Serena woke the next morning feeling better than she had in years. Something about the night before with Bob had changed her on a fundamental level. She felt like a baby bird just pecking through its shell. Emotionally, she had started across a bridge and she could see the other end in sight.

She wanted to get to the other side of that bridge and find her future waiting there for her—whatever that might be. If Bob was in it, so much the better, but if not, she would always remember him with fondness for the way he’d helped her begin the journey across. He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t have to be so kind and gentle, so caring and patient. There was no doubt in her mind, he was a very special man. A true Alpha that protected the weak and nurtured those who needed his help.

But she didn’t want to be a wounded shifter in need of his help. No, she wanted to be on more equal footing with him. Not that she’d ever be an Alpha. No, she just wanted to be more comfortable in her own skin and able to claim her own birthright as a shifter. That would put her on more solid footing for the future. Shifter to shifter, whatever other differences they may have, they were both shifters, and she needed to be comfortable with that part of her being before she could go any further on this journey of discovery.

That thought firmly in mind, she bounced out of bed, dressed quickly and set off in search of the High Priestess, Bettina. Serena practically hopped down the stairs in the Pack house to find the woman she was looking for waiting at the bottom, a broad smile on her elfin face. Serena laughed.

“How did you know?” she asked the first question that popped into her head.

“When the heart is ready, the teacher will come,” Bettina replied with a teasing grin that belied her mystical words. “I hear they’re making chocolate chip pancakes. Would you like to join me for a far too sugary breakfast and then we can take a little walk outside. What do you say?”

 

Bob resumed work with Rocky, giving his take on the different reports his Clan had sent to the Lords. Somehow it wasn’t that tough to be grilled by the big grizzly bear shifter after spending those precious hours with Serena last night. She had a calming effect on his spirit. She brought peace to his world.

He was concerned about her past, but willing to let her come to him on that. She was healing. That was the important thing. She had crossed some of her self-imposed boundaries last night just by coming to him. Of that he was certain.

He would help her cross more, if she was agreeable. He would be there for her when she wanted to spread her wings. He would catch her if she stumbled and never let her fall.

He and Rocky finished discussing the second to last report about mid-morning and took a short break during which Rocky went out of his office briefly, to get more coffee. Bob stood and stretched, looking out the window. The room they were using was at the front of the house and the window looked out on the small cleared area which led to a gravel road that snaked around the mountain. It was a private road, open only to the locals and authorized visitors. The same road led past the cabin he was using, only his front door was on the other side, lower down the mountain.

Bob was looking at a tall, full evergreen that had been planted in the center of the clearing. It hadn’t grown there naturally, he was certain. None of the surrounding trees were of the same variety and there was nothing nearby to indicate it had grown in place and simply been left when the rest of the area was cleared. Unless he was missing something, this one had been put there deliberately.

Allowing his thoughts to wander, Bob was almost taken by surprise when two sets of little paws landed on his booted feet. He looked down, careful not to move, lest he somehow trod on the little creatures.

Sure enough, two sets of baby grizzly paws were pinning his toes to the ground—or trying to. They were really too little to do much damage, and cute as buttons.

Bob let the baby grizzlies chew on his boot laces. The laces were reasonably clean, since the boots were new. He didn’t mind the little scratches from the bears’ claws. They were so tiny, it was kind of adorable.

“Well, hello there, little ones. Where did you come from?”

Two little faces looked up when he spoke and Bob had to blink a few times to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing.

“Twins?” he wondered aloud, sniffing to be certain of the scent of them. They were definitely shifters, and definitely closely related. Twins. Judging by the look of them, identical twins. “Sweet Mother of All,” Bob whispered, shocked at their appearance.

“Damn.” Rocky’s voice came from the open doorway. “They’re escape artists, I swear.” He walked in and deposited a fresh carafe of coffee on his desk, then walked over to Bob, watching the baby bears the whole time. “You two.” Rocky’s voice brooked no argument. “Out. Your mama’s probably looking all over for you.”

The baby bears looked rueful and made little sorrowful grunting noises as they let go of Bob’s boot laces and trotted toward Rocky on unsteady, baby paws. He bent and scooped them into his arms.

