Page 106 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“Samir!” I called out as I waved her through the barricade of police officers in hybridform, who were keeping the crowd at bay.

The Sune woman darted through the opening, rushing to my side, followed by two more little drones.

Her face was filled with excitement, red riding high in her cheeks and her blue eyes shimmering.

“Kest! You magnificent man!” she exclaimed. Our relationship was platonic only and had always been professional, but now she flung her arms around my neck and squeezed. As quickly as she’d hugged me, she also backed away, her eyes a little wet with emotion. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

I knew that hug was her thank-you for giving her this story; she knew what it meant for her career.

I was sure she was also asking whether I understood the kind of chaos I’d unleashed on our society by breaking this issue open the way I had.

The Suleantran Order couldn’t cover up what they’d done to Kitan and Chloe, but could they successfully make Purveyn the scapegoat, and somehow maintain control over the rest of the true shifters and society?

“I’m giving you an interview, Samir. There’s more to this,” I said, carefully tugging on my jacket to straighten it.

Transferring my attention from the journalist to the hovering camera drone, I imagined I was locking eyes with everyone watching.

“Listen closely, people of Sune, it’s not just Grand Master Purveyn; the entire order conspires to hold our most revered priests hostage and use them as tools for power. ”

I made sure I spoke clearly, the speech well-rehearsed, my eyes fixed directly on the camera drone in front of me.

I told them about the day Grand Master Silas and a contingent of Suleantran Guards had stolen Lo right off the streets—how they’d taken that five-year-old girl against her will because she was a true shifter.

And though I was her adoptive father, they had not put her under contract like they were supposed to.

After Kitan described the torture he’d experienced growing up in the Suleantra Monastery, my plea to help me rescue my daughter from that place had to strike a chord in the hearts of all those watching.

I showed them the scrap of blue silk— all I had left of her favorite scarf— a scarf the guards had torn in the struggle when they kidnapped her.

Then, I pleaded for all the families that had given up a true shifter to the Order to break their contracts and ask for their family members back. To rescue all of our revered shifters from this horrible life of captivity they were forced to live.

By the end of my speech, more than just Samir’s drone was focused on my face.

Samir herself was weeping openly, and I was pretty certain that more than half the police officers present would readily ride out with me to charge the monastery walls and rescue Lo. Good, I was going to get her out today.