by Petra Landon
Raoul glanced at Duncan. “What do you think?” he asked bluntly.
“The Pack will make Anderson pay, Raoul. And everyone else with him. But David is right: history will keep repeating itself unless we let other Chosen know what they tried to do to Tasia and you.”
Raoul said nothing, his expression inscrutable. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it.
“Maartje?” Raoul invited her to give her opinion.
This was very unusual for him. While he was known to hear out Were-Alphas on Pack matters, he’d never been one to solicit opinion like this.
After the initial surprise, Maartje was candid. “I’m not convinced that publicizing the assault will do any good, Alpha. Other Chosen might not feel as David and DiZeyla do, and some Chosen might decide that this has nothing to do with them. That would make our decision to go public meaningless.”
“Luis?” Raoul invited next.
“The priority is to punish Anderson and make sure this never happens again. To that end, we should do everything and anything we can” Luis said.
As the room fell silent, DiZeyla chimed in. “Regardless of whether you go public, Raoul, David and I would like to be present when you confront Anderson. It will send the message that we stand with the Pack. Our presence by your side will also mitigate the perception of this as a Guardian versus Pack matter.”
“Anderson will try to spin this as your personal vendetta against him, Raoul” David warned. “We must negate that. The GCW needs to be sent an unequivocal message that not all Wizards believe Anderson, and that the local Chosen Alliance in San Francisco is united on this.”
“I hesitate to say this, but if Mistress Franciszka is willing to join us, it’ll send an even stronger message to the GCW” DiZeyla suggested.
“She sent an emissary to offer their services after she heard of the attack through the grapevine, Raoul” Duncan admitted. “She also directed her people to confirm that neither Rafaelo Bianchi nor his leeches had sneaked back in.”
“I’ll think about it” Raoul said. “First, let’s tie Anderson to this. I want to be sure that the evidence is irrefutable before I make any move on him. Faoladh will insist on it, and rightly so, because the First Wizard and the GCW will demand proof when we go after him.”
“The Registrar has given me the name of the Wizard who approached him” David told them. “He’s also willing to testify that the Wizard told him he was working on orders from Guardian Anderson.”
“That’s still hearsay, David. That won’t be good enough” Duncan pointed out.
“If we can get the Registrar’s Wizard contact to corroborate this, it won’t be hearsay anymore” David countered. “The man is known to be in Guardian Anderson’s employ.”
David didn’t have the influence or connections to get to this Wizard, but the Pack might.
“Give us the names you have, David” Raoul said. “We’ll take it from here.”
“Jason LaRue” David muttered, as it dawned on him who the Alpha meant to task with this. He was not surprised. Jason LaRue had been surprisingly cozy with the Pack during the joint operation to rescue Caro.
“Yes.” Raoul confirmed his suspicions. “The First Wizard has called for an independent investigation. The Pack has done favors for her in the past. I’m calling in the chips.”
“Good for you, Raoul.” There was candid approval in the Wizard’s voice. “No one should pay the price for the instability in San Diego. Least of all, you. You’re not even a Wizard — why should you pay for our inability to get along?”
Raoul raised an eyebrow in response, but remained silent.
“I have a favor to ask, Raoul” David said hesitantly.
Raoul nodded.
“The Registrar is a good man. He made a mistake and is willing to own up to it. He’s also offered to step down from the Registry for his part in this.”
Raoul contemplated the Wizard for a long moment, before he nodded, silently agreeing to David’s unspoken request.
“Thank you, Raoul.”
“I’ve a feeling you’re going to need all the good people you can get, David. When I go after Anderson, the Wizards are going to take sides. Your world is going to get more unstable than it already is.”
“I know.” David acknowledged what he’d already come to terms with. “As long as the Chosen Alliance is alive, I’ve a shot at protecting my Wizards from the fallout, Raoul.”
