Page 2 of Fighting the Lies

CHAPTER ONE

“Get your hands off me. I’m perfectly capable of walking on my own.” Lioness, Emma growled at the sleazy wolf shifter who’d been manhandling her ever since they’d left the Glacial Blood mansion.

“Where would the fun be in that?” The mongrel licked his lips and pushed her further down the dark corridor. He didn’t need to tell her where she was. It was the same place they brought all the shifter criminals. She was at the bottom of the Reichstag building in Berlin and was about to be thrown into the unique consecrated dungeons, which held those who were accused of crimes. Murder? That’s what Ethern, the paranormal council leader, had said. Just who in the hell was she supposed to have killed?

Sleaze-ball ran his hand over her backside again. That was enough. Her hands were bound by a magical chain, but that still left her nimble legs free. In a quick movement, she struck out with her strongest leg and floored the unsuspecting wolf. She always liked that people underestimated her small frame. It was petite, but it packed a mighty punch.

“I said keep your filthy paws to yourself.” She sent a spit of fury down upon on him.

“You’ll pay for that bitch.” The wolf sprung to his feet and had his hands around her delicate neck before she could draw a breath. He pushed her back against the damp wall. The ice cold of the brick sent shivers through her body. The wolf smirked. He’d mistaken her tremble for fear. It was far from it, though. She prepared to attack. Magical cuffs could not stop her.

“Marvin, let Miss Bryant go.” Ethern Lennox’s voice reverberated around the narrow corridor of the dungeon. The multi-shifter stepped forward from the shadows, long fangs glistening in the low-level light of the candles.

The wolf reluctantly loosened his cast iron grip and bent his head low to her ear. “Punishment will wait. Ethern won’t always be around,” he rasped.

Kas, Emma's polar bear Alpha, appeared next to the councilman and growled out a deadly warning. The multi-shifter placed his hand upon the irate alpha’s shoulder to placate him, before turning his attention back to the wolf. Emma watched it all with great amusement. The idiot had over stepped the mark.

“Place Miss Bryant in the cell and then leave. I will have another guard sent down to take over your duties. You will report to your superior for discipline as you seem incapable of carrying out a simple order.”

"The bitch kicked me?" Wolf protested with a look of horror on his face. Emma didn't know what ‘discipline' meant, but she guessed it would be painful. Discipline normally was.

"And you have had wandering hands since the moment she first came into custody. Miss Bryant is innocent, until she is proven guilty.”

"Which she won't be." Kas interrupted with a snarl; he too now had his fangs drawn. The sharp incisors capable of ripping into flesh and tearing it to pieces in a matter of seconds. Emma pictured Marvin that way. The first thing she would remove would be those disgusting hands. That would teach him to think he could touch up any arrested female. She gave the wolf a not so subtle smirk as he left the dungeon.

“I’m sorry Emma; he had no right to touch you.” Ethern stepped forward and removed the magical chain from her hands with a wave of his own. “I’ll see that he’s not allowed down here again.”

"Thank you, Mr Lennox." She bowed her head respectively.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to go into one of the cells. I've got a private one for you, though. It's away from some of the others who are held in here." Ethern led her forward and opened a solid oak door. The stench of urine and faeces mixed with the mildew covered walls. Her stomach turned. Moans of lamentation and feral whines flooded through the door. She stilled, frozen to the spot.

“Ethern is this really necessary?” Kas wrapped his massive hand around hers and pulled her to him for comfort.

“If I could allow her to stay anywhere else while we sort out this error, I would. I cannot show favour in my position.” The wizard’s face screwed up with his own revulsion of the situation.

“It’s ok.” She reassured him. She had the feeling that this was the part of his job he did not care for. Another door opened, and they were lead through to a room that contained a single cell. This was where her immediate future lay. Ethern unlocked the door, and she stepped inside. A low growl reverberated from Kas again. He was not happy. Well, that was actually putting it mildly. They should all be celebrating her friends Brayden’s and Selene’s mating and the crowning of the snow leopard as beta. Brayden was like a brother to her. They’d grown up together after she’d been welcomed into the Glacial Blood family. She was six months younger than him, so he liked to play the protective older brother. She’d spoilt his special day. Guilt washed over her, as she took in the miserable surroundings.

