Page 59 of Bearing Secrets
“Because we know that we didn’t get them all, that some of them escaped our justice. I want to find them. The sooner we do, the better for everyone involved.”
“Right.” Krave nodded seriously, turning to his screens. “Who should I start with?”
“Take one of the men assigned to Klaue. I was just about to start with them.” He pushed over a clipboard with the names of who had been assigned to whom.
They picked names, then began pulling up footage for the cameras nearest to the quarters of each man, and then fast-forwarding until they saw them come or go last. It was a laborious process, because they had to switch from camera to camera to track each man’s movements, but each new camera had to have the footage pulled; this meant selecting the camera, inputting the date and time, and then watching that until their person of interest moved to the next camera.
Repeat.
It had worn Kirell’s nerves down to near nothing, but he still had hope. The three men they were checking along with Klaue were on the top of hismost suspiciouslist. All of them seemed slightly off, nothing that he could point out to directly of course, it was just a gut feeling, an instinct, but it was all he had to go off of.
“He’s clear,” Krave announced half an hour later.
Not long after that, Kirell was forced to announce the same. That only left Klaue for him to vet for loyalty. He felt almost dirty doing so; Klaue was one of the longest-serving soldiers in the House, and in truth the position of Captain should probably have been offered to him over Kirell. There was a reason behind Kirell’s selection but he didn’t know what it was. Only the Queen could justify her choice, and he wasn’t about to question her decision.
“What the hell?” he muttered, watching the movement on the camera.
“Got something?” Krave looked over.
“There was a huge brawl outside of Korve’s quarters,” he said, referring to the late Knight and heir to the House. “After they got the King, they went after him, you remember?”
“I do. I got there too late,” Krave said angrily. “But it was a warzone in there. He didn’t go down easily.”
Kirell agreed. The Knight had fought side by side with the Champion, the best fighter in the House, and both had taken down numerous enemies before they’d been slain themselves.
“It was a close fight. A few more loyal men could have changed the tide,” he said. “Especially if one of them was Klaue.”
“Why wasn’t he there?” Krave leaned in closer.
“Because someone sent him in a different direction. Look.” He pointed to the screen as Klaue and two others raced down one hallway. He lined up the cameras to have it play constantly. Just before they reached the last corner, someone stepped out of a dead zone, only the lower half of their legs visible as they said or did something.
Klaue and the two loyalists with him came to a halt, this visible from another angle. After a short conversation, no more than ten seconds, they took off… In a different direction.
“This doesn’t prove anything,” Krave said calmly. “Where do they go next?”
Together they followed the cameras, working well as a team, each man anticipating what camera would be next and flicking back and forth between them as they called them up, moving much faster than any one person alone. They tracked the trio, and saw them pile into another fight, saving some of the Queen’s guards, before moving on.
“Everyone they fight is a confirmed or suspected traitor,” Krave said.
“So why didn’t they go to the Knight’s quarters? Who stopped them?” Kirell’s brain was working full-force now, his ire raised. The entire day could have turned out differently if this mystery person hadn’t stopped the trio from racing to the side of their comrades.
While they pulled up more cameras, Kirell tugged his phone from a pocket, looking at the screen, only to be disappointed yet again. All morning he’d waited to hear from Natalia in case she called him or texted him—any sort of communication. But so far, radio silence.
Not for the first time, he unlocked his phone and started writing a message to her. Something, anything to get her to respond, to let him know she would be coming back.
Also not for the first time, he deleted it before sending. The last thing Kirell wanted to do was be pushy. He’d left her a message the previous night after calling, and now the ball was in her court. He had to give her some space.
Time is running out, though. She’s cutting it awfully close.
It bothered him that he so obviously was beginning to care for her. What had begun as a well-planned business arrangement was now something completely different. What made it even worse, was that he knew she couldn’t stay with him. Their needs had lined up so closely to what the other could provide, that it should have been easy to just use each other and then be done with it.
You should cut it off as soon as the ceremony is over. Send her back to her world, and never contact her again. Otherwise, things are going to get complicated when a new Hunter is appointed and he realizes that you two aren’t mated.
The Hunter was a Title Holder, like he was a Captain, but they were different.
The Hunter of each House wielded a magical artifact that gave them glimpses of…something. Nobody who wasn’t a hunter could quite understand it, but the artifact allowed them to see bits and pieces of a shifters future as it related to their mate. Sometimes it was a face, other times a premonition that a shifter should be somewhere at a certain time.
Once a new one was appointed, they would be able to see that Natalia wasn’t his mate, and the entire sham would be exposed. If she was gone, however, then it wouldn’t be an issue. Hopefully.
