"What's she got under the shawl?" I asked Zeke.
"You might say a message from Chimera."
I glanced back at him. "Talk like that isn't going to get the door opened."
Zeke moved his shoulders, and Bobby Lee must have pressed the gun barrel deeper into his back, because he stopped moving abruptly. "She's been tortured. Chimera sent her with me to show what will happen to your leopard if you don't come with me."
"Why the shawl?" I asked again.
Zeke closed his eyes, as if he wanted to look away but was afraid Bobby Lee would take it wrong. "It's to cover her, Anita, just to cover up her nakedness." He sounded weary, not just tired, but weary. "Please, let her inside, she's in a great deal of pain."
"He smells like he's telling the truth," Bobby Lee said.
I sighed. That was probably as good an assurance as we were going to get. I opened the door, gun at the ready, staying out of the sight of anyone who might be watching from the yard. Because I was hiding behind the door, I didn't see Gina until she was well into the room. I closed the door behind her, and she jumped, then gasped, as if the sudden movement had hurt her badly. When she looked at me, it was all I could do to keep from gasping. I thought at first she had two black eyes, then realized it was just hollows under her eyes so deep they looked like bruises. Her skin was so pale with an undertone of gray, and I understood for the first time what they meant by ashen. She was ashen, as if her body was covered by something thinner, more delicate, than skin. Her tall body was hunched in on itself, as if standing upright would hurt. Her lips were nearly bloodless, but it was her eyes that hurt me the most. They were filled with horror as if she were still seeing whatever had been done to her, as if she might always see that awful thing over and over again.
She spoke in a voice that was hollow, hopeless. "I got worried."
I didn't need to see what was under the shawl to believe that she'd been tortured. I didn't need to see anything but her face.
"Can she sit down before she falls down?" Zeke asked.
I nodded a little too rapidly, realizing that I had been staring. "Please, sit down."
Gina looked at Bobby Lee, standing behind Zeke. "Have you told them?"
"I wanted you here to back up my story," Zeke said.
She nodded once, then moved to sit beside him on the couch. She sat close to him, almost touching. If he'd had anything to do with what had happened to her, I don't think she'd have been so cozy.
In fact she was so cozy that I was almost certain she knew Zeke. Knew him not just for Chimera's fun and games, but knew him before. How did one of Micah's cats end up friendly with Chimera's top goon?
I asked. "You two seem to know each other." Alright, maybe that wasn't a question, but it would do.
They exchanged a look, then Zeke turned to me. I wished that he was in human form. Even after years of dealing with lycanthropes, I still had trouble reading their expressions when they were in animal form. The fact that his eyes were human helped some, but you never realize how much of the expression isn't really the eyes but the facial movements around the eyes, until you don't have them as clues.
"Let me start by saying that Chimera wants you alive and well and in his care in less than two hours or he will start doing permanent damage to Micah and your leopard."
I felt my eyes go a little dead. "We have a deadline then," I said. "Talk faster."
"Shortest version that I know is this. Chimera has always been a harsh master, but never sadistic, until the last few weeks. He's unstable, and I believe he's going mad and will kill us all if he remains in charge."
"This is the short version?" Bobby Lee asked.
"I agree," I said, "speed it up."
"I want you to help me stage a palace revolt, Ms. Blake. Is that quick enough for you?"
"Maybe that was a little too quick," I said. "Why do you want to revolt, and why do you want my help?"
"I told you, I fear that Chimera will destroy us all. The only way to prevent that is to kill him."
Well, that was blunt. "So, why my help?"
"You have a certain reputation for deadly force."
"You talk like an English professor," I said, "or an expensive lawyer. Why not just kill him yourself?"
"The others that follow him, fear him, they would not trust that I alone could guarantee his death,"
"And I can?"
"You and your people, yes."
"My leopards are not going inside."
Nathaniel said, "Anita ..."
I shook my head. "No, I won't endanger the rest of you to save one of you."
"What kind of pard would we be if we allowed our Nimir-Ra to go into danger alone?"
"A pard that obeyed orders," I said.
He leaned back against the wall, but there was an unusually stubborn set to his face that said maybe, just maybe, he'd been picking up more than just weapons skill from hanging around with me. Was stubbornness catching?
"Not your leopards, but the wolves, and the rats."
"The rats aren't mine." And I'm not the wolves' lupa anymore.
"Rafael is already on his way here with some of our people," Bobby Lee said.
I frowned at him. "Well, nice you mentioned that."
He shrugged. If he was getting tired of pressing the gun into Zeke's back, it didn't show. "Rafael is my alpha, not you, ma'am."
"I understand that, but if we're going to get along, you still need to keep me informed. I've had enough surprises for one day."
"Amen to that," he said.
"Where are Micah and Cherry being held?" I asked.
Zeke shook his great wolfish head. "No, not until you agree to help us."
"Chimera wanted to blackmail me into being his sweetie, you want to blackmail me into helping you kill him. I don't see much difference."
"The only way to stop Chimera and those still loyal to him is their death. I propose that we pool our resources and accomplish that."
"You talk awful pretty for a goon."
"I am his goon because when he conquered my small pack of wolves, he forced me into this form and kept me in it. When he allowed me to try and change back, this was the best I could do."
I looked into those human eyes. "Only your eyes," I said.
"Only my eyes."
The eyes were usually one of the first things to go animal if you stayed in beast form too long at a time. His eyes being the only thing human was odd. But I didn't ask him to explain, because we were eating up our time and I wanted Micah and Cherry back.
"In this form," Zeke said, "I can be nothing else but a goon, an enforcer. I cannot be human."
I didn't try to argue that he was human. I let it go. "Let's cut to the chase. Bobby Lee, will Rafael help on this?"
"I think so. He's coming with enough soldiers to make a good show."
I looked at Bacchus. "Will the werehyenas join forces with their, what, oppressors? Will you guys help Zeke and his people?"
"Zeke always tried to save us pain. He always spoke for moderation." Bacchus nodded. "I think the others will agree to work with him, but whether they'll agree to let everyone live afterwards, that I can't promise."
"If we help you destroy him," Zeke said, "then you turn around and slaughter us, we have gained nothing."
In looking between Bacchus and Zeke I'd glanced back over the photos. I'd spent the last few minutes not thinking about them. I'd managed to concentrate on other things, but it was as if that one glance had torn through all the barriers that usually kept me from doing stupid shit. I stood up, abruptly enough that everyone looked at me.