by Jory Strong
“Keeping what you’re now capable of a secret will be impossible. We can’t know for sure who spies for Allende. We need to be in a safe place. The outer harbor is Rimmon’s territory. He might not protect anyone on board the Constellation while she’s docked but he won’t allow other boats near her if she’s out in the water.”
Rebekka considered enlisting the aid of The Iberá, as well as the Wainwright witches, then dismissed the idea. Maybe later. The witches would take payment in favors owed, and beyond that, the outer harbor was closer to the brothels and didn’t require Weres to pass through the wards into the area set aside for the gifted—and more important, trust witches or one of the Founding Families.
“You’re right. We’ll go to Araña’s boat.”
Rebekka thought of Feliss as she’d see her last, broken and bloody, doe eyes holding so much pain, and knew she couldn’t bear the thought of her friend being locked in the brothel for another night when freedom was so close. “Will you bring Feliss to the boat tonight?”
Thankfully she wasn’t one of those restricted from leaving or requiring permission and a guard. Given Levi’s absence, and the rumor circulating about him wanting to buy out Feliss’s contract, his taking her away wouldn’t rouse any suspicions for a few days.
“Yes. Just her tonight. Tomorrow I’ll go back for others.”
Thirty-two
ARYCK prowled around his home. Melina’s scent lingered there like a malicious spirit taunting him, reminding him of his furious rush to Lion lands when he’d learned Rebekka was there with Levi. Tormenting him with images of them together now because he’d lacked the courage to go with her, because his pride had prevented him from considering what he was asking her to give up to remain in Were lands.
She was a healer filled with compassion, with the need to help others regardless of species or circumstances. From the very first she’d railed against his attitude when it came to the outcasts.
He’d become more flexible in his thinking. Yet at his core he’d still believed their fate was their own. He’d considered it enough to offer them a chance to come into Were territory and face the ancestors.
But how many of them were as Rebekka claimed, caught between forms without knowledge of the Were culture or the existence of the ancestors? How many would trust those who’d always reviled and excluded them? How many would come on what could easily be a rumor?
There’d been no guarantees of safe escort. No offer of protection or help extended to those who might desire to flee the brothels of the human world.
Aryck rubbed his hand over his bare chest, massaging the ache radiating from his heart as he remembered the trek through the Barrens that would have ended in his death if Rebekka hadn’t come to him. The image of her tear-streaked face was a fist to the gut.
Come with me. At least for a little while, she’d said on a broken voice, and he’d refused, hadn’t even stopped to fully consider her request.
Despite his arguments to his father about the ancestors favoring his taking Rebekka as a mate, he’d turned his back and walked away from her, wrapping his pride around him like another skin.
The bitter taste of self-recrimination and remorse filled his mouth. Was she meant to be his mate only if she chose him over those who desperately needed her? Was she meant to be his lover and the mother of his children only if she turned her back on the outcasts who were her friends? Left her world for his?
Was all the sacrifice to be hers? All the risk?
He’d failed her again, proven himself unworthy not just in protecting her physically, but in the safekeeping of her heart.
Resolve forced all other emotions to recede. The Jaguar, crouched in shame and sorrow deep within Aryck’s psyche, rose, adding its strength of purpose to the man’s, both of them finally fully accepting the risk, the necessity of possible sacrifice that came with tying their life and fate to Rebekka’s.
She was their mate and no other would do. They would challenge the ancestors themselves to have her. They would go to Oakland and beg for her forgiveness, then spend a lifetime proving they were worthy of her trust and love.
Aryck left the cabin, sending a quick mental probe and locating his father at Phaedra’s house. He found Caius sitting on a log there, drawing in the smooth dirt while Phaedra cooked the meal and Koren spoke with Nahuatl a few steps away.
Caius looked up as Aryck approached. His lips trembled despite the straightening of his spine. “I’m going to visit her when I get old enough,” he said. “She’ll see I still know all my letters, and she’ll teach me how to read like she said she would.”
