Page 76 of Shift of Morals
“What is that?” he snapped.
Few dared to speak to me like that, but instead of reacting, I asked a question. “What’s wrong with it?”
The mage, realizing his error, took an involuntary step back. “My apologies, Lord Caelan. I—I’ve never seen anything like that.” He held out his hand. “May I?”
I handed it over. “Take care, Kieran.”
He hurried away, the vial clutched tightly in his hand.
An hour later, he returned, pale and sweaty, and with the name of one of my shifters who’d gone missing several weeks ago. Lucas Veldt, a powerful and loyal Lieutenant, blessed in both looks and intelligence. He’d married a woman named Rebecca…
My hands stilled against the map. I hadn’t seen Rebecca in weeks either. Closing my eyes, I stopped the rumble of magic coming to the surface of my skin. It’d do me no good to overreact. Answers first. Solutions second.
But there was one thing worse than the rogues and my impending wedding. The mage hadn’t only come back with the shifter’s signature. He’d been curious about the resonance of whatever that spell was in the vial and had done a deeper analysis.
My rogue lieutenant’s essence was mixed up with Chimera essence.
We had no Chimeras in this country. They’d all been wiped out. As they should have been. They were deadly and vicious, and a natural enemy to most other shifters, my kind included.
The question was, how had Evie come into possession of something like this?
And what was I going to do about the potential fallout of a Chimera in my territory? I’d asked Kieran to double check his results, but he already had. All I could do was swear him to secrecy until I got to the bottom of things.
My fists clenched, rage swimming to the surface. Leaving the maps scattered on the table, I sailed from the office, punching a hole in the wall outside the door, plaster and sheetrock crumbling to the floor beneath me. The damage didn’t make me feel any better.
I needed to run. Or scream. Or something. Anything to get this excess energy out.
Gianna and I rounded the corner at the same time. She was dressed casually today, as casual as someone like her ever looked.
Perfectly pressed and tailored chinos, flats, and a crisp white blouse, accented with a pink pearl necklace, Gianna looked the part of a Shifter Lord’s fiancée. Her blonde hair was down today, not a single lock out of place.
“There you are!” Her delicate nostrils flared. “Why haven’t you started the process for the bonding ceremony? I inquired, and that witch hasn’t received a request yet. And the flowers haven’t been booked either!”
“Evie’s doing the flowers,” I growled, in no mood to deal with her. “I’ll send the letter out tomorrow.”
“And your offering to the gods?”
Bonding ceremonies were more traditional than I liked, but even I avoided affronting the gods. They required a process. The flowers, the dagger, the words of the ritual, written by a powerful witch with Rowan's help, blessed water, and the presence of a god, brought by offerings and a humble request.
“I’ve already made it.”
Gianna snorted. “Stop lying, Caelan. The altar is bare!”
The altar in the Keep chapel was rarely used unless there was a wedding, and since there were few shifter females, the chapel stayed dark most of the time, holidays notwithstanding.
“I made my offering elsewhere.”
Gianna’s eyes narrowed. “Where?”
My patience snapped. “Maybe the gods have decided not to come. Maybe they see right through your power games and your politics and these ridiculous performances and have decided not to bless our union.”
Gianna sucked in a horrified breath. “Caelan.”
“The gods don’t care about us, and you’re a fool for thinking this blessing is anything more than pomp and circumstance.”
Her red lips curved into a cruel smile. “Donovan is going to have a field day when I tell him about this.”
Claws shredded through my knuckles. I backed Gianna against the wall. Her heart sped up, pulse flickering rapidly against her throat. But this wasn’t sexual, this was the fear prey felt when faced with a greater predator. I lifted a clawed finger, stroking it down her throat.
