Tarnished

by Rhiannon Held

  When Susan reached the Roanoke cabin with Tom and Silver, Tom gestured them back. “Gimme a second,” he said, and strode confidently up to the front door. He knocked and gifted the woman who answered with his best grin. Susan remembered seeing her associated with Roanoke at the Convocation table, so maybe she was his mate. “Is Ginnie around? I found an owl—I think it might be a Great Horned—out in the woods a little way and I thought she might be interested.” Tom pointed out past the last of the cabins. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t go any farther than that.” The woman eyed him, but sighed after a moment, and stepped aside for her daughter to burst out in excitement.

  Tom swooped her up and carried her piggy-back. “Do they taste good?” she asked.

  “It would probably scratch you with its talons. Besides, you can hardly eat one if you don’t have a wolf form, can you, purse dog?” Tom headed off the path back into the trees and Susan and Silver followed. Neither of the Were seemed to notice, but Susan slowed for a few beats to let her eyes adjust when they left the light pooled around the main ranch buildings.

  Ginnie bopped Tom soundly on the shoulder for the apparent insult. “I’m not stupid! What good is it, then?”

  “To watch it hunt.” Tom slowed and let Ginnie slide down to her feet.

  Susan figured this was her moment. She lengthened her last few strides to catch up to the pair. Silver hung back, looking a little out of her depth. “Before you go, I wondered if you could help me, Ginnie.”

  Ginnie chewed on her lip as she frowned at Susan. Her hand sought Tom’s. Probably deciding whether she should talk to the human again. “Daddy told Felicia that he was going to take care of you himself,” she confided in a burst. “I think he really doesn’t like you.”

  Susan’s heart stuttered into a pounding race and Silver made a noise that was probably a swallowed growl. The girl might not guess the meaning of that, but knowing Were as she did, Susan could. Jesus Christ. But she was with both Tom and Silver, who were more than capable of protecting her. Better to be out helping Andrew than hiding whimpering at the cabin.

  The question was, which tack should she use with the girl? Frame her question as something her parents would want her to answer, or something she could use to rebel against them? Or better yet, reference someone else she liked. Andrew had to have known her, and Susan had noticed that he was pretty good with kids when he wasn’t paying attention. “That’s okay, a lot of Were aren’t used to dealing with humans,” she told Ginnie. “But it’s not really to help me, it’s to help Andrew. You guys are friends, right?”

  Ginnie grinned and stood a little on tiptoe to seem taller. “Mr. Dare knows that I’m really smart.” She stuck out her tongue at Tom, who looked properly chastised for his earlier remark.

  Susan smiled at Ginnie encouragingly. “When did you last see him?”

  “He came to talk to Daddy after lunch. They’re going to fight in two days.” Ginnie tugged on Tom’s hand and looked anxiously up at him. “My daddy’s going to win, right? Since he’s so powerful?”

  “Even if Dare wins, he’ll be a really good alpha. You and your family won’t have to worry.” Tom covered her hand with both of his, but Ginnie still looked dubious.

  “Where’d he go after he talked to your daddy?” Susan held her breath. Here was where things might break down. They’d known Andrew was going to go talk to Roanoke, and he had. But where had he gone next?

  “To the kitchen, I think. Daddy called him a bad name and Mr. Dare went in that direction. Felicia thought it would be the kitchen, anyway. We were playing Go Fish, only it had some other weird name in Spanish. Daddy told Felicia how what Mr. Dare did didn’t matter, he was going to take care of the human—I mean, you—and she snuck out without finishing the game because she wanted to talk to Mr. Dare. She wouldn’t let me come with her, either.” The girl frowned with remembered frustration.

  Tom caught Susan’s eyes and she nodded. That’s what they’d needed. If they interrogated the girl for too long, she’d get suspicious, or her parents would later. “That owl’s gonna fly away,” he said, and took off running, Ginnie laughing beside him.

