The Royal Jagger

As I told you before, the Agency was conducting experiments on paranormals before they confined us to the caves. I do not know what atrocities they have visited upon the other groups, only what has been done to the noblest race among the werewolves, the ancient race of the true werewolves; the Jaggers.

We were a target to the Agency from the start. All those experiments, all the missing people and the weird tests. I have recently learned the horrible truth about all of it, and I am about to pay the ultimate price for that knowledge. Only this child, the youngest offspring of myself and the mate I took after Markael’s death, will be immune to it, and she must remain apart from it.

The Agency has recently developed a serum and is even now enforcing its administration among our women. This insidious drug, being dubbed an inoculation against a strain of flu that supposedly affects our kind only, is being given to every female among us. Those who refuse it are being put to death. Likely by the time you learn of it, my dearest granddaughter, you will already have suffered its effects yourself.

They were too smart to simply sterilize us, it seems. They knew we would fight against that. But what they have done must be considered far, far worse. This drug doesn’t prevent flu, it prevents females. They are using it to suppress the chromosomes that allow us to birth daughters, and therefore believe it will eventually kill us off. Of course they are wrong.

It has always been considered taboo for us to seek mates outside of our own race, but mingling with the other types of werewolves has taught us that to do so could only make our race stronger than ever. And so it must be. The Jaggers have always sought out human females when our numbers were low in the past, and so must they do again.

My time grows short, they are coming for me. Raife must not be seen, they will know only of the two sons I have borne last month. You must not reveal the truth of Raife’s identity or the fact she was not injected. It is vitally important, for one day when we are ready, she may allow us to heal our people from this taint. Do not reveal her lack of alteration to any save Darius and Eric, who can be trusted to keep her safe. Do not let your father near her, for it is too uncertain what atrocities he himself might inflict on her, just as he has done to you.

Keep Raife safe for me, Marissa. I trust you to do the right thing. I’m sorry I will not get to see you again.

Marissa held little Raife closer to her heart and rocked her as she realized what must have happened next. Victoria would not have allowed anyone to inoculate her in such a ghastly way. She felt sick to her stomach as she looked down at her own arm and mourned the loss of her own daughters. Now, with the loss of her own mother, this little girl would be the only sort of daughter she was ever likely to have. They shared a sadness in that moment at their loss, but also a bond grew between them as they sat there sharing each others thoughts.

“I must find my uncles, little Raife,” Marissa whispered. “But I cannot possibly bring you into the formal caves. I’ll have to keep you hidden until we can think of what to do. I will take you to Gwen, the half-mage. She will know how to keep you safe.”

Raife smiled and nodded her approval of this plan, and Marissa held her close to her chest as they set off down the dark corridor. She hadn’t gone very many steps before she heard voices echoing through the caves behind her.

“I know the woman came this way. She must have left whatever she was carrying in here,” said a man’s voice.

“You know she held a child,” said another man. “There was no mistaking it. But we cannot know what gender that child was unless we find it.”

“You know the rumors, same as I,” said the first man. “A princess, so they say. And it’s our job to find her before they do. She can’t have gotten too far on her own, she’d still be too young even to crawl.”

“Unless she had help,” pointed out a third voice, that of a woman.

Marissa knew that voice. It was the voice of the Commander. If Commander Elsa was down in this cave, it must mean she knew how important the cargo actually had been. She must have come her all the way from Vail trying to stop Rowafa from rescuing Raife.

Silent as the night, Marissa hastened her steps down the hall and slipped into the small crevice that hid the entrance to the world of the Magicans—users of magic who had been deemed too dangerous to remain among the mortals above. The huge expanse of skyline was an illusion, of course, but one that seemed completely real. Right now there were stars and even a moon up above.

Marissa was running through what seemed an open field toward a cottage by a lake. She knew, of course, that they’d only traversed a short distance in reality, but in here it felt like a real mile.

She stepped inside the cottage door with some urgency. “Gwen, where are you? I need your help, my old friend.”

“Marissa? What is wrong, child?” she gasped.

Of course Marissa was hardly a child anymore. She’d reached physical maturity these past two years, but  at the age of twenty-seven, she was not considered old enough to mate, she was still thought to be a youngling by those who kept track of such things.

“I don’t have time to debate your choice of words yet again,” Marissa grumbled. “I’ve brought you my Aunt Raife to hide from the Agents. It is imperative that she lives, and remain undetected, while I go to my uncles to tell them of her plight. Can you help me?”

“Of course, of course!” she said, as if the question need not even have been asked. “I will transform her into a cat or something.”

“A cat?” Marissa hissed indignantly. “You’d change a werewolf princess into a cat?”