Slade (23 page)

Slade realized as he watched the soldiers each spend a few moments talking to Grif and Steve, that many of them were former comrades-in-arms. They would stand with their friends during their time of grief. Such was the shifter way. Moreover, such was the code of the soldiers they would always be, even though Grif had retired to be Alpha of his Clan and leader of an even larger collection of shifter construction workers and their families.

Kate went into the house with the bag held tightly in her hands. When Slade offered to help, she smiled softly at him and demurred. It was her responsibility as priestess to prepare the mother of the Clan for her final journey.

So Slade stayed outside, joining the gathering in the big backyard, in the garden the older lady had so lovingly tended. It was a fitting place for her final ritual. A good place for her children to say goodbye and
share their grief with their friends.

“You’re snowcat.” The tone of the older man’s voice wasn’t exactly accusatory. Johan, the owl shifter, had walked silently to Slade’s side and spoke in a soft voice that didn’t carry beyond the two of them.

“Only half,” Slade confirmed. There wasn’t much point in denying his heritage now. Everyone at the construction site had probably seen his glowing white alternate form. There was really no hiding the snowcat when he let him out.

“Less than half, if I don’t miss my guess, but the snowcat breeds true. How far back was your snowcat ancestor?” The owl seemed to know a lot more than Slade was comfortable with, but this Johan had something very mystical about him. He was also a rare kind of shifter and Slade had never seen such an impressive owl among the few he’d met in his travels.

“My great-grandmother.”

“She must be very proud of you.” Johan nodded as he spoke.

That was interesting. Most people would have assumed his great-grandmother was
long dead, but the owl seemed to know more about snowcats than Slade had realized. Then again, owls were noted for their wisdom and knowledge. Maybe those stories about them being the guardians of shifter knowledge had a little bit of truth in them after all.

“I hope so,” Slade answered noncommittally.

“You are unique among the snowcats I have known,” Johan observed. “Most cannot hide their nature behind another form. I have never heard of the snowcat sharing space with a leopard. But the two beasts of your nature seem to have come to some kind of accord within your soul. You are blessed, indeed.”

Slade didn’t really know what to say to that, so he went with vaguely inquisitive. “Have you known many snowcats?”

“I have been to Tibet and flew the sacred mountain,” Johan admitted with some pride in his voice.

Slade was impressed. He had never been to the secret snowcat enclave in the Himalayas, but it was a pilgrimage he wanted to make someday.

“What kind of owl are you? I admit, I have never seen your equal, Johan.”

Johan smiled and his gray eyes twinkled. “We are called Eurasian Eagle-Owls by humans, but we prefer the term
hibou
.”

“That’s just the French word for owl,” Slade observed.

Johan smiled. “That may be, but it goes farther back than the modern French. We’ve inhabited the continents on the other side of the world for centuries. And your great-grandmother’s people have long been our allies, though they retreated into those mountains a long, long time ago. It wasn’t as easy for those who are ground-bound to weather all the wars fought in those places among wizards, shifters, humans and anyone else who wanted to start trouble with their neighbors.”

Slade thought about that for a moment and realized all that had happened in Asia, Europe and all the lands in between over the centuries. There were still volatile areas, even today, that saw more than their share of violence and war. It would not be easy for shifters—especially the meditative, mystical snowcats—to deal with that kind of upheaval going on all around them.

“So what brought you to Nevada, Johan. I get the impression that you came along to do a bit more than observe.”

“
Observation is but one of my callings, young man. And I have observed a very powerful priestess forming bonds with a surprising snowcat-leopard hybrid the likes of which I have never known. It is something to ponder, don’t you agree?”

Slade didn’t like knowing that he and Kate had somehow become a focus of this mysterious shifter’s attention. Owls were crafty. The few he’d known over the years had always been at least two steps ahead of him in any plan he had devised. They were deep thinkers with deadly instincts tempered by unexpected compassion.

All in all, he’d liked those owls he’d known very much and found their friendship both stimulating and fulfilling. But this mysterious
hibou
was something else again. Slade didn’t quite know what to make of him.

“What’s between Kate and I is private, Johan.” Slade met the man’s gaze with a clear message in his own expression. He voice was firm and his stance strong. It would not do to show weakness to a predator of Johan’s ability.

“Not for long,” Johan said with an easy smile. “But I respect the fact that this is new and you have yet to declare yourself in terms her human mind can comprehend. Son…” Johan put one hand on Slade’s arm in a comforting, almost fatherly way. “You need to spell it out for her. Soon. She was raised human. She does not understand shifter ways for all that she has chosen to live among us. She is uncertain of your commitment and it is up to you to make her feel secure.” Johan removed his hand while Slade took in his words. “Please forgive an old man for offering advice where none was sought. I have seen too many youngsters make a hash of their early days together by not speaking clearly and I admit, I have a special interest in the young priestess. I want her to be happy.”

Now wasn’t that interesting?

“Why? What is she to you, Johan?” Slade’s heart thundered in his ears. Something was strange here. He didn’t think the owl was a threat to Kate, but there was definitely something amiss and Slade wanted to know what it was. Anything that related to Kate was his business—whether she realized it yet or not.

“All in good time, young snowcat. Have no fear for your mate’s safety. What I know will bring comfort, if not outright joy, to her. But it is not yet time for the talk we must have. I will stay until that time comes.”

The owl was right on one point. Slade had done a bad job of explaining what Kate meant to him. He wanted her as his mate. Forever.

Only he was scared she might reject him. That fear—as odd as that feeling was to him—was what had held him back from making the declarations he needed to make. He would remedy that as soon as possible, but at the moment they all had duties to attend.

