Chapter 17 #2
The sun has climbed high enough now that dragon-fire won't raise questions from the village.
The clearing reeks of smoke and death. Finn turns another body to ash, dragon-fire reducing flesh and bone with brutal efficiency.
He doesn't look up as I pass, focused entirely on the destruction he's creating.
I'll deal with him next. First, I need information from someone with access to European law enforcement databases.
My phone finally gets a decent signal out here, away from the cottage's thick stone walls.
Jamie Buchanan was my partner back in Glasgow before I took the chief position in Stormhaven.
He moved to Interpol shortly after, which means he has access to databases and intelligence networks I can't touch from a small Hebridean police station. I pull up his contact and dial.
The call connects after several rings.
"Buchanan." His voice carries the rough edge of someone who hasn't slept enough lately. "It's early as hell here. This better be good."
"It's about the artifact trafficking case I mentioned last month.
" The professional tone locks into place automatically.
Jamie knows I don't call unless the situation requires his particular expertise.
"I've got new intelligence suggesting the operation extends into Eastern Europe.
Possibly ties to disappearances dating back decades. "
"Christ, Cat. You know how to pick them." Papers rustle on his end. "Give me what you've got."
The sanitized version comes easily, wrapped in the truth he can actually investigate. Artifact trafficking instead of supernatural trafficking. Enhanced security systems instead of magical abilities. Dangerous criminals instead of phoenixes who've lived for centuries.
"There's a name that keeps appearing in the network. Mikhail Zharkov. He's connected to operations in Russia, Eastern Europe, and now the UK. I need everything you can find on him."
"Zharkov." Jamie pauses. "That name's familiar. Hold on."
I hear more rustling and the click of a keyboard. Then silence stretches too long.
"Jamie?"
"Cat, how sure are you about this name?"
"Very sure. Why?"
"Because I've got hits in databases going back decades.
Different first names. Different nationalities.
But always the same surname and always connected to trafficking or disappearances.
" His voice tightens. "Interpol has a flag on the name.
So does MI6. There's an active investigation into whether we're dealing with a multigenerational crime family or something else. "
Something else. A phoenix who doesn't age, who simply changes identities every few decades to avoid suspicion. The database evidence confirms exactly what Anya and Finn told me.
"Send me everything you can access." Finn turns another body to ash, flames pouring from his mouth in a controlled stream. "And Jamie? Be careful who you share this with. The people involved have resources and connections we're only starting to understand."
"You sound like you're in over your head."
"I am. But I'm also closer to breaking this open than anyone's been in decades." The call ends before he can argue.
Finn finishes with the last body and shifts back to human form. Ash coats his skin in pale streaks. His eyes find mine across the clearing.
The time for answers has finally arrived. The distance between us closes with deliberate steps until I'm close enough that he can't avoid the confrontation. "You knew him. Mikhail Zharkov. You have history with him."
Finn's expression doesn't change, but his eyes change as the dragon surfaces. "Anya told you."
"She told me what she knew. Now you're going to tell me the rest." Anger builds in my chest despite the level tone I maintain.
"You've been withholding information that could help us fight back.
Information about what Zharkov is and how to kill him.
And she told me about the Cork children.
That they were all supernatural. That Zharkov's been targeting children with gifts before they even know what they are. "
Something flickers across Finn's face. "I wondered about that," he says quietly. "It would make sense of Mikhail's obsession. He's not just experimenting on adults anymore. He's trying to catch them young, shape them from the beginning."
"Mikhail? You know him that well?" The way he says the name catches me off guard. "You've been withholding information," I press again. "People have died because you won't talk."
"People have died because Mikhail is a monster." Finn's voice stays calm, but heat pours off his skin, and the dragon-fire waits just beneath the surface. "He's been perfecting his craft for centuries. Telling you what he is doesn't change how we fight him."
"It changes everything. If he's a phoenix, he regenerates. Which means normal tactics won't work." Refusing to back down, I step closer to the rising temperature between us. "So talk. Now. Or I swear to God, Finn, I will make this a formal police interrogation and arrest you for obstruction."
Something flickers across Finn's face that might be amusement. Brief and dark, but there. A dragon-shifter amused by the threat of human law enforcement.
Then his shoulders drop slightly. Some of the heat bleeds away.
"At a point in the dim past, we were friends.
" His voice goes rough, scraping across old wounds that clearly haven't healed.
"Mikhail holds me responsible for the death of someone we both loved.
