Figure of Speech (Halle Shifters) (16 page)

Ryan stood and began to pace. “All right. We know Jim and Chloe have been declared rogues, but they aren’t. So someone in the Senate is either crazy, or they’re up to something.” Ryan waved his hand toward Jim and Chloe. “Why them, and why now?”

“It wasn’t Francois that attacked you, I know that much.” Cyn scowled.

“Francois’s alibi checks out,” Barney added. “He was hunting a legitimate rogue in Baton Rouge when Chloe was attacked.”

“So we’ve got more than one would-be rogue hunter in the area.” Jim cuddled Chloe closer in his arms, the danger to his mate once more riling his Wolf.

“How are they slipping in undetected?” Cyn put her hands on her hips and glared at Ryan and Barney. “I mean, shouldn’t they be checking in with Max and Emma?”

The two looked at each other with similar
duh
expressions. Ryan shrugged. “If they haven’t then they’re in the territory without permission.”

“At least the ones that aren’t Hunters. Hunters have a great deal more leeway where that sort of thing is concerned, because the rogue could turn out to be the Alpha of the territory.” Barney got up and went into the kitchen, helping himself to a soda out of the fridge. He came back carrying enough for everyone. It was pretty clear the man was used to being in charge wherever he was. It never seemed to occur to him to simply ask permission to do something. “However, even they could claim their presence is sanctioned due to the Senate.”

“Do they have proof that they have that authority? Like cops have warrants?” Cyn had a good point.

“She’s right.” Jim stroked Chloe’s back, the gesture soothing both of them. “There’s no way to tell that someone is a Hunter. I mean, I can’t feel anything different about either of you.”

“You would if we were facing a real rogue.” Ryan nodded toward Barney. “And I could tell pretty quickly what Barney was when I met him.”

“Like calls to like.” Barney grinned, and something about the way he moved altered. Jim’s Wolf sat up and took notice, watching the man warily. “Too bad Jimbo here isn’t one of us. Then we could tell the Senate to shove it up their collective poop-holes.”

Chloe choked on her soda, some of it spraying out of her nose.

“Wait.” Spencer held up his hand. “Jim was attacked because of Chloe?”

Chloe flinched, and Jim glared at his brother.

“That came out wrong.” Spencer mouthed
Sorry
at Chloe, who nodded back even as she tried to wipe up the soda she’d snorted all over herself. “I meant that someone is after Chloe, not that this is Chloe’s fault. And they’re targeting Jim because of their connection, right?”

“Exactly.” Barney stared at Chloe and Jim, his brows furrowing. “At least I think so.”

“Nothing unusual happened to me before Chloe and I mated.” Jim nodded his thanks to Ryan. He hadn’t even seen the man leave the room, but he was handing Jim a dish towel to help wipe Chloe’s mess up. “Other than that, the only time I’ve been on their radar was when the shifter that was after Glory changed me.”

“And we all know he was loco.” Cyn sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I swear, this town sees more action than a porn star.”

“So the guy who handed out the orders is missing, we have non-Hunters going after non-rogues, and the only tie they have is someone in the Senate is handing down conflicting orders.” Ryan slumped down on the sofa and stared at his hands. “How high does this go?”

Barney stiffened. “You think the Leo is involved?”

Ryan shrugged, but refused to look at any of them. “As much as I hate to say it, it’s a possibility.”

“But, why? None of this takes pence!” Chloe grimaced as her nerves affected her speech.

“No, it doesn’t. And that’s beginning to piss me off big time.” Barney tapped Ryan on the head. “And it’s your job to ask questions and find answers, even if we don’t want to think about it.”

“What’s a Leo?” Spencer tilted his head.

It was Chloe who answered. “He’s the leader of all of the shifters, a white Lion who—”

“White, like you?” Spencer sat forward, his elbows on his knees. Jim was glad his brother was strapped in and had locked the brakes on his wheelchair. Spence had taken more than one tumble out of his puppy-like eagerness to learn all he could about Jim’s “woof-ness”.

