“While I don’t understand why everyone wants to be near Xan…” I quickly caught myself before calling Xander by his real name,” Kai. What do you mean by what I might become?” The look in his eyes told me that he noticed and found it interesting that I knew the guy's real name. Which begged the question of how the hell the wolf knew Xander’s.
Still, for now we both dropped it. “As I told you before, I have known of a few other Kitsune in the city.” I nodded as I recalled the one time that he mentioned it. He had also stated that he wasn’t able to get them to talk about anything so knew nothing about my kind or really what to expect. “Well, while most people know of these people and how strong they are, no one knows how they got so strong or what their limits are. They just tend to show up at a massive battle, one that we are losing, and clearing out the demonic forces in moments.”
“Wait,” I stopped his spiel to ask a question. “What do you mean by they wipe out the forces in moments? What do they do?”
“The one that I have personally seen almost always has an icy fog that trails after him.” His eyes glazed over as if recalling a memory. “Everywhere he walks, the ground freezes. As he walks through the battlefield, the fog expands outwards as it covers everything. It hangs there for a dozen seconds at most before settling back around him. All that is left is ice sculptures and unfrozen allies. Then he turns and walks away.”
Damn, that was one hell of a power. But how did he do it? Was it a water-based skill? Wind? Or was it some kind of mix? To my surprise, he continues. “There is another that, while I haven’t seen it, I have heard quite a few reports on. She literally pops around a battlefield while her hands rip out various organs without so much as leaving a wound.” Space, definitely space related. Fuck the image of someone just warping reality so they could rip out a person's organs was gruesome.
As I shuddered, I asked the question again, “So what if the other Kitsune are much more powerful than other people, what does that have to do with me?”
“Because they shouldn’t be.” His eyes locked onto mine as something flickered across his face. Unfortunately, it was gone before I could understand what it was. “Sure, there are other people that are fairly strong given all of their abilities and time here, but most everyone in the government and with any sort of power has known and kept track of them for a while now. The Kitsune, they just showed up. No one knows where they came from or even who they are. They appear and disappear whenever they want. Any and every request for them to participate in meetings is denied.”
As he spoke, I wondered as to how this was possible. Even if they did shift their forms from the Kitsune to human, they would look fairly similar. Or at least, I did. Someone should have noticed the resemblance in this city, even if it had such a large, and mostly transient, population. Hell, what about any data brokers or spies? Surely someone could have tracked these people after the fight was over.
When I voiced my concerns, he groaned. “So many people have tried to track them down. Even Kai’s guild tried. From what I heard, the edge of the battlefield was as far as they could get before losing track of their target. As for their faces, they wear masks and long flowing robes.” Damn, both were simple and effective at hiding their forms. Combined with the ability to lose a tracker, they were able to ghost in and out of a battle without any issues.
“But, that is enough about Kitsune.” His voice cut my thoughts short. “You need to be more careful about what you eat and drink. Any and all of it could be poisoned.”
“Even those provided by you and your group of…” I took a second to think about what to call his little group. They weren’t a pride or a pack, they were a mix of species. Finally, I simply said, “Shifters.”
“Well,” he started to say before taking a second to give my question some thought. “Actually, no, you’re right. Don’t trust anything. Even if you are safe with me and my people, it will serve to be good training to have you always checking.” Why did I think that the damned alpha was going to have his people purposely poison my food every once in a while to make sure I was always on guard? “Now, who brought you in here?”
“A maid.” I took a second to think back at what had happened. “She was the one that came and grabbed me from your office. Do you think she could have been the one to do it?”
With a wave of his hand, he dismissed that idea. “I doubt it. That maid is loyal to…” It seemed as though he was trying to remember something but drawing a blank. A half dozen seconds later he seemed to give up and move on. “But I doubt that Camille would do this either. She has worked under me for years.” But that would mean that those two knew each other in the real world.
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He must have noticed my curious look because he chuckled. “Yes, she and I have worked off and on in the real world. She also helped me with Gabriella when she was just a baby.”
I knew it was likely a sore subject, but the words came out unbidden. “What happened to her mother?”
