain, but it felt too much like whining at this point.
Yes. And I am not a kitten, the growly voice remarked. It is only our due. The time is coming when we—the elder cousins—will step forward and assume our rightful place as leaders of the shifter world. We are too few at this time, but the day will come when I will stand with many elder cousins to form our own council. This ‘Consul’ business lays a perfect first stone of the foundation for it.
Well, damn… that wasn’t ominous at all. I was quick to respond, I will not be some tyrant or dictator. If that’s what you’re expecting, we need to have this out right now.
My cat sent me an impression of exasperation. There is no ‘we’ or ‘us’ or ‘you.’ There is only me. There will ever only be me. The insistence of seeing two entities in one body is an utter fallacy. The sooner I fully internalize that, the sooner I can achieve true synthesis as the elder cousins before me achieved.
Okay. There was a lot to unpack there, and I wasn’t really sure a meeting in the conference room was the proper time or place. I filed that statement away for later.
“What?” Gabrielle asked. “You were somewhere else for a few moments.”
I wasn’t sure there was any way to convey the experience in a timely manner, so I hedged. “I was just considering the matter, turning it around in my head. As far as this ‘Consul’ thing goes, I want to be very clear that I don’t like it and never wanted it. If the Council is set on their course of establishing the position and won’t consider someone like Alistair for the job—”
“Don’t throw me under that bus,” the man in question interjected. “I would much rather be an advisor or mentor. I am in no way qualified for such a position.”
I wanted to scream at him, not the first time I felt complete and total frustration toward him. If he—a wolf of unknown years and exponentially more experience with the shifter world than me—wasn’t qualified to be Consul, who in their right mind would choose me? But I didn’t. I didn’t say any of the angry, near-petulant thoughts that raced through my mind. Once again, the Council shanghaied me into something I didn’t seek and didn’t want, and they damn well better be prepared when I acted according to my conscience and not the ancient, moth-eaten, so-called wisdom of the ages.
“Like I was saying…” I continued. “If the Council is dead set on having me as the first Consul of the Shifter Nation, so be it. I’ll do it to the best of my ability until my term ends.”
Lyssa winced and looked away. That wasn’t good.
“What?” I a
sked.
“It isn’t a term appointment,” Lyssa replied, her voice quiet… almost timid.
It took me a couple seconds to connect the dots, and I hoped beyond hope I was wrong. “It’s a life appointment?”
Lyssa jerked a nod, still refusing to make eye contact with me.
“But shifters are functionally immortal! Did the councilors read a different ancient history book than I did? Because ‘Consul for life’ didn’t work out so well for Julius Caesar.”
Lyssa flinched, and I instantly felt about two inches tall. I wanted nothing more than to rage and growl and scream, but none of this was Lyssa’s fault. Well… it wasn’t solely her fault. She was just one vote in however many councilors there were. See? What more proof did they need that I had no business being Consul. I didn’t even know how many councilors were on the damn Council.
I put my head in my hands and took several deep breaths. They didn’t noticeably calm me, but they did give me the time to drag my emotions away from the surface. “Lyssa, I’m sorry. No matter what else happens between us, I don’t want you feeling afraid of me. This is… it’s so much worse than Alpha of Precious and Godwin County that I’m not sure I have the words to quantify just how much worse it is. But we have more important matters to handle. Sloane has been hunted and believed to be a criminal for too long, and I refuse to allow that situation to continue any longer than it has to. So, I will put a pin in my thoughts over this whole ‘Consul’ nonsense for now and revisit it once Sloane’s situation is sorted.”
Withdrawing my phone from a thigh pocket of my cargo pants, I unlocked it and thumbed through my contacts until I found the name I sought. I tapped the ‘call’ control and then switched the call to speaker.
We enjoyed the sound of the phone ringing for a couple seconds until the call connected. “Agent Hauser speaking.”
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