Shifter In Ascent (Louisiana Shifters) (26 page)

It was only then that Camilla sniffled once, and released a soft sob. She covered her face in her hands as the tears came, and she couldn’t hold them back anymore.
“Oh, Cami,” Tessa said sadly, reaching out for her sister. “What’s wrong? Is it James?”
Camilla nodded her head. Tessa slid an arm around her sister and rocked her, humming quietly. It was their ritual, and had been for their entire lives. One would vent all her sadness or anger or fear while the other quietly comforted her. Tessa felt a tear or two slip down her own face, but it was mostly because she wished she’d never drawn Camilla into any of this in the first place.
After a few minutes, Camilla’s desperate sobs subsided.
“It’s just-“ Camilla said hoarsely, trying to find the words to describe her pain. “It’s just that I feel so terrible. Poor James honestly doesn’t deserve it, but I can’t separate him from my time at the Legion. He helped them pull me into the back of a van, you know?”
“I know. I feel just the same way, except that he doesn’t care so deeply for me.”
Camilla sighed and laid back, trying to get comfortable.
“I really don’t understand men,” she said.
“Wait til you find a Shifter you like. It’s a thousand times worse,” Tessa replied, only half joking.
“So you and Jace… it’s serious, huh?” Camilla said with a weak smile.
“We completed the mating ritual. We’re bound together forever now.”
Camilla whistled low and raised her eyebrows.
“That’s a lot of commitment for someone who’s really never even had a boyfriend. You seem pretty confident, though,” she commented drily.
Tessa shrugged.
“I can’t explain it. I didn’t have much say in the whole thing, and it felt silly to fight something that makes me so happy. Er, most of the time anyway.”
“I’ll take your word for it. I think the whole thing is creepy,” Camilla said, pursing her lips.
There was a light rap on the door, and Jace stuck his head in.
“Shaw’s calling a pack meeting to discuss what we should do. He asked me to bring you, Tessa. He also said to tell you not to get sidetracked this time, whatever that means.”
Tessa laughed and looked back at her sister. She leaned over and gave Camilla a long hug.
“Get some rest while we’re all meeting. I’ll update you when I get back,” she said, crawling out of the bed.
“I’m on it,” Camilla said, pulling the blankets up over her face.
Tessa followed her mate out of the room, softly closing the door behind her. Turning, she ran right into the solid wall of Jace’s chest. He swept her up off her feet and kissed her hard on the mouth, eliciting a squeal of delight.
Tessa melted against him, and Jace carried her several paces down the hallway before setting her back on her feet. She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him again, savoring his kiss. Jace let out a gentle growl, and Tessa giggled.
“I don’t see what’s funny about this,” Jace mumbled, running his nose along her jawline and just under her ear. She shuddered, but giggled again.
“I think this is what Shaw meant about getting sidetracked,” Tessa said, pulling away and slipping her hand into Jace’s. He let her tow him toward the door, but he didn’t look happy about it.
“Like Shaw knows anything about this. He wouldn’t know a good distraction if it bit him on the ass,” Jace grumbled.
“Well,” Tessa said with a devilish glint in her eyes, “at least our alpha’s not a mimbo.”
Jace cocked his head, confused.
“What the hell is a mimbo?”
Tessa just laughed and continued to pull him toward the all-important pack meeting. With her mate by her side and the pack at her back, Tessa had never been more confident. Nor had she ever felt so safe and accepted. Assuming that the pack didn’t hold a grudge over her involvement with the Legion, Tessa felt she could truly number herself among the pack members. The pack’s future was to be decided in a handful of minutes and she was ready to face whatever challenges were ahead.

Tessa looked over the crowd assembled in the Mess and bit her lip nervously. Even though she wanted to be here and was determined to stick out the meeting, she worried that the rest of the pack might not be as forgiving as Jace and Kat. But no one had mentioned her treachery, given her a nasty look, or even avoided her. Apparently when Shaw said someone was forgiven, they really were forgiven. Every time that she thought she’d seen every facet of the Shifter culture, they did something like this. Wonderful, but incredibly alien. In most parts of the human world she’d have been stoned to death by now.

Tessa had also been worried that if the pack gathered there would be difficulty reaching a consensus with so many people; it had never occurred to her that the pack only boasted forty or so members and that her real fear should be going up against the Legion with such a small contingent.

The babble of voices washed over her as she sat in the Mess Hall’s large dining room area, which closely resembled a middle school cafeteria. Tessa fidgeted, crossing and recrossing her legs to try to find a comfortable position on the narrow bench seat of the table she’d chosen. Resigning herself with a sigh, Tessa looked around and wondered anxiously where her mate had gone. He’d said something about the security office, and then dropped her in front of the Mess Hall. It had taken her a full minute to gather the courage to walk in alone.

Tessa noticed a deliciously garlicky smell wafting from the kitchen area, and her stomach growled in response. Tessa laughed half-heartedly to herself; of course there was food being cooked. Shifters never thought about anything but food and sex, it seemed like. Not a bad way to live, all things considered.

