Second Nature (71 page)

Blood rushed through Jorie's ears. "Okay," she croaked.

Griffin stepped up to the two men lurking in front of the elevator. "Excuse me," she said politely, but with confidence. "We're here to see the council."

The men turned. Their sharp gazes slid over Jorie, dismissing her, and then fixed on Griffin. "You have to wait down here until the meeting is over," one of them said.

"No," Griffin answered. "I have important information. The councilors need to have it before the meeting is over."

"You have to wait down here," the man repeated. A growl resonated in his voice.

A third man appeared at their side, seemingly out of nowhere. He was as different from the two men guarding the elevator as Jorie was from Griffin. Instead of arranging his body in a threatening pose in front of Griffin, he stood with his shoulders slouching. His gaze darted across the foyer, never directly looking at anybody.

The two tall men ignored him, dismissing him as unimportant.

The fine hairs on Jorie's neck tingled. Despite his harmless appearance, her instincts were telling her that this was a predator too — and maybe much more dangerous than the two threatening, growling men in front of her.

The stranger's gaze collided with hers, and under the cover of a thick shock of brown hair, he winked at her. "Oh, there you are." He grasped Griffin's arm with one hand and Jorie's with the other and pulled them forward. "The councilors are already waiting for you. Come along quickly."

"Stop!" one of the men barked.

"I was sent to bring them to the council, Blayne," the smaller man said, his voice soft, but insistent.

Blayne didn't move an inch, still blocking the way to the elevator. "We have orders not to let anyone interrupt the council meeting. It's bad enough that Nella Westmore talked her way into the council chamber. We're sticking to our orders now."

"Well, orders can change, can't they?" the smaller man asked softly. "You could call up and have Jeff Madsen confirm, but of course then you would interrupt the council meeting... and, boy, would that annoy Madsen. He's not in a good mood today." His slender body shivered.

The two guards exchanged a glance, then hesitated. "If you're lying, antapi..."

"Then it would be my head that will roll," the slender man said, "and I'm quite fond of keeping my head firmly attached to my neck, thank you very much."

One of the guards gave him a shove. "Get them out of my sight."

Griffin gripped Jorie's elbow, and within seconds, the elevator doors closed behind them.

"Jesus!" Jorie sank against the mirrored wall. She hadn't even reached the council chamber, and she was already a nervous wreck.

"You must be Jorie." A warm voice made her look up, and this time, the brown eyes met hers steadily. "I'm Rufus Tolliver. Welcome to the house of intimidation, power games, and Wrasa politics."

Now that sounds encouraging.

"Thank you for helping us," Griffin said. "I know we're putting you in an awkward situation with your alpha. You're risking your career and —"

"Madsen isn't my alpha," Rufus interrupted, all traces of submissiveness gone from his posture. "My loyalty is to your sister. And don't worry, my career is safe. I'm quite adept at playing the damsel in distress. I'll simply tell them that the big, bad liger forced little old me to let her in." He flashed them a grin.

That wouldn't convince the council if the guards told them what had really happened.
He's risking his career, maybe his life for us,
Jorie thought with equal parts gratitude and guilt.
I wonder if Griffin even realizes how many friends and loyal family members she has in the Wrasa community.

The elevator doors pinged open.

Rufus opened a heavy door for them. "Good luck," he whispered.

"What a pile of cat poop," a booming voice came from inside of the room. "There never were human dream seers before, not even in the time before the Inquisition."

"Actually," Griffin said as she pushed past Rufus, "that's not true."

Jorie's knees felt like rubber, but she straightened her shoulders and quickly followed Griffin into the room. They were in this together, and she wouldn't let Griffin face this alone for even a second.

Chairs scraped along the floor. The men and women standing or sitting around a large table swiveled around.

Even though she was trying not to show it, panic gripped Jorie as she came face-to-face with nine predators, who were staring at her. She didn't need Griffin's nose to sense the wave of hostility that was sweeping over her. Only one councilor looked at her with kindness. They weren't identical twins, but the reddish hair and the large body told Jorie that the woman next to Nella was Griffin's sister.

