Second Nature (73 page)

Kylin bounded up from her seat.

"Wait a minute!" Jorie called after him. "What about Griffin and her family?"

Madsen whirled around and narrowed his eyes at her.

"You forbade the Saru to kill me, but what about her? I refuse to leave this chamber until you revoke the kill order on her and her family too!"

With dangerous slowness, Madsen walked over to her, making the small group of Jorie's protectors close ranks around her again. "Don't try my patience, human! Be glad that you make it out of this chamber alive!"

"It's not just my survival that's important," Jorie said quietly, but without looking away from his fierce gaze. "Griffin and her family are my friends and my protectors. I won't abandon them. I thought you as a Syak would understand that kind of loyalty, but maybe I was wrong."

Brown eyes widened. For a moment, Kylin was afraid that Madsen would lose control and attack Jorie.

He stepped closer.

Nella and Kylin blocked his way while Griffin pulled Jorie back.

"No." Jorie softly warded off Griffin's hands and slipped past Ky and Nella to stand directly in front of Madsen. Behind her back, Ky could see that her clenched fists were trembling.

From a distance of just a few inches, Madsen stared down at her. "And maybe you were right. At least about this one thing," he said quietly. Then he raised his voice. "Until further notice, no Wrasa will kill Griffin Westmore or her family either," he announced.

"Or harm them," Jorie amended.

"Don't push your luck, human," Madsen said and walked away. Over his shoulder, he added, "No one will harm them if what you said here today proves to be true."

Almost drunk on all the emotions that wafted through the room, Kylin stared at her companions.

Nella gave her a short hug and walked away to talk to a few of the councilors, who were still arguing loudly and sneaking glances at Jorie.

"Ms. Price?" Jeff Madsen returned before Kylin could talk to her sister or Jorie. "A word... please," he added after a few seconds' hesitation. It seemed Jorie had earned his grudging respect.

Jorie's gaze flew back to Griffin, and Griffin gave her a nod and moved to follow.

"No," Madsen said with a decisive shake of his head. "Just the human... Ms. Price. If she's a dream seer, she doesn't need a babysitter, does she?"

Griffin gritted her teeth. She couldn't object without saying that Jorie wasn't a dream seer. Her gaze followed Jorie across the room. Muscles flexed under her shirt as if she was barely holding herself back.

"So this is Jorie Price. I thought she would be... I don't know... bigger," Kylin teased to distract her sister. The atmosphere in the room was tense enough without Griffin doing something stupid.

Griffin's head swiveled around. Anger sparked in her eyes but then receded when she saw Kylin's smile. "She's bigger than you and me both, Ky," she said quietly.

Oh, man.
Kylin regarded her sister with amusement.
She's smitten. Never thought I'd see the day when Griffin would fall tail over whiskers in love.

In a badly concealed attempt to keep track of Jorie and Jeff Madsen, Griffin looked around the room. Her gaze fell on Rufus, who was just re-entering the council chamber. "Tell Rufus thanks from me," she said. "Your friend was brave enough to get us through the front door, past two growling Syak and the Maki receptionist who looked as if she was PMSing."

Habit made Kylin nod, but then she hesitated. After a day like this, when a lot of old secrets had been revealed, wasn't it time to tell her sister the truth? Maybe her confession would barely register on Griffin's emotional radar in the middle of all this chaos. After all they had been through today, maybe Griffin wouldn't be too angry that she hadn't told her sooner. "He's not my friend," she said. "Rufus is my betrothed."

"What?"

Kylin smiled apologetically. "We've been keeping it quiet."

"Quiet?" Griffin's voice was an octave higher than usual. "That's an understatement! You didn't even tell me, your twin sister. Did anyone else know?"

"Just Gus," Kylin said and quickly added, "I didn't tell him. Somehow, he just guessed. I'm sorry." She meant it. "I wanted to tell you before, but I didn't know how, and there never seemed to be a good time to do it, and I guess I was just scared."

The familiar amber eyes squinted at her. "Scared?" Griffin repeated. Hurt tinged her voice. "Of me? Of my reaction?"

