Gods, I hate cities.
Outside the windows of the sterile, chemically scented building, the roar of traffic, horns and sirens, and the babble and shouting of humans never stopped. There were people everywhere.
A week. Niall scrubbed his hands over his face. He’d endured almost an entire fucking week of being in Calgary, only returning home to Glenbeinne on Tuesday night to see his brothers, then last night for the full moon. That was way too much city for any Daonain.
How often had he been tempted to shift to cougar and start shredding noisy humans?
He glanced down at the computer monitor. Finally. Here was an end in sight.
Really, he loved his work. What could be more fun than tracking down how someone stole a high-tech company’s specifications on a new military drone?
Trouble was, he’d prefer to work in the silence of his own home.
Ah, well. “Trevor, come and look at this code.”
The new grad hurried over. “What’d you find?”
Niall ran a finger over the suspect lines on the display.
“Whoa, score!” The skinny young human bounced like he’d caught a breakfast bunny. “Jesus, I don’t think I’d have caught the redirect.” His gaze held more than a hint of hero-worship.
Sydney hurried over. The blonde was the other rookie Niall was mentoring this week. It was the new hires’ first official job.
Lucky me.
Actually, he’d had fun teaching the two youngsters. They were good kids, bright and enthusiastic.
Reading the lines of code, Sydney gasped. “It’s a jump to a different subroutine.”
“Exactly. Next step is to find the subroutine and what it does.” But not today. Niall pushed his chair back and stood up.
Sydney looked up at him, eyes wide. “I still can’t get over how big you are. It’s like working with the Witcher. Only you have better hair.”
A foot taller, he looked down at her and snorted. Young things. “Good to hear.”
Trevor waved his hand to get attention. “Okay, so if we—”
Hunter of the forest, give me patience. “Trevor.” Niall set a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “It’s seven o’clock on a Friday night. Time to quit. You two head back to your flat, and I’ll meet you here on Monday.”
Both stared at him in open shock.
“No way,” Trevor shook his head vigorously. “We’re onto the problem. It’s—”
Why the fuck wasn’t Niall’s littermate here? André knew how to say no diplomatically. Niall, being a cahir, far preferred direct action like breaking spines and disemboweling opponents.
Thumping new hires wasn’t considered acceptable.
Use your words, Niall.
“No.”
They waited for him to say more.
So he elaborated. “Go home.”
No matter how eager these cubs were, if he had to stay in the city one minute longer, he’d go feral and bite someone.
This is far enough. In the dense forest, Heather pushed past thick bushes into a small space. She turned in a circle, seeing only leaves. She listened, hearing only the wind in the evergreens and a distant trickle of water. She sniffed. The sharp resinous tang of conifers and the dry dusty fragrance of the needles underfoot. Good enough.
After stripping, she bagged her clothes and car keys, tying them up in a tree.
In her mind, she turned toward the back and the door. Mentally pulling it open, she stepped through into the blinding glow.
Tingles ran over her body as she shifted, falling forward onto her front paws. As with all trawsfurs, the encompassing warmth of the Mother swept up from the earth, filling her with love. The memory of her own mother sent grief right after it.
Mama had given the best hugs.
I’d wanted to do the same for my own babies. But her dream wasn’t to be, was it?
Instead…instead, she had work to do. With a disgruntled whine, she shook her thick wolf’s fur to escape the lingering tingles of her shift. A few blinks let her eyes adjust to the ground being several feet closer. Her ears automatically perked forward, catching the sounds her human ears couldn’t hear.
The first few seconds of a trawsfur were a sensory overload, especially when it came to her nose. Everything had a scent.
Pushing out of the bushes, she started down the animal trail. The thick duff of the path was soft and cool beneath her paws. She caught the tantalizing scent of deer, then the more pungent stink of dung left by a bear.
Far, far away, she could see the sparkle of snow on the higher peaks. Her goal.
Herne and the Mother of All didn’t have phones, didn’t get letters, didn’t live anywhere on this planet or dimension or wherever.
Only the Cosantirs had an open line to the Gods. The rest of the Daonain had to work to gain their attention, like a loudly squeaking mouse might catch a human’s notice.
According to the Elders, there was only one way for a normal shifter to make a request. The body’s needs must be burned away until nothing but will remained. High in the mountains, a focused spirit would be a glowing beacon for the Gods. However, exhausted, starving, dehydrated—it was easy for a shifter to make a fatal mistake.
A growl escaped her. The territory must be made safe for cubs.
She would do this.
Tail up, ears pointed forward, she set off at the trot a wolf could keep up for hours. Or, in this case, days.
