by Cara Wylde
“We could take a couple of lion-shifters with us,” suggested Gideon, although he was pretty sure there was no way he could make his Alpha change his mind about involving the pride.
“Those who are willing could become part of our order,” tried Emil. He could really use more members, and lion-shifters were strong and clever.
“No.” Tristan furrowed his brows. He had already made up his mind, and he didn’t appreciate being nagged about it. “I accept to join the Order of the Severins, but the only one I’m bringing with me is Gideon. He’s my Beta, and he hasn’t found his mate yet. Most of my lion-shifters have found their mates and have cubs to take care of. I’m keeping them out of this.”
Emil nodded. “I understand.”
They were all silent for a while. Camille had fallen to her knees. She was repeating the words louder and louder. The incantation was starting to make Olivia feel uneasy.
“So, your plan is to… what? Go there, burst into their conference room, and demand they give you Liam?” asked Olivia.
Tristan smiled. “If only it were that easy. We expect resistance, of course, but if they’re around a dozen, we can take them.”
“A dozen?!”
“They will have shifter venom darts ready,” said Tyler. He could still remember how one of those damn darts had almost killed him. “And they won’t go for just one type of venom, or a mixture of two, which only make shape-shifters dizzy and easy to capture. They will go for the lethal combinations of three types of venom.”
“There are more ways of using shifter venom?” asked Liv. Every second, she learned something new about shape-shifters and the Assassins’ Guild. Soon, she would become so lost that she’d probably be forced to give up trying to understand.
“Yes,” answered Tristan. “From what we’ve learned in the past month, their witches have figured a way to take blood from shifters and separate the venom. Both can be used. The blood can be administered to humans, in this case to their assassins, to make them stronger and faster. The downside is that they also become addicted to it. The venom that remains can be used against other shifters. For instance, if you give wolf venom to a bear-shifter, you can weaken him. If you combine wolf venom and lion venom, then you can render the bear-shifter almost unconscious. And if you combine these two with a third type, say tiger venom, then the bear will die instantly.”
“Oh wow! It must have taken them years of trial and error to figure all this out.”
“Indeed,” said Emil. There was deep sadness in his voice. “And years of capturing shifters, torturing them, experimenting on them, murdering them in cold blood.”
“Why… why would anyone do something like this?”
Tyler smiled at Liv’s naivety. “Because humans believe we’re dirty and dangerous. Only those who have no supernatural abilities deserve to live.”
“Not all humans.” Olivia shook her head. “I’ve only found out about shape-shifters, vampires, and whatnot, and I don’t believe they’re dangerous.”
“They are, actually,” said Tyler. “We are. Simply because we can do things humans can’t. But that doesn’t mean we do them. Mostly, we just want to live peaceful lives and not be judged for what we are. It wasn’t our choice.”
Olivia nodded. She wanted to say more, but her attention was drawn to Camille. The witch was still kneeling above the map, her palms firmly placed on it, but her arms were shaking. There was blood everywhere, under her palms and fingers, as if the wounds she had opened were getting bigger and bigger. Liv couldn’t believe Camille had managed to hurt herself so much with a thin, almost harmless needle. She stood up and went to see if she was all right.
“Camille?”
Olivia touched her shoulder. The witch’s left arm gave in, and she fell on one side. She didn’t stop repeating the mysterious words over and over again, although her voice was starting to crack.
“Oh my God, are you okay?”
Olivia knelt beside her and took her face between her hands. She gasped when she saw Camille’s nose was bleeding profusely, and her pale skin had become even paler. She looked like a ghost. Her blonde hair had turned a shade lighter, and her whole body looked like the girl had lost a couple of pounds in the span of a few minutes.
“This can’t be right,” whispered Olivia. Panic rose in her chest, and she yelled at Tristan: “Help! Something is happening to her. Something bad.”
Tristan jumped from his seat and ran to her. He cursed when he saw the state Camille was in, and tried to grab her so he would pull her up.