Liam’s sigh was long and deep. “She left us for someone else. Someone that promised her an easy life. I told her that he was using her but she didn’t believe me. Months later I got a request from the city morgue to come identify her body.” Slowly, tears had formed tracks down his face in a bid to make their escape. The big strong alpha’s voice cracked as he continued. “She was practically skin and bones. I could count her ribs and see her hips against the taught skin. I didn’t even have to read the report to know that a number of her bones had been broken. The breaks were there for all to see if one simply looked.”
Welp, now I felt like a complete dick for bringing up such a touchy subject. At least I could be sure that the bastard was dead. After all, it wasn’t like the Liam I had come to know in the last day or so would have left this guy alone after what he had done.
Which made what he said next a surprise. “The worst part is that her killer is still out there, strutting around as if he owns the place.” His laugh was short and closer to a bark than anything as he saw my look of shock. “Oh don’t get me wrong. I had plans for the bastard but he was too protected. So much so that my only option was to focus on my job. After all, where else would one learn how to learn how to get past security systems?”
So either the guy worked in security or building the systems for those rich enough to afford them. Given the fact that the wolf was an animal that was more protective of those it considered pack, I had to go with him working in some sort of security group.
A small rag appeared in Liam’s hand and he used it to wipe his face as he continued. “Anyway, as I said, I doubt either of them want you dead. Is there anyone else that you recall pissing off?”
Well, there was the demon but I doubted that he would be here of all places. If he was then I was fucked no matter what. Then there was that pencil pusher type in the council hall. But, while he had been a bit brusk, he sounded like the kind of person who felt everyone needed to follow every rule no matter who they were or what they were doing. So much so that I doubted he would try and murder me simply because it meant that he would have to break a rule or two.
Seeing that I had no immediate idea Liam let out a huff. “I need to call a few people, so for now, let’s go back to my office. This time you are going to stay there and not wander off.” Even as he said that he didn’t move. He simply stood there watching me as he waited for something. My brain must have been succumbing to a food coma or something because it took me a second to realize that he was waiting for me to take the lead.
Yeah, I doubted that he would let me wander off again. I almost wondered if he was thinking of tying me to a chair or something to keep me there when he was busy doing something. Oddly enough, the idea seemed to send a tiny shiver down my spine. The shiver curled into my center and the feeling caused a tiny spark of pleasure.
It wasn’t something I had ever really felt before, or at least not in this way. Something about how it felt was something akin to how it felt when I touched my dick when I was aroused. But that wasn’t possible. There was no way that I was aroused. Not at the idea of someone tying me up. The very idea was absurd.
My mind churned over my feelings as I absentmindedly led the way. Instead of sitting in one of the chairs, my body plopped itself down on the large and overly fluffy dog bed – or was it a wolf bed? It didn’t really matter. Not when I was trying to figure out my body and its reaction.
The idea of someone tying me up caused my body to have mixed reactions. At first, it seemed random until I realized the face of who was doing the tying was changing. Sure, there was a bit of heat when I imagined it was Liam, but it was closer to that of someone that could give me immediate relief. Like I would ever let him touch me if I was given a choice.
The next person to take center stage in the scene playing out in my head was Xander of all people. As the man gently tied my hands, the feelings flowing through me, both in the scene and in real life, increased. A slow and subtle pulsing need made itself known.
Not knowing how to take the idea that I was attracted to Xander, I switched from person to person. Going through everyone I had met and gotten to know. Sure, Barti elicited some response, it was on par with the idiotic werewolf. Then came Michael. The moment he popped into my head, my arousal and the feelings it brought with it dried up in an instant as fear and hatred took over. The same feelings persisted throughout the majority of his team, mostly.
As soon as my mind's eye replaced the person standing over me with a certain wolfkin, my body practically exploded with need as my core clenched. A loud sniffing noise filled the room as a new window popped up in front of me.
Your heat has grown to the point that it is detectable by others with sensitive noses. The need for relief will increase the longer you go without. Warning: The chance of pregnancy is increased during this period.
The window hung there for a moment before being covered by a second one.
Calculating time remaining.
Hormone imbalance detected, searching for cause.
First heat detected. A shorter estrus cycle is expected as a result.
Estimated time: 11 hours 52 minutes.
Estimation increased to 12 hours by local AI.
As soon as I finished reading the information, another took its place. This one contained a timer counting down from twelve hours.