It wasn’t the way Aryck had meant to tell his father. If he’d wanted to avoid doing it face-to-face, he could have done it mind-to-mind instead of coming here. But Caius hurt too, and so Aryck knelt in front of the cub, pausing for a moment to look at the alphabet spread out between them. “I’m leaving for Oakland now. I’ll tell her you’re practicing. It’ll make her happy.”
“Are you going to bring her back?” The cub’s face and voice held a wealth of hope.
“Maybe not right away, but in the future,” Aryck said, ruffling the boy’s hair before standing and facing his father and Nahuatl.
As if his father had been expecting it all along, Koren said, “You’ve made your choice. Go.”
Addai
THE Were might yet live up to the expectations of his ancestors, Addai thought. He hadn’t been certain the enforcer would follow Rebekka.
Of course, now that the Jaguar had finally made his choice, time worked against him. It was entirely possible he would arrive in Oakland only to find Rebekka dead.
Into the silence following the enforcer’s departure, the shaman spoke, delivering lines crafted for him but forbidden until this moment. “If Aryck returns with Rebekka, it is because he has been judged worthy to serve more than a single pack. He is meant for greater things. The ancestors speak of a war coming for rule of the Earth. If the Weres are to survive it, there must be those who will lead us in a new direction, away from the past and into a future where we are united. The alliance with our neighbors is just the beginning, as is change when it comes to dealing with the outcast.”
Addai smiled, satisfaction filling him, though this had yet to finish playing out. With Caphriel gone, and the delivery of the ancestors’ message witnessed, his business here was done.
His focus shifted to the city. But unlike the Were’s journey there, for Addai, Oakland required only a thought coupled to his will.
He chose the brothel, curious as to whether Rebekka remained free, or if the last of her father’s testing had finally claimed her life.
He chose to wear flesh because it amused him to wander unstopped and unmolested among the prostitutes and their clients. And because the hot energy of the Were reminded him of what it had been like to live among Sajia’s people, Djinn who were mārdazmā, able to change shape but who had no noncorporeal form.
On a catwalk above the dungeons Addai stopped to watch a scene unfold. A Were female was led into one of the open playrooms on a leash.
She wore nothing but a collar and tight clamps attached to her nipples. Luxurious black hair shimmered in waves down her back, not stopping until it curled around her buttocks and brushed against her bare mound.
The man who’d paid to own her for the session was wealthy. The cut of his clothing and the rings on his fingers made it evident.
He ordered the female onto a piece of equipment allowing him to bind her spread-eagled so he could step between her open thighs and fuck either orifice, or position himself next to her head and command her to take him into her mouth.
The slap of his hand against her bare cunt sent a door crashing open in Addai’s mind. Memories flooded in and he hardened in a heartbeat, his cock swelling along with his need for the woman who had once been his.
Thousands of years should have made it easy to keep her from his thoughts, but now that he was close to possessing her again, she was never far from them.
A hot wash of anticipation slid through him at the prospect of meeting her for the first time, of their being strangers again. It built as he imagined seeing a hint of fear in her eyes, instinctual on her part at being given over to a being who was her natural enemy.
Those feelings would soon be turned into something erotic. She would grow wet and ready as she knelt at his feet, her hands clasped behind her back, long black hair caressing her dusky buttocks as she looked up at him, pleading silently for him to allow her to worship him with her mouth.
Fantasizing about her was a sweet torment he knew better than to indulge in, a distraction he didn’t need as this thread woven to solidify alliance grew close to being judged a success or a failure. He ached for her, dreamed of her, but in the end, there was no hurrying her arrival in his life. It would come, soon, and he would never allow her into the presence of danger again.
With great effort Addai closed the door opened by the carnal scene taking place in the dungeon beneath him. He forced his thoughts away from Sajia even as his gaze lingered on the darkened, flushed skin of the prostitute’s bare mound before moving up to the still-clamped nipples.
