Page 3 of Bearing Secrets
Without their leader, it was likely the rest would run. The Queen’s Own, her bodyguards—they could hunt down the rest. All he had to do was strike a mortal blow against the former Captain.
Squaring off against the traitors, he let the change come over him. This time, he embraced the pain, savoring it, luxuriating in it.
It was the last time he would ever experience it.
2
Kven flicked his finger and the lackeys with him streamed forward.
Oh come on.
Cowardseemed more appropriate than ever. Kirell couldn’t believe his former mentor would turn against the rest of the House like that, but the evidence was right in front of his eyes. Better that he’d actually been dead.
“Move to the side.”
Kirell jerked as the voice spoke through the door behind him. Glancing over at Kellas, he jerked his head toward the wall, giving demonstration to his point. They moved to the side and then he shuffled forward as well, making it look like they were going to try and pincer the oncoming attackers.
No sooner were they out of the way than the doors swung open with alarming speed. Four members of the Queen’s Own strode forward. Kirell blinked as they fired the weapons in their hands; the riflescracked, but when the projectiles hit the attackers, they didn’t simply bore into the skin like normal bullets.
They exploded upon contact, sprinkling the attackers with tiny bits of depleted uranium.
Almost immediately, the four hit attackers collapsed, their bear shapes roiling and bubbling from underneath their skin as the bullets’ radiation went to war with the DNA of the shifter.
The rifles cracked again, and the remaining two went down as well. Kirell grinned and went forward. The effects were temporary; perhaps thirty seconds was all he had.
But it was more than enough time to finish off Kven.
The leader of the traitors was staring in horror at his men, sprawled out on the ground in front of him, screaming in pain as the flecks tried to burn their way through the thick fur of the bears.
Kirell hit him like an out-of-control semi-truck. The ex-Captain, still in his human form, flew through the air like a sack of potatoes, landing limp-boned nearly thirty feet away. Kirell came up to him, ignoring the pain in his feet from the uranium dust he’d gotten on the underside of his paws.
Grinning with an idea, he lifted one mighty paw and pushed it down into Kven’s chest. The traitor screamed as the dust went through his shirt and penetrated his human skin far easier than it did that of the bears. Kirell ground his paw down, feeling the skin loosen and part under the force. His claws were digging deep as well.
You lose. He let his gaze linger on Kven’s face until he saw the recognition.
Then he lifted both front paws and crushed Kven’s chest nearly flat, killing him instantly as blood spontaneously spurted from his mouth and nose.
Tired, Kirell shifted back to human, unable to completely control himself. A whimper of pain at the process escaped him as he staggered away from the corpse, hitting the wall and sliding down it, uncaring of the way the ancient wallpaper ripped against his exposed skin.
“Kirell.”
He looked up, expecting to see one of the guards. Instead, he locked gazes with the person he’d come to protect, the one person he needed to survive more than any other.
His Queen.
“My Queen!” he exclaimed, forcing himself up onto one knee and bowing his head in the best show of respect he could manage in his weakened state. “I hadn’t realized you were coming.”
“Here.” To his surprise the Queen of High House Ursa knelt in front of him, handing him a pair of the ubiquitous brown sweatpants and sweatshirt so commonly seen around the manor. “Take these. You have done well.”
The praise banished some of the pain, but not all.
“It’s over, my Queen,” he said, not feeling confident that they had indeed dealt with the last of the traitors.
“Perhaps.” She obviously felt the same way as he.
“Any that remain have fled, or never openly professed themselves in favor of the rebellion. The next Captain will conduct an investigation. They’ll find those that remain for you, and they’ll kill them.” Kirell was confident of that much at least.
“I’m glad to see your brain is still working.”
