High House Ursa: The Complete Bear Shifter Box Set

by Riley Storm

  “You’re trying to get them to make a mistake and give you another clue.”

  “Exactly!” he said, clapping his hands together, glad she understood his train of thought.

  “And what happens if this is just a restaurant and we get food, and nothing happens?”

  He smiled. “Then I’m happily full and we go back to searching for more clues.”

  Haley sighed, not saying much more as they got into his car and headed off. He was following her directions, having no idea where the restaurant was.

  Kincaid was focused on this new bit of information. Someone had paid Krawll off, that much was evident to him now. It was the same people trying to frame him, he knew that. They were tying up all the loose ends they could think of. He played out the scenario in his mind—the scenario if they had won.

  Krawll would end up as the Hunter, a pawn of someone in Canis as a Title Holder. Then, while they’d be going through his things, including his bank account, they’d find the “missing” money from the Ursa corporate account. Suddenly he’d be one of the remaining traitors that Kirell, the Queen and everyone else had been looking for all along. They’d announce this, and any real traitors would stay hidden, free to continue their attempts to destroy Ursa from the inside.

  It was a tidy little plan. The only thing whoever was behind it hadn’t accounted for, was the trust Kincaid’s Queen had in him, giving him the ability to clear his own name. That, and the fact that Krawll was nowhere near as good a fighter as he boasted about being. He’d managed to fool his handler in Canis, but Kincaid knew better.

  Whoever it was behind this, he was going to find them. They would pick up the trail again at the restaurant, and this time, Kincaid wouldn’t stop until he backtracked it all the way to the top. Then he would have evidence he could use.

  That’s where things would get complicated. If the man behind it all really was Laurent, the Reaver of High House Canis, he was beyond Kincaid’s ability to go after, at least physically. Attacking—or more satisfying, killing—the sonofabitch would result in open warfare between the Houses. He could hire someone unaffiliated with the Houses to do the job, but that wasn’t guaranteed to work, and could still backfire upon him.

  No, if you want to bring this bastard down, you’re going to need to take it to The Court.

  The Court was the body that governed shifters. Each of the three High Houses, Canis, Drakos and Ursa had three voting members upon it. The minor Houses, Raptere and Panthera, had one advisory seat each, though they weren’t allowed to vote.

  Going to The Court presented another problem to him, however, one that would quite likely kill the charges.

  Canis controlled The Court right now. As the most powerful of the Houses, their King currently sat as the final member of the body, the Viceroy—the tenth and deciding seat. It was a new addition to The Court, having been added after all the members of House Drakos retreated from all interaction with the outside world.

  Left with three seats apiece, every vote had been deadlocked between Ursa and Canis. At the time, Ursa had been the most powerful, and so they’d exerted their will and introduced the seat of Viceroy. A tiebreaking seat.

  Now the tables had turned, and Canis claimed the spot. A simple majority vote of four to three would kill any motion he brought against Laurent.

  Still, that is the way the rules dictate it must be done, and if I’m to stay on Haley’s good side, that’s how I’m going to have to do it. At first.

  It was odd how appeasing her was starting to work its way up his list of priorities. Why should he care? After all, she was the one who’d accused him of being a traitor, instead of bringing the information to him first and giving Kincaid a chance to investigate. He needed to focus on what was truly important: proving his innocence, not keeping a House flunky happy. That was the right thing to do.

  Wasn’t it?

  15

  It took him the better part of ten minutes of being lost in his own thoughts before Kincaid came to the realization that Haley hadn’t spoken either. Glancing over while they were stopped at a red light, he noted the tautness of her jaw.

  “You have something you want to ask.” It wasn’t really a question.

  Haley started to shake her head, then stopped, then continued. “No, it’s fine.”

  “Just ask.”

  The light turned green and he was forced to pull his eyes away from the smooth, round lines of her face and the—stop it.

  “Kincaid, if there’s one thing I’ve learned working with House Ursa over the years, it’s that when things are a little confusing, it’s best if I just don’t ask questions. Do my job and call it a day. I don’t need to know why you guys insist on ordering thousands of ugly brown sweatshirts and sweatpants on a yearly basis, for example.”

  One side of his mouth twisted up into a smile. “Baggy, loose clothing is easy to slip in and out of. But we don’t always have time.” He frowned. “Or remember.”

  “Remember what?’

  “To strip down before shifting. The clothes don’t make the change,” he explained. “So, we tend to ruin a lot of them.”

  “Ah,” she said. “That’s why you got naked in the warehouse. Of course. I should have made the connection.”

  He took his eyes off the road for a moment, watching the color of her cheeks change slightly. Was she thinking about seeing him naked, he wondered? Kincaid was so used to nudity that he often forgot it sent most normal humans into a tizzy. Especially women who thought he was attractive. He’d not really expected that from Haley though, the considering him attractive part. The getting worked up over nudity didn’t surprise him in the slightest.

  “That wasn’t your question though,” he said, giving her a moment to collect herself. “You aren’t bothered by the fact we go through sweats that quickly, I know it.”

