by R. J. Blain
I nodded, and I began from the moment the attack began, glossing over nothing, not even my agent’s death. In some ways, I hated acknowledging Simmons wouldn’t return despite having witnessed the life fade from his eyes. Nothing would bring him back, but I’d never imaged it would be so hard to let someone go.
My aunt scowled at my mention of the drug on the arrow and Ferdinand’s daily bites in his desperate attempt to control me and the Hope Diamond. “What a fool.”
“Which part makes him a fool?”
“All of it.”
“Are you being a biased aunt or honest?” I’d learned early on to ask, as my aunt, for all she ruled over the United States with an iron paw the size of a dinner plate, had certain ideas about how the world should view me, despite my long history as an assassin for hire.
She scowled. “I’m being honest.”
“This time, she is,” Gentry announced, striding into the room and pausing long enough to drop a kiss on top of my head. “Your neck looks like Ferdinand put it through a blender. Good job disposing of him. I’ve been told I’m not allowed to mutilate his body, as that is a crime. I’m very unhappy with these law-abiding busy bodies. I couldn’t even get them to turn around for five seconds. That said, even when we planned for it, we need to work on you getting grabbed out from under our noses. You’re bad for my blood pressure. I’m going to have your agent run you through every damned training session to get you into shape and make certain you’re better able to defend yourself.” My uncle raised a brow and stared at Anatoly and Randal. “I see you’ve been collecting cats.”
I pointed at the black panther. “You haven’t been taking care of my panther, Gentry. He’s tired.”
“And what about your tiger?”
As there was no point in hiding my claim over him, I dug my fingers into Anatoly’s fur. “Would he let you take care of him?”
Gentry laughed. “All right. That’s a fair point, little girl. How are you feeling?”
“Much better now, thank you. Is Randal going to be all right?”
“He’ll be fine. He’s been pushing himself hard, and losing Simmons hurt. Once he confirmed you were safe, he reached his limit. Don’t worry yourself. Your tiger will be fine, too, although I can’t help but notice you two have gotten aggressive with your teeth again.”
“My neck offended his delicate sensibilities. I’ve noticed he has very delicate sensibilities. Give me something to do, Gentry. Something useful.”
“I can do that. We have hundreds of pages of papers to read in a short period of time, and two of the more literate among us seem to be sleeping on the job. You can do their work until they wake up, then you can have your turn taking a nap. If your neck hurts, I’ll go fetch Henry to fix it.”
“It’s fine, but I refuse to let any except the one scar.” I pointed at where Anatoly had bitten me. “This one stays, and I will be very upset should anyone try to remove this one.”
“Tigers,” my uncle spat in disgust before turning on a heel and marching out of the room.
“Don’t mind Gentry,” my aunt said, sitting on the floor beside me. “He’s upset there’s no one left here for him to kill. He’ll get over it eventually.”
“I thought grizzlies held grudges into eternity.”
“We hold grudges until death, and we like it best when we are the cause of death. If what we’ve learned is right, we’ll be wading through blood and bodies before this is over. He’ll get his satisfaction soon enough. I’ll even save a few for him. This is the beginning of the end. I will see to that personally.”
I feared she was right.
Chapter Fifteen
Papers ruled my life. Instead of delivering them for hire, I read, shaking my head over the insanity. Ferdinand, in his madness, had taken everything he’d learned from working within a mercenary guild, applied it to how he thought a government should operate, and had sought to reshape everything in a guild’s image. Every level of government was up for hire, with the President of the United States being the one who decided who would win the important roles, earn the best keep, and dodge being little more than an expendable grunt.
Everything about the new system screamed impending war, a war that would pit mystics and shifters against each other. If Ferdinand’s plans succeeded, the prominent mercenary guilds of Charlotte would be scattered and destroyed, and the Clan Council would be eliminated, its members murdered so the old way couldn’t infect the new order. The mystics would face a similar fate, with any mystics in higher seats of power losing their lives to prevent their corruption from tainting the group’s version of the future.
