“The Duncanis chief has his reasons to be suspicious of you. You must admit your behavior regarding Rachel has been suspect.” William’s voice was calm compared to Magda’s.
“Of course I think it would be better with the American out of the way!” Magda returned. “She shows no respect. She’s wild. She is a Duncanis.”
“But to order her death?” William asked.
Rachel edged closer to the door and leaned in, though really with her hearing she didn’t need the advantage.
“You think I am a traitor?” Magda asked, her tone somewhere between outrage and hurt. “You think as the Duncanis chief does?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“You know me.”
“Yes,” William agreed in irritation, “I do know you, Magda. That is part of the problem. I know you would do anything you thought was right for our clan. I know you hate anyone who isn’t Cononious, and secondarily anyone who is not English. I know you have been shoving English Cononious females in my face since the second of my accession to chief. You knew we were in America. You knew where in America. We told no one else about it. You saw the picture Douglas sent me of Rachel before I left. You knew we were interested in finding out if she was a suitable bridal candidate before I even went there. Who else had that information?”
Rachel stiffened. They tracked her down? Their meeting was on purpose? Planned? Douglas had already told her about the picture he’d sent, but somehow when William talked about it to Magda, it seemed so much colder and more deliberate.
William continued, “I didn’t want to believe it, but then after our return from the forest you came to my room acting not like yourself. There was something strange in your tone, Magda, just as there is something strange in your expression now.”
“You take the word of the Duncanis over your own?” Magda’s voice dropped.
“I take my own logic. Like it or not, Magda, I choose Rachel. Douglas chooses Rachel. There is nothing you can do to stop our upcoming wedding. She will be chieftess and if anything happens to her, I will make sure my next bride is a Duncanis from Australia with a well documented history from the prison colonies. I am sure the notorious mass-murdering shifter, Darius Drake, had children while banished there.”
Magda gasped in horror. “You wouldn’t! That wolf ran rampant over the civilized world. His children are outcasts! You would dare taint the royal bloodline?”
“I most definitely would. So decide, Magda, Rachel or a Drake?”
Rachel had heard stories of Darius Drake when she was little. They were scary bedtime stories warning shifters of what happened when they didn’t obey the rules. Darius had been a feral wolf that terrorized Europe in the 1800s. When they caught him and he said he was a shifter, the humans instantly stamped him insane, drugged him, and carted him off to Australia’s prison colonies. The details of the transfer were hazy, but she seemed to remember that shifters had been the ones to take him so his secret was never seen and shifters were not exposed. The werewolf murders had been big news at the time, second only to some of the vampire stories.
Rachel wasn’t sure how she felt being compared to a Drake descendent. At least she was a step above crazy. She was still more disturbed that the two chiefs came to America specifically to judge her bridal suitability. How did she even get on their radar? Was it the omni-shifting? They had seemed genuinely surprised when she told them about it.
Magda asked. “Is that all?”
“No. Unfortunately your role here only works if I trust you. I don’t trust you. The Duncanis does not trust you. I do not have proof of your crimes against us and that is the only reason you are not going to be severely punished. If proof does surface, then I will deal with you accordingly at that time. Call off the attacks, Magda. Whatever else you have planned, call it off.”
“What will you do with me?” Magda whispered.
“I think it is time you retired. Officially, because of your years of service and loyalty, I will accept your retirement and gift you with the Southern cottage. You stay there, out of trouble, or unofficially I will have you dragged away in the middle of the night.” William’s tone lightened. “I am sorry it has come to this. You have been good to me over the years.”
“Apparently not good enough,” she said angrily.
“You may stay for the ball tonight and announce your retirement there. You will be watched, so don’t try anything.”
“Goodbye, my chief,” she grumbled bitterly.
Rachel heard footsteps and pulled back down the hall. She wasn’t quick enough. Magda saw her and stopped. Rachel opened her mouth but nothing came out. Rage burned in the other woman’s normally composed gaze.
“The others will never fully accept you. If you think I’m the only one unhappy with this union, you are more foolish than I thought, little fish,” Magda stated before storming down the hall, out of William’s private wing.
Rachel didn’t move. William quickly appeared through the door, glancing after Magda and then to Rachel. “I didn’t hear you in the hall.”
“You were distracted,” Rachel answered. “So is that it? Is it over? Magda is banished and…”
“She should no longer be a threat to you.” William came fully into the hallway. “She’s not foolish. She’ll call off any attack she has planned. The woman is politically motivated, not suicidal. I should have seen it earlier, I’m sorry. But whatever happens, we will keep you safe.”
“So if it’s over, I can go home now?” Rachel crossed her arms over her waist. Her stomach churned and her heartbeats felt heavy and raw.
“What do you mean?” William asked. “Home?”
