Narcissus in Chains

She spoke in a voice that was hollow, hopeless. "I got worried."

I didn't need to see what was under the shawl to believe that she'd been tortured. I didn't need to see anything but her face.

"Can she sit down before she falls down?" Zeke asked.

I nodded a little too rapidly, realizing that I had been staring. "Please, sit down."

Gina looked at Bobby Lee, standing behind Zeke. "Have you told them?"

"I wanted you here to back up my story," Zeke said.

She nodded once, then moved to sit beside him on the couch. She sat close to him, almost touching. If he'd had anything to do with what had happened to her, I don't think she'd have been so cozy.

In fact she was so cozy that I was almost certain she knew Zeke. Knew him not just for Chimera's fun and games, but knew him before. How did one of Micah's cats end up friendly with Chimera's top goon?

I asked. "You two seem to know each other." Alright, maybe that wasn't a question, but it would do.

They exchanged a look, then Zeke turned to me. I wished that he was in human form. Even after years of dealing with lycanthropes, I still had trouble reading their expressions when they were in animal form. The fact that his eyes were human helped some, but you never realize how much of the expression isn't really the eyes but the facial movements around the eyes, until you don't have them as clues.

"Let me start by saying that Chimera wants you alive and well and in his care in less than two hours or he will start doing permanent damage to Micah and your leopard."

I felt my eyes go a little dead. "We have a deadline then," I said. "Talk faster."

"Shortest version that I know is this. Chimera has always been a harsh master, but never sadistic, until the last few weeks. He's unstable, and I believe he's going mad and will kill us all if he remains in charge."

"This is the short version?" Bobby Lee asked.

"I agree," I said, "speed it up."

"I want you to help me stage a palace revolt, Ms. Blake. Is that quick enough for you?"

"Maybe that was a little too quick," I said. "Why do you want to revolt, and why do you want my help?"

"I told you, I fear that Chimera will destroy us all. The only way to prevent that is to kill him."

Well, that was blunt. "So, why my help?"

"You have a certain reputation for deadly force."

"You talk like an English professor," I said, "or an expensive lawyer. Why not just kill him yourself?"

"The others that follow him, fear him, they would not trust that I alone could guarantee his death,"

"And I can?"

"You and your people, yes."

"My leopards are not going inside."

Nathaniel said, "Anita ..."

I shook my head. "No, I won't endanger the rest of you to save one of you."

"What kind of pard would we be if we allowed our Nimir-Ra to go into danger alone?"

"A pard that obeyed orders," I said.

He leaned back against the wall, but there was an unusually stubborn set to his face that said maybe, just maybe, he'd been picking up more than just weapons skill from hanging around with me. Was stubbor

"Not your leopards, but the wolves, and the rats."

"The rats aren't mine." And I'm not the wolves' lupa anymore.

"Rafael is already on his way here with some of our people," Bobby Lee said.

I frowned at him. "Well, nice you mentioned that."

He shrugged. If he was getting tired of pressing the gun into Zeke's back, it didn't show. "Rafael is my alpha, not you, ma'am."

"I understand that, but if we're going to get along, you still need to keep me informed. I've had enough surprises for one day."

"Amen to that," he said.

"Where are Micah and Cherry being held?" I asked.

Zeke shook his great wolfish head. "No, not until you agree to help us."

"Chimera wanted to blackmail me into being his sweetie, you want to blackmail me into helping you kill him. I don't see much difference."

"The only way to stop Chimera and those still loyal to him is their death. I propose that we pool our resources and accomplish that."

"You talk awful pretty for a goon."

"I am his goon because when he conquered my small pack of wolves, he forced me into this form and kept me in it. When he allowed me to try and change back, this was the best I could do."

I looked into those human eyes. "Only your eyes," I said.

"Only my eyes."

The eyes were usually one of the first things to go animal if you stayed in beast form too long at a time. His eyes being the only thing human was odd. But I didn't ask him to explain, because we were eating up our time and I wanted Micah and Cherry back.

"In this form," Zeke said, "I can be nothing else but a goon, an enforcer. I ca

I didn't try to argue that he was human. I let it go. "Let's cut to the chase. Bobby Lee, will Rafael help on this?"

"I think so. He's coming with enough soldiers to make a good show."

I looked at Bacchus. "Will the werehyenas join forces with their, what, oppressors? Will you guys help Zeke and his people?"

"Zeke always tried to save us pain. He always spoke for moderation." Bacchus nodded. "I think the others will agree to work with him, but whether they'll agree to let everyone live afterwards, that I can't promise."

"If we help you destroy him," Zeke said, "then you turn around and slaughter us, we have gained nothing."

In looking between Bacchus and Zeke I'd glanced back over the photos. I'd spent the last few minutes not thinking about them. I'd managed to concentrate on other things, but it was as if that one glance had torn through all the barriers that usually kept me from doing stupid shit. I stood up, abruptly enough that everyone looked at me.

"Would you kill Zeke?" I asked.

"No, but Marco, he has to die," Bacchus said.

"Why?" I asked.

"He and the snake men have to die," Bacchus said.

"Agreed," Zeke said. Then he looked up at me. "And I think I know a way to have the wolves involved."

"I'm listening."

"Chimera is wolf, hyena, leopard, lion, bear, and snake."

"He's behind the disappearances of the other alphas," I said.

Zeke nodded.

"Are they alive?"

"The lion and the dog are. Chimera hasn't been able to force them to change form yet. He never kills anyone unless he can break them first."

"Is Narcissus alive?" This from Bacchus.

"Yes," Zeke said. "Chimera has not been able to break him either."

"How will any of this interest the wolves?" I asked. I'd gone to stand on the other side of the kitchen doorway, opposite Bacchus. I couldn't see the pictures from there.

"Chimera's never been able to find a dominant animal group that was weak enough to be taken over by outsiders before, until he heard of your wolf pack."

I stood up straighter, pushing away from the wall. "What do you mean?"

"Jacob, Paris, and a few others are what's left of my pack. Chimera couldn't send me because my condition would raise questions."

"Are you saying that as soon as Jacob becomes Ulfric, he turns the pack over to Chimera?"

"That was the plan," Zeke said.

"And now?" I asked.

"Now either Jacob and the others agree to leave your pack where it is, or they die."

"You'd kill what's left of your own pack, just like that?" I said.

"They stopped being my pack a long time ago."

"So let me get this straight," Bobby Lee said, "you want the rats, the wolves, and the leopards to join forces with the hyenas and whatever people of yours will join you and destroy the rest."

"Yes," Zeke said.

"And if we don't?" Bobby Lee asked.

"You talk as if you have many choices here," Zeke said. "You do not. Chimera will do worse than kill your leopards. What he has allowed done to the hyenas is beyond any civilized tolerance. His sanity is slipping away, and there are those among his people that will do terrible things without a master to tell them no."