The Leopard King (21 page)

“I remember that stage,” Aunt Glynnis said fondly. “Everything seemed like a sweet little secret, didn’t it, Chaz?”

Pru smiled at her aunt. “I’m just filling him in how everyone’s related to him.”

“Oh, good thinking,” her uncle said. “It’s a bit complicated at first, but you’ll sort us out in no time as you’re used to managing much more complicated pride business.”

“Did you tell him I’m the best cousin?” Naveen asked.

Joss threw a wadded up napkin at her. “As if. What’s the judgment criteria? Are you rating yourself in decibels?”

“Pot, kettle,” Naveen said, catching the serviette and blotting her mouth with it daintily.

Laughing, Pru fixed a plate with pastries, fruit, eggs, and crispy bacon and offered it to Dom with a flourish. “Now, now, you’re both pretty.”

Her aunt circled Dom until he seemed faintly alarmed. “Are you sure you’re feeding him enough? He’s all gristle and teeth.”

“I’m a good eater,” he said defensively.

With fixed determination, he devoured all the food she’d given him. Since he’d said bring on the big domestic gathering, Pru didn’t try to shield him from familial interest. Soon he had two small second cousins on his lap, rumpling his hair, while her uncle hovered. Her aunt was watching these two for their mother, her oldest daughter Caroleth, who was currently working in the admin center with Caio.

“Are you planning to save him?” Joss whispered.

Pru shook her head. “Dom’s the pride leader. He can extricate himself from Jilly and Jase if he puts his mind to it.”

“I’m more concerned about Chaz, to be honest.” But when Joss grinned, she seemed more amused than troubled.

“I have a genealogy chart if you’d like to see it,” Uncle Chaz said.

As Dom nodded and answered, “Yes, please,” Pru swapped a look with Naveen, who didn’t bother covering up her giggles.

“Your man’s done for,” the younger girl murmured. “Once Dad drags out all his lineage papers, there’s no shutting him up for hours.”

To Pru’s vast amusement, Uncle Chaz
did
haul out all his notes, including a family tree painstakingly charted for five generations, and he explained it all in exhaustive detail with a number of historical anecdotes, some of which dated back to the Great War. As ever, that got Jilly and Jase’s attention, and they paused in harrying Dom to listen to an account of how the Animari won their territory. Since she was a teacher at heart, she seized the moment.

“What year did we gain our independence? I forget…”

“1887,” Jilly shouted.

“Close. It was 1888.” She looked at Jase. “How long was the Great War?”

He sighed with all the boredom a nine-year-old could project. “We
just
learned this. In 1876, humans discovered our existence. War broke out in 1880 across two international borders, and we fought hard for our freedom. We allied with Eldritch and Golgoth in 1884. In 1888, the war ended with the signing of the Allegheny Accords. We were awarded territory to govern in the north, humans emigrated voluntarily, and our borders were declared in-in…” As Jase struggled with the word, Pru mouthed it, until he took the cue. “Inviolable. In 1890, we divided our homeland among the victors: Golgoth in the far north, the Eldritch got the far east, and we split the southern remainder, east to west, among the Animari.”

“Wow,” Naveen said. “He got all the dates right and everything.”

“Good job.” Uncle Chaz ruffled Jase’s hair, or tried to, but the boy ducked away and put out his tongue.

“I know things too.” Jilly’s sulky face said she would be wailing soon if she didn’t garner some of the attention.

“Tell us, please.” Dom bounced his knee once, making the child giggle and earning Pru’s gratitude, as Jilly’s tantrums could be legendary.

“We got the south, wolves are east, and bears took the north, closest to the Golgoth. But since we were allies in the Great War, we didn’t sign peace agreements until 1907, after the Golgoth started attacking us.” Her recitation lacked the confidence of her twin’s, and she glanced at Dom for confirmation when she paused.

“You’re on the right track. Do you remember what the 1907 meeting was called?”

“The conclave,” she answered, beaming.

“That’s happening now,” Jase said. “We review the terms every hundred years.”

Pru got back in on the teaching action. “The papers we sign at the conclave, cementing the peace between our three factions, can anyone tell me the formal name?”

