Chapter Seventeen

Kassian

Seven days.

That was all the time he had left. It seemed like an eternity, but it wasn’t. Not when he knew what was waiting at the end.

The sun was shining at least, beating down upon his back, warming him and the shingles beneath him. The gritty charcoal-colored slats weren’t the most comfortable of seats, but that was his fault for choosing the roof to sit on. A bird chirped nearby, echoed by its mate a moment later.

Mate.

Such a simple word, with such a powerful connotation. Although he longed to discuss it more with Rosie, they had refrained from it. The night had been all about them focusing on each other, on their bodies. It had been one of the most sensual, passionate nights of his life. He couldn’t remember ever having been with someone so focused on skin, like Rosie had been. It made him shiver even now, just thinking about the intimate moments they had shared with each other through the course of the evening.

She was his mate, of that he had no doubt. His human side had been skeptical at first, but it hadn’t taken long to realize his animal had gotten it right, like everyone had always told him it did. But Rosie was completely human. She didn’t have a guiding spirit living inside of her to tell her when something that was meant to be was right in front of her. All she had was her human compass. Anger blossomed momentarily as he recalled how others had taken advantage of Rosie’s natural tendency to care.

Which meant he had to take his time with her. To only move as fast as she was ready for. It wasn’t that big of a deal though, despite how much he longed for her, to be with him for the rest of his life, without reservation and without hesitation. It was so close he could practically taste it. What was a little more waiting when he had the rest of their lives to be together? He could handle another few days, or weeks. Even months, if that was what it took. Rosie was worth it, and he was determined to prove that to her.

She was sleeping below, exhausted after all their lovemaking. He’d slipped away, not wanting to wake her. There was something Kassian needed to do. She’d mentioned it to him, and he’d said it wasn’t possible at the time, but the more he’d thought about it, the more he realized he needed to try one last time. If he could just find the right combination of words, of things to say, perhaps he could work a miracle.

To do that though, you need to get your ass off this roof.

With a sigh he put his hands out to either side of him, feeling the warmth from the shingles. In another half an hour they would be uncomfortably warm. The day was going to be a scorcher, he decided. Muscles flexed and he came to his feet, leaning slightly backward to counteract the pitch of the roof.

“Well, here goes nothing,” he muttered, and stepped off the roof.

The ten or twelve foot drop to the ground was nothing. His legs bent a few degrees to help with absorbing the weight of his body, and then he strode forward. The field disappeared, and before he knew it he was entering the tree line. It wouldn’t be long now before he encountered someone.

A minute later the bushes to his left shook, and a large dire wolf came into view, pacing slowly alongside him. The huge animal was big, even for its kind. Was the Arctic wolf alpha trying to send him a message? If so, he was going to be sorely disappointed in Kassian’s reaction.

Hehe. Sore.

It took him several seconds longer to realize that he was being paced on the right as well. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the speckled pattern. It was black on light gray, the same as the wolf he’d promised would pay for laughing at him the first time he’d encountered them again. It was sooner than Kassian had planned, but if nature was going to present him with such a great opportunity…

“What do you want?”

He came to a halt as the Nordic-like leader of the pack, the alpha, emerged. His nose, once again, was like perfect and prominent. It was just sticking out there.

“Why so nosy?” he replied.

The alpha glared at him, but didn’t respond.

“I’m serious,” Kassian continued. “It’s nost-ril-y none of your business.”

“Just spit it out already,” the wolf replied, not rising to the bait. He was also staying a good distance away from Kassian, wary of any sudden move by the shifter.

“You should really have a word with the people who scent you here. This assignment they gave you is a real stinker, don’t you think?”

“Are we done yet?”

“I think so,” Kassian said, resuming his walk, aiming to the left of The Nose.

“Good. Go away.”

“Sure. In a bit.” He was almost parallel with the wolf. “Smell ya later.”

The growl from the alpha came at the same moment he took a step closer to Kassian’s path. He smiled. The wolf realized his mistake, but it was too late.

CRACK!

Bone broke and the alpha crumpled to the floor, holding his hands to his nose. Kassian didn’t even care as the other wolves came at him. He was laughing too hard. His blows were effective when he could land them, but he didn’t bother. They weren’t allowed to kill him, and both sides knew it. All the wolves could do was inflict a thousand minor wounds, none of which would detract from the priceless look of “Not again!” that had been plastered all over the alpha’s face as his fist homed in on his massive beak.

