Her Warriors (8 page)

As it was, Geir was put through his paces,
doing his best to keep from being clobbered or clawed. Yes, the
claws had come out and soon, they would both test the limits of
their endurance by shifting—or rather, half-shifting—into the more
deadly battle form. Only the most skilled and powerful of warriors
could hold the half-shift for longer than a few moments.

They had danced around each other enough.
Geir called on his inner tiger and let the beast out just enough to
gain several inches in height, sprout fur and claws and gain the
strength of the tiger on top of his human strength. Battle form
amplified power, allowing both creatures that shared the same soul
to have access to the body at one time. It was painful, but it was
also incredibly useful.

Both Geir and Beau were Alpha cats with no
Clan of their own. They were loners. Members of a Clan through
swearing fealty to another species’ leader. They weren’t leaders of
their own Clans or Packs. They ran alone, though they had formed
families of a sort with their brother soldiers. Geir felt like the
brother or father figure, in some cases, to all those he had
trained over the years. Beau undoubtedly had his own core group of
friends he considered brothers and sisters. He most likely had a
family somewhere. A mother, father…maybe some siblings, aunts,
uncles, cousins.

All of those family—and pseudo-family—ties
made one stronger. It cemented one’s place in the hierarchy. It
gave one status and comfort. It gave one purpose in life.

Alphas were the strongest of shifters, born
to lead in whatever capacity fate chose for them. Some led Clans.
Some led family units. Some led armies. And some led only
themselves.

Geir was tired of being a loner. He was just
tired of being alone. Period. He wanted a mate—this mate, the
Mother of All had put in his path—more than anything in the world.
He used that desire to help him hold his battle form longer than he
had ever held it before.

Geir was a strong Alpha at the best of
times, and he often trained his students using the battle form. He
could hold it longer than any of those he had ever trained. But
Beau was giving him a run for his money. Beau matched him. Step for
step. Swipe for swipe. Claws clashed and slashed. Fur flew and
blood spilled. And still they battled on…

They were both weakening, but stubbornly
holding on. The first to lose the battle form would lose the girl,
and Geir was very much afraid that Beau would not give in. Geir
matched him, but he was starting to feel the strain in every fiber
of his being. It wouldn’t be long now before one of them struck a
lucky blow that would kill.

Geir had never wanted it to go that far. In
ancient times, and in less civilized areas of the world, mate
challenges still ended in death, but it didn’t have to be that way.
One could win without killing the other. Geir had wanted a clean
fight. One that didn’t end in utter destruction, but there seemed
no way around it now. They were too evenly matched. One would have
to fall—and fall hard. Bad as he felt about it, no way was Geir
going to let himself be the one to fail. This was too important.
Jacki was too important. She was…everything.

“Stop!” A feminine voice filled with power
sliced through the dojo only a split second before what felt like a
lightning bolt crackled between Geir and Beau, knocking them both
backward into the air, landing on their asses on either side of the
dojo.

They both reverted to human form, bloody,
but neither one of them beaten. They both looked at the women who
had come in while they were fighting. Bettina was moving briskly
forward while Jacki held back, watching with tears streaking down
her face. Geir’s heart clenched. He hadn’t wanted to make her cry.
He had never wanted that.

“I’m sorry, Jacki,” he whispered, but she
heard him. She looked at him and the tears kept falling silently
down her beautiful face.

“Have you both satisfied yourselves that you
are evenly matched?” Bettina asked in a stern voice. “I know you
needed to do this, but really, couldn’t you have figured it out a
little sooner? You’re both a bloody mess.” She griped as she looked
down at them. “Your challenge has ended in a draw. All fighting
between you will cease. You will clean yourselves up and meet us
back at the house in a half hour. Any shenanigans and I will
personally kick your ass. Understood?”

She shook her finger at them both like some
kind of school teacher, but Geir nodded and he saw Beau do the
same. Nobody—not even two badass Alpha warriors—messed with the
High Priestess.

