Balt

 

“Baltsaros!”

The name was hurled at me like a brick, ringing with accusation and I froze as though I’d been shot. Ahead of me, I saw Piper marching down the street her eyes blazing and people giving her curious looks. Swallowing hard, I stared at her. I hadn’t seen Piper before she left.

She was dressed up in a pale blue dress that dipped low and hugged her hips, her silver heels were swinging from her hands.

“What the hell is going on?” she demanded as she came right up to me and glared.

“Nothing,” I said easily, trying to soothe her. “I was looking around. A local I met at the pub mentioned this place and I wanted to check it out.”

But the lie was flimsy and she knew it. Piper went white with rage as she glared at me, to the sign, and back again. Then I watched as the anger in her eyes became apprehension.

“Are you sick?” she asked in a lower voice. “Balt, tell me what is wrong. Why are you here, seeing Lady Huna?” Her lips twisted. She avoided the supernatural parts of shifting as often as she could, ever since she was fifteen. “We just saw Dr. Hakedo. Why wouldn’t you go see him?”

Because Dr. Hakedo can’t cure a curse, Piper, I thought to myself bleakly.

All these years I’d been so careful. Now I could see her putting two and two together, her mind racing to find answers and I had to head her off.

But I had nothing and now I was getting angry. “Piper, leave it alone,” I said, moving past her and jerking my head. “You shouldn’t have come here.”

“I shouldn’t have?” Piper hissed at me, outraged. “Does this mean you wouldn’t have told me? If you’re sick, I need to know.”

“I’m not sick,” I said patiently. “It was for another reason. It’s personal, Piper. Please.”

“Balt, I can’t believe you are keeping something from me – something important,” Piper sounded dismayed and I had to force myself to keep looking forward. “Don’t pretend it’s not.”

“I won’t, but I cannot speak of it,” I said in a tight voice.

“Does it have anything at all to do with you? Or is this for work?” Piper asked, her tone wavering between harsh and frightened. “Balt, please – you’re scaring me.”

That was a blow to the gut. “No, no, Piper, nothing is wrong.”

“Then why won’t you tell me?”

She was nothing if not perceptive and persistent. I didn’t answer as I glanced at her.

Hurt was blooming in her eyes and she stared at me as though she didn’t recognize me. It sent an iciness through my veins, one I desperately wanted to rectify, but I forced myself to stay quiet. Maybe it was time, I thought, looking away.

Time to do what I had been putting off for the past twenty years.

Leaving Piper and the family I’d found in America behind before the bloodline curse awoke.

We continued to walk in silence, all our usual camaraderie and comfort swallowed by the black hole I’d dug. The unfairness of it all raged inside of me.

While I didn’t care about my fate, I did care that I’d hurt Piper. And her family, along with my cousin Isla, someone I’d thought was dead for over twenty years.

I’d never wanted any this to happen, but fate had other plans.

It was why, for all the happiness in finding Isla, there had been a bitterness to it. Of course, as I was planning another exit strategy, something else appeared to convince me otherwise.

I’d gone to Lady Huna to see if she could tell me more of the curse – what it entailed and how to break it. My uncle had only spoken of it once. Since then, I’d only learned bits and pieces.

From what I knew, the males of the Kazan bloodline had become extremely powerful sometime in the last one-hundred years. While the men wielded it, the women passed it on. Thus, they were incredibly appealing to other shifters, some of whom were willing to pay for a Kazan bride. But all of this had come with a high and fatal price.

First, they were ousted from the Shifters of Anubis. In fact, my uncle was the first in over a century to join their ranks, while I was the second. I knew a lot of the Kazan family hopes were pinned on me – I was supposed to restore honor to our name.

But if I couldn’t escape the fate of an early death, how could I do that?

That was the second thing I’d found out – the day after my uncle’s death – Kazan males did not typically make it past their late thirties. Everything since then had proven it.

When I wasn’t helping Piper or working for Shifters of Anubis, I had researched ways to break the curse, determined to free myself from my ancestor’s mistakes.

But their sins were not so easily undone.

“Balt,” Piper said in an undertone and her hand gripped my wrist.

I was expecting her to demand more answers from me and I glanced at her before I could help it. But she wasn’t looking at me, Piper was staring at something in the distance, her posture still and straight. Everything about her was poised.

The blue of her dress made her eyes scintillate and that foolish wish that things could be different seized me. It wasn’t fair. If I wasn’t a Kazan, I could have told Piper years ago what had hit me when I was a teenager. I wouldn’t have had to keep up a pretense. I wouldn’t have to lock away these soul-searing feelings that kept me up at night.

I wouldn’t have to leave her.

