Tieryn's Fury

by Abigail Owen

  She shrugged, then turned back to Andie. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Andie nodded and Jaxon left the room, she assumed to go gather the Alphas. As they waited, the door opened, and Gage entered the room.

  He moved swiftly to her and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Tieryn inhaled the familiar scent of his aftershave. Having him there made her father’s disappearance suddenly real. The tears that had refused to come only moments earlier choked her now. “They got Dad,” she whispered.

  “I know,” he murmured into her hair. He stepped back. “We’ll get him back.”

  She nodded. “I want to help.”

  He frowned down at her. “JoLynn’s taken care of healing everyone who was injured.”

  “No. I can use my other gift.”

  Gage opened his mouth, probably to ask what other gift, but didn’t get a chance.

  “No chance in hell.” Shane’s low tones broke the curious silence that had settled over the room’s occupants after her declaration. Tieryn flinched at the raw fury she could hear in the words.

  She turned to him now. “They have my father.”

  He shook his head, exasperation etched in every pinched line on his face. “I’ve just spent weeks and several close calls getting you to safety.”

  Hands on her hips, she squared up to him. “And I can help get people out if someone can get me in.”

  “Who?”

  Tieryn scowled. Why was he being so damn difficult? “I don’t know. That’s up to these people to figure out.” She flung an arm at the rest of those in the room who watched the byplay like silent tennis fans.

  “You’re not going,” he growled.

  She came close to chest bumping him. If he was going to act like an ape, then she’d treat him like one. “You don’t get a say in it.”

  Andie cleared her throat. “Um, guys?”

  “What?” Tieryn and Shane both jerked their heads around to snap at her.

  She held up both hands. “Want to clue the rest of us in?”

  “My gift is—” Tieryn started.

  “Nothing that is of use,” Shane interrupted.

  Tieryn growled at him, the sound low in her throat. She was on the edge of shifting and taking his head off she was so furious. Didn’t he understand this was her dad?

  Sarai placed a gentling hand on her arm. “Calm down. You’ll get to say your piece.”

  Shane crossed his arms. A muscle ticked at the side of his jaw, which was clenched tightly shut. She got the message. He’d shut up, but he was still pissed. She watched him with narrowed eyes for a few beats longer, and he stared back, unimpressed. She blew out an exasperated breath and turned her back on him.

  “You all know I’m a Healer.”

  Nods around the room. They’d all been at the Kuharte meeting.

  “My second gift, the one we’re about to go talk to the Alphas about, also came from my mother.”

  The reactions around the room were varied. Most stiffened with shock. “How is that even possible?” Zac asked. “Dual gifts have never been heard of.”

  Tieryn gripped the back of a chair. “I don’t know for sure.”

  “What ability?” Gage asked. She glanced at him, but didn’t find censure in the direct gaze aimed back at her.

  “Not one I’m familiar with. I call it Survival. If I’m in mortal harm, I transport somewhere else.”

  Her words fell into a pool of silence.

  “So that’s how you ended up in Western Canada and then New Orleans?” Sarai asked. Not surprisingly, she didn’t seem as astonished as the others.

  “Yes.”

  “And you can take people with you?” This from Andie.

  Tieryn glanced at Shane. “Apparently. If they’re touching me.”

  Gage leaned a hip on the table, and ran a hand over his jaw. “Can you transport if you’re not in danger?”

  She shook her head. “I have to be threatened for it to work, but I’m at least worth including in a rescue attempt, right?”

  Andie and Jaxon exchanged a speaking glance. “It’s worth thinking about,” Andie said.

  “No.” Shane glared at his Alpha.

  Andie glared right back. “Like she said,” she hooked a thumb in Tieryn’s direction. “You don’t get a say in the matter.”

  Shane pointed at Gage. “As her fiancé surely you have something to say about this.”

