by May Sage
Rye lifted a brow. “We don’t have eagle allies.”
A lot of eagles were hired by the shifter council, and no Alpha of their kind made allies amongst other races. Their laws forbid it.
“I know,” he snapped.
This made absolutely no sense.
“It could be that girl,” Daunte piped up. “You know? The one who came to warn us. She applied to be part of the pride, I remember her face. Then, Clari jumped her in the woods.”
“Oops?” his mate winced guiltily.
“She never turned up after that.”
Rye nodded, acknowledging every piece of information he’d just been given. Then, he came to the conclusion Coveney had anticipated. “Sounds pretty weird to me. I’m grateful she helped us, but if she’s lurked around for weeks without reaching out, she could very well be a spy, for all we know. We’ll send someone to track her, and interrogate her, when things calm down. Right now, I need every one of you in the pride house, making sure no enemy is lingering around us, waiting for a chance to strike.”
Yeah, he should have kept his mouth shut.
Coveney considered explaining himself; there was no one he trusted as much as Rye. But he found himself at loss for words, unsure of how he could formulate what he wanted to say. The girl was poisoned, sure, but it wasn’t a Wyvern problem. Rye wouldn’t care. Coveney shouldn’t care.
Make him care, his tiger roared.
He stayed silent. He’d never asked a favor of his Alpha, and he wasn’t going to start now. Not when he already owed him so damn much.
He paced some more, for all of three minutes, before his steps led him out of the dining room.
He hadn’t even crossed the entry hall when the door opened behind him.
“Have you lost your goddamn mind?” Daunte half barked, half whispered, careful not to be overheard by anyone in the dining room.
Shit. Everyone had seemed occupied, and Coveney was hardly the life of the party; he hadn’t believed his absence would be noticed immediately.
Coveney had anticipated Rye’s order because he understood it. There was a good chance that there still were enemies at their door, away from their wards, but close enough to catch an opportunity to strike against them. For now, their enemies might have lost, but they still wanted the pride’s kids’ lives. Their absolute priority had to be protecting the pride. Coveney knew that. As Head Enforcer, he was familiar with pride politics. He also didn’t give a shit. He needed to go find the bird. He needed it more than he needed his next breath.
He’d changed drastically after the incident in the Royal Pride. Not only because he learned what it was like to find himself considered a criminal and watch those he trusted turn their backs on him. He changed because he also saw people, who didn’t have one reason to, give up everything for him. There was no way he could ever repay Rye and the others for leaving their pride to be with him. That slate would never be wiped clean, however much he tried. But, from that moment onward, he decided that he’d always get even. If someone was doing him a favor, he returned it. And he owed the damn bird. Big time.
He might just be going overboard. There was a chance she was just fine. But if he was right, if she’d been hit…
The least he could do was find out.
“You can’t go against Rye’s orders right now. We’ve just been attacked, dammit.”
He stared at Daunte. His guilt trip was working, but he wasn’t going to let it show. He didn’t want any member of the pride to worry; he just didn’t care as much as he cared about finding the girl.
Finally, the Beta gave up on their little stare-off, with a sigh.
“If you’re gonna be a fucker, at least attempt to be an intelligent one. We have a decent tracker with us, for once. Take her.”
Oh, yeah. That might have been smart.
He looked back towards the closed doors; Ace had called a very small number of close friends to join them - some had made it, others hadn’t. Vivicia, a loner based in LA, had arrived amongst the first. As well as being unwaveringly loyal, the female also happened to be a wolf shifter. Coveney wasn’t bad at tracking, as far as felines went, but wolves were indubitably better equipped for that sort of job.
But that would mean asking a favor. The idea was always repulsive to him, but he could deal with it this time; he owed nothing to Vivicia. Yet.
“I’ll send her your way. And I’ll cover for you for four hours. If you don’t check in by then, I’ll find you, and kill you myself.”
Chapter 4
The Inn
Unlike some Wyverns, Coveney hadn’t spent a lot of time outside of his pride territory. Others had freelance jobs online, or friends they wanted to see somewhere in the world. Some of them had even lived in the regular human world for a time; Tracy, for example, used to have book signings. Rye, Daunte, and Ian, who dabbled in venture capitalism, put on a suit and went to some meetings every now and then.
Coveney took the role of Head Enforcer when the pride was created nine years ago, and he’d never left his post since. He didn’t take holidays. For some reason, Rye still insisted on counting the time off he was owed; he had over two years, last time he’d looked. He’d probably never use any of it. He was mildly curious about some places in the world. Okay, more than curious. Exotic locations fascinated him, hence why he secretly watched the Travel Channel whenever no one was around. But he owed the Wyvern, and the least he could do was protect them.
Leaving the pride for four hours this evening was quite possibly the closest thing he’d ever done to taking some time off, and even that was born of duty.
That meant he’d rarely dealt with any other kind of sups. He knew felines, he knew witches, like Niamh, and seers, like Hsu. The rest he’d read or heard about, but he couldn’t boast of having any first-hand experience with them, hence why Vivicia was making him feel uncomfortable.
