Karri

“So wait, you’re telling me it never left?”

They were back at the embassy, sitting in the kitchen with Gray and Hector, one of the other guards. The third guard, whose name she still didn’t know, was currently walking the rounds of the property as security detail while the four of them came up with a plan.

“No. Did you really think I was going to just send that out?” Gray asked, sounding hurt.

“I didn’t,” she said before Andrew could speak up.

“Suck-up,” the gryphon muttered, his hand finding hers.

She let him hold it. They still had a lot to talk about in regard to the two of them, but for now she wanted to stay focused on finding a way for him to keep his job, and to deal with Al and his political backers’ threats.

Gray put the manila envelope on the table they were sitting at, shoving aside some of the food that she and Andrew were currently laying into with gusto. “Here it is. The original document.”

“You are a lifesaver,” Andrew said. “How did they not know better though?”

“I think I know the answer to that,” she said, speaking up around a mouthful of blueberry yogurt.

Andrew indicated for her to continue.

“You said that the woman who brought it to you was a human. Plain old human, right? Well, why would that human have any inkling that Gray here was willing to side with you against orders from Cadia itself? She had no reason to suspect that.” Karri paused, thinking it all through some more. “In fact, the whole thing is off. Why would they send a human to do it in the first place?” she mused.

Gray spoke up first. “Because they rushed it.”

She indicated she didn’t follow.

“They didn’t expect us to kill Myles. Hurt, maybe, but more likely just beat up and then the police arrest us. Then Myles comes and forces Andrew into signing the resignation. It’s just like Al, throwing salt on the wound by forcing him to sign the form and give it to the man he hates most. But when Andrew killed him, the others fled. Al would have needed someone in their camp to come down to the station ASAP to sign it. With no other shifters in town, he had to rely on a human to do his dirty work. But the human wasn’t told about my particular loyalty. So when I questioned her what was in it, she told me. Al couldn’t have foreseen that.”

Andrew chuckled. “Well, that sounds plausible, that’s for sure. A simple oversight on Al’s part as a result of wanting these papers so badly brought it all crashing down around him. Hilarious.”

“What about the police charges?” Gray asked.

“Dismissed,” she said, then elaborated upon a confused look. “My father is fairly, ah, shall we say, influential, in this town. He knows how to get things done, when necessary, by skirting the rules.”

Andrew spoke up. “Translation: he found out how much the police captain had been bribed, and doubled it.”

The three of them laughed over the simplistic solution.

“So what do we do now? I can’t believe Al is waiting peacefully in Cloud Lake,” Gray said. “He’s probably on his way here, don’t you think?”

As if on cue there was a massive boom from the lobby.

“Go get Gray!” someone screamed. “Now!”

Karri looked over at Andrew. She recognized that voice. She’d heard it twice before. Neither occasion had left her with any good memories of it.

“It’s okay,” Andrew said, putting an arm around her protectively. “He can’t do anything to you now.”

She let herself soak up some of his inner strength, merging it with her own until she felt it begin to force her muscles into action. Andrew stood up and she followed.

“You don’t have to come with,” he assured her.

“I know. But I want to see the look on this asshole’s face when you knock his teeth in,” she said savagely.

Andrew just chuckled as he led them from the room. “I think you have a bit of an anger problem.”

“Have you met my father?”

She elbowed him in his side as they entered the lobby, forcing Andrew to get his laughter under control.

“Hello Al,” he said over the top of the tirade the wolf shifter was directing at a stony-faced Gray.

“You,” the other man said, raising a shaking finger to point at him. “What, what is he still doing here?” he screamed at Gray. “He’s supposed to be back in Cadia!”

“Why?” Andrew asked.

“B-B-Because you signed the resignation letter! I was told that you did!” Al said, his eyes darting back and forth between the bear and gryphon shifter nervously.

“I don’t remember doing that,” Andrew said thoughtfully. “Gray, did I do something like that?”

“Don’t think so, boss.”

“Well, there you have it, Al. I didn’t sign anything.”

“I know you did. She told me. It’ll arrive in Cadia soon, and then you’ll be done,” he sneered.

“What will?” Andrew asked. “This?” He lifted up the envelope he’d been holding behind her back.

Karri just smiled, watching the entire thing go down. This was great theater. I do kinda wish I had some popcorn though. The climax is going to be short, but I think I’m going to enjoy it.

“Give me that!” Al screamed, lunging toward Andrew.

He didn’t make it. Gray’s foot shot out, fouling up the wolf shifter’s steps, sending him splashing to the floor. Angrily the man shot to his feet, whirling to stare down Gray.

“How dare you?” he hissed venomously.

“You walked into me,” Gray said innocently. “It was an accident.”

Al’s hand rocketed up and slapped Gray across the face. Karri gasped as three lines opened up on the bear shifter’s face from the claws that were even now emerging from the shifter’s hands. She watched as brilliant white fur erupted down his spine and then rippled out over his back. His legs thinned and became leaner, all covered in the white fur.

Two eyeblinks later a massive wolf stood where Al had been, as white as snow. Saliva dripped from its mouth as it snarled at Gray. The bear shifter took a swing at him, but Al dodged out of the way, and then darted back in, aiming for the bear shifter’s unprotected backside.

Karri was jostled slightly as Andrew moved. She watched as he plunked one hand down on the wolf shifter’s neck and lifted him easily into the air by the soft flesh there. Al whimpered and yelped, immediately backing down, but that didn’t stop Andrew from shaking him about like a rag doll.

“Listen to me, and listen to me carefully, Al. I am not resigning. This is my position. The people of Cloud Lake are under my protection. I’m going to let you go. You go back to Cadia, and you find something new to do. If you do anything other than that, you can rest assured that I will snap your neck and leave your body for the vultures. Got it?” he asked in a quiet, cold voice that nevertheless managed to fill the lobby.

Karri wondered how he did that, feeling slightly jealous. He would have to teach her. It would be a neat trick for business meetings, that was for sure.

The wolf shifter yelped and whimpered. Something in that must have worked for Andrew, because he released his grip and the wolf collapsed to the floor.

She watched her man—no, her mate, she realized with a thrill—her mate step back from the wolf shifter and gesture for him to go. The wolf slunk along for a bit until it was even with Gray again.

It happened almost too fast for her to follow. Al dove for Gray’s neck, thinking to take the bear shifter unaware. Gray was ready for it though, and his right hand swept across the intervening space, the backhand connecting solidly with Al, sending him skidding across the marble.

“I warned you,” Andrew said sadly, and she watched her mate take two strides forward, reaching down with both hands and casually snapping the wolf’s neck.

Immediately he glanced over at her. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said.

“I’m not,” Karri said with more strength than she felt. The knowledge that she’d just witnessed her mate kill another shifter was unsettling, but, she reminded herself, it wasn’t the first time. She’d seen him kill Myles too. That had been different though, because Myles was his equal. This had been so casual it defied belief.

He gave Al all the chances in the world to leave Cloud Lake alone, and to leave him alone. All Al had to do was take one of them, and he’d still be alive. It is not Andrew’s fault that Al couldn’t do that. Al did this to himself, plain and simple. His greed and lust for power got him killed.

“Gray, do me a favor and deal with this, will you?” she heard Andrew ask softly.

“Of course, boss.” He paused then. “It’s good to know you’ll be sticking around.”

“No plans to go anywhere anytime soon, Gray,” he reassured his man, then walked over to her. “Come on,” he said, taking her shoulder and guiding her up the stairs and toward his room. “We have some talking to do.”

Karri looked up at him, a smile crossing her face. “Yes, I suppose we do, don’t we?”