Her Warriors (18 page)

“If you know so much, why can’t you tell the
difference? One of your magical friends should be able to tell if
I’m on the right side or not, shouldn’t they?” Harper looked pissed
to Jacki’s eyes.

“Indeed I should,” Bettina said in a strong
voice that rang through the room. All action stopped as time stood
still for a moment.

And then she spoke a word that even Jacki
couldn’t hear. Bettina’s lips moved, but the magic of the word was
so strong, it blocked out all sound for the moment of its
utterance. Bettina had told her that a few very special words of
high magic could do that, but she hadn’t demonstrated. She’d said
the power it took to use such words was not something to be
squandered in demonstration. That Bettina thought the use of her
strength was so important now said a lot.

For a split second, everything about every
person Jacki could see was outlined in stark, glowing colors. It
was like seeing auras around every single being. Jake was
surrounded by an outline of greenish-blue, like a calm and peaceful
ocean. Beau was a fiery orange, Geir a bright golden hue that
matched his golden hair. Jacki herself seemed sort of purple, if
she had to give the amethyst glow around her hands a name.

Ben Steel shone a bright, pure silvery-gray,
while his friend Harper was surrounded in tones of earthy green,
like a forest. But Bettina’s aura was purest white, with little
motes of prismatic sparkle that held every color of the rainbow and
beyond.

Jacki sucked in a breath and in the next
moment, the colors were gone.

“You carry no taint of evil about your
person,” Bettina declared, moving back from the prisoner to take a
seat on one of the chairs in the room. “But I cannot know what is
in your heart.”

Jacki wanted to go to her mentor, but knew
neither the men, nor Bettina, would appreciate her interrupting
this right now. Jacki had to wait and let the situation play
out.

Bettina turned to Ben. “It’s your call, Mr.
Steel, whether or not to unlock his cuffs.”

Ben nodded to Bettina, then turned to look
at the prisoner again. “What’ll it be, Harper? Will you be
civilized if I give you a little leeway? I can assure you that
these people are on the right side of the coming conflict.”

Harper’s eyes narrowed, seeming to evaluate
Ben’s words. “Then you feel it too?” he finally asked. “Something’s
building. Has been for a while now. Something big is coming, and it
doesn’t feel right. It feels like bad mojo heading our way.”

“Interesting that you should say that,”
Bettina murmured. Jacki could see that she had been weakened by the
use of such powerful magic, but Bettina hid it pretty well. “I
understand that you are Native American. How close are you to the
land and the people?” she asked in a somewhat challenging tone
Jacki had never heard from her before.

“I’m a New York Indian, ma’am,” Harper
answered with a shake of his head. “I was born and raised on Long
Island. My land is the beach and the Pine Barrens. The ocean and
the bays. My people are few, but we do our best to keep the
traditions alive. I personally have a lot of respect for the elders
and their ways. So I guess you could say I’m as close as I can be,
having been born a twenty-first century Indian in a white man’s
world.”

“Well, I think that’s as honest a
self-assessment as I’ve ever heard,” Bettina commented, approval
clear in her voice. She looked back at Ben. “It’s up to you. Do
what you think is best.”

“So how about it?” Ben asked Harper again.
“Will you behave if I let you loose?”

Harper shrugged as if it didn’t make any
difference, but Jacki knew better.

“Why not?” he answered offhandedly. “I’m not
here to fight with anyone. I just figured it was about time to make
contact and find out what the hell is really going on.”

Ben nodded and moved forward with the key.
He unlocked the handcuffs and removed them completely, setting
Harper free. He rubbed his wrists for a moment, then walked slowly,
very deliberately, directly over to where Bettina sat. He shocked
just about everyone by sinking to one knee in front of her and
bowing his head.

Even Bettina seemed a little surprised at
first, but she handled it well. She raised one hand and placed it
on top of Harper’s bowed head as if in benediction. She must have
murmured something, but Jacki couldn’t hear what she said. After a
moment, Bettina removed her hand from his head and Harper stood
again. He moved around the small table and took one of the two
remaining seats in the room. Ben took the other.

