by Riley Storm
Fiery red lightning spat out from the Dracos tomb, but stopped five feet short of the nearest shifter as a bubble of red appeared around the Ursidae shifters. The shield held, absorbing the energy and then fading back into invisibility.
“A little gift from Kvoss,” Klaue announced as the mage emerged, looking unhappy.
He lifted a hand and this time, green darts flickered toward the bear shifters, a constant stream. They impacted upon the shield, energy spitting and cracking as it was dispersed once more.
Snarling angrily, the mage lifted both hands and slammed them together in front of him, pointing his fingers directly at Klaue. A blue spear shot out across the distance. It hit the shield, and the little disc Klaue had been instructed to use sparked, then burst into fire before finally exploding, sending little bits of shrapnel in every direction.
The shield was down.
“Klaue,” one of the men said nervously.
He swore. Their reinforcements still hadn’t arrived, and now they were sitting ducks. The mage’s right hand was glowing with green energy as he prepared to attack them again. They couldn’t disperse, the wolves would tear them apart. But if they stayed bunched up, so would the magic.
“Stay in formation,” Kasperi said, stepping back and turning to face the mage.
“You and that scarf,” Klaue muttered with a grin as his former rival pulled out the artifact and whirled it around just in time to deflect the mage’s spell.
“You!” the mage shrieked, recognizing Kasperi from the raid on Moonshadow Manor.
“Anytime now, Klaue,” Kasperi called. “I really don’t want to see what he does next.”
Neither did Klaue. Blue magic was building once again. Around them, the wolves circled constantly, howling, yipping and barking at them. They knew better than to approach the circle of armed men while they were still a cohesive group.
A black shadow reached out from around the corner of the Ursidae tomb and something flickered across the distance toward the mage. He spotted it just in time and slashed a hand in front of him. Green magic deflected whatever it was, but the mage hissed as he realized another player was on the field, and raced away into the rows of tombs.
Klaue watched, his teeth pulling back into a snarl as Kvoss, the Assassin of High House Ursa, gave chase.
Seconds later, he felt the rumble.
“Here we go, boys!” he shouted, and the men of House Ursa start to holler, tossing their heads back and making inhuman sounds that quickly overpowered the howls of the wolves.
Especially when the oncoming stampede of shifters called back.
Dozens of bears, each one nearly two tons of muscle and fury, stormed the circle, bowling into the assembled wolves like a tidal wave. Full-grown wolves soared through the air, bounced across the ground or were trampled as Klaue’s reinforcements arrived in a mass of death and destruction.
“Okay, move, move, move!” he shouted, and his circle made a mad rush for the nearby SUV. His first job was to get Jessica and Zoe clear of the danger.
Then he could turn his attention to the ones that were deserving of the anger coursing through his body like blue-white fire.
“Get in,” he ordered, pulling open the door.
“Klaue!”
He whirled at the shouted warning and growled as a wolf slipped past his men and went for the girls. Not this time. Not any time while Klaue still stood. Bestial rage overcame him and he threw himself at the massive creature, wrapping it up in a bear hug, the likes of which it had never felt before. Squeezing tight, Klaue roared, half in pain and half in bloodlust as paws tore at his arms and legs, trying to free itself.
Ribs cracked, but he didn’t stop there, pulling it in even closer, letting his body change, grow larger. The wolf yelped as more bones snapped and Klaue dropped it to the ground, towering over it now, nearly fifteen feet tall and two thousand pounds of fury. His forelegs came down on the wolf’s chest and it instantly ceased all movement.
Glancing over his shoulder, Klaue saw the girls safely ensconced in the SUV, one of his men firing up the engine. He tried to tell Jessica to put her seatbelt on, but the change was complete, and he couldn’t speak. She rolled down the window, shouting to be heard over the bellows, howls, yips and roars that filled the space.
“You’re not coming?”
He shook his head, motioning at his men as best he could with a paw. The point was clear: I can’t leave them behind.
“You come back to me, dammit!” she shouted as the SUV lurched into reverse and sped away.
I will. I promise.