"I'm half Kasari and half Puwar, and Rufus is half Ashawe, half Syak. If people learn that we're a couple and might one day want kids if that's even biologically possible..." Kylin shook her head. Her fellow Wrasa wouldn't accept it.

Griffin's hand landed on Kylin's shoulder and gave a soft squeeze. "Times are changing, Ky." She nodded in the direction of Jorie and Jeff Madsen, who were still talking. "And you've been a big part of that. Don't let your relationship be dictated by what people might have to say about it."

Warm affection spread through Kylin. She clasped her sister's arm, relieved that Griffin wasn't angry and had taken her relationship in stride. Part of her had always known that Griffin would be supportive, but she had still been afraid. "Wise words," she said when she felt she could speak without her voice giving out on her. "I hope you'll heed them when it comes to your own relationship."

"What?" Griffin looked away from where she had watched Madsen and Jorie. "I'm not in a relationship."

"But you might one day be if you don't make the same mistake again," Kylin said.

"Mistake?" Copper eyebrows lifted in confusion.

Kylin nodded. "You didn't even try with Rhonda, because she's Kasari and you knew the pride wouldn't approve."

"Oh, Great Hunter!" Griffin's flushed features disappeared behind her hand as she rubbed her ear in embarrassment. "Does everyone know I had a crush on her?"

Kylin let her amused smile speak for itself. "You weren't as soft-footed about it as you thought, and you aren't hiding it well now either."

"She's human, Ky," Griffin said, not trying to deny her interest in Jorie any longer. They both knew she wouldn't get away with it with her twin sister. "It's not just about what people might say. We're just so different, and we didn't exactly meet under ideal circumstances, so I really wonder if this could ever work."

The words were familiar. She had said the same thing about her relationship with Rufus in the beginning.
Okay, but at least we didn't start out kidnapping and trying to kill each other.

"You'll never know if you don't try," Kylin said. She wanted to add further encouragement, but Jeff Madsen finally left the room, and Jorie returned to Griffin's side.

Griffin's gaze slid over Jorie from head to toe, making sure there wasn't a scratch on her that hadn't been there before. "What did he want?" she asked.

"Oh," Jorie answered with a smile that almost disguised how tense her posture still was, "he just wanted an autograph."

Griffin ogled her skeptically. "Don't tell me he's a fan of yours?"

A slender elbow nudged her in the ribs. "Don't sound so incredulous. I have a few of those, you know?" Jorie grinned at Griffin until she relaxed. Only then did Jorie relent. "No, he didn't really want an autograph. He just warned me that publishing my novel or breathing even a word about the Wrasa's existence to anyone would be my death sentence. I'm not allowed to write anything without the council's express permission."

"That was to be expected," Kylin said. Even though a few councilors had started to believe that Jorie might indeed be a dream seer, that didn't mean that they trusted her blindly. Their distrust for humans wouldn't change within just one day.

Jorie nodded. "What was unexpected was what he said last. He told me he had a few connections to the publishing industry and that when the time was right, there might be a way to publish my novel in a way that has advantages for me and for the Wrasa."

That sly old wolf!
A mix of frustration and admiration made Kylin shake her head. "Now that he realizes that change is inevitable, he's trying to make the best of it and take advantage of your novel."

"I was almost killed because the Wrasa feared my story so much, so how could it be used to Jeff Madsen's or the Wrasa's advantage?" The scent of confusion punctuated Jorie's question. "I didn't want to appear weak by asking Madsen since he seemed to think I understood. Maybe he thinks dream seers have all the answers."

Seems she's not afraid to appear weak in front of Griffin... and maybe I have a little of her trust too, by extension.

"I think Madsen realized that a coming out to the human public is inevitable," Kylin said. She had studied her fellow councilors, their strategy, and the way they thought since she served as the Puwar representative. Madsen's plans were obvious to her. "It won't happen today or tomorrow, but it's just a matter of time, especially once word gets out about the existence of human dream seers. If that happens, your book will sell more copies than the Bible and the IKEA catalog put together. If Madsen has control over your book, he's not only rich, but he can also make the Wrasa look like the good guys to all of your human readers."

A frown carved lines into Griffin's forehead. "I don't like him using Jorie and her book for his political agenda," she grumbled.