In the Pack Room, Tasia was immersed in a book, while Sara and Hawk had left the Lair. Beside her, Evgeny engaged in a spirited discussion with his were-pack mates. When the door to the Alpha’s Room opened, the Shifters paid less overt attention to the Alpha’s guests this time. Atsá said his goodbyes and headed out with Maartje by his side. On her way out, Maartje shot an unreadable glance at Evgeny and Tasia. Tasia, immersed in her book, her bare feet tucked under her on the couch, missed it. Luis and Duncan huddled with David and DiZeyla in a corner, and the Alpha strode up to Tasia.
As a chorus of voices greeted the Alpha, Tasia glanced up.
“I need to borrow her” he said to the Shifters, before glancing at her. “Shall we?”
Tasia placed her feet into her slippers to follow the Alpha, with a murmured goodnight to Evgeny and his companions.
Once in the Alpha’s Room, he invited her to take a seat at the couch, instead of by his desk, before taking the chair across from her. Closing his eyes, he stretched like a cat, subtly rotating his neck to get at the cricks. Weariness flashed across his face, breaking through his mask of invulnerability. He looked tired and subdued, she realized. Tasia felt a wave of compassion assail her. It had not been an easy few days for him, to put it mildly.
The gold eyes opened abruptly, catching her watching him.
“The cage played havoc with me” he remarked, at ease. “My body isn’t meant to be penned in a tiny box, let alone the rest of me.”
No, it certainly isn’t, Tasia agreed silently. He was a big man, his tall and lean frame giving him the aura of someone even larger.
“I owe you an apology” he said abruptly, the gold eyes direct.
“For what?” She was taken aback. “You were a perfect gen …” She flushed.
No, he hadn’t been a perfect gentleman. That, I remember.
“Um … I mean, you have nothing to apologize for.”
A hint of amusement, punctured by relief, lit his eyes. “That’s good to know. But the apology is not for what happened in the cage. It’s for involving you in this. I was the target. You were collateral damage.”
Tasia took a deep breath. “You know who did it?”
“Yes, a Guardian gave the orders.”
“A Guardian?” Tasia repeated, her eyes on him. She had suspected the same. “Is it because of our work on Lady Bethesda?” she inquired.
He shook his head. “No.” His voice hardened imperceptibly. “It’s Anderson.”
“The Guardian from the Registry?” This time she was caught by surprise. “But why?”
He shrugged. “Revenge. I humiliated him publicly at the Registry, and he’s returning the favor a thousand-fold.”
Tasia hesitated, reluctant to voice her alarm. “Are you saying he knows who I am?”
“No. This has all the hallmarks of going after a Shifter — I was his target. Your role was to be the fall guy, a Wizard conveniently at hand to demonstrate that no one is safe from me, even a Chosen I’ve given my word to. Had he succeeded, what a revenge that would have been.” His voice was very even with no inflection, but she could sense the underlying fury in it.
Her voice was soft when she asked the next question. “Will he be punished?”
He had not been for the assaults on the Wizards in San Francisco, so it was a fair question to ask. A Guardian was a very powerful being in their world. She, a Wizard, understood that only too well.
“Yes.” He was implacable. “This time, I won’t play nice and hand him over to the Wizards. I will make him pay.” The gold eyes hardened into chips o
f ice. “And this time, the First Wizard will not interfere or allow the Guardians to do so, or she’ll have to find someone else to investigate Lady Bethesda.”
Yes, Tasia mused. He had an ace in the hole with the investigation, and he would use it to warn the First Wizard to not get in his way. The GCW was a very different ballgame altogether. By all accounts, they didn’t recognize the First Wizard’s authority over them.
“David Hamilton and DiZeyla are asking me to go public with this” he said abruptly, interrupting her thoughts. “That way, Anderson would face public opprobrium, making it harder for the GCW or other Wizards to support him.”
He was a very private man. The cost and repercussions of going public would be very high for the Alpha. Would he be willing to allow Chosen to whisper and gossip about him, Tasia mused. The look in his wild eyes as he drifted between his two counterparts, human and beast, confusion and desperation vying in equal parts while he fought to reassert himself, flashed through her.