Turning to survey the battle, he stalked across it to the thickest knot of wolves still remaining. Many were down. Most were still moving, though a good number were not. Here and there, the corpse of a massive bear indicated momentary success, but for the most part, House Canis was getting a little worse than they were giving.
Time to truly tip the scales in our favor.
Now that Klaue and his team were free, their weight turned the battle swiftly. They formed an arrow with him at the point, moving across the field, dispatching any wolf stupid enough to come into range, or too injured to get out of their way. None of the bodies in their wake moved.
They approached a solid knot of twenty or more wolves, all clustered around a singular wolf. Large, with perfectly white fur and eyes an arctic blue, there was only one person it could be. Lorran.
No matter what happened, Klaue was going to ensure the Canis Title Holder did not leave the battlefield with a breath of life in him. He’d been responsible for too much pain, and if left to his own devices, would have killed an untold amount more.
He started to move faster. Around him, his men picked up the pace as well, maintaining formation. The wolves tightened ranks, teeth bared, saliva dripping. Eyes tinged with red watched the oncoming charge, eager to rip bear flesh apart.
Klaue’s vision narrowed, turning the world around Lorran into a blur. It didn’t matter how many wolves were in his way. He would kill them all if that was what it took to end the threat. The ground trembled and shook as the gathered Ursidae bore down on their foes.
As one, they roared a challenge just before they struck, the noise deafening and disorienting the wolves. Then the mass of bodies struck. This wasn’t an attack; they didn’t stop to finish off the wolves that went down under their paws. It was an avalanche. They poured through the circle, ignoring all wounds, trampling any wolf that didn’t get shouldered aside bodily.
Lorran saw them coming and when it became clear they weren’t stopping, he turned to run. Klaue growled angrily. He couldn’t catch a wolf shifter, no matter how fast he was. His only chance was to stop him before he broke away from the pack.
Putting his head down, he raced forward, taking more wounds as he broke away from his bodyguards, exposing his flanks to the wolves that still remained. None of that mattered. The white wolf yipped, summoning more support from his fellows, but he’d noticed too late that Klaue had sped up.
Gotcha! He launched himself forward, stretching out with his foreleg.
Lorran tried to dodge, but he was a hair too slow. Claws dug deep, parting the white fur and slicing deep into the muscles of the wolf’s hind leg. The force of the blow whipped Lorran around, sending him tumbling. He howled in pain and tried to get up, but his leg caved under the weight.
Klaue knew it wasn’t over. On three legs, Lorran might still escape. That couldn’t be allowed. He too got to his feet and went after the wolf as it hobbled away.
Another wolf tried to block his path, but Klaue just walked right into its range, reached out and swatted it aside as it darted in to try and bite him. The move cost him a fist-sized patch of fur, and left a tooth lodged in his frontside, but the sable-furred wolf slammed into the corner of a crypt and collapsed, leaving no doubt that it was dead.
I have you now!
A human-shaped figure dropped down from the roof of the crypt and drew a line with its hand between the retreating wolf and Klaue. A
s it did, flames of a pure crimson red erupted from the ground.
Klaue jumped back as heat boiled off the magic wall of fire, barely avoiding getting singed. The mage snapped at Lorran, saying something Klaue couldn’t understand, and then was gone again with a laugh—just a moment before Kvoss appeared in pursuit with an oddly irritated expression fixed on his face.
Frustrated at the delay, he raced around the far end of the flames and resumed his pursuit of Lorran. The wolf was moving quickly, but by reducing it to three legs Klaue had seriously hampered its top speed. He gained on it, sprinting on all four legs through the cemetery, begging for forgiveness from the ancestors of his House and all the other Houses.
Somewhere behind him, someone screamed, a loud, high-pitched noise. He hoped it was the mage. It bothered him to have to leave someone who had caused him so much trouble to another, but Klaue knew that magic wasn’t his strength. Leave it to the professionals. Up ahead, Lorran had disappeared. He raced to catch up. There was no way he was letting him escape now.