His will betrayed him with the memory of other nipples, gripped long ago by delicate clasps shyly left for him to find. His cock throbbed, begging for relief.
He turned away from the sight of the dark-haired Were and left the catwalk, knowing he would seek neither companion nor even a release granted by his own hand. Only Sajia would satisfy him.
In the corridor between brothels Addai gave up the illusion of flesh and the temptations that came with it. He used his will to move to the building Rebekka lived and did the majority of her work in.
He sensed the hushed excitement immediately and saw the Lion, Levi, soon after. His manner said Rebekka was well, and though Addai could not see the Were’s soul as some of the Djinn were said to be able to do, he could feel its completeness, its binding to a place even the angels given charge over the spiritlands didn’t enter.
She’d healed him, as she’d been created to do. It won’t be long now, Addai thought, watching Levi move among the outcasts. A touch here, a nod there, the signs as subtle as the slow exodus of the chosen. By his reckoning, Levi and Rebekka had been back at least a day or two, and if they were smart, the first to be freed were those who’d earned time off and wouldn’t be missed for a while.
He wasn’t the only one to notice. Two others did as well. Addai watched as Dorrit, the madam, busied herself, turning her attention to other matters, ignoring those who were slipping away. Far more interesting was the Lioness, Kala, who found a reason to be near Levi as he made his rounds through the brothels before exiting himself.
Addai lingered outside, curious to see if Kala would emerge after Levi had disappeared from sight. When she did, a small smile formed on his lips at having guessed from the outset she would be the one. Betrayer.
No doubt she would scream in fury to know she served the very ancestors who’d seen the darkness in her heart and marked her as outcast. Or perhaps the Djinn had a hand in her making. Addai didn’t discount the possibility.
He followed the Lioness as she tracked Levi by scent, and wasn’t surprised to find the trail led to Araña’s boat. Rebekka stood on its deck, greeting each of the outcasts by name as they climbed aboard. Her friend, Feliss, jumped easily to the dock, going to Levi and shyly taking his hand.
Nearby several of Rimmon’s men watched without interfering. Another smile played over Addai’s lips with thoughts of the vice lord.
Oh how the mighty had become Fallen, and for a far lesser sin than he himself had committed in loving a Djinn. It would be amusing to watch Rimmon fight the net so carefully crafted for him with the birth of his Finder daughter, Saril.
In the end, he would be named ally or enemy. Neutrality was no longer an option.
The last of the Weres boarded. Rebekka motioned toward the cabin, sending one of them inside before entering and closing the door behind her.
Addai expected Levi to remain on guard, or return to the brothel. Instead Lion and Deer walked away hand in hand, as if going off to lie together.
Addai fought against a sharp bark of laughter. He almost regretted Caphriel wasn’t here to witness it and deliver a quote.
With a thought he moved near to where the Lioness hid. A choice now, for her. Ambition or jealousy.
Jealousy won, at least for the moment.
He followed Kala as once again she trailed Levi, this time to the forests behind the rubble remains of the maze. Circles within circles, Addai thought, having seen the cycle repeat for thousands of years. So often beginnings and endings passed through the same place, nearly indistinguishable from one another.
From her hiding place the Lioness watched as Feliss shed her clothing, revealing a completely human form. Kala sneered, already guessing the Deer intended to flee the brothel and thinking that, mixed form or human, Feliss had no chance of escaping Allende.
Her expression darkened as Feliss clung to Levi, whispered, “I’m scared.”
“I know, but it’s too dangerous for you to remain with Rebekka and me any longer. I’m surprised the alarm hasn’t already been raised. This is your chance to escape Oakland and the vice lord’s easy reach. You’ve got to take it.”
Levi kissed her tenderly before extricating himself from her arms. He bent over and gathered her discarded clothing, touching the pocket and smiling. “Rebekka gave you money?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it, Feliss.”
Tears fell. “Go with me.”
“You know I can’t.”
