Her Warriors Read online

  In the old days, these sorts of challenges were often done in the nude, but modern fabrics had allowed shifters at least some protection for their private parts when fighting on two legs. Their human skin was their most vulnerable form, and it was smart to protect the most vulnerable areas a little when they could.

  “Have you seen her yet today?” Beau asked, his voice low, laced with rage as he stalked forward.

  “No. She and the High Priestess were gone when I woke,” Geir answered.

  “Then I guess we do this. I won’t give up my claim to her,” Beau nearly growled the words, and Geir felt the same way.

  Geir studied his opponent. Beau’s tiger was much closer to the surface than most. It would lend him its great strength even while in human form. This would be quite a battle.

  Geir wasn’t so conceited as to think that merely because he had earned the title of Master, that he could not be defeated. It was a teaching of his order that there was always someone or something cleverer than yourself. Conceit was the predecessor to defeat.

  “I won’t give her up either,” Geir said firmly, standing opposite Beau on the matted floor.

  The barn was huge and had been specially designed with a large, open, center area that was lined with mats, for just this purpose. A class of twenty would fit in the space comfortably. It would be more than adequate for a battle between two warriors.

  There was no order to begin. There was no ritual bow. No words of commencement.

  No, this was a battle of the oldest and most sacred kind. There were no real rules, except that each fighter follow his heart. If his heart demanded he fight for his mate, then he would do so to the best of his ability, using all his gifts and skills. If, however, his heart wasn’t really interested in the woman in question, such a man would have a duty to withdraw.

  Mating wasn’t a game. It was a calling. A special bond gifted by the Goddess. One did not—and should not—take it lightly. It was serious business, with serious consequences for those who would meddle with fate.

  Beau charged and Geir sidestepped, using Beau’s momentum against him in a classic move. Had Beau been overcome by his baser instincts into making such a rookie move, or was he playing some deeper game? Was he testing Geir’s instincts and reaction times? Or was he trying to lull Geir into overconfidence?

  Geir was no green recruit to fall for such a trick. Instead of waiting to see what Beau would pull next, Geir went on the offensive. He pushed Beau back, and back again, fists and feet flying in an acrobatic display. He threw some of his best moves at him, but Beau countered or avoided every one. Geir was impressed, but he hadn’t shown Beau his full bag of tricks yet. Far from it.

  The battle progressed, each man testing the other and getting in a few blows here and there. The surprising result, as the battle raged between them, was that they were pretty evenly matched. Geir was impressed again and again by Beau’s creative moves and counterstrikes. He had a totally unique style that meshed well with Geir’s own. If this situation weren’t so serious, Geir would have wanted to pause and examine some of the lightning fast punches and kicks that came at him in innovative ways.

  As it was, Geir was put through his paces, doing his best to keep from being clobbered or clawed. Yes, the claws had come out and soon, they would both test the limits of their endurance by shifting—or rather, half-shifting—into the more deadly battle form. Only the most skilled and powerful of warriors could hold the half-shift for longer than a few moments.

  They had danced around each other enough. Geir called on his inner tiger and let the beast out just enough to gain several inches in height, sprout fur and claws and gain the strength of the tiger on top of his human strength. Battle form amplified power, allowing both creatures that shared the same soul to have access to the body at one time. It was painful, but it was also incredibly useful.

  Both Geir and Beau were Alpha cats with no Clan of their own. They were loners. Members of a Clan through swearing fealty to another species’ leader. They weren’t leaders of their own Clans or Packs. They ran alone, though they had formed families of a sort with their brother soldiers. Geir felt like the brother or father figure, in some cases, to all those he had trained over the years. Beau undoubtedly had his own core group of friends he considered brothers and sisters. He most likely had a family somewhere. A mother, father…maybe some siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins.

  All of those family—and pseudo-family—ties made one stronger. It cemented one’s place in the hierarchy. It gave one status and comfort. It gave one purpose in life.

