Spotting His Leopard (Shifters, Inc.) (11 page)

                “Is that who took the kids? The Shadow Lord?” Gwenneth asked as a sickening sensation swirled in her stomach.

                “Who? What is a Shadow Lord?” The queen wailed. “
Where is my son
?”

                Perk took another look at her and did a double take. “Your Highness?” he said, staring at her in shock, then went down on one knee and bowed his head.

                “Tell us what we need to know,” Gwenneth demanded.  “Who took the kids?”

                “I don’t know where any of them are,” Pern said anxiously. “I scented male jaguars under the bridge, but I didn’t recognize anyone’s scent.   They were there this morning. We were running low on food so I went to bring back provisions.” He glanced up at Gwenneth, then at the queen, then quickly looked down again. “When I got back, everybody was gone and it appeared there had been a fight.  I started searching through the shanty town, and after a while I spotted Farruki and his men, so I hid and listened to them. Farruki was talking to a very big, powerful-looking man, and he addressed him as the Shadow Lord. The Shadow Lord had many others with him.” He shuddered as he mentioned his name, a look of fear on his face.

                “What did you hear them say?” Gwenneth prodded impatiently.

                “They said that they were here looking for Rhonwen and her gang.  Farruki promised he would find you and deliver you to the Shadow Lord.”

                “I see,” she said, going pale. She’d be dead very soon, then, and so would anyone near her. She looked at Serena. “I must send you and Pern to the temple; being with the priestesses should give you some protection. You’re in danger being with me.”

                “No.” Serena’s tone was regal and determined, and held no fear. “I do not fear death, not anymore. Living every day without my son for the past three years, that has been worse than death. You will be searching for him and the children, and I will go with you.”

                Gwenneth stifled the urge to argue.  She couldn’t force Serena to leave.

                “All right, then.” She nodded. “Your Highness, at this point the only thing we can do is go to the Island Council and tell them everything. Farruki and his men must have taken your son and the other children.  Going public is the only hope we have of getting them back. And Pern, I need you to go to the Temple of GuRa and find a wolf shifter named Tyler and deliver a message for me.”

                He nodded, looking up at her, carefully avoiding all eye contact with the queen.

                “Tell him to leave without me. Tell him that he is not my fated mate, and I was using him to get information, and I got what I needed.  Tell him he was a fool for ever believing that I cared about him.”

                “Are you sure?” Pern asked in tones of bewilderment.

                “Dead certain.” She was not going to let Tyler die trying to save her.  All she could do was pray that he’d believe Pern and give up on her. 

                The queen looked at her in confusion.

                “Really long story; no time to explain,” she said.

                “You forgot to say ‘Your Majesty’,” Pern chided her disapprovingly.

                “Pern! Go!” Gwenneth gestured at him impatiently, pointing towards the jungle.

                As Pern ran off, she and the queen shifted yet again and headed out of the shanty town, racing down the stinking alleyways and leaping over piles of debris. The queen no longer looked around her or shuddered at the horror of their surroundings; she was looking straight ahead, entirely focused on their destination.

                Then Gwenneth slowed down. She scented male jaguars – lots of them. She heard growls, and crashing sounds, like tin walls being tossed about. She heard shouts of anger from the shanty town’s inhabitants.

                She and the queen back-tracked, raced down alleyways, and crouched behind big piles of refuse for a while, waiting until the sounds passed.

                Then the scent grew closer and they had no choice but to abandon their hiding place and make a run for it.

                The edge of the shanty town was up ahead. Here there were actual drivable roads, although there was no electricity.   There were small shacks on either side of the road, wedged in among trees and shrubbery.  They were still shabby but they looked like real dwellings instead of ramshackle piles of plywood sheets.

                And then Gwenneth scented more of the male jaguars, lurking in the vegetation and behind the houses.  She and the queen were quickly surrounded.  

                She stopped in her tracks, and so did the queen.  Jaguars came running from behind refuse heaps and leapt from the trees

                One of them strode down the dusty road straight towards them and turned human as he walked.  He stopped in front of them and stood there with a look of gloating triumph on his face. Police Chief Angara.   Gwenneth’s heart leaped into her throat.

                His eyes gleamed with malice.  “I’ve been really looking forward to this.”

                Neither Gwenneth nor the queen favored him with a reply.

                Within minutes they were dressed, with copper collars clamped on their necks, and sitting in the back of a stretch limousine with darkened windows. Nadette and the police chief sat facing them.

                Nadette leaned seductively against the police chief, who had apparently forgotten that he was a married man. She trailed her fingers along his thigh, and a smile twisted his lips. He laid his hand on top of hers.

                “Let me make her bleed,” she cooed to Chief Angara, casting a malicious smirk in Gwenneth’s direction. “Pleeeease. I’ll make it worth your while.” She moved her hand closer to his crotch, but he seized her hand and removed it.

                “Not yet, my dear,” he said.  There was a briefcase sitting on the leather seat next to him, and he opened it and pulled out a sheaf of papers.

                “These are confessions,” he said to Gwenneth. “You will sign this paper, or your little friends will die in ways more horrible than you can imagine, while you watch. If you sign it, I will return them to the shanty town unharmed, and I promise you a quick and merciful death.”

               
 With Nadette there? Right,
Gwenneth thought scornfully. 

                The limo was moving through town now, and outside the window, citizens were strolling by, driving by, with no idea what was taking place mere yards away from them.

                “What’s in the confession?” she asked.

                “Don’t question me,” he said haughtily. “You have no power and no rights.”