The witch fought him with all the strength she had left.
“No! I’m close, I can feel it.” She immediately went back to her incantation.
“She’s going to die, isn’t she?” said Olivia. “This tracking spell is killing her.”
“She’s only one and it’s hard for her to break a shield built by more than one or two witches. The Calimala have many. They’re well protected,” explained Tristan.
He let Camille go, and the girl bent over the map and the ever growing pool of blood. The rivulets were still going in circles, unsure where they should stop.
Liv watched her with wide eyes. When more blood ran down Camille’s lips and chin and fell on the map, she turned to Tristan and looked right into his eyes.
“We can’t let her die. We must stop her. Now.”
Tristan sighed and shook his head. “If we do that, all she’s done until now will be in vain and we might never find our son. We have to let her finish the spell.”
“But she’s dying!” yelled Olivia. “Right before our eyes! I can’t let that happen. I won’t.”
“You’ll risk our son’s life to save hers?”
“Yes.” Olivia grabbed Camille’s shoulders and tried to make her look at her. The girl ignored her and kept going.
“She tried to kill you, Olivia! She tried to sell me and my people to the Guild! She’s the reason why all this is happening.”
“I don’t care. She made a mistake. We all do. She’s just a girl, Tristan. I won’t let her die, even if that means losing my own son.” It broke her heart to say the words, and she even hesitated for a second, the true meaning of them sinking in. But her hesitation didn’t last longer than that. There was no way she’d just sit there and watch Camille die. She’d never be able to forgive herself. Even if she got Liam back, she would never be able to look at him and not see Camille bleeding and dying.
Tristan watched Liv shake Camille and beg her to stop, to look at her and simply stop. The truth was that he couldn’t watch the young woman die, either. As badly as he had treated her, he cared deeply about her. He was responsible for her, and he was responsible for what she had become. So, he did the only sensible thing he could do: he grabbed her from under her armpits and lifted her to her feet, then took her in his arms.
Camille yelped and opened her eyes.
“No! No no no.” Her voice was weak. She could barely speak, or even think. Her mind was still set on the incantation. “I got him. Tristan, I got him.” She held onto the spell, struggling to keep the blood moving on the map even though Tristan was taking her away from it. “The Calimala,” she whispered. “Liam… I found him.” Then she fainted, her body going completely limp in his arms.
As Tristan was lying her down on the sofa and checking her pulse, Liv bent over the map. She gasped when she realized the pool of blood had stopped moving. The red liquid was clearly indicating a location on the map.
“She did found him,” she screamed. “Oh my God, she actually found him!”
Emil, Tyler, and Gideon went to see for themselves. Emil knelt over the map, and when his finger hovered over the small pool of blood, the liquid parted and allowed him to see the exact location.
“Time to go,” he said.
***
The Calimala HQ in NYC was, in fact, a huge villa. It was also guarded by more than a dozen assassins, which meant that the plan Tristan and the others had made was impossible to accomplish. They went ar
ound it a couple of times, checked every corner of the backyard hoping there might be a way in, sniffed around, and came to the conclusion that attacking the ones inside would have been pure suicide.
“So, we’re sure your son is here, right?” asked Emil.
“Yes,” Tristan confirmed.
Tyler dug his hands in the pockets of his jeans and leaned against the car. “I still don’t know about that witch of yours. She screwed us once.”
“Not this time. Not when my kid is involved.” Tristan believed his own words, but he couldn’t blame Tyler for being suspicious of Camille. He had suffered the most when she had covered Nathan and what he had done.
No one said anything for a while. They were all assessing the situation over and over in their heads, trying to find that one solution which would get them what they needed. It was in vain, though. The house was protected by trained assassins and powerful witches. If Camille hadn’t been half dead after the tracking spell, Tristan would have taken her with them.
The lion-shifter sighed and stepped in front of his allies, so he could see all of them and observe their reaction to what he was about to propose.
“I’m going in.”
