Page 24 of Mated to the Enemy
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Letting her walk out of his room without chasing after her was a little colder than was perhaps necessary, but he wanted to drive home the point to Jessica that she was not in charge here. Klaue wasn’t going to run after her and agree to do whatever she wanted. The safety of him and the other members of his House was at stake, and he wasn’t about to jeopardize that.
Besides, it’ll take her two hours just to reach the front gate.
He had time. Even after she reached the gate, it wasn’t like Ursidae Manor was on a bus route for Plymouth Falls either. She was alongway from civilization, which gave him time to think as well. Time to come up with a plan.
“A plan for what?” he mused, pacing around his quarters deep within the palatial house.
The focus should have been on getting the information from Jessica, figuring out just what it was she had done to make Canis want her so bad. His Queen had charged him with doing just that, and Klaue didn’t want to let her down. But Jessica was his mate. Theoretically at least, according to a wild vision that only Kincaid had been privy to. So shouldn’t he be coming up with a plan to find out if there was any truth to that as well?
Confused by his choice, he left his quarters, following her scent through the corridor for a brief time. Although she was wearing generic Ursa clothing, and had washed with the same non-scented soap he kept in the shower, there was still a bit of Jessica mixed in with all that, and he followed it like a fly hunting sugar, not bothering to watch where he was going.
This careless attitude resulted in him colliding with another shifter at the intersection of the hallways.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, finally remembering where he was and coming to his senses.
“Did you not see me there?” the other shifter growled, obviously irate.
Klaue, not in the mood for bullshit just then, drew himself up to his full height and faced the other shifter straight on. The other member of the House did the same, and to his surprise, Klaue was forced to tilt his head upward. That was rare. There were a few shifters in the house that outsized him, but this shifter had to be pushing seven feet in height.
Being the second-in-command of the House guards, Klaue knew every member staying there by memory. All two-hundred and thirty-seven of them currently. None was as big as the pale-skinned giant facing him now. Whoever it was, it was a newcomer.
“Where’s your little Canis pet?” the Nordic-looking shifter sneered, pushing long blond hair from his face. “Finally got rid of her, did you?”
Without knowing just who the man was, Klaue was reluctant to teach him a lesson. He wasn’t afraid of fighting larger opponents. Size didn’t matter nearly as much if one knew how to counter it. There was probably a reason the shifter, whoever he was, had come to the House, and if it was at the behest of the Queen or another Title Holder, Klaue could get in a world of hurt by fucking with him. So, he bit his tongue.
“Good,” the giant said, pushing by him. “She hadspywritten all over her. I can’t believe you didn’t see it.” He snorted. “Of course, you didn’t see the uprising coming either. All of you here are blind.”
Somehow, Klaue didn’t hit him. It was an amazing show of restraint that truthfully he wasn’t aware he possessed. “Have a day,” he ground out, not willing to wish the unknown shifter well, and then kept walking.
His route was changed now though, taking a more aimless, wandering route through the House. Although the giant was an unknown to him, and therefore didn’t hold any power, Klaue wasn’t an idiot. As vast as Ursidae Manor might be, word traveled through it at lightspeed. Within hours of her arrival, he was positive just about everyone had known about it.
The Viking giant wouldn’t be the only one harboring feelings of doubt and animosity toward Jessica. In fact, it was surprising that he hadn’t been confronted about it more already. They didn’t like where she’d come from, and they didn’t like that she was being extra secretive with them, not revealing anything except the barest of details.
Which is exactly what doesn’t add up. That’s the part I don’t understand. If she was a spy, if House Canis had for some reason set this all up as a way to get her inside to live among us, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to be nice? To try and ingratiate herself with us?
There were just too many questions surrounding the issue, and not enough data. Klaue’s wanderings eventually took him toward the one person he was confident could shine more light on the situation if there was anything to be seen.
Coming to a halt in front of a thick wooden door covered in intricate engravings, he lifted the metal knocker and rapped it twice. The sound hadn’t finished fading when it opened.
“Klaue.”
He smiled and tilted his head at Khorve, head of the Queen’s Own, her bodyguard detail. “Hello. May I speak to her please?”
“One moment.” The door shut.
Klaue couldn’t help but chuckle, admiring the other man’s attempt at deference whilst remaining professional. He could remember back when Khorve was just a pumped-up little shit. Klaue had broken the arrogant man down and then built him back up again into one of the best of the best, and the two had had a sort of weird relationship since. Not father-son-like, since they were only about eight years apart, but perhaps more brotherly.
His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and Khorve waved him into the Queen’s antechamber. Kaelyn came in from her private quarters seconds later.
“Klaue, what can I do for you?” she asked with a smile.
“It’s about Jessica,” he said without preamble.
The Queen nodded, her eyes glancing around, noting the absence of the human woman, but saying nothing. “Go on.”
“I was wondering if we’d heard anything from Canis lately,” he said, thinking as he spoke. “We’re not likely to get anything from Jess without forcing it out. She’s clamped down tighter than House Drakos’ security,” he joked, making reference to the third great House, whose members had retreated from the world a century ago, leaving behind a security screen of wards and magical guards that nobody dared challenge anymore. Not after the first few dozen had died in a most gruesome fashion.
