Steve could tell Colonel Tibbets had obviously been expecting this call, and he went through the events a lot more calmly than he had when Steve had talked to him. He also went through it in a great deal more detail. Apparently Colonel Tibbets had been quite unhappy with Colonel Vance's actions. But because Vance was regular Air Force, and Tibbets was a National Guard commander, hadn't been able to do anything about it.

  Steve listened to them questioning Tibbets in detail about what happened and waited until it sounded like everyone was almost done.

  "Colonel Tibbets, Steve Bryson here," he called out.

  "Yes, Mr. Bryson?"

  "What exactly did Colonel Vance say to Adam that pushed him over the edge?"

  "Umm…" Colonel Tibbets hesitated.

  "Please, Colonel, I know I'd like to hear it," General Baker said.

  "He said he didn't care about the deaths of a bunch of freaks."

  Steve blinked and sat back. He hadn't heard that. He'd known Vance had said something, based on what Tibbets had told him on the phone earlier. He just hadn't guessed it was that bad.

  "Oh, yeah," Tisha said with a growl, and everyone suddenly remembered she was a lioness. Especially as she'd shifted into her hybrid form. "That'd do it. It takes a lot to piss Adam off, but once he goes, that's it, there's no holding back. Calling the people who died freaks?"

  Steve could see the president had his head down and was shaking it; even the director of Homeland was looking uncomfortable.

  "You have to remember," Steve said carefully, "the lions really do care about their children, which is how they think of all lycans. It's bad enough to kill them, but to offer insult to injury when they're dying out there for the rest of us?"

  "Thank you, Colonel, we'll let you get back to cleaning up the mess," the president said and motioned to the agent to end the call.

  "Could you get Adam on the line for us?" the president asked.

  "He's back out leading our forces, Mr. President," Tisha said.

  "I thought Colonel Tibbets said half of his armor had been destroyed and he was covered in his own blood?"

  Tisha winced. "Adam is afraid of what will happen to him if he doesn't win this fight. He's back out there leading the counterattack."

  Steve noticed General Baker was looking impressed on hearing that.

  ", I still want to talk to him when this is over," the president said.

  "What happens if he loses?" the director of Homeland asked.

  "Well," Tisha replied, "I suspect he'll get in a lot of trouble with our leader. You have to understand, if he screws up all the work Sean did…" Tisha glanced away, "if the First of us feels he dishonored us all by losing the fight, he could be...…let's just say there are things worse than death."

  "I…see," Jill said, looking a little uncomfortable.

  "I think we've heard enough for today," the president said. "General, I think we need to make sure our commanders fully understand they can't go off half-cocked, that there are dangers we're still not aware of.

  "Steven, Tisha, I'm not happy about what happened today, even if you think it might have been justified. We have rules, regulations, and laws that need to be followed. Understand?"

  Steve nodded. "Of course, Mr. President."

  "Yes, Mr. President," Tisha agreed.

  "Fine. Steve, Tisha, thank you for coming out."

  Steve and Tisha stood and shook hands with the president, then left.

  After they'd left the room, the president turned to General Baker. "Jim, how the hell did an asshole like Vance get put in command of a wing?"

  General Baker shook his head. "I don't know, Sir. But you can be damn sure I'm going to find out. Bryson was right, if he'd laid some racial insult on me about me and my soldiers? In front of everyone like that? After getting them killed? Hell, I probably would have shot him myself."

  "Still, we need to do something," said Jill, the director of Homeland.

  "I'll work something out with Steve," Kensington said. "I've got a fairly good working relationship with him, so I'm sure we can figure out something that’ll save face and won't cause any more issues with the lions."

  "I keep forgetting Tisha's a lioness. She looks so young," Jill said.

  "Yeah, I know," Kensington said with a smile. "I was shocked to find out just how old she really is."

  "I take it she's a lot older than she looks?"

  "Considerably."

  "I wonder why she always defers to Mr. Bryson then?"

  "If I had to guess, I'd say it may have to do with her being so old, she's lost the ability for dealing with the likes of us. I'm sure when we're not around, she's probably the one ruling the roost, so to speak."

  Steve looked over at Tisha as they rode back to the office. She was squirming in her seat.

  "What's gotten into you?"

  She blushed. "Umm, it's what I want to get into me."

  Steve laughed. "Oh? What did I do this time?"

  "You all but made them yours! When we went in there, they were all mad at you, at Adam, at all of us. When we left there, well," Tisha gave her head a small shake, "you'd changed everything."

  Steve smiled, looking her over—really looking her over—making her blush even more. Tisha was a hot little number, alright; he'd never taken the time to really appreciate her looks because, well, because Terri was pretty hot herself. Also, Terri understood him, understood his method for dealing with things, and never ever hesitated to back him up.

  That right there was sexy as hell to him. Terri was totally dedicated to being his woman, which was why he loved her so much.

  "You weren't too shabby in there yourself," Steve said, looking into her eyes. "Fate worse than death? And that little wince you gave? I had no idea you could act so well."

  "Well…I had to do something to back your play. It's not like they can ask anybody whether I was lying or not, right?"

  Steve laughed and putting an arm around her he pulled her into his lap.