  Alphas were the strongest of shifters, born to lead in whatever capacity fate chose for them. Some led Clans. Some led family units. Some led armies. And some led only themselves.

  Geir was tired of being a loner. He was just tired of being alone. Period. He wanted a mate—this mate, the Mother of All had put in his path—more than anything in the world. He used that desire to help him hold his battle form longer than he had ever held it before.

  Geir was a strong Alpha at the best of times, and he often trained his students using the battle form. He could hold it longer than any of those he had ever trained. But Beau was giving him a run for his money. Beau matched him. Step for step. Swipe for swipe. Claws clashed and slashed. Fur flew and blood spilled. And still they battled on…

  They were both weakening, but stubbornly holding on. The first to lose the battle form would lose the girl, and Geir was very much afraid that Beau would not give in. Geir matched him, but he was starting to feel the strain in every fiber of his being. It wouldn’t be long now before one of them struck a lucky blow that would kill.

  Geir had never wanted it to go that far. In ancient times, and in less civilized areas of the world, mate challenges still ended in death, but it didn’t have to be that way. One could win without killing the other. Geir had wanted a clean fight. One that didn’t end in utter destruction, but there seemed no way around it now. They were too evenly matched. One would have to fall—and fall hard. Bad as he felt about it, no way was Geir going to let himself be the one to fail. This was too important. Jacki was too important. She was…everything.

  “Stop!” A feminine voice filled with power sliced through the dojo only a split second before what felt like a lightning bolt crackled between Geir and Beau, knocking them both backward into the air, landing on their asses on either side of the dojo.

  They both reverted to human form, bloody, but neither one of them beaten. They both looked at the women who had come in while they were fighting. Bettina was moving briskly forward while Jacki held back, watching with tears streaking down her face. Geir’s heart clenched. He hadn’t wanted to make her cry. He had never wanted that.

  “I’m sorry, Jacki,” he whispered, but she heard him. She looked at him and the tears kept falling silently down her beautiful face.

  “Have you both satisfied yourselves that you are evenly matched?” Bettina asked in a stern voice. “I know you needed to do this, but really, couldn’t you have figured it out a little sooner? You’re both a bloody mess.” She griped as she looked down at them. “Your challenge has ended in a draw. All fighting between you will cease. You will clean yourselves up and meet us back at the house in a half hour. Any shenanigans and I will personally kick your ass. Understood?”

  She shook her finger at them both like some kind of school teacher, but Geir nodded and he saw Beau do the same. Nobody—not even two badass Alpha warriors—messed with the High Priestess.

  Chapter Five

  Bettina took Jacki’s arm and pulled her along as she left the dojo. Geir wanted to talk to Jacki. To touch her and apologize for making her cry. He wanted to vow his undying love to her, but the priestess was taking her away.

  Geir pushed to his feet, one goal in mind. He had to get cleaned up and go see Jacki. She needed him and he was messing about with Beau. His tiger was done with the fight. It had lost interest in pummeling Beau, which was odd in the extreme, if he stopped to think about it.
r />   Geir wondered if Beau’s famously bad temper had cooled. He looked cautiously at the other tiger shifter. Beau was pushing himself up off the mats, looking to be in as much pain as Geir was. Good. Geir didn’t want to be the only one suffering. They had both beaten the shit out of each other. There was enough pain to go around.

  “Still feel like killing me?” Geir asked tentatively as he stood facing his former opponent.

  “Nah. I never wanted you dead, G. Just out of the way,” Beau answered in a surprisingly calm voice. “Even my tiger doesn’t want to see any more of your blood. That’s a first.”

  “I know what you mean.” Geir led Beau toward the front of the dojo where the locker rooms were located. “That has got to mean something, but I can’t figure out what.”

  “Me neither.” Beau scratched his head with a bloody hand. “But I bet the High Priestess knows. She’s been messing with us since she got here.”

  “Agreed.”