“And like Super Bear.” Cyn smiled, her gaze growing fondly distant. She had to be thinking about her mate.

“So white shifters are like the super-duper version of their plain old boring counterparts? Are there white Wolves too?” Spencer practically bounced in his seat. “What about—”

“Whoa there, Nellie,” Barney laughed. “Nope. As far as we know, white shifters are rarer than rare. Chloe is…” Barney’s gaze slowly turned toward her, his gaze speculative. “Unique.”

“There are more Spirit Bears like Julian, but only one white Lion like the Leo.” Cyn frowned, her gaze, too, now glued to Chloe. “It
has
to be that.”

“But she was attacked
before
she turned white.” Alex stared at Chloe as if he could unravel the mystery with his gaze alone. “She only turned white after Julian healed her brain.”

“Are you sure about that?” Jim frowned, thinking. “If she was in a coma, the trauma of the attack could have triggered something in her. Something that you would have noticed only after she woke and shifted for the first time.”

“What’s the interlocking factor here? What are we missing?” Barney grunted. “I need another beer.”

“Gabe said shifters of mixed parentage were being targeted.” Alex scowled. “What if white shifters only come from mixed parentage?”

“Then Chloe would have been born white, right?” Jim could barely follow any of this, but he did know that. “I hate to say it, but traumatic brain injuries don’t change someone’s hair color. There are rare cases of trauma causing it, but there’s no evidence that trauma grants psychic abilities.”

“But if the mutation is there, and Julian’s power unlocked it?” Cyn shrugged. “Work with me here, Doc.”

Jim nodded. “I…suppose that’s possible.” He had no scientific explanation for Julian’s powers, let alone Chloe’s. “It’s extremely difficult to alter the DNA structure. It can be done with chemotherapy, but that destroys cells rather than alters them.”

“And this isn’t a simple melatonin change either,” Chloe piped up. “I mean, we know the buildup of hydrogen peroxide in the system causes graying hair, but this goes seeper than that.” She touched her red locks. “Only my Fox form is affected.”

“Your eyes go gray, and so does your hair, when you access your powers in human form, just like Julian.” Cyn sighed. “There may be more to Ryan’s theory than I first thought. I’ll need to talk it over with Super Bear, see if he knows of this happening with anyone else whose life was saved by a Kermode.”

“I’ll run by the clinic and see if I can catch a whiff of our non-Hunter.” Barney stood, gesturing for Ryan to follow him. “C’mon, Boo-Boo. Let’s see what we can sniff out.”

“It won’t be pick-a-nick baskets, I can tell you that.” Ryan stood and gave his sister a quick hug. “I’ll call you tomorrow, sis.”

Chloe hugged her brother tightly before letting him go.

Jim held out his hand. “Thanks, Ryan.”

“Hey, like Cyn said. You’re family.” Ryan smiled. “You poor sap.”

Alex nodded. “I’m going to call the clan. It’s time to circle the wagons.”

“Shit.” Chloe slumped against Jim and patted his chest. “All aboard the cuckoo train.”

Chapter Sixteen

Fox tilted his head. “Two becomes one, one becomes three. Bear knows the way, but Fox holds the key.”

Argh. “I know that, but what does it have to do with the Senate tracing my poor fuzzy ass down?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And why am I always fucking naked in these dreams?”

“Calm down, little vixen.” Chloe would swear Fox was smirking at her. “You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.”

She glared at the spirit. She’d long since gotten used to him. He seemed to visit once a month, sort of like her Aunt Flow, and could be just as annoying. “You’re driving me crazy with this, you know.”

Fox sighed. “It’s no more fun for me.” He shrugged, an odd look for an animal that wasn’t in a cartoon. “My paws are tied here. I’m not allowed to tell you certain things. You have to either figure them out for yourself, or at least figure out who to warn.”

Warn? That was a new one. “So it’s not me who’s the Fox.”

Fox blinked, looking pleased. “Very good. Keep going.”

“It’s a relative?”

