Page 64 of Shadow Blind

Time to move this meeting along. Wolf rose to his feet.

“Aiden.” His voice brought immediate silence. All his warriors’ eyes turned toward him. “Join me.”

His javaanee had half-risen from his chair when Wolf called to him. Yet he did not join Wolf as requested. Instead, he sank back down with narrowed eyes and suspicion on his face. Wolf could not fault his reaction. Not after what had last happened in this room.

A stir went through the assembled warriors when Aiden didn’t move. Wolf scanned the room and smoothly continued, using the same words Benioko had spoken.

“Aiden was in Karaveht. He saw the results of the weapon Taounaha foresaw. He lost his SEAL team to this weapon. He witnessed the symptoms of the infection.” His gaze returned to Aiden, pleased to see his javaanee had relaxed. “There is no other more qualified to speak to its danger.”

Wolf sensed rather than saw the old one’s satisfaction as Aiden rose and made his way around the table. Benioko still held hope that Aiden would give in and learn the ways of the Kalikoia, thus making him eligible to step in as Wolf’s Caetanee. Wolf had long since lost this expectation.

There would be no eagle chosen to serve as his second.

But then, he didn’t need one. One could not ask for a better Caetanee than the warrior currently filling that position. Samuel may not have been chosen by the thae-hrata, having been chosen by the raven spirit instead, but in every way imaginable, his old friend was doing an admirable job as Wolf’s temporary second in command.

Perhaps traditions needed to evolve, and Samuel’s temporary status should turn permanent. Samuel, at least, was favored by the Shadow Warrior and gifted a spirit animal clan. Unlike some sitting at this table.

His gaze drifted to O’Neill and hardened. The jie’van was kicked back in his chair, boots on the table, eyes closed. No surprise such an insolent man was shunned by the elder gods.

“How much of a sitrep do you want?” Aiden asked as he stopped next to Wolf. His gaze flickered toward Benioko and hardened before looking away.

“A full account.” Wolf scanned the room and frowned. “My warriors have been briefed, but perhaps something you say will spark a strategy to defeat this new weapon.” He handed Aiden a remote to the overhead monitors and showed him how to work it.

Originally, his Caetanee had intended to do the briefing. As such, Samuel had prepared a full slide complement to accompany his sitrep.

Aiden scrolled back through the PowerPoint presentation. When he reached the slide with a map of Tajikistan, he started talking. “We were sent into Karaveht to recover the schematics and prototype of a revolutionary drone technology.”

Wolf had heard the specifics of what Aiden was outlining many times by now. His attention wandered, returning to O’Neill’s sprawled figure.

The jie’van’s boots were still on the table, his head back and eyes closed. The longer Wolf stared, the harder it was to rein in his ire. To show such disrespect in the Taounaha’s presence. This should not be tolerated. It would not be accepted from any other warrior.

Why did Benioko allow such disrespect from O’Neill? What did the Taounaha even see in the jie’van? A man shunned by both the elder gods and the spirit animals.

“Calm yourself, Ho’cee,” Benioko murmured with amusement in his voice. “He acts as a defiant anvaa. One who lashes out to prove he doesn’t care.”

“He cares for nothing.” Wolf’s voice was low, but seething. O’Neill’s mere presence triggered his irritation.

Benioko shook his head and sighed. “Soon, Shadow Warrior will reveal why we have need of his gifts.” His voice was tired, yet sure.

Gifts? What gifts?

Wolf frowned, his displeasure spiking. “If the Shadow Warrior favors him so, why did he not gift him with a spirit animal? Why does he have no totem?”

With a slow turn of his head, Benioko stared straight at him, then lifted his eyebrows. “The heschrmal claimed him. You doubt this?”

Wolf froze, shock burning through his lungs. “He lied. He showed no proof of the claiming.”

Benioko scoffed. “Did you show proof of your claiming?” He turned his head in O’Neill’s direction and regret settled over his lined face. “Claimings are sacred and private among the Hee’woo’nee. He should not have been questioned or judged.” He turned back to Wolf. “You know this, Ho’cee.”

Wolf opened his mouth, only to snap it shut. He could not argue with this. No, he had not been asked to show proof. His claiming had been accepted as fact.

The Old One was right. The spirit animal claiming was an intensely private moment within the tribe. It was never shared, other than an announcement of when the event had happened and what animal had appeared. One never shared the totem they’d received.

Yet the only way to prove a claiming, as O’Neill had been asked to prove, would be to share the totem the spirit animal left behind.

His gaze sought O’Neil and lingered.

But this…this jie’van? The one sprawled so tauntingly across from him? He had been chosen by the lion spirit after hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of cycles of no claimings?

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