Thank fuck, I’m home.
Two hours later, in Glenbeinne, their tiny human-shifter town nestled in the Canadian Rockies, Niall unfolded out of his pickup and stretched. To eradicate the city stink, he pulled in a big breath. He could smell someone’s fresh-cut lawn, the aroma of basil and garlic from the Mancinis down the street, and the sweetness of late-blooming roses next door. His favorite flower.
Yeah, he was home and not in that putrid city teeming with humans.
He didn’t hate people; he just didn’t want them around most of the time. And spending a week in Calgary—all humans, all the time?
Just claw me now.
André’s SUV was still gone, but Madoc’s was in the drive. Good enough. Unlike strangers, his littermates weren’t abrasive, and they knew when to leave him alone.
Gods, I really need to be alone for a while.
Then a car pulled in behind his, and Jillian jumped out, cell phone in one hand. The female didn’t eschew human technology. It’d been one of the reasons she’d attracted him at the Gathering last night. “Niall, you’re here!”
However…he hadn’t given her his number or his address. “Jillian. What are you doing here?”
She tucked her phone away and lunged forward to hug him. “I wanted to see you. We had so much fun last night.”
“The effect of the full moon.” Rather than hugging her back, he put his hands on her shoulders and gently, but firmly, moved her back.
“But…I like you.” She brightened. “We should go out. Do something fun.”
“No.” He’d barely spoken to her last night. She didn’t know him well enough to like him or not. It appeared Jillian was another of the females who chased the Gods-called.
Her showing up at his house wasn’t welcome in the least.
“Jillian, we had fun at the Gathering. I’m sorry, but I have no interest in more.”
At her unhappy expression, guilt poked at him like a gnome with a stick, then he suppressed it. Back when he was newly called to be a cahir, he hadn’t understood how females might want him just for his status or his genes. His littermates had talked him through several heartbreaks before he wised up.
Now, other than mating at the mandatory Gatherings, he kept his distance.
“But…but I’m sure we’re destined to be mates.”
Sure we are. He stepped away from her. “I don’t want a mate, Jillian, and neither do my littermates. Go home.”
Inside the living room, Madoc spotted Niall and a female outside.
Another female.
Shaking his head, Madoc settled down in his oversized chair and rested his legs on the leather ottoman. By Herne’s holy antlers, his feet hurt. Why did restaurant kitchens have such hard floors?
He couldn’t wait to get his paws onto soft forest trails for a week or so.
Outside, a car door slammed loudly enough to reveal the female’s emotions.
His poor brother. Despite having learned to say no to unwanted attention, Niall still felt guilty after each incident. The poor cahir could kill a feral shifter with less remorse than telling a female he wasn’t interested.
Brows pulled together, Niall padded inside the house. He and André were both cougars and never made any noise—unlike Madoc.
After fetching a beer, Niall took his usual chair, one as big as Madoc’s. “I feel like I kicked a puppy.”
Madoc raised his bottle. “You did good, bro. Shake off the guilt…unless you invited her here?”
“Not hardly.”
Madoc almost laughed. Females never seemed to realize some cahirs weren’t sociable. His littermate could go for days without seeing another person and be perfectly happy.
This female had probably hoped to be invited into the house in hopes Niall’s brothers would also fall for her. Females were rarely invited to move in unless all littermates were interested.
Considering how different Madoc, Niall, and André were, they’d never find a female they’d all agree on. Madoc didn’t mind. The last thing he wanted was a female in his life.
Sure, he knew—in his head—not all females were dishonorable. Some had integrity. Loyalty. Steadfastness. His heart disagreed.
Niall rubbed his face, his color paler than normal.
“You look rough. Did Calgary get to you?”
“Major, yeah.” Niall shook his head. “I fucking hate cities.”
“How’d you get stuck with cub-sitting anyway?” As a cook in human restaurants, Madoc was used to working with young adults. But Niall normally worked alone. These human younglings had probably come as a shock.
“The person who mentors new hires had hip surgery, and the manager dumped the job on me.”
“You poor bugger.” Madoc chuckled. “Are the newbies competent?”
“Aye, they’re talented. Barely twenty-two years old and all enthusiasm about their first project.” Niall’s slow smile appeared. “They’re cute as baby salamanders in their first fire. By the God, they wanted to work the rest of the night. I had to order them to go home.”
Madoc grinned. “Because you needed to get your tail out of the city?” In all reality, it was good Niall had left. Cahirs didn’t do well away from the Gods’ territory, let alone being surrounded by metal and concrete.
