Page 22

Victoria, Canada:

Pineminister Castle

T he sharp tap of a cane against tile echoed in the great hallway of Pineminister Castle.

The castle had been built by an Orangutan-shifter nearly two hundred years before in the isolated wilds of Canada.

Isabella and Theodore’s paternal grandmother, three-times removed, had been the trusted assistant of Lord Pine, managing his vast estate.

Her grandmother, Isabella, whom she had been named after, would eventually marry Lord Pine. Upon his death, the castle was passed down through her lineage. Now, she was the castle’s mistress.

She entered the library, pausing in the doorway. A fire burned in the massive hearth framed by the heritage of its original master. Thick vines, heavy with fruit, rose to the top mantle where ancient ruins of the fabled Orangutan king, Or’Ang the Great, were carved into the ancient red oak.

Dr. Theodore Badger sat at the heavy mahogany desk. Isabella studied her younger half-brother with a dispassionate expression. He looked like a crazed lunatic. Only she knew better. He was brilliant, although reckless when he became fixated on something he wanted.

“When was the last time you had a shower or a meal?” she inquired.

Theodore started at the unexpected intrusion.

He blinked at her behind thick glasses. His eyes were unfocused behind the smudged lenses.

He owlishly stared back at her with an expression of disorientation and irritation.

His hand swept out to adjust his glasses.

Instead, he caught a stack of books piled near his right arm.

The books slid in different directions, knocking against a pile of papers before sending them to the floor.

Theodore released an annoyed growl and slipped from the plush leather chair onto his hands and knees on the floor. He grabbed wildly at the papers, peering at them and muttering under his breath before he placed them into separate piles.

Isabella crossed to a chair placed before the fireplace. She lowered herself onto the eighteenth century, handstitched fabric with a grace that belied her advanced age of seventy years. She waited for her brother to finish retrieving his research papers.

“You shouldn’t startle me like that,” Theodore snapped.

She waved an irate hand. “Sit down. You were the one who called me. What was so important that I needed to return?”

“I heard on the news that more humans have been found,” he said.

Isabella pursed her lips and tightened her grip on the handle of her cane. Her orangutan wanted to use it to beat her half-brother. She had inherited her mother’s genetic shifter qualities while her brother had inherited her step-father’s badger genomes.

“I’m aware there are more humans,” she replied.

Theodore stared at her, opening and closing his mouth like a drunken fish. He mumbled inaudibly again while he shuffled through the papers spread out across the floor in front of him. His expression changed to one of triumph, and he held out a wrinkled sheet.

“But… did you know about this? Did you? It’s real, Issy. I knew it was real.”

Isabella scowled at her brother. “You know I hate when you call me that.”

Theodore shook the paper at her. “Take it. Look at it, Is—Isabella. All my research has led me to this moment. I knew I wasn’t crazy. It is real,” he insisted.

Isabella leaned forward and snatched the sheet out of her brother’s quivering hand. She sat back and read the paper; or rather, she studied the drawing. She turned the paper over before studying the front again. The paper felt… old. She looked at her brother with a frown.

“Where did you get this?”

“Tomes. The tomes stored in the archives at the Observatory. The directors didn’t even know what they had, but I did the moment I found it hidden in an ancient tome from the Great War, the Shifter-Human War. The minute I saw this, I knew what it was,” Theodore muttered in a rushed tone.

Isabella studied the map. In the center was a temple. This was the moment her family had been waiting for— the discovery of the ancient temple they had been seeking for centuries.

“The fabled kingdom of King Or’Ang the Great,” she murmured.

She ran her finger over the ancient ruin before sliding it down along the page. Turning it over, she studied the illustration on the back. King Or’Ang sat on his throne. Next to him were humans.

“Where is it?” she demanded.

Theodore motioned to the paper in her hand.

“There’s an inscription above the throne.

I had just deciphered it when you entered.

The legend states King Or’Ang had grown disillusioned during the war between humans and shifters.

He was partial to humans and wanted to protect them.

When the war broke out, it is said he took those in his kingdom through a veil to another world where they would be safe.

He ordered a dozen members of his elite knights to search for the few humans who might have survived.

The legend says his knights were to guide the humans through the veil to the new kingdom where they would be safe. ”

Isabella slammed the end of her cane against the rich, cultured marble and glared at her brother. Theodore blanched at his sister’s anger. She lifted the paper and shook it at him.

“I know the legend. I want to know what the inscription said. I want to know where King Or’Ang’s lost city is!” she hissed.

“The humans hold the key,” Theodore mumbled. “The inscription says that the humans hold the key.” He paused to look at her with unfocused eyes. “Isabella, you must find me a human. They may know the location of the kingdom.”