                He glanced at the queen. “And you will sign this paper confessing to treason, and to conspiring with this woman to steal the crown and kill your husband. In exchange, we will spare your life and only imprison you.  And we will allow your son to return to the palace, to be raised by the Witch Doctor and Wife Number Two.”

                “We must see the children before either of us will sign anything,” Gwenneth said quickly. “You two are liars and thieves.  We have no reason to trust that they’re alive and unharmed.”

                The queen nodded in agreement. “I demand to see my son, or I will sign nothing, and I will die fighting you. Try explaining my disappearance or death to the Island Council if you can; they will open up an investigation and all will be exposed.” 

                “They can’t tell you what to do! Baby, let me
hurt
them.” Nadette leaned forward to nibble at the chief’s ear, but he moved away from her impatiently.

                “I cannot risk blood spatter getting on the confessions, foolish woman! Then the Island Council would know they were coerced!” At that, there was a flash of dark anger in Nadette’s eyes, which vanished quickly to be replaced by a manufactured look of pouty seductiveness.

                Then the chief shrugged, baring his teeth in a cruel smile that promised vicious retribution once he’d gotten what he wanted. “Very well,” he said to Gwenneth  “We’ll go pay your little friends a visit.” He called out to the driver, “Take us to the factory.”

                Gwenneth leaned back in the seat.

                “And, I want to know what your part is in the theft of the Eye,” she added to the chief. Before he could argue, she added, “It’s my dying wish. And there’s no reason not to tell me. It’s not like I can escape, is it? Tell me about your brilliant plan.”  Knowledge was power.  Whatever information she gathered now, she might be able to use against him – if she survived, that was.

                “Don’t tell her anything!” Nadette commanded him.

                Mistake; Nadette had just done exactly what Gwenneth had hoped.

                The police chief was a macho pig, and Nadette was overestimating her charms. She thought that because she’d had sex with him, she now had power over him.  The truth was quite the opposite; now that he’d gotten what he wanted, he was already getting bored and impatient with her. Also, a man like him would never allow a woman to give him orders.

                He addressed Gwenneth in a haughty, condescending tone, as if he were doing her an enormous favor by answering her question. “I was the one who arranged for the theft of the Eye, of course. You already figured that out, I assume. The Shadow Lord assured me that you were the best in the business, so I arranged for you to steal the crown, but you never showed up.”

                They still thought she was her sister. She saw no reason to inform them otherwise. At least if they killed her, Rhonwen might be safe – they’d have no reason to keep looking for her.

               
Tyler. What will happen to Tyler?
 She forced that thought from her mind.  She needed to focus on what was happening right now.

                “You planned on double-crossing me from the very beginning, didn’t you? You’d arrange for me to steal the Eye, have me caught and killed while resisting arrest, and the Eye would mysteriously disappear. Then nobody would know that it was a fake you replaced the real Eye with years ago.”

                His smug grin was all the answer she needed.

                Nadette sat with her arms folded across her chest, pouting.

                “If she escapes, she’s got all this information that she can use against us. Baby,” she added, stroking his arm.

                He shot her a look of disgust. “She will not escape
me
. Unlike you, I know how to handle her,” he said coldly.

                Nadette’s hand fell away, and she turned to glower out the window, pressing her lips together.  It wasn’t that she cared about the police chief; she just didn’t take well to rejection. If she were able to, she’d gladly slit his throat right now, Gwenneth knew.  

                “So what happened when I didn’t show?” Gwenneth pressed.

                “I called the Shadow Lord, and he assured me that everything would be put right.  Then Nadette showed up on the island with you and your English friend. The plan was still the same; let you steal the crown, catch you in the act, and kill you when you attempted to escape.”

                “Brilliant.” Gwenneth did a bored slow clap.

                “Despicable. You will be punished for your treachery.” The queen raked him with a look of hatred and contempt, and he returned it with a scornful, “Pshaw.”

                Gwenneth shifted in her seat, turning her attention to Nadette.

                “So, Nadette, what’s it feel like to know that you won’t live to see the next sunset?” she asked idly, pretending to fiddle with her hair but actually touching the copper collar’s lock.  Unlike the one designed by Tyler’s friends, this was a lock she knew she could pick. She just needed to wait until the time was right. Not that she thought she would survive an escape attempt, but she wanted to go down fighting.

                “Oh, I’m so very scared right now. You’re terrifying, Gwenneth.” Nadette sneered at her.

                “Not me, dumbass. The Shadow Lord. He’s here on the island, you know. He’s already met with Farruki.”

                At Nadette’s look of shock and dismay, she added, “Oh, you didn’t know? Farruki’s playing all of you against each other. That includes you,” she added to the police chief.

                The police chief jabbed Nadette in the arm with his finger. “Why is the Shadow Lord here?”

                “She’s bluffing,” Nadette said hurriedly. “And even if he’s here, it doesn’t matter. Once she signs the confession, he will be satisfied. And he certainly has no reason to pursue you; he doesn’t have any way of knowing your real plans.”

                The fear in Nadette’s voice said that she knew that wasn’t the case. She was nowhere near out of danger yet.

                “Keep telling yourself that.” Gwenneth gave her a lazy, satisfied smile.

                Nadette let out a bark of rage, partially shifted and lunged at her, jaws snapping. The police chief intercepted her, also partially shifting, and cuffed her with an enormous paw. Nadette cringed and yelped, then settled into the corner, whimpering as she shifted back into human form. As they drove, she shot bitter, wounded looks at the police chief, who ignored her.