Chapter Thirty-Seven

Iris

 

Dinner was almost ready, and I was bopping around Kal in the kitchen, trying to help and being told to go sit down. But I was too energetic.

We’d been snowed in together for the last three days, and while I was getting plenty of exercise, tonight I was restless. I’d found something I’d overlooked in Orion’s book, and I couldn’t understand how. A missing piece.

Even Kal’s smile couldn’t distract me from it. I mean, it had for a little while, but now it was bugging me again. I needed to talk to Beylore.

“The storm will be gone by tomorrow,” Kal said again. “It’s already letting up. For now, let’s enjoy the rest of this impromptu vacation. Go have a drink and calm down, I’m begging you.”

“If you let me help—”

“I like all my fingers and appendages attached, Iris,” Kal rumbled and held up a bandaged thumb. “I think you do, too.”

“Oh, one slip. Hm.” I peered out the window. “You know, I’ve been wondering if we summoned it so we could be alone together. With the power of our coupling.”

Kal put down the knife he was using and placed his hands on the counter, shaking with laughter. He looked at me and sighed, a happy and deep sound that made me happy, too.

“If that’s the case,” Kal said, and suddenly his cool hand was on my bare back, making me squeal. “This storm might never end.”

“Your hand is freezing! Stop!” I yelped and pushed against his chest. He slid the other under the flannel shirt I was wearing, cold fingers merciless and amazing at the same time. The flannel was another one of Kal’s, so oversized, it was practically a dress. “Kal!”

“This is what happens when you distract me,” he said and grinned down at me. “Damn, are you actually trying? I might have to teach you a few things.”

Immediately, I let my body sag, eyes fluttering shut and a sigh escaping me. Kal tensed with alarm, and his grip loosened. “Iris?”

In a split second, I was free and running for the hall, when two arms crushed me against a chest. “Do not ever do that again,” Kal growled in my ear, even as he laughed. “I think you gave me a heart attack.” His heart was slamming into my back. “Yeah, I am definitely teaching you a few things.” His lips found my neck, and I stopped squirming. “And you’re paying for that later.”

At that moment, there was a staccato knock, and Kal groaned.

“Who could that be?” I asked.

“Someone I’m sending on their way,” he said and let me go. “Shut off the stove, will you?”

Shutting off the stove, I heard a commotion at the door, and cold air swept around my ankles. Tristan’s voice echoed down the hall. “Where the hell you been, man?”

“Busy,” came the curt reply. I crept over as Rett asked something in a low voice, and Kal let out a bark of laughter. “No. Leave.”

“We can’t stay for one minute and warm up? It was hell getting up here,” Tristan exclaimed.

“You are shifters,” Kal said dryly. “I doubt that.”

“What’s up?” Rett asked. “Are you drunk or somethin’?”

“What?” Kal exclaimed, and there was a strain to his voice, probably at the thought of losing our alone time to these two. I almost giggled. “No.”

“How about we come in and have a drink, then?” Tristan asked, and I heard the amusement in his voice. He’d picked up on it, too. “Rett could use one. I’m sure Luna’s godfather wouldn’t turn us away, right?”

“I mean, why would he, Tristan?” Rett asked, and I could picture the grin spreading across his face, white teeth flashing in his dark scruff. “Unless there’s something going on.”

Too curious to resist, I poked my head around and saw Kal’s broad shoulders tense as he glared at Rett and Tristan, who were elbowing each other in glee and wisely blocking the door. I wondered if Kal would somehow manage to open it anyway and toss them out.

Gold eyes caught mine, and Tristan’s entire face lit up as he called out, “Iris. How are you?”

“I’m good,” I said and tried to school my face into a neutral, pleasant smile. “You?”

“Oh, freezing my ass off,” Tristan said cheerfully. “And putting two and two together. Or two together.” He shot a grin at Kal, who tried to wipe the look of pure murder from his features. “Huh. Worth the hike now, ya think, Rett?”

“Oh, I think so,” Rett echoed.

Kal gave me a look, and I involuntarily took a step forward, shaking my head. Then I smiled at Rett and Tristan, trying to back up and exit into the kitchen. But the look on Rett’s face stopped me. It went from stunned to wide-eyed to joyful—and then to Rett’s collapsing into laughter, sinking down onto the floor and shaking, his head in his hands.

“You broke Rett,” Tristan said, looking at Kal and frowning, then back at me. “Oh.” He looked away. “Uh, Rett, buddy, we should, ah, go. Now.”

“Yeah,” Kal growled. “Now.”

Rett subsided, letting out a sigh and rubbing his face. Then he grinned up at Kal, who had a muscle working in his jaw, and over at me. “Full circle. Hilarious.”

“That’s one word for it,” Kal gritted out.

“Another is ironic,” Tristan said. “Or death, from the look in Kallen’s eyes.”

Rett got to his feet and grabbed his cousin by the shoulders. “Look on the bright side. I think Laia will finally, finally let it go, Kal.”

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Better than okay,” Rett said and grinned over Kal’s shoulder at me. “That sure as hell ain’t your shirt, blondie.”