“All right, everyone have a seat. We need to discuss all of this before we eat,” Shaw said, raising his deep voice to bring all the other conversations to a halt. Shaw stood and moved to the center of the Shifters scattered loosely over a few tables. All eyes were automatically drawn to him, the pack watching their leader closely.

“As most of you know, we are once again in conflict with the Legion. They have set up a base less than ten miles south of here, which means the Den is compromised,” Shaw explained.
A murmur of discontent rose from those assembled before Shaw raised a hand to silence the crowd. Tessa looked around to gauge the general feeling of the crowd, but it seemed too mixed crowd. Tessa looked around to gauge the general feeling of the crowd, but it seemed too mixed

for a consensus. Mostly she wondered what Jace thought, but he still had yet to appear. “We must outline our choices and then make the best decision for the entire pack. For once
we are lucky to be such a young group with few mated pairs and no children. It will all come
down to whether we defend the Den,” Shaw said gravely.
“Are you suggesting that we should flee?” Angel demanded, her tone offended. “I’m not suggesting anything. Let’s lay all the options out on the table,” Shaw said calmly. “I’m only seeing two: fight or flee. We’ll either lose the Den or potentially lose some lives,”
Rhett rumbled from his seat, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck.
Tessa sensed Jace half a moment before he broke into the conversation, coming in through
the side door and approaching the circle. He stopped next to Tessa, unthinkingly brushing a hand
along her shoulder as he spoke.
“No. There is a third option,” Jace said grimly, “We take the fight to them.” Silence rained for a full beat before the crowd burst into discussion, the noise level doubling
and redoubling in a heartbeat.
“We fight them on their land?” Shaw asked neutrally, squinting as he imagined the
possibilities.
“We fight them in their own compound,” Jace replied confidently.
“You’re talking about giving up home field advantage here. What would be the benefit of
that?” Cord asked pragmatically.
“I don’t think you all understand. Unless I’m mistaken, out of everyone in this room only
Maddie and I have actually seen the Legion take over a pack’s territory,” Jace bit out, clearly
trying to keep his temper in check.
Everyone went silent for a long second. Tessa reached out and grabbed her mate’s warm
hand in her cool one. Jace looked down at her for a long second before clearing his throat and
making another attempt.
“What I am trying to say is that I know how they operate. They’ll try to preserve the Den
itself, the magic is powerful enough to be worthwhile to them. They’ll have a plan in place to
capture some of us and exterminate the rest of the pack. And they’re not going to be shooting
blind, they’ll have several backup plans in place. By the time they come at us, we’re dead. We
have no choice but to go to them,” Jace said, keeping his voice level.
“And how are we supposed to do that?” Declan spoke up, standing and moving to Jace’s
side. “We’ve just now found out their location. I hardly think that qualifies us to launch an
invasion on The Legion.”
Jace went still, again struggling to keep calm.
“Anyone who fights in this meeting will be kept from the real fight,” Shaw broke in, his
voice authoritative.
Jace and Declan looked at him boldly for a moment, and then dropped their eyes in
acknowledgement. They didn’t look happy, but the tension ratcheted down a notch. “Declan does have a point,” Kat said, loyally sticking up for her bother. “How the hell are
we supposed to break into the Legion’s fortress or whatever?” She crossed her arms and leaned
back in her seat, unimpressed.
“We have insider knowledge,” Jace said, inclining his head toward Tessa.
Tessa was completely taken aback, her mouth opening in surprise. She looked up at Jace and
he flashed her a look that encouraged her to speak out. Clearing her throat, she stood and joined
her mate in the middle of the floor, giving Declan an apologetic look.
“We’ve gotten James- Jameson, that is, to tell us what the Legion is planning. He’s
completely open to helping us,” Tessa said nervously, her words coming out in a rush. The room was quiet, listening attentively. A better reception than she’d anticipated, to be
sure. She kept going.
“James knows the whole Legion compound inside and out. We can use his knowledge to
fight against them. It’ll take all of us working together, though,” she finished. She’d snuck that
last bit in, knowing Jace wouldn’t like the idea of any of the females being involved. “Sounds like our odds aren’t so bad, then,” Kat said supportively. There were affirmative
murmurs around the room, and Tessa felt a swell of appreciation for her new pack mates. “We still need to put it to a vote,” Shaw broke in. “All in favor of leaving the Den behind
and finding somewhere else to stay, show of hands.”
Everyone looked around, but not a single hand went up. A few seconds of silence ticked by
before Shaw spoke again.
“All in favor of taking the fight to the Legion, hands up.”
Every hand in the room shot straight up. Shaw nodded sagely, and then said, “Alright. We
fight.”
A cheer went up around the room, and Kat stood.
“Now we eat!” Kat shouted, and an even louder cheer erupted from the crowd, complete