"I'm sorry," Rufus said behind them. "I couldn't stop them from entering."

"What part of 'no visitors allowed' does your little antapi brain not understand?" the man standing next to the table barked at him.

One of the other councilors threw a disapproving gaze at his colleague, but he quickly looked away when he earned a glare in return.

I think he's the top dog — literally.
Jorie felt the power of his gaze.
One word from him, and the rest of the pack will get up from the table and kill us.
Fear slowed her steps. She wanted to run away but knew she couldn't. This was it: the meeting that would decide over her life or death. She had to stand her ground.

"I'm sorry," Rufus said again. Nothing reminded Jorie of the confident man in the elevator. He was ducking his head in fearful submission. "I tried to stop them, but a little antapi is no match for a big cat like Griffin Westmore."

Despite her fear, Jorie suppressed a grin.
He is good at playing the damsel in distress. He's using their own prejudice against hybrids against them.

Griffin strode across the room.

The door banged shut, leaving Rufus outside. Jorie's heart was hammering so loudly that she almost didn't understand Griffin's words, but she swallowed her fear and joined Griffin in the middle of the council chamber.

"I know you don't want us here, but you're discussing our future... our lives," Griffin said, her strong voice carrying easily across the room. "Jorie and I have a right to be heard."

Never show weakness to a predator,
Jorie reminded herself and proudly lifted her chin. She knew she appeared small and fragile next to Griffin, and that was exactly how she felt, but she stood shoulder to shoulder with her and stared at the tall man who was probably the council's leader.

"You bring a human into our council chamber?" a large woman shouted. Narrowed eyes hurled hostile glares at Jorie, making her want to hide behind Griffin.

She squared her shoulders and stayed where she was.

"Not just any human," Griffin said loudly enough to be heard over the arguing and shouting of the councilors. "As you have probably already guessed, this," she laid one arm around Jorie's shoulders, "is Jorie Price."

Yes, all trembling five-foot-six of me.

"We know who she is. There was no need to bring her here," the woman said, stretching her shoulders and making her big body look even bigger and more threatening.

Jorie was grateful for Griffin's arm that pulled her closer against her side. She was careful to keep her expression neutral and hide her fear as best as she could.

"No need?" Griffin repeated. "Oh, yes, you need to see Jorie. It's too easy to make anonymous decisions and order the death of a human when you don't even know her, but now that Jorie is standing in front of you and you can smell that she's really telling the truth, who of you wants to risk killing a human who could be a maharsi?" Her challenging gaze slid from councilor to councilor.

"And get killed by you like you killed Cedric Jennings?" a gray-haired man whose lean build reminded Jorie of Rufus mumbled. "No, thank you."

Griffin's wild gaze drilled into the councilor, then stalked over all of his colleagues. She didn't correct his assumption that she would kill anyone who tried to hurt Jorie. Her big body vibrated against Jorie's. She was ready to fight anyone who lifted a hand against Jorie.

Nella and Kylin flanked them on both sides, their determined gazes fixed on the councilors.

An odd mix of power and humility swept over Jorie. She had never been the object of such fierce protectiveness before. She looked up at Griffin with gratefulness but settled a hand over Griffin's closed fist. "Don't threaten them," she said. "We need to convince them, not threaten them into letting us go one more time, or they'll just jump us from behind at the next opportunity."

Jeff Madsen's nostrils flared, and Jorie realized uncomfortably that he was breathing in her scent. She felt like a deer surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves. "That's not a very flattering opinion you have of us, human. We're not insidious assassins."

His growl made her bones vibrate, but Jorie forced herself to stand still.

