Page 62 of Mated to the Enemy
Kaelyn wasn’t pushing hard, but Klaue could still see his mate getting upset. It was time he intervened—and the moment he stepped forward, he caught an approving glance from Kaelyn.Wait a minute, did she plan it this way? To have me step forward as the savior?
He snarled silently, letting her know he did not appreciate being manipulated, even if he could see where his ruler was going with it. Kaelyn just smiled as if to say, “it’s part of the job”.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he told Jessica, putting an arm around her protectively. “I’ll be fine in the future, I just got worked up today, and gave that bootlicker too much credit. There are other ways to beat them, ways that don’t involve me giving them the thrashing they deserve. Come on, we can go.”
He tried to turn Jessica around, to leave the Queen’s private office, but she stood her ground. “No.”
Klaue looked down, then at his Queen, then back to Jessica. “No?”
“No,” she repeated, her voice stronger. “You’ve done enough.Morethan enough to earn my trust. And your Queen obviously trusts you, which is why she’s playing the bad cop here.”
Kaelyn coughed in surprise.
“I worked in a factory where people ratted on each other all the time to get ahead, and middle-managers tried to play peacekeeper while also working to get themselves into a better position. I’ve seen it all,” Jessica said drily. “You could use some fine-tuning, but overall not bad. Most people would have fallen for it without thinking.”
The Queen looked down, nodding, not bothering to hide the smile from her face. “Clearly, I do not give you enough credit.” She glanced at Klaue. “Or you enough pity. She is going to walk all over you.”
Klaue wisely remained silent. He’d learned a few lessons over the years, and one of them was, “In situations where women are ganging up on you, shut up, because you’ve already lost and can’t do anything more about it, besides make it worse.”
“I overheard something,” Jessica said, her voice growing distant.
Suddenly alert at the change in her tone, Klaue listened to his mate, absorbing every word she spoke. Whatever it was, it was important.
“I was at Moonshadow Manor, visiting my sister. I’d just been laid off in advance of the factory I worked at closing. I had severance and no mortgage, so I was going to come visit for a bit, since I hadn’t seen her in three years, and then do some travelling. So I came here to Plymouth Falls, and hung out with her, even though I hate that asshole of a mate of hers.”
Captain Lorran,Klaue mouthed in response to Kaelyn’s quizzical glance.
“Anyway, we were having a glass of wine and gossiping the one night. I went to go get some more wine, and I…overheard something. Something that they absolutely donotwant getting out.”
Neither Klaue nor Kaelyn said anything for a moment. Then they both spoke in a rush.
“What?”
“What did you hear?” Kaelyn came closer and put her hand gently on Jessica’s shoulder. “You can tell us.”
Something stabbed through his heart when Jessica looked up, a haunted look in her eyes. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“Why not?”
Jessica looked at him as she spoke, even though it was Kaelyn who had asked the question. Her eyes pleaded with him to believe her, to trust her. That this was important. That she wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t because…
Then Klaue got it. “Your sister. They have your sister.” He cursed and stormed across the room, breathing hard, trying not to fly into a rage. The Queen’s bodyguard who had been standing near the door backed out silently, not wanting to be a hapless target of Klaue’s hulking anger.
“A hostage,” Kaelyn said primly, the distaste at the idea causing her mouth to twist. “They won’t harm her, as long as you don’t tell us what you know.”
Jessica nodded. “They made that threat before I left. They haven’t said anything to you about her, have they? Is she still alive?”
“As far as I know. Nothing but demands to have you turned over have been sent to me. I would assume they don’t want to reveal why they want you so bad. I’m sorry, that’s all I know though.” The Queen pulled Jessica into a hug while Klaue stood there, impotent, unable to fix his mate’s problem.
Or was he?
“My Queen,” he said fiercely through gritted teeth. “We need to rescue her sister. Go in, get her out. Bring her to safety.” His eyes turned to Jessica. “If she was safe, would you tell us?”
“Of course!” Jessica exploded, angry not at them, but at the situation. “I’m not staying silent because I don’t like you.” She shrugged. “I didn’t at first, you’ve been the enemy for so long, but now I’m beginning to see that maybe I was deluded. That maybe Canis is the evil here.”
“There is good in the House,” Kaelyn said confidently. “We know that. Otherwise they would have swept over us in our moment of weakness and knocked us so far down the rungs of power, it would have been decades or centuries before we recovered. Something stopped that from happening. There is also rot in them, and it is deep.”
Klaue nodded. “Her sister is mated to a Canis Title Holder. She is likely unharmed; even they would be reluctant to do that. It also means they aren’t holding her in the dungeon. She is probably under House arrest. Getting her out will be difficult, but much less impossible this way.”
