Page 15 of Shifter’s Promise (Devourer of Magic)

Chapter

Eleven

T he morning was quiet. Too quiet.

Once again seated in our family living room, we were absent three jaguars and a lioness. The sun had nearly reached its peak with no triplet in sight.

I scanned the living room, not for the first time, tapping my fingers along my crossed arms. Leona wouldn’t have disappeared after last night. Plus, the triplets had seemed sincere in their word. Then what’s keeping them?

“Are you still waiting?” Kara popped her head around the corner, big eyes twinkling with curiosity.

“Unfortunately,” Father answered gruffly. He sat beside me, his arms crossed in a mirror of mine.

“I wonder what’s keeping them,” Kara wondered aloud as she wandered to the back of the house, her soft footsteps growing distant.

Father grunted his agreement, gaze darting to the nearby window. When the sun winked through the curtains, he stood abruptly.

“Something’s wrong.” His moustache twitched as he worked his jaw.

“Agreed,” I said. “Leona assured me they’d be here well before noon.”

Though that same curiosity lit his eyes once more, it vanished under the situation. The intrigue Leona and I had stirred could wait.

“Why don’t we see what’s keeping them?”

I inhaled sharply. “You want to go back to their clan house?”

Father shrugged as I stood to join him. “I think it’s pertinent to keep an eye on Jeremiah.”

My eyes rounded. He made an excellent point. “Then what are we waiting for?”

At my father’s smile, a silent agreement formed. A few minutes later, we pushed through the front door, but not before calling to Kara, letting her know we’d be home later.

Wind blew silver strands in a sea surrounding the jaguar’s clan house. The warm breeze, straight off the near tropical waters, hugged my frame, ushering me closer—faster. It was as if the elements knew I needed their aid.

Nerves sent a cold shiver down my spine despite the heat of the afternoon. Sweat beaded on my neck and I wiped my clammy palms on my trousers. Though I hadn’t worn full leather armor like last time, the little leather I did wear clung to me in the oppressive heat.

“Almost there,” Father said, more to himself than to me. His brow had set low over his eyes since we left the house. He didn’t joke or tease me like he normally would. Instead, his sharp gaze remained glued to the house of our enemies.

Was he ready to fight? From his casual tunic and trousers, you wouldn’t guess it. But my father had never been one for weapons. He far preferred his claws.

“Hopefully they didn’t leave while we were on our way,” I mumbled.

The thought occurred to me a few times along our route.

Auroi’s capital was already a mess of streets.

There could be a dozen different ways to reach our home and we’d miss them depending which way they took.

It wasn’t out of the question, but the second we stepped within earshot of the house, I knew I was wrong.

“Don’t lie to me boy!”

Jeremiah’s vicious snarl followed, his voice half garbled by what I assumed were his fangs. A shatter replaced his snarl, making my eyes widen and father pick up his pace. His hand wrapped around my elbow, tugging me along with him.

“Come on, Twin.”

He knew better than I what Jeremiah was capable of. But the second we walked inside I realized something very important—Jeremiah was a horrible father.

Raxa wiped red wine from his face, dead eyes staring unseeing at the man who’d raised them.

He knelt on the other side of a long table that occupied the front room.

Despite the table between them, my heart pounded with urgency.

As much as I hated what the trio had done, I understood their reasoning.

What I didn’t understand was Jeremiah’s fury.

“If you had done as I said, the deal would be dissolved by now,” Jeremiah hissed. His lips drew back in a snarl, black spots appearing on his arms. My brows shot up. An older shifter rarely lost their patience enough to partially shift.

“We’re not lying, Father.” Taka stepped in front of Raxa while Aya helped him to his feet.

I noted the red mark on Taka’s cheek and the bruising on Aya’s forearm. Rage welled inside me so suddenly I nearly choked.

“What the hell is going on here?” Father bellowed.

I almost squeaked in surprise. It had been well over a decade since I heard father use the full power of his booming voice.

Four sets of eyes shot toward us, each more shocked than the last. I supposed they wouldn’t expect us to just walk in here. But how could we not when no one stood guard and they caused such a ruckus?

“I should be asking you the same,” Jeremiah ground out, teeth clenched firmly together. “What the fuck are you doing in my house?”