  They hit the locker room, showering the blood off before each of them did a quick shift to full tiger form and then back again. Sometimes it helped heal minor wounds and speed healing of more…interesting ones as well. Nothing either of them had dished out to the other was too bad. It was as if they’d been going through the motions, testing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, neither really wanting to kill the other.

  Within the specified half hour, they presented themselves in the main house, only a little banged up from their endeavors. Jacki was pale and silent at Bettina’s side. The High Priestess looked at them with a measuring gaze.

  “I know all three of you are confused,” she began. “Each of you men think that Jacki is your mate.”

  “I know she is,” Beau declared loudly. Geir wanted to speak too, but the High Priestess held up both her hands, palms outward, quieting them.

  “I don’t doubt your claims. Both of your claims,” she emphasized. “Have either of you bothered to consider how Jacki may feel?”

  Beau looked pained while Geir just felt his heart sink. “I—” he started, then tried again. “I wondered if maybe it was different for her kind. I don’t know much about selkies or how they mate. Though it pains me, I thought maybe she didn’t feel the same.”

  “Oh, no,” Jacki denied quickly in a raspy tone. “I never wanted to make you feel that way, Geir. Or you, Beau. I’m just…” She looked at Bettina. “I’m really confused. How can you both be my mate?”

  “How can they not?” Bettina asked rhetorically, then smiled. “Jacki, you are going to be a priestess. Surely you must realize there is some precedent for a triad formed by two shifter males and a priestess.”

  “But we’re not identical twins, or Lords,” Beau pointed out unnecessarily.

  “And I’m not Allie, destined to help her twin mates rule,” Jacki added.

  “Of course not, but Jacki, you will be in charge of something very important, if not rule, per se. After me, you will be the High Priestess.”

  “Only if you fall, you said,” Jacki protested.

  “Or if I retire,” Bettina added with a benevolent nod of her head. “I’ve been High Priestess for a very long time. Even I might deserve a rest from my toils once this crisis ends. Don’t you think?”

  “It’s not what I think that matters,” Jacki answered, already showing the wisdom of a priestess, in Geir’s view. “It’s what the Lady asks of you and what you’re willing to give.”

  Bettina nodded with a kind look on her face. “You’re so right, my dear. And I have always given Her my all. But it’s clear to me that even I may not live forever. Or work forever. There must be a successor, and the Mother of All has led me to you. Is it no wonder she wants you to have a strong and loyal support system should you need to fill my shoes?” She turned her gaze on the men. “And you two… You have both allied yourselves with Clans not of your species. Beau was drawn to the Kinkaids—one of the only tigers in their ranks. Why, Beau? What drew you there?”

  Beau’s face flushed, but he seemed resigned when he answered. “Jacki did.”

  “I did?” Jacki seemed truly surprised and very intrigued.

  Beau nodded. “I saw you, and I knew I wanted to be near you. I thought at first it was just the magic of the selkies that attracted me, but I came to really care for your family. I would adopt Tom as my own brother, if I could. And I have watched you for a long time, wondering if maybe you were meant for me. I never had the guts to find out until now. You seemed so far above me… I’m just a simple soldier. You’ll always be too good for me, Jacki, but I can’t let you go. I can’t give up the chance for happiness. I’ll do everything I can to make you happy for the rest of your life, if you’ll only be mine. I’ve loved you for a long time.”

  There was little doubt that Beau was embarrassed to have to declare himself in front of an audience, but Geir admired his courage in doing so. It was tough to hear that Beau had the prior claim on Jacki, having seen her first. But Geir wouldn’t back down either. If what the High Priestess was saying held any merit, perhaps neither of them would have to back down. His tiger was already considering it. He could feel the cat watching and waiting to be consulted for its opinion.

  “Master Geir, the pantera noir queen has your allegiance but you fought with the selkies in the last battle. Why?” Bettina asked shrewdly.

