Seneca's Faith

by Abigail Owen

  He’d pushed that inappropriate and ill-timed response way down deep, burying it beneath duty and honor, frustrated his body reacted to her in such a way—a phenomenon that had been happening ever since he’d seen her at the Kuharte meeting the previous spring. Possibly longer, though he refused to admit it to himself. Granted, the strange pull she had on him made more sense after he’d discovered—

  Gage shook his head, trying to shake away his thoughts. Seneca was both latent and submissive, which meant she’d never be an Alpha’s mate—so she’d never be his. She couldn’t be, not if his life continued along the path the Seer had predicted.

  Forget it, he sternly lectured himself.

  Pushing all thoughts of Seneca away, he focused on the task at hand. The lions apparently knew his style of clothes, based on those provided. Interesting. He teamed a black button-down shirt with gray slacks. Not too formal, but still business-like for what he was sure was about to be a negotiation for their lives.

  He was buttoning his shirt, when the creak of the door behind him told him Seneca had emerged. He turned to find her wearing a turquoise dress with a high neck and long sleeves which hugged her curves and stopped above her knees. A thin gold belt accentuated her tiny waist. His body tensed as desire once again licked through his veins like flash fire, but he showed no outward sign to her, simply raising his eyebrows in surprise. She never dressed like this, and he sure didn’t appreciate the reminder of those curves.

  Instead of blushing, she tipped her head and boldly stared him down. “I guess they were expecting Lareina.”

  Her eyes—which had always fascinated him as they never stayed the same color, sometimes gold or brown, sometimes green, and sometimes even gray—dared him to comment. Wisely, he kept his mouth shut.

  Another knock at the door heralded their escorts. Once again, Gage put his body physically between the two lion shifters and Seneca. He had a sneaking suspicion she rolled her eyes at his back.

  He knew from his previous…visit…that the structure they now walked through resembled ancient castle-like fortifications from Africa or the Middle East. At least three stories above ground, with additional below-ground levels, the building was large and rectangular in shape with taller turrets at each corner and several narrow courtyards at the center.

  They walked through the halls, their shoes tapping against red terracotta-like tile floors. The décor was minimal in the hallways, the pale sand walls bare, unlike the opulent bedroom from which they’d come.

  “You’re a lot bigger in cat form than I was expecting,” Seneca piped up from behind him, obviously talking to their escorts.

  Gage turned to give her a warning frown, but she ignored him to step around and address Edward directly, nodding at Beno, who stalked along beside them. The man actually smiled at her. “Yes. African lions are about a foot taller and at least two-hundred pounds heavier than mountain lions.”

  “I knew you were quite a bit larger, I guess I didn’t internalize how big the difference was,” she continued in a friendly tone that made Gage grind his teeth. What was she thinking?

  Edward gave her a single nod.

  “Siberian Tigers are the largest of the cats, I believe?” Seneca asked next.

  Gage held back a groan as he caught the quick, assessing look Edward slanted her. They needed to negotiate their release, and here she was antagonizing their captors.

  But Seneca had used a conversational tone that indicated a mere inquisitiveness, and the tall African appeared to take her at face value. “That is true. I met one once.”

  “Truly?” she asked with wide-eyed curiosity.

  Edward’s lips twitched. “Yes. While he was slightly shorter at the shoulder, he was longer than I by a foot and about two-hundred pounds heavier.”

  “Remind me not to mess with either of you,” she offered with an ironic grin. “Did you fight the tiger?”

  Gage didn’t see any change in the man’s expression, but Seneca must have because her smile fell. “I’m sorry,” she said. “You don’t have to answer that.”

  Now Edward eyed her more closely, what appeared to be surprise drawing his brow down. Gage wondered if few people read the man that easily. “Beno saved me,” was all Edward said though.

  Seneca fell into a subdued silence. A few moments later, the lion shifters stopped at a set of double doors. After a brief knock, Edward swung the heavy wood back, the metal hinges whining in protest. He ushered them inside, where they found a woman waiting.