“It’s
all
relative, when you think about it.”

Chloe plopped down on the ground. “I hate you so much right now.”

“Aw, don’t be mad, cutie-pie.” The Fox lay down beside her, its gigantic mass dwarfing her. It was easily the size of a Grizzly, but not nearly as snarly. “Those are the rules.”

“What happens if you break them?” She leaned against Fox’s side, breathing in his scent.

So she was very close to him when he shuddered. “Let’s just say it’s not pretty and leave it at that.”

She began scratching behind Fox’s ears, chuckling when he leaned into her. They had a different relationship than Julian had with Bear, more like friends than student and mentor. Still, she knew Fox could kick her ass without even moving. “So it has nothing to do with the Senate?”

Fox hummed, refusing to answer.

“Man. I suck at puzzles.”

Fox licked her chin. “You’ll do fine, little vixen. I wouldn’t have chosen you otherwise.” He rumbled out a laugh. “And that scary-ass family of yours will help.”

She asked him a question she’d been dying to have answered. It was one that had been bugging her for some time, ever since this all started. “Why aren’t there more white shifters?”

Fox stiffened. “That’s…a good question.”

She pulled gently on his ear. “And the answer is?”

“Who are you, Alex Trebek?”

Chloe began humming the
Jeopardy
theme song.

Fox turned his face away. “That’s one of the things you’re going to have to figure out. Change is coming. Whether it’s for good or ill depends on whether or not you and your friends figure out the riddle in time or not.”

“Can you at least tell me if I was always meant to be a white Fox?” Chloe was dying to know the answer to that one. Perhaps it would help her with all the confusion that surrounded her.

“Yes. You always had the potential, so when the time came I chose you because I knew you were strong enough to handle it.” Fox rubbed his chin on the top of her head. “Leave it at that for now.” He put his head back down on his paws. “There is one more white shifter in Halle, other than you and Julian, by the way.”

“Yeah, come to think of it, Sheri is a white Puma.” She sat up, excited beyond belief. “Maybe she knows something about all of this!”

Fox made a sound remarkably like a time-out buzzer. “Nope. Wrong answer.”

“What do you mean? She’s white, she’s a shifter.” Now she was confused.

“She was also made, not born.” Fox tilted his head. “Although I will admit she was born white, she’s albino. She’s white no matter which form she’s in. You aren’t, and neither is Julian. Or… Never mind.”

Chloe blinked. “What?” If it wasn’t Sherri, then who the fuck was it?

Fox snickered. “And that’s
all
I can tell you without some of the others getting their tails in a knot.”

A loud, angry hiss sounded, followed by a snarl so deep it rattled her bones. Fox jumped to his feet, bowing his head as a gigantic white Lion padded toward them, larger even than Bear.

Chloe did the only thing she could do. She joined Fox, bowing deeply, tilting her head to the side as she’d seen the Pridemates do when Max Canon, the Puma Alpha, exercised his power over them.

A huge shadow blotted out the sky as a sandpaper tongue brushed over her cheek. “Rise, vixen.”

Chloe stood, unwilling to disobey Lion, the spirit lord of all shifters and the Leo’s personal avatar. “Lion.”

He nodded, his snowy mane drifting around his head. Then he turned to Fox with a sigh. “Rise, Fox.”

Fox, his legs trembling, did as told. “Man, I thought you were pissed at me.”

Lion shook his head. “I’m angry over the situation we find ourselves in. We’ve lost more than your little vixen can understand.”

“Then explain it.” The words popped out before she could stop them, but damn if she’d take them back.

“There are laws even we must abide by, Chloe Williams-Woods.” Lion’s voice was deeper and far richer than Fox’s, but she found she preferred the way Fox spoke to her over Lion’s more formal speech. “Laws that were written as the stars were born. We may guide, but we may not interfere.”

“In other words, we’re allowed to show you the rope. It’s up to you what you do with it.” Fox leaned against Lion. Despite the fact that both spirits were roughly the same size, Fox was dwarfed by Lion’s presence.