Were female wolves supposed to be that big? He’d fought plenty of lupine over the last few years, but he’d never stopped to wonder about their gender. Still, even compared to the enemies he recalled, she seemed pretty damn huge. The animal was the size of a goddamn bear. His tiger carefully ran one step behind, although he could certainly take her, speed-wise. And the snarling; was that really necessary? They were all friends here.
The female stopped running quite suddenly and her quick, yet painful, bone cracking process started; half a minute later, a naked woman crouched on the floor. A pretty naked woman. He would have to be blind to fail to notice Vivicia, with her dark, sensual eyes, and all her smooth skin; like most shifters, she was fit - the amount of exercise they needed to stay sane saw to that - but she also had a fair amount of curves. He’d been more than conscious of her in the past. Today, neither he nor his tiger cared, single-mindedly focused on finding their elusive savior. It had been over three hours since she may have been shot. The poison could very well have taken hold by now.
He also shifted, after negotiating with his frustrated tiger who didn’t want to let go quite yet. But he couldn’t speak with the female in their animal form, as she wasn’t part of the pride. Stupid, weird, magic mojo rules he didn’t understand.
“I can’t help if I don’t know what the hell I’m tracking, Robocop.”
She’d taken to calling him that for some reason. He hadn’t bothered asking why.
“I told you.”
“Yeah, an eagle. There’s at least fifty dead ones around us, though. My wolf smells eagle everywhere north of the house.”
He shook his head.
“She came from the east, and headed west, towards the town.”
“I need more. Sorry, but I don’t have her scent, anything that belongs to her, and I haven’t seen many eagles in the past.”
Coveney sighed. If the she-wolf had issues catching her, what chance did he have?
You have her scent.
“She smelled of olive and lavender,” he muttered, running his hand through his hair, pissed he didn’t have more.
If D
aunte was right, they had her name, her phone number, and other crap like that - any applicant who wanted to join the pride needed to leave that. He could try to track her electronically - or get Ian to do so, anyway - but they were running out of time.
Vivicia frowned and put her hands on the floor, before shifting back. She sniffed left, then right, before dashing across the woods, heading towards the town, this time.
He ran after her, staying on his human form, because she was already slowing down. They always left a few clothes here and there for situations such as these; quickly pulling a pair of track pants on, he started to make his way through their small town.
The pride house was the first home anyone coming through the woods could see, and then there were a few homes, a school, a bank, a bar, their Alpha’s bakery, some restaurants, all on the main road. Vivicia ran through it all, arousing the interest of a few humans. None of them freaked though, just raising a brow.
Anywhere else in the world, that would have been weird, but their Alpha female had created a small shifter haven in Lakesides, long before they’d come. As they hadn’t done anything to ruin that over the last year they’d spent here, they were accepted. So far. If they’d heard the racket their battle had caused just earlier that day, they might have been a little less friendly. Thankfully, Rain had erected wards around the town before it had all started. As the enemies had witches of their own, her wards around their own house hadn’t held out, but they hadn’t been concerned about the town, so the regulars remained blissfully ignorant.
“Is that a new pride member?” someone asked him as he passed. “Can’t be a dog, right?”
He carried on running, not stopping to answer, because Vivicia had slowed down, finally.
They’d made it to a small inn at the other end of town.
Shifting back, Vivicia pointed to the old building.
“There.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m allergic to lavender.”
He lifted a brow. It wasn’t usual for shifters to have allergies, food intolerances, or anything like that, but it happened, especially to half-breeds. Perhaps one of Vivicia’s parents was a regular. He didn’t ask. Prying wasn’t in his nature.
Coveney walked into the lobby of the inn, and was greeted by a man in his mid-thirties. The place seemed clean, although the decor left a lot to be desired. Taking it all in at a glance, his tiger bared his teeth at the idea of the bird staying there. It wasn’t too bad, but it was no place for a shifter. They needed space. They needed a territory to call their own.
“You have a woman staying here,” he said, leaving it at that, because he didn’t know any more about her.
He should have looked at her damn application.
The man shifted uncomfortably.
“Our guest’s privacy…” he started.
Coveney placed both of his elbows on the counter and leaned forward.
Three, two, one…
“There’s only one at the moment. Second floor, the first door on the right.”
Vivicia chuckled as she walked right behind him. “Regulars.” He could practically hear her roll her eyes. “What was that girl thinking, though? He could have given her location to just about anyone.”
Coveney’s generally well-behaved tiger growled in warning. He’d already thought of that; spelling it out wasn’t doing anyone any favors.
As they approached, his own sense of smell picked up the trail. His steps got faster and faster because, along with olive and lavender, he got blood, and something else, something that made him want to wretch.
Shit. He hadn’t been wrong. She’d been hit, and poisoned, too.
The room the innkeeper directed him to wasn’t even closed, let alone locked; the door was slightly ajar, as though someone had gotten out in a hurry. He leaped and pushed it, his mind coming up with a thousand different ways how he might have screwed up and arrived too late.