with clapping and some whistling. Tessa had to laugh; trust Shifters to be even more concerned
about food than the upcoming battle.
Everyone lined up to get plates loaded with lasagna, salad, pasta, and tiramisu. Chianti was
poured for everyone who wanted it, and the whole pack settled down to dig in. Tessa was
ravenous, and scarfed down a huge piece of lasagna plus a good bit of salad before she felt
satisfied. Jace nudged her and pointed at the pasta still on her plate, and she pushed the plate
over to him gladly.
“You really should eat more,” he said, between mouthfuls of pasta and salad. Rhett and Kat
were at their table, and both Shifters chimed their agreement that Tessa was underfed. Tessa
laughed, again reminded of the Shifters’ dissimilarity to humans. And again, the fact made her
happy.
She leaned her elbows on the table and looked around at the pack. They were talking,
laughing, eating, toasting with their paper cups. Tessa’s heart swelled unbearably, a strange
emotion taking her by surprise.
Jesus. For the first time in her life, she actually belonged somewhere. There was a sense of
rightness about her connection with these people, a sense of destiny fulfilled. And when she
looked over at Jace, who was pointing his fork at Maddie as if making an important point, a dam
burst inside her heart.
She was… she was
happy
. Holy hell, was this what being truly happy was like? She wanted
to shout, or do a cartwheel, or something. Instead she settled for slipping her arm around her
mate’s waist and nuzzling his shoulder.
He automatically slid his arm around her shoulders, turning to meet her gaze. Tessa let her
happiness radiate out toward him, giving him a soft smile. He leaned down and kissed her, softly
at first but of course it quickly turned passionate.
“Tone it down, guys. Us single people don’t want to see all that,” Kat complained, and Tessa
broke the kiss with a giggle. Jace went back to eating, and Tessa sighed. The hall’s front door
squeaked as it opened and closed, and Tessa turned to find Camilla making her way over. There was a rustle and a scraping of chairs, and then a very heavy silence as Tessa stood and
waved Camilla over to her table. Tessa sensed a wave of masculine energy rolling over the
room, and she hurried to break the tension. Turning to the group, she made the introductions. “Um, everyone, this is my sister Camilla,” Tessa said nervously, slipping a protective arm
around her sister’s waist.
“Hi,” Camilla said simply, giving everyone a brief wave before turning to speak to Tessa. “I
smelled pasta sauce. I’m going to need to get in on that,” she explained.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed or something?” Tessa asked. Out of the corner of her eye,
she noted that the Shifters had mostly gone back to their conversations rather than staring at
Camilla’s lithe frame.
“I feel hungry, that’s close enough to healthy in my book,” Camilla said, slipping out of
Tessa’s embrace.
“Fine,” Tessa said with an eye roll, “Food’s over there.” She pointed out the serving tables
and watched Camilla practically race over to make a plate.
“Well at least one of the Anderson sisters knows how to eat,” Jace joked. Tessa sighed and
sat back down beside him.
“Less talk about my eating habits, more talk about how we’re not going to die?” Tessa
suggested lightly.
Camilla plunked down next to Tessa, nodding in greeting to Rhett and Kat. Tessa made
introductions, and then returned to the conversation.
“The real problem is the witch, I think,” Jace mused aloud.
“How do you fight a witch?” Tessa asked, and everyone at the table shrugged. “What, none of you know?” Tessa asked, looking around their table. Rhett, Kat, and Jace all
shook their heads.
“You have to fight fire with fire,” came a deep rumble from just behind Tessa’s back, making
her jump. They all turned to find Jesse sitting by himself at the next table over, eyes down and
focused on his food. Tessa was completely taken aback; she’d just assumed that since she’d
never heard the man speak, he
couldn’t
speak.
“You’ve fought against a witch?” Jace asked curiously, swinging a leg over the bench so that
he could face the other Shifter properly.
Jesse nodded and set down his fork, chewing thoughtfully. Finally he spoke up, saying,
“Witches. Multiple.”
“And you’re saying that we need to pit one witch against another?” Kat asked. Jesse cocked his head, mulling over her question. Then he shook his head. “Not necessarily a witch. You need magic. It comes from more than one place, you know.” “All supernaturals have some form of it. Elementals, vampires, werewolves, the Fae…”
Rhett chipped in.
A thought tickled the edges of Tessa’s brain. Something… no, she’d lost it. She wrinkled her
nose and tuned back in to what Jace was saying.
“I’m not sure how that helps us. We don’t have any of those guys lying around, waiting to do
us favors. I doubt even Shaw has those kind of contacts. Shifters usually keep to themselves,”
Jace said, rubbing his jaw.
“Don’t you guys have some magic swords or chalices lying around?” Camilla asked, all
innocence. Tessa honestly couldn’t tell if she was joking or completely serious. “This isn’t a Tolkien novel. Objects of power are pretty rare, so I’m pretty sure there aren’t “This isn’t a Tolkien novel. Objects of power are pretty rare, so I’m pretty sure there aren’t