40
Klaue rounded one of the larger tombs he’d come across, and nearly lost his balance as he tried to stop. Dirt flew up in huge clumps as he dug in deep, turning as tight as a creature his size could.
“Wait,” Lorran said, back in his human form, raising his hand from where he lay slumped against the side of the tomb.
His right leg was a horrific mess of torn flesh, blood seeping out into the grass, turning it an ugly black shade.
“Please, Klaue, I’m assuming that’s you. We can work this out.”
Reluctantly, Klaue shifted to his human form, wondering why he was giving the man the time of day when he should just kill him and be done with it.
“Thank you,” Lorran wheezed, breathing hard, his face white from the pain. He would begin going into shock shortly.
The two men stood facing one another, both stark naked, covered in wounds. Klaue’s were far more numerous, but Lorran’s was serious, though not fatal. Just disabling.
“Your little plan dies today,” Klaue snarled, advancing. “No more death. No more killing of your own kind, you pathetic miscreant. It’s over.”
Lorran chuckled. “My plan? You fool. It was never my plan. Me, Adrian, we were just tools, you dumb bear. You don’t know what’s going on. None of you does. This is bigger than Ursa, bigger than Canis.” He started to shiver.
“The third man,” Klaue said, remembering what Jessica had told him, assuming that Adrian was the mage. “It was his plan? Is that what you’re saying?”
It had to be another Title Holder within Canis. Not that Klaue or his House were in any position to stop their civil war from erupting. The young bloods of Canis would have to deal with that themselves, but he didn’t like being laughed at, or kept in the dark.
“His,” Lorran whispered, his voice calming. “His and…”
Klaue frowned. The injury wasn’t that bad. What was going on here? Was this some sort of trick by Lorran, to fool Klaue into thinking he was dying?
“His and someone else? Another member of Canis?” Klaue asked.
Lorran just smiled at him.
“Tell me!” he bellowed.
It was another few seconds before he realized Lorran wasn’t moving, the hideous smile now fixed on his face in death.
“How the hell are you dead?” he muttered, moving forward cautiously.
There was no doubt though, Lorran was finished. Picking up his leg, Klaue saw the giant puddle of blood that had spilled into the grass. Upon closer inspection, he saw that his bear claw hadn’t just severed the man’s tendons near the knee and ripped his flesh apart, he’d actually sliced clean through the femoral artery.
Klaue sat back in surprise, newfound respect for the wolf shifter arising. He’d somehow been able to remain on his feet and run this far away before becoming too weak to continue. That was…impressive.
Most wounds a shifter could heal from, but a clean slice of an artery, without a tourniquet around Lorran’s leg, there was no stopping that. A freak injury, but one that worked just the same. Just to be sure though, he reached forward and snapped Lorran’s neck. Klaue wasn’t in the business of taking chances.
Standing, he hurried back to the scene of the main battle. It was all over now except for the mopping up. His men had corralled the surviving wolves into a circle, watched over by half a dozen angry-looking grizzlies.
Kvoss emerged from the Canis tomb, wiping blood off his blade with a rag that, upon closer inspection, was actually part of the dead mage’s outfit.
“You look ridiculous,” Kvoss muttered.
“What, never seen a naked man before?” he fired back. Kvoss just chuckled but stayed silent. “I’m assuming that’s from Adrian?”
The Assassin arched an eyebrow. “Who?”
“The mage. His name is Adrian.”
Kvoss shrugged coldly, uncaring. “It was his name.” Then he walked away, still fully clothed.
“Ass,” he muttered under his breath. It was never any fun to be naked in a situation like this post battle, but it was not like he could avoid it. So instead, he walked around talking to his men with his cock flapping about like a helicopter rotor trying to start up. So what of it?
“What do you want done with them?” Kasperi asked, coming up to him and pointing at the survivors.
“Let them go. Most of them are just here obeying orders, they don’t know any better. We got the ringleaders. Sort of.”
“What do you mean?”
He told Kasperi what Lorran had said, the unsettling words.
This is bigger than Ursa, bigger than Canis…
What the hell did that mean?
“Talk to the Queen about it,” Kasperi urged.
