Page 19 of Bear Protector
“Seven a.m., Kiera.”
“What? And you didn’t wake me?” She jumped out of the bed and rushed over to the wardrobe for the rest of her things. Nausea hit her. This was not good. The Chancellor had probably sent his guards to comb the village in search of her by now. The restlessness in her stomach got worse by the second. How on earth was she supposed to explain spending the night outside of the fortress? In a man’s quarters. No, a shifter’s. On their camp. “I must leave now. People will be looking for me.”
“That was my guess. I will get you home.”
“Do you have a way to get me inside the fortress without being seen?” she asked, throwing on her robe, and then the cloak.
“Seriously? You do realize I am a shifter, correct? We do not have access to the fortress. Why do you think our meetings are set up at the Great Hall?”
“Oh. Right. I forgot.” She lifted the hood of the cloak over her head, and picked up her shoes, taking a seat at the kitchen table to put them on. “I guess I will just have to accept the consequences for my poor judgment.”
“Can you ride a horse on your own?”
“I am a bit rusty, but yes.”
He got to his feet and stepped into his boots. “I’ll get two horses.”
“Hurry. Please.”
“You are an impatient little thing, aren’t you? I will be back shortly.”
Xander might have been intending to hurry, but to Kiera, he could not return fast enough.
He was back a few minutes later. “Ready?”
Kiera followed him out to the horses outside. She did not wait for him to help her up. This time, she went to the white mare’s side, taking the reins in her left hand. She lifted the fabrics of her cloak and robe up to her knees with the other hand, stuck her left foot into the stirrup, and climbed up onto the horse’s saddle the way a man would. There was no time for idle sidesaddle riding. She needed to get this horse in a full gallop and get back before the Chancellor’s guards found her anywhere near the shifter camp.
“Let’s go,” she told him, giving the reins a snap to move off.
“Your state of panic is not helping the horse,” he said when his horse got beside hers. “We should be fine until we are a few hundred yards outside the fortress. I would escort you all the way there, but it may not be wise.”
“I agree. You can leave me when we get to the Great Hall. The guards will not ask me much if they see me riding in from there. I will only have to answer to the Chancellor about my whereabouts.”
“Understood.”
Relaxing her mare’s pace to a trot, they left the camp without incident. Soon, they had made it to the witch craftsmen’s homes, and Kiera picked up on a hissing sound she could recognize anywhere.
Coco.
In her Osprey form.
She flew in over the slate rooftops of the houses, swooping down to perch on Kiera’s shoulders without waiting for the mare to stop.
“Coco!” Kiera cried. “I’m so relieved to see you.”
“As am I, darling.”
“You have been avoiding me.”
“I would call it letting you process some things without my interference,” Coco corrected her. “Never mind that. I came as soon as I sensed you. Wherever you were last night, your thoughts were cloaked…and from the looks of your riding companion, my first guess is the shifter camp. Why hello, Commander Oslo.”
“Good morning, evil shifter witch,” he answered gruffly.
“Keep it up and I’ll give you a good reason to call me evil, Kodiak bear,” she hissed.
“Coco, focus please.” Kiera had no time for their conflict. She got back to the point. “I suspect it was the containment spell around their camp that kept me hidden. Everyone must be worried. God, I must be in big trouble.”
“Not likely. Well, perhaps, but I’m not sure. Reena told me you had left when I got back to the fortress last night, so I did my best to help cover for you. We told the Chancellor you were in your room meditating. I cannot say for certain that he believed us, but I did a blocking spell at your bedroom door.”