  Tieryn’s glare must’ve told Gage exactly how she felt about that because he took her hand, an unusual gesture, but one she allowed. “As her fiancé, of course I don’t like it. As her Beta, I agree with Andie. It’s worth thinking about.”

  “Bullshit.” Shane spit out the profanity. “Fine. She’s your problem to deal with anyway.”

  “Shane!” Sarai gasped.

  But he didn’t hear her because he’d left the room.

  “What was that about?” Andie asked.

  Tieryn peeled her gaze from the door he’d gone through and turned to find a room full of stunned and curious people watching her. She shook her head. “I guess he took the bodyguard thing seriously.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The door opened again and Jaxon stuck his head in. “Ready.”

  Here we go, Tieryn thought.

  Gage walked beside her as they followed Andie and Jaxon. “The Alphas are upset about the attack, but they’re also freaked out by your little surprise,” he warned.

  She winced. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Have they made it hard on you?”

  “Don’t worry about me.” Something about the grim tone to his voice caught her attention. “Did Paul know?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I didn’t tell anyone. I wasn’t entirely sure about it myself.”

  Gage stopped and took her by the shoulders, turning her to face him. “They’re going to be rough on you in there. Tell the truth. I have to represent our dare since your father—”

  “Isn’t here,” she finished.

  He gave her an apologetic smile. “Ready?”

  “Of course.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, then followed him inside.

  Tieryn was led to a desk and chair at one end of the room. Eight Alphas, all of whom she now recognized after the Kuharte meetings, and Gage sat at a long table across from her. Sarai also entered the room and crossed to where Tieryn sat. She located a chair close by which she dragged over to sit beside her at the table.

  “Sarai, what do you think you’re doing?” David Lopez, the Alpha for the Mexican Dare, asked.

  The Seer regarded him calmly. “I’m here to represent Kuharte interests in this…discussion.”

  Andie grinned, and Tieryn resisted the urge to chuckle as the men at the table exchanged glances. They weren’t used to having their interrogations and concerns questioned, let alone invaded.

  “You know why we’re here?” Andie directed the question to Tieryn, not waiting for the other Alphas to come to any conclusion about Sarai’s presence.

  “My new ability?”

  “New?” Rick Delaney of the US Southwest Dare asked.

  “Why don’t you tell us everything you can about it? We’ll reserve questions for when you’re finished,” Jaxon suggested with a hard stare in Rick’s direction.

  Tieryn took a deep breath and did exactly that, starting with the first few times it had happened, then describing the past week with Shane.

  “A Kuharte with two gifts,” Rick Delaney gritted. “It’s unheard of.”

  She was getting that a lot today. Not hearing a question, Tieryn held her tongue.

  “The question is: what do we do with this information?” he added.

  Tieryn glanced at Andie and then at Gage. What was there to be done?

  “Part of the problem is no one dare is allowed more than one Kuharte, the idea being to spread the powers among us all as well as ensure no one dare gains undue power over the others. Essentially, you represent two Kuharte.” Michael Perez, from the Peruvian dare laid out the issue.
>
  “At the very least, we must call off her engagement to Gage,” Rick said.

  Tieryn’s eyes widened. “What?” She swung her gaze to Gage who didn’t immediately say anything. Sarai reached over and squeezed her hand under the table, more a warning to keep quiet than a token of comfort.

  Several heads nodded around the table. Seeing support, Rick continued. “Having a Kuharte with two powers, the daughter of the Alpha no less, married to the future Alpha is a bad idea.”

  “But I’ve just explained my new power is defensive, and I have no control over it. Surely that should be considered,” Tieryn argued.

  “We are not ending the engagement,” Gage stepped in. All eyes turned his way.

  “You must agree that from our point of view you gain too much power,” Rick said.

  “I do agree.”

  Tieryn wondered where he was going with this. Nothing was making sense. Apparently the other Alphas thought so too. “So of course you’ll call off the engagement.”

  “No.” Gage stood up from the table. “I’ll step down as Beta of the McGraw Dare.”