“You must have come when we didn’t show up!” Taka moved in between all of us, a shocking level of protection I hadn’t expected from the male. “Sorry to keep you waiting!” Despite the fake smile plastered to his face, I could see the thinly veiled fear in his eyes .

That fear pulled at my heartstrings in a way I would never forget. The pleading eyes of the abused—both wanting help but not wanting to get us involved. While I understood, I couldn’t just stand aside and let their father hurt them.

“That’s right,” I said before my father could reply. “I see your father has been keeping you.” I slid a disdain-filled glance at the man before focusing back on Taka. I needed to get them out of here. That’s all that mattered.

“Ah yes, apologies,” Taka said. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, sweat dripping down his forehead.

“What is all of this about, Jeremiah?” Father asked, slightly calmer now that Jeremiah had sheathed his fangs. His glares, we could tolerate.

Jeremiah straightened with a mocking curl of his lips.

“Don’t you discipline your own children?” He cocked a brow. “What am I saying? You haven’t had a daughter around to discipline for so long, you must have forgotten what it’s like to be a father.”

Heat tore up my throat, my snarl barely drowned out by my father’s quick reply.

“I have two daughters. Even if they’d been taken from me for ten more years, I would still never treat them as you treat yours.”

I shivered. Holy shit . I didn’t think I’d ever heard him act so cold.

Jeremiah’s smirk dropped with a twitch of his cheek. “Then you’ll continue to raise disobedient cubs rather than warriors like my sons. ”

I rolled my eyes internally. There was more to life than fighting.

“My preference anyway,” Father rebutted.

Jeremiah scoffed, but before they could continue arguing, Taka held his hands up.

“We should really get going, Father. We had plans with Twinlin today.”

The Head of Jaguar Clan narrowed his eyes. “More plans for you to ruin? What was it yesterday… pushing her off a cliff? Spilling a drink on her? You’re wasting our time with your games.”

He wasn’t upset that they had done those things… no, he was upset they hadn’t succeeded. He thought they were lying. That there was no way I’d show up here if they had told the truth.

Wrong.

“I have to agree, they were entirely unnecessary.” I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to keep my expression as neutral as possible. If my time with the slavers had taught me anything, it was the importance of acting.

Jeremiah startled. “Excuse me? They did?”

Father’s gaze could have burned a hole in the side of my face, but I refused to meet his gaze. We could talk about my horrid first date with the trio later.

“They did,” I said plainly. “They’re lucky I can swim.” I let steel leach into my words. If he thought I was angry, he’d be more likely to believe it.

Jeremiah barked a laugh before shaking his head. “I should apologize for their foolishness.” Lies. “I thought I raised them better.” His pleased smirk betrayed his nice words.

“Clearly,” Father ground out.

Somewhat mollified, Jeremiah nodded at his sons. “All right, get cleaned up and head out then. Don’t keep your betrothed waiting.”

Mockery laced that one word. From the very beginning he hadn’t taken this seriously— even less so now. He wanted his sons to torment me out of this arrangement, but there was one thing Jeremiah hadn’t accounted for.

He just put us all on the same side.

If he wanted to manipulate me, my father and his own sons, I’d let him. We’d all find a way out of this mess together. Though I hadn’t been sure of it before, staring down Jeremiah now, it was our best option.

If we didn’t work with the triplets, we’d never see our territory returned.

And what was worse, this abusive asshole would go on as is.

No , it wasn’t right. The abusers of this world deserved to crawl in the mud.

Exactly as Cinna had done to the elf lords who enslaved us.

Their terrified howls still echoed in my dreams—a hauntingly beautiful sound to soothe the agony I’d been through.

My hands fisted beneath my armpits. I kept them there, not wanting to show the angry shaking of my fingers.

“Of course,” Taka said carefully. He shot me a look I couldn’t quite decipher. “We’ll be right along. Wait for us outside if you don’t mind.”

I nodded. I didn’t know what he was trying to tell me. Whatever silent alliance we’d forged, I had to trust he had all our best interests at heart.

“No problem,” I said.

Father was still boring a hole through me with his gaze, but he didn’t protest when I turned to leave. He gave an informal goodbye that fell away to the buzzing in my ears. I hadn’t realized the kind of torment the triplets had been through. I needed to ask Leona about all of this, more?—

I paused the moment we stepped outside the clan house. Wait… why wasn’t Leona guarding her charges?