Feliss gave a low cry of pain and slowly began changing from woman to deer as Levi twisted her clothing, using strips of leather to turn the bundle into a collar. When she stood trembling next to him, wet like a newborn fawn from the effort to shift forms, he placed the clothing around her neck and said, “Leave now.”
She took the first tentative steps forward, tail flicking. Then several more that were bolder. A look back at Levi, eyes pleading, but he shook his head and turned away, his emotions hidden from Addai in a way the Lioness’s weren’t.
Kala’s expression of shock slid into one of ambition and cunning. When she remained in the woods instead of following Levi out of them, a whisper of compassion moved through Addai.
The remembered pain of losing Sajia made him hesitate. But in the end he decided against interfering. War was coming and sacrifices were inevitable.
Thirty-three
ARYCK found the sights before him unpalatable and nightmarish. A short time in the brothels owned by the vice lord Allende and he understood Rebekka’s choice to return. How could she turn her back on those she cared about when this was their fate?
He’d killed outcasts in the challenge circle when guilt drove them to continue fighting after Nahuatl ordered a halt to call for a change of form. He’d hunted those sentenced to death, but he’d never had to follow one of them into the human world. He’d never seen this for himself.
She’d described what life was like for the outcasts who lived in brothels, told him of the brutality and degradation. But even as he listened, a part of him had remained sure they lived as they deserved to live. He was no longer willing to make such a sweeping generalization.
Aryck turned away from the glass allowing him to watch as humans were serviced by those trapped between forms. Rebekka’s scent lingered in this brothel more than it did in the others, a sweet blend of woman and compassion surviving in the cesspit stench of unwashed bodies and stale sex.
His purity of form along with the payment of coin allowed him to move unhindered from building to building. It gave him free rein to watch, though nothing he saw gave him pleasure or made his cock stir with desire.
This was the fifth brothel. There’d been no sight of Rebekka, and he could find none of the prostitutes she’d mentioned by name. It made his fear for her deepen.
In growing desperation he sought out the bore-tusked madam, Dorrit. Asked if she
knew Levi’s whereabouts, thinking she’d lie if he asked about Rebekka.
Small pig-eyes took his measure. There was calculation in Dorrit’s gaze. Suspicion. But in the end she said, “Check the bar.”
Aryck moved through the parlor where males and females alike lined up, suffering the meaty pawing of a merchant as bodyguards looked on and a second man whined about the poor selection.
He followed the smell of beer and unwashed bodies to a dark room where a waitress knelt in front of a chair, working a man’s shaft in and out her mouth as he sprawled in his chair, swilling his drink and bragging to his companions about staving off release to make her earn her money.
Levi stood with his back to the scene. His head bent in a whispered conversation with the bartender.
He stiffened, feeling Aryck’s eyes on him or catching his scent. Turned as Aryck neared, an unwelcome expression on his face. “Go away and stay away. You’ve hurt her enough. She deserves better.”
Anger flashed through Aryck, mixed with jealousy. Levi’s charge was well deserved, but he couldn’t stop himself from inhaling, half fearing and half expecting to discover Rebekka had turned to the outcast in her pain and let him comfort her with physical intimacy.
Relief came at finding no sign they were lovers. Shock followed at the difference in the outcast’s smell.
Not human with only a hint of Lion as it had been before. Not lion with only a hint of human as Cyrin’s was, but an unmistakable blend of the two, the scent of a pure Were.
Rebekka. Though Aryck couldn’t explain it, every instinct told him she was somehow responsible.
“Take me to her,” he said, willing to put aside his pride. “I’ve failed her repeatedly, but let her be the one to decide if she’s willing to give me another chance to prove myself.”
Levi’s eyes burned with harsh judgment. No hung in the air between them, if not permanently, then at least until the Lion judged Aryck had suffered in equal measure to Rebekka.
Addai
ADDAI watched as yet another naked female rose from her hands and knees and left Allende. Shadowing the Were vice lord was very nearly a punishment, but after thousands of years of waiting, what were a few hours more, a day or week of added torment?
