Chapter 8
Neratiti
A mysterious island off the shores of Australia
At least for the moment...
Dante Pontis paused to get his bearings as he materialized into the large circular chamber that was decorated in burgundy and gold. Through the open windows that spanned from the black marble floor to the gilded ceiling, he could see and hear the ocean on all sides of the room.
Savitar, their dubious and mysterious mediator, liked the water...
A lot.
The room was reminiscent of an ancient sultan's tent. It was lushly decorated, with an enormous round table in the center that had always made Dante wonder what the rest of the palace looked like. But no Were-Hunter had ever received an invitation to venture into the rest of the palace.
Their mediator seriously guarded his privacy. To the point of extreme paranoia.
The human saying that "curiosity killed the cat" actually came from the Arcadian panther who had once tried to sneak past the council's door to take a look around the palace.
Savitar had killed him on the spot.
As a point of interest, satisfaction didn't bring the cat back. There wasn't enough magic in the world to reanimate the big black, smoldering spot that had once been a living creature. That one incident had gotten Savitar's point across with panache. Don't screw with the big man.
He didn't really have a sense of humor.
For all his laid-back persona, Savitar could break medieval on your ass at a moment's notice. And since Dante had once lived in the Middle Ages, he understood that concept better than most.
Dante let out an aggravated breath as he heard the seagulls cawing outside. The summons to appear at the Omegrion couldn't have come at a better time... insert all intended sarcasm.
His brother Romeo had been down with a bad case of the flu for the last three days while the panther's cubs ran amok through Dante's house without their daddy there to corral them.
Dante's wife, Pandora, was about to drop an entire litter of panthers any second, and his other two brothers, Mike and Leo, had decided they could run his bar without him.
Yeah, he needed to get back home before they burned the place down or, worse, Pandora went into labor without him. In which case his pantherswan had promised to see him thoroughly gelded. He cupped himself at the mere thought. Knowing his spunky little pantherswan, it would be most painful indeed. And given the discomfort of her pregnancy with his cubs, she would thoroughly enjoy it.
He scanned the small crowd that was already gathered there for the meeting. Eight members, all of whom appeared as thrilled to be there as he was. The only ones here so far were all Katagaria. Not that that surprised him. The Arcadians tended to appear at the Omegrion together, as if they were afraid to face their animal cousins alone.
And well they should be. There wasn't a Katagaria family who didn't owe a blood debt to the Arcadians who loved to hunt and kill the animals.
It'd always amazed him that the Arcadian and Katagaria leaders or Regises of each clan could come and sit together without fighting. Not to say that there hadn't been outbursts in the past. But those transgressions were dealt with swiftly and painfully by the Omegrion's mediator.
Savitar didn't play. If anyone breached his rules, he quickly toasted them.
Literally.
And with great relish.
Some of Dante's ire faded as he saw Fury and Vane Kattalakis in one corner, talking to each other. Dante had met the wolves years ago, but what he found odd was that they were here together. The Omegrion was a meeting where only the Regis, or head, of each animal-were branch was sent to represent all of their species.
Only one Katagaria wolf should be present.
A fierce creature like Dante, Vane had long, dark brown hair that he wore loose around his shoulders.
Fury had his blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. Like Dante, Fury was dressed all in black, while Vane wore a pair of jeans with a white T-shirt and brown leather jacket.
"Wolves," Dante said in greeting as he neared them.
Vane shook his hand first, then Fury. Dante grinned as he noted Vane had a mating mark on his palm.
"Looks like we've both been tagged since last we met," Vane said.
"Yeah," Dante said with a laugh. "Hell hath frozen over, eh?"
Fury laughed. "You've no idea."
Dante eyed the two brothers. "So how is it that the Katagaria Lykos have two reps?"
Vane gave him a sinister smile. "They don't."
Dante frowned.
Fury's blue eyes danced with humor. "I'm the Katagaria Regis. Vane's the Arcadian Regis."
That news stunned Dante. It wasn't possible. Vane was Katagaria. "No way in hell."
Vane nodded. "As you said, hell hath frozen."
Dante shook his head. "Yeah, but how is that possible?"
"Birth defect," Vane explained. "I switched from being Katagaria to Arcadian at puberty, but I never told anyone until recently."
Dante went cold as one-half of Vane's face showed the stylized markings of an Arcadian Sentinel. They were the human soldiers sent out to murder their Katagaria cousins. As such, Dante despised them with every piece of his being.
"Easy, Dante," Fury said. "Vane grew up as one of us. As Katagaria. He's not like the other Sentinels, who kill without reason."
"You better not be," Dante said as his humor fled. "I might run a limani, but I have no love for a Sentinel."
"That makes two of us," Vane said as the markings faded. "Believe me, I've lost a lot in my life to insane Sentinels and I have not taken up their crusade. Peace?" He extended his hand to Dante.
Dante hesitated before he shook it. All things considered, he did respect the wolf. "Human, huh? I'm really sorry for you."
Vane gave him a wry grin. "Yeah, me, too."
His humor restored, Dante smiled at the wolf. "Man, I have to respect you, though. Two votes in the Omegrion. That's impressive. Maybe I'll luck out and one of my cubs might switch to Arcadian at puberty, too, and give me another vote."
Fury arched a brow at that. "Your mate's Arcadian? Does she know how you feel about her people?"
Dante sobered. "She knows. But the only thing that matters is how I feel about her, and that she never doubts for a minute."