The rains continued for the next four days. Van and Peterson had given up trying to navigate the forest in their two-legged forms and had shifted into their wolves. Van shook his body as his wet fur weighed on him.

They had taken to the ground in what they hoped was the right direction. All they had to go by was the limited information Rigo shared before having to retreat because of the storm. Rigo’s eagle-eye spotted a sunken canoe in the shallow clear waters of the lake.

They had come ashore directly out from it.

Realizing the weather was only going to get worse, they had instructed Beau to return to the boat dock.

They had discovered Jayden’s scent just as the rains began.

In minutes, their hopes—along with any scent or tracks that Jayden may have left—faded.

They would be going in blind and have to hope Jayden left behind obvious clues of where she was heading.

Three hours later, drenched to the skin, and warily watching the impressive light show illuminating the skies, Van reached out and gripped Peterson’s arm.

“We’re never going to find her in this. At least, not in this form,” he shouted above the booming thunder.

“I’m all for shifting,” Peterson responded.

They both shucked their clothing before shifting into their wolves.

Their clothing would have to be left behind since there was no way to carry them.

Now, four days later, they were no closer to finding Jayden than they had been on the first. Van’s black wolf jerked to the side, crouching when a brilliant flash danced across the sky above them, a loud rumble of thunder following almost immediately.

They had split up to cover more ground. And they had covered it—to no avail. Van had covered a fifty-plus mile range with nothing to show but muddy, matted fur and sore paws. It was as if Jayden had vanished off the face of the damn planet!

Van trotted to the spot where he and Peterson had left their clothes. His wolf sniffed the air before sneezing. The rain had stopped an hour ago, but the wind hadn’t. The scent of burning wood was his first clue that either Peterson had already returned or?—

“You owe me fifty,” Beau said as he rose.

“Peterson isn’t back. The bet was one or the other would find her,” Grayson replied, tossing a piece of damp wood onto the glowing bed of coals before he rose.

Van trotted over to the two men. Grayson waved a hand toward one of two tents that had been erected nearby. Van headed for the family-size tent and slipped through the unzipped door. Two cots were set up. Neatly folded warm, dry clothes were piled at the foot of each one along with a towel.

He shifted into his two-legged form. A glance through the opening showed that Grayson and Beau had returned to the camp chairs under an anchored canopy where they had been waiting for the two searchers to return.

He grabbed the towel and dried off. Goosebumps rose along his flesh as he briskly rubbed the dampness from his skin and hair.

The grumble of his stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten in days.

He pulled on the boxers and a pair of thick wool socks before he pulled on a pair of insulated hiking pants, a t-shirt, followed by a thick sweater, and a black puffy jacket.

Shoving his foot into his boot, he bent and tied it before doing the same to his other foot.

Each movement held restrained anger born from fear. If he was this hungry, this cold, this tired, how must Jayden be feeling? It had been a long time, if ever, that he could remember being so miserable.

He was just finishing up when Grayson and Beau called out a second greeting. He finished tying his boot, straightened, and stepped to the opening. The familiar red-coat of Peterson’s wolf limped past the two men.

He stepped out as Peterson shifted. Peterson grimaced with pain. He stood to the side as the red wolf stepped into the tent.

“You alright?” he asked.

Peterson grabbed the towel off the end of the cot with his clothes piled on it and began drying before he nodded. Van motioned to the bruising along Peterson’s ribcage.

“What happened?”

Peterson started to wrap the towel around his waist before he winced and tossed it onto the cot. Instead, he grabbed the pair of boxers on the top of the pile and pulled them on.

“I hit a tree. I was climbing when the soil gave out. I slid about a hundred feet into a tree. Thankfully, it was there or I wouldn’t be here now. I take it you didn’t have any luck either?” Peterson asked in a quiet voice.

He placed his hand on Peterson’s shoulder. “No. We’ll find her.”

Peterson closed his eyes and hung his head.

“Four days. It’s been four days of pure hell, Van.

I didn’t eat. I didn’t sleep. Hell, my wolf wouldn’t stop.

It was only the knowledge that he would kill us both and be of no use to Jayden if I didn’t come back that finally allowed me to take control of him. We’re going to need more help.”

“I agree. That is the reason I came back.”

Peterson lifted his head and looked at him with a haunted stare. “If it was this hard on us, what must she be going through—all alone out there?”

“We’ll find her. We won’t stop searching until we do,” he vowed.

“Hey, Beau and I thought you two might need some fuel. We have dinner ready if you’re hungry,” Grayson called out.

“Let’s get some food and make a plan. It will help you heal faster,” he encouraged.

Peterson rose and finished getting dressed. The sense of anguish radiating from his friend reflected his own. He couldn’t stop thinking of how miserable Jayden must be—or how frightened and alone she must be feeling at that moment.