Tyler pushed himself away from the car. “Well, it has to be done.”
“Alone,” Tristan added.
Gideon’s eyes went wide with surprise and worry. His instinct was to protect his Alpha.
“Liam is my son, and there’s no reason why you should risk your lives for him.”
“And what exactly is your genius plan?” asked Emil. “Walk in there and kill them all?”
“No, I intend to surrender. They can have me as long as they let my son go. They’ve been trying to find me for years. Leaving a whole pride without their Alpha should be enough of a win for them.”
Gideon rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache starting to settle in. “You’re not thinking straight. If you do this, you put us all at risk. Our people are still here thanks to you. You kept us safe, and if you leave us, I doubt we’ll be able to survive without our Alpha.”
Tristan placed a hand on his Beta’s strong shoulder. “A new one will rise to replace me. Who knows? That might even be you. Promise me you’ll take care of Olivia and my son, all right? And keep working with the Order.” He threw a glance towards Emil and Tyler. “One day, the supernaturals will take down the Guild.”
Gideon nodded. Tristan turned to face the villa and took a deep breath.
“Are you sure about this?” asked Emil.
“Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”
He started walking towards the entrance. Soon, he was going to be in the guards’ line of sight, and there would be no turning back from there. He thought of Olivia and how she’d react when she found out about his decision to leave her and her son. There was no other way, though. He was the head of the family, and even though he hadn’t met his son yet, he had to protect him and his mother. If he was lucky, he would get to see him now, if only for a few minutes. Maybe it was better not to tell him he was his father. Just a glance and a smile would be enough, and he’d never regret walking through the iron gates waiting ahead, vulnerable and unarmed.
Gideon, Emil, and Tyler were watching him from afar.
“This is insane,” murmured Gideon.
“What’s that?” Tyler drew their attention to a car which had just appeared from around the corner.
Emil cocked an eyebrow, and Gideon took a couple of steps after Tristan. It was clear the car was headed towards him. At first, the Beta thought the driver intended to run Tristan over, but the car stopped right in front of the lion-shifter. Tristan jumped back.
“That’s Nathan Moore,” said Tyler.
“No.” Emil was reluctant. It didn’t make sense.
“Yes, it’s him. I can recognize him from miles away.”
Tyler started running towards Tristan and Nathan, and Gideon and Emil had no choice but to follow his lead. They were in the middle of the street, but if the need arose, they were all ready to shift and attack. They were by Tristan’s side in a second.
“Wait!” said Nathan, raising his hands in front of him. “Wait!”
Tristan growled. “You bastard.” He could feel his beast trying to break free. If he let it, the lion would tear Nathan to pieces in seconds.
“I have your son,” Nathan said. “He’s here. He’s safe.”
Slowly, carefully, he opened the car door and picked the boy up from the backseat. Liam didn’t seem to have anything against Nathan. He let the man hold him, and even wrapped an arm around his neck.
“See? He’s safe.”
Tristan relaxed instantly. Liam had his eyes, his hair, and his chin. He had Olivia’s nose, though, and that made him the cutest cub in the world.
“Give him to me,” he whispered, all his anger gone. It would come back, of course, but all he wanted now was to hold his son.
“All right, all right.” Nathan stepped closer to the lion-shifter. When he wanted to pass Liam to him, the boy resisted a bit. “It’s okay,” Nathan reassured him. “He’s your father.”
Tristan threw him a sharp glance. He had wanted to be the one who told Liam the truth. But then, he felt the boy’s tiny hands on his shoulders, and the weight of his small body in his arms made him forget Nathan was even there anymore.
“Are you all right?” he asked Liam.
The boy nodded timidly.
“Did he hurt you?”
Liam shook his head.
“You have to go now,” said Nathan. He looked around him, studied the villa for a second, then even dared to touch Tristan’s huge, bulky arm in an attempt to push him away, down the street. “You seriously have to go. We’re too close. They might see us.”