“Rock, have you seen—” A slightly frantic, feminine voice came from the doorway, the woman stopping short when she saw the bear cubs in Rocky’s arms. She looked at Bob, her expression fearful.

“It’s okay. I know what they are, and I will never divulge knowledge of their existence, even to my own family. Their safety is paramount.” Bob lowered himself to one knee, which he could see surprised the woman. A human woman, by her scent. Rocky looked impressed as he held the two babies—one in each arm. The twins were looking straight at Bob as he put his hand over his heart. “I swear fealty now and for always to the Lady, Her Light and the Lords She has blessed to walk among us and guide us.”

Bob bowed his head after speaking the vow. It was nothing new to him, but apparently Rocky hadn’t expected it. They hadn’t gotten that far in going over the reports yet, but he’d learn soon enough about the oaths all of the Las Vegas shifters and vamps had taken in recent months.

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Bob felt a little zing of magic that made him look up. The baby bears were both looking at him as just a little of their magic reached out to touch him. The bears turned into wriggling human toddlers in Rocky’s arms, and they both laughed and smiled at Bob in a way that made him join in. They were such joyful children.

“I do believe they like you, Redstone,” Rocky observed, breaking the spell. He handed one of the naked, laughing cherubs to the woman. “I’ll just help get them settled and be back in a minute. Pour the coffee, will you?”

Bob got up, then poured the coffee as instructed, marveling at his discovery. He needed a sip of the bracing brew after what had just happened. It wasn’t common knowledge that another set of Lords had been born. They had managed to keep it a secret and Bob understood why. The future Lords would be very vulnerable while they were growing up. Many twin pairs had been lost over the centuries to enemies. Others had been influenced and corrupted in subtle ways.

Bob was glad these two seemed to have loving and protective guardians who were well able to take care of them. The fact that they were bears was something unexpected. Bears were some of the most magical of shifters. Grizzlies even more so. If the Lady had chosen bear shifters to lead the next generation, Bob worried what it might mean for the world at large. Would their immense magical strength be a sign of bad times to come? He hoped not, for the sake of everyone—shifters, vamps, mages and humans. Everyone who served the Light, no matter what they called it, would be impacted if bad times were coming.

Still, the cubs were awfully cute. Bob couldn’t help but be affected by the playful toddlers. In general, shifters loved babies. Shifters weren’t quite as fertile as humans, so every birth was an occasion to be celebrated. Twins were almost unheard of. Identical twins happened only once in a generation, in each region of the world, and marked the next set of leaders for their people. At least, that’s how it had always been for the were.

Other kinds of shapeshifters had other power structures, but the wild were had always counted on the Mother Goddess to appoint their leaders. Cougars, although they were big cats, had little in common with the more exotic cats who had founded their societies on other continents. Tigers, lions, panthers and others, had kings and queens that had fancy titles, but cougars had always followed the were Lords.

Rocky came back in and then sat down behind his desk. He took a sip of his coffee before speaking.

“You understand the need for secrecy.” It wasn’t quite a question, but Bob definitely understood.

“I swear I will do nothing that might put them in danger. As far as I’m concerned, I never even saw them.”

“I appreciate that,” Rocky said, but his expression was still troubled. Bob wanted to erase that frown from the grizzly’s face.

“You need to hear the final report, and then you might feel a bit better about this. We were up to the part where my brother Mag got involved with the vampiress, Miranda van Allyn.”

“I thought you were trying to make me feel better,” Rocky quipped. “For the record, were mixing with vamps does not make me feel better.”

“Just wait ‘til you hear the whole thing,” Bob answered with a grin. “I promise you’ll like the ending.”

Bob proceeded to go through the report of what had happened with Mag and Miranda, adding all the texture and nuance the dry, written report lacked. He talked about the vampire uprising in Las Vegas and the surprising results. Rocky seemed to be alternately impressed, surprised and ultimately pleased, just as Bob had hoped.

