by Leela Ash
“I used to sleep upstairs, actually. Before my wife…”
Kane trailed off and Lia nodded understandingly.
“It’s a good compromise,” Lia said gently, touching Kane’s shoulder.
He closed his eyes, surprised by the comfort that radiated from her touch. Perhaps she had been born from a line of healers; the only somewhat mystical calling a human could have. A gift his wife had also been blessed with…
Kane flinched away and turned his back on Lia, who seemed to realize immediately that she had not honored her place.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I…”
“The law states you are to sleep in the same room as I. The room is small, but I’m sure you will also find it quite comfortable.”
“Kane…”
“I promise I will do nothing to take advantage of you,” Kane continued, as if he hadn’t heard her. “That means you will remain a virgin until the end of our arrangement. After I take power, or don’t, then you will be free to live your own life. An actual marriage is not a part of the agreement. All we have to do is have a ceremony, where your presence and your promise to wed me will lend power to the transference of power. However, if we are not convincing enough, the council may order us to be wed on the spot, which means the divorce papers will come into play. It’s not a huge issue, but they could prove tricky. So if you have ever wanted a role as an actor, now is your chance.”
Lia had grown quiet, and nodded as she listened closely to Kane’s words. She was taking the whole thing very seriously, much more seriously than even a shifter her age probably would have. It was strange, really, but he felt as if he could truly trust her. That was a feeling that was rare for a man like Kane to acquire. But he had known her for years now. He had read her papers, and in a way, looked right into her heart. She was a good person. For a human, anyway.
“I understand,” Lia finally said with a sigh. “I’m tired, Mr. Desmond.”
Kane’s heart melted as he studied Lia from across the room, her beautiful, pure face the very picture of patience.
“Of course,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’m sorry. I have a bathroom through this door. You can ready yourself for bed there. As you can see, there is only one place for us to sleep, so make yourself comfortable there. I promise not to bother you.”
Lia nodded, as if finally hearing what she had been waiting for, and disappeared into the bathroom. Soon, he heard the shower running, and hesitated before leaving the room. He hadn’t realized just how intimate it was going to be to have to share his bedroom with Lia for the next three weeks. It was actually a really difficult arrangement, and he immediately regretted making the commitment so soon. He could have done it just a few days prior to Franklin’s selection. But now that it was already done, there was little he could do. He would have to play it by the old laws for now, and hope that, in the end, it would be worth it.
***
“You look like hell!” Max said delightedly, his mocking eyes filling Kane with fury. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Everything is perfect, Fredrickson,” Kane glowered.
“I can imagine sleeping next to such a fine little specimen would be a bit difficult, wouldn’t it?”
“What do you want, Max?” Kane asked, slamming his fist on the table.
The truth was, he was tired. Tired as hell. He had spent all night sitting up rigidly in a chair across from the bed, watching as Lia slept peacefully between his sheets, her delicate head on one of his pillows, her scent filling his room and sending him on the brink of madness. He hadn’t wanted anybody so badly since Ava, and now he was pissed at himself for even allowing himself to get into this stupid situation. If it weren’t for the future of the shifter youth, he never would have considered it.
“I’m here because I have great news,” Max said, his eyes sparkling. Kane felt a knot in his stomach begin to form. If Max was legitimately excited about something, it was probably not going to be a good thing.
“What news?” Kane asked. “Spit it out, man. I’m hungover.”
“And cranky!” Max pointed out cheerfully. “No worries, friend. I’ll chew it up before I spit it out a bit so it will be easier for you to digest.”
“We’re not birds, Max. Stop kidding around, I have work to do.”
“As of yesterday, the council has decided that it’s official.”
“What’s official?”
“That we are going to need to take this little matter to a vote. Keep the old laws in place, or veer toward a new outlook. Something we’re calling the Malishk Law Reform.”
“Malishk…” Kane said, more to himself than to Max. “I feel like I’ve heard that word before.”
“Who knows,” Max said with a dismissive shrug. “What’s really important is that the person Franklin chooses to take over for him is going to have the power to sway all of the students of SU in one direction or another in the upcoming vote. And things aren’t going to be looking too good for you, I already know that much. Taking a student as a wife, Desmond? Pretty pathetic.”
Kane stood abruptly from his desk, startling Max, who bumped his back against the wall as he attempted to find the door.
“Let’s make one thing clear, Max,” Kane growled. He had been hoping to keep things civil with Max until everything was over, but combined with his lack of sleep and already being on his last nerve over everything that was happening, the wolf in him decided to speak its piece. “Neither of us know what will be the determining factor in Franklin’s decision, and even if you win, I swear by the very wolf inside me, I will work tirelessly, day and night, to see to it that the students know the truth about this reform.”
Max backed out of the room, his face a little more tense, but his eyes dancing.