Chapter
Five

Bettina took Jacki’s arm and pulled her
along as she left the dojo. Geir wanted to talk to Jacki. To touch
her and apologize for making her cry. He wanted to vow his undying
love to her, but the priestess was taking her away.

Geir pushed to his feet, one goal in mind.
He had to get cleaned up and go see Jacki. She needed him and he
was messing about with Beau. His tiger was done with the fight. It
had lost interest in pummeling Beau, which was odd in the extreme,
if he stopped to think about it.

Geir wondered if Beau’s famously bad temper
had cooled. He looked cautiously at the other tiger shifter. Beau
was pushing himself up off the mats, looking to be in as much pain
as Geir was. Good. Geir didn’t want to be the only one suffering.
They had both beaten the shit out of each other. There was enough
pain to go around.

“Still feel like killing me?” Geir asked
tentatively as he stood facing his former opponent.

“Nah. I never wanted you dead, G. Just out
of the way,” Beau answered in a surprisingly calm voice. “Even my
tiger doesn’t want to see any more of your blood. That’s a
first.”

“I know what you mean.” Geir led Beau toward
the front of the dojo where the locker rooms were located. “That
has got to mean something, but I can’t figure out what.”

“Me neither.” Beau scratched his head with a
bloody hand. “But I bet the High Priestess knows. She’s been
messing with us since she got here.”

“Agreed.”

They hit the locker room, showering the
blood off before each of them did a quick shift to full tiger form
and then back again. Sometimes it helped heal minor wounds and
speed healing of more…interesting ones as well. Nothing either of
them had dished out to the other was too bad. It was as if they’d
been going through the motions, testing each other’s strengths and
weaknesses, neither really wanting to kill the other.

Within the specified half hour, they
presented themselves in the main house, only a little banged up
from their endeavors. Jacki was pale and silent at Bettina’s side.
The High Priestess looked at them with a measuring gaze.

“I know all three of you are confused,” she
began. “Each of you men think that Jacki is your mate.”

“I know she is,” Beau declared loudly. Geir
wanted to speak too, but the High Priestess held up both her hands,
palms outward, quieting them.

“I don’t doubt your claims.
Both
of
your claims,” she emphasized. “Have either of you bothered to
consider how Jacki may feel?”

Beau looked pained while Geir just felt his
heart sink. “I—” he started, then tried again. “I wondered if maybe
it was different for her kind. I don’t know much about selkies or
how they mate. Though it pains me, I thought maybe she didn’t feel
the same.”

“Oh, no,” Jacki denied quickly in a raspy
tone. “I never wanted to make you feel that way, Geir. Or you,
Beau. I’m just…” She looked at Bettina. “I’m really confused. How
can you both be my mate?”

“How can they not?” Bettina asked
rhetorically, then smiled. “Jacki, you are going to be a priestess.
Surely you must realize there is some precedent for a triad formed
by two shifter males and a priestess.”

“But we’re not identical twins, or Lords,”
Beau pointed out unnecessarily.

“And I’m not Allie, destined to help her
twin mates rule,” Jacki added.

“Of course not, but Jacki, you will be in
charge of something very important, if not rule, per se. After me,
you will be the High Priestess.”

“Only if you fall, you said,” Jacki
protested.

“Or if I retire,” Bettina added with a
benevolent nod of her head. “I’ve been High Priestess for a very
long time. Even I might deserve a rest from my toils once this
crisis ends. Don’t you think?”

“It’s not what I think that matters,” Jacki
answered, already showing the wisdom of a priestess, in Geir’s
view. “It’s what the Lady asks of you and what you’re willing to
give.”

Bettina nodded with a kind look on her face.
“You’re so right, my dear. And I have always given Her my all. But
it’s clear to me that even I may not live forever. Or work forever.
There must be a successor, and the Mother of All has led me to you.
Is it no wonder she wants you to have a strong and loyal support
system should you need to fill my shoes?” She turned her gaze on
the men. “And you two… You have both allied yourselves with Clans
not of your species. Beau was drawn to the Kinkaids—one of the only
tigers in their ranks. Why, Beau? What drew you there?”

Beau’s face flushed, but he seemed resigned
when he answered. “Jacki did.”

