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When Vasily was crowned, many of Callistoya’s subjects were outraged. They had been convinced that Ged, their true king, was still alive. Vasily had used the death of Alyona against him. On the night of the massacre, Alyona had been found dead in Ged’s bed. She had been strangled before a silver knife was plunged into her heart. If Ged was such a hero, Vasily asked, why had he deserted his betrothed in her hour of need? Or was the truth more sinister? Was Ged the person responsible for her death? Had he killed the others to cover up for his guilt? If he was innocent, why hadn’t he come back to Callistoya to clear his name? The whispering campaign had filtered throughout the kingdom until a seed of doubt had been planted against the man whose name, until then, had stood for honor and decency.
Ged’s uncle, Eduard Tavisha, now the leader of the resistance, had done his best to end any speculation about Vasily’s claim to the throne. The matter was simple. Ged was the king. Next in the line of succession was his younger brother, Andrei. After him, there was a cousin. No matter how much noise Vasily the Usurper made, he was no relation to the Tavisha family. He had no right to the crown.
Vasily had greeted Eduard’s proclamation with rage. Ged had confirmed his unsuitability to be king by fleeing like a dog with his tail between his legs, he declared. Only Vasily’s own strength of character had saved the day when he stepped in and took over. Since most people knew he had been behind the massacre, his protestations, far from fooling anyone, only made the situation worse. Seeking a way to strengthen his position, his gaze had turned to an alliance with the noble house of Rihanoff.
Looking back, Lidi supposed she could have dealt with Vasily’s proposal more diplomatically. He was known for his vindictive nature and her point-blank refusal had provoked an angry response. Determined to get her to change her mind, Vasily had tried persuasion, moved on to threats, and ended by throwing Lidi and her father, the Count of Aras, into prison.
“I know he sent them,” she said in reply to Ged’s question. Vasily was cruel as well as vengeful. He would have her followed to the ends of the earth rather than allow her to escape him.
“If his men have been trailing you, why have they waited until now to attempt to capture you? It would have been easier to do it when you were alone and on the road.”
“Who knows? Maybe they wanted to find out where I was going. Once they knew I was with you, it would have changed everything.” She squared her shoulders, feeling the pull as she moved her injured arm. “There is only one way to find out.”
He was staring at her in that disconcerting way he had. As though he was looking through her, seeing something in her that captivated him. It was the look every woman should want from a man. If she wanted a man...
“Are your friends really big-cat shifters?” She attempted to deflect his attention by glancing at the two men who were still standing near the door.
“Ah, hell. I’d forgotten we weren’t alone.” He ran a hand through his hair. “How do you do that, Lidi? How do you make me lose sight of everything except you?”
“It’s not deliberate.” Without thinking, she reached up a hand and brushed back the lock of hair that had flopped onto his forehead. “And it’s mutual.”
Touching him only confirmed what she already knew. Heat pulsed through her at the brief connection, and she saw Ged’s eyes widen. There was no escaping this attraction between them. Unwanted and inconvenient, it was burning them both up.
He caught hold of her hand, his strong fingers wrapping around hers. The delicious tingling sensations continued, but his touch grounded her. For the first time since her mother had walked away, she felt safe and protected with another person.
“We have to go.” The regret in his eyes matched her own. Taking a breath, he turned to his friends. “Khan, Diablo...this is Lidi. She’s coming with us.”
She could see the interest in their eyes as they looked at her, particularly when their eyes dropped to take in their clasped hands.
Khan smiled at her. “Nice to meet you, Lidi. Now can we please go and kick some bear butt?”
Diablo clapped a hand to his forehead with a groan. “One day, Khan will think before he speaks. Sadly, I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon.”
Khan was protesting in an undertone as they headed toward the door. “What did I say?”
“First impressions count. You just sounded like you were excited about kicking naked asses.”
