AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER3
SEAN
They flew through inky black skies lit only by the moon and stars. Sean preferred to fly at night, especially when Hamish was accompanying him. Hamish maintained that flying through the sky in a death tube was unnatural for snow leopards. Sean didn’t necessarily disagree with him but figured having his own jet with his own pilot helped to limit the danger. He liked flying at night, as it seemed there was less turbulence or ‘rough air’ as the pilot liked to call it.
Sean thought about calling Colby to request to land on his private airstrip, but if the reports they had regarding his mate and her position at Windsong were true, he had little doubt his request would be refused. In any event, if the rumors were to be believed, Winter was Colby’s second-in-command and would undoubtedly be informed. As it was, there was no way of knowing if their flight had escaped the attention of the lynx’s vast network of spies and informants.
There were several other areas on the map that appeared to be suitable to land a plane, especially if one’s pilot had extensive combat experience, which Sean’s did. The man had done a stint in the Royal Navy, taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier. The pilot always joked that anything was easier than landing on a relatively short and rolling runway. Sean had to admit he probably had a point.
“If she’s with the lynx, what do you plan to do? Will you just demand your rights to your fated mate?” asked Hamish as he came awake, rubbing his face and eyes.
Sean envied his beta’s ability to settle in and take a nap almost anywhere and under almost any circumstances. He’d been awake and pondering that very question for the duration of the flight.
“That would be my preference, but I can foresee several problems with that. The first is that I never claimed my mate. We may have gone through the ceremony, but her neck does not bear my claiming bite.”
“And if it now bears the mark of another?” Hamish asked. Sean growled. “Growl all you like, but the fact is, Colby Reynolds is no fool and his best argument against being forced to give her up would be to have claimed her as his own.”
“You have a point, but if the stories about him are true, he is not one to flout tradition in that way. He might very well flout the law and tell the Council to go piss on itself, but for the most part, he holds to the old ways.”
“Maybe, but the information we have says that your Winter has become his second-in-command.”
“I cannot believe he would be such a fool as to name a she-cat as his beta, and if he has, shame on him. No alpha worth his salt would put a woman in that position.”
Hamish shrugged. “I don’t know, Sean, the girl was smart and resourceful. We tore your chambers apart and couldn’t find how she got out. If you hadn’t put that iron collar around her neck, she could have shifted and gone out the window and down the face of the cliff.”
Sean shook his head. “Aye, which is why I locked her in iron. As a human, it can’t be done. It’s a sheer drop to the bottom with no handholds or ledges. Even as a snow leopard, as good at climbing as we are, it is tough for our claws to take hold in hardened granite. Somebody had to have helped her, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out who it might have been. Colby may think he is an entity unto himself, but he lives in a community of shifters, all of whom are subject to the Council’s rule.”
“Aye, but they say Mystic River and its sister community, Otter Cove, do not believe they are beholden or subject to anyone’s authority, thus why they say the Council has sent the Shadow League to move against them.”
“Ach! You don’t really believe the Council has its own personal elite special ops team, do you?”
Hamish nodded. “I do. There’s too much that has gone on, both past and present, that can only be explained by their existence. Even if you didn’t believe the stories, you have ensured Curaidh is stronger than ever. We would be a most difficult clan to lay siege to, much less defeat in open battle. Our walls and our men stand second to none in their impenetrability.”
“It doesn’t hurt that we also have a fleet of fully-armed and stealth-capable Apache attack helicopters hidden up in the Highlands with us,” pointed out Sean with a chuckle.
“Not to mention that small group of fighter planes,” added Hamish with a grin. “But if you do not believe the Shadow League exists…”
“I don’t know if they do or not, but I will not leave our clan vulnerable to attack by anyone. We have always been pragmatic.”
Hamish laughed out loud. “Aye, ‘pragmatic’ is the word people use.”
“I am.”
“Only when it suits that Machiavellian brain of yours. Otherwise, you are one of the most wildly romantic and idealistic snow leopards I’ve ever known. Mind you, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Your ability to see beyond what others see and envision a better life for those you lead has made us invulnerable. I do not believe there is a force we couldn’t stand against. But chasing after a she-cat who rejected you and made a daring escape rather than be bound to you isn’t my idea of ‘pragmatic.’”
“She is mine and is my fated mate,” Sean growled low.
“Aye. The illustrious ‘fated mate’—a more fanciful notion never existed. I grant you the girl was a stunner and gave you the ability to pardon her father, who everyone agreed was nothing more than a dupe in the conspiracy that resulted in your own father’s death. But seriously, Sean, I know dozens of female snow leopards who would have cut off body parts to share your bed and bear your children. But no, you have to spend I don’t know how many tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars trying to track her down.”
“She is my fated mate. I thought she needed a bit of humbling and to be brought down a peg or two. Do you know she actually offered her maidenhead to me in exchange for her father’s life? She had no real experience and I know many a virgin fears the possession by her mate, and yet she was willing to give that to me in order to save her worthless father’s life, and he was willing to let her. For all she knew, I could have taken it and killed her father, anyway.”
“Aye. She’s a brave lass, I’ll give you that.” Hamish smiled, most likely remembering the regal dressing down she gave him after the ceremony. “She would have made a fine first lady.”
“Willmake a fine first lady,” corrected Sean. “Once I have her home and claimed…”
“Do you intend to wait that long?” teased Hamish.
Sean was silent for a moment as he turned his attention from Hamish to the dark sky that surrounded them. “That will depend entirely on the situation I find her in. If she has given herself to another…”