  “No,” she admitted, shaking her head, a ghost of a smile crossing her face. “You’re right. Though it was one of those curious things about the job that I had been wondering about for a long time. Thank you for answering that.”

  He inclined his head. She was stalling, avoiding the topic at hand, whatever it was. Why was she so reluctant to ask it? It couldn’t be that bad.

  “You can ask whatever it is,” he urged. “I can tell you want to know, though I don’t know why you’re so hesitant. I already showed you our biggest secret. There isn’t much that can top that.”

  Kincaid thought about how much of human history was related to shifters and their actions, or their war with the human-born mages that had ravaged the world around them for over a millennium. Okay, maybe there are a few things I shouldn’t share just yet.

  “I was told rather forcefully, over and over again, by my old boss, that I absolutely must not ask questions unless I genuinely needed to know the answer to do my job. It was dangerous, I was told. There were things in this world that I didn’t need to know.”

  She expelled air through her lips. “I’m starting to wonder if maybe he had an inkling of your secret too and was trying to protect me.”

  Kincaid had no idea, he’d never met the previous accountant, so couldn’t say one way or another. There were humans out there that knew he and his kind existed, but they were few and far between. Most of them were mates of full-blooded shifters or relatives of those mates who’d stumbled onto it by accident and been threatened with death if they ever told a soul.

  “I promise you,” he said in a gentle tone, working to earn a bit of her trust. “You can ask, and you won’t get in any trouble. It’s okay.”

  He didn’t expect the overture to work. Haley detested him, and though they were slowly growing more civil with one another, he didn’t doubt that she still harbored a lot of strong feelings about him that were not positive. Trusting him didn’t seem to be high up on the list of things likely to happen anytime soon. Still, it was worth a shot.

  “Why him?”

  “Huh?”

  “Krawll. Why did you have me look him up? What did h
e do?”

  Ah. Kincaid was silent, contemplating how to explain the situation to her.

  “See, I told you, I shouldn’t have asked. It’s okay, I don’t need to know! Turn right up here.”

  He chuckled softly, following her directions. “It’s not that, Haley. I was just trying to think about how to explain it. I guess to answer that, I need to know how much you know about House Ursa.”

  “About its finances? Lots and lots,” she said quickly. “That’s about it though.”

  “Right. Well, you’re going to need a bit of background to understand I guess.”

  Haley jerked. “No, it’s okay. Seriously, I’m fine. I don’t need more shocking revelations. I’m still trying to accept the fact that you can turn into a bear, and that other people can change into a wolf. I’ve seen it happen, both of them, right in front of me, and I’m still half-convinced it’s not real. So, I’m okay without knowing anything more.”

  “We call ourselves a company for legal reasons only,” he explained, ignoring her protest. She may as well know, it wasn’t going to do any more damage now. In fact, it might help her do a better job, either her own or a better job of looking at him more objectively if she knew the real story. “In fact, we’re organized around certain bloodlines.”

  “Yeah, I get it. House Ursa, Ursa Major the constellation, it’s the bear. Canis, I suppose, is derived from canine, or vice versa. Wolf.”

  “Precisely.” He smiled at her, appreciative of her intellect. True, it wasn’t the most impressive thing in the world to make the connection, but it showed she was actively thinking about it, instead of just freaking out over the whole shifting part of it.

  “Everyone in your House can shift?”

  “No,” he admitted. “Children born to a male shifter have the DNA and will learn to harness their power. I’m not aware of that ever not happening. The children, however, are overwhelmingly male. Females are few and far between, and we have no idea why.”

  Haley nodded. “So, you find human women instead.”

  “Basically.” He didn’t want to go into discussing how mates worked. She didn’t need to know about magic. Not yet. One massive revelation at a time.

  “What does this have to do with Krawll? That’s the restaurant by the way.” She pointed to a place on the corner with a baby-blue sign, sporting big black lettering that simply read: Family Restaurant. There was space in front of it like there should have been another word, but it was blank, just freshly-painted blue, stolen right from the sky.

  He smiled, looking around for a parking spot on the street nearby.

  “Now that you know we’re not actually a company, at least, not in the way we govern ourselves, you should know that our “board” of directors also isn’t elected. The Queen, Kaelyn, rules us. Like a true monarch. She appoints whoever she wants to fill the positions, and anyone else in the House is free to challenge their appointment, either by showing that the person is unfit or by a trial of strength. Recently, I was nominated by her to fill a position.”

  “Strength? Like ritual combat? That sort of thing?” She looked at him now, mildly horrified by what he was saying.

  “Yes. To first blood. It’s not supposed to be anything serious. Not anymore at least.” He fell silent, focusing on parallel parking the big SUV, something he wasn’t particularly good at.

  Haley was nodding now as she followed the logic. “That was a really long-winded way of telling me that Krawll tried to kill you. You could have just told me that and been done with it.”

  Kincaid dropped the transmission into park and gave her a tired glare. “I was trying to give you context,” he said, not bothering to hide his irritation at her shortness with him. “If he just came up to me and tried to kill me, people would be looking into him. But he did it when he wasn’t supposed to, yet in a legal way. That is why I explained it all to you.”

