Chapter 19
Tired of skulking around town on foot, I filched a steambike parked in a side alley outside the temple, using my magic to light a spark since I didn’t have the key.
As I shot into the street, distant shouts told me my theft had not gone unnoticed, but I simply put on another burst of speed as I rounded a corner, refusing to feel guilty.
If these people had no compunction about killing off the entire mage and shifter population, I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over stealing a steambike from them.
Besides, it felt damn good to have some steampower rolling beneath my thighs again.
I kept up my breakneck pace until I crossed the border into Shiftertown, then took it down a notch.
The last time I came to Shiftertown I’d been in a hurry, almost blinded by heat, and since the Cat’s Meow was close to the Rowanville border I hadn’t seen much of the town itself.
Now that I was traveling at a slower pace, I took in the sights around me, and they weren’t pretty.
Burnt houses, rubble in the streets, shops boarded up, and windows shuttered.
The amount of visible damage decreased the further I went into Shiftertown, and I figured that the battles between the Resistance and the mages never made it too far past the borders.
Still, though the houses showed less wear and tear here, tension was thick in the air, and I could feel eyes following me from all around.
No doubt many of those tracking me were Resistance members, holed up for the day as they planned their next move.
I was especially grateful for my human disguise under these circumstances.
Even so, I was a stranger around here, and it would only be a matter of time before I was stopped.
I stuck to back alleys and deserted sections, taking a roundabout way to Boon Lakin’s house.
Between him and Aunt Mafiela, he was more likely to listen to me, and more importantly, believe me.
I really needed to talk to someone who wouldn’t dismiss me as crazy right off the bat.
I arrived outside Lakin’s small, one-bedroom home after some twenty minutes, then parked my stolen steambike at the curb. The curtains in the living room window fluttered briefly as I strode up the path, telling me that my arrival had not gone unnoticed.
“I’m not taking visitors right now,” Lakin called as I knocked on the door.
“Oh, for Magorah’s sake, Boon, open up,” I called, using my real voice. “It’s me!”
There was a long pause, followed by the sound of footsteps. Lakin flung open the door, staring at me in disbelief. “Sunaya? Is that really you?”
“Don’t I look stunning?” I asked, fluffing my illusion’s short hair sarcastically and batting my eyelashes. “Seriously Lakin, let me in.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea –” Lakin protested as I pushed past him, dropping my illusion as I stepped into the small entrance that connected the kitchen and the living room.
“You!” an accusing voice shouted, and I started at the sight of two shifter males, bird shifters judging by their slender frames and hawkish noses, sitting on the couch.
They were wearing red Resistance bands on their upper arms, though they wore shirts and jeans instead of uniform khakis.
One of them jumped up, and I ducked as he flung a trio of throwing knives at my head.
“What the fuck!” I shouted, returning fire with one of the chakrams in my pouch.
It embedded itself in the wall above Lakin’s couch as the shifter twisted away, but I didn’t care – the projectile was just a distraction.
I took a flying leap at the guy, and he let out an honest-to-Magorah squawk as I brought him crashing down to the ground.
“That’s enough,” Lakin roared just as I yanked one of my crescent knives from the holster on my thigh.
He grabbed me by the back of my collar like an unruly cub and yanked me off the shifter.
“This is my house, not a battleground,” he seethed, glaring at the two Resistance soldiers. “You will behave. All of you.”
“She is on the Resistance kill list,” the first shifter screeched, jabbing a long finger in my direction as the second shifter scrambled to his feet again. “You cannot expect us to sit here and do nothing!”
“Then I refuse to negotiate with you,” Lakin said coldly. “Get out of my house.”
The two bird shifters shared a long look, and I knew they were having a mindspeak conversation. Eventually, they turned back to Lakin as one. “We will agree not to harm the traitor Sunaya Baine, so long as we are under your roof. That promise expires as soon as we leave your property.”
“Right,” I sneered, getting to my feet. “Because the Resistance is such an honorable group.”
“Shut up, Sunaya,” Lakin snapped without even looking at me.
I blinked, astonished at the aggression in his tone – he’d never spoken to me like that.
But then I noticed the way his nostrils flared and how his color was up, and I remembered my heat.
Yeah, it was mostly under control, but my body was still giving off pheromones that any red-blooded male would scent from a mile off.
The other two shifters weren’t affected because they were birds, a completely different species of animal that couldn’t procreate with me.
But Lakin was a jaguar shifter just like me, and he and I could definitely make some cubs if we set our minds to it.
You are not making cubs with Lakin, I told myself as the heat surged within my veins, setting off that hungry ache in my lower belly.
I’d already put that thought to bed a long time ago, the moment I’d realized Lakin would never truly be able to accept me.
Yes, he liked me, but he was afraid of my magic.
As Resinah had pointed out, accepting my mage heritage was key to controlling myself, and thus mastering my powers.
If Boon knew how I felt, he would try to overcome his fear of my magic, but it would always be a part of him.
And I couldn’t live beneath the shadow of that fear, not if I wanted to gain full control over my powers.
“Can you send her away so we can finish our discussion?” the second shifter asked, shooting me an annoyed look. “We were here first, and her intrusion is very rude, regardless of who she is.”
Lakin sighed. “I’d like to know what she’s here for, first,” he admitted, finally turning his yellow-orange gaze my way.
The hunger in them was unmistakable, but for the moment, perhaps because of the witnesses, curiosity seemed to be trumping animalistic need.
“I’m assuming you didn’t just come here to say hi. ”
“Well, I did want to check on you,” I said, retreating to the recliner – a new piece of furniture that hadn’t been there the last time I was here.
“But really, I came to bring important news about the Resistance’s plans for shifters.
And actually, it’s news I think you’ll want to hear too,” I added, glancing at the Resistance soldiers.
Shifter One scoffed. “What plans could you possibly know about, that we don’t already?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and arched a brow. “How about their plan to dispose of you all – all shifters, I mean – as soon as they’ve defeated the mages?”
Both of the soldiers’ faces turned bright red at that. “Impossible,” the second shifter spat. “You’re lying!” But his nostrils flared, and I knew he scented no lie or subterfuge from me.
“I’m not lying, and you’d be stupid not to listen to me,” I growled, then launched into my story.
I told them about the three human males I’d met in Maintown last night, about their confidence that the human race would prevail over the others, and the disturbing sermon at the Ur-God temple.
By the time I was done, all the hunger had drained out of Lakin’s expression, and even the two bird shifters looked troubled.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Shifter One protested.
“How could the Resistance have been planning such a betrayal the entire time, while keeping us all in the dark? There are shifters higher up in the ranks, including your own cousin Rylan Baine. Surely, someone would have found out. You’re just misinformed! ”
“I don’t know, Gyron,” Shifter Two said slowly. “I’ve noticed over the past year that only humans have been getting promotions. Don’t you remember how Tifon was passed over for captain in favor of that bumbling human idiot?”
“That’s true,” Gyron hissed, his eyes narrowing. “And right after that, he was sent off on a dangerous mission to the East that ended up getting him killed.” He straightened then, remembering himself. “But that still doesn’t mean she’s not lying, Urion! She works for the mages, remember?”
“I don’t ‘work’ for the mages,” I growled, drawing their attention back to me. “I’m an enforcer, see?” I held up my wrist so they could see my bracelet. “And in case you’ve forgotten, I’ve lived most of my life as a shifter. I haven’t switched sides just because I can use magic now.”
“Pah! The Enforcers Guild is funded by the Mages Guild, is it not?” Gyron accused. “How are you any different?”