“Is the other white shifter in danger? Can you tell me pat much?”

Lion and Fox exchanged an enigmatic glance. It was Lion who responded. “Do not worry about that for now. What is coming will involve all of you.”

“So all the white shifters are in danger?” She began to pace. “This all started when Julian moved to Halle, didn’t it?”

Fox poked Lion with his snout. “Told you she was smart.”

Lion snarled and knocked Fox on his ass. “Shush. You come dangerously close to breaking the rules.”

“So it does have to do with Julian.” Chloe bit her lip. “He’s the one who healed me. In healing me, he unlocked something inside me.” She began to pace, thoughts racing one after another in her mind. “Something the Senate is berry interested in.”

The two watched her pace, neither one giving anything away.

“But the dead or alive order makes no sense.” She paused, rubbing her hand over her head. “Unless…”

“Unless?” Fox drawled, his eyes sparkling with approval.

“They already knew.” Chloe stared at Fox. “They
knew
about white shifters, knew there were more than the Kermode. The Polars are extinct, so are the Arctic Foxes. All the white shifters except the Kermode, who keep to themselves and have little to do with the outside world, and the Leo, who’s special, are extinct. And it stayed that way until one Spirit Bear left his community because he had…” She stared at them, wondering how much of the rope they’d already shown her. “A dream.”

Lion rumbled, but instead of anger she heard affection. It was almost a purr, but not quite, the sound a cat might make to its young to encourage it to keep trying.

“So, what happened? Where are all the other white shifters? And why are we so special that the Senate wants us dead or alive?”

The two spirits glanced at one another, then back at her.

“Oh. Yeah. I guess this—” she waved her hand around, indicating the spirit world, “—is pretty damn pretzel.”

“It’s twisted, that’s for sure,” Fox muttered, ducking away from Lion’s raised paw with a laugh.

“So the Senate either wants to control access to you guys or to eliminate it altogether. But again, why?”

Fox shrugged. “That’s one of the twists of the rope you need to figure out.”

“You, or those who follow in your footsteps.” Lion stood and shook his mane. “And now it is time for you to return to your world. The prey you hunt will not be found here, young vixen.”

“Keep your ears, eyes and nose open at all times.” Fox stood as well and rubbed his cheek along hers. “I believe in you. You’re strong, stronger than your enemies think. You’ve overcome so much, fought so hard, and I see that.” Fox touched his nose to hers. “I’m proud of you, little vixen. Keep up the good work.”

“Stay safe, and guard what you hold dear.” Lion also touched his nose to hers. “And know that we are watching over you.”

That would mean a whole hell of a lot more if they could actually help her with any of this, but Chloe bowed anyway. “Thank you.”

Lion chuckled as if he’d read her thoughts. And who knew? Perhaps he had. She had no idea what he could or could not do.

Lion padded away, his footfalls silent, fading into the mists.

“Look for allies in unusual places,” Fox whispered as the world started to swirl around her. “And remember: it is
Fox
who holds the key…”

“Good morning, Chloe.” Jim pressed a kiss to the top of his mate’s head, noting with a frown the dark circles under her eyes and the way she barely acknowledged him. “Are you feeling all right?”

She waved her hand and yawned behind her fist. “Busy night.”

That was odd. He could have sworn she never left his side the night before. He wasn’t used to someone sleeping next to him, so he’d woken up several times just to make sure she was there, and safe. “What do you mean, busy night?”

The squeak of Spencer’s wheels announced his arrival before his chair entered the room. “G’morning.” Spencer wheeled himself over to the coffee pot and began fixing himself some caffeine.

“Good morning.” Jim joined his brother at the coffee maker and had two mugs done up in no time flat. He handed one to Chloe, who took it eagerly. “What happened last night? I don’t remember you getting out of bed.” Had something happened in the middle of the night that had spooked his mate?

Chloe smiled. “That’s because I didn’t.” She glanced at Spencer, then returned her gaze to Jim. “There’s something special about being a white shifter that I haven’t really explained to you jet.”

