by Cathy Clamp
Councilman Kuric answered Dalvin’s question. “It’s true that the sloths are in a political dispute, but a blood feud is personal in their culture—a battle between two people. Normally, a fight between omegas is to first blood on the full moon. But—”
It was easy for Dalvin to finish the thought. “But since the sloths are already practically at war, what’s to stop one of the Alphas from adding a little oomph to their omega when they help her shift?”
Tamir nodded. “So first blood becomes a mortal wound. If one of the bears dies, there will never be peace. S’blood. So what do we do about it?”
Claire trotted over to report. “The sloths are in separate cars, headed to different houses. We’ve checked both buildings, and there’s nothing more dangerous than a feather duster in either one, so unless they want to pillow-fight to the death, they should be fine for a few minutes.
“But we have to change our plans. No way we can spread them out among the townspeople—we’d have to secure too many places in light of this new threat. The Kasuns will all stay together, at the Williams house. All the Petrovics except Anica can stay with the principal. Turns out Alpha Petrovic has a problem with Principal Burrows being unmarried, even with the rest of the family on-site. Liz is looking for a suitable location for her.
“We’ll have to bring in cooked food, since we took all the dishes, glassware, utensils, and cookware. Amber will stay full time with one group and Alek with the other. What happens next?”
Stinking of angry cat, Rabi let out a harsh breath. “Both sloths are insisting on blood combat and saying the peace talks have to be postponed until after the full moon. Between now and then, the sloths will prepare their omegas for battle. They want ceremonies and banquets, and meetings to set out the rules, just like in their home villages. It’s a nightmare.”
Liz Sutton-Kendall walked up to the group, with Rachel at her side. Dalvin couldn’t help staring at Rachel until she finally glanced his way, but then her gaze immediately dropped to the ground. Why? Was she angry with him?
“I might have a solution,” Liz said. “Tell them what you told me, Rachel.”
Rachel shrugged and tucked her fingers into her pants pockets, looking nervous at the sudden attention. “I suggested they have Larissa and Anica do an Ascension challenge. It’s how we settle disputes in Luna Lake.”
The cloying scent of curiosity filled the air. Kuric asked the obvious question: “Ascension? What’s that?”
The owl shifter let out a sigh. She smelled both angry and sad—such an odd combination that Dalvin wondered what, exactly, this challenge was. “It’s sort of a long story. Can we maybe go to the town hall? I think it will be easier to explain if I can show you the maps and the rule book. And it would be helpful to have Alek there. He’s the local expert on the rules, since the police chief’s dead.”
Councilman Kuric said, “Agent Adway, please ask Alek Siska to join us at the town hall.”
Dalvin nodded. “Sure, but I don’t know the town layout well yet. Where is the house where he’s staying?”
Claire interjected. “I know where he is. I’ll get him.”
Tamir nodded. “I’ll go with you and we’ll both take his place with the sloth. Claire, I want you to show me how your empathic talent works. Dalvin, you guard the councilman and the mediator. I don’t want anyone important walking around alone right now.”
With an exchange of nods, the group broke up, Claire and Tamir heading for the Petrovics while the others made their way to the town hall, Rachel in the lead. Dalvin trailed the others so he could keep an eye on everyone and their surroundings. He couldn’t imagine who would want to attack the peace conference, but he’d thought that last time too. He just hoped the killer of the last mediator was an outside threat and not someone they’d brought with them.
It was a short walk to the town hall. The door wasn’t locked, which made Dalvin extra cautious. He kept the others back while he used ears and magic to be certain there were no threats inside. Once he was certain all was clear, he waved them in, then stood guard at the door. No way was he going to let Tamir find any more fault in his performance and no way was he going to allow Rachel to get hurt. Not when he’d just found her.