“Mind telling me what that was all about?”
Ben asked, nodding toward Bettina. The High Priestess’s gentle
smile gave away nothing.

“It’s obvious to me that she’s a holy
woman,” Harper said. “A shaman of this tribe, whatever they are.
Tigers, I was told, but there seems to be more going on here than
the briefing I got suggested.”

“Before we get to that—
if
we get to
that—we need to know if you’ve already started reporting back to
your superiors in the AC.” Ben got down to business.

“No, I haven’t. And I won’t. Not until I get
a clearer picture of what exactly is going on. Things aren’t adding
up anymore, and I’m not really sure who I’m working for just
lately. There was a shakeup at the top and assignments got
shuffled. It was all very clandestine and quickly arranged. I was
moved out here on very short notice and told to report to someone
I’ve never heard of before.” Harper made a disgusted face. “It
smells really bad from where I’m standing, but I wasn’t sure what
to do about it until just recently. I’d been watching the tiger
family for a couple of weeks, and then all this activity started
happening higher on the mountain. New people coming in. New
security measures. And my spidey senses were telling me that these
folks were okay. I mean, they might be badass soldier-types with
the latest technology in surveillance, but they all fussed over
that little tiger kid and treated her as if she was a princess.
They couldn’t be all bad, right?”

“You went soft over a kid?” Ben smiled and
shook his head. “How the mighty have fallen.”

“Have you seen her? She looks a little like
my sister’s kid. They’re about the same age,” Harper added. “Cute
as buttons, and not a bad bone in their body at that age. My sister
calls it the age of innocence. She says that comes right before the
terrible twos, but I can’t imagine my little angel of a niece will
turn into a two-year-old terrorist the way my sister claims.”

Bettina laughed and the chiming tone lit up
the room. “Give her time. All babies go through a cranky stage
around that time, brought about by frustration more than anything
else. Some handle it better than others, but they all go through
it. You’ll see.”

“I refuse to believe it,” Harper smiled back
at Bettina, seeming to have formed a liking for the woman that was
hard to miss.

“Okay, so you liked the way the new people
interacted with the child,” Ben said, bringing them back on track.
“And you decided to get caught?”

“Well, it wasn’t quite as thought-out as
you’re making it sound,” Harper admitted. “I got a call from my new
contact one day, pressuring me for information. I really didn’t
like his tone, so I didn’t give him squat. But then I started
thinking. Something about this whole setup really bothered me. I
headed out onto that back country road to clear my head. I got out
there and just sat in my car for a while…thinking. I knew the
clunker was leaking oil. And that’s what pushed me over.” He ran a
hand through his straight, black hair. “I smoked some tobacco,
which I’m sure they found, right?”

Ben nodded and Bettina’s eyes brightened.
“Tobacco is an offering to the Great Spirit,” she whispered. Harper
bowed his head in affirmation of her words.

“I asked for guidance and prayed I was doing
the right thing by breaking cover. I figured if the tiger family
was going to know I’d been on the road, I might as well go all the
way. I moved the two cameras I’d hidden the week before down a few
branches so they’d be easily spotted. Downloaded the week’s worth
of data, as per protocol, but didn’t do anything with it. And I
stomped around a bit for good measure, leaving some prints on the
perimeter.”

“Well then,” Bettina said with a shrewd look
on her face. “I’d say your prayer was answered. The question is,
where do we go from here?”

Chapter
Eleven

Jake looked at his phone, scrolling through
a few messages while Bettina and Ben spoke to the man in the other
room. Geir watched as Jake scanned the information he’d been sent
via his smart phone. If his expression was anything to go by, Jake
seemed to approve of what he read.

“Now would be a really good time for a
vision,” Jake muttered, shaking his head as he turned to the rest
of the people still in the room. Jacki, Beau and Geir were beside
him, but there was still a Royal Guard or two watching from near
the doorway.

“Too bad it doesn’t work that way, eh?” Geir
said, moving closer to Jake’s side.

Jake was the mate of the Nyx. If he’d been a
shifter, his role as a leader among the Clan would be much clearer,
but since Jake was human, it was hard to know exactly where he fit
at the moment. That was something Geir had hoped would be clarified
once they settled into their new home and figured out everyone’s
new roles. He’d thought they would have some downtime after the
recent battle to figure things out, but it looked like fate had
other ideas. They seemed to be hopping from crisis to crisis
still.