  Tieryn gasped. “Gage.”

  He shook his head, and she bit off the rest of what she would have said.

  “You can’t do that,” Lopez said.

  “I just did.” Gage gave the man a hard stare. “What most of the Alphas on this Council don’t seem to understand in your paranoid bid to guarantee that no one gain power over you is that you’ll lose the most powerful members of the Shadowcat Nation in your efforts to control them.”

  What the hell had come over Gage? He’d never talked this way before. She stared as he moved around the table and crossed the room to offer her a hand. She took it and stood. “Tieryn and I are engaged. That will not change.”

  With that, he escorted her from the room. Andie shot her a thumbs up as they left. Tieryn didn’t respond. Her head was still spinning with what had just happened.

  ****

  “We need to talk,” Tieryn said. She inwardly cringed at the words, ones that never started conversations off well.

  Gage glanced up from the steak he was cutting. “I know.”

  After that crazy meeting with the Alphas, Gage had silently walked her to a suite of rooms that shared a common living area. Like the rest of the house, they were decorated in natural tones, the art on the walls scenes of mountains. She liked it, finding the décor soothing. It barely registered that he’d dropped her off in his rooms before he left.

  After waiting an hour for his return, Tieryn decided to shower. She’d been thrilled to find several sets of her clothes, including underwear, waiting for her in the room he’d pointed out as hers. After her shower, she chose a purple dress with capped sleeves and a full skirt that ended at her knees. She pulled on white capris-length leggings and popped a pair of silver sandals on her feet. After weeks in someone else’s clothes, she finally felt like herself again.

  Gage eventually showed up later that evening and escorted her to dinner. That’s where they were now. Tieryn looked around the cafeteria-style dining room that boasted a large stone fireplace in the middle. Like the rest of the house, she found it cozy in here, even though the space was set up to feed several hundred.

  “Not here.” She glanced meaningfully at the people surrounding them. “After dinner.”

  “Okay.” He glanced at her plate of half-eaten meatloaf. “Are you done with that?”

  Since she’d been pushing it around for the last ten minutes, she nodded.

  “Why don’t you go back to our rooms? I’ll be finished in a few minutes and will meet you there.”

  No way was she sitting around, waiting alone. Her jiggling leg and shaking hands told her that her nerves wouldn’t take it. “I’m happy to wait.”

  He eyed her with a searching frown, then quirked his lips. “I guess I’m not that hungry after all.”

  They cleared their plates, dropping them in the circulating bins that caddied dirty dishes back to the washers.

  With a wave, Gage ushered her ahead of him.

  Tieryn managed not to look over at where Shane sat with Sarai, Zac, and George. She’d managed to ignore his presence, or at least appear to, ever since he’d entered the room.

  As soon as they had some privacy, Tieryn turned to face Gage. She clasped her hands in front of her and pulled her shoulders back. “I can’t marry you.” She never did like to beat around the bush.

  She wasn’t sure what she’d expected his reaction to be. Relief, perhaps. She wasn’t remotely prepared for his softly couched question. “Did you sleep with him?”

  Her eyes widened in shock. She licked suddenly dry lips. “No. But this is less about him than it is about us. About you. You can’t give up your dream of being Alpha to stand by me when our marriage was arranged and not based on love. You’re an honorable man. I get that, but I can’t let you do this.”

  “You let me handle the Alphas.”

  She was afraid he’d say that. “Even without the threat to your goals, marrying me wouldn’t be fair to you.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because the only thing that kept me from sleeping with Shane was our engagement.” She looked down at her hands and realized she was twisting them in her agitation. She stopped. With a sigh she lifted her gaze to the man she’d known her entire life. “I consider myself to be a loyal person, and you are a good man. You’ll make an excellent Alpha, but there’s nothing between us.” She spread her hands in appeal. “You know I’m right. How many years do you think we could make it before either of our vows was tested? What if one of us did fall in love or find our Fated Mate, as unlikely as that may be? Add that to the other issue, and it’s a recipe for disaster. Let me go.”

