by Abigail Owen
Even Rick. Many of his actions were driven by the age-old instinct of cougar shifters. Alpha male mountain lions didn’t share territory, even with their own kind. His leading a pack of mountain lions had more to do with power and gaining more territory than it did with leading them or helping them. He looked upon his dare more as people he owned. If you didn’t have a skill set that contributed to his vision, you were out. Seneca had been the only dead weight in her dare, kept because she was Rick’s daughter. In fact, she’d bet his play now was to take over the entire Shadowcat Nation, using the lions as impetus to form a monarchy rather than separate states.
“That’s my girl.” Gage wrapped an arm around her waist.
The swell of pride at his throw-away comment was way out of proportion to what it should have been. She’d promised to give this mate thing a go, but maybe she was leaving herself too vulnerable. Seneca nibbled at the inside of her lip and thought about that as they made their way through the halls to the same conference room where she and Gage had explained their situation to the Shadowcat Nation Alphas when they were first brought here.
Today would be another interesting chat with them. The ones left, at least.
Zula, dressed to kill in a red wrap-around dress which highlighted her curves and elegant stature, along with a swishy skirt that showed off her legs, was already in the room waiting with Eddie and Beno at her side. For some odd reason, red on Zula didn’t bug Seneca nearly as much as the color did on Lareina. Perhaps because that was almost exclusively the color her sister favored? Or perhaps because Zula attired herself in black more often than not, making the red more noticeable. The color was gorgeous against the queen’s flawless, rich skin.
It didn’t take long to set up the call. Like last time, the screen was split with each of their faces in a box, since each called-in from a different location.
“Hey, wildcat.” Jaxon greeted Andie, his blue-eyed gaze eating up the sight of her, and a note of longing in his deep voice.
“We’re on a party line, lover.” Andie answered with a sassy grin, but the same longing stared back at her mate.
He grinned back. “More’s the pity.”
Shane popped up next. “Tieryn?”
Tieryn moved closer to the camera and gave him a soft smile, clearly understanding the myriad of questions in the one word. “I’m fine.”
Shane’s gaze skated over his mate as if assuring himself of her well-being.
Both couples talked at night. Seneca knew because both women disappeared each evening with an eager bounce to their steps.
“Sarai. Zac. Good to see you made it okay,” Jaxon said. They’d informed the Alphas that the two had shown up safely, but this was the first face-to-face call they’d had since then.
Zac gave a small nod, and Sarai smiled.
Then they got down to business.
Santiago Moreno, from Columbia, addressed Zula. “First, we would like to extend our apologies for the actions of the Delaney, Rodriguez, Lopez, and Silva Dares. We have confirmed they have joined forces against you. This is without our agreement.”
Seneca rolled her eyes. They’d confirmed that when Rick Delaney took over his old dare. Had it really taken the remaining Alphas this long to agree about facts? Jaxon must’ve caught her expression, because his lips twitched in a secret smile. Seneca glanced over at Andie, who gave a barely discernable tip of her head.
“Are you sure about the Lopez Dare?” Andie asked.
Seneca wasn’t surprised at the question. The Mexican cougars didn’t seem likely to be involved in this issue since their Alpha tended to keep to himself. But sure enough, searching the faces of the Alphas present, David Lopez was absent. Perhaps he worried about his own territory, given the lions most wanted to coexist in the Southwestern regions of North America?
“I’m sure,” a voice sounded from off screen.
Seneca startled. “Rafael, is that you?”
Victor Silva’s Kuharte, Rafael popped into view of the camera behind Jaxon. “Hola, pequena,” he greeted.
She glanced at Gage, who appeared undisturbed at a Seducer calling his mate a nickname. She’d semi-expected a growl of jealously or proprietary arm around her. Total trust? She didn’t think they were there yet. Trying to give her space? Perhaps. Damn. She hated the doubt, insidious inside her, and did her best to tune out her suspicious brain and focus on Rafael.