The attack on Charlotte accomplished so few of Ferdinand’s goals, save for one critical piece: their acquisition of the Hope Diamond.
Had my aunt not asked me to play along to learn more, they wouldn’t have gotten that much. In a way, her request had become our saving grace. My time as a captive had won us a great deal—and had bought the pack of wolf women their freedom.
I flipped through the pages, setting aside the ones that repeated their main goals and added nothing new to our information on their plot. While Ferdinand held a high role, we missed a critical piece: the identity of the true mastermind.
Someone as foolish, stupid, and cowardly as Ferdinand couldn’t be the mastermind. I refused to accept we’d lost so much to someone so damned stupid. The evidence he was close to the top surrounded me, and the Starfall stones I’d discovered in his safe supported he might, in truth, be the one behind so many of our problems.
It made me wonder if he’d been a traitor all along.
It made me wonder if Marie had been traitor all along, too.
“You look like I’ve taken your sword and refuse to give it back,” Gentry announced, crouching in front of me. “What’s on your mind?”
“You have taken my sword, and you refuse to give it back,” I reminded him.
“You can have it back tomorrow. Today, you get to keep resting with your tiger and your agent. In the morning, you can have your sword back and resume giving us gray hairs. I figure if I hold your sword hostage, you might not run off.”
I considered that. “Did Todd bring that cute little gun of his?”
“He did, actually. He grabbed most of his weapons, and then he decided he may as well look stylish—and be armed if we have to fight in a combustion zone.”
“Fetch Todd, and make him give me his gun. If I can’t stab someone, I wish to have the right to shoot them.”
My uncle sighed and shook his head. “We’re not in a combustion zone, Jesse.”
“I don’t need a combustion zone, Gentry. I have the Hope Diamond. The damned gun will work.” Of course, the Hope Diamond wasn’t the reason the gun would fire, but I meant to keep that secret close to my heart in case I somehow became separated from the Starfall stone.
Most of the time, I forgot it hung around my neck. And when I didn’t, the stone made certain I didn’t take it off—and prevented others from removing it. It got in Anatoly’s way more than it got in mine, but I found his frustration with the gaudy thing amusing.
He really wanted to nibble beneath the setting and stake a claim there.
“That is one of the scariest things I’ve heard in a while, Jesse, and that counts that damned wait to find out if Stephanie had kicked the bucket on me during the attack.”
“I did not kick any buckets,” my aunt growled from across the room. “Don’t fill her head with nonsense.”
Gentry drew in a deep breath, and I slapped my hands with the papers I’d been reading to my ears to protect myself against the grizzly’s roar. The thunderous sound woke Anatoly and Randal, who jumped to their paws. Their snarls and roars added to the cacophony. Sighing, I dropped the documents and snagged their scruffs before my uncle earned a mauling.
The large cats quieted when I tugged on their fur, although Anatoly hissed at Gentry.
“You’re an idiot,” my aunt announced, her tone filled with her disgust. “Did you ha
ve to wake the other idiots?”
“Yes. You about lost your damned head, and it was just damned luck Henry and Cleo were around in the aftermath.”
Uh oh. To all appearances, my aunt looked fine, but shifters deceived people often. What didn’t kill them outright wouldn’t keep them down forever, but scars happened—unless a mystic erased them. To offer the illusion of stability, mystics would’ve removed any scars from my aunt within minutes of them forming.
I engaged my aunt in a staring contest, one I refused to lose.
“Don’t you look at me like that, little girl.”
Gentry wasn’t the only one who could roar, and I unleashed one, baring my teeth as the sound died away to make it clear she didn’t frighten me in the slightest. Anatoly tensed, and Randal twisted around and tried to lick at my hand, probably to convince me not to attack the President of the United States.