Khan gave a snort of laughter. As Ged opened the door, his mood changed, becoming instantly serious. They made their way along the corridor in silence. Although her own body was on high alert, Lidi was also aware of the coiled strength of her companions. They were a team, communicating in gestures and eye movements. She had engaged in coaching sessions with the Aras guards, and her training had been rigorous and demanding. Even so, she sensed something in this group went beyond her experiences. She had always felt there was an element missing from her instruction, a higher level that remained stubbornly out of her reach. Now she was witnessing it, and it had nothing to do with experience or skill. It was about trust. These men knew they could count on each other, no matter what.
They avoided the main staircase, heading instead for a door marked Réservé au personnel. Ged took the lead as they went down the stairs. Lidi was behind him with Khan next and Diablo at the rear. When they reached the second floor, a man was waiting for them. Although Lidi tensed for action, she recognized him. He was the guy who had tried to stop her from getting to Ged when she climbed into the hotel. She recalled that just after she had broken free of his grasp and kicked him, Ged had called him Rick.
Rick’s eyes flickered briefly to her face and he rubbed his chest reminiscently, but he gave no other sign that he knew her.
“Did you get a plan of the first floor?” Ged spoke in a low voice.
“Yeah. There is a storage room behind the kitchens. It has no windows, so no one can see in, and Torque has shut down the security cameras. If you can get these guys in there, you will be out of sight of the rest of the hotel. There is also an exit that leads to a delivery area, so I can bring a vehicle to the door and...uh, dispose of any evidence.”
Ged placed a hand on his shoulder. “Good work. I need you to direct us to this room and then get the hell out of the way. This will be messy.”
Lidi understood what he meant. His friend was a human and he didn’t want him caught up in the middle of a shifter fight. She knew her world was unique. Callistoya was inhabited by bear shifters, and diversity had barely touched their magical realm. It was only since her escape that she had encountered humans. Of course, since she was half-human herself, their ways, although occasionally unusual, weren’t completely strange to her. The biggest difference was when it came to combat. Then, of course, a human didn’t stand a chance against a shifter.
Rick accompanied them down the remaining stairs. As they drew closer to the lobby, they could hear noises. It sounded like the intruders were trying everything they could to gain access to the upper floors.
“They haven’t figured out yet that the system has been overridden,” Diablo murmured. “The locks have been disabled, and they could just walk through.”
“What are they saying?” Khan asked. “It sounds like they’re speaking Russian.”
Lidi turned to look at Ged, the only other person who could understand what the men were saying. She saw his face tighten with anger as he listened to the furious comments of Vasily’s men.
“Close,” Ged said. “It’s the language of Callistoya, their homeland. They’re know Lidi is here and they’re trying to find a way to get to her.” He gestured to the door. “Let’s go.”
They stepped into the foyer together and Lidi took a moment to view the damage. It looked like a hurricane had blown through the building. Furniture had been overturned and ripped apart as though a child had thrown a tantrum and destroyed its dollhouse. Ruined light fixtures dangled from the vaulted ceiling, and the doors on one of the elevators were hanging half-off. As they moved stealthily toward them, two of the intruders were using a table as a battering ram, attempting to pound their way into a room that Lidi guessed must be the manager’s office.
Close to the entrance, two figures lay on the floor, their uniforms soaked with blood. Lidi couldn’t see any signs of life from either of them. Nearby, a woman was curled in a fetal position with her hands over her head.
Ged moved forward, drawing the attention of the intruders. All four of them turned their way. One man lunged toward Lidi, his hand reaching for her arm, but Ged stepped between them.
“Touch her and you die.” There was no doubt about it. Ged meant what he said.
The other man’s lips drew back in a snarl. “She is the reason we are here. She is an escaped criminal and our orders are to return her to justice.”
“On whose authority?”
“I am Pyotr. I act on behalf of King Vasily of Callistoya.”
Ged drew himself up to his full, impressive height. “You have been misinformed, my friend. There is only one king of Callistoya...and you’re looking at him.”
Chapter 4
There is only one king of Callistoya and you’re looking at him.
As he spoke the words, Ged’s well-laid schemes came crashing down around him. As he faced Pyotr and Vasily’s other thugs, he knew the truth. He couldn’t stay away. The crown of Callistoya belonged to him, and no matter what he had to do, he would return and find a way to wrest it from Vasily so he could wear it with pride.