Rachel seemed to notice that something about Dalvin had changed. She stared at him as she slowly walked past. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking by her expression or scent, which were primarily puzzled. He dipped his chin slightly and lightly put a hand on her shoulder . She jumped like his touch had burned—though that wasn’t how he would describe the sensation. Tingled was closer, like touching a live wire.
He stared at his hand for a second, then focused on his work. Rachel pushed open a swinging wooden gate perched between two heavy wooden tables. The room’s layout sort of reminded Dalvin of an old-fashioned courtroom, where the attorneys sat on one side of the gate and the gallery sat on the other.
Pointing to the large map hanging on the far wall, Rachel said, “This is a topo map of the whole forest around Luna Lake … well, at least the part that’s state land. Some of the land is owned by the Colville Confederated Native American tribes or by private companies. We hunt on our own land, but the racecourse covers territory we don’t own. Since we race in animal form, nobody notices, or if they do, they don’t care.”
Liz traced a finger along several colored lines on the paper. “What do you mean, racecourse?”
“I was just a kid when the town was settled,” Rachel said, taking a fat binder from under the counter. “It began as one of the refugee camps after the snake attacks. Everyone was scared, and I guess there were a lot of fights among the different species. They tended to keep the kids out of them, so I don’t know the details.”
Dalvin locked the door—Alek could knock when he arrived—and started walking the perimeter of the room, checking for listening devices or boobytraps.
“Of course,” Councilman Kuric said with a nod. “The whole idea of the camps was to protect the children. Everyone was really careful to keep them safe.”
The scents of anger and sadness filled the air. Dalvin glanced over in time to see Rachel’s eyes narrow briefly.
“Yeah, sure,” she said. He heard disbelief in her voice and wondered if the others noticed. “So, the wolves fought with the cats, and the cats fought with the birds, and the bears, except for the principal of the school, just left town because they couldn’t deal. The early fights were apparently pretty bloody, so the town Council got the bright idea of using the Ascension course to relieve stress. It’s like a track and field competition, held every full moon, and focusing on Sazi abilities. At least it started out that way.”
“Oh?” the mediator asked. “So it evolved?”
Rachel dropped the binder on the table with a heavy thud, which made everyone look at her. “You could say that. But more devolved. It became a way to pick the Omega of the town. All the individual packs or prides or parliaments had their own Omega, but who was the lowest of the low? Which of the competitors would be the ones to ascend”—she added air quotes to highlight the word—“to become respected citizens, versus being the town custodian. That’s a lovely word, ‘custodian’ … unless it’s shorthand for slave and pariah, someone to be looked down on and kicked.”
Her eyes flashed, angry and hurt. Dalvin had seen that look before, more than once. He remembered when they were eight and Rachel had partnered with another classmate for the science fair. They’d won, but there was only one blue ribbon, and it went to the pretty redheaded girl, the one who had just sat on Rachel’s bed and watched the work being done. Her mother had offered to go down to the school and ream the principal a new one, because funnily enough, there were two ribbons each for second and third place. But Rachel had just shaken her head and given her mom that same look.
A thought made him suddenly sick to his stomach.
“You were the Omega,” he said softly, somehow standing beside her though he didn’t remember crossing the distance. As his words sank in
with the others, their shoulders drooped and the scents of sorrow and anger filled the small room.
Both Sutton and Kuric opened their mouths, then closed them without saying anything. There really was nothing to say.
Rachel’s smile was bitter. “That’s me. On and off for the last five years. So I know how the process works to the nth degree. Trust me when I say I wouldn’t normally recommend it to anyone. But it is a good test of skills, and because Anica and Larissa are the same species, you could use one course and really make them work for a win. The cat course—that’s the green line—should work. There are climbing and jumping challenges combined with tracking and food-hunting events that a bear would be good at. Plus, everything is timed, so they’re racing the clock as much as their opponent.”
Councilman Kuric pointed to the map. “So the other colored lines … the yellow, white, and blue, are for different species?”
