Page 37 of Shift of Morals (Shifter Lords #2)
Chapter
Twenty-Five
CAELAN
T he Council gathered tonight, here for a strategy meeting first and the wedding second. We’d gathered around the war room’s table, a map of the Keep laid out before us. Security was always a pain in the ass on a daily basis, but the wedding had made it much more difficult.
Gianna’s guest list had gotten out of control, the numbers ballooning from a manageable two hundred people all the way up to five hundred.
I was familiar with twenty percent of the people she invited and didn’t see the need for that many guests roaming my property, but Gianna pushed, and I’d reluctantly relented.
She was more political than me, savvy when it came to manipulating people for good or ill, so I allowed her mostly free rein on wedding decisions. Except when it came to Evie’s flowers, and even then, I’d eventually caved.
“It’s easy to smell weapons, so no need for metal detectors,” Donovan said, pale blue eyes sweeping the room.
“Technology advances every day. Plastic is used in many weapons, so we won’t always be able to tell if someone has a weapon based on smell alone.” Thorvin tapped the southeast area of the map. “This could be a weak point in your security with that many guests on the property.”
“Simone is already aware,” I said.
Rowan sipped whiskey from a crystal glass, his eyes hooded.
He hadn’t said much today, his mood shitty after a run-in with Gianna.
Later that day, he’d found me in my office, shut the door, and sank onto one of my good chairs and sighed louder and deeper than I’d ever heard coming from him. “Caelan?”
Concerned, I put my pen down and watched him warily. “Everything okay?”
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and let out a bark of laughter. “That woman is a stone-cold bitch, Caelan.”
Silence fell. I could have said a million appropriate things, but this was Rowan. “Yeah. I’m well aware.”
Rowan snorted. “Is there any way out of this?”
The deal with the god had never left my thoughts from the moment I made it. “I have one desperate last-ditch plan up my sleeve.”
Rowan’s eyebrows lifted. “You aren’t going to share with an old friend?”
“Plausible deniability, my friend.”
Rowan whistled. “That bad?”
“That bad,” I agreed.
The other Lord held his glass up, turning it so the light flashed in a prism. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
I waved his apologies away. “This is why we have a Council. So we can all make shitty decisions together.”
Rowan exhaled. “We can fix this. Somewhat.”
“We can’t. Not if I wed Gianna. She might be good politically, but she is a nightmare.”
“I can marry Evie.”
The words dropped like bombs, but Rowan continued navigating the minefield. “I like Evie. She likes me. You know she’s safest with me, Caelan. We don’t have to have a traditional marriage. Evie would be free to be herself.”
Magic rose in the air, my power rising to the surface.
Rowan snorted. “Don’t let your emotions override your good sense. Would you rather see that poor woman with Donovan? Fuck’s sake, man. She’d eat him alive, and we’d have even more of a nightmare on our hands.”
A surprised laugh escaped me. “She would, wouldn’t she?”
“Absolutely. Maybe she’d just feed him to one of her man-eating plants.”
We both laughed, the tension broken.
Bringing us back to the here and now. Rowan’s good cheer had faded when Gianna interrupted the meeting a few hours earlier demanding to be included in the security plans. Donovan had relented, but none of us wanted her in here and we had denied her request.
Gianna was not popular around the Keep, a precursor of things to come.
My cell beeped. A quick glance down revealed a message from Evie.
Finn broke into the shop.
My heart became encased in ice.
I managed to get a few good licks in. Poison first.
A smile tugged at my mouth. Good girl, I thought.
Destroying that bouquet damaged him. He won’t be up and about for a while.
Do you need me?
No. Only keeping you informed.
I’ll send scouts out to see if we can find him.
Be careful.
“Everything alright?” Ethan asked.
“Fine. Security update from Simone.” I put my cell face down. “Where were we?”
The doors slammed open. Every Lord shot up from their seat.
Three shifters stumbled into the room, the first being Lucas Velt.
“Lord.” Lucas went to his knees, the other two right behind him. “We are…awake.”
I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. “Lucas? What happened?”