Another thing Geir had hoped to figure out
was his own role in the Clan. He had trained the Nyx’s Guard for
years now, but he hadn’t been part of the contingent that traveled
with her while she was on the run. They had decided early on that
it would be best if he stayed in one place, coordinating
replacements for Guards who were injured, died, or retired. Geir
was in charge of making sure there was always a supply of people
ready, willing and able to defend the Nyx.

But now that Ria’s days of running were
over, things had to change. Geir wanted a more active role at her
side. He wanted to be the Guard Captain he had always aspired to
be. He hadn’t had time to approach Ria about it yet. He had thought
they would have plenty of time once everyone had settled down on
the mountain. And then this happened.

Between Geir’s uncertainty regarding his
authority to command the Royal Guard—even though he had trained
each and every one of them—and the confusion surrounding Jake’s
role in the Clan—even though he had great magic of his own, but was
human—Geir was having a hard time figuring out how to approach the
situation.

Beau, it seemed, had no such problems. He
came up on Jake’s other side and folded his arms, staring through
the glass at the captive.

“You should let Geir and me handle this
guy,” Beau proclaimed. “We can keep him here and keep an eye on
him. Master Geir has trained enough recruits to know how to
evaluate people, and I can back him up. We shouldn’t let this guy
near the Nyx, but we might be able to create another ally if we
work with him now. If we let him go, it’s a wasted
opportunity.”

Jake turned to look at Beau. “Were you
reading over my shoulder, Marine?” Jake asked with only a teasing
hint of accusation.

“No, sir,” Beau was quick to reply.
“Why?”

“The background Ria dug up on this guy says
he’s a champion martial artist.” Jake looked rather pointedly at
Geir.

“He has the look about him. Lean muscle
mass. Not too bulky. Walks smoothly for a human,” Geir agreed. “No
wasted motion.” Geir approved of the way the man carried himself
from what little he’d seen. It might be interesting to see how he
performed in the dojo.

“I think your plan has merit,” Jake said,
responding to Beau. “But I want a chance to work with him. I think
he needs to know there are other humans that are working with the
Clan by choice. It might make him more comfortable. And I want to
get my own measure of the man.” Jake looked hard at the man through
the glass. “If Bettina gives the all clear, I’ll leave him here
with you, under Ben’s care. Let’s introduce him to tigers first in
the form of you and Master Geir. Let him think this is still a
tiger stronghold if we can. Watch him, and talk to him, today and
tonight. I’ll come along tomorrow for a workout. Don’t tiptoe
around me like you have been. I’m just one of the guys, okay?” Here
Jake narrowed his gaze and gave both Beau and Geir a blast of clear
disapproval.

Maybe Geir
had
been tiptoeing around
Jake, as he put it. Geir hadn’t really realized it, but it looked
like Jake certainly had. When they had time, they were going to
have to figure out everyone’s roles in the Clan hierarchy. If even
the human had noticed the unease that Geir thought he’d kept well
hidden, then they had to make time to spell it all out.

Geir nodded solemnly. “My apologies. There
will be no more tiptoeing.” Geir had to smile at the dainty word.
“Come to the dojo tomorrow and there might be some ass-kicking, but
definitely no tiptoeing.”

Jake struck his hand out for Geir to shake
and grinned. “I’ll drink to that. Damn it all, but you guys are
going to have to figure out I’m not some delicate little flower. If
I have to wipe the dojo floor with your ass, then I guess we’ll
just have to get on with it.” Jake laughed and Geir understood the
human was taking steps to assert himself. Good for him. Geir, for
one, was glad. “I swear,” Jake went on, “if one more of your Royal
Guards tries to help me across the street like a little old lady,
I’m going to have to start busting heads.”

Beau burst out laughing and Geir turned to
look at him. “Sorry, man. But Jake here has quite a rep in Spec
Ops. Geir, I think you and your guys have riled the beast. Now
you’re going to have to take the consequences.”