Rachel nodded and crossed her arms over her bosom. Odd that Dalvin hadn’t really noticed that part of her body until this moment. But … wow. “Yellow for birds, blue for wolves, green for cats, and the white for mixed species.”
Brow furrowed, Liz tipped her head and stared at the map like it was going to talk. “How could you possibly put a wolf and a raptor on the same course and have it be fair? The bird has a straight shot. The wolf could never win.”
A snort was the answer. “Sure it can. There’s an elevation restriction. Birds can only fly at a certain height—right where all the branches are. A tracking unit is attached to a talon and you get a little shock when you fly too high. You get three freebies because of updrafts you might not be able to control, just like the wolves and cats get a couple of freebies for jumping unknown obstacles, like dead trees that fell after the final practice. But the whole goal is to test your skill, so three strikes and you lose.”
Rachel patted the top of the binder. “Everything is in here. Three hundred pages of rules on course design, how to train, and penalties for every possible cheat. The whole shebang.” She pushed the book toward the two Council members. “Two of the original town founders were lawyers. There are releases to sign and binding blood oaths for the alphas to swear to that the Council could enforce.”
Rabi Kuric opened the binder and quickly flipped through the pages. “And you’ve had to race under these rules before? They seem pretty complicated.”
Rachel nodded. “Every month for the past five years, since I turned seventeen, and occasionally before that. Even teens can understand the rules. They’re not that hard. Up until five years ago, Scott Clayton was the Omega. Then he got bigger and faster than me, and I’ve been on the bottom ever since. Until last month.”
The mediator leaned back against the counter. “What happened last month? Did someone new turn?”
“Sort of,” Rachel acknowledged. “That’s when Claire Evans arrived. How she lost the race is a long story, but right now, she’s the Omega. I probably would be stuck with it again if I planned to stay around, but I’m not. I’m going to move as soon as this ‘peace conference’ of yours is over. Like I said, I’m starting college in Spokane.”
Dalvin smiled—that sounded like the Rachel he remembered too—but stopped when the doorknob rattled. He sprinted through the gate and sniffed carefully near the door jamb before asking, “Alek?”
“Yeah.” His voice was low. “I’m clear.”
Dalvin opened the door and let him in, then locked it again.
“What’s up? Claire said you needed me over here, something about a rule book?” He walked through the gate and Dalvin followed.
“I suggested that Anica and the bitch be—” Rachel blushed and amended with a cough. “I mean Larissa, compete on the Ascension course instead of duking it out in the street.”
Alek looked shocked, then surprised, then started grinning. “That’s brilliant. That would solve so many problems.”
Rabi Kuric shook his head. “I just don’t see how the alphas would be able to read and agree to all these rules before tomorrow.”
The young wolf shifter walked over to the table, shaking his head. “No, no. It’s not that bad. Each rule is on a separate page and some are only a few lines long. We did it that way so if a rule changed, we’d only need to reprint and replace a single page instead of having to reformat and print the whole thing.”
Alek shifted the binder so the others could see. Dalvin found himself once again standing right next to Rachel. She didn’t move and didn’t seem freaked out, so he stayed put. “See? There are revision dates at the bottom of each sheet. Sometimes a rule would be challenged for fairness and would get changed out.”
“Fairness … pfft.” Rachel’s mutter was tight and angry.
Alek noticed. “Rach, give people a chance now that their heads aren’t being messed up by the mayor. They might be just as appalled as I was when I found out. I just didn’t know.”
She let out a slow sigh. “That would be nice,” she said, then shook her head. “Let’s get the bear peace or war or whatever over with, and then we’ll see.”
Dalvin realized that Councilman Kuric had slipped away. Almost panicked, he looked around the room and breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted him seated at a computer in the corner. That ghosting thing was going to make him crazy.
Alek tapped his finger against his chin, staring at the racecourse on the wall. “Someone is going to have to work with the competitors, walk them through the course. They’re omegas, so we don’t know how much of their conscious minds they’ll retain after they turn; that’s always hit or miss.