“Do I need to be caffeinated for this?” Jim settled down, smiling as Spencer handed him a bagel and cream cheese. Jim had never been a huge breakfast eater, usually downing something on the fly as he raced out the door to the clinic. In recent months it had gotten worse. If it wasn’t for Spencer handing him food he doubted he’d eat before noon at best.

Luckily, today he had the morning off and could find out just what the hell had happened to Chloe while she’d been tucked up against him in the night.

“I had a dream.” Chloe sipped from her mug. “Well, not really a dream. More of a spirit balk.”

“Huh?” Jim’s Wolf was curiously silent, watching Chloe with sleepy intent. Whatever had happened last night, it hadn’t been a threat to her.

“Did you know there’s a reason Kermode are called Spirit Bears?” Chloe put her head on her arms, sagging against the table. “Bear is the guardian of the dream realm, Lion is the ruler of all, et cetera, et cetera?”

“You lost me.” Jim was still learning about being a shifter. The things he knew about his inner woof would fill a thimble.

“Okay. This is the story most of us tell our kits, and the one we tell new shifters.” She lifted her head and stared at him, confused. “No one told you the tale of how shifters came to be? Geez, Ryan loves telling bat story.”

He shook his head. “I’ve been really busy up until recently, remember?”

She was adorable when she blushed. “Right. Sorry.” She blew out a breath and straightened up, taking a long sip of coffee. “So, here’s the 4-1-1. Long ago, the spirits, for whatever reason, possibly because they wanted to know what the big deal about dicks was—”

Spencer choked on his coffee. It took a couple of minutes for him to get himself back under control.

Chloe, her cheeks delightfully pink, continued. “For whatever reason, they decided they wanted a toehold in the material world. Instead of inhabiting animals, though, they joined with humans, granting them the ability to turn into their animal counterpart. What they got in return was an understanding of the world through human eyes. The humans, by agreeing to become the hosts of these spirits, created the first shifters, starting with the Lions. That’s how the Leo became the ruler of us ball, because the first Leo was the very first shifter.”

“Okay.” So far he was following along fine. It made a certain amount of sense that the first shifter would be the ruler, the strongest of them all. A true leader always took the first steps in a new world, showing his people that there was nothing to fear. Jim could respect that.

“The Lion is the most powerful of our spirit animals. He’s the one all the others bow to, so his chosen one was considered special. The first Leo formed the first Pride, his Lion instincts driving him to make a safe place for the other Lions who came after him.”

“That makes sense.” Spencer had finished making his own breakfast of cereal and fruit, and now joined them at the table. “I’d want my family safe too.”

“Exactly.” Chloe smiled sweetly at Spencer. “The Wolves and Coyotes also formed Packs, just like their animal counterparts, while the Bears and Foxes had their family groups. Most of the cat shifters are solitary creatures who prefer to live alone, or in groups of two or three, like the Tigers and the Cheetahs, except for the Lions and Pumas, who are just plain weird.”

“Each shifter has a special ability, I know that.” Jim stroked Chloe’s hair away from her face, loving the way she leaned into his hand. Chloe seemed to be one of those people who thrived on touch, something he could definitely come to enjoy. “Like how Julian and the other Bears can heal people.”

“Those were boons from the spirits. Each one was allowed to ask for a special gift to be granted to their species, one that would kelp them survive in a harsh, human-dominated world. The Wolf Alpha asked for the ability to talk to anyone in his Pack, making the Pack operate as a whole when they are in danger. The Leo can command anyone, and I mean
anyone
, because he is the shifter King. All Lion Alphas have that ability to some extent, but none stronger than the Leo. Foxes can hide better than anyone, Bears can heal, Coyotes got the gift of sensing lies, and Ocelots, who are pretty rare, can sense and manipulate the emotions of others, much like an Omega can. Unlike Omegas, though, they aren’t bound to Packs or Prides and can use their gift on anyone within certain limits.”