Someone who chose me. He tried to save her and couldn't, and he's never forgiven me for it. "
His teeth grind together. His hands flex at his sides. The centuries-old grief has nowhere left to go.
"I've spent lifetimes hunting him. Learning his patterns.
Waiting for the moment when I could finally make him pay for what he did.
" Finn looks at me directly. "But phoenixes are nearly impossible to kill.
They regenerate from fire and ash. You have to destroy them so thoroughly that there's nothing left to regenerate from. "
"Dragon-fire."
"Dragon-fire." He nods slowly. "It's the only thing I've found that burns hot enough. But I have to catch him first. Have to get past his security and his enhanced shifters and his decades of paranoia. And he knows I'm coming for him. Has known for centuries. That's why he's so careful."
"The attack on the cottage. He wasn't there."
"He'll never be in a fight until he’s sure he can win." His mouth tightens into a hard line. "Which is why we need to draw him out. Create a situation where he has to join the fight personally or lose everything he's built."
"How?"
"I don't know yet. But we're running out of time to figure it out."
Finn stays with his grief while I head back to the cottage. The sun's higher now, burning off the morning mist. Inside, Kian's starting to stir, low growls rumbling through his chest as consciousness returns.
Kneeling beside him, I touch his face gently. His eyes snap open, immediately alert despite the injury. The gold flickers across his gaze as his tiger surfaces before settling back.
"Cat." His voice is rough from disuse. "How long?"
"Hours. You're healing fast." Supporting his weight, I help him sit up, "The syndicate's gone. The girl surrendered. We have intelligence now."
"Good." He leans into me, still weak but getting stronger with every breath. "What's the plan?"
How do we fight an enemy who's had centuries to perfect his craft while we're still learning the rules of engagement?
The decision makes itself.
"The plan is I accept your claiming bite." The words come steady and certain with no hesitation. "I become a shifter. Because fighting this level of evil requires becoming more than human, and I'm done pretending I can do this with just a badge and a gun."
Kian goes very still. "Cat—"
"I'm not asking permission. I'm telling you what I want.
" Holding his stare, I let him see the certainty in my eyes.
"You stopped the claiming because you thought you were deciding for me.
But I'm making my own choice now. I want this.
I want you. I want the strength to fight beside you instead of being the weak link you have to protect. "
"You're not weak."
"I'm human. Which makes me vulnerable. Unacceptably vulnerable." The bite mark on my shoulder still heals from where he stopped himself. My fingers find it. "Finish what you started. Make me yours. Transform me into something that can survive what's coming."
He cups my face, thumb brushing my cheekbone. "When?"
His tiger surfaces, fierce and hungry and possessive. The transformation burns through his gaze as want and possession and hunger take over.
"Now. Before Zharkov comes back. Before the next attack. Before I lose my nerve or you decide to be noble again." Close enough that our lips almost touch, I make my demand clear. "Claim me, Kian. Transform me into a shifter who can stand beside you when the real war starts."
The kiss is inevitable. His mouth crashes against mine, hot and demanding and thorough, claiming me with lips and tongue before teeth ever break skin. Kissing him back just as fiercely, I pour certainty and want and determination into the connection.
When we finally break apart, we're both breathing hard.
"Tonight. After sunset." His voice drops to pure gravel. "The transition is painful, Cat. Your body breaks and rebuilds itself. I'll be there, but I can't stop the pain once it starts."
"I don't want you to stop it." The second kiss comes softer. "I want you to finish it. All of it."
"Then tonight, you're mine." He pulls me against his chest, careful of the healing wound. "No going back."
"Promise?"
His growl vibrates through both our chests. "Promise."
Outside, boots crunch across broken glass. The brotherhood regroups, planning the next move against an enemy who's had centuries to perfect his craft… let them plan.
Kian's chest rises and falls beneath my cheek, the wound already healing. Shifter healing will be mine soon too, along with the strength and the speed and the centuries stretching ahead instead of decades. The transition terrifies me with the pain he described and the permanence of it all.
But staying human terrifies me more. "Tonight," I say against his skin. Not a question. A promise.
His arms tighten around me, and the growl that rumbles through his chest says everything he doesn't need to put into words.
The brotherhood can wait. Zharkov can wait. The war brewing on the horizon can wait.
His heartbeat pulses under my palm, steady and strong. Tonight everything changes. Tonight I become something more than human, something capable of standing beside him when Zharkov finally comes.