  “This is Zula Sabine. Our leader,” Edward announced before stepping back and closing the door.

  So this was the leader of the lion pride behind all of the inter-species fighting. Tall and slender, she was one of the most stunning women Gage had ever seen. Her skin was the color of the richest dark chocolate set off by a figure-hugging white dress. The air smelled of roses, though none were in view. Deep brown eyes had a feline slant and a come-hither invitation in their depths, and full red lips begged for their secrets to be plumbed with a kiss. She reminded him of Lareina, who had a similar lush beauty.

  “Stop it.”

  Gage jerked his head around at Seneca’s harsh tone and words.

  A glance told him Zula had moved her focus from him to the woman standing beside him as well. The African queen gave a laconic shrug. “Don’t worry little cougar, he’s still yours.”

  Seneca prowled forward. “He’s not mine. But he won’t be yours either,” she spat.

  Ah. Seneca must’ve thought the Kuharte was using her powers on him. Zula was a known Seductress, but nothing akin to desire had touched him, so she couldn’t have been trying anything.

  Before he could correct Seneca’s mistake, she continued. “I’ve seen too many men fall prey to a Seductress’s powers to let you brainwash him, too.”

  Zula’s welcoming expression, which had been tinged with humor at Seneca’s outburst, suddenly tightened. Her gaze shot to where Edward and Beno stood behind them at the door. In a language he wasn’t familiar with, they exchanged a quick dialogue before Zula turned narrowed eyes back to Seneca.

  “So you’re not the Seductress from the Delaney Dare?”

  “No.”

  “But you were wearing a white gown.”

  Seneca raised her eyebrows in haughty disdain. “My sister chose to wear red for her wedding.”

  Anger gave way to satisfaction in the lioness’s eyes, and she folded her hands before her. “So you are still one of Rick Delaney’s daughters.” She gave a nod of satisfaction and started to move toward the couches set off to the side of the room creating a casual social space.

  “Not if he could help it,” Seneca muttered.

  “Seneca.” Gage murmured her name as a warning. What was she doing? If he was going to negotiate, he needed leverage and Zula had given him some with that comment.

  Instead of anger, Zula paused and gave her a thoughtful look. “I’d like to hear more, of course, but why don’t we make ourselves comfortable first?” She indicated the couches with an elegant wave of her hand as she lowered herself gracefully onto one of the two wingback armchairs opposite.

  Deliberately, Gage ushered Seneca to take a seat, then sat beside her, close. He might be in denial about the level of attraction she held for him, but his protective instincts weren’t going to let her out of arm’s reach. He caught the sideways glance she tossed his way, and had a suspicion she was amused by his actions. Maybe being both latent and submissive suppressed her sense of danger? It would explain her reaction to the situation thus far.

  Putting that puzzle out of his mind, for now, he turned to face the woman who held their lives in her hands.

  “Why would your father not want you as a daughter?” Zula directed the question at Seneca with a tip of her head.

  Time to bring the focus back to him rather than have Seneca reveal more than she should. “What is your goal in kidnapping me and one of Rick Delaney’s daughters?”

  Instead of answering, Zula flicked him an amused g
lance and returned her gaze to the woman at his side, waiting for an answer.

  “I’m not my sister.”

  Gage kept his expression neutral when what he wanted to do was frown. A bitterness and something else—defiance almost—tainted Seneca’s voice in a way he’d never heard before.

  “Not a Kuharte?” Zula asked.

  Seneca raised a single eyebrow. “Not a Kuharte. Not a male. Not a lot of things.” She appeared to have reined in her emotions and now sounded bored. At least she hadn’t said anything about being latent or submissive. He needed that information in his back pocket.

  Zula gave Seneca a strangely understanding smile, one that disappeared as she turned to Gage. “I think you can guess what my purpose is.”

  He leaned forward. “You blame Rick for your father’s death. This is revenge.”

  She pursed her red-painted lips. “Revenge is such a dirty word. Call it…leverage.”

