“That is so weird. That can’t be all of it, just having mixed blood, or every shifter with mixed blood would be white, right?”
“Not true. Only the Polars bred true. Most, if not all, Kermode have mixed blood, but not all Kermode give birth to Kermode. Even among the Lowe family there’s only one white Lion born into the family at a time, and he’s the only white Lion ever.” Sebastian rubbed his hand over his head. “I just don’t understand how one becomes a white shifter.”
“You were always white?” Barney asked.
Sebastian nodded. “Since my first shift.”
“Bloodlines.” Kincade started to pace. “It must have something to do not only with mixed blood, but the bloodlines themselves.”
“So if we traced ancestry, we might be able to predict that a white shifter would pop up in a certain family, but not necessarily which person would become a white shifter.” Barney stared at Heather. “That explains the attack on you, but not the attack on Chloe. She didn’t become a white shifter until she nearly died.”
“Same thing with Jamie Howard, right? He died and Julian brought him back.” They exchanged a horrified glance. “Why does near-death result in a red Fox turning white?”
“I’m not sure, but it must have something to do with the spirits. Reconnecting, maybe?”
There was a loud snort from the sofa before Artemis’s snoring resumed.
Heather picked up one of the pages. “Here it says that the Polars were the same as the Lowe family, white shifters from birth, but look. This is a new mark.” The line at the bottom of the list of Polars had an e. next to it.
“E for extinct.” Sebastian threw the page he’d been holding onto his desk. “There are no more Polars in the world.”
“Could…could this be about extinction?” Heather bit her lip and frowned. “Could they be trying to exterminate any possibility of white shifters?”
Both Sebastian and Kincade looked at her like she’d lost her mind, but Barney’s hold on her tightened. “It’s a possibility. If they keep the white shifter population down, what do they gain?”
“Or what do we lose?” Kincade stared at the list again. “Seb, maybe it’s time to bring the white shifters here.”
“No.” Sebastian stood. “The whites are gathering in Halle for a reason. I say we go to them.”
“You’re out of your fucking gourd if you think I’m letting you go to Halle, Seb.” Kincade crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s so dangerous I’m inclined to keep Barney and Heather here on indefinite hold.”
“No can do.” Barney hitched his thumb toward Sebastian. “The Leo has me investigating the white shifters, remember? And I’m not one to go against orders.”
Kincade stared at him. “I love how you said that with a straight face.”
“Thank you.” Barney chuckled, his breath warm against Heather’s ear. “I try.”
“We need to figure out who is involved in this and why.” Sebastian put his hands on his hips. “Kincade?”
“We start by arresting Kris Jennings.”
“Excellent. Sign me up.” Sebastian nodded. “All right. You and Barney deal with that. Barney.”
“Sir?” Barney lifted his head off her shoulder.
“I want you to work with Kincade. Heather and I will continue to go over this paperwork and see if anything else stands out. We’ll also see if we can get Artemis to help us.”
A large snore erupted from the sofa.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make him help.” Sebastian smiled, showing fangs. “He won’t know what hit him.”
The whimper from the sofa quickly turned into a snort, then more snoring.
“We know a lot already, thanks to Cole. He already told us he was working for Kris Jennings. My men are questioning the gunman to find out if there’s anyone else involved.” Kincade stared at Barney. “There’s a chance that Jennings knows we’re on to her. She saw us go into her office. She could be on the run.”
“Wonderful.” Barney rubbed his hands together. “I love a good Hunt.”
Sebastian sat back at his desk with a sigh. “I’m going to go over that book Heather and I found. Maybe there are some answers in that.”
“Yes, sire.” Barney bowed, which was awkward as hell considering he was still holding her.
“Text me if you find anything.” Kincade walked out of the library,
“Will do,” Sebastian shouted after him. “It’s not like I don’t know whom I report to,” he muttered under his breath. He glanced at Barney. “You still here?”
