Free Claiming the Jackal by Seressia Glass Page B

front of Markus and Tia, ready and waiting for an order from his commander to spring into action. Fury burned in his eyes, fury and betrayal. Rana had no doubt that one word from Markus and Hector would go for her throat.
    “This is a dangerous mission you’re asking to undertake,” Markus told her, his voice calm, controlled. “If she discovers you’re working with us she could kill you, relative or no.”
    Rana had to swallow several times before she could speak. “I—I know, sir, but I have to do it. I’m the only one who can do it.”
    Hector snarled. “How can we be sure we can trust her? If she’s lied to us about this, what else has she lied to us about?”
    “I’ve never lied.” She stared at Hector, silently pleading with him to understand. “Everything I’ve said and done has been my truth. I’ve never lied to any of you about anything. I swear.”
    “How can we take the word of an Isis witch related to our clan’s greatest enemy?”
    Her heart aching, Rana knelt on the carpet. Keeping eye contact with Hector and the others, she slowly reached for the ceremonial dagger at her belt, then placed it before her on the carpet. “I will swear an oath of fealty to you and your clan. I will swear using the power of my Voice so that I am bound to harm no jackal, ever. Once Amansuanan is defeated you can choose to release me from my oath or not, and I will leave the clan.”
    Tears sprang to her eyes at the thought of leaving. She didn’t want to go, but she knew that whether or not she defeated Amansuanan, she no longer had a place with the Children of Anubis. It didn’t sway her from her path.
    “Please let me do this. What Amansuanan did to your foster father and Tia’s great-grandparents was wrong. What she continues to do to the Children of Anubis is wrong. She has to be stopped. I have to stop her.”
    “Do you think you can?”
    “I don’t know.” She swallowed, knotted her hands into her skirts. “She’s had centuries of manipulating the Lost Ones and twisting her magic. In a direct confrontation I’ll probably lose. Still, I know that I have to try.”
    Markus studied her, his expression grave. “Stand up, Rana.”
    She did, and so did Hector, ready to block any move she made. Though she tried to ignore him, his rage and her heart made it impossible.
    Markus rose, too. “We will work together on this, starting immediately. There is no need to pledge an oath to the clan.” Hector growled a protest, which his commander ignored. “Hector will lead the missions that will support your search for Amansuanan’s lair. When you identify it or find Derek, our missing clan brother, you will draw back. No one moves until I give the order. Understood?”
    Hector nodded when she did. “Dismissed.”
    Hector pointed to the door. “You need to change into something a little less obvious.”
    “Hector...”
    He stopped, but didn’t look at her. “I have nothing to say to you unless it concerns the mission, Priestess.”
    She flinched. “I’m still the person I was yesterday. Still the same person I was when you met me.”
    He laughed, a dry, humorless sound. “And who is that? I sure as hell don’t know. Do you?”
    Yes, she knew. She was a healer, a woman who’d fallen in love with a jackal who hated who and what she was. Now she wondered if she could add fool to her description.

Chapter Nine
    It took five days to find Amansuanan’s lair. Five days of barely eating, barely sleeping. Five days of being shunned by everyone except for Tia, even the other priestesses. Five days of cutting herself with a ceremonial dagger and using a blood spell to lock on to her mother and grandmother. Five days of being cold inside, slowly dying from a broken heart.
    Markus regarded her as one of the other jackals affixed a communication device under her shirt. “You know what you have to do?”
    She nodded, staring at nothing. “Keep her talking so you and your men can get into position. Attack when you