“I really did.” Niall scowled. “I found the first piece of code inserted by the thief, but it’ll take hours to dig the rest out. I’ll have to return there on Monday.”
“Monday in the city.” Madoc shook his head. “Sucks to be you.”
Niall gave him a sour look and drank more beer.
“You hungry?” When his brother’s eyes lit, Madoc rose and headed for the kitchen.
Niall followed, taking a seat at the island. “What’re you doing home anyway? Don’t you have work?”
“The restaurant’s getting remodeled, so everyone’s off for ten days.” Madoc gave his brother an assessing look. Yeah, he’d lost a few pounds while in Calgary. Meat and potatoes, then, for a good helping of calories.
He tossed a thick steak under the broiler. The potato salad he’d made yesterday would work, and he’d add a sliced tomato for an added vegetable. “I came home to change, then I’m heading up to Jasper. Fur and four feet. Fresh fish and clean air.”
Banff National Park was closer, but Jasper had far fewer tourists.
“Sounds perfect.” Niall finished off his beer. “Is André going with you?”
“No. He’s at a law enforcement conference in Vancouver, remember?”
“Yeah. I forgot, eh?” Niall ran his finger around the top of the beer bottle. “Did he make a decision on what to do next?”
“Not that he said.” Madoc slapped the very rare steak onto the plate and set it in front of Niall.
As his brother enthusiastically dug in, Madoc smiled. Feeding people made him happy as a bear cub in a berry patch.
As for André… Tapping his fingers on the island, Madoc tried to order his thoughts. “He doesn’t want paperwork and keeps turning down desk jobs, which means he does mostly enforcement. What he should look for is a job where he can work with people—not arrest them.”
Niall’s brows drew together, then he nodded. “You might be right. Let’s tackle him together to consider something outside of law enforcement.”
Madoc grinned. It’d take them both to out-talk André. Their brother had skills. “Next time we’re all home, we’ll give it a shot.”
Pulling out a notepad, Madoc scrawled out a note with a detailed description of his plans for Jasper. After an idiot hunter had winged André one deer season, they’d started leaving information before heading into the forests.
Finished, he set a saltshaker on the paper. “You should join me this weekend.”
“I might.” Niall tipped his head back with a sigh. “More tech than trails makes for an unhappy shifter.”
Madoc tossed the beer bottles into the recycle bin. “The place I’m going has some fine trout.”
“Trout, eh? So…how can a bear catch fish without a pole?”
For fuck’s sake. “Don’t you get start—”
Snickering, Niall finished, “They use their bear hands.”
After swatting his gnome-brained brother off the stool, Madoc headed for his bedroom. Fifteen more minutes and he’d be on his way to the wilderness.
A couple of hours later, the loud ring of Niall’s cell was a jarring sound in the silent house.
He eyed the phone. Ignore it? No, it might be André or Madoc.
Rising, he crossed the room and checked the display. Trevor—one of the two rookies he was mentoring. “Yeah.”
“Criminy, Niall, Jesus, you won’t believe what we found!” Trevor was so frantic his voice squeaked like a squirrel plucked off a branch by a hungry hawk.
“Found?” How could they find anything? They’d left the company when he had.
“Um, yes. I mean, you know, the code. We couldn’t wait. We brought copies home. And the subroutine pointed us right to the leak!”
Cubs. Niall gazed at the ceiling in exasperation. “Go on.”
“Their subroutine automatically emails copies of research data. Sydney researched the destination URL and traced it to a local company.” Trevor was almost shouting. “But listen to this! The company is under investigation for ties to terrorists.”
Terrorists? Fear blasted an icy bullet through Niall’s tranquil night. Whoever had inserted the code into the software had been damned competent. Surely, they’d set up flags in case their tweaks were discovered? “Tell me you’re doing your research from an anonymous location. An internet café or—”
There was a pause. “Uh, we’re at our apartment. Why?” The cubs shared a cheap flat near the downtown area.
“Okay, then I want you to—”
“I know, I know,” Trevor said impatiently. “We already forwarded everything to CSIS and you.”
Gods, no. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service was an excellent start—but the younglings’ information might not be seen for hours.
Niall growled under his breath. They were as clueless as cubs after First Shift. “Trevor, hackers often set flags in case someone cracks their code. And after that, they’ll have several ways to find your location. You two get to somewhere safe—a police station or a hotel or a friend’s house. Then let me know where you are. I’m on my way.”
“Seriously? Why—”
Niall’s snarl silenced the youngling. “Do it now.”
The two-hour drive southeast to Calgary seemed to last forever. Niall’s worry increased as the minutes ticked by.