“Nope.” Barney picked Heather up and put her in the chair across from Sebastian. “We’re gone.” He kissed the top of her head. “Keep your Hobbit ass—”
“Safe, I know.” She reached up and stroked his cheek. “You too.”
“I will.” He winked. “I’ve got backup this time.” He strolled past the sofa and smacked Artemis on the head. “Wakey wakey, little flakey.”
“Ugh.” Artemis sat up, rubbing the top of his head. “Asshole.”
“Sorry, mine’s spoken for.” Barney strutted out of the room, patting his rear, singing something about Artemis shoulda put a ring on it.
“Oh my God.” Heather put her face in her hands. “I signed up for a lifetime of—” she waved her hand toward the door, “—that.”
Sebastian was too busy laughing to answer.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Check your ammo,” Kincade shouted. He strode down the line of men, all of them suited in black and dark blue. On their arms was the symbol of the Leo, a stylized roaring lion’s head. This was the Leo’s personal guard, the men and women completely loyal to no one but the Leo himself. Some were armed with handguns similar to Kincade’s Glock, others with M4 carbines, and almost all of them had Remington 870 shotguns strapped somewhere on their person. All of them carried tactical batons. Those who didn’t have retractable claws wore gloves reinforced with steel. In their pockets were pepper spray grenades and flash bangs.
Wait. Was that an RPG strapped to the back of one of the SUVs? What the hell was Kincade expecting? World War III?
Each of the team did as told, hollering out when they reaffirmed they were locked and loaded. Two turned away for more ammo, earning the good-natured jeering of their fellows.
Kincade looked on with an expression close to boredom until all of his team was ready. “You know the drill. We’re apprehending Kris Jennings, Ocelot Senator and traitor to the Leo.” He glanced at one man in particular. “Any problem with this, you are free to stand down.”
The man, probably an Ocelot, shook his head. “No, sir! No problem here.”
“Good.” Kincade patted the man’s shoulder. “We go in, take her alive, and we bring her to the Leo in chains. Tape her mouth shut, people. Ocelots can manipulate your emotions, so don’t let her talk you into loosening her chains.” He strode up and down the line, personally checking each man as Barney looked on. “We run into more than we can handle, we call in the specialists.”
All of them winced at that.
“Specialists?” Barney muttered.
“And none of us want that, do we?” Kincade ignored Barney’s comment.
“No, sir!” The team shouted back.
Barney checked his own equipment. He’d kept his Sig Sauer rather than take the Glock Kincade had offered him, as well as the steel gloves. His own five-inch Grizzly claws were more than enough in hand-to-hand. He had, however, accepted the shotgun and the baton. He’d chosen to wear his Hunter garb rather than the elite uniform, making him stand out in the crowd. His cowboy hat was firmly on his head, his feet in his favorite pair of boots. His beat to hell duster was reinforced in the chest and abdomen with ballistic cloth. On his forearms were a pair of thick leather bracers, designed to deflect claws and knives.
He was ready for the Hunt to begin.
“Let’s get this party started, ladies and gentlemen.” Kincade hustled his crew into three SUVs, each capable of holding eight people. He took hold of Barney’s arm and led him to the first vehicle, putting him in the front passenger seat. Kincade took the wheel, leading the convoy out. “The specialists are snipers. If we have to call them in, Kris Jennings will die.”
“Ah.” Barney understood. “Sometimes the Hunt goes badly, and the mark dies.”
Kincade nodded. “We need her alive so she can answer to Sebastian. He’s the only one likely to get anything out of her. She’ll be able to manipulate anyone else.”
“He’s immune to her power?” That surprised Barney. Even the Leo had his limits, or so he’d thought.
Kincade smiled. “More like he doesn’t listen to anyone’s bullshit. Besides, he can order her not to use her powers on him, and she’ll be forced to comply.”
“Good point.” He watched the desert landscape roll by. “He’s right, you know.”
“About?”