  She shrugged, unbuckling her seatbelt. “Shame he didn’t win.”

  He stared after her as she got out, shocked at the apparent viciousness of her barbs.

  “What the hell did I do?” he asked the empty car, not getting a response.

  16

  A handwritten sign in chalk at about waist level told them to choose their own table. Haley was already headed toward one when she felt Kincaid’s arm slide through hers, guiding her toward a different one.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed, keeping her voice down so they didn’t attract attention to themselves.

  “Better view of the restaurant and the kitchen entrance from over here,” he said in an equally low tone. “Easier to watch everything.”

  “Not that,” she snapped, trying to keep her face neutral. “Why are you touching me?”

  “Oh, that.” He dropped her arm, but only because they were at the table. “Here, let me take your coat, dear.”

  She wanted to glare at him, to eviscerate him with her eyes, for calling her that. The gall in assuming she would just go along with this charade was near appalling. Still, she gave him her coat and let him hang it up on the post that divided the booths from one another.

  “I agreed to come to lunch,” she said, sliding into the booth.

  Thankfully, he didn’t try to sit next to her, easing his way into the other side. Thinking he was done, she surveyed the restaurant, seeing if she could see anything out of place. Her eyes were fixed on the front entrance when she felt warm, slightly rough skin sliding over her hand, holding it tight.

  “Kincaid,” she said, warning.

  “Just play the loving partner,” he urged. “For the next bit, while we’re here in public, okay?”

  “Why?” Abandoning her survey of the place she focused back on him. “You told me you wanted to come here to be seen. To shake the feathers a bit. If I do that, I’m going to be associated with you.”

  “Is that really so bad?” he asked, flashing her only the second or third real smile he’d ever given her.

  It didn’t work.

  “Do you remember what you just told me in the car? Someone is trying to kill you. I don’t particularly want them to try to kill me either.” She pulled her hand back slowly, but he gripped tighter, holding on.

  “I’ll protect you from anything, though trust me, you’ll be fine.”

  She snorted. “I had enough of your protection this morning, thank you very much. I’m not too interested in more, especially if you’re going to fight everyone and get your ass kicked.”

  Kincaid’s mouth opened, then closed again before he finally found his voice. “I did not get my ass kicked. I was trying to avoid beating that guy until I got information out of him.”

  “So, you call getting tossed across the room into a solid metal table winning?”

  “In a matter of speaking. Yes.” His lips flattened into a line. “He just didn’t have anything to say, otherwise, you would have been proud of me.”

  Haley nodded, noting that he still hadn’t removed his hand. Her fingers were starting to warm up, and the skin of his palm was gentle against hers. Different than what she might have expected. It was almost…tender.

  Clamping down on her wayward thoughts, as she’d done in the car earlier, Haley slipped her hand free. Whatever it took to keep her distance from Kincaid and his roguish charm, she would do it. Even if that meant being rude and distant. This was business, and nothing more. She intended to keep it that way, no matter how hard he tried.

  Kincaid noted that, sitting up straight on his own side. Even with the two of them seated, he still towered over her, tall and bulky to the point he mostly blocked out her view behind him. His shoulders and arms more resembled corded steel than anything.

  “May I ask you a question now?”

  The request caught her by surprise. Her first instinct was to say no. To shut him down, and to prevent him from learning anything more about her. He already knew more than she was comfortable with, but there was no taking it back. All she could do was limit any further damage.

  Yet she could only
be so rude without starting to feel guilty about it. Kincaid had been quite candid with her, spilling one of the biggest secrets in the world. That was an awful lot of trust he’d shown there, a judgment call that he had to be terrified would come back to haunt him.

  Haley wasn’t in the business of betraying people. She would never purposefully betray his secret of course, but accidents happened. Not telling her would have been the better option, but he’d decided to trust her. Haley supposed she should extend the same trust to him, at least this once.

  “Go ahead,” she told him at last.

  “Earlier, in your office, when I mentioned you’d be great at politics, you got upset with me.”

  Haley looked down at the pattern of the tablecloth. “Saying I’d be a good politician, given the way politicians are looked at these days? That’s not exactly a compliment.”

  Once more, Kincaid reached out and took her hand. This time, he turned it over, pulling one finger across her palm gently until she looked up at him.

  “That’s not it.” He kept stroking. “It’s something else. You were…hurt, Haley. Not because I said you’d be good, but about your decision not to go into it.”

  “Stop that,” she said, looking at her hand.

  “Why? Does it feel bad?”

  “No,” she said. “But stop it.”

  “Answer my question.”

  She looked away. “If I tell you, will you stop touching my hand?”

  Kincaid shrugged. “Sure.”

  “Fine.” She tugged her hand back, trying not to admit to herself that it had felt good. That his touch was…nice.

  “I wanted to go into politics. A lot. But,” she fell silent, trying to get the words out, but they weren’t coming. “But life didn’t work out that way, and that’s all there is to tell about that,” she finished abruptly, closing off, pushing the memory away, her agreement with Kincaid to tell him to be damned. She didn’t want to talk about it.