“I did?” Jacki seemed truly surprised and
very intrigued.

Beau nodded. “I saw you, and I knew I wanted
to be near you. I thought at first it was just the magic of the
selkies that attracted me, but I came to really care for your
family. I would adopt Tom as my own brother, if I could. And I have
watched you for a long time, wondering if maybe you were meant for
me. I never had the guts to find out until now. You seemed so far
above me… I’m just a simple soldier. You’ll always be too good for
me, Jacki, but I can’t let you go. I can’t give up the chance for
happiness. I’ll do everything I can to make you happy for the rest
of your life, if you’ll only be mine. I’ve loved you for a long
time.”

There was little doubt that Beau was
embarrassed to have to declare himself in front of an audience, but
Geir admired his courage in doing so. It was tough to hear that
Beau had the prior claim on Jacki, having seen her first. But Geir
wouldn’t back down either. If what the High Priestess was saying
held any merit, perhaps neither of them would have to back down.
His tiger was already considering it. He could feel the cat
watching and waiting to be consulted for its opinion.

“Master Geir, the
pantera noir
queen
has your allegiance but you fought with the selkies in the last
battle. Why?” Bettina asked shrewdly.

“It was my choice and my honor. The seer
claimed that’s where I needed to be, but I would have watched over
Jacki and her brother, regardless. The moment I saw her, Jacki’s
spirit called to me. It was like a siren’s song in the back of my
mind. Irresistible and alluring. I needed to be by her side,” Geir
admitted. “My duty was to the Nyx, but I would have forsaken my
oath if I’d had to. I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth. I
had to be near you, Jacki.”

“But you were so mad when I sealed you in
the dome with us,” Jacki said, bringing back the memory of that
last battle.

“Mad at myself, mostly. I was fighting my
instincts. I wanted to stay with you, but I knew my duty demanded I
go help the Nyx. I thought you would be safely hidden without me,
so I was willing to go, but then you turned the tables on me and
sealed me in with you. It solved my problem because I had no
choice, but I felt guilty for being so relieved that I wouldn’t
have to leave your side—and ashamed that I would consider forsaking
my oath so easily.”

“Mating goes above and beyond the oaths of
men,” Bettina reminded him. “Nothing can, or should, keep true
mates apart. That is our Goddess’s law. You need feel no shame,
Master Geir. Your actions were honorable.”

“So you’re saying that we could both be
mates to Jacki? Like the Lords share their priestess mate?” Beau
asked the question that was hanging out there in the middle of the
room like the proverbial eight hundred pound gorilla.

“Yes,” Bettina answered simply. “She will
need your support as she learns her way into her new role as my
successor. And if the day comes that she takes my place, she will
need you both more than ever.”

“But you have no mate,” Jacki said, then
cringed, probably realizing it might be a sore subject.

“I am not a shifter, dear. I did think I had
found my mate once, many years ago, but it was not meant to be. Our
love was forbidden and he…left. I have been as content as I can be
alone, but as I say, I’m not a shifter. The way I do this job will
differ from the way you’ll do it, I’m sure. As a selkie, you are
very magical indeed, but there are no shifters in this realm that
can fully match my power. With one mate, you would be good, but
with two strong Alphas backing you up, you will be much, much
better.” Bettina smiled. “If…you can figure out how to make this
work.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” Jacki
admitted.

“That should be obvious,” Bettina said, not
unkindly. “You are all shifters. You should start with your animal
sides. If they can’t get along, your human halves don’t stand a
chance.” Bettina’s musical laughter filled the room.

That sage advice still ringing through his
mind, Geir went for a prowl around the property with Beau, in their
tiger forms an hour later. Geir had been wanting to check the
perimeter he’d scouted the previous day, but he had been
preoccupied with his guests until now.

Beau was a soldier. He had already proven he
was as good as Geir in hand-to-hand combat. Geir was almost eager
to see how Beau did out in the field, using some of the other
skills Geir taught his students that he deemed necessary to be a
Royal Guard. Tracking and scouting were right up there at the top
of the list.