  Silver started immediately in the direction of the hall, but Susan didn’t move. Something was niggling at her, trying to break through the stress of knowing Roanoke might be after her. But that was the thing. Was he really? “Why would Roanoke tell Andrew’s daughter anything about a random human? Why would she care? She must have given herself a crick in her neck, she was looking down her nose so hard when we met. Ginnie said he told Felicia specifically he was taking care of me.”

  Silver slowed, brows drawing down in thought. “The question is not why Roanoke would do anything. The question is why Madrid would tell him to.” She flexed her hand in an ear-scritching motion beside her hip.

  Susan eyed the gesture, then decided she didn’t want to think about it. Easier that way. She exhaled in absent amusement at Silver’s words. None of the Were seemed to think much of Roanoke. “The first thing Felicia apparently did after being told the plan for me was to go looking for Andrew. So let’s assume Madrid wanted Andrew to know about that plan—or for Andrew to think Roanoke was planning something.”

  Silver sent Susan a sideways twisted smile. “If he heard about that kind of plan, he’d want to protect you.” She shook her head and started moving again with purpose. “We need to find Dare’s daughter. All of this is speculation for now. If Madrid is up to something and she knows anything about it, we’ll get it out of her.” She snorted, not a kind sound. “Yes, even if means resorting to that.”

  Susan couldn’t help but stare at the air and wonder what “that” was. Was Silver falling apart worse than usual with Andrew gone? Or was it that she wasn’t hiding her craziness as much as usual? Susan hoped it was the latter, but it still made picking up the line of conversation like nothing had happened painfully awkward. “Can you track Felicia’s scent, or do I need to go back and grab John?”

  Silver shook her head. “If she left the main area with Dare, her trail would have been destroyed, the same as his. But she should be back. I saw her with her alpha at the Convocation.” She stumbled. “Lady! Dare’s brother-in-law came in late. I didn’t even think about it, because he was so submissive to Madrid. He wouldn’t have been doing anything on his own, but if he had orders—” She stumbled again on a gnarled root in the path as she tried to break into a jog. The ground out here was treacherous in the dark, at least for Susan. She noticed that except for those moments of distraction, Silver seemed to pick a path just fine.

  “The jarring can’t be good for your shoulder. Slow down.” Susan put a hand on Silver’s back this time. Silver wasn’t the only one who needed grounding at the moment. The uglier their conclusions grew, the more her stomach twisted. What could the two of them do about whatever Madrid had done? He wouldn’t kill Andrew immediately, would he? Hadn’t that been half the point of her trial for killing Sacramento, that Were tried to avoid killing as much as possible? Or was that just North American Were?

  “Let’s try the hall first.” That was easy enough for Susan to find even with human sight in the darkness, so she took the lead along the path to the big hulking shape against the horizon. “I know a place where we can check nearly everywhere at once.” She had to tug Silver onto the side path to the back entrance when she headed automatically for the front doors.

  They got halfway up the stairs to the loft when Silver hissed at Susan to stop. “We’re not the only ones with the idea of keeping an eye on who’s here.”

  Susan flattened herself to the side of the stairs so Silver could pass her, since that was obviously what the woman wanted. “Don’t let her past,” Silver whispered to her as she squeezed by.

  Mindful of Silver’s request, Susan stayed at the head of the stairs rather than follow her into the cable-snarl of the loft. Her eyes adjusted slowly back from the bright fluorescent lights of the kitchen and she finally spotted the dark-haired teen crouched against the railing. Felicia. Su
san hoped that Silver was right, and they’d get information out of her, rather than scare her into silence.

  32

  Silver took a moment to just breathe before she spoke. Too many of her emotions threatened to wrest control of her words from her. She wanted to scream in rage at Dare’s daughter for the way she’d hurt a father who loved her. She wanted to beg her for help in finding him. She wanted to scold her like a mother for all her many mistakes. Susan was the mother here, though. She’d proved that with her skillful handling of Roanoke’s girl.