Lips parting, my hands smoothed down the front of Kal’s flannel, and I looked down, then up. Heat burned across my cheeks, and Kal gave me a commiserating look.

But Rett’s face was all kindness as he hugged Kal and winked at me over his shoulder. “Go easy on ’im, Iris. Deep down, he’s a teddy bear, too.”

“Like center-of-the-earth deep,” Tristan commented, and I gave him a look. He tipped a fake hat at me. “But who’s measuring?”

“So great of you to stop by,” Kal said. “Really. Impeccable timing.”

“Iris, have him tell you the story about the first time he met Laia,” Rett said. “Bye.”

“Man, even Mother Nature conspired to get you two together,” Tristan said, and Rett hustled him out the door as Kal cracked his knuckles. “Also, yes, you’re never hearing the end of this.”

Shutting the door, Kal locked it and heaved a sigh. “That was inevitable.”

“Eatin’ some crow, Ice Bear?” I asked. “Ruin your appetite?”

“Nah,” Kal said, and when he looked up, his face was full of laughter. “Man, it was so hard to keep a straight face. But I had to give them that. I did give ’em a lot of shit over the years.”

“Wait, you were just pretending to be annoyed?”

“Of course,” Kal said. “I wasn’t gonna keep this a secret, even if those two boneheads think that. Plus, I’m too happy. They’d figure it out.” He snorted. “Drunk. Please.”

“What happened with you and Laia, exactly?” I asked, trying to recall if she’d told me.

“Ah, yeah, that was not my proudest moment,” Kal said. “Kinda accused her of breaking into Rett’s house the first time I met her.” At my look, he held up his hands. “There’s more to the story.”

“I’m guessing you thought she stole Rett’s shirt and…” I nodded. “Yeah, that checks out. Maybe she still feels like you don’t approve of her.”

“How could I not? Do you see how happy my cousin is? Geez, he used to be such a basket case. So was Luke. Tristan was running around everywhere. No, as much as I knocked their mates for causing trouble—and believe me, they did, inadvertently or not—they did help. Xander was right about that. But I never blamed them for any of the troubles that came. That’s just life.”

“You’ve lost me.”

Kal took my face. “I’m not gonna keep you a secret. I never was. I can’t.” He went to kiss me and then sighed. “Are you kiddin’ me? Those little…” Stomping away, he went to the front door and began to bellow, “Go the hell home—”

A snowball hit him in the face, followed by whoops, catcalls, whistles, and wolf howls. Kal wiped his face as I came up and patted his arm, drawing him back from the door and closing it.

“Come on, let’s have dinner,” I said.

“I deserved that,” he said.

“Still gonna get ’em back?”

“Oh, yeah.”

 

A few days later, after the hubbub about me and Kal had somewhat calmed down, I went back to tackling that problem in Orion’s book. All I knew was that something was missing, but I didn’t know what it was or how I knew. But there was a hole.

Going back over it, I realized how docile the book had become during the months I’d worked on it. At first, it had been a bit of a malevolent force, repelling me at times. Sometimes forcing me to take a break. Other times, it would hum and cry out, like it was fussing. But over time, it had mellowed back into a normal book. I’d even made a few notes inside of it.

“Anything?” Kal asked, and his hands cupped my shoulders, thumbs pressing into the sweet spot on either side of my spine, right next to my shoulder blades.

I sighed and leaned back, positively cat-like. “Not yet.” Tipping my head back further, I smiled when I saw him. “You’re home early.”

Kal kissed me upside down, making my head spin even more than usual, and pulled away slowly. “No point in chasing ghosts. I’ll give the Greyclaw this—they’re fast.”

The few Greyclaws that had still been in Winfyre after Versk left had suddenly vanished a few days ago. Tracking them had proved futile, and there’d been no word from Nordrem.

And while on the one hand, no one was sorry to see them go, it was jarring. Usually, it was customary for shifters from other packs to alert someone they were leaving and see if there were messages to exchange. 

“Want anything?” Kal asked, and I glanced back, grinning. “No. More coffee? You’ll be up all night.”

“You’ll keep me company,” I said.

“Fine.”

When Kal came back, I was rubbing my temples and contemplating giving up for the day. He plunked my mug down and then sat across from me with his own.

I made a face. “Why so far away?”

“Walk me through it,” he said. “You’re getting frustrated. Talk.”

“I’m not sure how to explain it,” I said and tapped my finger on Orion’s symbol. “Did you know in Greek mythology, Orion was a hunter?”

Kal nodded.  “Brought down by a scorpion after he talked a big game about killing big game, right?”

“Big game,” I murmured. “Yes, it was a warning about ego. Kind of a strange name choice.”

“Isn’t there more than one version?” Kal asked and yawned. "Although, I doubt many people know that. Probably know he was a hunter, and that's it."

"Yeah," I said slowly. That struck a chord in me. "In fact, that would make sense as to why…" Suddenly, I was flipping through the pages. "This wasn't until almost a year post-Rift…"

“What?”

“His language changes,” I said. “The codes became a lot more difficult, and things had a marked nuance, a different purpose. Before, it was a bleak and ugly hatred, then after—Reagan.”

