by Riley Storm
“Maybe,” Jess agreed thoughtfully. “Just make sure you talk to me, okay? It’s not gonna be easy at points, but I’m here for you.”
“I know Jess,” Zoe said quietly, embarrassed at the show of emotion. “You always have been.”
“That’s a big sister’s job. Torment you when alone, and beat the shit out of anyone who tries to do that job for me.”
“Well you succeeded on both parts,” Zoe said, laughing loudly as Jessica pushed her away with a harrumph. “It feels so good to be out of there though, Sis. What a miserable place it is these days. It’s like the entire House can sense things aren’t right, but nobody is willing to do anything about it.”
“Not our problem anymore,” Jess announced. “Let them sort themselves out.”
Zoe smiled, but it wasn’t a true smile. No matter what she said, Jess knew her sister still cared for Lorran at least a little bit. It would take time to move past that, and she knew there would be grieving at some point as well. Jess didn’t know for sure, but she had a sneaking suspicion Lorran wouldn’t be returning from the cemetery once Klaue was through.
“What’s it like?” Zoe asked after they wandered a few more minutes, ending up at the kitchen.
“What’s what like?” Jess asked. She pouted at the lack of selection of wine currently on the rack, grabbed a bottle of something that would have to suffice, and poured them both glasses. She didn’t recork it.
“Living here. They just let you stay when you showed up?”
Jess looked hurriedly into her wine glass. “Um, something like that.”
Zoe wasn’t an idiot. “Jessica Hanes. What did you do?”
“Nothing!” she protested. “It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t try to do it or anything.”
“Oh, my God,” Zoe said, face widening as realization sank in. “You’re sleeping with one of them, aren’t you!”
She winced, and suddenly—just like that—her glass was empty. Refilling it, she finally answered her sister’s question. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”
Zoe frowned, then laughed. “And you said you could never be with a shifter! Is it that one who was with you at the exchange? The handsome one with the black hair and blue eyes?”
“Mmm hmm,” Jessica said dreamily, drawing up a perfect picture of Klaue in her mind.
“You really like this guy, don’t you?” Zoe observed. “Has he, um, claimed you yet?”
“Claimed me?”
“You know, as his mate?” Zoe leaned forward, taking some of her own wine.
“He’s said that I’m his mate, yes. But there didn’t seem to be any sort of claiming. Is there? Is he going to like, bite me? Did Lorran bite you?” she asked, suddenly realizing she knew nothing about the process of becoming a shifter’s mate.
Zoe spat out her wine, unable to stop laughing. “No, of course not!” she howled. “They’re borne the way they are, Jess, they don’t bite you and transform you into one!”
The two sisters shared in the hilarity of the moment; for the first time in over a week, they were able to just relax.
“I should have come sooner, Zoe,” Jessica said at last. “After what you did to help me escape. I waited too long.”
“I told you, I was fine. Bored, alone, but not hurt. I think they were afraid that if they did anything to me and you found out, you’d talk anyway. You can give me a refill though to make up for it.”
Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you said you were fine.”
“It was a week, Jess. That’s a long time. Now…” she shook the wine glass back and forth.
“Unbelievable,” Jess muttered under her breath, still smiling.
“What can you tell me about living among the bears? I take it what we heard was…mostly incorrect?”
Jess nodded. “They’re good people. Especially Klaue, but some of the others as well. Slow to trust, but once you find out everything that’s happened, you’ll understand. You’ll be fine here, I promise.”
Zoe nodded. “I hope so. I—” Before she could speak again, there was a commotion outside in the hallway.
The two girls looked at each other, then—as one—got up and went to go see what was going on.
It was the shifters returning, the first load of badly injured. Jess held her breath, watching each of them as they emerged from the nearby elevator and were taken down the halls to their rooms, while calls ensued for the Priest of the House and his attendants to come quickly. There were bones that needed setting.
“Do you see him?” Zoe asked quietly from next to her.
Jessica shook her head. “No, but if I know Klaue, he’ll have waited until the very end. He’ll want to ensure everyone is okay and looked after. I’m already safe, he knows that. His men will need him first.”
“Maybe,” Zoe said cryptically. “Maybe not.”
“Klaue is a good man,” Jess hissed fiercely.
“I don’t doubt that. But look.” She turned to her left, to an intersection farther up the corridor, where it crossed with the Grand Hallway and the main entrance.
Klaue stood there, staring at her.
“Oh, my,” Zoe said carefully. “Um. Jess.”
“I’m on it,” she muttered. “Avert your eyes. He’s mine.”
“Don’t worry,” Zoe teased. “There’s plenty of other eye candy around for me to look at, even if this one is particularly, um, um. Shit. What’s a good word for big that isn’t big?”
Jess pushed in front of her sister and walked up to Klaue, who watched her come the entire time.
“Klaue,” she said conversationally.
“Yes?”
“You’re naked.”
“Yes.”
“Your quarters. Clothes. Let’s go.”
He stood staring at her.
“Now, Klaue,” she repeated, using the firmer voice the Queen had coached her on.
Klaue shook himself, which had…interesting…repercussions, and then bowed his head. “Yes, dear.”