“It might be a good idea to have their alphas turn them today so we can figure that out. In bear form, they might not be multilingual, which means Tamir might have to show them the course because he speaks their native tongue. We had a falcon here a long time ago who only spoke German when he shifted.
“That means I’ll have to walk Tamir through the course first.”
Dalvin was impressed by Alek’s logical thinking. Maybe the wolf would work out after all. “I’d be happy to take Larissa through the course.”
Rachel and Alek laughed simultaneously, sounding both amused and sarcastic. “I’ll just bet you would,” Alek said, “but there are plenty of bunnies in the woods already.”
Liz stifled a snort. Alek let out a whoop and gave Rachel a high five.
Crossing his arms over his chest was automatic. “Just what is that supposed to mean?”
The cat councilman called out from the corner. “It means your attraction to the Bosnian delegate is so obvious that even strangers have noticed, Agent Adway. Your judgment may be a little compromised.” He leaned back in his chair and stared at the group for a long moment. “No, I think Rachel is going to show you the course and then you will show Anica.”
The mediator frowned. “Rabi, we just got done talking about who would work with who.”
He held up a hand. “Yes, I know. But there’s something you need to see.” He waved her over. She bent to look at the monitor while he clicked the mouse. “Read that.”
She stared at the screen, then stood up abruptly. “Oh! I see. Right, well, that changes everything.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped the screen, then said, “Rachel, review the rules with Anica tonight. She and Claire will both be staying with you. Tomorrow, you’ll train Dalvin on the course.”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “What the hell?! I just got done telling you I can’t still be here when the moon is full.”
“Please, Rachel. Trust us on this. It’ll be fine. Then, if you want, you can leave town as you planned and the Council will cover your schooling … as reparations. You have my word and Rabi’s, and the Council has agreed to back our decisions here, so nobody can interfere.”
Her shoulders dropped and her mouth opened, face slack with astonishment. Her eyes were incredibly bright, golden and brown and a dozen other shades that made Dalvin want to never look away. Her voice and scent were almost suspicious when she said, “You’ll pay my tuition? A
full ride, with books and everything?”
The mediator nodded, and Kuric said, “Yes, if that’s still your choice. You might have other opportunities to consider once this is over.”
Dalvin wondered mightily what they had been looking at on screen and what Rachel had already discussed with them. Four years of school was a lot of reparation for being the Omega here for a few years. No, there was something else going on, and he was determined to find out what.
He turned to Rachel, and his heart dropped when she seemed to steel herself for their conversation. He spoke as pleasantly as possible. “Okay, then, when do you want to meet to go over the course?”
She shrugged. “In the morning, I guess”.
Alek picked up the binder. “I’ll make a few copies of this. We can deliver it to the sloth alphas to read overnight.” He looked at the Council members, who were still at the computer. “Are we asking them if they to do this, or telling them they have to?”
Rabi stood up and tugged his shirt down again. “Telling them. This is a good solution. It’ll delay the talks by a day, but only a day. And nobody gets hurt.”
Rachel let out a small noise, somewhere between a hoot and a raspberry. “I wouldn’t count those particular chickens just yet. The eggs are barely in the basket.”
CHAPTER 6
He was staring at her again. It was unnerving as hell. She should just walk out and go lock herself in her apartment. But no. It was time to be a grown-up.
A full ride. Four years of college were hers if she could just get through the next few days. But could Liz and Rabi be trusted to keep their promise? She hadn’t had good luck with authority figures, but Alek had heard their promise too. The one thing about him that nobody could dispute: Alek was honest. Annoyingly honest. Just to be safe, she turned to him. “You got my back on this, right, bro?”
He nodded and touched her arm. “Always.” He checked his watch. “You better get moving. You have to get Anica settled in, and Mom is expecting you at the house to help with Darrell and Kristy tonight.”