  “It was my choice and my honor. The seer claimed that’s where I needed to be, but I would have watched over Jacki and her brother, regardless. The moment I saw her, Jacki’s spirit called to me. It was like a siren’s song in the back of my mind. Irresistible and alluring. I needed to be by her side,” Geir admitted. “My duty was to the Nyx, but I would have forsaken my oath if I’d had to. I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth. I had to be near you, Jacki.”

  “But you were so mad when I sealed you in the dome with us,” Jacki said, bringing back the memory of that last battle.

  “Mad at myself, mostly. I was fighting my instincts. I wanted to stay with you, but I knew my duty demanded I go help the Nyx. I thought you would be safely hidden without me, so I was willing to go, but then you turned the tables on me and sealed me in with you. It solved my problem because I had no choice, but I felt guilty for being so relieved that I wouldn’t have to leave your side—and ashamed that I would consider forsaking my oath so easily.”

  “Mating goes above and beyond the oaths of men,” Bettina reminded him. “Nothing can, or should, keep true mates apart. That is our Goddess’s law. You need feel no shame, Master Geir. Your actions were honorable.”

  “So you’re saying that we could both be mates to Jacki? Like the Lords share their priestess mate?” Beau asked the question that was hanging out there in the middle of the room like the proverbial eight hundred pound gorilla.

  “Yes,” Bettina answered simply. “She will need your support as she learns her way into her new role as my successor. And if the day comes that she takes my place, she will need you both more than ever.”

  “But you have no mate,” Jacki said, then cringed, probably realizing it might be a sore subject.

  “I am not a shifter, dear. I did think I had found my mate once, many years ago, but it was not meant to be. Our love was forbidden and he…left. I have been as content as I can be alone, but as I say, I’m not a shifter. The way I do this job will differ from the way you’ll do it, I’m sure. As a selkie, you are very magical indeed, but there are no shifters in this realm that can fully match my power. With one mate, you would be good, but with two strong Alphas backing you up, you will be much, much better.” Bettina smiled. “If…you can figure out how to make this work.”

  “I don’t even know where to start,” Jacki admitted.

  “That should be obvious,” Bettina said, not unkindly. “You are all shifters. You should start with your animal sides. If they can’t get along, your human halves don’t stand a chance.” Bettina’s musical laughter filled the room.

  That sage advice still ringing through his mind, Geir went for a prowl around the propert
y with Beau, in their tiger forms an hour later. Geir had been wanting to check the perimeter he’d scouted the previous day, but he had been preoccupied with his guests until now.

  Beau was a soldier. He had already proven he was as good as Geir in hand-to-hand combat. Geir was almost eager to see how Beau did out in the field, using some of the other skills Geir taught his students that he deemed necessary to be a Royal Guard. Tracking and scouting were right up there at the top of the list.

  The two tiger shifters prowled the wooded perimeter of the land that had belonged to the Millers, and was now Geir’s new domain. They went right up to the set of cabins the Millers had kept for themselves in the real estate deal. Tad and Mandy’s home, plus a cabin close to it that anyone in their family could use. The deal had been written in such a way that Tad and Mandy were precluded from selling their place to anyone other than Geir or the Nyx. If they chose to sell, or if their children or heirs chose to leave the mountain for good, their land would have to be reunited with the larger parcel the Millers had sold to Geir.

  It was a friendly arrangement. Geir was content to have Millers and their kin on the land, but no strangers, and they had supported his idea to include that provision in the contract. As it was, Tad and Mandy had volunteered to be responsible for their part of the perimeter, which was low on the mountain, right up against a public road. But they also had made it clear that Geir was welcome to prowl there and send his scouts along the perimeter to check for breaches.

  The Millers had a cub to protect, and they welcomed Geir and his students to help keep them all safe. By the same token, they didn’t want to be the loose link in the chain that protected the Nyx. There was a long tradition of being Royal Guards in the Miller family, though they had always served the tiger monarchs. Still, they understood the value of the oaths Royal Guards—even the trainees—took, and the importance of dealing with anyone who would try to interfere with shifter monarchs in this troubled time.