He turned and marched off, giving her an excellent view of his rear. Behind her, Zoe snickered.
Jess ignored it. She was too busy smiling. It had worked!
42
“There, now isn’t that better?” she asked as he pulled on sweatpants, still wet with water from the shower.
After getting a better glimpse at him and the number of injuries he’d suffered, she’d made him wash. In turn, Klaue had made her join him in the shower. It wasn’t very flirtatious, but more officious. She’d helped him clean up, attending to the places he couldn’t reach. Gently rubbing him down, she cleansed him of the blood and dirt that had become stuck to his body.
“Of course,” he agreed. “Anything is better with you involved.” He reached out and pulled her tight. She clung to his body, but carefully. Most of his wounds were healed over or almost healed, but she was still ginger with him.
“Klaue…”
“I need to tell you something,” he interrupted.
Jessica lifted her eyebrows, moving her mouth from side. “I’m pretty sure I get to go first on this one. After all, I’m still trying to finish what I said before I was interrupted back at the cemetery.” She paused, suddenly remembering he’d been in a fight. “How is everyone by the way?” she asked, speaking in hushed tones.
“We lost some men,” he replied, and she could see the casualties weighing heavily on him. They’d known going in that it wasn’t going to be won cleanly, but he still mourned the loss of every shifter that had laid down their life for him. For me. That was just the way Klaue was.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, squeezing tighter into him, wishing she could hug him harder.
“We knew there would be a cost. What’s important is that we won. Thoroughly. None of their lives was wasted in vain.” He growled, the sound causing her body to vibrate where she touched him. “I can’t say the same about the wolves that died.”
She could sense the disgust in him, feel his anger at the entire situation. Jessica agre
ed. A few men at the top manipulated those who followed into doing their bidding. It was rare that the ones in power ever suffered the consequences for their actions—although she was learning that perhaps it was a bit more common in the shifter world.
“Lorran?” she asked cautiously, not because she cared, but because she knew how it would affect her sister.
“Dead,” Klaue said, not an ounce of regret in his voice. “But I don’t think it’s over. Not for Canis at least. Whoever that third person is, I think they’re going to go ahead with it. The bastard.”
“Maybe. But what can we do? We don’t even know who to warn. If we broadcast it to all, it could be disastrous, even worse. Many who aren’t involved on either side would get swept up.”
“I know. We’re going to sit on it, I think.” Klaue scratched his head, sighing. “Anyway, enough talk about all that. You said you wanted to tell me something? Please say you’re not leaving.”
Jessica’s mouth dropped open. “Leaving? Why would I be leaving?”
“I don’t know. It’s over now. Your sister is free. You two will want to go live your lives and stuff, right?”
She both wanted to laugh, and also to punch Klaue for being so thick-headed. And yet, she realized that perhaps there was more to it. Jessica had always assumed that because of their good looks, strength, and excess money, shifters were immune to things that plagued most human men.
“You don’t think I could actually care for you?” she gasped.
Klaue looked away. “I killed your sister’s mate,” he said. “I killed others today. I’m not an angel, Jess. I’ve done bad things. I will end up doing more bad things. It’s the way of life among us. Why would you want to stay with me, when you could go be with someone who isn’t?”
“Because, you numb-skulled moron, I don’t love them. I love you!” she practically shouted, jabbing a finger into his sternum so hard she hurt herself.
“What?” Klaue was staring at her, wide eyed, slack-jawed. “What did you say?”
“I said, I love you,” she growled, doing her best to imitate him when he was frustrated. “Have you not picked up on that at all?”
“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Klaue licked his lips.
Jessica hung her head, smiling despite it all as she finally confessed the feelings that had been building in her for the past few days.
“Well now it just sounds like I’m copying you,” he said.
Looking up, she saw a mischievous twinkle in his eye, like the sun sparkling on a placid lake early in the morning. “What are you talking about?”
“Because I was going to tell you that I love you. Except you went and stole my thunder.”
“What?” She raised a hand to cover her mouth. “Klaue, are you serious?”
“Of course, I’m serious,” he said forcefully, not giving her the slightest bit of room to doubt him. “Only an idiot wouldn’t recognize that you’re the single best thing to happen to me. I may have my shortcomings, but I’m not that oblivious!”
She giggled, thought about teasing him, then decided on another course of action. “Come here, you,” she growled again, reaching up and pulling him down to her level where she kissed him properly, thoroughly, and very unchastely.
“I love you, Jessica,” he said some time later, their heads pressed together.
A shiver ran through her body as he said the words. “How can I be so lucky to have found you during such a fucked-up time?” she mused, nuzzling in closer to him.
Her man—her man—bent down and grabbed her just below her rear, picking her up casually and holding her at his waist level. “Fate often presents us with what we need most, even if we don’t know it at the time.”
“That’s very poetic of you,” she observed. “Where did you steal that line from?”
Klaue tried to bluster his way out of it. “I can be a deep thinker too.”
She just made agreeable noises and kissed him some more, relishing in the warm of his skin, the scrape of his stubble across her face, the gentle contrast with how soft and tender his lips treated her. That was Klaue in a nutshell. Hard and firm, but with a sweet, kind center that only she got to see.
