Page 40 of Countdown to Murder
“Mordecai. I’m happy to see you. Please, both of you, come inside.”
Mordecai walked inside, his gaze glued to me.
I bowed the same amount Panda had. “I am Mira, Sir. Panda tells me you’re a friend. I hope this is the case.”
Mordecai looked to Ryan, who shrugged and told Panda, “The Concilio has kept some things hidden from the slayers, which isn’t surprising, but they kept them from Olympus as well, which is an unhappy surprise for our friend here. Somehow, you broke open a lock last night. Our alarms went crazy, but we listened in and ascertained this conversation could wait until morning — after you were awake and well-fed.”
“Well fed?” I asked.
“What do you know of Echidna?” Mordecai asked us.
“Mother of a whole lot of mythological monsters,” Panda said, but then his gaze focused in and I scented unease. “Half woman, half snake.”
“Indeed,” Mordecai said. “I looked into things while the two of you slept. The Concilio has been running a breeding program with Echidna’s offspring.” The ancient god looked to me. “King cobra shifters are usually either all snake or all human. You alone have a Jacobson’s organ no matter your form, and you alone can bite someone and inject venom while in human form.”
I zeroed in on the political parts as well as the legal problems this might present. “Which is why I can’t be out on my own without a leash or a keeper, right?”
“Correct. However, I’ve spoken with Fawn and Kendra, as well as Nathan. All have convinced me to spend some time with you before making a determination.”
“She isn’t going back,” Panda told him.
“Not today, and possibly not ever,” said Mordecai. “The first step is dealing with her hunger. There’s likely a damned good reason it was leashed.”
“The slayers are of the same mind,” Ryan told me. “Normally, we’d depend on the Concilio to test you and affirm you can be amongst humans, but I don’t trust them to be honest with the test or the results. In their eyes, you belong to them. They made you. Created you. Trained you.Legally, they have the paperwork to recall you in a few months.”
“Will you agree to the Slayers testing her?” Mordecai asked Panda. I started to protest and point out that I should be the one who decides, but I’ve been around politics all my life, and I immediately understood the chessboard. The god-of-old was here because of his connection to Nathan, which meant Mordecai would do as Panda asked. Not me. I swallowed my protest and had to trust Panda to do right by me.
“I’ll trust Ryan, but I need a week with her, at least, before any test is given.”
“Excellent decision.” Mordecai turned and met my gaze. “Panda, you should go to the grocery store and stock up for your girl’s new appetite. I’d like some time alone with Mira.”
Panda turned his back on the two men, shielding me from them while silently showing me how much he trusted them.
“I belong to Nathan, and I’m not exactly sure of the promises made between Mordecai and Nathan, but I trust that Mordecai will make decisions with my best interests in mind. He loves Kirsten, who loves Nathan, who has been involved in my life since I was six years old. I’ve claimed you, which means the King of the Lions sees you as one of his. Are you okay with being alone with Mordecai?”
I nodded, because what else could I do? I wasn’t even a little bit okay with it, but I understood why it would be political suicide to say it.
When we were alone, Mordecai sat on the sofa and pointed towards a chair across from him for me to sit in. I did, and wished I was wearing more than Panda’s oversized shirt.
“I apologize for coming in on you unannounced, but it couldn’t be helped. You’ve been taught willpower in unconventional ways, and I’d like to talk to you about how to bring that training over to your new hunger.”
“You know something you haven’t told me.”
“I do. I need to take you to my home, so I can be certain a Slayer won’t overhear our conversation. Will you go with me to Olympus for this conversation? We’ll leave a note for Panda, in case we’re still gone when he returns.”
“Panda trusts you. Is his trust wise?”
Mordecai smiled. “You’ve learned much from the vampires. The answer to your question isyes. He is correct that I’m sharing the woman I love with his King, and this means I’ll make certain Panda is safe, as well as the woman he’s claimed.”
“Give me three minutes to put some pants on and write a note, and I’ll go with you.”
Mordecai teleported us to a beautiful swimming pool with a spectacular waterfall feature, and he pointed to a grassy section of his yard. “You’re going to want to stripand stand on the grass. I need to show you what you can do, and we don’t have enough time for me to worry about offending you. I will stay on the marble surface; you will stay in the grass. Your virtue is safe while you are in my home.”
I already knew what he was going to tell me. I’d researched snakes in mythology once I’d been living with Fawn. I’d never been able to while under the Concilio’s thumb, and I hadn’t thought to while I’d lived in Maryland. But I knew who Echidna was, and who her children were, and I instinctively knew what I’d be able to do.
“Let me try to do it,” I told Mordecai. “If I can’t manage it, then you can show me how it feels.”
He nodded, I took my pants off but left my shirt on, walked to the grass, and shifted the bottom half of my body into the back half of a huge snake. The snake’s tail curled around on the grass, a stable platform the body could rise above. I looked below the shirt and saw the spot where scales merged into skin.
