Page 29 of A Lion's Heart
“I didn’t have anything to tell her,” he replied, because that was the correct answer.
All that Decan knew about the Ruling Cabinet and Lial Johansen, was information he’d obtained on his own and through working with Keller and Gold. He had never discussed any of this with the Assembly Leader. Nisa, on the other hand, could have overheard a conversation between her father and his FLs, because there was definitely truth to what she’d said. The things Decan hadn’t known were confirmed by the look on Jace’s face right now.
“My assignment was to bring her here to help you with tech issues you were having in this region and to talk to you about a lead you have on the Cole Linden search,” Decan said, being careful to keep his voice level and his heart rate steady.
Any one of these could give away the fact that he was lying. The FL would instantly pick up that scent and undoubtedly question him further. The ability to hide scents and restrain his cat was a hard won effort, which Decan had been extremely thankful for over the years. It was also the one that was going to allow him to finally put an end to the threat against all Shadows living above ground.
Jace was now standing, rubbing a hand over the lightly trimmed beard at his chin. Shadows didn’t show the same signs of aging as humans, so even though the FL was approaching his early fifties, he had no gray hair and no wrinkles on his face. His body was still fit in gray slacks and white dress shirt. His skin tone was a little darker than Nisa’s, his hair cut low, eyes dark and assessing. Decan had done his research on this Shadow, just like he had on the other FLs, the rogues, and every member of the Ruling Cabinet. Jace Maybon could be fair. He could also be vicious.
“I’d planned to talk to you about that tomorrow at breakfast,” Jace said as he turned to face Decan.
The FL leaned back against a black lacquered table with two long rectangular shaped lamps on each end.
“The murders surrounding the family of Ruling Cabinet members are concerning. Bas was planning to take one of his teams above ground to investigate in the upcoming weeks,” he told him.
Decan only listened. In the first two years after the Unveiling, Rome’s plan for the Stateside Shadows was to continue to work amongst the humans and to prove to them that not all the Shadows were dangerous. He’d even proposed to then President of the United States, Wilson Reed, that Shadows who could not abide by the country’s laws, should be punished just as the human offenders. Albeit with some modifications because a man or woman who could shift into a three to four hundred pound cat wasn’t going to be easily contained in a cell with the general population. President Reed had gone along with Rome’s proposal, at least in the beginning. Then the President’s wife had been involved in a rogue attack at a museum. She’d died before he could get to her. The directive to kill all Shadows upon sight had come from Reed’s Vice-President because Reed was inconsolable. Reed’s Vice-President was Taggert Mackey, Ewen Mackey’s uncle.
“Faction Leader Perry was going to investigate whether or not a Shadow was committing the murders?” Decan asked even though he thought he already knew the answer.
Everyone thought a Shadow was killing those humans, Shadows and humans alike. Kyss’s announcement that she’d picked up Lial’s scent at the scene of the last murder added to that assumption. But Decan wasn’t convinced.
“Yes,” Jace answered. “He and his team were going to question some of the Shadows still living above ground and then, because a few members of his team were younger and had no previous ties to a life above ground, they were going to attempt to get closer to the cabinet members to see what they could find out.”
“And then what?” Decan asked because to his knowledge Rome and the Assembly hadn’t done enough to protect the Shadows above ground.
They hadn’t done enough to fight for all of the Shadows’ right to live safely above ground. If he were to gain the FL position for the Central Zone, his first act would be to bring them up from the underground. They didn’t belong here. Not on a permanent basis.
There were some Shadows still living up there, but the Assembly Leader openly chastised them for putting their families and the remaining Shadows in danger by tempting the humans. It wasn’t a stance Decan would have thought a leader like Roman Reynolds would ever take, but it’s precisely what he’d done for the last twenty years. Decan planned to put a stop to it, even though doing so would most definitely anger the Assembly Leader and those who faithfully followed him, including Decan’s father.
“If it’s a Shadow committing the murders, than we will deal with him or her. It’s our place to punish our own. If it’s a human, then we make sure that information gets into the right hands and we walk away.”
“What would be the right hands?” Decan pressed.
Jace stared at him a moment. He was no doubt sizing him up, trying to see if Decan could actually be trusted. Decan let his palms rest on his thighs. He stayed seated in the chair he’d taken upon entering the room. Keeping eye contact with the FL, he focused on breathing evenly and thinking about his own plans for the Shadow Shifters’ future. Those were true and honest thoughts for Decan. So were the thoughts that always circled back to Nisa.
In the months he’d spent at the Assembly Headquarters learning all that he could about Roman Reynolds and his motives for what he thought was the right thing to do for their people, Decan’s mind had betrayed him by focusing way too much on Nisa. He’d known it was a problem then and probably should have foreseen the situation he found himself in now, but again, he couldn’t tell the Assembly Leader that he would not accept this assignment. Especially since this assignment put him in the perfect position to claim his personal revenge.
“There’s an FBI agent that we’ve known for a long time. We trust him and he trusts us. That was the new development I wanted to speak to you about,” Jace said. “He’ll be at the gala and he’ll be looking for you.”
This was getting more interesting by the moment.
“Why?” Decan asked.
His cat was restless, pacing with irritation that Decan had just now accepted was because of the separation from Nisa. The cat needed to be near her, while the man still attempted to fight that entire scenario. Decan lifted an arm and let it rest on the table beside him because he needed to move, to take some type of stance against the beast that prowled inside. It was a simple movement, but one he hoped would be enough. The last thing he needed was for the FL to pick up on any agitation within him.
“Because he’s been working with Blaez Trekas to find Cole,” Jace told him.
The words seemed solemn and hefty in the silence of the room. Decan wasn’t certain how he should proceed.
This seemed like a good place to start. “Who is Blaez Trekas?”
“He’s a wolf shifter. They call them lycans. Cole sought help from Blaez and his pack not long after the Unveiling. Then there was a fire and Cole was gone again.”
The one word brought man and cat in alignment. The lion woofed and the man sat forward in the chair. It recalled a fire, one that had killed many, humans and shifters.
“And now the FBI agent and the lycan are working with you to find this Shadow. Why? What’s so important about him that he must be found and that the search for him brings so many from different sides?” Decan asked.
From the moment Rome had mentioned this search for Cole, it had been the lowest issue on Decan’s list of priorities. This Shadow had been missing for twenty years. Either he couldn’t come back to the life he knew or he didn’t want to. Either way, Decan had better things to do with his time and efforts than to spend it trying to find him. Still, these additional facts concerning the Shadow’s disappearance had him curious.
“Cole was my closest friend. We fought alongside each other and governed together with Rome and Bas. I know he’s alive and I want him found. If the lycan and the FBI agent can help me do that, then that’s what will be done. Rome said you were the one to bridge the connection between those above ground and us. He said your extended time above ground and in the human military would work to our advantage should the time arise. Well,” Jace said with a nod. “The time has come.”
That it had, Decan thought as he slowly stood to his feet. The time when he would have to decide whether his own personal goals outweighed a path that might assuage his father. He wanted to answer and to be clear on where he stood at the same time, but something stopped him.
She was on the move.