I’ll keep your secret safe, my love. Always.
“By the way?” Klaue asked, taking her to the bedroom. “Did you just leave your sister out there?”
“Um, maybe? Do you think she’ll be okay?”
“Is she anything like you?” Klaue asked, pushing open the door with his foot.
“If anything, she’s worse.” Jessica clung to his waist as he tried to set her down, forcing Klaue to fall onto the bed with her as they tugged at one another’s clothing.
“In that case, it’s them that I’m worried about, not her.”
Jessica chuckled with laughter, until Klaue’s hand slipped inside her thighs, turning it into a hiss of pleasant surprise.
“Oh, it’s going to be like that, is it?” she asked playfully as he dragged a fingernail over her pants, somehow managing to find exactly the right spot to make her eyes roll slightly back into her head.
“It’s going to be like that.” Klaue bent over and kissed her, pushing Jessica back onto the bed so he could more easily come and lie on top of her.
“Well, if you insist…”
43
She was standing next to the Queen while the audience around them roared in anticipation. Not because of anything Jessica was involved in, but because of what was about to happen in front of them.
“Well, at least human and shifter men both enjoy watching two people beat each other up,” she remarked under her breath, trying to keep her mouth as still as possible.
While the Queen maintained her calm, blank stare, one of the nearby guards wasn’t quite able to contain his amusement.
“Well, we are part animal,” Kaelyn joked quietly out of the corner of her mouth. “And this tradition dates back to our earliest days.”
She nodded, watching as both the men on the floor in front of the Throne began to strip. “Your complete lack of aversion to nudity is probably something I’ll never get used to though.”
“You don’t admire the male specimen?” Kaelyn asked, this time letting a smile come across her face.
“Oh no, I do. I very much do. It’s just I don’t like everyone else admiring my male specimen.”
This time, Kaelyn did laugh, not bothering to try and cover it up. “I don’t think you have much to worry about there,” she continued through the laughter. “Klaue is quite smitten with you.”
“I’m his mate, he damn well better be if he knows what’s good for him.”
The two women shared a knowing smile before turning their attention outward. The Queen to address her House, and Jessica to worry about her mate’s wellbeing. It was ritual combat, and there was no real chance of him sustaining any sort of serious injury, but accidents did happen. She just didn’t like seeing him get hurt at all.
Even if he gets really cute and acts needy.
Jessica loved him, and she enjoyed being able to take care of him when he let her. Most of the time, Klaue was so damned stubborn he just did it himself. But when he let her do something, it made her feel good. Made her feel loved. Especially because he had done the same for her when she’d gotten sick.
After the events at the cemetery, Kaelyn had postponed the final trial for a week. In that intervening time, Jessica had come down with a stomach virus of sorts for three days, and Klaue had spent every day pampering her and doing his best to make sure she had whatever she needed to get better again. It had been utterly adorable, and if she’d at all still been uncertain about staying and moving in with him, that had washed it away in seventy-two hours of toilet-hugging amazingness.
I can’t believe I see being sick as a good thing. So weird.
Below, in the open space of the Throne Room, the two men finished shifting. Klaue’s bear was black, its pelt shiny. His foe was a muddy brown, though he seemed a hair larger than her mate, but not by much.
; Listening to the shouts of the assembled crowd, they were now about fifty-fifty for either party. Klaue had won many supporters after his actions at the cemetery, and now that the true story of why she had come there was out, many had revised their opinion or abandoned their neutral stance, applauding his willingness to stick by her as a positive trait.
“Go get it,” she whispered as the final Trial of Champions commenced.
If Klaue won this, then she knew he would become the Champion of House Ursa, its weaponsmaster and best fighter. Although she didn’t care about titles, she knew it meant a lot to him, and that he was beyond honored to even be considered for the position. He worked hard, and she was rooting for him, to see that effort pay off. Klaue would do great things as Champion, she knew it.
And if he doesn’t, I’ll smack him around until he does.
The two giant bears charged at one another. The fight, she’d been told, was to submission. Only once one bear could no longer continue would the bout be off. The rules were tricky, though. If Klaue lost, then the shifter he was facing would have to then go through the other two trials. Only a shifter who had won in all three elements against the best the House could offer would be crowned Champion.
Tremors ran through the floor as the beasts collided, backed away and slammed together again, roaring challenges at one another. Layer after layer of noise filled the room, battering at her eardrums.
This was life in the House of Ursa. Her sister was somewhere in the crowd, she was sure, probably cheering on Klaue. Zoe was used to such things, but to Jessica it was still new. It was tough, especially as Klaue took a vicious-looking swipe to his front shoulder. Wincing at the sight of his ripped pelt, Jessica looked away, but only for a moment as she heard the crowd erupt in cheers for Klaue.
It had been a feint! She could see it now, as Klaue battered away at his foe, pushing the other bear back slowly but steadily. Amazing. Her instincts told her the fight was over now. It went on for some time, but Klaue had the upper edge. His strikes landed harder, he shouldered into his opponent again and again, imposing his will.