She didn’t meet his eyes. If she did, she would get lost in them just as she always did. “I know you targeted me. I know I’m the reason you were in Colorado. It wasn’t a chance meeting. Douglas found me, sent you a picture, and you both came to check me out to see if I was marriage-worthy. It wasn’t fate. It was politics.” She hugged her arms tighter. The shirt she wore smelled of his laundry detergent. “I heard everything, William. Magda’s right. She’s not the only one who will oppose to me as a chieftess. I have said it from the beginning, what do I know of this life? I will go to the ball tonight because I promised you both I would. But then I want you to let me go home. I don’t belong here. I belong running the Colorado sanctuary. That is my destiny. I think this whole crazy experience was to show me my place in the shifter world.”
“You can’t mean this,” William stated.
“I can and I do.” Rachel frowned. “I know you are listening, Douglas. You might as well join us. It will save me from having to repeat this later.”
Douglas appeared down the hall. He walked slowly. His stricken expression found hers. “You can’t leave.”
“And you can’t make me stay,” she countered. Well, in truth, they could. They were the most powerful shifters in the world. “I don’t know how you knew about my abilities, but that is the only reason I can think of that you would come to America to find me.”
“I went to America to find a bride who was not politically motivated to be with us,” Douglas said.
“That does not make it sound any better,” she answered. Somehow, she’d convinced herself that their joining was fate. What a silly notion, fate. This circumstance was planned. They planned it for political reasons.
“We thought you were a trout,” Douglas said, “and we wanted you anyway.”
“What he means is we do want you. We don’t care what kind of shifter you are,” William amended, trying to soften Douglas’s bluntness.
“But it does help that you are strong. For that alone the people will accept you.” Apparently, Douglas did not want his point to be softened.
“The fact we care for you will also persuade them.” William tried to smile at her. His hand lifted briefly in her direction as if the gesture could draw her in. “Those who are resistant will come to accept you.”
On one hand, here she had two very attractive
, smart, sexy, powerful men practically on bended knee. On the other, she had a lifetime of Elvie’s warnings, hippie teachings and self-doubts. Elvie would tell her to let the wild out. How could she do that as chieftess? Elvie would tell her to be careful, that she should never have let them see her gifts. She would warn about how the hundreds of years of single life could change. Today they might not experiment on her kind, but shifters had in the past and they might again in the future.
Her brain and her heart were not meeting eye to eye, and she didn’t know which organ to trust. Was her heart foolish? Was her brain over-thinking a very simple thing?
If the truth were known, she had thought she’d have more time to decide. When she’d told them both—mere hours before—that she loved them and would re-address the marriage thing when the threat had passed, she didn’t expect the threat to be resolved so quickly.
“One of the maids said something about having a dress delivered to my room for tonight. I’m going to shower, nap, try it on, do other girl things.” It was a lame excuse to get away from the two of them, but if she stayed there much longer her heart would take completely over, and she would give in to whatever they wanted.
“Be careful,” William said. “You should be safe, but it’s wise to be careful until Magda leaves.”
Rachel nodded and moved away from them, not really focusing on her surroundings as much as she should have as she walked to her guest room.
*
“Magda is leaving?” Douglas asked. “What happened?”
“I should ask you the same thing.” William stared down the hall where Rachel had disappeared. He wanted to go after her, but he had seen the look on her face. She was confused, hurt, mostly confused. “I thought we were going to confront Magda together.”
“The moment came up and I took it,” Douglas answered. “I was on my way here to tell you. It appears Magda found you first.”
“Yes, I banished her with some stern threats. Legally, we can do little else without proof. I don’t think she will cause problems. At this point, if something happened to Rachel, she knows she’d be blamed.” William took a deep breath and motioned into the game room. “Care for a drink? It looks like we have some things to discuss.”
Douglas nodded, following the man inside.
Chapter Seventeen
The ball was everything Rachel imagined a 19th century English manor gala would be, with the addition of vampires, fairies, witches, a goblin or two who apparently snuck in the servant’s entrance to crash the event, what looked to be a pet troll brought in under a large, black blanket, and a handful of creatures she had no idea what to call. Candles burned over the hall, shining over the crush of bodies filtering through the main entryway. Fresh cut flowers scented the air by their sheer volume, and their large, crystal vases sparkled like stars around the edges of the dance floor. A live quartet played ballroom music. Rachel’s dance experience was limited to country line dancing and techno bobbing in dark clubs. Jumping up and down at a high school rave hardly prepared her for something like this.
In what Rachel was sure was one of Magda’s final jabs, the gown she’d been given to wear was one size too small and only buttoned up the back with the aid of a corset. It made it hard to breathe. Though ornate, with a flared skirt of purple tulle and ribbon, she thought the look better suited to the top of a wedding cake or in a ballet than on her body. Thankfully, though, she seemed to match the other ladies in attendance.
Who she didn’t match was Douglas and William. Their tuxedos were dark and of the finest cut, complete with a deep red accents that clashed with her ballerina purple. Still, she stood between them as their joint date and greeted all who entered the hall. She didn’t have much to say to anyone, so she did her best to stand quietly and smile.
Magda did not show herself. Rachel wasn’t sure if that was comforting or not.
