Each step Anton took away from Nyx built tension in his chest. There was no physical reason for it. She was safe inside the walls of the main library. Instinct demanded he keep Nyx close, however. He wanted to give in to the powerful drive. Before talking to Kade, he would have. He would’ve twisted the law, ignored his honor, and invited death.
He’d be foolish to think the other Council members wouldn’t join forces to oust him from the top spot. Their unanimous vote against his attempt to protect immature feral shifters proved fear could drive them to unite.
Anton couldn’t take that chance.
Death for a Royal or any female soul-bonded to a Royal was permanent. No rebirth. No second chances. No hope. Anton couldn’t do that to Nyx.
The alternative wasn’t any better. He didn’t know if he could let her go. Even if it was for the best. Heck, he wasn’t sure she would go. The woman chosen to be his appeared determined to fight for him. And that made him feel good, as if he was a king.
There had to be a third option.
Anton jogged down the winding stairs leading into the dungeon. Technically, the term “dungeon” didn’t match the network of natural caves and manmade tunnels hidden deep below the campus, but somewhere along the line, somebody had coined the term. It stuck.
Two Royal feline shifters stood at the entrance to the dungeon. They crossed their shafts over the heavy metal door. The six brothers, along with Tsar, had guarded the dungeon for centuries. The familiarity with Anton didn’t change their routine. They’d been charged with the safekeeping of their treasure by the goddesses themselves. They took their task very seriously.
“Tsar is expecting me.” Anton stopped in front of the brothers.
After a moment, both shifters stepped to the side, allowing Anton entrance. He strode through. He had no patience for small talk or pleasantries today. Nyx waited upstairs.
The hard punch of incense greeted him. His eyes watered. They always did when he entered this room. He never complained. The ritualistic and magical concoction helped preserve the treasures contained within the dungeon.
Anton scanned the main room. There were many important pieces here, including slabs of stone with rudimentary artwork that dated from before the first shifters to exquisite jewelry worn by the goddesses. It’d be easy to get lost among the treasures, studying and admiring them. Not today. There was only one artifact he wanted to see. Tsar kept it locked away. Somewhere. Nobody else knew its secret hiding spot in the maze of tunnels and chambers in the dungeon.
Multiple doors led from this room. Some went to smaller treasure rooms. Others opened to hallways that led to the Yurans’ private chambers. Anton hadn’t seen them all. Tsar had, though. The dungeon belonged to him. He lived here.
Tsar walked through one of the doors with a large metal box in his arms. He glanced from Anton to the main entrance. “Here alone?”
“Of course.” The only other person who would’ve accompanied him into the dungeon was likely dead. Bianca had loved coming here.
Tsar set the box on a wide table, then stared at Anton.
“Is that the book I requested?” Anton motioned to the metal box.
“Yes.” Tsar crossed his arms over his chest. “And I’m not happy about bringing it out of storage again so soon. There are plenty of copies of it. There’s one upstairs. And you have one in your personal library. I don’t know why I need to keep proving to you councilmen that it’s been transcribed correctly.”
“Again?” Anton tensed. “Who else requested to see the original?”
“Brock.” Tsar turned his attention to the combination lock on the box. While not high-tech, the lock was a step up from the leather knots that had been in use when Anton had first joined the Council. “He inspected several of the original books, but this one fascinated him. Or it could be he was drawn to it because his ancestor wrote it. Who knows. He irritated the crap out of me, though. These books shouldn’t be handled. The parchment they’re written on has been out of the heavens too long, but Brock spent hours staring at the text in this book. I finally had to kick him out.”
“What section?” The book contained only two: one detailed the structure of the Council and the other spelled out the Code of Conduct for Council members.
Tsar looked up. “Maybe once you see the condition of these books, you’ll understand why I’m against moving this campus. I don’t care how much safer we’d be in that godforsaken section of Alaska. These books detail our beginnings. They’re precious. It was bad enough we had to bring them over from Europe. I was a freakin’ mess during those months we spent on boats. All I could think about was what would happen if we sank. Everything we’d based our culture on would be gone.”