  Gage looked down for a long moment then surprised her when he stepped in and took both her hands in his and gazed directly in her eyes. “Let me ask you a question.”

  Wide-eyed, she nodded.

  “Do you love him?”

  She’d known Gage too long, respected him too much to be anything but honest. “I don’t know.”

  “Does he love you?”

  She jerked her shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t think he knows what that means anymore.” Shane had been more than clear that what she’d get with him was sex with no commitment. As much as her body, and now her heart, clamored for him, she wasn’t okay with that.

  He nodded. “I thought as much. So you know there’s no future with him.”

  Now she frowned, wondering where he was going with this. “Yes. But that’s not the point. Before, love wasn’t important to me. Now, I know it’s not fair to you to marry given how I feel.”

  “What if I told you marriage to you was the only thing securing my place as future Alpha?”

  “What? That can’t be right.” She’d seen him battle other shifters for the right to his role as Beta.

  “It’s the deal I made with your father.” His jaw hardened, and she knew Gage hated that he’d had to make such a deal. He was the best, most obvious person for the job.

  “I’m no more in love with you than you are with me,” Gage continued.

  “What are you getting at?” she asked.

  “I think we can build a…partnership…based on mutual respect and understanding.”

  Her frown deepened. “What do you mean?”

  He let out a long breath. “Marry me. Help me secure my position as Alpha. Help me lead our people. In return I promise you a permanent home and protection all your life.”

  “You just walked away from your position.”

  He shook his head. “After I dropped you here, I returned to the meeting and threatened to marry you and take you out of the Shadowcat Nation altogether. Sarai immediately offered Zac’s Timik to us as a new home. Those men won’t risk losing a Beta, and definitely not a Healer, especially given the escalation in attacks and our recently losses. They’ll come around.”

  She shook her head. “I—”

  He squeezed her hands. “Hear
me out first.”

  After a searching look, she slowly nodded. “Okay.”

  “I don’t want to trap you with our marriage. I don’t want to trap either of us. I’m proposing a marriage that is more of a business arrangement.”

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  He tipped his head. “To everyone else we appear happily married. We support each other’s goals and needs like a married couple, but behind closed doors…”

  Realization dawned. “You’re suggesting, what? An open marriage?”

  He shrugged. “I’m suggesting a partnership. One that gets me what I want and provides you a permanent home. But one where fidelity to a man you don’t love doesn’t tie you down.”

  She glanced down at their clasped hands. Could she do that? His proposal, for lack of a better term, wasn’t all that far from the arranged marriage she’d agreed to. If anything it was a more honest arrangement, but it was so far from what she’d ever pictured for herself.

  “I…don’t know if I can agree to that.”

  He smiled. “If you don’t marry me, it’ll be someone else. Your father will see to that.”

  She grimaced, knowing he had a valid point. “Can I think about it?”

  He gazed deeply into her eyes, as if gauging the need for further persuasion. After a moment, he let go of her hands and stepped back. “Of course.”

  “I won’t take long to decide. I just need a day or two to…readjust my thinking.”

  He grinned. “It’s not an offer you get every day, I guess.”

  She chuckled. “No.”

  “I’ll leave you to it, then.” With a nod, he strode from the room.

  Tieryn sat down and she stared at the door he’d closed behind him. Could she do that? He was right. Her father would insist she marry to suit his political needs. What Gage had proposed was a solution to both their problems, and they’d always worked well together. They’d known each other forever.

  She doubted she’d ever take him up on the open marriage bit, because the only person she could see herself sleeping with was Shane, and as soon as all this was over, she doubted she’d ever see him again. But the fact that Gage had removed all pretense at a real marriage from the table, at least as far as the two of them were concerned, dealt with the only issue she had with it. As long as it didn’t jeopardize his position, but Gage knew better than she did about that part.