by Anna Edwards
“No.” She stood her ground. “What’s going on?”
A couple of the men with big, big, guns looked at them. Her father motioned for them to stand down, but before they could, her brother ran into the room. He was wearing his usual leather jacket, and his hair was wild everywhere. He looked flustered. The men all pointed guns at him.
“Having a party, Dad?” He laughed but held his hands in the air and froze. “Bit different than mine.”
“Shoot him,” her father said.
“No!” she screamed as the sound of gunfire rang out.
Her brother’s body shuddered as several tiny darts hit him. He tried to speak, but no words came out.
“Kingsley.” She started to run toward him, but one of the men stopped her.
“He’s not hurt just tranquilized.” Her father’s voice was ice cold as he came to stand beside her. “He’s been messing with the wrong people, and I need to find out if he’s been infected.”
“Infected? He’s your son.”
“Who’s been hanging out with people who turn into animals.” He threw the pictures at her.
“Who are you?” She stared at her father in complete disbelief as her brother was dragged from the room.
“I’m your father, and I’m trying to protect you from getting hurt.”
She shook her head.
“Kingsley?”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. They’ll examine him and then fix him.”
“Fix him?”
She looked down at the pictures in her hands. She cycled through them. There were pictures of Emma, Scott, Selene, and Jessica, although they didn’t have anything of her changing, just an energy ball coming out of her hand. She noted there was none of Kas, though — since they were twins, it would have been too obvious for Nuka to present evidence that would implicate himself as well. Although the evil polar bear had destroyed any hope of remaining undiscovered, following his recent vanishing act.
“Isobel, for several years there’ve been rumors of people who can turn into animals, and some who have powers we cannot comprehend. I joined a task force to discover their existence. My job as a senator has been a front, the rallying against shifters was a ruse to try to draw them out. Here, today, it worked. We have the proof we need, now. I want you to go to your room, lock the door, and do not answer it to anyone but me. Do you understand?”
“No.” She looked him up and down as if he was a stranger. He was in many ways. He’d been lying to her for years. “Did Kingsley know?”
“Given he is in leagues with them, I suspect he did, but he never told me. You don’t have to worry. We’ll make the world safe. We’ll get rid of them. Now, please, I need you to do as I ask.” Her father turned his back to her and started ordering his men around. She needed to think quickly. She had to get to the Glacial Blood mansion. She remembered people calling Jessica, and she’d appear. Maybe it would work. She placed all the pictures on the table, except one of the witch, which she slid surreptitiously into her pocket. “Please let this work,” she whispered to herself as she left the room and took the stairs to her bedroom, two at a time.
She placed the picture down on her dressing-room table and concentrated on it as hard as she could.
“Jessica,” she said.
Nothing.
“Jessica.”
With more force this time but still nothing.
“Damn it.” Tears were falling down her cheeks now. She needed to warn them, but nobody would answer her. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried Zain again. No answer.
She looked down at the picture one last time and focused as much of her strength as she could into it. A tear landed directly on Jessica’s face as she said the witch’s name one more time.
“Jessica.”
The air in the room crackled around her. She spun around to find a bemused Jessica frowning at her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I’m sorry, “Selene sobbed. “I tried to control it, but I couldn’t. They’re going to find us.”
“Sssh….” Emma cuddled her friend. “Kas will sort it out. Most people think Senator Ross is insane anyway. They’ll make him look crazier to discredit the story. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” Emma looked up at Zain. He’d been standing there watching the lioness comfort Selene for an hour now. His phone had vibrated in his pocket many times. He couldn’t answer it, or even look at it, though. He knew it was Isobel, and he needed to protect her by staying as far away as possible until this was resolved.
Kas was in his office on the phone with the Council. They could hear the argument he was having with Ethern Lennox from several rooms away. Lily was screaming down in the dungeon at them to release her. Every time she shouted, Brayden growled. His temper was wearing thin, and the need to protect his mate was on the verge of overruling his commonsense and causing him to do severe damage to the small bear.
“We’ll deal with her later,” Zain reassured him.
Brayden gave him a curt nod and clenched his jaw even tighter. Teagan and Tyler sat on the sofa in stunned silence, Katia watched the TV on mute. Scott was bouncing both twins on his knees, trying to keep them quiet. Jane entered the room with her third round of teas and coffees; he’d had enough, but it kept the kindly woman calm. She placed them on the table and came to stand next to her son. The snow-leopard wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his chest.
“This isn’t doing the baby any good. Do you think we should take her to Germany and get her checked by Ethern?” Jane asked.
“I think Ethern will be a little too busy, Mom,” Brayden replied and kissed the top of his mother’s head.
“I’m worried.”
“We all are, Mrs. Dillon.” Zain stepped forward and took a cup of coffee. He’d be wired all night, but it put a smile on Jane’s face.
The noise from Kas in the other room went silent. A few moments later, the door opened, and the tall polar bear lumbered in.
“Ethern’s going to see what he can do. He’s suggested, for the time being, that Selene, Emma, and the twins go to the Reichstag for protection. I’m inclined to agree. It would only take someone whose seen Selene around here to bring the press and worse to our doorstep. You’ll be safer there. Brayden, Scott, if you want to go with them, accommodations will be made available for you all.” Zain watched as Brayden and Scott both nodded in agreement.
