by Riley Storm
“Seriously,” the Queen said, speaking again, with just a tinge more iron in her voice. “I’m not Laurien, Jessica. I’m not going to rip your head off simply for looking at me or having a conversation with me.” She snorted. Actually snorted. “Imagine how dull a life that would be if everyone was too terrified to talk with me.”
Jessica tried not to shudder at the name of the Canis King. Laurien was a terrifying figure. Even though her sister was mated to a Title Holder, one of the rulers of House Canis, Jessica could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen the man. Never once had he spoken to her, though once he had growled at her. As if she was a peasant to his greatness.
Yet here was the Queen of House Ursa, not only conversing with them, but asking to be called by her name. It was unfathomable.
“Is she deaf? Or mute?” Kaelyn asked, clearly shifting her focus back to Klaue.
“No,” Jessica said, interrupting, trying to find her strength. “I can speak.”
“Oh, good. And the neck thing? Is that a lingering injury from last night? It was a frightful-looking car crash!”
Jessica ground her teeth slightly but forced herself to look up and meet the woman’s eyes. They were a dark jade green, but with soft edges to them. To her surprise, she realized that she was taller than the Queen by a good several inches. This was the bestial Queen of House Ursa she’d been warned about?
“I’m okay,” she said. “Twisted my ankle trying to run from the wreck, but other than a bit of soreness here and there, I somehow got away uninjured. Nothing short of a miracle really.”
The Queen—Kaelyn—smiled gently at her. “That it was. I’m glad to see that you’re okay. Is he taking decent care of you?” she asked, hiking a thumb at Klaue. “Because if he isn’t, I can find someone who isn’t as much of a jerk to look after you.”
The words could be interpreted multiple ways, but the smirk on Kaelyn’s face told her she was making lighthearted fun.
“He’s fine,” she said hurriedly, not wanting to go through the process of dealing with another Ursidae shifter. Klaue was a bit rough around the edges, but she knew him already. “Thank you for taking me in.”
Kaelyn smiled. She really was very charming. Maybe some of the stories Jessica had heard were embellished a bit.
“It’s settled then,” Kaelyn said, giving them both a little smile. “I just wanted to come see how you were doing. I’ll leave the two of you to it.”
Jessica almost asked “to what”, but the Queen was already moving on. Jessica watched as she transformed into her regal persona to talk to another group of shifters who were waiting to talk to her.
“Come on then.”
She blinked as something big and fleshy blocked her vision. Refocusing, she saw it was Klaue’s arm. He was offering it to her. “Where are we going?” she asked, not taking him up on the offer.
“My quarters.”
She was about to start walking, but paused. His quarters? Why were they going back there? If he truly thought she was just going to let herself be taken to bed like that, Klaue was sorely misinformed and she would be happy to let him know it. Here. In front of everyone.
“Because I want to shower and put on some other clothes. Then I figured we’d go get something to eat, and after that, maybe you can cough up some more details.”
“Like what?” Jessica doubted that would happen.
“Like how you as a human somehow know about the shifter world, but aren’t mated to someone. Or what it is you did that made Canis so angry with you? If we didn’t enjoy antagonizing those hidebound inbred mutts so much, we probably would have thrown you out by now.” Klaue started walking as he talked, forcing her to join him if she wanted to hear the rest of what he had to say.
“I told you, I know about your world,” she said.
“Yeah, I heard you the first time. I also heard how you didn’t provide a single detail on how you know about us.” He scratched his head. “You know, it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours and we’ve already received several messages from Canis requesting that we turn you over to them.”
She highly doubted they were requests. Probably more like thinly-veiled threats and demands. Still, they’ve turned them down so far, which means they’re more willing to keep you than Klaue is letting on. Otherwise, I would have been summoned before a more formal setting I think.
Still, they were protecting her, and doing so without anything to go on. Maybe there was something she could give them. Jessica knew if she continued to say nothing at all, they would eventually tire of her and probably give her up. She had to keep Klaue on her side. If that meant giving him some information to lead him on, so be it. She would do anything.
“My sister is mated to someone in Canis,” she said at last.
Klaue’s head snapped round like a robot, his blue eyes cold, focused. “Are you a spy?” he growled.
She ignored the ridiculous question. “We were together when we found out about the shifters. About seven years ago. I’ve had time to adapt, to realize I wasn’t going crazy. It was really an accident.” Jessica shrugged helplessly, wondering why she was being adamant about it. “Though, seeing the true nature of it all again last night was the first pointed reminder in a long time that I’m part of a vastly different world than the one I tend to think of on a regular basis.”
Klaue chuckled. “If only humans knew the half of it. They would be so freaked out and panicked. Shifters are bad enough, but wait until they discover magic, or that vampires used to exist. Heck, if the Fae ever make it back into our realm, then things would get really wonky.”
Jessica frowned. “Those are real?”
“Fairies? Oh sure. I think. They haven’t been seen in a long time, but once upon a time, they existed.” Klaue smiled grimly. “There’s a lot out there that humanity either doesn’t know, or doesn’t want to know about. They prefer to live blindly, to ignore it. It’s easier that way for them.”