“So you see, at this point, the Master Vampire in Las Vegas has openly declared himself for the side of Light. He gave all his people the option to either do the same, or leave his domain. My family also instituted something similar for the Clan,” Bob explained. “Any of the Others who come under the Redstone banner had to swear fealty—the same oath I just repeated to the little ones—or they were invited to leave. Our priestess and her mate, your friend Slade, oversaw it all. They have ways of knowing if anybody tries to cheat or lie their way through the oath. So far though, everyone has been honest. I take that as a sign my little brother Matt is doing his job. He’s in charge of Personnel for the company, and he also does the dossiers on any shifter group seeking to join our Clan. He’s very thorough. We don’t let just anybody into the Clan, or allow just any shifter to work for the construction company.”

Rocky let out a harsh breath. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear it.”

“I understand. We’re all protective of cubs—especially those two. Are they yours?” Bob couldn’t help asking. Their scent was similar to Rocky’s but not quite the same as it would normally be in a familial relationship.

“Their father was my best friend and one of the most powerful grizzly shaman of all time. He was killed by a demon allied with the Venifucus.” Bob could see the pain in the other man’s eyes and his heart went out to the big man who had lost his friend in such a terrible manner. “Their mother—you saw her briefly—is now my mate. I claimed the boys in front of the Goddess. I’m their Alpha now.” There was a world of joy and sorrow in the big man’s voice. Bob felt compassion for the small family who had been touched by tragedy.

“I know how it feels to lose someone in horrific circumstances.” He thought of the way his mother had been murdered. “Hell, I know how it feels to lose someone you love to the evil of the Venifucus. You have my sympathy, Rocky. And I’ll make a further pledge to you, in addition to the oath I made to your boys. If you ever need my help, all you need to do is call.”

Bob felt confident in making the promise. He’d been able to take Rocky’s measure over the past couple of days and the fact that the Goddess had blessed him with the care of the next generation of Lords spoke volumes for his character. Bob knew Rocky would never abuse Bob’s vow.

“I appreciate that,” Rocky answered in that steady way of his. “With any luck, I’ll never have to take you up on it.”

Bob smiled. “Agreed. But I’m there if you need me.”

They went on with their work until lunch, and this time, Rocky invited Bob to eat with him and his family in the kitchen. The boys made a mess in their highchairs until they decided they’d had enough of mashed peas and carrots, and shifted into grizzlies. At that point, there was really no containing them. They climbed down from their high chairs and scampered away, their mother following as best she could.

He’d been introduced to Maggie, the boys’ mother. She was human, but handling the dual nature of her babies very well, if Bob was any judge. The cubs were just the cutest things, but Bob could already see how much of a handful they were.

Rocky helped corral the toddlers before he and Bob headed back to his office at the front of the house. There were just a few last things to go over. Bob wasn’t sure what they were going to do once they finished going through all the reports, but he was at the Lords’ disposal. He had been tasked by his brother, Grif, to represent the Clan however the Lords wanted.

“So what haven’t we covered? We did the last of the formal reports this morning, but there’s this little matter of the notes from your brother Magnus’s new vampire mate,” Rocky said, pulling a final file from the pile on his desk. “You already told me about Miranda and Magnus. I know she was held prisoner by a Venifucus mage for an unknown length of time…” Rocky trailed off as he shuffled through the pages.

“It was several months, at least. Possibly as long as a year, but we don’t know for certain. Her memories are foggy at best because of the way the mage treated her. He kept her starved and then bled her, using her magical blood to power some of his evil spells.” Bob knew his disgust was coming through in his tone, but he couldn’t help it.

He hated thinking of the way they’d found Miranda, half-crazed from starvation and blood loss. She had been very near death. She’d had enough energy left to launch one final attack, but that was about it. It had taken her months to recover fully from her captivity. During that time, she had been with Mag and they had renewed their relationship with the end result being that they were now mates.

It wasn’t exactly normal for vampires and weres to intermarry. In fact, there was a pretty big taboo against it. But Mag and Miranda were true mates. She had tried to stay away from Mag, but when they were brought together again after her ordeal, there was no way to stop the mating from solidifying into something that would never come undone.

