Page 16 of Shifter Mate Magic
5
Jackie felt like she was back in college, when she’d had to present her undergraduate capstone term paper to a pair of bored professors. This time, however, she was in the asphalt parking lot outside the Kotoyeesinay town hall, speaking before a hastily assembled town council of six, seated behind a folding conference table. A magic-infused, twenty-foot-long ground tarp served as a witness box. Anyone standing on it could be heard far and wide, even when whispering. She and Trevor stood together in a defensive magic circle of chalk near the tarp’s north edge.
Jackie probably would have fainted dead away by now if it hadn’t been for Trevor. The moment they’d left his truck, he’d swallowed her in a long, tension-draining bear hug. After her quick visit to the town hall’s bathrooms and drinking fountains, he’d kept her close as they explained the events that brought them to ask for sanctuary.
She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t enjoyed being near him, or him initiating contact as often as he did. He was the only anchor she had in a reality gone seriously askew. Kotoyeesinay looked like any of the mountain towns she’d passed through during her escape, with ordinary streets and a normal mix of architecture. Its denizens were anything but.
The six council members sat at the eight-foot table. Behind them stood a small red-and-silver, two-legged dragon with bat-like wings, and a dark-skinned centaur male who made Clydesdales look like ponies. It was hard not to stare. They were all right out of the fantasy stories she’d devoured as a child, and better than anything movie special-effects artists could dream up. She didn’t even recognize half of the species in the gathering onlookers.
The meeting was outside because neither the motorcycle-mounted coyotes nor Roehm’s pissed-off pride were willing to leave their vehicles unguarded around the other group. The coyotes, especially the females, laughed at the pride’s post-apocalyptic vehicles and insulted the virility of the felines, who snarled vile insults back. A pair of Roehm’s lynx enforcers flatly refused to leave their vehicle altogether, once they saw the red dragon. Jackie couldn’t blame them since the roof of their jeep still had a gaping tear from where a dragon had clawed off the harpoon gun.
A slim, dazzlingly beautiful golden elf female stood in the center behind the council table. Her clothing seemed to be made of living red-leaf ferns and mosses. An intricate tiara of carved wood held her brass-green hair away from her delicate features. Her eyes said she was far, far older than the teenager she resembled. She watched with apparent disinterest as Roehm and one of the coyote women strode up to the ground tarp from their respective sides.
Two translucent creatures in ghostly armor lowered very real and sharp scimitars to prevent Roehm and the woman from stepping onto the tarp.
The golden elf gestured toward the woman. “We will hear Alpha Zarabitta’s petition first.” More elven magic carried her soft voice right to Jackie’s ear, as if she stood within a few feet. That didn’t startle Jackie nearly as much as the fact that the coyotes’ leader was a confident, muscled, and curvy female. Both Jackie’s ex-lover Barry and Roehm had insisted no male shifter would ever accept a female as alpha. Of course, they’d proven time and again to be liars.
Zarabitta blew Roehm a smart-ass kiss as she stepped forward. Roehm’s lip twisted sourly, but he dropped back a few paces. He could pretend to follow the rules of others when it suited him.
Jackie’s back spasmed with tension. She wished she could sit, but then she’d never see anything. Trevor stepped behind her and pulled her gently against him, wordlessly urging her to relax. His arms wrapped around her, and she allowed herself the comfort of his presence. She didn’t know how it was possible, but she was falling for a man she’d only met the day before. That he was also a shifter didn’t seem to matter anymore. He was a good bear and an honorable, sexy man.
Zarabitta gave a respectful short bow toward the council. “I give thanks to Guivre Gul-Vert and the council for our guest pass into the glade.” Her powerful alto voice had depth and a hint of smoky-bar rasp. “I’ll get straight to the point. Yesterday, with no provocation whatsoever, that bear”—Zarabitta pointed accusingly at her and Trevor—“jumped two of my pack behind Otto’s in Cheyenne and left them for dead. We spotted him this morning in Laramie and followed him here.”
Jackie took an outraged breath to object but stopped when Trevor tightened his arms around her. “Wait,” he whispered. His warm breath in her ear sent a delicious thrill through her. Honestly, her body picked the worst times to take up its own agenda.