“Having been on the receiving end of her ire, she really will dance with you, Stephanie. You know this. I know this. She definitely knows this, and she doesn’t care she’s still mauled from that damned wolf. Not only will she dance with you, she’s just like her mother, which means she doesn’t know when to quit. That means Henry and Cleo will have to nurse you both back to health, as you both have a lot of frustration to work out. I’d also like to point out that Nate will dance with you, too, because that’s what a male tiger does when his mate picks a fight with someone bigger, older, more experienced, and generally nastier than she is. And yes, Stephanie, you’re nastier. You don’t fight fair, and we all know it. I’m glad you don’t fight fair, which is why you’re alive, but she isn’t up for a full spat with you.”
Like hell I wasn’t. I shifted my glare to Gentry, and he raised his hands in surrender.
My aunt sighed. “While I’m old, I’m not at any risk of falling over dead. I’m quite healthy, thank you.”
“You weren’t quite healthy three weeks ago.” Gentry wrinkled his nose. “I’m impressed your killer rabbit hasn’t come barging in here ready to knock heads together to make sure you’ve recovered properly.”
The First Gentleman chuckled and strolled into the room, and he paused near me long enough to ruffle my hair. “If you really want to work your temper out on my wife, give it another week. And don’t you even try to pretend your leg is fine. I caught you limping this morning, Stephanie.”
“Damn it.” The President of the United States flipped her middle finger at her husband. “Next you’re going to start patting my head and asking me if I’d like a cup of tea so I can settle down.”
My rabbit of an uncle knelt beside Randal and scratched my agent between his ears. “I just might. If your little girl of a niece can learn to tolerate us being affectionate with her, I’m sure even an old grizzly like you can learn a new trick. She didn’t even try to bite my hand off that time. Good job on tearing out Ferdinand’s throat, and even better work on disposing of our other problem. We’ve recovered her body, and we dealt with her to Todd’s specifications.”
I recognized trouble when I heard it. “To Todd’s specifications? Wait, how did you find her body?”
Todd entered the room and snorted. “Nate took a few minutes to think like you, and he suggested you would try to hide her in plain sight, but you wouldn’t want her scent to betray her burial site. The ladies mentioned something they’d overheard, so they directed us to the crater. Henry and Cleo spotted the disturbed slope, so we figured Marie was probably beneath it. We were right. Anyway, I asked she be given a somewhat tolerable burial, but that was only after the rest of my requests were refused.” The stallion joined me, sat down, gathered the papers I’d dropped, and stacked them in a neat pile. “While you were dozing, we took turns visiting her body, and we were rather impressed with your determination to make certain your mark would be noticed long after death. What did you do to her? Did you take the Hope Diamond off and use it to carve your mark into her forehead?”
“No, but that would have been a really good idea, and I regret I hadn’t thought of that, not that I can get the blasted thing off. But if I could, I most certainly would have abused the Starfall stone’s powers to do just that.” I released the two large cats, figuring Gentry could defend himself if they got snappy. I reached over, and as Todd liked to ruffle my hair, I patted his head. “Are you okay?”
“Better than I thought I’d be,” he admitted. “Having the wolves to care for helps. They’re all crashed out. Cleo and Henry want to borrow you and see if you can put that stone to good use.”
“Which puppies are in trouble?”
“Rachelle’s are in the most danger, and Gillian’s is in pretty rough shape, too.”
I sucked in a breath. “Rachelle’s? But she’s so far along. Wait. Are? There’s more than one?”
I wanted to return to Ferdinand’s body and tear him to bits. I growled, and when a growl didn’t suffice to express my disgust over the wolf’s destructive choices, I hissed. I’d save my roaring for when I had no other options.
The Hope Diamond would get a very rude wakeup call if it didn’t get its ass in gear and do something good for a change. However much I appreciated some elements of its existence, including my ongoing life despite impossible odds, the suffering it’d wrought far outweighed the rest of its deeds.
I didn’t want either of the women to lose the children they’d fought so hard to keep.