Tristan jumped like he had just been electrocuted. Holding Liam with one hand, he twisted Nathan’s wrist with the other.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t even come near me and my cub.”
Nathan yelped, but tried to keep his dignity. He looked into Tristan’s eyes and emphasized every word carefully: “You. Need. To. Leave. Now.”
“What do you think you’re doing, anyway?” The lion-shifter didn’t let go of his wrist. “What’s your game?”
“There is no game.” Nathan sighed. “I just couldn’t do it. I wanted to take your son to the Guild, but I couldn’t do it. I know what they do to shifters. I couldn’t have lived with myself knowing I gave them an innocent cub and ruined a family. So, there. Take him far away from here, do you hear me? Go back to Andes. You’re safe there. I will never tell them about your pride, your witch, and where you’re hiding. You have my word.”
“The word of an assassin,” said Tristan through clenched teeth.
“Tristan, wait.” Emil squeezed the lion-shifter’s arm until he let go of Nathan’s wrist. “I don’t think he’s lying.”
“He kidnapped my son. Do you expect me to believe him? He’s up to something.”
“I’m with Tristan on this one,” said Gideon.
Tyler stepped next to Emil. “Well, I’m with Emil.” He exchanged a glance with the wolf-shifter. Having been working together for some time, they could almost read each other’s thoughts. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“We could use him,” said Emil.
Nathan was rubbing his wrist. “I’m a dead man,” he said. “I told the Calimala I have something for them, and now I have nothing to deliver. I walk in there and I’m dead. But if I try to run away, I’m also dead. Why bother? They’ve been waiting for me since before noon. They don’t like being left hanging.” He smiled bitterly. “They might kill me just because of that.”
“What if you do have something to deliver?” asked Emil.
Nathan cocked and eyebrow. “I don’t follow.” He started looking for his pack of cigarettes. Since forcefully joining the Arte di Calimala, he had taken up smoking again.
“How do you feel about joining the Order of the Severins?”
“I don’t even know what that is.”
“We are the Order of the Severins,” said Tyler. “Emil, Tristan, Gideon, and I.” He thought for a second, then added: “Also Rebecca, Emil’s mate, my wife Amber, and Kassandra, an empath you haven’t met yet.”
Indeed, Nathan knew both Rebecca and Amber. He had been collaborating with Rebecca’s accounting company for a couple of years, and he had been Amber’s divorce attorney. He had done a brilliant job, too, by killing her husband after making him sign the divorce papers. That had been the first job the Guild had given him. And the one which had brought him here.
“I still don’t follow.”
Tristan couldn’t believe Tyler had just told a member of the Calimala about their Order. As if it weren’t enough that he knew about Liam, about Andes, about Camille and all his lion-shifters. Whatever Emil and Tyler were trying to do, if it didn’t work, they would have to kill the guy. For real. Take him somewhere isolated, kill him, and bury him in an unmarked grave.
“You don’t have to die today,” said Emil. “All you have to do is walk in there, give them something, anything, then walk out and start working for us as a spy.”
Nathan thought for a second. He couldn’t deny that Emil’s words were slowly starting to give him hope. He hadn’t felt hope in a while. He had forgotten how sweet it was.
“You’re missing something,” he said. He had finally found his cigarettes, and he made a pause to light one. “I don’t have anything else to give them.”
“Would they consider the news about the existence of an Order of the supernaturals interesting enough?”
“Sure. But I need proof.”
“I can give you all the proof you need,” said Tyler. He could easily set things up, as he was a hacker when he wasn’t busy working as a graphic artist during the day. “You can even give them names.”
“You’re insane,” laughed Nathan. “If I give them names, you become easy targets.”
“No.” Tristan had set Liam down and was now holding his hand. “We have a witch. I can make sure Camille casts her protection spells over everyone.”
“She was the one who found the HQ, right?” said Nathan. “If she could break the Calimala’s shield, then the Guild’s witches will be able to break hers. A thousand times faster.”