Once in the city, he felt concern crawl up his spine. Why hadn’t Trevor called with their new location? He dialed the boy, then Sydney. Both calls went to voicemail.
With a grunt of irritation, he tossed the cell phone onto the passenger seat and stepped on the gas. Young humans. He’d tear them a new one if they were ignoring his calls.
Just be all right so I can yell at you.
After parking in a lot half a block away from the younglings’ building, he jumped out of his pickup and heard fire alarms.
Fuck. Slamming the door, he sprinted down the street to their building.
Residents were streaming out the door. The cubs weren’t in the crowd.
He raced to the back of the building. No scent of the younglings.
Growling at a human who blundered into his way, he pushed through people exiting through the back door, then ran up to the second floor.
Their door was locked. Not too hot, though.
He kicked it in.
Smoke rolled out, along with the tang of fresh blood. Fire burned in the corners. More flames climbed the curtains and over the furniture. Trevor’s body lay on a burning couch.
Niall pulled him off and saw his throat had been cut.
Ah, gods, why? Grief was a hard stabbing pain. Turning, he looked around for the girl. One by one, he checked the rooms, stopping only to cough. The smoke was growing thicker.
Sydney lay in a bedroom. The fire scorching the mattress hadn’t reached her lifeless body yet.
Tears burned his eyes. This was all wrong. They were so young. Barely out of the kitten years.
What kind of species kills its own young?
Fury mingled with anguish—and guilt. If he’d stayed in the city and kept a closer eye on them, this wouldn’t have happened.
This is my fault.
And the fault of the terrorists. By the Gods, they would not survive this kind of travesty.
He returned to the bodies, sniffing, taking in scents from Sydney’s arms, from Trevor’s shoulders. The three killers were male and had held the kids in place to kill them. Their smells lacked the fragrance of the wild. Humans.
The smoke and heat grew intolerable. There was nothing left to do here.
He reached for his cell phone to report the murders, but…
Herne help him, he’d left his phone and wallet in the half-ton. Someone else would have to report this.
Once outside, Niall pulled in hard breaths of the somewhat cleaner air. In the distance, he heard sirens. The firefighters would be here shortly.
Slowly, he sifted through the scents of the crowd on the sidewalk. The killers weren’t present.
As he turned to leave, the wind shifted, and he caught the scent of his prey coming from farther away. He closed his mouth to muffle the snarl rising in his chest.
Over there… Three men stood just inside a shadowy alley between one apartment building and another. Watching what they’d done.
Keeping his gaze on them, he cracked his neck.
Time to hunt.
Mustn’t give the prey any warning. He’d attack from the rear. So he turned and strolled away from them. Once out of sight, he jogged around the building to the other end of the alley they stood in.
Silently, he snuck up behind them.
A blow to the back of the neck knocked one out, a punch to the side of the head dropped the second man.
Niall kicked the third, and the sound of ribs breaking was a muffled crunch. Good, this one was still awake.
Grabbing their jackets, Niall dragged all three behind a row of garbage bins.
“What…” Holding his ribs, the one still awake gasped, “Who—”
“Let’s talk.” Wishing he had the mind powers of a Cosantir, Niall started the questioning, ignoring the way his gut clenched. He was a cahir, a protector. Hurting someone was…wrong.
It would also be wrong to leave murderers free to prey on the innocent. Think of them as ferals, cahir.
The man confessed as did the other two when they roused. Before he returned them to whatever gods humans worshipped, they gave him the location of those who’d ordered Trevor’s and Sydney’s deaths. Apparently, the terrorists were selling the stolen drone information for weaponry. At a warehouse near the edge of the city. Tonight.
After the exchange, the terrorists planned to relocate since Trevor and Sydney had revealed their existence.
But at this moment in time? Both terrorists and buyers would be at the warehouse.
Perfect.
The murderers’ vehicle was parked by the trash bins, keys in the ignition. Niall tossed their bodies into the trunk. He’d drive their car to the warehouse and wipe it down. After dealing out justice, he’d head into the forests.
If he survived.
There would be no added strength from Herne for this battle. The God would not be with him here in this concrete jungle and not while seeking justice for humans.
Nonetheless, the terrorists would rue rousing the ire of a cahir.
He had failed to protect younglings entrusted to his care. Trevor. Sydney. He saw them again, faces filled with laughter, with enthusiasm, then all animation dissolved in death.
They had been murdered…and this would be more than vengeance. The Law of Reciprocity demanded payment for the lives cut short.
Maybe the gods of the humans would accept his offering.
By his hand, the terrorists would come to an end and take no more lives.