One of the wolves bit extra hard, earning a flashing backhand from Kassian that smashed into the canine’s flank and sent him tumbling until he came to an abrupt halt against a tree. Ribs broke and the creature whimpered pitifully in pain.

“That wasn’t nice, doggy,” he growled.

Another wolf leapt at him from the side, but Kassian had seen it coming in his periphery. The shifter spun quickly, caught the beast in both hands, stopping its momentum cold. He planted one foot, holding the snarling muzzle just out of reach of his face. His leg flexed, he stepped forward, and chucked the animal as hard as he could. The wolf sailed helplessly through the air, until it crashed to the ground, bouncing and rolling violently. Kassian heard at least one of its legs snap.

He threw his head back and laughed. Wolves were so fun to mess with.

A sledgehammer hit him in the back, and he fell face-first to the ground with enough force it knocked the wind out of him. Muscles in his back screamed and at least one rib popped loose, earning a grunt of pain.

“Enough,” Gregory said, coming to stand above his head.

Kassian groaned. “That hurt.”

“Good.”

He shook his head, pushing himself up off the ground, leaning back onto his bent legs. The tall, non-descript-looking gryphon looked relaxed and casual, balanced evenly on both feet. Looks could be deceiving, though. Kassian saw the way his fingers curled slightly, ready to form a fist if the bear shifter did anything stupid.

“Do you live out here or something?” he muttered. “That’s an impressive reaction time.”

“I enjoy the forest,” was all the gryphon was willing to say. “Now, are you done being an ass?”

Kassian shrugged. “Probably not; it’s in my programming. You should have known better than to use wolves to watch me and my family.”

“What do you want this time?” Gregory asked, ignoring his earlier statement.

“To talk,” Kassian said, dropping his nonchalance and staring intently at the other man as he rose to his feet. It irked him that despite his looking down at Gregory, and massing at least twenty more pounds, the gryphon shifter could toss him around like a rag doll. It just wasn’t fair. He resolved to take it up with whoever had decided on these things for shifters once he died. Somebody needed to earn some shit over this.

“So talk.” The reply was blunt and straight to the point.

Looking around him, Kassian made shooing motions to the wolves. “Go on now. Begone with you. The adults need to talk.”

The wolves didn’t move.

Kassian rolled his eyes at Gregory. “Do you mind?”

There was a slight flick of his left wrist, and suddenly the wolves were gone, disappearing back into the bushes. Kassian listened intently, testing the air as well, until he was positive that they were gone, and no longer within earshot. Satisfied, he started walking, picking a direction at random.

“You need to stop fucking around, Kassian. Or we’re going to have to do something about your attitude.”

He snorted. “Like what? Threaten my brother if I don’t become your pet assassin?”

“No. We already did that. It isn’t working so well. So I think we’ll have to switch to using your girl instead.”

Kassian went cold, coming to an abrupt halt as he turned to stare at the other shifter.

“Exactly. We’re not stupid. We know.”

They knew about Rosie. It didn’t matter how, but they did. Kassian was torn between the sheer, blinding rage that engulfed him at the idea they would threaten his mate, and the need to dash back to the motel, to ensure that Rosie was still safe. Neither option would accomplish anything however, which left him paralyzed with indecision. In the end, the choice was taken from him as Gregory spoke again, moving the topic along. Kassian was forced to go along with it, otherwise they might get an inkling of just how much Rosie meant to him.

“Now, what is it you wanted to talk about, that caused you to go and bust up Lundgren’s nose…again.”

Initially Kassian had come out to the forest in hopes of talking to Gregory, convincing him to come around and fight for the proper side. Or at least to go away, abandoning the Institute but also not fighting against it. But the instant the threat against Rosie had been made, he knew he couldn’t do it. It also didn’t matter. There was no convincing him. Gregory had made up his mind, and that was going to be that. He would oppose them until the end. So Kassian had to find another way to get rid of him.

“I want proof,” he said, changing his angle of approach on the fly, hoping it wasn’t blatantly obvious.

“Proof of what?”

“That Maximus is alive, you overgrown chicken,” he snapped. If he wasn’t going to convince Gregory to change sides, he intended on working to continue getting under his skin. Perhaps the gryphon would make a mistake in anger. It was unlikely, but no harm was likely to come from it.