Now she gave me a stern look and hissed, “Balt. Look.”

There was surprise there, too, and I felt it dully echo in my own bones. For the first time in a long time, I hadn’t instantly picked up on what Piper was trying to say to me.

We’d been friends for so long and so in tune with each other, we sometimes could have a whole conversation with a look. The loss made my throat burn as I followed her gaze and saw a figure in the distance.

It was a woman, leaning on the counter of a stall, talking and waving her hand.

“Frost,” I breathed, anger cracking through me and moving forward.

“Stop,” Piper said, catching me. “What are you doing, let’s follow her!”

“No, we should grab her now and hand her over to the SoA in London. There’s a warrant for her arrest – they can interrogate her.”

“She could lead us to Hunter. Or the Parasite,” Piper snarled. “You’re being impulsive.”

“You’re being cautious,” I said, less accusatory and more baffled. “Who are you?”

Piper hesitated, hurt and anger warring in her gaze before her expression smoothed. “I’m still a superior SoA agent, Balt. I make the call.”

“Sorry, Piper, but no. We’re on the same level now. Field agents.”

“You’re arguing with me about this?” Piper’s lip curled and she looked back. “Oh no.”

I looked quickly and let out a growl. “She’s gone.”

In the blink of an eye, Piper had shifted into a golden jaguar and darted off into the night. I let out a frustrated sigh, knowing my shifted form was too big to follow her. Instead, I tried to track Frost but wound up walking in circles.

On the main road, it was quiet and empty. I pulled out my phone to call Piper when I heard a shrill laugh and whirled.

Frost was walking unconcernedly to a sleek black car that had silently pulled up. She wiggled her fingers at me as she climbed in.

Instantly I shifted, running towards them, but a window rolled down and Hunter was there, firing off rounds and forcing me back into an alley. Bullets were rattling and screaming by as I heard the car reverse and screech down the street. I ran out, but it had been swallowed by the night.

Something moved in my periphery and I turned to see Piper appear and shift back. Her eyes took in the scene and her nostrils flared.

“They got away?” she asked flatly.

“Yes,” I said shortly, having no desire to prolong the topic.

“I suppose we should go back to the hotel, then,” Piper said after an awkward moment.

“Fine,” I muttered, walking towards the main road and Piper walking along behind me.

“Why the hell is Lilian Frost in London?” Piper asked out loud, sounding deep in thought. “Could she know we’re here? Or are the leads for the Kazan connection not so dead-end after all?”

My head was pounding and I was feeling the dragging fatigue of jet lag, so I shrugged.

“I didn’t expect to see her so soon,” Piper muttered. “She hates shifters, though. And she’s absolutely out of her mind. When I was kidnapped, she used to tell me after they performed a lobotomy on me, she was going to make my hair into a wreath to hang on her wall.”

A shudder ran through me and I stopped, turning to Piper, guilt choking me. “Piper–”

I turned too fast, surprising her and she stumbled away, then muttered, “Ow.”

The scent of blood rose and I looked down to see Piper lifting her left foot, where a shard of glass had pierced the side of the heel.

Instantly I was on my knees, pulling it out gently and examining the cut. It was deep, but not deep enough to warrant stitches. Although… “We need to clean this right away. Hospital?”

“Absolutely not,” Piper sniffed and handed me her wrap. “Here, wrap it in this. We’re only fifteen minutes from the hotel. I’ll live.”

After I’d neatly bandaged her foot, I stood up and once again felt that unreasonable irritation with her. “Why the hell weren’t you wearing your shoes?” I demanded.

Piper bit her lip. “Usually I’m an expert at navigating safely in bare feet.”

“Oh, it’s my fault, is it?” I asked, but my tone was subdued. “Sorry.”

“It’s no one’s fault,” she said patiently and went to take a step, then winced.

“Here,” I said, but Piper pulled away at my outstretched arms, her teeth clenching.

“I’m fine on my own, thank you,” she said coolly. “I don’t want your help.”

The irritation twisted into anger and before Piper could blink, I had her slung over my shoulder, a hand around the back of her knees. I began to walk. “Too bad,” I ground out.

“Balt!” Piper was outraged and she tried to squirm away, but I was too strong and moved my arm up around her waist, pinning her against me. “Are you serious? Put me down.”

Her tone was a mixture of disbelief and rage, but I ignored it. In a way, there was something oddly satisfying about carrying Piper like this.

Piper, who was fiercely independent and self-sufficient, but yet sometimes needed help just like the rest of us. And I was there to give it.

It’s for her own good, I thought. She needs to learn how to lean on people a little more.

Especially once I’m gone.