Page 28 of A Cougar's Kiss
Fredo had taught her how to cook many things and she knew how to prepare them all in bulk since there were three thousand shifters that lived and ate at Headquarters. These were the ones who were designated as part of the Assembly’s administrative staff, the rest of their population were spread out living in their own bunkers. She had no idea what tune she was humming, but she’d heard it on the television once Gold had gotten it hooked up and she hadn’t been able to get it out of her head.
She mixed ingredients in a big bowl, moving her hips to the rhythm in her head. For a few seconds she just kept going, humming, moving, mixing, and then it occurred to her that she wasn’t in any pain. Not her shoulders or her hips, nothing. She’d shifted earlier, something she hadn’t done in years and had never done unsupervised and she felt just fine. Keller was a very physical fighter teaching her some of the martial art moves he knew and showing her a plethora of defensive maneuvers. She’d learned them, making some mistakes but also catching on quickly. She felt empowered and ready to conquer the world.
Until she heard Gold cursing loud and strong enough to blister even Cam’s ears and he was known to have a potty mouth. Keller had been in another room, but he came into the kitchen seconds later.
“I don’t know,” she said when he looked questioningly at her.
“Kel, man, you gotta come see this,” Gold called from the other room.
Something about the tone of his voice had Shya putting the spoon down and wiping her hands on a dish towel. She fell into step beside Keller as he moved into the room. Gold and Zion were staring at the television screen as if they thought a shifter was going to jump out of it at any second. When Shya heard the next words her attention immediately went to the screen as well.
“The Oasis Treaty is an agreement discussed, negotiated and agreed upon by a body of thirty world leaders, politicians, military personnel and journalists—humans and shifters.”
“Uncle Rome.” The words were a whisper that she didn’t think anybody else heard. They were all looking at the television, but she read the banner scrolling across the bottom of the screen that announced this was a video replay of Roman Reynolds, Shadow Shifter Assembly Leader and someone standing to his left named Blaez Trekas.
“The Shadow Shifters will live alongside the humans across the world and will be protected by the stipulations outlined in this treaty. Anyone knowingly breaking this agreement will be punished to the full extent of the New World Law. From this moment on, all SIC camps will be dismantled and anyone being held captive will be released. If at the end of seven days this has not happened and a SIC camp is discovered by any law enforcement officer, it will be reported and forcefully dismantled and the ones in command of such facility will be punished. War was never our intention, peace was always the plan. Now is the time for humans and Shadow Shifters to prove that they can not only live in peace, but that they can co-exist and prosper.”
Lights flashed as Rome stood behind a podium with the combined tribal insignia of the Shadow Shifters on the front.
“All questions can be directed to Priya Perry, Assembly Public Relations via the email you’ll find printed on your copy of the Oasis Treaty. Thank you and may God bless the United New World.”
“Sonofabitch!” Gold cursed.
“Well, I definitely didn’t see that coming,” Zion chimed in.
Keller’s expression was unreadable but there was something about his scent. Earlier today they’d spent a brief time talking about scents and relating them to emotions, personalities and perceived actions of a human or shifter. All she had to do was find the scent and focus, it would tell her all she needed to know. With her fingers clenched at her side she stared back at him, inhaling slowly but deeply, letting the scent filter through her nostrils. Cinnamon.
It meant nothing on the scale of telling her about someone’s feelings or intent. But it was there and it was strong, so strong she felt like it might have been coming from her as well. There was a saying that you could scent yourself before smelling another person, well, with each inhale that spicy sweet scent grew stronger, until it was all she could focus on.
“Did you know?”
Those three words slapped against her jolting Shya out of the intense exploration of the cinnamon scent she’d been gripped in.
“What?”
“Did you know they were doing this? When I approached you yesterday, Cam and Haven were talking to you about a big meeting that was taking place yesterday afternoon. Did you go to that meeting?”
“No,” she replied even though she was certain she didn’t like his tone, any more than she liked the way Gold was now looking at her as well. “I didn’t even know about the meeting until Haven and Cam told me about it. I’m not usually on the guest list for such things.”
“We both know that doesn’t stop you from knowing stuff. And if you knew about this, if you knew they were planning to make a comeback like this, you need to tell me right now.”
His tone and demeanor had changed. His legs were slightly spread, his eyes almost glowing. Rage. She didn’t smell it because she could feel it emanating from him.
“What difference does it make? You were planning a comeback too, weren’t you? Isn’t that what this place is all about? Bringing the shifters back above ground. So now, he’s done it and you can get on with your work.” She didn’t understand what the problem was, but she knew without a doubt there was one.
“Twenty years,” Gold muttered. “Twenty years he kept them under ground to turn around and do this.”
“Am I the only one who thinks “this” is a good thing?”
Keller stepped to her then, his eyes searching her for something she didn’t know she possessed. She was just about to open her mouth and ask what when Jordin ran into the room.
“We’ve got a big problem right outside the gates!”
She made the announcement and then turned around and ran out of the room. Gold followed her without sparing Shya another glance. Keller hesitated and she held her breath waiting for what he was going to say. He abandoned the effort and ran out of the room. Shya followed them.
* * *
Three dead bodies were outside the gate that surrounded the building. They were lined up next to each other, their throats ripped out, and blood gushing onto the sidewalk.