If Anton had his way, they wouldn’t be moving either. Isolating the Council wasn’t the answer. They had to be accessible to those who needed them, even if his constituents didn’t visit. Other councilmen regularly met with those they represented.
Their treasures, though? Oh yeah, they’d be moving aboveground. One earthquake or flooding in the dungeon could wipe out their history.
“Don’t worry about moving to Alaska, Tsar. We’re looking at other options, including updating the security here on campus.”
Tsar’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah? I thought it was set in stone at this point. They did already break ground on the facility in Alaska.”
“I’m sure we could find some use for those buildings.” And if Anton had his way, the high security complex would house shifters whose lives were in danger. Their abused women and children deserved protection from the culture that had abandoned them.
“Perhaps, but many of the councilmen are looking forward to moving into state-of-the-art homes.”
“Councilmen already get a generous stipend. They can upgrade their homes here.”
“They’ll vote against doing so. Majority rules on the Council.”
Anton didn’t have time for this, but Tsar’s worry bled through his words. The library and these artifacts were his life. “As you said, moving these pieces across country is dangerous. That fact can be used to overrule the other councilmen. Plus, I have plans sitting on my laptop right now for a high-security building here on campus. We’ll bring the pieces aboveground, and we’ll have Shifter Affairs conduct forensics on them before putting them into longtime storage.”
“Forensics?” Tsar slammed his hands on the table. “I refuse to allow anyone to take samples of our treasures. They’re old. Precious. They’re—”
“I’ve already shared with you what Shifter Affairs would do.” Anton spread his fingers on the table to avoid shoving Tsar back. His posture screamed aggression and dominance. Only the fact that Anton wanted to read this book and get back to Nyx stopped him from putting Tsar in his place. “They take pictures, scan with technology that doesn’t disturb the pieces, and if they take samples, they’d be so minute, you’d never be able to tell.”
“Brock didn’t believe such a thing was necessary. We know the history of these pieces.” Tsar waved his hand to encompass the room. “I collected many of them from the original shifters themselves. I am that old. I remember sitting by the fire with the first Yuran, my grandfather. I remember—”
“And I remember the vow I took when I joined the Council—preserve our history, uphold our teachings, honor our beginnings.” Anton matched Tsar’s position and leaned close so they were inches apart. “My fellow Council members will be reminded of this vow during our next meeting. I have quite a few motions to put up for a vote. Moving the artifacts contained in the dungeon to a high-security storage unit is one of them.”
“They’ll vote you down just as they did the last time you brought this up.”
“If they do, the eldest on the Council can overrule them. And now that Brock is dead, that’s me.” Anton took a seat. “Now, what section did Brock stare at?”
Tsar donned white gloves and lifted a book wrapped in linens from the box. With the utmost care, he unfolded the fabric. A trace of herbs and spices wafted from each layer. Anton blinked rapidly, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away despite his watery, burning eyes. The book Tsar was about to reveal would either damn Anton or offer him a loophole to exploit.
A whiff of moonflower clung to the last cloth. Tsar folded it back, exposing the book written by the first Kane alpha. An animal hide with patches of dark gray fur served as the cover. Inside, uneven pieces of parchment were bound with thin loops of leather.
Tsar handed a set of gloves to Anton, then turned the pages. “Brock studied the councilmen’s Code of Conduct and its lifetime rule of service. I think he was looking for a way out of the commitment he made.”
“So he could hunt for his alpha.” Brock had been obsessed with finding Gabriel. The alpha of the Kane pack had been missing for decades.
“Maybe.” Tsar shrugged. “I think his reason was more personal.”
“How so?”
