Enter the bear king’s mansion on the island and retrieve the miniature mecca crystal stashed there, usually near one of his advisors. Use cunning. Use stealth. If you are captured, your life is forfeit to the bears.
Holy shifter babies. Was the council for real? Did they want to start a war? Both the bears and the wolves had multimillion-dollar mansions on the Island. It was the one place we could be in peace and meet at the yearly accords or the summer festival without bloodshed. This would ruin all of that if Selene or I were caught, especially because we were both armed to the gills.
What would Calista do? I ran through all strategies in my mind. How far to the bear king’s mansion on foot? Were there any holidays or occasions that would mean the bear king himself was in residence? I didn’t even know what he looked like. Gerald was the first bear I had met in years.
I focused my breathing as a plan came into mind. Adjusting the straps on my backpack, I took off running toward the large blue beachside residence perched atop the cliff. The bear king’s mansion was on the opposite side of the Island to the wolves’ residence. It was a steep hike on foot but I would be fine. Was Selene ahead of me? It didn’t matter. I just needed to focus on getting the job done. As I reached the thicker trees that signaled I was heading in the right direction, I saw two friendly humans coming out of a hike. They smiled at me.
“Great weather,” one of them said.
“Mmmhmm,” I replied, and smiled, walking past them quickly.
Humans found it difficult to be in my presence for too long. As an alpha, the power of my wolf made them feel uneasy … threatened. Then add in that I was an heir and the small connection to the mecca within me was enough to make them sick if they remained in my presence too long. Once a human woman on the train had vomited right at my feet. She’d sat too close to me for an hour-long ride. Since then I avoided public transportation. Submissive wolves were sent to deal with any human drama. They were tolerated much better by the humans.
It was a brisk hour-long hike before I finally reached my entry point to the bears’ residence. I decided to go the more difficult of routes, which I knew was less guarded than some of the others. Of course, this required me to rock climb up a massive cliff, which would bring me to the back of the mansion, which faced the water. This section of the building was pretty much floor-to-ceiling windows. I’d have a clear view of how many bears were inhabiting the place. If I’d have taken the front entrance, which was where their cars were parked, I would have had to deal with a multitude of guards, and a ten-foot-tall electrified fence.
So cliff face it was. I climbed silently but with swift movements. It still took me at least twenty minutes to scale up, and as I reached the edge I popped the very top of my head up to see over. The immediate area looked clear, so in one rapid movement I launched myself up and over onto the flat ground. Without pause, I rolled myself across to take cover under a large fragrant rose bush.
Letting myself catch my breath, I slowly unhooked my backpack, going over my next moves in my head. My plan was somewhere in that fine line of genius or completely crazy. Removing the knife from my boot, I slipped it into my bag and then covered the entire pack with greenery. My bag was now camouflaged … and I was about to infiltrate the bear king’s Island mansion unarmed. I was hoping it was the right choice, because the reality was that if I was caught and it looked like I had any intention of harming the king’s people, I would be put to death straight away. If I were weaponless and simply looked like a spy or thief, I might keep my life. I think the council would appreciate my thinking on this – trying not to incite a war. I doubted Selene was so thoughtful.
Oh man, I missed Finn. He’d have been able to scout around for me. Despite his massive size, if he didn’t want to be seen, he wasn’t. Not able to stall any longer, I slowly inched my head up and surveyed the home. The estate was far back on the property, but from my current location I could see two men inside the living room. The double back doors were open, white gauze curtains flowing in the wind, letting the sea breeze into the house.
Were those the bear councilmen? My council had directed us here and said the mecca crystal was near one of these bears. So hopefully I’d luck out and find it on my first go. The backyard appeared to be empty, and there was a lot of foliage scattered about that should give me cover on my way to the mansion. Just as I was about to dash across, I saw Selene lying on the roof, inching forward in an army crawl. Dammit!
Wasting no time, I sprung from my bushy hideout and hit the ground, staying flat as I crawled my way beneath plants and trees. I wanted so badly to shed my clothes and shift to my wolf. To have her nose and her eyes … her instincts. But it would be much harder for me to retrieve the crystal, and shifting took time and would leave a magical trace that could easily be detected. I couldn’t risk it.
I crawled slowly along the perimeter, not caring that I was covered in sand and dirt and had a small cut on my elbow. My plan was to get to the side of the house and then sneak in through a window. I was pleased to find that the closer I got to the house, the more I felt … a tingle, a magical beacon. The mecca crystal, no matter how small, was calling to me.
I inched closer until I reached the side of the house, where there was a study visible through large double windows. I could see full bookshelves; the window was cracked open. That was my entrance. Rolling out from under the bushes, I popped up and was almost at the side when a voice sent my entire plan crashing down.
“Well, well, what is a wolf heir doing on the bear king’s property?” The voice was husky and deep and I was so royally screwed. Pun intended. I had been seen. If I ran, the guard would sound the alarm – I needed to talk my way out of this situation, running was not an option. Turning slowly, I opened my hands to show I wasn’t armed. He already knew I was an heir, he must have recognized my insignia on my shirt, which would hopefully buy me enough time to plead my case.