“You can yell from the rooftops until your face turns blue,” Max said. “But you and I both know that when it comes to reality, these kids are shifters first. They know what it is to respect power, and with me in charge, that means that you, Desmond, aren’t going to have any. My first act is going to be to fire your ass so fast that the kids here will start to see you as nothing but some crazy hack trying to compensate for losing his job. They’ll see just how pathetic you really are. You and your outdated ways of thinking.”
And with that, Max disappeared from the doorway, leaving Kane seething at his desk.
8.
Lia avoided Professor Fredrickson’s eye the next day, but it was quite difficult. He seemed fixated on her, as if she held the key to something he wanted, and badly. And of course, she did. She wasn’t stupid. He wanted Kane out of the running so he could manipulate the entire school into thinking like he did. It was downright low to take advantage of the pack mentality. Shifters trusted their alphas fiercely, almost blindly. It seemed that Max couldn’t get any more disgusting if he tried.
Courtney noticed how shaken up she was as they headed to her father’s classroom, and touched Lia’s shoulder lightly.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Lia said, shakily. “Max is just being kind of weird.”
“Weird how?” Courtney asked, gripping Lia’s shoulders and peering seriously into her eyes.
“Weird like…I don’t know, Court. Just weird!” Lia said, pulling herself out of her friend’s grip to continue walking. “Looking at me like…”
“Like a wolf?” Courtney suggested into Lia’s ear. “Lia, we can’t ignore this. He’s being suspicious. We can’t just let him get away with it. Can we?”
“Well, what am I supposed to do about it?” Lia asked, suddenly furious. She hadn’t thought her decision to be Kane’s fiancé all the way through. There were dangerous implications to it that suddenly seemed less than desirable. And what about the way her heart had raced when Kane finally let himself into the bedroom for the night. He hadn’t even climbed into his own bed with her. He’d made himself as comfortable as he could in a rigid armchair across from the bed and napped in it until it was time for him to head
to the university. He’d gone without even offering a ride to Courtney like he usually did, and they’d had to walk to the bus station together because Kane was still working on the engine of her car.
“Courtney, what’s wrong?” Kane asked.
Lia flinched and walked briskly to her seat as they entered Professor Desmond’s classroom, and she could feel Courtney’s eyes searching the crowd for her. The two spoke together quietly for a few brief moments, and Lia had the irrational fear that he was going to stop everything and pull her aside to talk about the horrible mistake she had made in agreeing to this insane arrangement.
Fortunately, though, soon Courtney was sitting down beside Lia and the class was beginning. Kane seemed oddly eager to avoid her gaze and continued on with the lesson as usual, though this time, he seemed to veer away from the course material and he spoke with passion about the shifter wars that happened a decade and a half ago.
“Many would surely wonder just what it is that keeps the wolves from planning another strike against the bear clan,” Kane said, a sharp edge in his voice as he paced in front of his students. “It seems quite foolish to let them off the hook. Can anybody take a guess as to why that is?”
At first, nobody raised their hand, and then one young man in the front ventured to speak.
“Is it because it’s a war that cannot be won?” the boy asked.
Kane’s dark eyes flashed down at the floor and Lia sucked in a breath. Even when he was angry, any kind of passion in Kane’s face made him look shockingly handsome.
“That may be so,” Kane said finally. “But the reason, I’m afraid, is a more practical one than that. The wolves may have the Serah Stone, but we do not necessarily have the advantage. Even as we speak, there are bear shifters and their supporters who are infiltrating Stonybrooke with their extreme ideologies, hoping to corrupt the youth and become one with the source of power again.”
The class was quiet as the information sank in.
“Isn’t that all the more reason to fight?” a young woman called out from the back of the room. Others began to murmur in agreement, and Kane smiled wryly.
“Yes, it is a good reason to fight. But, unfortunately, we are at a point when it is necessary for us to fight smart. The bear shifters live in the wild, with few modern luxuries such as those that the wolf shifters have adopted. They are larger than we are. Often stronger. And much more bloodthirsty. And we have something they desperately want, and look down on us for turning our backs on the code that once decreed that we coexist among nature together.”
“Well, then they shouldn’t have turned against us!” someone yelled, and even more vociferous calls of agreement rang out around the room.
“At this point, they would say the same for us,” Kane said. “They want what they feel they lost when the wolves finally were able to win back the Serah Stone. And they will do it by any means necessary. I want all of you to be on your guard from now on. And don’t trust anybody. If something feels off about a situation, trust your instincts. They were given to you for a reason, even if modern human technology tends to separate you from them. Stay alert. Stay cautious. Trust no one.”
Lia looked down at her hands guiltily. It was almost as if Kane could have been speaking about her. She hadn’t been honest about her family’s origins. About how they were bear sympathizers and supported the war effort that ultimately killed Kane’s wife. If he knew the truth, he most definitely wouldn’t want anything to do with her. Even if it did mean he could qualify to take over the school.
