Page 30 of Pretty Kitten

Ace looked at Rye, who gestured her to go on.

“We think we can make them think they won. Create an illusion of sorts, making them believe Zack and Clari are dead. I have the body of a female at hand – that might help.”

“Ooh! Who did you murder?”

“Our healer. She’s the one who sold us out. So, if Rain could disguise her body…”

“Not a problem, but we still need a child. And regardless, that’s short sighted. Yeah, they can believe they died, but then, what’s step two?”

Daunte bit his lip, asking himself the same question. Only one answer came to mind.

“Then, we leave. Clari and I, with Zack. We take another name, and leave the continent. In a few years, once Zack is trained to control himself, we can come back to the pride.”

He’d never seen his sister cry. Never. One single tear fell down her cheek as she nodded.

They had no other choice.

“There’s also the matter of this… Tria. We need to know how she comes into play. Because she does; we can’t afford to ignore what happens with Hsu’s vision.”

“She’ll come,” Clari said. “We’ve called, and as you said, the vision is clear. We’ll get through this, you wait and see.”

And wait, they did.

Clari could deal with a change of domicile, a change of marital status, and a change of race all in the space of a week, but if they expected her to stay cooped up for one more second, god help her, she would add laxatives to all their coffees and escape while they were otherwise engaged. Or she’d find something equally evil if there weren’t enough laxatives at hand.

The males, with Jas and Tracy, patrolled in turn, while Christine and Ace looked after the children. In the fortnight since she’d given birth, the Alpha had completely healed; the only reason why she didn’t patrol was that they needed the most badass person available to stay around the kids. That was her.

Rye wasn’t patrolling, either; he spent his time in his office, drawing lists of his allies, and discussing who they could call to their aid. With Ola’s betrayal fresh in their minds, the list was short. It wasn’t about finding people who were loyal to them; it was about trying to judge who would see past the fact that Zack was a Turner.

The first person they’d called was Ace and Daunte’s parents; they were on their way to join them, no questions asked. Rye still hadn’t called his, though, not quite sure about them, since the Royal Pride went against them in Hsu’s vision. Niamh had also gotten in touch with the elusive Tria, but they hadn’t received a response yet. The pride members tried their best to avoid showing it in front of the teenager, but that was the main cause of their anxiety. That woman was dangerous in every possible way - her connection to the PIA, and the way she interfered with Hsu’s visions showed it. They needed to know where they stood with her; everyone wanted to believe that she would be on their side, but Niamh’s word mattered less and less every day.

Meanwhile, as Beta, Daunte spent most of his time with the potential recruits, which majorly pissed Clari off, because her sole directive was to spend as little time as possible in their company. They weren’t supposed to know about her yet; not until Rye included them in the pride, anyway. Given the fact that she’d either googled, or asked for clarifications on half of what they were talking about, she’d blow her cover in minutes if they’d hung out.

Still, it sucked. Because she, and her animal, wanted time with her new mate, she was bored, grumpy, worried, and, finally, although she would never say it out loud, she hated the fact that one person amongst those recruits was a pretty, unmated female. A sensual brunette with bigger boobs than Clari’s, rounder hips, and a petite figure she would have killed for. Ariadna, she was called.

Thinking the name was enough for her animal to want to push to the surface.

“You should let it out when it wants to be freed, you know.”

Clari jumped up from the sofa where she’d been hosting her pity party, and turned towards the direction of the unfamiliar voice.

It was lower than any other female she knew, sounding husky, sensual, and when she saw the woman it had come from, she fit it to a T.

The stranger was perched on top of the kitchen countertop like she belonged there. She wore a tight, stretchy black fabric with a dozen pockets, and some hard, reinforced parts; it looked like a modern day armor. Wavy curls so dark they almost seemed blue were pulled in a messy bun on top of her head, staying clear of her sweetheart face, with a little turned up nose and a pouty mouth. She looked young, yet her dark eyes weren’t. She looked relaxed, yet Clari’s cat paced, wary.

“What are you doing here?”

The woman jumped down from the countertop with so much ease she may as well have been the cat shifter.

But she wasn’t. Clari would have sworn she wasn’t one of them - and certainly not a human being, either.

She tilted her head and smiled.

“I was called here,” she replied in guise of explanation.

Clari stayed put. When she’d risen to her feet, she’d positioned herself between the woman and the entryway; she wasn’t moving. Past the entryway, she could go towards the stairs. Ace and the kids were in one of the recreational rooms on the first floor.

The stranger stared at her, assessing her, before chuckling.

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