Bob had had his doubts, but he was glad now that she and Mag had found each other. Mag had been a sullen bastard and Bob hadn’t known what had turned his formerly playful brother into a brooding mute. When everyone realized Mag had been searching for his lost mate for two whole years, Bob was impressed Mag had been able to hold it together and not rip someone’s head off long before. It wasn’t easy for a shifter to find his mate, then lose her all in the space of a single night. It had to have been hell for his brother.

Which was why Bob thought Mag and Miranda deserved a little happiness. Both of them. Miranda had been held prisoner and was just as wounded after finding, and having to deny, her One. That couldn’t have been easy for her either. She was a hell of a woman. Even if she was a vampire.

Rocky finally found the right paper and began to skim. “These are things she remembered the mage saying while she was in captivity, right?”

“Yeah. She took some time after things had settled to write down everything she could remember her captor saying. As you know, he was proven to be affiliated with the Venifucus. Miranda collated her notes and then presented them to Grif. He shared them with the Master Vampire of our area and sent a copy to the Lords.” Bob nodded to the papers in Rocky’s hands.

“She’s a neat little thing, isn’t she?” Rocky mused as he went through the carefully organized notes. “I just saw this for the first time last night. Rafe and Tim read it when it came in and earmarked a few things they thought could wait until your arrival. This, for instance…” Rocky trailed off, lifting a sticky flag from one part of the document. A frown creased his forehead. “Miranda mentions a man called Devereaux. We have reason to believe she is referring to Jeremy Devereaux—also known as Jezza.”

Bob waited for Rocky to go on as the bear shifter clicked open a document on his laptop. Bob couldn’t see the screen, but from Rocky’s movements, Bob could tell the other man was scrolling through a file, looking for something in particular.

“The twins’ father, Tony, was a gifted shaman,” Rocky said, losing Bob for a moment with the quick change of subject, until he clarified. “Tony foresaw his own death and prepared an external drive full of documents and information on people he was working with and things he wanted us to know after he was gone. He wasn’t quite as organized as your little vampiress.” Rocky chuckled as he paused to scroll some more. “But I knew Tony as well as I know myself. I’ve been sorting through his files for a while now and I’ve been able to make some correlations. Turns out, Tony was in close communication with Jezza and was in fact, the one who helped him move to the Cascade Range. Jezza has shaman blood, but has spent a lot of time kicking around in military circles. Most recently, he was part of the Wyoming wolf Pack’s little conclave of elite soldiers.”

“Jesse Moore’s guys?” Bob asked, suspecting exactly who Rocky meant. The group of former Spec Ops soldiers who had gathered around the werewolf were legendary in shifter circles.

They hired themselves out for protection, and certain special operations that had little to do with the government. All those highly-trained, retired soldiers had formed their own mixed-species Pack of shifter soldiers with Jesse Moore as their Alpha. They were free to choose who they worked for now, and what missions they wanted to take.

They had, in fact, been of great help when the Redstones had needed backup after their mother was murdered. Grif and Steve, Bob’s two eldest brothers, had both been Army Green Berets and knew a lot of the guys who now owed their allegiance to Jesse Moore. When the Redstone Clan had needed them, Moore’s guys had come running and done their best—which was pretty damned impressive—to help keep everyone safe.

Rocky nodded in answer to Bob’s question. “Jezza, from all accounts, has always been a bit on the mystical side, though he’s a vicious fighter when needs be. He was working with Tony to figure out his path in life after retiring from the military. He didn’t want to be a spook, though the Agency tried to recruit him. He ran a few missions for them, but decided against it when he began to feel he was needed elsewhere. Tony and he did a vision quest and the results were mixed, according to Tony’s journal. All they knew was that Jezza needed to be in the Cascade Range for the next part of his journey to unfold. Where he went after that was uncertain.”

“Do you think this Jezza Devereaux is being targeted by the Venifucus?” Bob remembered what he’d read in Miranda’s notes about the way the mage had screamed curses down on Devereaux’s head. The evil mage who’d held Miranda prisoner had definitely not been a fan.