“I’ll go pack some of the twins’ bits and pieces,” Emma stated.
“Only take what you need for now,” Kas ordered. “Katia?” The tigress diverted her attention from the TV to her alpha.
“Will you gather everything else they require? We can have Jessica take it over.” Kas looked around the room. Zain joined him. Where was Jessica? “Jessica?” Kas called out, but the witch didn’t appear.
“That’s not normal.” Zain stepped forward. “Jessica?” He tried again.
“She mentioned something about needing herbs earlier. She might be somewhere she can’t hear.” Tegan stood up. “I’ll help Katia. I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”
Everyone nodded, but the sense of foreboding in the room grew.
Kas went to the center of the room.
“Until this is sorted, I’ve been asked to ban you all from changing. It’s too risky. If the press does descend, then we could be compromised by behaving out of the ordinary. You have to maintain your human forms, even down to doing something as mundane as chopping logs. Make it look like hard work.”
“What about food?” Tyler stood and grabbed Teagan’s hand when she nearly tripped over the upturned end of a rug.
“We’re going to have to use a supermarket like everyone else. I know the meat isn’t as fresh, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Tyler, I’ll leave you to sort it. I’m going to go down to some of the villages and inform them of the shifting ban.” Not only did they live at the mansion but also, in the surrounding areas, were several families of shifters who had been there for years. They would need protecting from the intrusion that, pote
ntially, could be about to descend.
“Amak?” Brayden asked.
“Safe for now.” Zain knew that name. It was one of the young polar bear cubs down in the main village. He cocked his head at Kas in question, but the polar bear shook it as if to say not now. He didn’t query it any further. “Zain, can you go and find Molly? Tell her what’s happening and ask her to hide out as much as possible.” He agreed with a bow of his head. She lived high up in the mountains. It would be a long walk, but he’d take a pot of honey and some salmon for company. He’d be fine.
“I’ll leave at once,” he added and headed for the door.
“Wait,” Kas called. “Look everyone. I know this is worrying, but we have faced worse. We did it together as a family, and we’ll come through this as a family. That’s when we’re at our strongest.” Kas reached out, and they all joined hands.
“Family,” they all repeated. The air around them crackled. Jessica was on her way back.
The witch appeared, but it was the person with her who caught Zain’s breath and took it away.
“Isobel.” He came back into the center of the room. He noticed she’d been crying. “What’s happened?”
“You need to hear this,” Jessica told Kas.
“It’s all crazy. He’s not the man I thought he was.” Isobel collapsed into Zain’s arms, and he held her tightly to him.
“Izzy, talk to me.” He lifted her head up, and his eyes searched hers for the truths she was about to tell.
“You all need to leave here, now. Quickly.” Her eyes flicked to the babies. “Nuka, he came to my father and gave him pictures of Selene, Emma, Scott, and Jessica. In them, they changed or, in Jessica’s case, had an energy ball.”
“He what?” Kas growled.
“He gave my father proof of the shifters’ existence.”
“Jessica, take Emma, Selene, Scott and the babies to the Reichstag, now. Stay there until I call for you.”
Emma left Selene and went to her mate. She took Morocco and held him with Zahara close to her breast. Brayden went to Selene and helped her to her feet. They all formed a circle around Jessica and disappeared. Brayden reappeared a few moments later.
“They’re safe with Ethern,” he told Kas.
“What else happened?”
“He told them about Glacial Blood. You’re all unsafe.”
“They’ve no proof about us.” Zain cradled her closer while Isobel sobbed.
“It was horrible.”
“What?”
“Kingsley.”
“Kingsley? Izzy, what’s happening?” Everyone crowded around them.
“Nuka gave my father a picture of him here. I am aware Kingsley knew about you all along.”
Zain shivered. “I’m sorry. It was an accident, him finding out.”
“They shot him.” Isobel collapsed in his arms. He carried her to a chair and seated her.
“What? Who shot him?”
“My father is part of a task force designated to discover and neutralize the threat of shifters. The senator business is all a lie. He’s dangerous, and he’s after everyone here. They think you’ve made Kingsley a shifter, so they tranquilized him to test him. They’re on their way here. You’ve got to leave. All of you, please.” She lifted her head up and looked around the room, finishing with her gaze on Kas. “Nuka vanished in the room, in front of my father. If he sees you, he’ll capture you.”
Zain met Kas’ eyes. He could see the worry in them although he was trying to conceal it.
“Jessica,” he called, and the witch instantly appeared. “Take everyone else to the Reichstag. You’ll be safe there. Find Molly and take her as well. She’ll probably argue. Do what ever you need to do to take her.”
“What about you?” Jessica asked.
“I’m going to the village.”
“You can’t. You have to go,” Isobel pleaded. “What your brother did has placed you directly in danger.”
“I have a pack; I have to make sure they’re all safe, first.” Zain knew what Kas meant by this. He counted Kingsley as a member of Glacial Blood. The man had helped them out on several occasions despite the fact that he was entirely human.