Jorie laid a hand on Griffin's arm. "After everything that happened because of my story, that's the least of our worries. I won't give up control of my novel that easily, but I also don't see the need for a lot of changes. After all, the shape-shifters
are
the good guys in my novel." Glancing at Griffin, she added with a grin, "Or rather, the good gals."

"Oh, just wait until Madsen is through with you. By the time that novel is published, the hero will be a wolf-shifter who heroically hunts down the bad cat to save the human," Griffin predicted glumly.

Cute,
Kylin thought, suppressing a smile.
Do I interact like this with Rufus?

"I think it's in Madsen's best interest to make all Wrasa look good," Kylin said. "You can be sure that there'll be no insidious wolves and no uncaring Maki in the story if he gets his way."

"Apropos Maki." Griffin turned to fully face Jorie. "You didn't tell me you had another dream. When did you dream about Thyra Davis covering up what Jennings was doing to human dream seers? On the plane?"

A slow smile spread over Jorie's face, and she rubbed her ear, a gesture that instantly reminded Kylin of her twin sister. "Um." She lowered her voice to a nearly inaudible whisper. "I didn't dream about her at all. That was just a bluff."

"What?" Griffin and Kylin shouted.

Jorie lifted a finger to her lips. "Shhh!"

"The revelation that finally swayed Madsen and saved our lives was just a bluff?" Griffin's whisper relayed the same disbelief that Kylin felt. "But how did you know that it was Thyra Davis? It could have been anyone on the council."

"No." The dark eyes twinkled. "Not anyone. I trust your sister." Jorie gave Kylin a nod. "These two," she pointed at the Rtar and the Ashawe councilor, "seemed too shocked when I told them Jennings had hunted down human dream seers, and these three," she indicated the cougar, jaguar, and bobcat-shifters, "didn't even make a peep the whole time I was in here, so I thought it unlikely that they had enough power to help Jennings hide what he was doing. That left only Jeff Madsen and Thyra Davis."

Congratulations, Griff,
Kylin thought,
you've got good taste. You picked a clever one.
"So how did you know it wasn't Jeff Madsen?" she asked. "He's an old friend of Jennings's family, so my money was on him."

"All the other councilors thought that too," Jorie said with a nod. "They were all staring at him — only Thyra Davis was looking at the ground."

"Amazing," Kylin murmured. Were all humans like this? While building her political career, Kylin hadn't had much contact with humans. She found them interesting but had always thought Griffin was wasting her time living among them. Now she was starting to change her mind.

Sometimes,
she thought,
pride mates come in surprising forms.

Under Griffin's watchful eyes, she patted Jorie on the shoulder and steered them out of the room. "Is it too late to ask for an autograph?"

CHAPTER 30

G
RIFFIN PUT HER finger between the pages and closed her grandfather's diary. When she had been a child, her mother had often urged her to read the diaries, but after finding out she had no dream-seeing potential at all, Griffin had thought it a waste of time.

Now she knew different.

The diaries were teaching her a lot about dream seers and about her family — and she now accepted that both would forever be a part of her life.

Leaning her head against the back of the couch, she looked out the window.

Snowflakes floated down to earth, forming a white curtain that separated the house from the rest of the world. Winter in Michigan wasn't so bad after all. Not when you were inside a cozy house, enjoying the warmth of a fire and the soothing sounds of Jorie's typing.

Jorie had decided to postpone her shape-shifter novel's publication until she was sure she could portray the Wrasa accurately and without causing them harm. Still, she hadn't given up on writing despite her dream-seeing training and the council's demands on her time.

Or maybe she didn't give up on it because of the demands on her.

Griffin knew that Jorie often felt insecure, confused, and pressured when it came to her new role.
For someone who only a few weeks ago made the final decision not to kill Jorie, the councilors sure act as if they can't live without her.
They were often asking for her dream-inspired insight on things that were new and overwhelming for Jorie. The responsibility of being the Wrasa's only dream seer was weighing heavily on her. She was desperately afraid of making a mistake, misinterpreting a dream. Her writing was a safe haven, where she could forget about her fears and self-doubts for a while.