“There are…or were, I should say, three members of the Kane pack—Brock, his alpha Gabriel, and Brock’s twin, Ilan. That was it. If Gabriel ends up getting himself killed, another Kane would have to step up and accept the spirit of the Kane pack. As a Council member, Brock wasn’t eligible. The spirit would have to go to someone else. The only someone else in their pack is Ilan.” Tsar looked pointedly at Anton and smirked. “And as an assassin, Ilan is not the type of man who should become the alpha of a Royal wolf pack.”
“I’ve met Ilan.” Anton pulled on his gloves and leaned over the faded script. “Like most assassins, he’s not evil. He does the job others can’t. I’m sure if he had to, he’d make a fine alpha.”
“Brock didn’t think so.” Tsar laughed. “He’d commented once that he feared his twin would turn their pack into a league of assassins trained from childhood to be killers. Apparently, Ilan is known for selecting young shifters to take under his wing.”
“Really?” Anton carefully turned the page, looking for the clause specifically referring to the councilmen’s code and whether it extended to their possessions. Under their current laws, mates were considered possessions. He could exploit that. If calling Nyx his possession protected her, he’d tattoo his initials on her backside. “I hadn’t known that.”
Tsar’s deep laugh drew Anton’s gaze to the other man. “You don’t pay much attention to your own pride, then, do you?”
Kade’s accusation echoed in Anton’s mind. Anton rarely called home. Or knew the intimate details of his pride members’ lives. Hell, he hadn’t even met the females who’d recently mated into the Alexander pride or any of their youngest members, including Molly. No wonder his pride didn’t visit him. They didn’t know him. “They tell me the important things.”
Tsar held up a hand. “You’re right. Technically, Dante is only an honorary member of your pride, but you must agree, he’s a formidable assassin. Ilan is quite proud of his protégé and spoke about training more young shifters.”
“There are no rules against breeding or training assassins. If Ilan wanted to do that with his pack, then it’s not our place to say no.” Anton glanced up. “As long as their actions didn’t threaten our species or the humans, of course. We have long accepted the need for assassins in our culture.”
“Well, Brock didn’t like the idea. At all.”
“Brock didn’t have a choice.”
“You’re right, but with Gabriel missing, Ilan is the only breeding male left in the Kane pack.” Tsar tapped the open page. “Which is why Brock spent so much time staring at this text outlining the lifetime rule, hoping there was a word translated wrong or something. He wanted to justify leaving his role so he could be in a position to become alpha.”
“Did Brock say that?” Anton couldn’t fathom his fellow councilman contemplating leaving the Council.
“No.” Tsar walked to the door he’d entered through moments before. “Just my guess. After you’ve lived as long as I have, you have a good insight into people. Brock’s motives were personal, just as I’m betting yours are.”
“I’d be careful making assumptions, Tsar. That’s how rumors are started.”
Tsar opened the door. “You’re right, and you better be careful you don’t start any. Some rumors can have deadly consequences.”
The warning tone in Tsar’s voice drew Anton’s baser side to the surface. Anton focused on the other man, using his cats’ instincts to judge him. “What rumors would I be starting?”
“Lots of people have been talking about the little scene yesterday in front of the library with your new secretary. Then you go and kill off her promised mate.” Tsar grinned. He looked from the book on the table to Anton’s face. “Now you’re here studying the page that pertains to the lifetime rule. Put all those things together and you’ve got a juicy rumor in the making.”
“I extended my protection to a female in my employment. Then I killed a coward who planned to use a death collar on the same female.” Anton glanced from Tsar’s face to the book, then back. “Now I’m reading the text you opened this book to. Not the page I selected. Those are the facts. Twisting them into anything else would be a lie, and I know you wouldn’t stoop so low as to make up things that have no basis in facts. Would you, Tsar?”
“I don’t spread rumors. Or make them. But I hear them, Councilman Alexander. And I’m telling you what I just described will be the next one flying around. Someone just needs to connect the dots. And someone will. I guarantee it.”
The door closed, blocking Tsar from view and leaving Anton with the truth. It stared at him from the faded text on the page in front of him.
He was screwed.