She’d befriended the Seducer during the Kuharte meetings last year. Before the lions had attacked and kidnapped him, that was. She’d asked him not to use his power on her, sick of Lareina’s constant use of hers, and he’d honored her wishes. Turned out, Rafael was a genuinely nice guy.
She grinned. “I’m glad to see you extricated yourself from all this.”
Jaxon nodded. “He showed up here two days ago on foot asking for asylum.”
A year ago, that would have caused a ruckus. The rule was only one Kuharte per dare, and the Keller Dare already had one—JoLynn, their Healer. However, with the apparent split in the Nation, the Alphas had bigger things to worry about than Kuharte distribution among the remaining dares.
“Will you help us?” Zula asked. Up till this point, she’d been quietly observing.
“We are still working out a treaty,” Moreno hedged. “You can’t blame us for being wary of fighting our own people for you, after years of losing cougars to your schemes.”
Zula lifted her chin, at her most regal. “I have called off my lions, as well as our allies—the wolves, grizzlies, and coyotes. Have any of your people been attacked since before Gage and Seneca joined my pride?”
“No,” Moreno admitted, almost reluctantly.
Zula tipped her head. “That is my olive branch.”
“I don’t know about the others, but I will accept,” Jaxon said. His lips thinned. “We have discussed things, and we won’t be sending all the dares. However, the Keller and Callahan Dares are at your service.”
Shane nodded his agreement.
“The Reynolds Dare will also help,” Andie added.
Zac stepped forward. “I’ve been in contact with my Timik. My polar bears are also ready.”
Zula’s shoulders dropped a fraction. “I thank you. My allies are also on their way here now.”
“Sarai, what do you see?” Andie asked.
The Seer shook her head. “Nothing. It’s almost as if I’m being blocked by something. Or someone.”
“Like when it directly involves you?” Jaxon asked.
“No,” she responded slowly. “This feels different. When the vision involves me, it’s like static on a TV, or blurry, or patchy images. This time, I get a black nothing.”
“What does Paulla say?” Sarai asked Moreno about his Seer. The third Seer, Lucas, was with the Rodriguez Dare, and, consequently, with Delaney.
“She also sees nothing.” A grim hush settled over the group. Two Seers unable to see did not bode well.
“Beware a pair of raven shifters,” Tieryn said. “They are not on our side, nor the lions’.” Anymore. She glanced at Zula, who clamped her lips tight. She had not taken news of the ravens’ duplicity well.
“Better get here quickly, babe,” Tieryn muttered to her mate.
“Right,” Shane agreed.
The call didn’t last much longer as both Shane and Jaxon needed to hurry their preparations, and Andie needed to contact her father to hasten her own dare along. Those in the conference room started to file out.
Zula placed a hand on Seneca’s arm. “Can you stay a moment?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Seneca glanced at Gage. He was still squirrelly about her leaving his side after the kidnapping and attempted assassination.
“Meet you in our room.” He gave her a quick kiss and followed the others out. Huh. Like a few minutes ago with Rafael, Gage gave her space and showed trust. Maybe old cats could learn new tricks. The question was, could she trust his actions were true? Seneca shook her head. He was her mate. Maybe she should learn some new tr
icks too, and give him the benefit of the doubt.
She turned to Zula. “Yes?”
“I have a request, but it’s asking a lot.”
“Okay.”
“You can say no. I’m stating that up front.”
Seneca had a feeling she knew what was coming. “You want me to kill Rick Delaney.”
Zula, typically coolly remote, smoothed a non-existent wrinkle in her dress with a twitch of the crimson skirt. “Yes.”
Seneca glanced again at the door through which the others had left, assuring herself it remained closed. “I’ve already been preparing to leave.”
“You have?” Was a hint of a smile tugging at Zula’s lush red lips? It certainly wasn’t surprise.
Seneca shrugged. “He’s trying to kill me and my people. I have the skills, and now the motivation.” As Daje had pointed out with all the sensitivity of a sledge hammer. “It’s worth the try, or this will never end.”