“It’s a pretty sure bet that if the mage in Las Vegas knew about Jezza, then so did his superiors in the Venifucus. Which brings us to the next part of our story.” Rocky sat back in his desk chair and steepled his fingers, taking a thoughtful pose. “We know for a fact that Jezza has friends within the Altor Custodis.”

“Altor Custodis?” Bob repeated, surprised. “We haven’t had much to do with them in Las Vegas, though I’ve heard they’ve been active in California recently—at least among my little brother’s vampire friends. To be honest, aside from what he’s told us, I don’t know much about them.”

“Lucky for you, I’ve been brushing up on my history. Near as I can tell, the Altor Custodis—I call them the AC for short—was formed even before the Venifucus organized around Elspeth, the Destroyer of Worlds. While the Venifucus was always a group dedicated to helping in Elspeth’s quest for world domination, the AC’s motives were originally to simply observe and record the doings of the supernatural races. For eons, they allowed only non-magical humans into their ranks. Mages need not apply. Likewise, anyone with even a hint of shifter blood was barred from membership. They worked in the shadows and their records go back more than a thousand years. We believe they have dossiers on just about all of the really ancient bloodletters, as well as detailed histories of most of the larger Packs, Clans and Tribes of were. Which makes them a big problem now that we’ve verified their ranks have been infiltrated by Venifucus agents.”

Bob frowned. “That’s really bad news. Our enemies could use that information against us. Are you absolutely certain?”

“Unfortunately, yes. There’s no doubt at all. Our information comes straight from Duncan le Fey.”

Bob remembered the fey warrior who had come to their aid when he and his brothers had been fighting a group of evil vampires a few weeks back. Duncan was an honest-to-goodness Knight of the Light. An ancient Chevalier de la Lumiere. It was a position earned by service to the Lady Goddess, and such beings were beyond question, in Her grace. Anything Duncan reported about their enemies could not be questioned.

“So if the AC’s information is being used by spies within their organization, we’re all at risk,” Bob thought out loud.

“Some more than others,” Rocky agreed. “A while back, Jezza sent out a call for help to an old military friend. The guy was human, but had become acquainted with the supernatural world during his time in the service. Jezza trusted him to extract someone from a bad situation and bring them here. Only problem is, the man Jezza called was a former Navy SEAL named Ben Steel. I think your brother Matt might’ve told you about him. Steel is also a former Altor Custodis agent.”

“Do you have suspicions about Steel? Do you think he’s still working for the AC—or worse—the Venifucus?”

“I don’t think so. Judging by recent events, he seems to be on the up-and-up. He’s helped in a few cases since the one in Napa involving your brother.” Rocky didn’t pause to allow for Bob’s surprise, but went right on. “I’d like to videoconference with your brother later, if we can, but for right now…” he looked out the window, watching something outside as he stood from behind his desk. “I’ve asked our local expert to come give us their impression of Mr. Steel.”

Rocky went to the door and opened it. Of all the people who could have been on the other side, Bob hadn’t expected to see the woman that seemed to have taken over a little corner of his mind and heart…Serena. She looked uncomfortable as she noticed him, walking into the office on hesitant feet.

“Thanks for coming, Serena. We’ll try not to keep you too long,” Rocky said with an affable smile, then turned to Bob. “Serena Wicklow, this is Bob Redstone,” he introduced them. “Though I hear you two have already met.” Rocky raised one eyebrow at them before moving away.

Bob took her hand and held it for a bit longer than was strictly necessary. His gaze locked with hers as Rocky settled back behind his desk. There were two chairs in front of the big wooden desk and Bob waited for Serena to be seated before retaking his own seat.

“Now,” Rocky began. “I’m sorry to have to bring this up, but we’re trying to connect some dots and your knowledge may help. This concerns Ben Steel. Can you tell us what you know about him and your first-hand impressions of his character?”

Serena gulped. Bob saw it and realized she was both nervous and scared. His heart went out to her but there was little he could do to alleviate her tension. It drove his cougar nuts that he couldn’t protect her.