"Not all of you," she said. "Just like not all humans are out to kill you. I know you probably didn't find the old human cultures worth studying, but if you had, you'd know that the Iroquois believed that in their dreams, they could travel outside of their bodies, across time and space, and even contact their ancestors or their spiritual guides. Or that Celtic druids searched for wisdom in dreams, and that people in ancient Egypt believed that dreams were messages from the gods, and that the Aborigine think that dreams are memories from the time when the world was created. Just because modern humans for the most part ignore and dismiss their dreams just like I did doesn't mean it has always been that way. A lot of the old human cultures had shamans or other wise men and women who sought visions about the future or the past in their dreams, just like the maharsi."

It took all her self-control to keep her voice from shaking. The Wrasa gathered around the table were looking at her, but she couldn't help wondering whether they were really listening or fantasizing about hunting her down.

"She's right about that," a small man with fox-red hair said tentatively. "I studied human cultures, and there really were a lot of cultures in which dreams and visions played an important role. How can we be sure that it's not something very similar to our dream seeing? Did anyone ever investigate this?"

Madsen's fist crashed onto the table, making Jorie flinch. "We don't need investigations! Human shamans are entirely different from our dream seers." It sounded lame, and a few of the councilors murmured and whispered to each other.

"Why?" Jorie asked, proud to notice that her voice sounded calm. "Because you want it to be different? Believe me, I didn't want this either, but apparently, this gift doesn't care what you or I want or don't want."

Agitation made Madsen's broad chest heave. He was barely holding himself together. "It's different because your shamans dream about humans, not about Wrasa."

"How do you know that? Do your dream seers only dream about their own kind?" Jorie asked, turning toward Nella.

Nella's lips curled into a smile. The glint of respect, even admiration in her eyes was unexpected. "Of course not. If maharsi dreamed only about Wrasa, how would they be able to protect us from humans? My father had dreams about Wrasa and humans alike, so why shouldn't human dream seers dream about us?"

"It's unheard of," Madsen said, clearly still unwilling to believe.

"If it is, it's only because Cedric Jennings hunted them down and killed them," Griffin said. Ice clinked in her voice.

One councilor gasped loudly, and even Jeff Madsen blanched.

Jorie sucked in a breath.
Okay. The cat's out of the bag now.

"And we have proof," Griffin said.

The leather-bound diary thudded onto the table in front of Madsen.

"It's the diary of a human dream seer. The last entries describe dreams of being killed by a white wolf — just like the dreams Jorie had before Jennings tried to kill her."

Griffin's words and the memories that came with them sent a shiver through Jorie.

With one finger, Madsen flicked through the book, reading bits here and there before he closed it again. "This could just be the ramblings of a madman," he said dismissively. "If it proves anything, it's how dangerous humans can be."

The little book moved from hand to hand. Some councilors passed it on quickly, but one or two read longer passages, and when they looked up, their expressions were thoughtful.

"Jennings killed a possible maharsi," the small red-headed councilor whispered.

"No!" Madsen's denial cut through the discussions of the other councilors. "First of all, this man wasn't a maharsi. And second, he was killing Wrasa!" He pointed at the diary, which held proof. "He was a danger to our kind, and while Cedric didn't go about it the right way, taking him out was justified."

"What Thomas McCree did was wrong," Jorie said, holding his gaze. "I'm not defending what he did. Killing is wrong, and I want you to know I would never use my dream-seeing skills to harm any of you, no matter what you did to me." She meant it.

One or two of the councilors looked away from the sincerity of her words and her gaze.

"Did you hear that?" Griffin asked, turning in a slow circle until she had fixed her gaze on every councilor for a few seconds. "I don't know about you, but I'm not very proud to be a Wrasa or a saru right now. Jennings killed humans, human dream seers, and we did nothing to stop him even though most of them meant us no harm."

"They weren't dream seers," Madsen still insisted.

Can't he see that killing them was wrong, no matter if they were or weren't dream seers?
Jorie shook her head in despair.

"They were, and Jennings knew it," Griffin said. "That's why he wanted Jorie dead so desperately that he even lied every time he reported to the council. He left out important facts, twisted the truth to serve his purpose, and lied about me agreeing with him that killing Jorie was the only possible solution. He did it before. Jorie had dreams about him killing half a dozen other human dream seers."