“He used to be your father.”
Seneca snarled, causing Zula to stiffen. “Even before I knew he wasn’t my father, he was never my father. I only learned the truth when I started to shift and Mom had to come up with the whole latent/submissive story to hide it. I was ten.”
A bitter smile pulled at her lips and she shook her head. “I used to wish and wish and wish my father would love me.”
Time to reveal her final secret to her new Alpha.
“I am Kuharte.”
Zula started visibly and Seneca almost smiled.
“I am a Believer. If I believe something to be true, or that it will occur, it does. Given my ability as a Believer, which started to manifest when I was about five, you’d think the fact that it never worked on my father would’ve been a clue. Because I believed he did. Love me, I mean. But I took it as proof my ability wasn’t real.”
“But he wasn’t your father,” Zula murmured.
“No. Turns out my real father was dead. And the longer I lived there, the more I realized Rick Delaney was a power-mad cougar shifter. Did you know he started out rogue?”
Zula shook her head.
“The rumor is, before the Shadowcat Nation was formed, he was a man killer. He had a wide territory, and if creatures—human, animal, or shifter—came across his path, they didn’t survive the encounter.”
“Sounds about right. How’d he become an Alpha of a dare?”
“The original Alphas battled for the position. Only the strongest won the right to lead.”
“Is that still how it works?”
“To a certain extent. The new Alphas have to prove themselves, but often the oldest son is groomed to take over from birth. That’s how it worked for Jaxon, and was supposed to work for Kyle Carstairs. They still have to fight. Gage would be able to tell you. He’s got a nasty scar down his abdomen, among other smaller scars, from fighting his way to the top, especially since he wasn’t Tieryn’s father’s son. Tieryn’s an only child. Gage had to prove himself against all the other young males in the dare.”
“But some of the Alphas seem reasonable. Like Jaxon and Andie.”
Seneca tilted her head. “Luck of the draw. Andie’s dare was just as dysfunctional as mine before she took over. The dares don’t regulate each other. The Alphas’ Council is more for each of the Alphas to ensure the others don’t obtain more power than they have than to promote any kind of true nation. Mountain lions don’t handle restrictions and rules well. It’s amazing our society functions at all.”
Zula tapped a finger against her lip, considering that information. “Is an alliance even possible? Be honest.”
“I believe it’s possible, but we will have to fight for it, and never stop fighting. We’re working against the wild natures of too many species for it to ever be easy. However, it seems to me if we don’t want to urbanize, or go extinct, then we have to work together. Or none of us will survive.”
Zula inclined her head thoughtfully. “True.” Her expression firmed and she stood straighter, back to business. “So you will do it?”
Seneca nodded. “I will try. Getting to him will not be easy now I’ve got a price on my head, so to speak.”
“I understand.”
“I have one request.”
“Name it.”
“Don’t tell Gage until I’m long gone.”
Zula frowned. “He won’t like that.”
“He won’t let me go alone otherwise. If this is going to work, I need to go alone.”
Zula’s mouth tightened, but she didn’t say no.
Seneca let out a silent breath of relief. Zula’s cooperation was key.
“What do you need?” Zula asked.
“I already have everything.”
“When do you go?”
“Tonight. Rick is almost here. We can’t wait any longer.”
A sadness lingered in Zula’s eyes as she nodded her agreement. Then the lioness surprised Seneca by giving her a long hug. “Please take care.”
If the hug hadn’t been a clue, the sudden heavy accent lacing Zula’s words certainly would have been. Somehow, impossibly, Seneca had made a friend of the lioness. “I will see you soon.”
****
With less scrutiny of her movements, by everyone except Gage at least, getting a grappling hook and rope, and sneaking it to their bedroom, had been easy enough. She’d also wrangled up several of her preferred weapons—throwing stars, a set of sai, a blow dart, and a pistol. Easier than it should have been, in fact. After this was over, she’d talk to Zula about better safeguards for weaponry.