  But Silver at least knew screaming or scolding was not the way to go. The girl’s wild self huddled beside her hip, tail and nose tucked in like no one would notice it if nothing disturbed the sooty line of its flank. The girl looked at Silver and then away again, like she too hoped that Silver might go away if she didn’t acknowledge her.

  “You’ll need her name if you want to command her,” Death said. He nosed at the girl’s wild self, forcing it to uncurl to avoid the harassment. It edged away and tucked its head back again. “I don’t think she’ll respond well to ‘Hey you, girl.’”

  Silver reached deep, a quest for the name before she even began the quest for information. “Felicia.” She knew it sounded strange, coming all in a relieved burst, but it got the girl to look up again.

  “What?” Felicia said, sullen and challenging. Her wild self started to shake very slightly.

  In that word, Silver found the steady ground that she needed to choose words of her own. Young or not, Dare’s daughter was enough of an adult to be paralyzed by what her conscience told her when it clashed with what others did. Silver could smell the panicked confusion on her. She needed to give that attack of conscience a firm push. “You know where my mate is. You know it’s not honorable that your pack captured him by playing on his need to protect.” That had been Susan’s realization, but Silver saw it hit home when she used it.

  “Did you know that it was a trap? Did you really believe that Roanoke would bother to mention his plans for a meaningless human to you? Or were you delighted to help them, delighted to punish your father for crimes he never committed, except in the minds of your relatives?”

  “I didn’t know!” A growl started in Felicia’s throat, but she suppressed it and kept her words to a soft intensity, perhaps conscious of ears below. “I just wanted to talk to him. I didn’t care what Roanoke did or didn’t do with a stupid human.” She glared at Susan. “But I thought Father should at least know. I didn’t know Madrid meant to— And then he—” She trailed off into angry words in a language Silver didn’t know. It took her several moments to realize that was the problem, not that Felicia was speaking of things too tied up in this world for Silver to understand.

  “And then Madrid what?” she prompted.

  “Treated me like I was just—something to trade! For Madrid’s political shit.” For a moment, Dare showed strongly in Felicia’s face and voice. Silver couldn’t pin it down, but some spark of temper had been passed on.

  “That’s what alphas do when they seek power for power’s sake, not to fulfill their instinct to protect people. No matter how they start, they always end up sacrificing people for the power in the end.” Silver took a deep breath. She couldn’t push her too hard, no matter that this was the most important question yet. “Do you know where Dare is? What they’re doing to him?”

  Felicia bit her lip until the skin bleached white in a line beneath her teeth. “Yes. I know where. Madrid called in the rest of the pack that came over and they’re holding him until he agrees to give up trying to be alpha in exchange for Madrid giving me the choice to stay.” She hugged herself. “Father didn’t even consider it. And he claimed he hadn’t wanted to leave me behind—”

  Silver grabbed Felicia’s wrist and yanked her to her feet. Her patience only extended so far when a crisis of conscience began to turn into whining. “Of course he didn’t consider it, because he’s not Lady-darkened stupid.” She dropped the girl’s wrist and took her chin in the same firm grip. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’d consider staying for even one heartbeat. Or would you do exactly as Madrid planned?”

  Felicia hit her wrist, but Silver ignored the pain and held on. The girl wasn’t hitting seriously yet. “Lady! That’s what he said. Why does everyone assume that about me?”

  Silver smiled, showing teeth, and channeled the tone Death had used so often with her. “Prove us wrong, girl.” She switched her grip to the girl’s wrist again and dragged her downwards, nodding to Susan on the way. “We have to gather help before we go, if Madrid called in his pack. More than just the Seattle pack.”

  “Planning on making another scene?” Susan threw her a tight smile as they descended. At the foot of the stairs, Felicia hesitated, but jerked into movement again as if Susan had shoved her from behind.

  “If they’re going to impose their religious imaginings on me I suppose I might as well.” Silver didn’t look at Death, who was loping along beside them, but from the corner of her eye she saw him bare his teeth in edged approval.

