Her eyes wide on the cat, she struggled to stand. Conn shoved her partially behind him. His hand stayed steady as he extended the dart gun toward Jordan. With a soft snarl, the cougar lifted his upper lip. Then he swayed, dropping to the grass.
Katie gulped, her gaze spinning to the hedges.
Brent was gone.
Chapter 10
Jordan stretched his legs under the conference table, trying without success to ignore the poison still vibrating through his veins. Conn had used a sedative necessary for taking down large game animals. It was a good move, because Jordan had been more animal than man when he’d bitten Katie. The idea that he’d hurt Kate made his stomach lurch. While he’d had no intention of injuring her, the craving to mark her had nearly destroyed him. And marking her, considering she had lost shifter strength and power, might destroy her.
Dage sat at the head of the table, flanked by Conn. Stunning oil paintings by Brenna Dunne lined three walls, while floor-to-ceiling windows showed the sea waiting for daylight. The central aboveground hub of the Realm was both comfortable and imposing.
Dage tapped a file on the mahogany. “We need to decide if we should move again.”
“I got the sense Brent is alone.” Anger made Jordan’s head spin. “He has Katie’s scent, her blood, and he’ll find her wherever she goes.” What had he been thinking to let her fight werewolves? “I’ll take her away from headquarters and set a trap somewhere else for him.”
“No.” Conn leaned forward, his dark T-shirt shoved up past his elbows. “We stick together.”
Jordan closed his eyes briefly when the other men nodded. Thank God. He might pose more danger to Katie than the werewolf did. “I bit her.”
Conn exhaled. “She’s fine. We secured everyone underground, and Katie’s sleeping right now. You didn’t do any lasting damage.”
But he’d wanted to do something lasting. The beast inside of him had wanted to mark her ... for all time. “That’s good to know.” He’d broken skin but the mating process could only happen during a claiming. Right then and there he vowed never to be alone with Katie again. He glanced out the window, counting the remaining dawns until the full moon. Three nights left. “I’ll head out to find Brent.” It’d be the last thing Jordan did as leader of the feline nation.
“No.” Dage rubbed his chin. “I have scouts out now—we’ll find him. Unfortunately, we have bigger problems than one werewolf.”
“One werewolf who can speak and think.” Conn yanked a double-edged knife from his side to twirl through his fingers. “I guess it makes sense the monsters have evolved.”
“Not this quickly.” Jordan eyed the flash of steel. “Plus, he knew me. Remembered me from before he became a werewolf—he knows who he was—next in line to lead.” Brent apparently remembered everything.
Dage stiffened. “Anything you want to tell me?”
“No.” Jordan kept his face bland and his gaze away from Conn. What they’d done—they’d done together and with a vow that the king would never know. “I have a sense of this guy. Why do you want me to stay here?”
The king didn’t look appeased. A hard glint entered his silver eyes, promising the discussion wasn’t over. “Because all hell is about to break loose.”
As far as Jordan was concerned, all hell had broken loose ten years ago when the Kurjans had unleashed the virus. “Again?”
“Yes.” Conn snorted. “I say we take the Bane’s Council out at the knees.”
“They’re our allies.” Dage’s gaze seemed anything but friendly.
“What’s going on?” Jordan asked, dread slamming into his gut.
“Terrent Vilks will arrive sometime today and wants to see both you and Maggie,” Dage said.
Terrent was the head werewolf hunter on the Bane’s Council and the most deadly wolf alive. Adrenaline heated just under Jordan’s skin. “Who told him about either one of us?”
“We don’t know.” Conn flipped the knife faster, a true sign of his agitation. “Not only did he demand to see you both, he knew you were here.”
Jordan sat back, forcing his claws to stay retracted. “He knew the location of Realm Headquarters?” Lance had been correct—the location wasn’t close to a secret. “How?”
“We need to find out.” Dage’s eyes gleamed, flashing blue within the silver.
“We have a leak.” Jordan blew out a breath. “The feline nation has had an uneasy alliance with the canine nation for two hundred years—and I consider Terrent a friend. It sucks he’s here to kill me.” But that might solve several problems.
“He’s the most prolific member of the Bane’s Council.” While his face remained grim, a thread of respect filtered through Dage’s words. “Though I’m not sure why the head of the Bane’s Council is making the trip.”
Jordan nodded. The Bane’s Council consisted of three wolf shifters created for the sole purpose of hunting down and killing werewolves. Before the virus had been unleashed on shifters, werewolves were former humans who didn’t live very long anyway. Now that male shifters could become werewolves—it was an entirely new world for them all. “I can’t let Terrent kill Maggie.”
“The Bane’s Council has refrained from killing female shifters infected with the virus—so long as they’re receiving treatment from the Realm.” Conn tucked the knife in the back of his waist. “Maggie’s receiving treatment.”
“Maggie can shift.” Jordan scrubbed both hands down his face. “No other infected female can shift—the ability makes her a threat. The poor woman doesn’t even remember her past.” Maggie had been one of the first shifters kidnapped and experimented on by the Kurjans, and she had no memory of her life before being captured.
Dage nodded. “No clan has been looking for her the last ten years. We have to assume she was alone, or part of a clan off the grid. Either could be possible.”
“My bet is off the grid.” Jordan tried to keep track of all feline, canine, and multiclans not part of the Realm, but it was difficult if they didn’t want to be found. “Well, we know Terrent is probably coming to make sure somebody kills me if I turn into a werewolf. But again, there has to be more to his visit than that.”
The telephone to Dage’s right buzzed and he grabbed the handset. “What?” His gaze shifted to Jordan. “Put him through on screen.” Dage hung up and pressed a button to make a screen slide down to cover two of the paintings. Conn moved to the side and out of the way.
Noah appeared on the screen, his catlike gaze zeroing in on Jordan. One of the biggest cougars alive, his stealth and quickness were unmatched. The perfect enforcer. He stood in the main control room of the mountainous headquarters, dark rock surrounding him.
Jordan’s shoulders went back. “Noah?” he asked softly.
Noah took in the rest of the room. “We need to talk. Privately.”
Logic clicked through Jordan’s brain along with the inevitability of his demise during the next full moon—that is, unless Kane’s cure actually worked. “We can talk in front of the Kayrs family—they’re going to need to know what’s going on to back you.” He already had Dage’s guarantee the Realm would back Noah as the new leader of the feline nation. Secrets would only hinder that support.
Noah nodded, keeping his gaze on Jordan. “David Bomant challenged you as head of the feline nation about an hour ago. The challenge has gone public.”
“Bomant?” Conn raised an eyebrow. “As in Brent Bomant—fucking werewolf?”
“We thought Brent was our former Alpha’s only offspring.” Jordan kept his face expressionless. The situation was turning into more of a disaster than he’d feared. Death awaited him in a couple of moons, and he didn’t have time for one more issue.