He stopped dead at the door, as he took in his eagle in her human shell. Someone might as well have punched him.
He didn’t know why. He hadn’t given much thought as to what she looked like. It didn’t matter. He owed her a favor and that meant she wasn’t going to die today. No other motivation had moved him.
Coveney was screwed ten different ways, because the woman was pretty much fucking dying, and his damn cock didn’t fucking care; it stirred, twitching in his pants.
Her long, layered hair fell in soft waves around her, and her soft, plump mouth breathed shallow breaths that should have alarmed him, not made him want to touch it. She wasn’t wearing much - just shorts, and an open jacket. It shouldn’t have mattered, nudity was natural to shifters. But it fucking did. He couldn’t stop staring at her damn breasts.
“You’re not dying,” he said simply, because she didn’t have a fucking choice in the matter today.
Or ever.
Chapter 5
Stranger
He was pretty. So pretty from up close. He had long, long lashes and dark eyes; wavy blond hair like an Adonis. He smelled like wood, Muscat, and sin.
How come she was seeing Coveney close enough for her to smell him now?
Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be…
“Arrrrg!” she yelled, waking up to her flesh burning her.
She definitely wasn’t dead, because death wasn’t supposed to hurt so much. Unless she’d been sent to purgatory.
“What the hell!”
“Don’t move. I’m almost done.”
Now that she was a little more conscious, she could see that he had some sort of balm in his hands and he was applying it to her wound.
Oh, good. She bit her lip and did her best to stop herself from crying out, letting him do what he could.
“It hurts like a bitch, I know,” he told her. “Rain had to cover half a dozen of my wounds with this shit.”
He was talking to her. Moving his lips and all. Which meant she was supposed to somehow make herself talk back.
She carried on staring like a lunatic.
“You’re a contradiction, Ava.”
“How do you know my name?” she croaked, her throat feeling like sandpaper.
“Ran through your application to join our pride. I talked about what you did yesterday with the rest of the pride; turns out, Daunte had already seen you, and he remembered you from the prospective members.”
“Is that how you found me?”
She frowned, concerned about how easily he’d read through the trail of breadcrumbs she’d left. She’d only listed a burner phone on her application, and she’d paid for it with cash. But if he had done it, others might have, too.
She had to get rid of the phone. Her stomach twisted; her brother might know her number. She’d given it to her bank, just in case he contacted them, too.
“Nah. I had a wolf helping me track you down. Figured you might have needed an antidote.”
Now that the pain had receded some, she felt his hands more acutely. They weren’t soft; he had calluses and rough, dry skin.
“So, Ava-no-last-name, who supposedly wants to join our pride, yet never turned up for our trials. What’s your deal? Just based on that information, Rye figured you may be a spy.”
“Rye?” she asked. It wasn’t the first unfamiliar name he threw her way, but she was trying to make sense of what came out of his pretty mouth now.
“Our Alpha. Anyway, spy potential. But then, you go and warn us enemies were coming and you saved my life a few minutes later. So, yeah, contradiction is all I got.”
She shrugged. “I was there. Almost made it to the door, too. Then, I saw the giants you were interviewing and I doubled back,” she partially lied.
To be honest, she hadn’t needed to join their pride; all she’d been after had been an audience with their Alphas.
But there had been a chance they might just have locked her up, and called her enemies. Staying away and observing them had made sense. After weeks of looking into their little peaceful world, though, she’
d found herself wanting to see if there was a place for her there.
He smiled. “My Alpha picked you to come here in person. Despite the lack of last name. And the fact that you’re five foot two. You should have come.”
She winced as he tied a bandage around her. Finding herself half sitting up, and ever so close to him, she felt awkward enough to start babbling.
“So, you’re a designated healer?”
He’d done everything the hard way, so it was clear he didn’t have healing powers, but prides without healers had a member who volunteered for first aid. It rarely was an Enforcer, though, and from what she recalled of when she’d observed the Wyvern, that’s what he was. He’d been patrolling often; more often than anyone else in the pride, actually.
“No.”
He left it at that, which meant that more silence ensued, with his face so close she could feel his breath on her naked breast.
Blushing like a teenager, she looked around the unfamiliar setting. She was in a large, simple room, much more spacious than the one she’d occupied at the inn. The eastern wall was entirely made of reflective glass, and her eagle approved, enjoying the view, even in the dark.
Someone had removed her jacket, and it lay on a white dresser, next to her shoes and pants.
She’d been naked around other people since she’d first shifted at age thirteen, so about half of her life. It had never been an issue. Right now, she had to fight her instinct to cross her arms across her chest. Not because she didn’t want him to look at her, exactly… but she felt so damn self-conscious.
“Then why isn’t your healer taking care of me?”
“We killed her a few days ago.” Her mouth fell open. “She’s the reason we had so many enemies at our door.”
She’d betrayed her pride, then. Ava’s eyes clouded as she remembered those who’d risen against her flock.
Not everyone had joined them, but the Enforcers had killed all those who spoke against them.