Grif came out of the house with a young girl at his side. It must be Belinda, Slade realized, the youngest child of the matriarch. She wasn’t even in her teens and her face was pale, eyes sad and filled with a lost expression. Of them all, little Belinda would probably have it toughest. She’d lost her older sister to violence just a short while ago and now had lost her mother in a horrific way. Her brothers would have to help the child and guide her as she grew. They’d have to protect her too.

So much tragedy in one family, Slade thought. And too much for such a young girl to deal with easily. Slade sent a prayer skyward for the girl and her brothers. It would be hard for them now, but he prayed they would all come through this terrible ordeal in time, with the Lady’s help.

Friends began to arrive, the shifter community coming out in support of the Redstones. Even their giant backyard began to overflow with people and creatures, but there was no chaos. It was very orderly and solemn as each member of the Clan, and many of the employees of Redstone Construction and their family members, came over to pay their respects in low-voiced murmurs of condolence and heartfelt hugs.

Silence fell when the back patio doors opened. Kate appeared and called the brothers inside. A moment later, they exited the house, carrying their mother’s body on an ornate board between them. It had handholds carved into its surface and it was clear this ceremonial board had a long history of use in this Clan.

They proceeded solemnly until they reached the space that had been cleared for them. They lay the board amidst a flowerbed that was rife with color and life. The matriarch lay upon it, her hands folded, her dress colorful and bright, her eyes closed and her lifeless body looking as beautiful as she always had throughout her life.

Shifters did not bury their dead the way humans did. In fact, unless a priestess intervened, their bodies usually faded away into energy within a day or two of death, leaving no trace behind of their existence. That was just part of why they had been able to hide their existence from the rest of the world for so very long.

Kate had done her work here, allowing time for them to recover the piece of pelt that had been carved away. Once returned, Slade assumed the matriarch had reverted to her human form. Kate had cared for her body, dressing her in a favorite outfit with loving care and laying her out on the ritual board of the Clan.

The matriarch would have a proper sendoff. Kate had seen to that.

Everyone gathered around and Kate began the ceremony that would release her body and soul to the earth and stars. Slade felt the magic build and knew the moment Kate let go of her hold on the magic.

The body crystallized into a million points of light, half heading for the heavens and half sinking into the earth, through the carved wooden board, into the flowerbed and the rich soil beneath. It was a solemn moment and Slade heard the soft sobbing of the young girl. It broke his heart to think of her loss, but he knew he’d done all he could to bring justice.

It would never bring her mother back, but he hoped, in time, it would bring peace to her troubled heart.

Chapter Thirteen

Slade stood back, watching as Kate performed her duties and then paused to comfort the child. The shifters were speaking in low tones,
most offering touches of sympathy to the Alpha and his family. They moved away toward the house, leaving the backyard and the minimal cleanup to the priestess.

Kate knelt by the burial board and used her magic to inscribe one more name on it. That of the matriarch. All the other names that covered its surface had been carved the old fashioned way, Slade saw. He stood over her shoulder, offering silent comfort.

The letters Kate carved with her magic were lovely and ornate—almost vine-like.

“She would like this,” Kate said, sniffing a little as emotion overtook her. “She loved her garden and growing things. Almost as much as she loved her children.”

“She was a good mother, from all accounts. To more than just her family. The Clan will miss her.” Slade knelt at Kate’s side and put his arm around her trembling shoulders.

“I’ll miss her too. She was instrumental in making me welcome here. As soon as she accepted me, everyone else began to warm to me.” Kate leaned her head against Slade’s shoulder
. He loved being the one she would turn to when she needed to lean on someone. If he had his way, she would do so for the rest of their lives.

They stayed like that for a long moment, letting the night sounds deepen. The backyard was almost empty now, except for a few stragglers who were on their way either into the Redstone house or off to their own places.

Slowly, Kate straightened and began folding the clothing that had not transformed into energy along with the matriarch’s body. “The family will want these,” she said idly as she made a neat pile of them. “They were among her favorites. This skirt is by a designer she favored and I know for a fact she loved the colors. Just looking at it brings back good memories of the first time I met her.”

Kate sobbed and turned to Slade. He took her in his arms as she finally gave in to her grief. She had been so strong and vigilant in her pursuit of the killers. She’d kept her own grief bottled tightly inside while they needed her to focus on the trail.

Now that things had been settled, she was finally free to cry for the woman she would miss. And Slade was there to hold her as she shook with sadness and her tears stained his shirt. He would be nowhere else but here at this moment, offering comfort when his mate needed him.

That’s what mates did. They helped each other and were there for each other in good times and bad. They shared joy and sa
dness…and whatever else came their way.

He would do that for Kate. Gladly.

For the rest of their lives.

They sat there together, on the lush green grass of the Redstone’s backyard, the silence of the night surrounding them as everyone left them alone at the resting place of the much beloved matriarch. Nobody intruded on Kate’s grief. They seemed to understand. And those few who paused to look at her on their way out of the yard seemed to smile softly at the picture she and Slade must’ve made—the strong Alpha cat letting the frail human priestess lean on him when her own emotional strength gave out.

She hadn’t meant to collapse this way. She wasn’t
usually much of a crier. But these past few days had been rough on everyone. Everything that had happened since she had felt that unmistakable surge of evil as she’d tried to greet the sun had affected her deeply.

The evil magic. The devastating discovery of the matriarch’s body. The desperate hunt for her killers and the confrontations with both mages. All of that had taken something out of her. Only Slade’s steady presence at her side—and in her bed last night—had seen her through such dire circumstances.