“Going to Halle.”
Kincade scowled, his tone turning dark. “I don’t think so.”
Barney didn’t reply. He’d thought, once upon a time, that he’d never leave Montana. Now look at him. Mated, ready to move to a small college town and eager to get his life started for real. “I want to start a school for Hunters in Halle.”
Kincade grunted. “I figured you would. You’ve been training them for a while now. Why not centralize it?”
“And it can teach us to work together rather than as single Hunters. We’re dying out there, or worse, turning rogue. We need to be able to help one another.”
“I don’t think Sebastian will object.” Kincade turned down a long driveway not far from where they’d started. “It’s the Senate you’ll have to convince.”
“Carl is behind it, but Ian is too old-school to accept it.”
“I’ll put out some feelers and see where they lead. You may get your wish sooner than you think.”
“Thanks.” They pulled up to the Ocelot Senator’s house, surprised to find the area loaded with cars. “Fuck me stupid.”
Kincade picked up the radio mic. “We have company, people. Play it low until we get inside, then nab the Senator.”
“What if these aren’t party guests, but party guests?” Barney gestured toward the front door, where two men could be seen talking into their own mics.
“Then we end it.” Kincade pulled around the circular driveway, forming a half moon with the vehicles. He got out, gesturing to Barney go get out on the driver’s side rather than the passenger’s. “You do what we tell you. This is a raid, not a Hunt.”
“Aye, sir.” Barney knew full well he was there solely because Sebastian wanted him to be. “Where do you want me?”
“Stay by my side unless your instincts go off.”
Staring at the mansion, Barney couldn’t sense anything. “This is politics, not Hunter business. She’s not rogue, not that I can sense.”
“Hmm. I think your definition of rogue shifter and mine are different.” Kincade moved to the back of his vehicle and cupped his hands. “Stand down. We’re here for Senator Kris Jennings. She’s under arrest for—”
He was forced to duck back behind the SUV as gunfire erupted from the mansion windows. The two men who’d been guarding the front door immediately ducked inside, closing it behind them.
“Shit. Welcome to World War III.” Barney pulled out his Sig Sauer. “We’re pinned.”
“I noticed,” Kincade responded sourly. He had his M4 out and pointed at the house. “I need you to sneak around the back, see if there’s a way in.”
Barney nodded. He’d never been in quite this position before, but he could handle what was being asked of him. He glanced around, wondering what he could use as cover.
He stuck his head out from behind the SUV, shooting his Sig Sauer toward the windows. The answering hail of gunfire forced him back behind cover. “Yeah. Not gonna happen. We need to take a few of these guys out before I can do that.”
Kincade yelled, “Watch your sixes and sevens!”
Two of the enforcers turned, their backs to the SUVs. Both of them had their M4s pointed at the driveway.
“We can’t stay here. We need to figure out how to advance.” Barney fired over the hood of the SUV. A faint cry of pain was his reward. “We could get in the SUV and drive into the door.”
“You watch too many movies,” Kincade replied as he too fired over the hood. The gunfire was damn near deafening at such close range. “We hit the steps, not drive up them.”
“You need a stuntman on your team.” Barney got on his stomach and looked at the mansion from under the SUV. “Looks like they’ve got the main floor windows all knocked out. Not seeing any of the upper windows broken.”
“Good. Hopefully they’re all on the main floor.”
“Jennings is probably somewhere else, guarded in case we breach the house.” Barney had faced that sort of situation with one rogue who’d made enough money to hire bodyguards. “That I can handle.”
“See any way in?” Kincade fired again, keeping up the barrage until Barney’s ears rang.
“Not yet. We need to thin their ranks some more.”
One of the men with Kincade whispered in his ear. Kincade nodded, pointing twice at the third vehicle. The man nodded and raced off between the SUVs.
“RPG?” Barney asked, his eyes still trained on the house.
“RPG.” Kincade stuck his head under the SUV. “We’re aiming for the first window on the left.”