The Reichstag was opened in eighteen ninety-four and housed the German parliament until nineteen thirty-three when it was destroyed by fire. It was later rebuilt in the nineteen nineties to hold the shifter council who masqueraded as the German government. Well let’s face it, the shifters couldn’t do a much worse job for the humans of the city than the Nazis did. If only people knew that the current incumbent prime minister of the country was a Bavarian bear with a penchant for fresh fish…the still breathing type. The upper levels of the building were clean and designed in modern styles for the general public, but the floors below ground level retained historic charm for want of a better description. They ranged from small offices with ornate carvings to a grand ceremonial ballroom clad in wood and framed with swords and spoils of kills long since enjoyed at banquets. The lowest levels, hidden in the area where nobody would dare to go unless it was their job or they were waiting for sentencing, were the dungeon areas. Her room was a little better not being in the communal area, but it still lacked necessary facilities. The toilet was a bucket; the bed run down, and she hoped not covered in fleas. No natural light was here. Instead, a fluorescent tube light flickered to illuminate the etchings on the stone walls from previous occupants. She shivered at the tales this room could tell, and now it would add her own story.

“Who did I supposedly murder?” She questioned Ethern.

“Oh yes, the formalities.” A piece of paper was pulled from his jacket pocket. The multi-shifter opened it and started to read. “Emma Bryant, you have been brought here under the charge of murder. It is alleged that on the twenty-fifth of October, two thousand and fifteen, you did murder, Richard Bryant by means of beheading him. How do you plead?” The floor dropped out of her world. She stumbled back gasping for air. Ethern stopped reading and with a small flick of his hand motioned for Kas to administer comfort to her.

“My father?” She was stunned beyond belief. Ice cold terror flooded her body, forcing her stomach to twist and turn in painful spasms. “I didn’t even know that he’d died.” Kas wrapped his arms around her and brought her into his chest. “I didn’t kill him. I haven’t seen him since I was four. I can’t even remember what he looks like. Why would I kill him?”

"It's alright. Ethern knows that, but an allegation has been made. He has to investigate it." Kas calmly reassured her, but it didn't actually work. She had a terrible feeling about this. Anything to do with her father led to trouble, as far as she was concerned.

“The allegation was made and viable proof supplied. Your dad was an alpha. I had to act." Ethern took one look at the bed, frowned and waved his hand in front of it. The bed disappeared and was replaced with a softer and much cleaner version. Warm blankets settled down upon it making it actually seem cosy despite the location. He flicked his wrist again, and the lighting morphed into a subtle warm glow. "I'm afraid I can't do anything about the toilet facilities, but I'll do what I can to make your stay tolerable. I've also sent Jessica to my office to pick up a copy of all the evidence and take it back to the Glacial Blood mansion so that you can start your own investigation, Kas.”

“I’m grateful for that.” The polar bear nodded in acknowledgement before helping Emma to sit on the new bed.

"I'm going to go and make some of the other rooms more comfortable, so it doesn't look suspicious, only those that deserve it of course. You've got five minutes, Kas, and then we have to leave." Ethern was back at the door. "I'll be back to lock up." Emma winced at his departing words. The walls suddenly closed in on her, she’d never been claustrophobic, but the thought of having no natural light and fields of green to run around in scared her so much that she could feel her heart beating faster and faster.

"I don't understand why this is happening? Why now? I'm nothing to my father's pack; what could they possibly get out of seeing me stuck in here?"

“I don’t know. None of this makes any sense. You came to us as a baby. You’ve never been a part of your father’s pack.” Kas was tenderly stroking her hair in a comforting gesture. It was calming her down a little, but she knew the minute he left the fear would return.

“You said that I was found by your grandmother, that I had a note telling you who I was and asking that I be protected from my father. That I was to be betrothed to a man who would destroy me and that this was the only way to make sure it didn't happen. Who signed the note?" She'd grown up with a family of lions in the park, but Kas had always insisted on her knowing that she was not their biological daughter. After the wars in which his family died, the polar bear had explained that it was to ensure her safety through the truth. She remembered one meeting with her father when she was only four, the last time she’d seen him. It was full of anger, fighting between the packs, but the Glacial Blood had claimed her and marked her as one of their own, so her father could not take her. He’d eventually left without her but not before promising retribution against them all.

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