“When Cleo figured out the puppies were in trouble, he took a closer look and realized she’s carrying twins. Twins are hard on a woman in the first place, and she’s been abused. That’s no fault of hers. And she’s late enough into her pregnancy Cleo is thinking about inducing labor and hoping he can rescue them and get them through the next few weeks. Their chances might be better.” Todd sighed, a pained and defeated sound. “But he hates losing little ones, and he’s getting desperate.”
“The Hope Diamond has a mind of its own, but maybe it’ll help.” I got to my feet, and I patted the large cats before pointing at my aunt. “Play guard cats and sit on her if she tries to leave. She’s obviously trouble.”
My aunt snorted. “That’s cute coming from you, little girl. I’m not going anywhere. I still have at least a hundred pages of bullshit and treachery to read.”
“Good. Anatoly, if Randal tries to escape, sit on him.”
Gentry laughed. “You’re in a mood today, Jesse. If you think those two are going to let you out of their sight, you’re deluded. I’ll keep an eye on Stephanie. Take those troublemakers with you so they don’t whine. I’m tired of the whining. And don’t listen to anything Stephanie says, either. She’s as much of a whiner as your mate and agent. Once your neck heals, you’re going to get flattened on the mat and cuddled into submission. I expect the rabbit will do the majority of the flattening, as he has half a chance of giving you a good run in your peak condition. And make no mistake, we need to get you back into peak condition as soon as possible.” The grizzly glared at the stacks of papers taking over the sitting room. “This is just the beginning.”
I was so tired of every disaster ultimately becoming the beginning of yet another disaster. “The next time I decide to mark a damned tiger in a bar, I’m skipping straight to unlawful possession of another living being and moving to a quiet cabin deep in the woods to prevent discovery.”
Anatoly chuffed his amusement and rubbed his head against my leg to mark his territory.
My aunt raised a brow. “And what are your plans for this damned tiger you plan on finding in a bar?”
I pointed at Anatoly. “This tiger, specifically. He’s an easy mark. And I have all the tools I need to make the bar clear out so I can tattoo him at my utter leisure.”
“Your sense of humor is evil. I thought you should know this.” My aunt shook her head and heaved a sigh. “Try to make one of those damned Starfall stones do something useful for a change. And for fuck’s sake, keep Sunder contained. Also, as I’m a bitch over all bitches, if you want to hear Gentry scream like a girl, show him Sunder.”
My uncle lifted his hands and made a gesture against evil. “No.”
Smiling over having nettled him, I said, “It seems happy enough to stay in the bag. They all do.”
I’d been given a bag large enough to hold all of them, made of thick, good leather with loops to tie to my belt.
My aunt snorted. “That’s because you’re holding the Hope Diamond.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Well, except we’re fairly certain Steel Heart exists because of the Hope Diamond.”
“All of those stones exist because of the Hope Diamond. That’s the most popular—and probably accurate—theory. They’ve all been recorded having a similar miasma to the Hope Diamond. Especially your stiletto, which has a shard of the original diamond.”
Crap. I’d forgotten all about the stiletto. “Did you find it?”
“It’s with your sword. We saw it’d gotten some use; you used it after you were separated from your katana? I’m assuming the Hope Diamond has something to do with its unexpectedly sharp state.”
I nodded and played along with her assumption. “I even got a hit on Ferdinand, but it didn’t do me a whole lot of good. Should’ve poisoned the damned thing before throwing it at him.”
I wonder if scratching the bastard, however lightly, had contributed to his inability to make his bites work on me. I discarded the idea as absurd. No, I’d shrugged off his pitiful attempts because I’d already marked my territory, and I’d done so of my own volition. More than that, I’d done so years ago.
It would take more than a mad wolf to disrupt my claim on Anatoly.
I released my anger, gave myself a good shake, and reminded myself the dead stayed dead. Ferdinand could wallow over his failures in his grave. Under no circumstances would I allow his interference to ruin my future.
