Andrew

He’d taken one look at her car and his stomach had turned itself into knots. The blood in his veins ran cold. Karri hadn’t objected when he said she was going to come with him to the embassy. That part was good, though he still hadn’t figured out where the sudden barrier between them had come from. It was there though, without any doubt in his mind. She didn’t give him the cold shoulder, but their hug when he’d come to a skidding halt after racing across town as fast as he could had been…distant. She’d not tried to hold his hand as he’d walked her back to his place. Even now she was more preoccupied with their surroundings than she was him.

That was in a way okay with him, because he too had his attention turned outward, away from her. His eyes checked every shadow, keeping an eye on windows, doors, alleyways and parked cars as they walked. His nostrils flared and arms flexed if anyone came near them, human or not. The few people still out and about on a Thursday night generally scurried to get out of his way, wanting no part of the hulking protective monster that stuck to the human like glue. He shielded her from everything until they could finally get to safety.

Now that they were in the embassy she was looking around the old motel, taking in the architecture of it. That didn’t last long, however. He completed his final inspection and they headed inside. Almost immediately she turned to look at him, her arms crossed.

“Andrew, what the fuck is going on?”

He blinked.

“Don’t give me that innocent look,” she almost snarled. “You took one look at my car, one look, and then you went into some sort of mode that I don’t even know how to describe. Like you suddenly turned into a soldier or bodyguard. Which means you think I needed one. So what the fuck?”

He ran his tongue along his teeth in a nervous gesture.

“Come on, I’ll explain,” he said, heading deeper into the motel.

“No, I’m staying here until I get some answers!” she nearly shouted.

“Karri,” he said, his voice growing calm, cool, and slightly detached as he let his animal show through slightly, the more analytical, warrior part of him, born from the bird of prey part of him. “We’re going to be here for a while. Come in, let me get you some food and drink, and I’ll explain over that. I’m not avoiding this.”

She glared at him for a moment, but then relented and came after him. “Very well.”

He sighed. Something was bugging her beyond her car. He could see it, but wasn’t quite sure how to approach it.

One problem at a time. You’re going to have to tell her your suspicions behind her car’s destruction.

Suspicions was a mild way of putting it. He’d detected the scents at the scene. Andrew knew exactly what had happened. It was fairly obvious.

“Here,” he said, showing her into the kitchen and dining area. “Food or just water for now?”

“Food is good,” she admitted as he found some junk food and poured a glass of water. “Ice?”

“Sure,” she said with a shrug.

Once she was seated and eating he took a seat across the table from her. Clasping his hands together and resting his elbows on the heavy wood furniture, he caught her eye.

“Bear with me,” he began. Once she’d nodded her assent, he began. “Do you know how I came to be the Cadian envoy to your town?”

Karri shook her head, her mouth full with a hunk of fresh bread that she’d torn from the piece he gave her.

“Well, you know that Fenris declared war upon Cadia two years back, correct?”

The roll of her eyes told him that yes, she was likely more than familiar with it. Most residents were, after all. During the course of the war between their two shifter territories, Fenris had actually invaded Cloud Lake, using it as a staging location to launch attacks upon Cadia itself. After recovering from the surprise attack, Cadia had retaken the town, but a lot of the damage had already been done. The Fenrisians were not very nice. Cadia had worked long and hard to rebuild not only the broken town itself, but also the trust that had once existed between shifters and humans.

“During the war, much of the fighting was done by the Green Bearets,” he explained. “They are the most numerous shifter species, and thus had the most troops available. Others participated, lending their support, even the dragons. But not the gryphons,” he told her, noting the way her eyes widened and then narrowed at his words. “Not officially,” he said with a smile.

“I was one of four who defied the orders of our superiors and fought anyway. It was the right thing to do, and I don’t regret it at all. But,” he said with a grimace, “it did lead to some unfortunate after-effects.”

“But if you got in trouble, why did you get promoted to be the ambassador?” Karri asked, speaking as she finished her current mouthful.

“Exactly,” he said. “How indeed. The answer to that is a little difficult, but try to look at it this way. Cadia pulled back inside its borders after the conclusion of the war, trying to avoid another conflict with your government.”

Karri nodded. “Right. There were hundreds of you here at one point, and then the next day poof, almost none of you were left.”

“Only myself and a few others. Generally there are no more than two dozen shifters in Cloud Lake at any given time now, including my guards and staff. To those back home, this is not a prestigious post.”

“You were exiled here.”

He smiled sadly. “Essentially. I played a prominent enough part in the war that they couldn’t not acknowledge it. But the gryphon elders put a lot of pressure on the Cadian Council to prevent me from receiving anything back home. So they compromised, and exiled me out here under the guise of a promotion.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Not as bad as you might think. I’ve met a lot of nice people here. Some that I’ve even grown close to.”

Andrew was barely able to keep the shock from his face as Karri closed off completely at his last statement. Walls were drawn up around the depths of her eyes and her features slowly flattened into an expressionless wall.

What the hell happened?!

“Anyway,” he said, hurrying on before things got even more awkward. “I think it was widely assumed that I would take the position for a few months, maybe a year at best, then resign so that someone more deserving could have the role, with the purpose of making it a prestigious post.”

“But you haven’t resigned.”

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I like my job. I think I’m doing a good job at it, and that both Cadia and Cloud Lake are benefitting from my tenure here.”

“I can’t find fault in that,” she admitted. “You have made an excellent ambassador.”

“Thank you. Unfortunately, the pressure recently has increased upon me to finally resign. It all came to a head the night we met.”

Karri’s eyes grew dark as she thought back upon his meaning. “Al? That shifter you pulled off of me in the dark?”

He nodded. “The one and the same. He’s actually well connected back home. Very well connected. I tried to prevent him from coming here by denying his application five times until it was approved at a level above me. I knew he was scum.” He looked away angrily, still annoyed with himself. “What I didn’t know, was that he was likely sent here with the expectation that something just like that would happen. They wanted me to do what I did to him. They expected it,” he snarled, slamming his fist so hard into the table that Karri’s plate jumped six inches in the air and came back down to shatter. The table itself cracked, splitting open in a jagged line nearly two feet long with his fist imprint the epicenter.

“And I walked right into their trap.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Karri asked, seemingly uncaring about his problems.

Where did this antipathy come from? Why does she hate me all of a sudden? This can’t all be about her car…can it?

“I scented wolf at your car tonight,” he replied. “It was very strong. I think…I think that this was a warning.”

“A warning?”

“Yes.” He squeezed his fingers together in a fist, his bicep bulging. “I think it means that if I don’t resign, they’re going to go after you.”