Free Her Warriors by Bianca D'Arc Page A

Geir, the pantera noir queen
has your allegiance but you fought with the selkies in the last
battle. Why?” Bettina asked shrewdly.
    “It was my choice and my honor. The seer
claimed that’s where I needed to be, but I would have watched over
Jacki and her brother, regardless. The moment I saw her, Jacki’s
spirit called to me. It was like a siren’s song in the back of my
mind. Irresistible and alluring. I needed to be by her side,” Geir
admitted. “My duty was to the Nyx, but I would have forsaken my
oath if I’d had to. I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth. I
had to be near you, Jacki.”
    “But you were so mad when I sealed you in
the dome with us,” Jacki said, bringing back the memory of that
last battle.
    “Mad at myself, mostly. I was fighting my
instincts. I wanted to stay with you, but I knew my duty demanded I
go help the Nyx. I thought you would be safely hidden without me,
so I was willing to go, but then you turned the tables on me and
sealed me in with you. It solved my problem because I had no
choice, but I felt guilty for being so relieved that I wouldn’t
have to leave your side—and ashamed that I would consider forsaking
my oath so easily.”
    “Mating goes above and beyond the oaths of
men,” Bettina reminded him. “Nothing can, or should, keep true
mates apart. That is our Goddess’s law. You need feel no shame,
Master Geir. Your actions were honorable.”
    “So you’re saying that we could both be
mates to Jacki? Like the Lords share their priestess mate?” Beau
asked the question that was hanging out there in the middle of the
room like the proverbial eight hundred pound gorilla.
    “Yes,” Bettina answered simply. “She will
need your support as she learns her way into her new role as my
successor. And if the day comes that she takes my place, she will
need you both more than ever.”
    “But you have no mate,” Jacki said, then
cringed, probably realizing it might be a sore subject.
    “I am not a shifter, dear. I did think I had
found my mate once, many years ago, but it was not meant to be. Our
love was forbidden and he…left. I have been as content as I can be
alone, but as I say, I’m not a shifter. The way I do this job will
differ from the way you’ll do it, I’m sure. As a selkie, you are
very magical indeed, but there are no shifters in this realm that
can fully match my power. With one mate, you would be good, but
with two strong Alphas backing you up, you will be much, much
better.” Bettina smiled. “If…you can figure out how to make this
work.”
    “I don’t even know where to start,” Jacki
admitted.
    “That should be obvious,” Bettina said, not
unkindly. “You are all shifters. You should start with your animal
sides. If they can’t get along, your human halves don’t stand a
chance.” Bettina’s musical laughter filled the room.
     
    That sage advice still ringing through his
mind, Geir went for a prowl around the property with Beau, in their
tiger forms an hour later. Geir had been wanting to check the
perimeter he’d scouted the previous day, but he had been
preoccupied with his guests until now.
    Beau was a soldier. He had already proven he
was as good as Geir in hand-to-hand combat. Geir was almost eager
to see how Beau did out in the field, using some of the other
skills Geir taught his students that he deemed necessary to be a
Royal Guard. Tracking and scouting were right up there at the top
of the list.
    The two tiger shifters prowled the wooded
perimeter of the land that had belonged to the Millers, and was now
Geir’s new domain. They went right up to the set of cabins the
Millers had kept for themselves in the real estate deal. Tad and
Mandy’s home, plus a cabin close to it that anyone in their family
could use. The deal had been written in such a way that Tad and
Mandy were precluded from selling their place to anyone other than
Geir or the Nyx. If they chose to sell, or if their children or
heirs chose to leave the