Seneca spent the night in Gage’s arms, making love with an intensity born of the knowledge this might be the last time for them. She didn’t tell him what Zula had asked, or what she’d promised. Having him follow, or not allow her to do what must be done, simply wasn’t an option. He’d stopped her from going into battle once before.
When she was sure he was fast asleep, she ghosted a kiss mere inches from his lips. She stared down at him for a long while, trying to memorize the sharp planes of his face, his sensuous lips, even his adorable slightly too large ears. Too bad those dimples only came out when he smiled. She’d miss those. She inhaled his clean soap scent. She’d miss that too.
“I love you,” she whispered, barely audible even to her own keen sense of hearing.
Time to go. She didn’t risk leaving from their room this time. He’d discovered her disappearance and followed last time. Instead, she’d made other arrangements.
A soft tap at Andie’s door was all it took. The cougar Alpha opened it a moment later and ushered her in, checking the hallway beyond as she shut the door.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Andie asked. They crossed the room—decorated more mountain cabin-y with browns and blues and greens—to the window.
Seneca was dressed for traveling at night, but shivered at the crisp breeze wafting through the window. She didn’t worry too much though, as she’d be traveling mostly in her tiger form, with a pack designed to fit around her middle to carry her clothes and weapons. Her timing couldn’t have been better as there was a new moon, which meant no light to illuminate her white coat to anyone watching in the stark desert landscape.
She stuck her head out over the edge of the window, the sand sill rough against her palms, and checked the distance to the ground, but nodded in answer to Andie’s question. “I have to. I could have ended all this years ago. So could my mother. I have to finish what she couldn’t.” Or wouldn’t.
“Okay.” Andie’s understanding meant more than Seneca could vocalize.
“Gage will be pissed,” Seneca warned her new friend with a grimace.
“You don’t have to tell me that.” Andie rolled her eyes. “Any message for him?”
“Tell him…” Seneca glanced out the window into the dark of the moonless night she was about to enter. The inky black reflected the state of her own soul. Empty and dark. “Tell him I had to. Tell him I believe it’s my destiny. He’ll understand what that means. Tell him I love—�
� No. Not that. “Tell him I was proud to be his mate, even if only for a short time.”
Andie frowned at the stutter, and the wording, but said nothing.
Checking her watch, because Seneca had paid attention to patrol times, and so, apparently, had Andie, she knew the time had come. Seneca produced the grappling hook and Andie helped her set it up. Since she’d been able to get more equipment this time, she had a proper harness. With nimble fingers, she worked with the equipment, setting the rope through her harness and the carabiner properly. She hopped up onto the window’s ledge, leaned back, letting the harness and rope take her weight, then let a little rope out to get the feel of it.
She looked back in at Andie. “See you later.”
The descent down the rope was rapid, though controlled, her landing at the bottom soundless. As soon as she was out of the harness, she gave a tug for Andie to haul it all back up. No need to let the patrol find out someone had done a Houdini on them. Or give another assassin an easy in to the castle. Couldn’t say Seneca didn’t learn from previous mistakes.
Seneca checked her surroundings, her keen hearing attuned to any sign of others nearby. Satisfied she was alone, she got moving, a shadow in the pitch of night. She’d get outside the patrol perimeter, several miles away, before she’d shift. Last reports had Rick’s group approximately twenty miles out. Which meant they’d be in position to attack by tomorrow at the latest.
The time it took to get past Zula’s guards was frustrating. Those few miles should have taken Seneca less than a half hour to run, but she had to move more slowly to be sure of stealth. Unfortunately, she also had to stop frequently to check and listen, changing course a handful of times. Eventually she made it to what she considered a safe distance.
The bite of the cold nibbled at her skin as she divested herself of her clothing, stuffing it in her pack. Then she let out the strap, got down on all fours, balancing the pack on her back. In silence she shifted—striped fur replaced skin, hands and feet became massive paws, a long tail snaked out behind her. Painless and swift, her shift was over in less time than it took a hummingbird to flap its wings
