Page 84 of Bearing Secrets
All House cars had a GPS tracker installed. If it was turned off, the security office was notified immediately. More than once it had saved a member’s life when others had interfered in the House business.
“It’s outside as well,” Krave said slowly. “I don’t understand.”
Kirell was already on his way out the door, however, because he knew exactly what was going on. That bastard had kidnapped his woman.
He burst through the doors to the parking garage, pausing only long enough to snag the keys to one of the communal House Ursa SUVs. He hit the remote start as he ran toward it, the modified engine revving to life.
Tires screeched on the asphalt as he gunned it forward before the door was closed. His only care was for Natalia, and for getting to her before Klebra escaped.
He pulled out his phone and tried to dial the security office as he sped up the ramp and onto the driveway, but he had an incoming call.
“Hello?” he snarled without even looking at the number.
“Ah, Kirell. How nice of you to be so prompt in answering.”
“Klebra,” he snarled, his foot mashing down the accelerator as he tore up the driveway to the gates like a bat out of hell. The car was shaking as he passed eighty miles an hour, then ninety, barely keeping four tires on the ground through some of the turns. “What have you done?”
“Meet me at the cemetery. One hour. You and Kaelyn will come alone. Do anything wrong, and she dies. It’s that simple, it really is,” Klebra cackled, his voice breaking as he did.
The man is losing his grip on reality.
It was the only situation that made any sense, really. In what world did Klebra think he could get away with this and escape any sort of consequences once it resolved itself? It was insane to think he could just waltz into power after ousting Kirell like this. What the hell was he hoping to achieve?
It doesn’t matter.
One thought—and one thought only—was racing through his mind. Everything else was a distant second to it. He had to save Natalia.
No matter what it took.
39
He moved through the woods like a ghost.
For a man of his size, Kirell knew how to navigate without making a sound. Toes first, slowly, pushing debris aside with careful, gentle movements before he put his weight down. Thankfully the undergrowth was thin here, and the moonlight pierced the canopy overhead in numerous places, giving him plenty of light to move by.
The cemetery was straight ahead. Which meant Natalia was there, waiting for him to come rescue her. He seethed at the knowledge that Klebra had so brazenly kidnapped her, but his training kept that rage bottled up, preventing him from moving in haste.
Klebra wasn’t an idiot. He would have helping hands posted throughout the forest. Watching. Waiting. Kirell was pitting himself against them, betting he could gain the drop on any of them before they even knew he was there.
To the best of his knowledge, none of Klebra’s lackeys were trained soldiers. They could still be deadly in a fight with their strength, of course, but if he engaged in a straight-up fight with any of them, Natalia was dead, regardless of Kirell’s ability to win the fight or not.
Instead, he was going to rely on stealth, conserving his limited strength reserves and hopefully avoiding any outright fighting unless it was absolutely necessary.
Behind him came two squads of his best guards, under the watchful eye of Klaue. They were half a mile or more back, however, to give him time to eliminate the scouts. They were there more as backup than anything, because Kirell had refused to allow his Queen to go in with just him as support.
He’d only been made aware of the fact that Klebra had called the Queen after he was almost at the cemetery. Kaelyn had called Kirell and clued him in to everything. Klebra wasn’t just after Kirell’s position, he’d been told. The insane traitor hoped to blackmail the Queen into supporting him openly.
He’s not totally insane, however, else he’d be after the Throne instead. Keep that in mind, Kirell; he’s still able to think somewhat rationally, and that means he’s dangerous.
A noise ahead alerted Kirell to the presence of the first guard. It wasn’t much, the rustle of clothing as a bored guard shifted and tugged at his outerwear. Probably itching himself. It didn’t matter; he’d given away his position.
Kirell moved slowly to the right, circling wide around the scout. Shifters could see in the dark, but they couldn’t see infra-red, which was good else he’d stand out like a sore thumb.
A few minutes later, he spied the scout, back to a tree, head turning left and right in a slow, rhythmic pattern. Kirell smiled, moving forward only when the guard was looking away from him, and freezing when his gaze returned.
As silent as a shadow, Kirell rose up behind the guard, grabbing his mouth with one hand and sliding the steel dagger between the man’s ribs, thrusting in hard, upward and deep. There was a muffled scream, then the point of the blade hit home and the scout went limp. Kirell slowly set him down and continued on around the perimeter.
It pained him to kill members of his own House like this, without warning, in the dark. Alive one moment, dead the next. He took out the second one the same way, but the third was smarter. The third he almost stumbled across, until the man spat. The noise of the saliva spattering against a leaf alerted him that someone was above him.