The shifters were all filthy and bruised, but none of them looked feral. Lucas’ eyes were confused but clear.
Lucas bowed his head, his fists clenched atop his thighs.
“We’ve been in a fog for months, Lord. I—I can’t explain it.
But tonight, something freed us. I don’t know what or how, but I woke up.
Normal.” A soft, broken sob. His shoulders shook with shock and relief.
“I don’t know what happened, but something freed us. ”
“And the other two?” They were lower-level shifters, too young to have any real power, but dangerous, nonetheless. Feral wolves were deadly, mindless with hunger and rage.
“Same, Lord.” Lucas lifted his eyes. “I hate to ask this, but have you heard from my bride?”
No one had seen Rebecca for weeks. “I’m sorry, Lucas.” I knelt beside him and placed one hand on his shoulder. Power seeped into the younger wolf, healing the rest of his wounds. I scraped through his mind and found nothing damaged or off. Lucas was telling the truth.
Something had broken the grip on his mind and body.
My gaze went to my cell phone and the message she’d sent me.
Finn. The damage he took. The bouquet. And now my wolves returning home, free of whatever bondage that had contained them.
“There was a voice, Lord,” Lucas said, licking his lips. “Inside all of our heads. All of a sudden it was gone, and we came straight home.”
“Be welcome, Lucas. Rise. Simone will be here in a moment to escort you to guest rooms. Clean up, get some rest, and she’ll have the kitchens bring dinner up.”
Lucas and the others rose. I pressed a button under the table connected to Simone’s phone before escorting them outside. Once I spotted my Omega hurrying around the corner, I left them with the assurance I’d see them in the morning.
No matter how fortuitous and timely Lucas and the other shifters’ arrival was something wasn’t sitting right with me about the situation. I didn’t believe in coincidence, and that text from Evie had me wondering how she or Finn played into my rogue shifters returning home.
Tension had settled over the room when I walked back in. I grinned. “It looks like the issue of the rogue shifters is solved.”
Donovan’s cheeks flushed, his elaborate plans to seek dominion over my territory in its death throes. Rowan had perked up some, hiding a grin poorly behind his Scotch glass.
“We’ll need time to investigate,” Donovan said. “Your people might be home, but it doesn’t mean the threat is over.”
“And will the investigation take enough time for me to be married before it’s done?” I said, my voice soft and deadly.
Donovan cleared his throat. “There’s no way to tell how long it might take us.”
Thorvin snorted. “He’s not wrong, Caelan. We have to perform due diligence.”
Rowan rolled his eyes. Ethan sighed, and Soren, who’d been suspiciously quiet, stared at Donovan like he wanted to murder the guy where he sat.
I stifled a laugh. “We will keep these developments to ourselves. Is that clear?”
Nods all around, Donovan’s reluctant.
“We’ll convene later to address the wedding security.
You may stay the night in the Keep if you wish, but now that Council emergency authority is rescinded due to new developments—” I eyed Donovan, allowing a hum of power to shine in my eyes, “I expect you to vacate the Keep no later than ten tomorrow morning. Understood?”
“Crystal clear, Caelan,” Soren said. “I have a date tonight. If it goes well, I won’t be back.” He wiggled his eyebrows and was the first to leave.
Ethan clapped me on the back. “I’ll stay as long as your chef plans to put out more of that breakfast quiche.” He kissed his fingers. “It’s glorious.”
“She does the quiche every weekend. It’s Simone’s favorite, too.”
Ethan’s eyes gleamed. “Is it now?”
Interesting. “That and the plum sangria on Saturday’s.”
“Thanks for the intel, Caelan. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Best of luck, you poor bastard.” Simone was notoriously difficult to get to know and even harder to get to agree to a date.
Ethan’s hearty laugh made me smile. We didn’t always get along, but when we did, I wondered whether, if it weren’t for our positions, we might all be friends.
Donovan slunk out without saying goodbye. I sent Simone a quick text, telling her to put a man on the Lord for the night. He was way too invested in Gianna’s success and my perceived failure for me to trust him.