A rocket propelled grenade, possibly filled with tear gas, would take down a number of them. Especially shifters with sensitive noses or eyes. That would get them the time they needed to get into the house and find Kris Jennings. “I’ll go in that way, then. One man might slip by from the back.”
“While we storm the front.” Kincade glanced to the right, where the RPG was located. “We’ll fire on the left once you’ve moved.”
“Give me a three count once the first grenade’s gone off.” Barney readied himself to move. His adrenaline was pumping, his Grizzly ready to head out of this no-win situation and nab their target. This, grabbing the bad guy and bringing him or her to justice, was what he was born to do.
He heard the telltale pop-fwoosh of the grenade being launched, then Kincade’s soft three count. He rolled out from under the SUV and crawled along the driveway, keeping as low as he could. He could hear the coughing and screaming as the pepper spray took effect.
He’d just made it around the corner of the mansion when the second pop/fwoosh went off, undoubtedly making the gunmen’s lives miserable. Barney had been on the receiving end of pepper spray before.
Personally, he wasn’t a fan, but in this case? He loved it so much he wanted make babies with it.
He made it to the back of the house without incident, surprising the hell out of himself. Were all the guards at the front? Surely there had to be—
Damn it. He rolled under a bush as a bullet impacted the dirt right next to where his head had been. He got to his hands and knees, his gun still in his hand, and searched for the man who’d tried to blow his brains out.
He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and lashed out, his claws digging into someone’s ankle. The scream that followed was barely heard over the charge of Kincade and his men bringing down the front door of the mansion.
Barney pulled, practically severing the foot of his attacker. The man fell with a grunt, and Barney finished him off, shoving his claws into the man’s throat. The man gurgled for a moment before he died, his eyes wide and horrified before their life drained out.
Barney pushed away from the body and pressed his back to the stucco and stone of the house wall. He glanced up, seeing a window above him. Going in that way might work, but if someone on the other side heard the window
opening, Barney would be screwed.
No. He’d stick to the original plan and head around to the back. If there were more guards he’d deal with them.
He slid along the wall, keeping his coat from getting too scratched up by the stucco. God, he hated that shit. It looked pretty, but it could grow mold, crack, and worse, scratch the crap out of you.
He reached the back of the house without another encounter. He checked the yard, finding no one there. All of them must have been in the house, dealing with Kincade. Or so he hoped. There could be a sniper in the trees, guarding the back of the house. If there was, he was fucked. He’d just have to risk it. So he ran for the back door and rammed it open, hoping the sounds of Kincade and his men would keep him from being found out.
Turned out he was right about that sniper. The bullet barely missed his head, singeing the top of his ear and some of the hair away. He dove once more to the floor and used his foot to slam the door shut.
He was inside. Now all he had to do was find the Ocelot Senator.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Now it was Sebastian’s turn to pace. He was holding the yellowed book in his hands, reading random passages out loud while Heather compiled a list of deceased shifters versus those who had lived and become white shifters. “I can’t fucking believe it. Listen to this: ‘And the white shifters will stand at the side of the Leo and be his advisors in all things.’ What the hell? That’s the fucking Senate!” He turned another page. “Ah. Here we go. ‘But should no white shifter be born of a line, then the line shall elect an advisor to be approved by the Leo.’”
“Wait. So the Senate was made up of white shifters once upon a time?” Heather looked up from her notes, astonished at what the Leo was revealing. “So that means that the white shifters were killed over power?”
“And then all mention of them was suppressed so that no Leo would ever know that he was missing his link to the spirit world. We had our own fucking bible here all along, and we ignored it because it wasn’t ‘relevant’.” He carefully turned another page, grimacing as he read. “It seems like there was this whole other universe I knew nothing about. And my father hid it from me.” He looked like he wanted to throw the book across the room, but luckily he refrained.
Indirect Lines: Halle Shifters, Book 5 Page 19