He had a moment or two for that thought to register before Pyotr shifted. Lightning fast, Ged gave a signal to his companions. There were a lot of myths around shifting, many of them originating in the books and movies of human culture. It wasn’t a long, protracted and painful process. Shifting was as natural as breathing. It was about reaching deep inside and finding the inner animal, then relaxing into those memories and muscles. For Ged, it was a split second in which he closed his eyes as a human and opened them as a huge Callistoyan bear. Shrugging aside the remnants of the clothing he hadn’t had time to remove, he rose onto his hind legs.
In the wild, bears avoided fighting. Armed with tremendous strength, large claws and teeth like knives, they were wise enough to know they could inflict severe injuries on each other.
To avoid physical conflict, bears used vocalization and posturing to demonstrate their dominance and intimidate an opponent. This allowed them to establish a hierarchy within which they could interact without violence. A bear’s place in the social structure was based on its size, strength, age and disposition.
As the two groups faced each other, it was apparent Ged had the advantage. He was the alpha, towering over the others, his superiority obvious. They should have bowed before him. But this wasn’t a forest and they weren’t fighting over a mate, or a kill. They were shifters, not wild bears. They retained an element of their human senses even in their bear form, and Vasily’s men were here on a mission—one that didn’t allow them to back down.
Even Lidi, who should have been subordinate to each of the males present, had an agenda that suppressed her bear instincts. Instead of signaling her subservience, her stance was combative. Standing tall, with her head held high and her golden eyes alert, she was the most beautiful sight Ged had ever seen.
Although there was nothing he’d rather do more than spend time admiring Lidi, either in human or bear form, there were more urgent matters to take care of right now. If his opponents were surprised to be faced with a tiger and a panther as well as two bears, they didn’t show it. As they charged forward, it was clear they were used to fighting as a unit.
Bring it on.
The lobby was filled with the sounds of claws scrabbling on marble, deep bear grunts and harsher cat cries as solid, muscular bodies connected. Ged squared up to Pyotr. His aim, as always in a bear fight, was to bring his adversary down. Once a bear was on the ground, it was easily defeated. Using his superior height to his advantage, he lunged, striking out with his huge claws. The blow caught Pyotr behind his ear, slicing through thick fur and connecting with flesh.
Pyotr staggered back but retaliated with a smack to the side of Ged’s head that made his ears ring. It shouldn’t have happened. Pyotr was an inferior opponent, but Ged’s attention was divided between his own struggle and what was going on with Lidi. His protective instincts were overriding his self-preservation, placing him in unnecessary danger.
What had he been thinking of? Allowing her to get involved in this brawl was madness. Even though she clearly knew how to handle herself in a fight, she was much smaller and lighter than the other shifters. As he dug his claws into the flesh of Pyotr’s shoulder, drawing him closer in preparation for a bite, Ged risked another glance in Lidi’s direction.
He saw at once that there was nothing to worry about. Her speed and agility were astounding, making everyone around her—even Khan and Diablo—appear slow and lumbering in comparison. Relying on tactics that were unusual for a bear, she dodged the swipes of her much larger foe, ducking under his huge paw and emerging behind him to deliver her own hits. It was working. Ged could see blood staining the other bear’s fur and heard his growls of frustration.
Conscious that at any minute the manager’s door could open, the guests could defy the instruction to stay in their rooms or the police might decide to act, Ged knew they had to move the action away from the public space. He pulled Pyotr to him and sank his teeth into the other bear’s shoulder. The temptation to rip into him and finish it there and then was overwhelming, but bear entrails in the lobby? Try explaining that to a forensics team.
Instead, he hauled Pyotr in the direction of the kitchens, trusting his companions to accompany him. From the noise level just behind him, he guessed they had followed his lead.