“Can I ask you a question?” she said as he pushed open the door to his quarters and held it for her to pass.
“Sure. Fire away.”
“How did you come to be outside last night? Then you were also assigned to look over me, how is that?”
“Ahhhhhhh.”
Jessica looked up in surprise. She’d never heard Klaue stammer like that. What the hell? Why was he going bright red too?
“Klaue, is everything okay?”
“Yup,” he said tightly. “I was just out there, um, going for a walk.”
“A walk.”
He nodded. “Yup. A walk. I’m gonna shower now.”
Then he turned and fled into the bathroom.
My, my, my, Klaue. I’m not the only one hiding secrets, now, am I?
9
He scrubbed himself until his skin was red and tingling, trying to get the embarrassment to come off.
How could he not have been prepared for that sort of question? Of course, she would want to know why the hell he was out front of the gates basically waiting for her to crash. It was way too big of a coincidence. Yet he’d been stymied, and responded with little more than an awkward noise that only made it worse!
Klaue was not used to the way she made him feel, or act. Kincaid had been adamant that this was his mate, and though he still harbored many doubts, he couldn’t deny that there was some sort of connection to be had between them. Enough that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her? So far, that seemed doubtful. She was a bit too caustic and sharp around the edges for him.
He dried off vigorously, hoping that by the time he left the shower, she would let the subject drop. The last thing he wanted to do was tell her the reason she was staying with him, under his protection, was because she may or may not be his mate. How would that go over? Not well, seemed the likely answer.
Growling at his own irritation, Klaue nearly punched the wall in frustration. Knowing what Kincaid had told him was only making things harder. Now, Klaue was trying to temper his attitude toward her
and her refusal to disclose anything. Normally, he’d have already been far more intimidating and rude toward her in an effort to drag it out.
That’s not an option though. Not if you ever want her to forgive you if she is your mate. He could just imagine how that conversation would go.
Oh sorry, hunny, I had to be a scary asshole, but it’s okay, because some guy with mystical powers says we’re meant to be together for the rest of our lives. So you forgive me, right?
He snorted with explosive laughter.
“What’s so funny in there?” Jessica called. “Shaking your hips in the mirror or something?”
Klaue made a rude noise. “How immature do you think I am?” he fired back, then immediately regretted the question.
Jessica just laughed. “Trust me, you don’t want me answering that question.”
“Fine,” he said, stomping out of the room in a bit of a huff and tossing the towel on the back of a chair as he started to dress.
“Hey!” she shouted, turning around. “Give me a warning next time, would you?”
Klaue grinned. “You didn’t seem to mind looking earlier. I just figured you would want to see the whole thing.”
To him, nudity was nothing, a commonplace occurrence among shifters. Either they had to strip naked before and after shifting, to save their clothes, or else they would be without anything to cover up with after, as the process would shred anything they wore.
Jessica didn’t seem to remember it in her daze, but he’d been naked the night before, when they’d barely escaped with their lives after the Magi of House Ursa had shown up to drive the unknown mage off.
Her sister was mated to someone in Canis, she’d said, the first piece of information he’d gotten from her. Hadn’t she become accustomed to it there? The wolves weren’t that different in some ways, he was aware.
“Ready,” he pronounced, feeling refreshed and ready to replenish his energy. It was time to eat!
Dragging Jessica along to the kitchen, he ordered copious amounts of meat, some bread, a plate of pasta and some bacon-wrapped asparagus the cooks had decided to make as a special for the day.
“See,” he said, pointing at them on his plate. “Greens. I’m a healthy veggie man.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “They’re wrapped in bacon, drizzled in oil and coated in cheese.”
He shrugged, then grunted. “Greens.”
Jessica made some unintelligible noises as she shook her head, but he was positive he saw the corners of her mouth curl just a little as she dug into her salad.
A commotion from the entrance caught both their attention, interrupting them mid-meal.
“Who’s that?” Jessica asked even as Klaue sighed, doing his best to keep most of it internal.
“That,” he said dully as the dark-robed figure strode up to them, bony fingers barely visible from the sleeves, “is the Magi of House Ursa. Korred.”
“Is there a reason he looks so angry?”
“Besides that being his normal attitude?” Klaue replied, deadpan.
There were few members of his House that Klaue couldn’t stand, but Korred was one of them. The Magi was old. Very old. His ways were antiquated and his antics tiresome. The man was the most reclusive of the ruling Council and rarely seen outside his chambers except when absolutely necessary. Like when a mage opened a rift twenty feet from the gates of Ursidae Manor.
“You,” he said, stabbing one of his slender fingers at Jessica.
Klaue stood in surprise at that, towering over the slightly hunched Magi. It disgusted him how much the man had let himself go. By all reports, in his prime he’d been a magnificent specimen of Ursa. Tall, shoulders wider than a tank, some had said. Now, Klaue doubted he could beat a child. Physically, anyway.
The Magi was a powerful man in his own way, and Klaue knew better than to cross him. Magic had come naturally to him, and there were none more versed in its methods than Korred.
