Page 6 of Bear Protector
Kiera reared back in her chair. “Slaves? How could you call yourselves slaves? You all are heroes.”
“My troops are slaves.” His tone was flat, deadly serious. “If you don’t already see that with your own eyes, you are more naïve than I expected.”
“Funny, but the rest of them believe you are warriors. Champions of our people and our way of life. Without you, the destroyers would have wiped us out. You and your men have kept us safe for almost nine years.”
He scoffed. “That sounds like the second half of old man Minassus’ annual Winter speech. I take it you have fallen for his trickery, but that never surprises me.”
“What are you talking about?”
He shook his head. “For a powerful witch, you are remarkably gullible. Look at the way we are treated. Witches, humans, my shifter kin. We have no free will. Look at you. You’re the Chosen. It sounds like an honor, but do you know what happened to the last eight witches to be called by that moniker?”
“Of course I know. All the Chosen fulfilled their destiny and now live in honor in the fortress Chamber of the Sacred, accessible only to the Chancellor.”
Xander laughed so hard, Kiera thought he would fall out of his chair. “You believe that?” He tilted his head to the side, squinting his eyes as he seemed to study her. “My God. You really believe.”
“If you know so much, what do you think happened to them?”
“They served their purpose, so yes, that part is correct. So you don’t know they are… dead?”
Angered by his lies, Kiera got to her feet. “We need this meeting, Commander Oslo, but that does not mean I must subject myself to your outrageous fabrications. Of course they are not dead.”
“Ask the Chancellor when you return. In fact, ask your familiar. They are all dead.”
“But…why? What is it that leads you to believe the eight Chosen have passed on?”
“That is another question to ask your Chancellor.”
“Are you suggesting that his Eminence killed them?”
“Perhaps you should ask him yourself, or have an honest conversation with that immortal shifter witch waiting outside. Getting back to the point, men with the 236-k gene are also chosen, in a manner of speaking. We are taken from our families, and we are no longer given a choice to accept or reject the transformation process. We are forced. Dissenters are caught and punished, sometimes tortured until they agree to accept the transformation into shifters. Those who try to run away are eventually captured and killed. Minassus makes it all sound like it’s an honor to serve, but the truth is we have no choice. And if that weren’t enough, we are separated from the people we care about, kept trapped in shifter-only quarters, under-clothed, underfed and treated like animals…because Minassus would love nothing more than for everyone to view us as he does…as a sub-human species.” He crossed his arms. “You can parrot all his inspirational words in any way you like, but the fact is, you also view us as being inferior.”
“Do not think you can speak for me, Commander Oslo!” she shouted.
Her face burned, her heart raced, blood pounded in her ears, and bile threatened to rise up into her throat. This man was the rudest, most difficult person she had ever met. He made such atrocious accusations. It was ludicrous. No wonder the Chancellor chose to abstain from the meeting. For a moment, the question of why crossed her mind. Why would Chancellor Minassus allow her to meet with a man who practically accused him of murder? And why would Xander want to start a fight with her when they had only just met? They were supposed to be learning from each other and establishing a rapport, forming a bond which was necessary for her transformation spell to work.
Kiera took a deep breath, reminding herself of her power. Chancellor Minassus had warned her that something like this could happen. Commander Oslo was an alpha, but she could be strong too.
With that in mind, she took a seat again. She placed her shaking hands on the table and found her calmest, most evenly-measured voice. “I think we have gotten off to a poor start. I take responsibility for allowing our discussion to get off the rails, and I am prepared to refocus us, starting now. We are here today because we do not have much time before the first winter storm of the season. I am committed to carrying out my role as the Chosen. As you know, I will cast a spell that will transform this year’s selected men to Kodiak bear shifters, which will ensure we have enough of your kind. You and I will work together to minimize any unforeseen obstacles.”
The Commander leaned back in his chair, folding massive arms over an equally broad chest, assessing her, yet closed off from her. He had probably heard that one aspect of Kiera’s ability as a witch was that she was an empath—able to sense emotions, and intuitively read into them in order to delve into another person’s thoughts. She had possessed this ability for as long as she could remember. It was the trait which first clued her mother in that Kiera was a witch. Her ability was not as attuned as the Chancellor. He could read the most unwilling of minds. Kiera on the other hand would receive impressions, some emotional cues, and fleeting images. Nothing concrete. Xander’s mind, however, was a locked door, very much like the Chancellor’s, who always cloaked his thoughts. Did Xander know she was trying to read him? Was he intentionally putting up walls to block her way?
After pondering the question, she dismissed the idea. It may have been because he was a shifter. She had never tried to read a shifter’s mind before.
Probably because she had never met one in person.
Even for all her inexperience, and with all the tension Xander created, she was willing to bet that no other person—not witch, human or shifter—could send a chill down her spine the way Xander did just by looking at her. Now if she could just focus long enough to get the loud, overbearing, stubborn man to cooperate as they worked to protect the region this winter.
3
Xander
This was the chance Xander had been waiting for all these years. His instincts screamed so loudly, he could hardly hear the words Kiera spoke. His men had a shot at freedom, and Kiera was going to be the one to help make that happen. The part of him brought about by the transformation spell made him certain of it. That was the thing about strong magic. It left something behind. Something intangible and unreachable inside of him felt Kiera and her familiar’s abilities, and recognized that she was the key.
Before that evil witch Minassus had cast his spell on him, he had been an ordinary human. He’d worked hard to build as good a life as he could for his mother and himself. Everyone else in his family had been killed during the Big Storm nine years ago, so he did everything he could to care for his mother. Shortly afterward, Minassus’ scribes, scientists and witches made three discoveries that changed everything.
First, two of the Chancellor’s scribes found a written account from almost three hundred years ago, after the first destroyers had appeared. The report described a failed destroyer attack and their retreat from Akimiski Island near James Bay in Canada. The cause: Kodiak bears that inhabited the island had defended their territory, brutally wounding or killing scores of the monsters. Second, at the same time nine years ago, scientists in the employ of the Chancellor had discovered that it was the presence of the 236-k gene in humans that allowed them to be turned to Kodiak bear shifters. Finally, the witches had perfected a powerful spell to transform large groups of people to shifters all at the same time. Afterward, it was the evil, traitorous familiar belonging to Minassus who had recommended turning all men with the gene to Kodiak bear shifters, to use them as defensive weapons against the destroyers.
Minassus had thus established a way to bolster the defense of their boundaries. Of course, he used surreptitious methods to build his new army. Every healthy male in the central village was called to the Great Hall under the guise of holding an emergency meeting. On their arrival, Minassus announced there was a way for a select number of men to serve and protect the region. Given that the destroyer attacks had affected every household and family, every man in the room raised their hands to help.