Once they were inside the storage room, Pyotr sensed what was happening and knew he only had one chance. Lowering his head, he charged at Ged’s midsection with his teeth bared. It was a brave move, but Ged had seen it before. Pyotr was expecting him to drop to all fours to protect his belly, at which point the other bear would tip him over. Instead, Ged waited until the last moment, just before Pyotr’s lethal teeth connected with his flesh. Then he gripped the other shifter and, using his monumental strength, flipped him onto his back.
Surprise registered in the depths of Pyotr’s eyes as Ged placed both paws on his chest. The final move was swift and brutal. With his thorax crushed, Pyotr was dead within seconds, leaving Ged free to help his friends. Although, as he drew himself up to his full height once more, it looked like his companions were doing just fine on their own.
Khan, the deadliest weretiger of them all, had one of the bear shifters cornered. Ged recognized his friend’s stance. From the way Khan’s huge fangs were bared and he was poised to crouch, he was going in for the kill. In another corner of the room, Diablo was shaking another of the intruders around like a rag doll.
That left Lidi. She was still facing up to her massive challenger with a dexterity and bravery that astounded him. With jaws snapping and claws slashing, they were engaged in a classic bear fight, but, as Ged watched, the large male raised a paw and slammed Lidi against the wall. With a snort of rage, Ged made a move to intervene.
Before he could get there, Lidi was springing back from the tiled surface. As the male swung at her, she ducked low and came up at his side, dealing him a blow in the kidneys that made him howl. When he reached for her, she slipped behind him. In a move that made Ged’s lips twitch into an appreciative smile, she hurled herself onto the other bear’s back, clinging on as she clamped her jaws onto the tender flesh between his neck and shoulder.
Maybe Lidi didn’t need his help after all. She hung on with her claws and teeth as her adversary tried everything to dislodge her. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was effective. Blood sprayed onto the walls until, eventually, Lidi’s victim dropped to the floor. When she released her grip, he twitched a few times, then became completely still.
Khan and Diablo had both won their fights. They moved into place, standing one on each side of Ged as he shifted back. A swift glance around the small storage room was enough to confirm that he had no need of their protection. All four intruders lay lifeless on the tiles. The two werecats followed Ged’s lead and shifted into human form.
“Bears.” Khan shook his head as he viewed the bodies. “Stubborn as hell. They never know when it’s in their interests to surrender.”
Lidi hadn’t shifted, and with a flash of insight, Ged recognized the reason. In her homeland of Callistoya, there was no shame in making the transition from bear to human. Being naked in front of others was an accepted part of a shifter’s life. But this wasn’t her homeland, and she didn’t know him and his friends. Keeping her head low, she moved restlessly from foot to foot, the classic sign of a bear in distress.
Slightly bemused that he was already so in tune with her emotions, Ged cast a quick look around. The storage room looked like a scene from a horror movie and they needed to move fast. These bear shifters were dead in the true sense of the word, but only silver could truly destroy their souls. The final kindness to a defeated enemy was to finish them in the manner of a true warrior. That meant decapitating them with a silver sword, the handle of which had been specially adapted so that the person who wielded it could do so without being poisoned. No one said being a shifter was easy.
Then, of course, would come the task of getting rid of the bear bodies and cleaning up. Modesty should be a long way down the list of priorities. But this was Lidi and she needed his help.
“Find something so we can cover ourselves.” He jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen.
Khan blinked at him. “Are you crazy?”
“Do it.” Ged wasn’t in the mood for a debate.
Shrugging, Khan went through to the kitchen. When he returned, he had several white aprons over one arm and a scowl on his face. “If a picture of me wearing one of these ends up on the internet—”
“Quit griping and put it on.” Diablo was already tying one of the garments around his waist. “If Ged wants us to do it, it’s done.”
Ged gave him a grateful look before placing an apron close to Lidi. “Now turn your backs.”
“You’ve got to be...” Khan caught a glimpse of Ged’s expression and held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay. Okay.” Obediently, he turned to face the wall opposite Lidi. “What is this?” His whisper to Diablo was just audible. “We’re all shifters. Nudity is part of the deal.”
“Stop being such a tiger. Just for once,” Diablo growled back.
Ged could hear Lidi moving around behind them.