At the end of the class, Lia’s heart was heavy. The war amongst the shifters had happened around the time she was born. She’d had nothing to do with it, not personally, and yet, her parents and their conservative ideologies had been partly responsible for the casualty rates of the wolf shifters. Some humans had even funded the war on both ends, hoping for the greatest number of casualties possible so that their own agenda – to rid the world of shifters entirely – would be achieved much faster. It was a tragic story of intolerance and miscommunications that always left Lia feeling the urge to contribute to the situation positively and to make sure that nobody would ever allow such a massacre to happen again. That’s why she had chosen to attend SU in the first place. That, and maybe to try to make up for her parents’ sins. As if that were possible.
For the rest of the day, Lia walked through the school in a zombie-like daze, her mind clouded by the weight of her situation and the shifter’s plight. Even though it was the most difficult thing she had ever done, pretending to be Kane’s fiancé was her best chance at helping the wolf shifters to maintain the balance they had fought so hard to achieve in the world. Not just among the bear shifters but among the humans as well. And she was just going to have to suck it up and pretend she was happy because, in a way, she was. She would do anything to help the wolf shifters…and the profoundly handsome man she had no choice but to share her life with for the next few weeks. And that was the end of that.
9.
Kane sighed to himself as he looked through the album of his wedding. Ava had never looked more beautiful than she had in her ceremonial gown as the council oversaw their union. It had been exactly two years and nine months before the second most important girl in his life had been born, and then three more years until he had lost Ava. It just didn’t seem like enough time.
Kane sat the album gingerly back in the drawer of the nightstand beside the bed he had shared with Ava for the only happy years his life had ever known. This room was a testament to the love they had shared. Little love notes scrawled in Ava’s impatient hand were on the dresser, and her clothes still crumpled in the drawers after she had packed her things hastily to contribute to the war effort. How he wished there hadn’t been any war at all. To only see his wife six times in the last three years of her life was the cruelest of fates.
And now he was betraying her memory with his engagement to this human girl, this mere child, when it was a human that had put him in this horrible position in the first place. It seemed there was no end to the cruel turns that fate would take Kane’s life through. He would just have to settle with the fact that he was doomed to a life of singular misery. All but for Courtney, he hadn’t found any reason to smile since he’d lost his wife.
But being in this old room never did him any good. He hadn’t even spent the last night in there with his wife. She had been off to war, treating the wounds of people she shouldn’t have been treating. Her compassionate heart had truly been the end for her, and there was nothing he hated more than being right about how her kindness would someday get her into trouble.
He couldn’t think about that right now, though. It was too difficult. Too much pain in one area of his mind and heart. And so, Kane stood from the bed and, with one last lingering look at the remains of the life he had led with the only woman he had ever truly loved–the only woman he would ever truly love–he left the room.
“Dad! There you are!” Courtney exclaimed, her voice clearly annoyed.
“Were you looking for me, sweetheart?” Kane asked, furrowing his brow.
“Yeah! Where were you?” she demanded.
Kane sighed heavily and the irritation on his daughter’s face suddenly melted into compassionate understanding.
“Oh…well, anyway, after this morning–which, thank you, by the way, for letting me know I was going to have to take the bus, I was almost late to my first class–I’d really love it if we got the thing with my engine straightened out.”
“Of course,” Kane said, kicking himself. He had been so consumed with trying to avoid seeing Lia when she woke up that he had left the house as early as he could to spend some time by himself near the river. He’d completely forgotten that Courtney wouldn’t be able to get herself to school. At least, not in her own car.
“Good. Thank you,” Courtney said. “Things have just been way too weird lately for me to be comfortable not being able to get myself around.”
“That makes sense,” Kane said.
“I’ll get it done today. Don’t worry.”
“All right,” Courtney said, kissing Kane on the cheek. “I’m going to get some studying done now. If you need anything, just let me know. I could make dinner or something.”
Kane raised his brow as he watched his daughter bound up the stairs. The only time she ever offered to cook was when she thought he was feeling upset about something. Her mother, in particular. He would have to stop being quite so transparent. It was probably pathetic.
“Oh shit!” Lia exclaimed with a soft laugh when Kane pushed through the door and onto the front porch. “You startled me.”
Kane took in the sight of her beautiful face, a smile light and fresh like a beautiful spring flower, and then noticed the book in her hands and couldn’t help but grin.
“Doing some deep reading?” he asked. He knew what it could be like to be consumed in the material you were working on. And he also knew that Lia was a bright girl capable of incredibly deep thought.
“Yeah, pretty much,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “I’ve been wanting to get this novel finished forever now, but with the demands of school lately, I haven’t had a chance to get back into it.”
“What is it?” Kane asked.
Lia showed him the cover and he raised a brow, impressed. It was a classic by one of the only world-renowned shifter authors in existence. It had been published the year before Kane was born, and he had loved it all his life.
“I didn’t know you read Vex Andrews,” Kane said, sitting down beside Lia. “Did you know he was born right around here? A few miles down the road from Stonybrooke.”
“Really?” Lia exclaimed. “Near bear territory?”