  Most of dinner was cleared away, but a good number of the Were lingered in the main room, talking over drinks. Silver scanned the crowd, finding Boston first, and then Portland. Allies, good. She took a beat longer to make doubly sure neither Roanoke nor Madrid hid in a shadowed corner, then exhaled in relief.

  Felicia balked again, and Silver let her feel her strength by nearly jerking the girl off her feet. Dare didn’t have time for this. “Alphas,” she said in a ringing voice. “In the Lady’s name, I need your assistance.”

  Silence rippled unevenly through the room and Silver waited until it was complete. A few young ones slipped outside in the pause, undoubtedly to spread the news of something interesting happening. Silver would have to work quickly in case they found Roanoke.

  She lifted Felicia’s wrist high. “One of Madrid’s own pack has honor enough to reveal that Madrid has captured my mate, to avenge what they imagine to be his crimes.” The girl swallowed hard and then straightened to hold her own hand high, forcing confidence into her body. Silver sent her silent thanks. “We need to stop them.”

  “Lady-damned Europeans!” Portland strode to the front of the crowd, clenched hands the only physical sign of the rage that vibrated in her voice. “We need to drag them out of our territory by force.” A tide of voices rose behind hers.

  “Just wait,” Death said, his voice low against the alphas’ rising volume, but catching Silver’s attention all the same.

  “I agree completely.” At first, Roanoke couldn’t manage silence the way Silver had, but he crossed his arms and intimidated it out of those standing nearest the entrance where he had just appeared. “I take full responsibility for the way they tricked me with their talk of a new, more peaceful relationship between us. Normally I’d lead the force to take them down, but in light of my mistakes, I leave that to another.”

  Silver had one split, frozen second before the room erupted to realize what Roanoke had just done. He’d thrown a kill into the middle of starving lones and stepped back to watch them tear each other to bits over it. After all, who asked questions about the thrower when the prize was so fat and juicy?

  She thought it had been loud before, but now she could hardly think for everyone trying to shout everyone else down and claim the position of authority. Roanoke smirked, but no one seemed to even notice besides Silver and Susan. The human drew closer to her in automatic reaction to the noise. Silver wanted to sink to the ground and put her hands over her ears.

  She caught Portland’s eyes instead, and the other woman looked as helpless as Silver felt. Portland too was silent, not proud enough to put her personal advancement before saving Dare like the others.

  “We don’t have time for this.” Silver drew a deep breath and beckoned Portland to join them. The woman slipped between the intervening Were, using her short stature to advantage in some places, and her elbows in others. Boston started the same journey from another direction, using the wei
ght of his presence to make people move aside, though it didn’t stop them arguing.

  “I could lead this clusterfuck better than them,” Susan muttered, and used a parody of an alpha’s tone. “All of you. Together. Go that direction.”

  “Not a bad idea,” Silver said as she calculated a path to the exit. The Were might laugh at a human trying to take charge, but then again someone outside all existing hierarchies might be what they needed. At least the attempt might distract them from their own personal ambitions long enough for them to remember the important things about the situation.

  Silver leaned close to Susan. “Can I leave it in your hands? I’ll go ahead and stall them.” She dragged Felicia toward the exit.

  Susan followed. “Silver, no! Where are you going?”

  “Just to stall. Nothing dangerous.” Silver tipped her chin to her bad arm, since her hand was full. “What could I do against them otherwise?” And why would she want to attack them straight on, when looking weak until backup arrived was much better tactics?

  Susan didn’t look convinced, but Portland’s arrival distracted her. Silver seized the opening to escape, dragging Felicia out. She heard Susan give a human growl of frustration, but she didn’t chase. “I guess we do this without Silver. These alphas have their mates with them, right? Any way we could enlist their help in making people shut up?” The wash of argument cut off the rest of Susan’s suggestion to Portland.

  In the chill air outside, the girl started struggling again. It still seemed like half a struggle against her conscience, because she was close enough to full-grown that Silver could never have held her if she was really trying to get away. Death nipped mockingly at her wild self’s heels. The wild self bristled up its ruff, the motion exposing variations of sooty black so different from Death’s absence of color.