Therian Prize
Chapter One
Trepidation prickled the hairs on the back of Heather’s neck as Lexxie turned off the two-lane highway and onto a dirt road. The jeep dipped and swayed, jostling Heather nearly out of her seat.
“Where are we going?” She braced one hand against the dashboard and looked at her best friend. “I thought the party was at the Murphy place.”
Both of Lexxie’s hands grasped the steering wheel and she stared straight ahead. “With everything that’s gone on the past couple of weeks, your father thought it was time for a good old-fashioned Howl.”
Sleek blonde hair framed Lexxie’s oval face, and her makeup bordered on garish. With bright-red lips and retro eyeliner, she looked as if she were headed to a go-go bar, not an outdoor fur-fest.
Heather took a deep breath and looked around, trying to identify their location. A solid bank of trees lined the right side of the road, and a relatively flat field spread out into the distance on the other. They’d left Silverthorne forty-five minutes ago, which was really her only clue. This part of Colorado was covered with pine trees and rock-strewn mountains. There was nothing unique or distinctive about this road.
“I wasn’t in the mood for a dinner party,” she grumbled. “I sure as hell don’t want to participate in a Howl.”
Howls had been going on longer than Heather had been alive. Therian wolf-shifters might have chosen to blend with civilization but their animal natures still required an occasional romp. So packs gathered in forests or secluded fields, lit bonfires and went a little wild. They’d dance and drink and chase each other through the trees until the fire burned low and everyone was exhausted.
Ordinarily the opportunity to let off some steam would have appealed to Heather, but not tonight. Not with so much in her life still in turmoil. She was struggling to process the unexpected and senseless death of her oldest brother. Her middle brother had turned his back on the pack and joined the growing rebellion. And her youngest brother was critically ill.
“Bruce has only been dead for three weeks and Dad wants to celebrate? It’s disrespectful.” She closed her hands into fists until her nails bit into her palms. There had been no funeral for Bruce, no memorial service or wake, not even a moment of silence. The council had passed judgment, declaring him a traitor unworthy of life. And then her father stood by silently as the pack hunters carried out the sentence. “Turn around. I want to go home.”
“I can’t.” Lexxie finally looked at her and dread dropped into Heather’s stomach. “Your father said he’d send James Risdon after you if I didn’t deliver you on time. We both know James would enjoy that assignment a little too much.”
“I’m not afraid of James Risdon.” Despite her claim, a shiver slid down her spine. If anyone found out how much of her spirit was actually bravado, she’d be in serious trouble.
“You should be. He’s mean, influential and he wants you bad.”
“Bad-ly.” Lexxie shot her an annoyed look and Heather smiled. “Fine. I’ll drink a beer and roast a marshmallow but I’m not staying long. Everything is not okay and all of Dad’s denials will not make the problems go away.”
“He just wants you to put in an appearance for the sake of the pack.”
Heather shifted her gaze back out the window. “He wants a lot more than that and you know it.”
For once in her life, Lexxie didn’t argue.
The Therian nation, a large and well-organized group of shapeshifters, was on the brink of civil war and Blue River Pack, her father’s pack, was smack-dab in the middle of the conflict. There had always been tension between feline and canine networks but it had been centuries since those tensions escalated into all-out war.
The smoldering unrest flared into flames when Erin Lashton, a cougar-shifter and self-appointed Historian for the Therian nation, discovered there was concrete evidence indicating the legendary Omni Prime was real. Heather shook her head, still unsure if she believed what her father had told her. According to him, Erin identified a bloodline in which more than one animal nature could coexist. Two females, half sisters, had been located and one of the two had already been defined with multiple animal natures. Conveniently—at least for the cats—the sisters belonged to the most powerful feline network.
Erin’s discovery had intensified the discontent and resentment rippling through the other shifter clans. If the Omni Prime were real, most felt she should hold allegiance to the Therian nation at large rather than belonging to one specific clan. After all, the blood of cougar, tiger, wolf, raptor, bear and snow leopard shifters had been used to trigger her definition.