“It’s okay,” Rocky crooned to her, apparently seeing the same thing Bob saw. “Take your time. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t really important.”

She nodded. “Yes,” she agreed somewhat stiffly. “I’m okay.” She paused a moment before finally answering the question. “Ben Steel was the one who brought me here. He said he had some familiarity with the region because he’d been sent to the Cascades a few years ago by the Altor Custodis, to watch the Cascade Clan that I was on the periphery of for years. He said he’d filed a report with the Altor Custodis about the Clan years ago, then moved on to his next assignment. As near as I can figure, right after that was when things turned bad for the Clan. Some key members of the most influential families got involved in bad things. One or two were approached directly and some were manipulated into positions where they had no other choice but to do things for these people. Not Steel, but agents within his organization that had gone bad.”

She paused, swallowing reflexively, as if talking about the past was hard for her. “My adoptive father was one of them. Steel helped me get away from him and dropped me off here. Well…he dropped me at the base of the mountain. He never came into the Lord’s actual territory. It was sort of a scoop and drop.”

“Am I right in thinking that Steel found you through Jezza?” Rocky asked.

“The jaguar?” Serena nodded. “Yes, he mentioned Jezza, but I wasn’t sure what their connection was. Jezza is kind of a ghost to my people, though he was nice to me the few times we crossed paths. He never came around when my adoptive parents were at the homestead. I got the feeling that was on purpose.”

“Serena honey, I wouldn’t betray your confidences for the world, but there are some things Bob here needs to know about the Cascade Clan—particularly the group up near Mount Baker.”

“The drugs, you mean?” Serena went from timid to disgusted in the blink of an eye. “The Cascade Mountains run from Canada down to California and include several active volcanoes and other geological features,” she told Bob. “Lots of rugged country with different groups of shifters that run certain territories. My adoptive parents—Lizzy and Jack—moved into the region near Mount Baker a year or two after adopting me. For all his faults, Jack is a strong son of a bitch. After a pretty spectacular dominance fight with one of the locals, the Alpha made him a lieutenant. That’s about the same time they started running drugs across the border for a big cartel. The Clan makes money doing it, but the real profit goes to the humans who forced them into it. Though I don’t know how hard they really had to be forced. Some of those bastards are the type to do anything for a quick buck.”

Her bitterness came through in her tone, and Bob didn’t blame her one bit. Drugs were bad news. And the thugs who ran them were known to be brutal.

“My adoptive parents joined right in when they saw there was money to be made. They even wanted me to do runs across the border with sacks of heroin and cocaine when I was old enough. I refused. They beat the crap out of me. I healed and it started all over in a vicious cycle. It got worse when some of the couriers started to disappear. Others were caught by the DEA after having been maneuvered into position by a cunning predator. Nobody was really sure what was going on, but the whole Clan got spooked. Not enough to stop breaking the law, but enough to start sending out armed parties hunting whoever it was that was making their drug running business so difficult.”

“You have your suspicions about who was doing it, right?” Rocky asked with a gentle, knowing lift of his lips.

“It had to be Jezza,” she admitted quietly. “Nobody else really knew he was around—especially not anyone involved in the drug trade—but he showed himself to a few people, including me. He helped us where he could. And in my case, he arranged for Ben Steel to get me out of the region. We all knew I wouldn’t be safe anywhere within the Cascades. The Clan is relatively small, but spread out over three states and two countries. There’s a lot of money flowing through the Clan now too, with all the drugs. So they have a very long reach. My adoptive parents are stubborn people and Jack has risen in the ranks to one of the top positions of power. He’s probably the heir apparent by now,” she frowned at the thought. “My continued disobedience became an obsession with him. He tried to break me more than once. He’s just sadistic enough to drag me back and keep trying. Which is why I sought sanctuary with the Lords. Now that I have their protection, Jack can’t touch me without bringing down their wrath on his dishonest head.”

Bob detected more than a hint of satisfaction in her voice. He was proud of the way she had bounced back from what had to have been a horrible ordeal. No wonder Rocky had been so protective of her. And no wonder she’d been so shy at first. She’d been through a hell of a lot in her time.