Uncle Chaz raised his hand, and Aunt Glynnis elbowed him. Pru noticed that her father had filled his belly and nodded off in an armchair, as ever bored by such discussions. His consistency was endearing. Jilly and Jase collaborated on the answer, whispering back and forth, and then Jilly said, “The Pax Protocols.”

She gave them both a thumbs-up. “Excellent. That’s enough history review for today. I’ll be sure to mention how clever you both are when I see your teacher at school.”

“Not school.” Jilly moaned and collapsed in Dom’s arms as if she were dying at the very mention of the word.

To Pru’s delight, Dom played along. “Stay with us, you have so much to live for. If I survived grade four, you can too.”

Jilly cracked an eye open to ask, “Did you hate it too?”

“Sitting still is the worst,” Dom said. “But it’s also good to learn things, otherwise your head will float away because it’s too empty.”

The little girl scowled at him. “That’s a lie. Right?”

But everyone else was laughing too hard to answer her properly. In the confusion, Pru’s dad woke up and randomly demanded to know who’d stolen his hat. That was funnier than it should’ve been too because she couldn’t ever recollect him wearing one. Joss hugged him and patted his back as she giggled.

Amid the merriment, Aunt Glynnis drew her aside. “At first, I wasn’t sure what to make of your news because I thought, under the circumstances, that he’d be all somber shadows, but he’s quite a sunny person, isn’t he?” With a pat, she added, “I like him. You chose well.”

Presently, Dom was all smiles, tickling the crap out of Jilly, who might never leave his lap. There was no way she could disillusion her aunt with the truth. So she smiled and accepted the praise with a quiet face that hid her byzantine reaction. Her mate grabbed Jase then and dragged him into the tussle, so he was covered in shrieking, laughing children.

Maybe someday, they’ll be ours.
The sweetness of that possibility made her want to go over to him and kiss his head. But a thunderous pounding on the door prevented her from making that public claim.

Dom used the
visitor as an excuse to stop wrestling. Waving the others off, he answered with an inquiring look and found Beren, red-faced and short of breath. “Sorry to interrupt but I have urgent news.”

“Let’s talk privately.”

In short order, he said farewell and thanked the family for their hospitality, and then he followed the bear lord to his quarters. The fact that Beren didn’t want to talk in the conference room spoke volumes. Dom expected to find Raff waiting, but not only was the wolf lord absent, even the clan guards had been dismissed.

“I received this ten minutes ago,” Beren said.

He handed his phone over with a video file queued up. The sound and picture quality was shit, and it was obviously shot raw, but the content chilled Dom’s blood—only thirteen seconds of footage, men in fatigues, shouting, cries of pain, a kaleidoscopic glimpse of live combat—and then static. No attached message, text or voice.

“From who?”

“One of my scouts. I can’t raise him. His unit is comm-dead too. As I see it, the Golgoth have already broken the Pax Protocols, and they’re massacring my people. I’m telling you in private as a courtesy… I’m done with this farce. First thing tomorrow, I’m going home.”

Dom tried to sort bad from worse. “Are you sure it’s the Golgoth?”

“Who else? I showed you the troop movement reports before. You think humans bypassed you and went straight for bear territory? Offer some bullshit that at least makes sense.”

“I’m not arguing. Just fact-finding. Why strike now?”

“Element of surprise, fool cub. We’re all away with unproven people left in charge of our demesnes. Lockdown or no, don’t try to stop me.”

“I’m not giving you an answer right this second. You do what you must in the morning, and I’ll do the same. Because you know as well as I do that if you bail out on these talks, I lose all authority and the others will follow suit.”

“I give no fucks about your authority. The only reason I’m not moving right now is the fact that half of my guards are hungover. It wouldn’t serve me to drag them into combat at half efficiency. They’re under orders to eat well, sleep it off, and be ready to move at six sharp.”

“Calm down—”

“Are you trying to piss me off? If not, let’s shorthand the rest. I have more important things to do.” With that, Beren went to the door and gestured, clearly wanting Dom to get out.

“Why don’t you contact another unit to investigate? I don’t underestimate the danger to your people, but if things fall apart here, the consequences—”

“Good day, pride master.”