  "I am so going to own your ass after I make you mine."

  Tisha's eyes widened. "But, but what about Terri?"

  Steve grinned. "We already talked about it; she's very much looking forward to making you bark like a dog tonight."

  Steve slipped his hands up under her blouse.

  "Eyes on the road, Wally!" Steve warned, then pulled Tisha closer, kissing her as she joyfully submitted to his desires.

  Anonymous Melody (Traveling Music)

  They'd been walking for most of the day; according to Estrella, they'd be there sometime tomorrow.

  "I saw a ridder and a biskop come through with some sort of mount," Sean mentioned to her as they walked along. They'd been discussing what kind of disguises they might be able to use to hide that he was a lion from their enemies.

  Mainly because he wasn't a big fan of the huge hooded cloak she'd given him , and which he was now wearing. At least it wasn't hot out, cold was actually a better description, but with his fur coat, at least he wasn't bothered by it.

  "And you're wondering why I don't have one?" she asked him.

  "Yes, or something similar."

  "The teams of six gnashers pulling the carts are about as similar as I want to get. Most of the riding beasts are ill tempered and eat a lot."

  "A lot of what?"

  "Gnashers or the diamondbacks."

  "Diamondbacks?" Sean asked making a face.

  "That's what I call the small demons that look like little gnashers," she said with a shrug.

  "Aren't there any plants here?"

  "What do you think we're surrounded by?" She laughed, motioning to the trees and the bushes.

  Sean blushed. "I meant edible plants. Like carrots or wheat, anything that can be eaten besides other demons."

  Estrella nodded. "Yes, but they don't grow naturally; I thought I'd mentioned that to you before? Most of the ecology here are demons, their spawn, or a few related breeds, and they're pretty much based on eating each other. Only the diamondbacks and the gnashers seem to be able to primarily live off of some of the stuff that grows here. The rest of it was either here when the demons showed up, or somehow came through the gates, adapted, and spread."

  "What about precious metals? Silver? Gold?"

  "Nope," she said, shaking her head. "They have iron; it's fairly common, though the making of steel seems to be a well-kept secret. Copper is also fairly common, but I haven't seen any brass that didn't come from somewhere else, just bronze."

  "Then what do they make their weapons from?"

  "Steel mostly, but they work the iron a bit differently, adding zinc or other coatings to it to protect themselves from the iron. Bronze is popular for most other things that require metal, because it's safe."

  "I'm surprised they'd use steel swords, considering how dangerous iron is to them."

  "That's exactly why they use it." She chuckled. "They even use iron darts and spearheads. Of course they use slaves to make them, as they usually lose a few in the process. But they very much want to be able to hurt each other, so the edges have the coatings filed off.

  "But they also bring back a lot of the stuff they steal when they go through the gateways to other realms. Of course, the stuff doesn't always work when they get it back here."

  "It doesn't?"

  "No."

  "Any idea why?"

  "I think it's the same reason why we don't really eat food. Have you ever seen them eat somebody's soul?"

  Sean frowned. "Yeah, twice. I killed them for it."

  "I've often wondered if we were to take a soul back through the gateway to its home, would the person come back to life?"

  "That's a good question," Sean agreed.

  "And you're the first person I've been able to debate it with." Estrella looked at him and smiled.

  "I take it the demons here aren't very good conversationalists?"

  "Hardly!" she said with a laugh. "Their idea of conversation is telling you how many they slew and the nasty things they do to their victims and underlings. They're not just vicious, they're cruel as well."

  "Yours don't seem so bad," Sean said, lowering his voice.

  "No, they're not. At least not when I'm around. I try to weed out any of the truly sociopathic ones. But I also don't allow any of the higher-level ones to stay with me."

  "Why not?"

  "Too dangerous. There comes a point in their evolution where they become much more aggressive. They'll start killing all of the weaker ones around them to gain their power so they can rise up to their true potential."

  "If you had a bunch of ridders and the other high-level ones, wouldn't you be safer, though?" Sean was curious about that. She'd been here all this time, but she was sticking to the lowest of the low.

  "I've thought about it," she said slowly, giving him a dark look, "but I started to fear for my soul."

  Sean did a double take at that. "Wait, what? You feared for your soul? After the thousands of years lions and lionesses used lycans as their toy soldiers in wars of dominance?"

  "Yeah, I know, right?" Estrella said with a frown. "I wasn't really there for most of that; I came in at the end. But we grew up, we learned. These people," she shook her head again, "I don't think they're capable of learning. Of advancing.

  "My sire once told me he realized, through our ignorance, we'd done a great disservice to our children, and our lack of advancement was because we'd kept them feral, made them fighters, and treated them no better than gladiators for entertainment. I guess that's why he decided to fight the demons. It's not like they were any threat to us. In fact, they avoided us, but every time the humans got their feet under them, the demons would come along and kill so many of them, they fell back into savagery."

  "The sounds almost like something the First would say."

  "Umm..."

  Sean noticed her tail was curling around her leg.

  "Your father's the First?" he blurted out.

  "Yeah, yeah, he's the 'First'," Estrella grumbled. "That's why I snuck in here; I figured I had something to live up to, something to prove. I thought it would make him proud of me."