Gregory gave him a long level look that Kassian returned in spades. He wasn’t compromising this time. No amount of intimidation was going to get him to back down. If Maximus wasn’t alive, the Institute could fuck right the hell off. He and his brothers would depart the motel, and go to ground somewhere else.

“Very well. Stay there.” Reaching into his pocket, Gregory took several steps away. He pulled out a cell phone and held it up to his ear.

“Yes sir, it’s Gregory.”

Kassian listened idly as the enemy shifter talked to Director Burnatawiz, telling him the situation. It was mostly uninteresting. All he wanted to hear was Maximus’s voice, something that would prove his brother was, in fact, alive, and mostly unharmed.

“I understand, sir. I’ll give Director Burnatawiz your orders.”

He forced himself to remain still at those next words. Gregory was going to give the director orders? On behalf of someone else? What was going on? Burnatawiz was supposed to be the head of the Institute, the top dog. So who was giving him orders? What had they missed? Kassian needed to get that information back to his brothers immediately. Perhaps Madison could leverage her so-far hidden network of contacts and agents to get them some more information.

“Here,” Gregory said, walking back and shoving the phone at Kassian.

Accepting the odd, plastic object, he mimicked the way Gregory had held it up to his face. Kassian had used a telephone before, but never a cellular version. This was his first time.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Kassian? Is that you?” The voice sounded far away, distant.

He pulled the phone away from his face.

“Kassian?”

The voice emerged from the area that he’d had pressed up to his mouth. Hastily switching it around, hoping the gryphon hadn’t noticed, he held it back up to his face.

“Maximus?”

“Kassian.”

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” his brother reassured him. “The conditions here aren’t ideal. It’s no resort stay, that’s for sure. The meals suck, and the guards are chatty. It’s pretty much a living hell.”

Kassian laughed, the relief at hearing his brother’s voice stronger than he’d expected it to be, as was the joy flowing through him. Maximus was alive. Yes, he was at the mercy of the Institute, but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t dead.

“Maximus, they want me to kill a human to set you free,” he said.

Gregory, standing five paces in front of Kassian, spun on his heel and strode back toward the shifter.

“Fuck that!” Maximus snarled. “Don’t you dare do something like that. Not on my behalf. Let me—”

The voice cut off as Gregory took the phone back angrily, cutting off the call.

“That was very dumb of you,” he said. “You should know better than to do something like that.”

Kassian rolled his eyes. “Don’t you have a worm to go catch?”

Gregory just reached out and hit Kassian right in the sternum. It wasn’t the most powerful blow the gryphon could have inflicted, but it was enough to send him roughly tumbling backward.

“Your time is running short,” he said. “Tick tock.”

Then he disappeared into the woods.

Kassian flung himself to his feet, ignoring the pain in his chest as he took deep breaths, trying to calm himself, even as he came up with a plan of action. First things first, he needed to get back to the motel to tell his brothers that Maximus was alive, and the news that Director Burnatawiz was perhaps not the be-all end-all ruler of the Institute. They would have to start looking for this other command figure.

There was so much to do, Kassian found himself wishing he had backup. More than just his brothers. They were skilled; that wasn’t the issue. There just weren’t enough of them. Cadia wasn’t an option. So, where else could they find help in their mission to stop the Institute?

Kassian emerged from the forest. The sun was gone, he noticed, the warmth of it no longer beating down upon him. Apparently they day wasn’t going to be so nice after all. A storm was moving in. He paused, looking up at the sky as the black thunderheads moved in, promising some pretty severe weather.

Even the clouds are angry today.

The clouds.

That was it! The last piece of the puzzle dropped into place. Kassian darted forward, his legs churning behind him. He jumped onto the roof, nearly clearing the peak of it he was so energetic. The idea had been right in front of them the entire time! He and his brothers couldn’t go back to Cadia, because they’d be tossed back in jail. They couldn’t send their mates, because Cadia was off-limits to unapproved humans.

But there was somewhere they could go. Yet they’d just been too stupid to think of it!

For the first time since he’d found the Polaroid of Maximus, Kassian felt a sliver of hope enter him. They could do this. With the help of Rosie, they could pull this off. Of course, if it went wrong, it was going to go very, very wrong, and he would be risking everyone’s lives, including that of his mate.