“And what do you want with him now?” asked the golden elf.
Zarabitta put her hands on her hips. “Blood for blood. Our training barn.”
Jackie didn’t like the sound of that. She remembered schoolyard fights, and how bullies had preyed on the weaker kids. Trevor’s bear was impressive, but even he couldn’t take on a whole pack.
A handsome lavender-skinned male fairy with sharp features and flashing amethyst eyes stepped out from behind the table. His clothes of draped velvet and lace made him seem frivolous, but the thin wand in his hand belied that. Even from twenty feet away, Jackie could feel the magical power emanating from it. “Consent for a geas spell of truth-speaking?”
Zarabitta frowned. “Yeah, as long as you don’t go fishing for stuff that’s none of your business. But I wasn’t at Otto’s.”
The male with the wand paused and looked toward Guivre, who tilted her head slightly. “Are the injured parties with you now, that we may hear their tale?”
Zarabitta nodded, then turned toward the motorcycles and whistled loudly enough to make Jackie wince. “Wiley! Cody! Get your asses front and center.”
Jackie rarely wished she was taller, but this was one of those times. She couldn’t see anything over the heads of the swelling crowd that had stopped to watch the proceedings. Sounds of a commotion arose from near the motorcycles. Jackie twisted in Trevor’s arms to give him a questioning look. He shrugged and shook his head.
Finally, after long minutes, the crowd parted, and three vest-wearing coyote shifters half-dragged, half-carried Wiley and the other shifter who’d come onto her at the truck stop into view. They shoved them onto the tarp.
Zarabitta stomped toward them. Jackie couldn’t see her face, but her stiff shoulders and fisted hands didn’t bode well for Wiley or Cody.
“This is your third strike, assholes,” Zarabitta bit out. “If you don’t tell me right fucking now why you were running and what really happened yesterday, I will feed you to the wyvern myself.” She pointed a thumb toward the red-and-silver reptile behind the council table. The red dragon… wyvern tested the air with a snake-like forked tongue, then snorted wetly.
Wiley hung his head and said nothing. Cody crossed his arms and jutted out his chin. “It’s too late. Dad’s already reported you to the Shifter Tribunal.” He sneered and spat within inches of Zarabitta’s dusty boots. “Bitches belong in the den with the pups. You ain’t even mated.”
Zarabitta shook her head. “Your dad has ruined you.” She nodded, and two of the coyote shifters latched onto Cody’s arms. “You’re out, Cody. You and your father are exiled for good.” A wave of unknown shifter magic passed by Jackie. Cody shuddered hard from head to toe, and the color drained from his face. He whined a curse.
The two grim-faced coyotes dragged Cody away, ignoring his angry protests and threats.
Zarabitta turned to Wiley. “You have a hard choice to make, son, and not much time.” She tilted her chin toward the direction Cody had gone. “He’s your only litter mate, but he and your dad are mean drunks. You go with them, you’ll either be their meal ticket, or you’ll become them.” She pointed a thumb toward the Kotoyeesinay council. “Tell us all the truth, and you can stay. You’ll be on shit patrol for a while, ’cause you fucked up big time, but you’ve got a good heart.”
Zarabitta backed up two steps and stood, arms crossed. The only sound was the afternoon breeze through the aspen trees and the pounding of Jackie’s heart.
Wiley looked up at Zarabitta, then shot a glance at Jackie before casting his eyes down again. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Cody was drunk. We wanted to party with that woman, ’cause we thought she was a prostitute. She ran like prey. We chased. Her bear mate knocked us around and commanded us to shift back to human, then left with her. Dad found us in the alley and beat the shit out of us for being pansies.” Wiley seemed to shrink in on himself. “When we caught scent of the bear again, Dad got the idea to send us all off on the chase, while he told the Tribunal you and the pack went rogue. He’s gonna declare himself alpha, with Cody as his second.” His glance flickered toward where Cody could still be heard shouting. “Cody said we had to run, or the elves would make us into pets like that red dragon.”