Beren grabbed Dom by the shoulders and shoved him so hard that he slammed into the opposite wall. As the door closed, Dom balled up a fist and contemplated breaking it down.
No, that will only escalate. Maybe I can talk some sense into him in the morning.
If he couldn’t, then he’d have two bad choices: either let Beren break lockdown, setting precedent for everyone else, or take up arms against an allied Animari. Under the circumstances, it wouldn’t surprise him if Raff sided with Beren, and he definitely couldn’t count on support from the Eldritch whereas Prince Alastor struck him as the sort to play the fiddle while the city burned.

Knowing the problem didn’t bring him any closer to solving it, of course. With a muttered curse, he sent messages to Magda and Slay. Unlike Gavriel’s request to stall Talfayen, he couldn’t keep this development under wraps. Surprisingly enough, breakfast had relaxed him somewhat and taken his mind off his troubles, but the throb in his head came back with a vengeance. By the time he got to the ops center, his second and security chief were waiting.

“You said it was crucial,” Magda said. “And your timing couldn’t be better. I was about to pull that wolf’s head off.”

“Listen up,” he barked.

Dom didn’t mince words, and when he finished, both Magda and Slay were staring at him like he’d kicked them in the face. Understandable. The situation sucked in every conceivable way. For obvious reasons, he didn’t want to be the one on record when the Pax Protocols collapsed like a badly designed bridge in earthquake territory. The humans had been watchful and cautious on their side of the border since the Allegheny Accords, and they limited travel like their neighbors to the north carried a host of infectious diseases. If the conclave failed, it would be as good as admitting humans were right about how warlike and dangerous the Animari, Eldritch, and Golgoth were. Shit, a full-scale conflict might even draw an attempt at human intervention since they were fond of imposing their will for the “greater good”.

“Where are we on the spectrum of fucked, so fucked, and completely fucked?” Slay asked finally.

Dom shrugged. “Depends on how it goes with Beren in the morning.”

“Any chance we can talk sense into him?”

“He’s been grumbling about the talks since the beginning. To be honest, I think he
wants
a chance to kill some Golgoth. I’d hoped he was just venting, but…” Dom trailed off, as there wasn’t a whole lot more to say.

“You want to greenlight a lockdown in the bear section of residential?”

That was one option. But with enough rage and sheer brute strength, electronic locks probably wouldn’t keep Beren and his clan pinned long. Then they’d rampage through the hold on the way to the gate. One way or another, it would most likely get ugly tomorrow, and he had to figure out how to best minimize collateral damage.

“That’s a temporary solution,” Magda objected.

Slay cut her a dark look. “I don’t hear anything better coming out of your mouth.”

“Well, think about it, both of you, and get back to me. Before I take off, do you have anything to report?”

“Talfayen sent me a message,” Slay said. “Wants to talk to me alone in the morning.”

“Not the first time,” Dom noted.

Magda wanted to know, “What’s that about?”

Slay shrugged. “I’ll tell you when I know. But I figure I need to put it on the table because I might be occupied when the shit goes down with Beren, unless you want me to postpone the meeting.”

“No, go ahead. Inform me as soon as you know anything about what’s up with the Eldritch. Whatever you learn will help us.”

“Wonder why Talfayen’s targeting Slay,” Magda said softly.

Dom had that question too, and he had suspicions, none of which he’d speak aloud when circumstances were already so tenuous. They talked a while longer, but nothing concrete could be accomplished via conversation. Then a thought occurred to him, something useful at last.

“Mags, do we still have an operational drone?”

“Just one. Why?”

“Send it north. It’s a long shot, but maybe it will deliver additional intel, something we can use to reassure Beren and buy a little more time.”

“You have coordinates for me?”

Closing his eyes, Dom wracked his brain to remember the scouting reports he’d read when he first arrived back at the hold. “Close enough.”

Leaning over the console, he tapped the screen and highlighted a zone for her. “For now, aim for this area. Stream the footage live. If we lose the drone, it’s fine. We can buy another from Raff. The important thing is to get all the info we can, as soon as possible.”

“I’m on it,” the security chief said.

A few minutes later, the drone was online and zooming north. At its current airspeed, if it didn’t encounter hostiles, it would reach bear territory in six hours. Dom glanced at the clock.
That’ll be almost five in the afternoon. Damn. I wish we had more time to search.
After a moment’s contemplation, he rang up the bear lord.

“I need coordinates on the last-known location for your unit.”