The Royal Jagger

Chapter Three

They went to the mess hall for breakfast again. Marissa did her best to keep her eyes to herself when Peter strode into view. She was quite shocked when Eric held up a hand, calling him over to them.

“Good morning,” said Peter in a pleasant yet somewhat uncertain voice.

“Join us for breakfast, shifter,” he said gruffly. “Marissa is getting a neck ache from not letting herself look at you.”

Her face went up into flames. “I’m not,” she denied, but that just made it more obvious, and even Darius had to laugh about it.

“Well, I suppose if she’s going to look, we may as well keep them in sight,” Darius grumbled. “If you’re going to sit with us anyway, why don’t you tell us where you’re from and such?”

“I was raised as a member of the Crow nation,” he explained. “Many of my people are actually shifters, but because we were all on our reservations, nobody thought much of it. However, back in 1973, ten years after the main groups of paranormals were rounded up, the Agency began to investigate what they call the lesser-knowns. Many of my people were captured, but the Agency couldn’t decide where to house us. For twenty years now, they’ve kept all of us in Vail, Colorado. But I could not bear to stay there after recent events.”

“Please, Peter, can you tell us what happened there?” Marissa pleaded. “We know something about it, but very little. We know that my grandmother was killed.”

“At least fifty females banded together, and all of them were killed,” Peter said, patting her hand across the table in a consoling manner. “Queen Victoria was among them.”

A tear slid down Marissa’s cheek, but she said no more about it. Victoria’s memories could not help her with this loss, since they served only as a reminder that the woman to whom they belonged had been slaughtered.

“She died well, if it helps,” he said to the saddened group. “I tried to find out why the women would be killed for refusing a flu shot, but I could not.”

“This, too, is known to us,” said Eric bitterly. “Our women have all been altered. They can now only produce male children. It’s not known to any but we few, and it was what brought us here. But please, we must say no more about such things here.”

“Agreed,” Peter said. He was actually stunned, by the look of him. He reached over and squeezed Marissa’s hand again when her tears continued to fall. “All will be well, princess. You’ll see.”

She nodded, then blushed as he continued to hold her hand a moment longer. Darius pointedly passed him the plate of venison, bumping the arm he was using to do it. He took the hint as he took the plate.

“I would like to walk among the social caves again, uncle,” she said when she had finished her food.

“It’s not a place where a young woman should walk alone,” Peter told her. “Especially among people you do not know.”

“No one here would dare to harm her,” Darius protested.

“I will escort you, if you wish,” Peter said then.

Darius scowled, but he did not disallow it when Marissa nodded her agreement. He probably would have followed behind if Eric did not place a staying hand on his shoulder as Peter came around the table and offered Marissa his hand.

“I trust you will take good care of her,” he grumbled instead.

“Of course,” said Peter, nodding briefly towards both men.

“I’ll see you both later,” said Marissa. Neither of them dared to touch each other again until they were completely out of sight. As soon as they were alone in the corridor, however, that was a completely different matter.

Peter’s kiss was not the least bit tame as he pulled Marissa into his arms.

“They’re already in caves,” he said as he took her hand again.