He tilts back and visually dissects my face like he’s appalled. “You defend your dishonor.”
“Neb’s do not give a shit about our traditions. I fight like my life depends on it because it does. But a silk coat like you wouldn’t know anything about getting blood in your fur, now would you?”
He snarls and gets in my face, but Spike, the tallest of all of our kind here intervenes, guiding him back with a few quiet words and a hand to his chest.
“Zorin, why isn’t your chest marked with a badge like the others?” Tessi asks.
I bare my teeth at the Luna before I turn to address her. “Because my brindle blue gives away what I am.”
“And what is that?”
“Aegeris. Pressure wielders. We break things: rock, glass, metal…”
She chews a nail. “Bone?”
I look away to scan the room. “Yes. All descendents of Thelisoria, our powerful guardian, have thesedifferentskills. Spike is from Spinel. Their fur turns into quills. Carnas’ coat turns into metallic armor. Each ancestral pack has its power.
“Lunas, the original Shifters of Mindor, just have exceptional healing abilities, super speed and strength. But they do not believe the Nebulous Empire is real. They think Aegeris, the original supernatural pack, caused the falling wreckage, the Denaroan invasions, the Myndrous...” I pause to note where the Lunas and their loyalists are in the mingle hall. “But we’re all telepathic as Shifters. And some ofourpacks have multiple skills.”
“Do you have more?” She asks.
“A few. There is a rumor that Thelisoria was descended of powerful beings, another species from far away. There is no one left of our pack to tell us what that might be or who she really was. Her home on Mindor was raided and the contents burned long ago.”
Tessi rests her head on my shoulder. At first, I think it’s that she’d just had too much too drink. But I grow concerned by how fast she’s crashing.
“Hey.”
She blinks up at me. “Sorry. There’s so much going on. I thought I’d be safe coming here.”
I’m pretty sure there’s nowhere in this galaxy that’s safe for her except with General Viriden.
Tessi slumps. And now I know something is wrong. Her body gives out. When I catch her, I see the tiny dart in her neck. And that’s when I sort out the whistle of another through the raucous dance hall.
I jerk aside and catch the dart between my fingers. I focus on it and find a set of human eyes peering out at me from inside a guard’s uniform, the man that looked a second too long at her.
“Spike, Carnas?”
They join us, reaching out to support Tessi when they see her condition. Their two females take an interest in her as well.
“Watch her, please,” I call to them over the music without taking my eyes off of the one I’m certain attacked us. I set the dart I’ve caught on the bar counter.
Carnas swears. “I got her, brother. With my life.” Carnus’ female slides in to support Tessi from the other side and lifts her wristband, calling security.
I circle the bar and stalk after the human guard. He backs out of the room.
Come here you little fucker. I’m going to tear you apart until I find out from you exactly what’s going on.
13: Zorin
I follow the human that tranquillized Tessi outside but can’t find him in the hallways. A thread of the sickly sweet scent of tranquilizer fluid lingers, and I have a direction.
I track him into the stairwell and down a hallway into a different wing of the females’ dorms. A mix of scents of other animals threatens to ruin my hunt, muddling the sharpness of the scent I’m chasing. I snort everything out of my lungs, remember his scent, and move to a hallway. I check it and then the next until I pick up his scent again.
He’s smart, trying to confuse me. But I’m no ordinary Luna.
The whiz of another dart through the air exposes his location. I duck and let the dart pass over my shoulder. Then I reach into the shadows of a service passageway and pull him into the open. I throw him against the wall hard enough it dents a panel. “Why do you do this?”
His piercing black eyes shine with triumph. “You’re too late. I’m tracking her now.”
