Page 80 of Mated to the Enemy
38
“This is a perfectly creepy meeting spot,” she muttered as the driver parked the SUV next to a weathered limestone mausoleum. The thing was huge, with four spiral towers in the corners and intricately-carved figures on every wall. Gargoyles lined the roof, and two proud lions sat on either side of the entry.
“Former King of House Panthera,” Klaue said quietly. “Rumor has it he was a dick.”
Despite the gravity of the situation and their location in the middle of a cemetery, Jessica giggled. Klaue had that effect on her, he could always make her laugh. It was something she valued highly, and she made a mental note to tell him that once this was over and they had a chance to speak privately.
The chill invaded her personal space the instant she opened the door and stepped out, shivering lightly at the brisk drop in temperature until her body acclimatized to it. Pulling the zipper up tightly on her jacket, she fought back the weather and told her body to suck it up. It was winter.
“You okay over there?” Klaue asked before coming around to her side of the vehicle.
“Yeah.”
It was a lie. They both knew it. Jessica was beyond nervous. Whatever was planned, she didn’t know a single detail. The less she knew, she argued, the less she could give away with body language. If there was one thing she’d learned about shifters, it was that they could read a human with extreme ease. If Jessica knew the code words or timings ofanything, she was liable to give it away.
Which meant she was in the complete dark. All she knew was that Canis was likely to ambush them with hidden men, and that Klaue and his Queen had arranged to counter that with overwhelming force of their own. That was it. When, where and how it would arrive was a mystery.
“It’s going to be fine,” he assured her, reaching up and ruffling her hair.
“Stop that,” she growled, playfully swatting at his hand before straightening her hair. “Now my hands are cold,” she complained, shoving them back in her pockets.
“You have gloves,” Klaue teased pitilessly. “I can see them sticking out of the pockets your hands are in. Maybe put them on?”
“When I’m ready.” Looking around, she eyed the group that was going to escort her to the exchange. Most were men she recognized from the raid. Exchanging glances, she nodded in thanks to each one of them individually. This was the second time they had stuck their necks out for her, and she appreciated it, and the loyalty to Klaue that it showed.
“Whatisthis place?” she asked, noting the number of torches burning from various crypts and tombs. All of them were ornate. In the center were threemuchlarger buildings, all carved from stone, towering over the rest.
“This is where royals of the five Houses are buried,” he explained as they slowly walked toward the center and the cluster of larger buildings.
Jessica frowned. “FiveHouses? I thought there were only four. Ursa, Canis, Panthera, and the bird one.”
“Raptere,” Klaue supplied, taking her right hand from her pocket and engulfing it in his, holding it tight. “There is another, though they haven’t been seen in a little over a century. House D—”
“Dragons,” she whispered in silent awe, staring at the most majestic of the three large buildings at the center.
Four-legged winged lizards perched on the corners of the giant square tomb, each one easily ten feet tall and carved in intricate detail down to the tiniest of scales. They were nothing, however, compared to the spire that rose from the center. Made of pure gold, it reflected the light of a dozen torches on the roof, illuminating the gigantic dragon that curled around the spire. It was easily thirty feet tall, its wings stretched out wide to either side, head glaring down fiercely at the entrance, daring any who came to be sure they wished to enter.
“House Dracos, yes,” Klaue confirmed, his voice subdued.
On either side of them rose equally massive representations of bears and wolves, but they were creatures she saw in everyday life, even with their outsized proportions. But a dragon. That was something else.
“You mean they actually exist?” she asked.
“Yes, though they haven’t been heard from in a long time, so there’s a bit of a debate on the subject.
“Is this where all the ancestors of the major Houses are buried?”
“No. Only those who have done great deeds and are voted in by their respective Councils. This is where the best of us lie.”
They spent another few moments there, in the presence of many of his ancestors and beyond. Then one of Klaue’s men motioned, and he put an arm around her protectively as they pulled back to one side of the open space in the center of the three tombs.
Opposite them came the delegation from House Canis. It was large, nearly a score of them, compared to only seven from Ursa. She smiled tightly, thinking the numbers to be about even at that point.
The wolf shifters came in a ragged mob, none of them seeming to really care or even note the presence of the Ursidae, which she could see was irritating her guard.Probably exactly what they wanted.
“Yeah, they’ve got something planned,” Klaue whispered quietly. “No doubt about that. Even for these pricks, they’re too arrogant. Hell, they’re practically giving it away. How do they think we won’t notice that?”
One of the other men spoke—it was Kasperi, she noted, twin swords running down his back, hidden from view but he turned for them to see—answering the mostly rhetorical question. “They’re cocky in victory and will expect us to just see it as them rubbing it in that they’re getting what they deserve.”