“Jessica.” He got to his feet. “Take Isobel. I’m going to help Kas.”
“No.” Isobel clung to him. “Please.”
“I have to help. Kas took me in. This is my job: I’m a fighter for the Glacial Blood. I have people to protect.”
“Then, I’m going to help you.”
“I want you to go with Jessica.”
“They’ve got my brother.” She looked between him and Kas. “You’re going after him, aren’t you?”
“He’s part of my pack.” Kas’ tone gave no room for argument. Katia, Brayden, Teagan, and Tyler joined their tight little circle. “Brayden, you go to Selene. She needs you.”
The snow-leopard shook his head.
“Not happening. She’d have my balls for not helping out. The baby, for all the trouble it’s caused, is protecting her.”
“Alright. You go to the village. Jessica, get Molly. Katia, Teagan, Tyler, help Brayden. Isobel, if you really want to help the best thing you can do, for now, is to go back to your father. We need to keep one step ahead of him. We need to find out where they’re holding Kingsley, if possible.”
Isobel looked at him, and he reassured her.
“I’ll find out as much as I can.”
“Thank you. Zain, you come with me. We’re going to prepare to rescue one of our own.”
He nodded.
“Can I have five minutes with Isobel, first, please?” he asked.
Kas looked between them.
“I’ll help the others in the village. Come find me.”
“Thank you.” He nodded to his alpha.
Isobel looked up at him and took his hand.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
“I know.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Zain led her through the mansion up to his bedroom. She loved the old world style of the place they were in, and it gave her some comfort. She wasn’t sure why but assumed it could only come from its history and the survival of the building despite the odds. Odds that, at the moment, were against them.
Her bear lover closed the door when they entered the room, and she went to sit on his bed. Her heart was almost beating out of her chest. She was terrified of what was about to happen.
“I’m sorry.”
Zain cocked his head to look at her.
“Why are you sorry?”
“My father…” she started to speak, but he interrupted her.
“Is your father. You don’t own him or govern what he does. This doesn’t reflect on you at all. Please, don’t worry.” Zain came to crouch down in front of her. He put his large hands on her thighs. Electricity shot up her body like it always did when he touched her.
“I wanted to stop him, but instead I just went to my room like a little girl in fear of punishment from the big bad wolf.”
A smirk broke out on Zain’s face.
“Don’t use that phrase in front of Tyler. He gets a bit moody about it unless it relates to him trying to prowl into Teagan’s panties.”
She slapped lightly at his hand.
“Now isn’t the time for jokes. I'm serious. My father wants to prove shifters exist and rid the world of the danger he thinks you pose. They tranquilized my own brother. I’m terrified of what they are doing to him. What if they’re hurting him?”
Zain leaned forward and kissed her on the tip of the nose. An intimate gesture of comfort.
“Your brother’s stronger than you give him credit for. He’s known about the possibility of this for a long time, and he’s been prepared for it. We all have. It always amazes me how shifters have remained hidden for this long. The world will see we’re not the wild animals some people portray us to be. That we can live side by side with humans, just as we have done for thousands of years.”
“I fear your optimism may b
e misguided. Have you not seen all the movies where we perform tests on aliens simply because they’re different? Humans have little tolerance for that which is out of the ordinary. We’re xenophobic, believing we own this earth, and it’s our right to bully anything that does not conform or is unusual in any way.”
“That’s a minority of people. Not everyone’s that way. Look at you and Kingsley. Neither of you want to dissect us to see if we’re the same as you inside. You both instantly accepted us as a part of your lives. Izzy, you allow me into your body, to join with you as one. That compassion is shared by millions, no billions of others.”
“But a few fear-mongers will cause all the problems. Are you really telling me there aren’t shifters who want to do humans harm? To rid the earth of us. I know you can’t because I met two this afternoon who want to do just that. A war is going to start between humans and shifters, and it scares the hell out of me.”
Zain ran his hand over her cheek, and she rested her chin on it.
“I never wanted you to have to make a decision like this. It’s why I left. You’re right, a war is coming. I think it will start, today. Your father may not have proof that I’m a shifter just yet, but with the information Nuka has given him, he won’t rest until he gets it. He’ll never allow us to be together. His grandchildren would be shifters: bear cubs. He won’t allow that to happen.” She gulped at his words. The thought of children with Zain should bring great joy to her, but the knowledge that her father would want them caged like wild animals brought bile to her throat instead.
“I can’t,” she whispered. He brought her into his arms as she broke down and sobbed. She’d had her whole life on hold for too long, but then Zain had come back into it, and she’d found joy that she didn’t know existed. Now, it was crumbling all around her. All she wanted to do was live and love life. Why did fate conspire against her? What had she done to deserve this? She’d always been a good girl. She’d done her homework on time, had good grades, eaten everything given to her even if she felt sick from the disgusting taste. She respected her elders. She went to church; ok not all the time, but she did go, and said her prayers before bed. She was the good American girl her father needed her to be for his position as a senator, and all of it had been a lie. It was simply a cover for this other role where he wanted to torture and kill people who happened to have special abilities. It was unfair, and she was done being a doormat. She was going to take her own fate into her hands.
