Worshiped By The Bear Kings - Complete (16 page)

PART
FOUR

CHAPTER ONE

Over the mountains. Across ocean
waters. Through thick layers of fog. The ground became snow and the wind dense
with cold. Jasmine peered from her saddle upon the arch baron panther, to see
the beginnings of a giant palace structure, formed in its entirety from ice and
snow. They sailed over tall crystallized walls, with various armor bound figures
patrolling both outside and behind them. Gradually, the panther descended and
they landed with nothing but the palace’s magnificence to gaze up at.

Jasmine
climbed off the panther and fell to her knees, tired from the journey. The
palace itself seemed to sparkle, with pale shades of purple light.

“Where are
we?” she gasped.

When no
answer came, she turned to see Gaspar now crouching where his panther had been.
He slowly rose, still his top half naked, apparently unaffected by the freezing
cold. The snow was already beginning to bite into Jasmine’s knees.

It was
starting to hurt.

“This is the
Ice Storm Panther’s stronghold,” Gaspar finally answered her. “I am the ruler
here.”

“What do you
intend to do with me?” Jasmine asked.

Gaspar stared
at her aggressively, and stuck the fingers of his left hand underneath her
chin. They latched into her skin as he lifted her up from the ground to his
submission.

“Whatever I
feel like,” Gaspar said, and then gave her a shove so she fell back to the
snow.

“Please don’t
do that,” she said, sitting back up. “I’m so cold.”

Gaspar
sneered at her and then began making his trek towards the palace’s steps.

Jasmine rose
to her feet and dusted herself off. She looked back towards the gates, but the
wind was so thick with frost she could barely even make them out.

“Come on.”

Gaspar was
already halfway up, glaring back at her.

Jasmine
winced at the thought of going any further, but there was little choice for her
now.

She hoped the
other panthers had shown mercy to Spike, and that he was still okay.

CHAPTER TWO

There was no longer a bear to fight
the battle. He’d lost his connection with it. His mind was clouded, and the
pain radiating through his body crackled and seared.

He was not
alone.

Through
closed eyes he could hear the panthers conversing with one another, deciding
his fate.

“… and that’s
why we should just finish him. Better do it now, than have to worry about it
later –”

“You would go
against Gaspar?” another panther countered. “Even though he gave us specific
instruction to let him live?”

“Didn’t
exactly give us much in the way of terms though,” a third voice piped up.
“Didn’t say we were to leave him here, or if we were to extract information, or
use him for other purposes –”

“This bear
has no use to us,” the first panther boomed. “We tell Gaspar he tried to escape
and we had to put him down.”

“But if he
finds out we’re lying –” the second panther began.

“Gaspar is
only leader because we say he can be leader. If everyone is in agreement then
there’s no reason –”

“I thought he
only said to keep him alive to subdue the girl,” a fourth voice spoke up.
“Clearly he meant for us to dispose of him.”

“We could
take him back to the Destair,” said another panther. “Have them watch him until
we can confirm with Gaspar what he wants with him.”

Spike opened
his eyes. He grabbed a hold of a fallen chair to sit himself up against the
wall.

The eyes of
six panther men stared down at him from their circle in the middle of the room.

“We need not
be enemies,” Spike croaked. “I have no war with your kind. Not yet anyway.”

The panthers
stared at him, unflinching.

Then the
tallest one broke into a fit of laughter. The others followed in union.

He then
stopped laughing and brushed past the others to approach Spike.

“Are you
ready then to beg for your life?” the panther demanded gleefully.

Spike shook
his head. “Just tell me why you attacked us here. Was it because I wouldn’t
agree to Gaspar’s terms? Because I’m sure my cousin is already fixing that
situation. He will get you a meeting with Lynette’s father.”

“If he is
already doing that,” the panther said, seizing Spike’s throat, “then what use
could you possibly be to us?”

Spike’s mouth
fell open. “So you would kill me for just being of no use? I don’t understand.”

The panther
squinted angrily and began to strangle him.

Spike lifted
his hands from the floor to grasp hold of the panther’s wrist.

“No,” Spike
choked.

The panther
gritted his teeth.

Then his hold
of Spike’s throat began to weaken. The power of Spike’s grasp was too much for
him to bear.

“Just you,
stop –” the panther struggled.

The rest of
circle pulled him off Spike and pushed him to the back of the room.

Then the
remaining panthers turned to one another.

“Kill him,”
the first panther demanded, nursing his wrist. “Kill him now!”

Spike grabbed
hold of the chair again and rose to his feet.

The panthers
began to silently close in on him.

“Of course my
cousin doesn’t know some of the things that I know,” Spike said. “He may not be
able to find Lynette’s father, or convince him to meet with you.”

“Wait a
moment,” the tall panther said.

He walked
back into the middle of the group. “What is it you know?”

“I know where
the Lion Guardian is.”

CHAPTER
THREE

Inside the palace it was colder than
outside, but for some reason, this type of cold filled Jasmine’s body with
comfort. Even as the doors closed behind them, she could feel a sense of calm
about the place. A sense of rightness. And standing here, at the opening of
marvelous things to come, Jasmine couldn’t help but feel as though she had been
here before. Had she dreamt about it? Imagined it?

Gaspar’s
stern eyes caught her gaze drifting off, and he snapped his fingers.

“Pay
attention.”

Jasmine
straightened herself up. “Sorry.”

“Sorry
Master,” Gaspar corrected.

A chill ran
down Jasmine’s spine.