As the last of the guests arrived, she was introduced to some of the residents of the manor. The sisters Faith, Hope and Charity were polite, and seemed to have little ill will towards her apparent position as what they termed “the chiefs’ favorite”. Judith was a dark, slender woman whose movements looked better suited to the ballerina outfit Rachel wore. Then came the infamous Lisbetha and her less noticeable companion, Ginger. Ginger didn’t stay long, as her eyes wandered off towards a group of young-looking vampire men in attendance with King Kristoff. For all Rachel knew, each vampire could have been centuries old. When she greeted the pale creatures, they had the distinct smell of dust beneath their heavy cologne.
Lisbetha, however, stood out from everyone in the crowd. Not only was she beautiful, but her sleek evening gown was the exact shade of red that accented the chiefs’ tuxedos. Her blonde hair was piled on the top of her head and her makeup was flawless. When she took her place next to them, she looked like she belonged.
“I see my father’s tailor did a stunning job. I chose very well,” Lisbetha commented. The woman’s ploy worked. Rachel felt like the outsider. Already she was uncomfortable in her tightly cinched gown, but now anyone who looked at the four of them would easily pick her as the odd one out.
“Rachel, would you honor me?” Douglas asked.
Rachel shook her head in denial. “I don’t dance like this.”
“We can show you,” William whispered.
She eyed the couples on the dance floor. They looked as if they had been doing the steps for centuries. There was no way she was going to let the chiefs take turns while she stepped on their toes and made a public ass out of herself.
“I would be honored to dance with you, my chief,” Lisbetha said loudly as she looked up at William.
He glanced around. Several had heard the woman’s decree, and he had little choice but to lead her to the dance floor.
Rachel resisted the urge to trip Lisbetha. She watched William lead the woman artfully in the dance steps. As jealous as she was, there was no way Rachel could even begin to mimic the movements. The combination of heat and a tight corset caused her to sway on her feet. A tiny bead of sweat worked its way down the back of her neck. She blinked, suddenly lightheaded.
“How long do I have to stay here?” Rachel asked Douglas.
“Rachel,” Douglas whispered a little too harshly, as he grabbed her elbow.
“How long do I have to stay here?” she repeated. Her vision blurred. She heard a gasp and the music stopped.
“Why are you yelling?” Douglas asked in her ear. He tried to force her to walk but she couldn’t pick up her feet.
“Yelling?” She frowned. “I don’t feel right.”
Suddenly, her body erupted with tingling sensations. It felt like a shift, but much stronger. She couldn’t control it. Her body jerked and she suddenly flopped on the floor.
*
Douglas watched, stunned, as Rachel’s arm turned into the hard, gray flesh of a shark fin. She slipped from his hand with a heavy thud to land on the floor. Her gown ripped as she thrashed her way out of it. Her body flopped across the hard marble. Her head and back fin made horrible flapping noises as they struck the floor and she snapped her jaw.
“A shark?!” Lisbetha screamed as Rachel flopped her way towards the woman. Some vampires laughed at the chaos of people running from the dance floor.
“Rachel.” William tried to approach her, but she didn’t seem to recognize him.
“Water!” Douglas ordered. “We need water.”
“She said that she had swum in the ocean,” William said. He pointed at some servants with food trays. “Salt water. From the big aquarium in the library.”
The servants slid their trays onto a nearby table and hurried to do as they were told. A few of the partygoers rushed outside, the stubby, little goblin party crashers leading the way. Rachel began to jerk violently.
“What’s wrong with her?” Douglas hated feeling helpless.
The witch, Julianne, stepped forward. Her dark, smooth hair and olive complexion stood against the virginal white of her gown. Very calmly, she
picked up Rachel’s dress and sniffed it. She made a sour face and handed it to her twin sister, Bella. Bella inhaled deeply and licked the material.
“Datura stramonium,” Julianna stated. “Jimson weed.”
“Her gown is soaked with it,” Bella confirmed. She licked it again before handing it back to her sister. “And shifter blood.”
The servants came back with pitchers of salt water and tossed the contents on the floor towards Rachel. Their aim had little effect as it splashed across the marble. Rachel jerked again.
“William, help me grab her. We’ll put her in the tank,” Douglas said.
Before they could get a hold of her, she bucked off the ground and began to change again.
“Unpredictable stuff, the Solanaceae family,” Julianna stated, calm in the chaos.
“Very powerful nightshade,” Bella agreed. The two sisters continued to hand the dress back and forth, licking and smelling it.
“Who cares about her gown? She’s rabid!” Lisbetha yelled. “Someone stop her before she kills us all!”
Rachel’s body grew smaller. Each second ticked by in agonizing slowness as if her body couldn’t decide on what form it wanted to be. Every time they tried to touch her, her tremors became violent.
“Don’t touch her,” Julianna said.
“It will make the distress worse,” Bella added. “Her body will think it’s under attack.”
“You two seem to know a lot about this,” William stated, accusingly.
“That is very kind of you to say,” Bella answered, smiling at the compliment.
“But this is hardly our work. We’re voting for this one,” Julianna said. “New blood on the shifter throne.”
“What?” Lisbetha demanded. “New blood? Are you serious? Look at her! She’s a freak.”
As if to answer, Rachel burst off the floor and into the air. She flew high into the ceiling.
Let the Wild Out Page 15