“Is there a problem here?” he asked. Well, perhaps growled was more appropriate.
Korred hadn’t been happy about being disturbed the night before, and had made that point very clear to both Klaue and the Queen after he’d been forced to intervene and stop the rogue. Personally, Klaue thought the Magi was upset because the mage had escaped, but he very quietly kept that opinion to himself.
“Yes. She has the taint of magic about her.”
Klaue’s eyebrows rose on their own. “She what?” he asked in surprise before he could stop himself. Then his brain engaged. “Yeah, remember, a mage showed up last night?”
Was the old man going senile?
“I know that, you insolent whelp! But closer than that. Much closer. Stronger. I can feel it all the way to my chambers. She practically reeks of it.”
“I don’t smell,” Jessica snapped.
“He means like an aura,” Klaue supplied. “You’ve been close to a mage.”
She looked away, but didn’t say anything.
“Last night at the gates wasn’t the first time you tangled with one of them,” Korred snapped, stepping closer when Jessica didn’t say anything.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Klaue said, stepping in. He didn’t like this revelation any more than Korred or anyone else, but he wasn’t about to let him berate Jessica in public either.
“You dare to stop me?” Korred demanded with a hiss to his words.
“Yes. Get out of here.” He moved to put himself between Korred and Jessica, noticing that there were many other faces turned his direction, all of whom would have been privy to everything just said.
Great, as if there wasn’t already enough suspicion being directed Jessica’s way. You had better be worth it. If Kincaid was wrong, and this wasn’t his mate, he was going to be livid for sticking his neck out so far for her.
Korred looked up at him and lifted a hand, but Klaue just smiled. “I wouldn’t test me.” He glanced down.
The Magi followed his gaze and saw Klaue’s hand holding the steak knife less than an inch away from his stomach, ready to jab it in and rip the old shifter open.
“You will regret this,” Korred said, but he backed off.
“Let’s go.” He dropped the knife on the table and motioned for Jessica to get up and leave.
They left the kitchen in a hurry, Klaue very aware of the grim attitude he was getting from many of the other occupants. Mages were not welcome amongst the shifters, and if Jessica was working in close company with one, then he would be hard-pressed to protect her. In one sentence, Korred had just made his job infinitely more difficult.
“Asshole,” he muttered.
“Pardon?”
“Not you,” he said, waving off the comment. “Korred. The old man doesn’t think shit through anymore. He could have come to me in private and revealed that. I take it last night at the gates wasn’t the first time you saw the mage?”
Jessica hesitated.
“You’re going to have to give me something,” he said fiercely. “I just put my own ass on the line back there. You’re already not well liked, many people figure you for a spy. Throw the accusation of being close with a mage on top of it, and, well, that’s not helpful for either of us.”
“Magic is real.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Did you think you were dreaming when he stepped out of thin air last night?”
“A little,” she admitted. “But it added up with a few other things I’ve seen.” She didn’t elaborate.
“Who is he?”
She sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Where did you see him?”
Silence.
Klaue tried to rein in his frustration. “You can’t just expect people to believe you’re innocent when you’re hiding so much!” he snapped angrily.
“I told you, I don’t know who he is!” she shouted, pushing her way into his quarters without waiting for him to open the door for her as usual. “Until last night, I didn’t even know that people could do that, okay!”
&
nbsp; He frowned, but followed her inside. This was progress.
Sort of.
10
She flopped down onto the sofa, letting the plush leather envelop her. In just a short time, Klaue’s quarters had somehow become her safe spot, a place where Jessica could feel at ease from the worries that being exposed to the rest of House Ursa put on her.
They were still the enemy as far as she was concerned, but Klaue was different. He wasn’t like the rest of them, and when he was around, she could relax just a tiny bit. That might not last for much longer though, if the closed-off stare being directed her way was anything to go by. Klaue had always had a cold, distant look about him when he was looking at something besides her, but now that seemed to be changing. Even Klaue had limits to how far he was willing to trust her without knowing the truth.
“I thought you said you found out about us seven years ago,” he said, leveling the accusation.
“Shifters,” she said, crossing her arms, the baggy brown sweatshirt bunching up uncomfortably across her chest and under her neck. They hadn’t bothered to get any that fit her, or any other clothes, so until then she was stuck with the oversized paper bag-looking garment. “I knew about shifters. I didn’t even know it was real magic until you started referring to the man as a mage.”
“But it wasn’t the first time you’d seen him either. So which one is it?”
“Both.” She didn’t want to open up any more.
This was a bad idea, she decided. Coming to House Ursa. Why had she thought that the bear shifters would treat her any differently? To them, she was nothing but a spy sent over in an attempt to infiltrate them. Counting on their help was just too much to ask, it seemed.
Fine. I’ll do it myself then. Somehow.
Just contemplating the situation threatened to overwhelm her. Canis, Ursa, mages, a plot that threatened hers and her sister’s life simply for knowing it. Jessica was terrified, there was no doubting that, but all she was doing here and now was hiding. This wasn’t proactive, and it wasn’t going to solve a damn thing. If Jessica wanted to put an end to it, she would have to take things into her own hands.