  He raised a doubtful eyebrow. “Kidnapping a new Alpha, along with the woman you thought was his bride and a Kuharte, isn’t a great way to open negotiations with the Shadowcat Nation.”

  “We took you before the wedding ceremony.”

  He cocked his head at the distinction. She leaned back, crossed one leg over the other, and cast him a lazy look that he guessed was supposed to be sexy, but left him cold. She seemed to be waiting for him to connect the dots.

  “Why didn’t you want us wed when you took us?”

  Her smile held a cold edge to it. “Tieryn McGraw offered me a truce with your people, but I need to start negotiations from a stronger position.”

  “Holding us captive is not going to start that off well.”

  That cold smile graced her lips again and caused him a pang of uneasiness.

  “Oh you won’t be captive,” she said. “You’ll become part of our pride…through marriage to one of us.”

  “The hell you say!” Seneca jumped up. Then she stunned him even more by letting loose with a low snarl—one she choked off, but still, as a latent, unable to shift, she shouldn’t be able to make that sound.

  Gage leapt to his feet. When Seneca refused to lift her eyes to his, her hard glare locked on Zula, he took her face in his hands. “Look at me.” Fury pulsing through her, the tension translating to his fingertips, she was practically vibrating. “Seneca. Look at me.”

  She dragged her gaze to his. “No one will ever dictate my life to me. I’ve lived with a dictator for too long to trade in for another one.”

  A desperation he didn’t like lay behind her words. Had her life with Rick Delaney been that bad and he’d never known? The idea didn’t sit well at all. “You won’t have to.”

  The bitter sadness reflected back at him through her eyes was painful to witness, constricting his chest.

  “How can you promise that?” she asked.

  “Just…trust me.”

  She stared at him. Licked her lips. “Okay.”

  Gage took Seneca’s hand then turned back to Zula. “There’s a small problem with your plan, but I have a suggestion I think will work for us both.”

  “This is non-negotia—”

  “Seneca’s my Fated Mate.”

  Chapter Three

  Rick watched and listened from his hiding spot in the shadows of the bridal suite. While his dare had changed their security codes after his departure, they hadn’t yet adjusted their patrols and physical security measures.

  Good. He’d be happy to take advantage of their failure.

  Following the clack, clack, clack of high heels on the marble flooring in the hallway, the door to the room where he hid opened. Light spilled in from the hallway, backlighting a figure in a body-hugging dress who entered and closed the door behind her.

  “Daddy?” she whispered.

  He inched forward from the shadowed corner of the room where he stood, and Lareina’s sharp cougar-shifter eyes caught the movement. She moved toward him. Alone.

  He sheathed the nasty looking bowie knife he held. They hadn’t cleared out his rooms yet, and he’d dressed and armed himself before making his way here. “Where’s your new husband?”

  His question stopped her forward progression. A soft sigh reached his ears. “Gone.”

  With a flick of his fingers, Rick switched on the lamp situated on a small round table near where he lurked. The light revealed the bridal suite, not white for a virgin, but reds and golds for a queen, and a massive, ornately carved bed center stage. “What do you mean gone?”

  “He’s disappeared. So has Seneca.”

  A scowl drew his brows down. “What does your sister have to do with this?”

  “She’s not my sister,” Lareina repeated for the umpteen-thousandth time. She never had acknowledged any connection to his other legitimate child. Not that he blamed her. Who wanted any association with a latent who couldn’t shift? And a submissive to boot. Though submissive typically followed latent.

  “I repeat. How is she involved?”

  She lowered her eyes. “They disappeared at the same time.”

  He grunted in reply. “I doubt it’s connected, or there’s some mistake. Seneca wouldn’t say boo to a mouse, let alone do anything to hurt you.”

  Lareina’s high cheekbones flamed, a sure sign of her ire. “That Seer went and talked to Gage, after which he sent me a note asking to cancel the wedding, which I ignored, of course. I sent Seneca to him with my wedding gift instead. And poof”—she flung out her arms—“they’re gone.”

  “Seer? Who?”

  “Sarai Montclair.”