“Will you go public?” she asked.
“I’m thinking about it” he acknowledged. “I don’t want this to be a Shifter versus Wizard battle. It should be every Chosen against Anderson. He doesn’t deserve any support or sympathy on this. David is convinced that Anderson will spin it unless we run a PR campaign. I don’t run PR campaigns. So, perhaps going public might be best.
“But if I do, there’ll be no keeping your name out of it. That’s what concerns me. I can weather this, but you … I promised to keep you out of the limelight. I should’ve done a better job of guarding you from the petty jealousies of men like Anderson.”
The blunt apology disarmed Tasia. This had not been his fault in any way. She’d been the passenger in his car that night. Before she could respond, he addressed her again.
“You deserve a voice in this decision. You were as much an intended victim as me. I want you to think about whether we should go public.”
Tasia’s eyes widened.
“You don’t have to decide tonight” he assured her. “Sleep on it. Let me know in the morning.”
Tasia opened her mouth to respond, but the tring of a cellphone beat her to it.
“Excuse me.” He pulled out his cell to glance at it. “I need to take this.” He shot her a glance.
Tasia made to get up, to give him the privacy of his room, but he waved her back to her seat. “No, you’re fine. This will just take a few minutes.”
He stood up to walk towards the desk as he spoke into the phone. “Merceau.”
Roman Durovic spoke in his ear. “I’ve some very good news for you, Merceau.”
“When do I get to hear it?” Raoul inquired.
“You must hear this in person. This is big.”
“Alright. About the investigation, I presume?”
“Yes, the missing piece you asked me to look into.”
“When?”
“I still have some pending business for TorElnor. So, a few days.”
Raoul pondered for a minute. “Can you come early?”
“Has something happened, Merceau?” Roman’s voice had sharpened. He was no fool.
“Yes.” His response was succinct.
“I can be there tomorrow” Roman offered. “My business can wait a few days.”
“Good. See you tomorrow, Durovic.”
Regardless of whether he went public or not, he’d need to build a coalition before he went after a Guardian, Raoul mused. Durovic seemed sincere about working the investigation with them. It might not be a bad idea to have him backing the Shifters up on this. He held enormous influence over the First Ones, much more than DiZeyla.
From a pocket, he pulled out the memory-stick, his fingers playing absent-mindedly with it as he mulled over matters.
“Is that from the camera?” Tasia inquired, interrupting his pensive thoughts.
He nodded. “Duncan gave it to me earlier this evening.”
She watched him, noting the strange expression on his face. He seemed torn about it, she realized. Tasia frowned. He’d admitted to gaps in his memory and yet, he was hesitant to watch the footage from the night in question. She couldn’t help but wonder why.
“Are you going to watch it?” she inquired hesitantly. She was ambivalent about it herself. Lord knew what had been captured on it, but she sensed that his ambivalence ran deeper.
The gold eyes shot to her. “I’m thinking about it” he said softly.
She wasn’t to know how much he was dreading it. A part of him wished fervently that there had been no footage of the night in question. It wasn’t because he remembered the events clearly; it was because Raoul feared that he would not like the answers to the questions that troubled him.
Tasia got up from the couch to walk towards him. As she hesitated, he arched an eyebrow. “What?”
“You should watch it before you make your decision” she suggested.
Raoul contemplated her silently. She was earnest, no shadow of constraint. Unlike in his kitchen the night after the cage, he sensed no hesitation or unease.
“You don’t have to decide tonight. Sleep on it. Tomorrow is another day.” Unconsciously, Tasia echoed his words to her.
Beguiled, he smiled, generating a responding smile from her. For a moment, they contemplated each other.
“The silver … is it all gone?” she asked.
To Tasia, he looked nothing like the man from the cage. Yet, she could sense that he was not completely back to his formidable self either. Something, a fleeting expression on his face, a brooding tilt to the gold eyes or perhaps the weary stretching of his limbs, pushed her to check on his welfare.