“Talk to me about what?”
The two men whirled to see Kaelyn approaching across the battlefield.
“My Queen,” Klaue said, bowing his head, clasping his arms across his chest in respect. “I wasn’t aware you were coming.”
“It took me longer to convince Khove to let me come than expected,” she said wryly. “Otherwise, I would have been here earlier. I do hate missing a good fight in the cemetery.”
The bear shifters chuckled. By now, everyone knew of her duel with a renegade member of Ursa that had taken place right there in the cemetery as well. The renegade had made the fatal mistake of forgetting that Kaelyn wasn’t like most of the females in the House. She was a full-blooded shifter and took shit from no one.
“Now, what were you telling Kasperi?” she asked.
Klaue retold the story again, including the odd twist to Lorran’s smile when he’d asked if it was someone else within Canis that was responsible.
Kaelyn listened intently, never once questioning his words or his thoughts. “Interesting.”
He blinked. “That’s it? Interesting? That’s all you have to say?”
Eyeing him coolly, Kaelyn paused before speaking. “You think he means someone outside of Ursa is at play here.”
“Yes. That’s what it sounded like. The mysterious third player Jessica heard. She said she sort of recognized the voice. It’s got to be someone from within Canis, then. Which means either she’s wrong, Lorran is lying or…”
“Or someone else is manipulating that third party,” Kaelyn finished. “It wouldn’t surprise me. Some dark force is manipulating us, Klaue. Playing us. I can feel it. You know that a traitor still walks among us.”
“The person who sold out our raid.”
“Indeed. They are responsible for other acts as well, but whoever they are, they move in the shadows. I think it’s all connected. The question is…how?”
The three shifters just stared at one another, none of them coming up with any answers.
“I don’t know, my Queen,” Kasperi said, speaking first. “But I will help you find out any way I can.”
“Good,” Kaelyn said, clapping her hands together. “I hear you’re no slouch with magical artifacts as well as your swords, Kasperi. Perhaps you w
ould like to train under Kvoss. Become one of his Asps.”
Klaue’s head snapped up. “You suspect Kvoss.”
Kaelyn’s head whipped around to pin him with a fiery gaze. “I am your Queen, Klaue. I rule. Do not presume to know what I am thinking.”
Bowing his head, he crossed his arms over once more. “Of course, my Queen. You have my apologies, I should not have spoken.”
“No, you should not.” Her voice softened slightly, but not much, letting him know he wasn’t in deep trouble, but should keep his mouth shut.
“I would be honored to serve in any way you see fit,” Kasperi said.
“Good. Then it is done.” Kaelyn dismissed the younger shifter and turned to Klaue. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” she asked, tilting her head to stare at him curiously.
“Umm.” He jerked, suddenly overcome by a sudden need to be somewhere else. To be with someone. “Jessica!”
Turning around, he bolted for the parking lot where the extra SUV’s were located, ignoring the discomfort of running full speed while naked. Behind him, he heard Kaelyn snort and utter one word.
“Men…”
41
“This certainly isn’t as gloomy as Moonshadow, that’s for sure,” Zoe remarked as they wandered out of the elevator from the parking garage onto the main level of Ursidae Manor.
There wasn’t much to do besides show her sister around. Neither of them would be leaving the house anytime in the near future, not until things had blown over, so they may as well get used to it. Plus it was a good opportunity for them to talk.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” she asked, giving Zoe another once-over.
“I’m fine,” her little sister insisted. “Seriously. Lorran was rude after you left, but he did ensure nobody harmed me. At all. I was even free to wander the Manor, but I never went far from our—his—rooms,” Zoe said, forcefully changing the tense of her sentence.
“And what about here and here?” Jess asked, tapping her sister over the heart and the side of her head. “How are you dealing there?”
She shrugged. “I mean, you can’t undo seven years of marriage in a week, Jess, but I’ll be okay in the end, I know that much. Right now, I think I’m still in a bit of shock, and yet also realizing that I knew things weren’t as they seemed. Maybe I kept myself a little closed off from him all these years, and just never realized it because he did the same?”