  "Wow, small world," Sean said shaking his head.

  "So now that you know, you're not going to run away or something, are you?"

  Sean laughed. "Why would I do that?"

  "Because a lot of the younger lions are afraid of him, especially the third-generation ones. He's so powerful they tend to wilt in his presence."

  "Was Keairra your mother?"

  "You know her?"

  Sean nodded. "She's the one who taught me sword fighting. How old are you, then?"

  "Not very; I was born a few hundred years after the previous invasion. I was a bit of an unexpected occurrence."

  "What, they didn't practice birth control?" Sean asked, giving her a serious look.

  "No, it's just, new lion souls aren't common since the die off," she said, looking away uncomfortably. "That's part of why I was trying to prove myself to my sire, I guess. My birth was unexpected. Usually someone else gets reincarnated."

  "Huh, I didn't know that."

  "I don't see how you would."

  "Well, according to your father, I'm a new lion soul as well."

  "Wait, what?"

  "I was bitten by a lion named Sampson a little over a year ago, and your father's spirit is the one who moved in to 'guide' me."

  "You have my father in your head? And you want to sleep with me?"

  Sean blinked; the look she was giving him was neither friendly nor nice. In fact, he suspected he was taking damage from it.

  "I lost him when I came through!" Sean said quickly as she drew her sword. "I swear! He's gone!"

  "He didn't crush your mind and take over? How do I know I'm not talking to my sire?" she growled.

  "Because you beat me with the sword, and I can do magic?" Sean said, eyeing the tip of the sword, which was now inches from his face.

  She glared at him an entire minute before she blew out her breath and sheathed her sword. Everyone had stopped and was looking at them.

  "Just a difference of opinion," she growled, looking around. "Keep moving."

  "Woo, that was scary," Sean said and wiped his brow. "You know, he can be a bit of an ass at times, but do you really think he'd actually do something like that?"

  "Well, not if he'd crushed your mind," Estrella admitted. "But why didn't he? I mean, that was his usual practice, come back in someone's grown body and just take it over."

  Sean shrugged. "He told me he'd realized it was wrong and stopped doing it. When I started showing up in la-la land without his help, he told me he was even more convinced it was the right decision, because I was obviously a lion."

  "La-la land?"

  "The place we can go to when we sleep."

  "Oh, the mountain."

  Sean nodded.

  She stopped again and looked at him. "Wait a moment, you've only been a lion for a year, and you've got six wives?"

  "And I'm leading the war against the demons," Sean said with a nod.

  "Damnation, you really must have a lion soul."

  "So does that mean you're interested in being number seven?" Sean asked with a wink as they started to walk again.

  "I'm a second generation," she said haughtily while smiling. "What could I possibly want with a lowly third?"

  "To outrage your parents and impress your friends?" Sean said with a laugh.

  "Who infected you, anyway?"

  "Sampson."

  "Sampson? Can't say I recognize the name."

  "One of the First's grandsons. Looks like me, but a little shorter."

  "Shorter? How the hell did that happen?"

  Sean shrugged. "Don't ask me, I just work here. Which reminds me, just how are we planning on taking this hellige thing?"

  "In the morning after we break camp, I'll send out a couple of scouts. Normally there's only a small force guarding it, say a hundred gnashers, probably a råge or two to keep them in line, and a ridder or a biskop to oversee things with their accompanying bonde."

  "That sounds like a lot," Sean confided.

  Estrella shrugged. "With the two of us, a ridder or biskop shouldn't be that big an issue, and with Ansigt recently killed, they might have returned to his castle to help hold it and the more important helliges until he returns."

  Sean nodded. "That makes sense."

  "Of course someone else may be trying to take it, or may have already taken it. In which case we see how strongly it's being held, and either go up against them or move on to our secondary target."

  "And once we take it, then what?"

  "We fortify our position and hold it until we get a gateway we can use, of course."

  Sean looked around at the gnashers and lowered his voice to a whisper. "And what do we do about them?"

  Estrella gave him a pained look. "We will do what we must, whether I like it or not."

  Sean nodded slowly. He'd been a little worried about that from the beginning. The gnashers all seemed nice enough, especially those who reported to Estrella. But there was no way he was going to let them set foot on his world, his home.

  They didn't belong there.

  Neither he nor Estrella spoke much the rest of the day. Sean was primarily thinking about the problem of fixing her necklace, not that they'd need it if things worked out with the hellige they were going to take. Still, it was something interesting to contemplate.

  Estrella was occupied with riding herd over her troops and getting reports from the scouts who were looking for any other demons in the area who might threaten their forces. Diamondbacks weren't the smartest of the demons; some of them were really not much smarter than the plants and vegetables they replaced in the demon ecology. So they needed constant supervision and the occasional threat to keep them in line.

  When they reached the spot where they'd planned to camp, she watched over everything as her tent was put up, the carts moved into a circle to bolster their defenses, the campfires were lit, and the watches were set.

  Looking around, she saw Sean walking around outside the perimeter of their encampment, doing something. She waited for him at the entrance of her tent, and he came over after making two full circuits of the camp.

 

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