“I’m decent.” Her voice was gruff, and when he turned, her cheeks were bright pink. The apron she was wearing was too big and she’d wrapped it tight around her, tying it so it covered her whole body, back and front. Hanging her head, she scuffed the floor with one bare foot. “Sorry.”
Following on from her strength and courage, her embarrassment revealed a fragility that surprised him. It made him want to go to her, to reassure her, to hold her. No. He had to put those thoughts out of his head. Even if they didn’t have blood and gore to clean up, bear-shifter bodies to dispose of, and a hell of a cover story to come up with, there was no room in his life for a mate. Particularly one as sweet and vulnerable as Lidi.
“Let’s get moving.” Determinedly, he turned away from her. “We’ve got work to do.”
* * *
Ged had told Vasily’s men that he was the King of Callistoya. Did that mean he was prepared to fight for his rights? Lidi didn’t dare ask the question. Having come all this way and already faced a crushing disappointment, she wasn’t prepared to go there all over again. And there were more immediate problems demanding her attention. Although she had wrapped the oversize apron as tightly around her as she could, it kept coming undone and showed an alarming tendency to flap open at the back. Clutching the two sides together, she followed Ged up the stairs.
This new modesty confused her. Until now, she had never had a problem with nakedness. Back home in Callistoya, she thought nothing of slipping out of her clothes to shift. Life would have been very difficult for werebears if everyone had tried to cover themselves before and after shifting.
Back in that storage room, she had developed a sudden awareness of her body. It had prevented her from shifting from bear to human. All she knew for sure was that it was more to do with Ged than his friends. It was about how he saw her. It was foolish, but she felt shy around him. And she didn’t want his eyes on her body then. Not surrounded by carnage.
Curiously, it didn’t work both ways. Since his own apron didn’t come close to covering his rear, as they climbed the stairs she was treated to the delicious sight of long, muscular legs and round, firm buttocks. She was used to naked masculinity, but this was the first time she had seen a male body that appealed to her so strongly. It was rapidly becoming her favorite view.
“Khan and Diablo will deliver the mercy blows to the bodies, then Rick will clean up.” Ged turned to look at her as he spoke, and, aware that she had been caught staring, Lidi felt the telltale blush stain her cheeks. She tilted her chin. If he didn’t want her to look he should have done a better job of covering up. The smile in his eyes told her he was well aware of the reason for her mortification.
When they reached Ged’s room, Lidi grabbed some of the new clothes Rick had provided and headed for the shower. Although she needed to wash the signs of battle from her body, she also wanted a break from Ged’s disquieting presence. Being close to him was like staring into the sun. Everything else faded in comparison with his brilliance. But she needed to step away from the glare and view her situation realistically once more.
The fight with Vasily’s men hadn’t changed anything. Her long and tiring journey had been a waste of time. She still had to find a way to free her father from captivity while avoiding marriage with Vasily. It seemed like an impossible task, but Lidi had never been one to shy away from a challenge. As she stepped under the jets of warm water, her mind was forming and reviewing a series of plans.
Annoyingly, her thoughts kept encountering the same barrier. Ged. No matter how much she told herself she had to walk away from him, her emotions weren’t ready for that message. Deep down inside her, something fundamental had changed in the instant she saw him on the steps of the movie theater.
He’s my mate.
She groaned aloud, clenching a fist against the tiled wall. Why did this have to happen now? And why did it have to be him? Even if he wasn’t the king without a crown, he was the most unsuitable man she could have chosen. Everyone in Callistoya knew about the royal marriage pact. A Tavisha must marry the daughter of one of the five founding families. It was an ancient, unshakable agreement. And Lidi did not come from one of those families, so...whoa! Why was she even thinking about Ged and marriage in the same breath?
Straightening her spine, she let the scented gel do its work. There had been other occasions throughout Callistoyan history when this had happened. When an inconvenient attraction had occurred. It could be overcome. It was difficult, but not impossible. Nobles married for convenience, not love. Ged himself had been engaged to another woman. Clearly, since Lidi was his mate, he hadn’t really been in love with Alyona.