“When she came here?”

“No. Well, yes—that was a serious attempt to destroy the territories, right?” I asked. “The vryke and Barrowmen, Rotted breaches…after that, it was a lot safer. That must have been when Orion decided to use Laia.” I stared into space. “He went from this morbid guy who was curious about shifters in an unhealthy way and lacked self-awareness, to a sharply intelligent and persuasive leader who brought together Skrors and the Bloodfang.”

“Even Sierra said she was surprised, hearing him speak—he was different from the guy she’d known,” Kal said. “In fact, she didn’t recognize him at first.”

“You don’t change overnight like that,” I said slowly. "I mean, people's personalities were maybe influenced by the Rift, but not altered. It's like they were different versions. Growing."

“What about a crian shard?” Kal asked, and I looked up at him. “Could that work? Or perhaps that augris that always kept him company taught him a few things.”

“I think it was both,” I said. “We don’t know what it would look like if an Excris was the one to wield a crian shard against a human. Only humans using them. An augris would know how to slowly feed and change Orion. Perhaps held in check by the Unseen, too.” It was a bit like stumbling forward in the dark and hitting your shin on something. I sucked in a breath. “Of course.”

“What?”

“Other Excris became drawn to Orion. Powerful ones. Most humans balk at them; they’re monsters. But if you were a stasis with an appetite for cruelty, someone who enjoyed hunting, and then the world…” I sat back, and a sick feeling cramped my stomach. “Oh no.”

Kal waited as I flipped around, trying to see if I could prove or disprove my theory.

“I think he’s trying to create a particular kind of monster, something between a shifter and an Excris. That would explain why he’d want to keep them in human form, why he’d be interested in the Bloodlust and exacerbating it.”

“But wouldn’t it be more effective if the savagery were in human form?” Kal asked. “A better and more compelling case to resurrect the SB?”

“Are we so sure that’s his goal?”

“No,” Kal said. “His true intent is murky—always has been. Sometimes I still go over the things he’s done, and none of it makes sense. Maybe it’s not supposed to. He could be crazy.”

Flipping around absently, stomach still in knots and still feeling like I was missing something, I paused on a page about myths. Maybe there was more about his name choice.

“Or mythical animal shifters,” I murmured.

“Hm?” Kal asked.

“Oh, rumors about mythical animal shifters.” I glanced up and noticed Kal’s knuckles had whitened around his mug. “You’ve heard them, I’m sure. Old news. Old entry, anyway.”

“What’s it say?” His question was almost a shade too casual.

“Umm, twin dragon shifters. Then it’s a bunch of letters, or initials, maybe. FM. NBT. WR. AQB and BHS. One lost.”

There was a crack of noise, and I jumped out of my seat. Kal had broken the mug in his hand, eyes wide and haunted, unaware of the hot coffee all over the table and himself, or the blood running down his wrist.

“Kal!” I cried and took his hand, plucking the pieces of ceramic out of it. “Are you burnt?”

“How did Orion know? His real—and their middle names, too? But not…” Suddenly, that hand gripped mine, and Kal stared at me. “You cannot tell anyone, Iris. Please. Not that I think you would. It’s a dangerous, dangerous secret.”

“Kal, you are hurt and bleeding,” I cried out. “I’ll do any damn thing you please if you let me clean you up!”

I’d never seen Kal like this, white-faced and stunned, not even moving when I prodded him. Closing his eyes, he waved me off, and I knew he had to be talking to Xander. Then, with a sigh, he turned to me and stood.

“After you,” he said.

We were both quiet at the sink, Kal still a thousand miles away, and his hand a bit red, but otherwise unburnt. His clothes were damp and stained, but he didn’t even seem to notice.

“Are you going to stay in those clothes?” I asked crossly.

Kal roused himself and gave me a weak smile. “No, I’ll go change. And clean up the study. I’m sorry, that was…” His throat worked. “It wasn’t something just anyone would know to look for. Only three people know the whole truth of it. Six knew part of it. Now, it’s seven.”

“I won’t say—”

A finger lay on my lips. “In a second,” Kal whispered in my ear, “you’re going to figure it out. It’s not something you can ever say out loud. It has to remain a secret, and I can’t tell you why.” His lips suddenly found mine, and the kiss had a tinge of desperation. “I wish we could speak telepathically already.”

“Doesn’t that take time?”

“Probably doesn’t help that I’m hard-headed,” Kal said. “I’ll be right back.”

Kal walked away, and my mind was churning, sorting, and deciphering. Gathering up a rag off the counter, I began to walk towards the study when it clicked.

Xander was often short for Alexander.

Alexander K. Bane and Brody H. Sampson.

Groping, I pressed a hand against the wall as I thought of the enigmatic leader of Winfyre and the mystery around him. If he was a shifter, no one knew what kind.

Six knew part of it. Now, it’s seven.

I thought I might fall over as the sheer impossibility, even after the Rift and everything I’d seen, crashed down on me. My brain buckled, and I leaned against the wall, unseeing.

Twin dragons, one lost.