Gaspar turned
and went to the next set of doors.

And no – no,
Jasmine couldn’t possibly have been here before. Nor could she have dreamed it.
For as she ventured onward she discovered the palace to be even more beautiful
than it had been on the outside.

Although she
could see the forms of mantles which at one time may have held burning torches,
they were all covered by the frost. The walls, the floors, the ceilings of ice
– they all pulsated with glowing lights. Some rooms blue. Some rooms purple. They
crossed through the next chamber and made a left to find a large circular area
where the roof was open and the stars gazed upon them.

Jasmine
looked up, and thought of her kings.

She felt so
lost.

“Please,” she
murmured, as Gaspar continued towards the centre. “Can I speak with you
properly now?”

She followed
him until he stopped at the edge of a frozen pool of water. There was a large
elevated ledge around it, it’s stone colored emerald green.

“Sit with
me,” Gaspar said taking is seat on it.

Jasmine nodded
politely, and sat with him.

He stared at
her, his eyes unflinching, and seductive.

“Are you
really Quraal’s brother?” she asked.

Gaspar’s eyes
widened. “Of course. I said I was, didn’t I?”

“But you’re a
panther,” Jasmine replied. “Even with those wings of yours. Quraal was a
dragon.”

“Was he?”
Gaspar said without blinking.

“Are you
saying he isn’t?”

Gaspar
chuckled. “No. We had different mothers he and I. But our father was the same.”

“Your mother
was a panther?”

“She was,”
Gaspar said. “But that is all history.”

“You know
Quraal raped me,” Jasmine said. “I was never with him willingly. I was …
nothing to him.”

“But you
aren’t nothing, are you petal?”

“Huh?”

Gaspar showed
her his hand. “May I?”

“May you…?”

He reached
down through her bathrobe and placed his hand on her stomach.

She winced
with fear.

His hand was
too close to the rest of her.

“Awww…”
Gaspar purred. “He’s nearly ready.”

“What?”
Jasmine stammered.

“It’s okay,”
he continued. “Uncle Gaspar’s here.”

Pain suddenly
ripped through Jasmine’s stomach as she felt something butting up against the
surface.

Her baby was
moving.

“Don’t do
that,” Jasmine cried, pulling away from him.

“I’m sorry,”
Gaspar said. “But the child needs to know there are people here waiting for
him.”

“He doesn’t
know anything. He’s just a baby.”

“You would be
surprised.”

Then grinned
at her menacingly.

Jasmine
couldn’t help but wonder how she was going to get out of this.

CHAPTER FOUR

Thunder Brad was sitting by himself
in the middle of nowhere. Behind the bench there was a secure railing that
stood between the edge of the cliff and the drop to the darkness below.
Restless, he got up and went to it, staring out into the night’s oblivion.

He hadn’t
wanted it to come to this. Turning his back on both his cousin and their mate.
It seemed like the best thing for them at the time. The best thing for the
Uthuro tribe. But now, Brad didn’t know what to think. The information Lynette
had given him was dire. Talk of black magic, evil spirits, and hellfire. Even
as a bear shifter, there were still things in the world he chose not to believe
in.

But he
trusted Lynette.

She had
dropped him off here an hour or so ago. She was going to go and meet with her
father to let him know about the Ice Storm panthers and their request of him.
She had to find out what Thunder was supposed to do. In that respect, perhaps
they were in safe hands now. If there was anyone on the face of the earth who
wouldn’t be challenged by such malevolence, it was the Guardian.

Still.

There was no
telling what had become of Spike or Jasmine. When he looked out to the night
sky and whispered their names, to carry their echo across the winds … he heard
no echo back.

Sometimes he
had to remind himself the forest was gone.

“Thunder.”

Lynette’s
voice behind him. Brad turned and saw her face peering from the back of the
limo. He hadn’t even heard it pull up.

Brad stepped
away from the railing and walked towards the road. Lynette opened the car door
and motioned for him to come inside. He did so.

The car
pulled away again and drifted through the roads.

“Are you
okay?” Lynette asked.

She was
wearing a shiny quilt with her blonde hair flowing over it.

Her face was
white.

Her eyes and
lips were pink.

Brad’s
composure returned. “Yeah,” he said finally. “I was just reflecting on some
things.”

“Nothing
about me I hope,” Lynette muttered.

“No,” Brad
shook his head. “Not about you.”

She placed
her hand over his. “My father has agreed to help you.”

“He has?”

“But he will
not meet with you or the panthers.”

“Of course. I
understand.”

“I am to act
on his behalf.”

Brad frowned.
“You are to make a deal with them.”

“We are to
extract information,” Lynette explained. “Our first point of call will be to
consult with Hades. We need to find out if he is aware of Gaspar’s plan.”

“What do we
think his plan is?”

“To kill my
father of course,” Lynette said. “But also to enslave the entire shifter body
to his will.”

“No,” Brad
shook his head. “They’re only panthers. They haven’t the power to do that.”

“I told you.
They aren’t just panthers. They’re monsters who bear resemblance to panthers.”

Brad nodded.
“Can we defeat them?”

“We need to
first see if the Destair are their allies, or if they will be ours. They could
prove a very useful instrument if Hades agrees to side against Gaspar.”

“I see where
you’re going with that,” Brad nodded. “But what happens if instead of betraying
Gaspar, he betrays us?”

Lynette
removed her hand. Brad’s question appeared to unsettle her.

“That would
be tragic,” she whispered.

Brad nodded.

This was a
very tight line they were about to walk.