  “The traitor who married a polar bear shifter? Why was she even invited?”

  “Ask Gage.” She sent him a glare indicative of the shrew she could turn into faster than a coiled snake could strike. “Oh no. Wait. You can’t. Because he’s gone.”

  “Don’t use that tone with me,” he growled.

  Lareina snapped her mouth shut so hard, the sound of her teeth cracking together echoed through the room.

  Rick ignored her as he paced the room. “Any idea where they’ve gone?”

  She sank gracefully onto the chaise lounge in the corner of the room and smoothed the raw red silk skirt of her wedding dress over her legs. “No. There’s no scent trail. They were both in the room. Then nothing.”

  “Could Tieryn McGraw have teleported them out of there?” He clenched his teeth around the name. Except for the African lions who were most responsible for his removal as Alpha, he hated that teleporting Healer more than anyone. He’d been looking forward to killing Gage, Tieryn’s former fiancé, and a person he understood Tieryn still considered a friend.

  No one was going to take the Delaney Dare from him. No one.

  “No,” Lareina answered. “We’ve confirmed she was in Florida and accounted for at all times.”

  “What did the Seer say to Gage?”

  “The smug little bitch won’t share, and neither will her polar bear mate.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

  “They didn’t fall under your spell?”

  She tossed her head. “They must be Fated Mates. You know I have no power to seduce Fated Mates once they’ve met.”

  He gave her a hard glare. “Pathetic excuse.”

  She leapt to her feet, every inch his daughter. “I’m not the one who got kicked out of his own dare. This is your problem to fix.”

  “Enough.” He slammed a fist on the small table, rattling the lamp sitting on top, and making Lareina jump.

  Tears welled in her lovely dark brown eyes and her lower lip trembled. Regret immediately consumed him, a bitter knot in his stomach. He opened his arms and she flew into his embrace. “We’ll fix this together,” he murmured as he ran a soothing hand down her back.

  She snuffled a bit, elegantly of course because she was never anything but, and bobbed her head. “Yes. What next?”

  “Who’s in charge now?”

  “Jaxon is sending his sister, Hannah, and brother-in-law, Nick Jensen, both to take charge of the dare and to try to f
ind Gage and Seneca. Also…” She stepped away from him, wariness in her eyes. The acrid scent of fear filled his nostrils.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Also?”

  “The Nation is blaming you for Gage and Seneca’s disappearance.”

  Rather than exploding in anger, as his daughter clearly expected, Rick crossed his arms. He had planned to murder his new son-in-law in his bed. After the mating was consummated of course. However, he had no reason to attack his own daughter. Seneca was nothing to him. Not worth the effort and having no significant role in his life or this situation. Unless…

  He shook his head. No. That latent non-entity didn’t have it in her to betray him. “Are they stepping up their search for me?”

  “Yes.”

  Damn. That kind of attention wasn’t supposed to happen until tomorrow morning, when the rest of the dare discovered Gage’s death after Rick was long gone. Even then, Lareina was going to claim she’d killed Gage in self-defense. Now, how could he escape while being actively hunted?

  “I can get you out, but it has to be tonight.”

  Rick smiled at his favorite child. He’d been proud when her Kuharte skills had presented, thrilled he’d fathered one of the rare supernaturally-gifted shifters. Granted, her mother had been Kuharte too, but that didn’t guarantee a child with the skills. Look at Seneca and every other child he’d sired.

  “How?”

  The answering smile, oozing confidence, that graced her lips, had him cocking his head, pride swelling inside.

  “I may not influence Fated Mates, but I still claim power over every other shifter inside these walls,” she murmured in a demure tone.

  Yes, she did.

  An idea unfurled in his mind. “I’m not leaving.”

  “You’re…not?”

  He placed his hands on her shoulders. “No. We’re going to put your powers to better use than my escape.”

  “To do what?”

  “Fight.”

  ****

  A small sound had Zac looking up from his email to find his Fated Mate, Sarai, standing oddly still in the center of the room, blankly staring at the wall, with a faraway expression he was coming to know well.