For a moment, he was silent.
“No.” He shook his head. “Not all of it.”
Memories from the alley washed over Tasia. Her alarm as he slumped on the step, his phenomenal strength debilitated. His reaching out to share the heat of his body with the last of his strength, while her teeth chattered in the cold air. His arms holding her close to skin that was burning up as he slipped into unconsciousness. How with the last ounce of consciousness, he’d told her to use magic to protect herself, assuring her that he would deal with the consequences. Her solitary watch while he lay unconscious on the step, the handsome face vulnerable in repose.
“You’re not healed yet” she said clearly. “You must rest. Things will seem clear in the morning.” Her eyes brushed against the memory-stick in his hand.
He looked taken aback. Then, his expression blanked. Raoul had come to a decision.
“I have something to ask you” he said.
“Of course.”
“I’ve asked you this before. Did I frighten you?” The gold eyes held hers, a hint of uncertainty in their depths.
“No.” Tasia’s response was prompt and confident. She had run the gamut of emotions in the cage, but fear of him had not been one of them. Fear for him, certainly. But not of him.
Is this why he’s ambivalent about the camera footage?
“I have frightened you before” he reminded her.
He was right — they had history on this. Tasia remembered it well. It had been in this very room. Her futile attempt to explain herself as he went hammer and tongs at her. At issue, her talking to Caro about the Shifter mercenaries in San Francisco. This was the encounter Elisabetta had brought up so smoothly in the Pack Room this afternoon.
She’d been a babe in the woods in those days, a novice to their world, questioning her decision to associate with the Pack, and armed with a healthy dose of fear for the intimidating Alpha. She’d been overwhelmed and, in her inexperience, unnerved. The Shifters, never easy-going to begin with, had made her constantly question her decision to ally with them, by their inexplicable traditions, their volatile ways and their predilection for violence. The formidable and ruthless Alpha, who demanded blind and unquestioning fealty from his Pack, had terrified her. Looking back, Tasia could vividly recall the absolute shock that had flashed across his face at her reaction that day. But back then, she had been
too terrified of him to recognize it. She knew better now.
“Yes, you have” she admitted. She should have told him this a long time ago, she realized. “But I was new to the Pack then.” Her eyes met his.
And you.
“And now?” he asked.
“You told me then that I’ve nothing to fear from you. I believe you” she stated simply.
For the first time, since he’d come to in the cage, Raoul felt himself relax, a sense of relief pervading him. Tasia searched his face, her sense of compassion awakened by his predicament. He was reluctant to watch the footage because he wasn’t sure what it would reveal about him, she realized.
“Watch the footage” she encouraged him. “And you’ll see for yourself.”
At her words, his eyes flashed back to the memory-stick in his hand.
“Good night.” Tasia turned to leave, confident that she’d made her point.
She expected him to follow and hold the door open for her. The door to this room was identical to the heavy steel one that gave access to the Pack Room — they were both intended to noise-proof the rooms. With their superhuman abilities, the Shifters found the doors easy to handle. For mere mortals like her, though, it was hellishly tough. Tasia had managed the feat only on one memorable occasion. That day, she’d managed to nudge the door open just enough to slip out, fear having lent her wings on the occasion. It had been the day she’d walked away from the Pack.
“About the kiss” he said softly, just as she reached the door.
Raoul had one more point he wanted cleared up, a concern that had him dreading her answer.
Tasia stopped as a pregnant hush descended on the room.
Must we talk about it, too?
She took a deep breath, turning to face him. He was still where she’d left him when she wished him good night. For once, the remarkable eyes were not on her. Instead, he was staring at the memory-stick in his hand, an unreadable expression on his face.
Tasia waited with trepidation, her heart beating uncomfortably loud, so loud that she could hear it in the awkward silence between them.
“Did I force you, in any way?” The words seemed torn from him.
