Chapter 2 #2
“The man who tried to shoot Mark tonight knew or guessed what we are. His gun was loaded with silver bullets. Silver is a deadly poison to us. If you have any silver jewelry, put it away. You won’t be able to wear it around us.
Gold is okay. Platinum is all right, too, but no silver.
Understand?” Nick seemed to want to drive the point home.
“All right, I get it. No silver. I don’t like silver anyway. All my jewelry is gold. Dad insisted.” She’d always thought that odd, but her father always got his way, even in such trivial matters.
Come to think of it, they didn’t even have silver candlesticks or cutlery. Everything in their household had been gold or gold-plated. Shelly had thought it a bit ostentatious, but that sort of thing was in her father’s control, not hers.
When she set up her own home, she couldn’t afford to waste money on things like real silverware. Good old steel forks and knives were good enough for her.
Nick’s eyebrow arched at her words, but she wouldn’t elaborate. Let him think what he liked. Silly arched eyebrow and all.
“So, the silver-bullet-in-the-werewolf thing is true after all,” she spoke her thoughts aloud and had to stifle a laugh. Either she was going nuts or she was starting to believe this whole crazy scenario. Probably both.
“All weres share our problems with silver. As do bloodletters and some magic users,” Mark confirmed with a straight face. He wasn’t joking around.
“Werewolves are real?” she blurted.
“As real as I am, querida,” Mark confirmed, coming over to her on silent, sure feet.
He could stalk in his human form, too, she noted with some alarm.
“Wolves, cougars, hawks, predators of many kinds obey the Lords of the Were in North America. My people are from a slightly different part of the world, where older orders of organization apply. We date back to the Mayans, though we were greatly influenced by the influx of Spaniards and those who came later, which is why my friend here sports such exotic coloring for one of our kind.” Mark nodded toward the very Arian-looking Nick, who stood on her other side.
She was surrounded by them, and it was intimidating as well as…exhilarating?
She had to get out of there.
“Am I free to go?” She made herself ask the question.
The light in Mark’s eyes dimmed as he stepped back. “I will not hold what does not want to be held.”
“Come on,” Nick said in a gentle tone. “I’ll arrange for you to get back to your hotel. I want whoever’s watching to think we let you go after questioning and that we believe you to be innocent of any involvement with the gunman.”
“I am innocent,” she felt compelled to put in.
Nick nodded. “My apologies. You are innocent. In so many ways…” He trailed off, gazing at her until she started to fidget.
He turned to escort her out of the room, but Mark stopped her by grabbing her hand. She turned back to look at him and nearly gave in right then and there. But, no. She had to be strong.
“I will arrive at your home tomorrow afternoon. Be ready to give me your answer about working for me then. I will not give up until you agree to at least give me a chance to prove myself to you.”
“I’m giving you the chance, Mark,” she unbent enough to say.
“Just give me a chance to get used to all of this. I’m sure I’ll have a million questions for you tomorrow.
Just give me time, okay? I never expected any of this, and it’s a little hard to wrap my head around.
Especially after your pal here gave me such a hard time. ”
Mark smiled. “I promise to give you as much time as I can. And I apologize for Nick, but if you decide to work with us, before long, I believe it will be you giving him the hard time.”
Nick grumbled as Mark laughed. She had to get away from him for a while to think, and she had to get while the getting was good…or she feared she’d never leave.
“Are you sure she’s safe at the hotel?” Mark asked Nick later that night.
“I’ve got Heinrich and Mario watching over her. Nothing will get past them.” Nick poured another glass of the wine Mark preferred before he uncapped another beer for himself.
“I hope you’re right. She is my life, Nick.”
Nick took a long swig of his beer before replying. “I’m sorry I was hard on her, but I was too angry about the assassination attempt, and I honestly thought she might have had something to do with it. You know how my temper gets in the way of my other senses. That’s why you’re the Alpha, Mark.”
“Yeah, I have the opposite problem. We complement each other that way. As the Mother of All designed it.”
“You have more faith than I do,” Nick said ruefully. “I still think our whole system was set up by our predecessors because jaguars are more uncontrollable than other big cat species. We need more checks and balances.”
“It’s been this way for thousands of years,” Mark said for the hundredth time. “We’re not going to change it now.”
“Did I say I wanted to change it?”
“She is a beauty, isn’t she?” Mark observed, raising his glass with a wistful smile on his face.
“Feisty too. You should have seen the way she stood up to me. She was scared, but she didn’t cower.
For a human, she has some serious guts.” He paused for a moment as unease ran through Mark, remembering Shelly was all too human, and therefore, fragile.
“I always hoped your mate would be another jaguar, Mark. Are you sure Shelly is strong enough to be Alpha female of our Clan?”
“You yourself said she had guts, my friend,” Mark reminded him—and himself as well.
“Don’t doubt her. The Mother of All would not give our Clan a frail Alpha female.
” He had to believe that. “She may be human, but many jaguars have taken human women to wife very successfully throughout the ages. It’s not that uncommon.
” And he knew for a fact his words were true.
He’d read his people’s history. He knew there were plenty of instances where humans bred strong children into the Clan and made terrific mates.
“I hope you’re right,” was Nick’s only reply.
Nick drank the rest of his beer in silence before turning in for the night. They had a big day tomorrow, and Nick had already assigned his best men to watch their unclaimed Alpha female. Her safety had to come before all else. She was the Alpha’s—and the Clan’s—future…if she gave them the chance.
Everything now—the entire future of the Clan—was up to her.