Triple Dog Dare

Chapter Fifteen

Daniel looked up at the sound of the knock on his door. “Pet, is everything ready?” he called out.

He heard her reply from the kitchen. “Yes, Sir. I’m ready.”

“Good girl.” He walked to the front door and answered it. Three men stood there, the first nearly seven feet tall, broad-shouldered, with jet-black hair and darkly tanned skin. His golden eyes peered down at Daniel.

Daniel stuck out his hand. “Ortega Montalvo?”

The man slowly smiled and engulfed Daniel’s hand with his huge one. “Daniel Blackestone?” His accented English richly rolled from his mouth.

“Please, come in,” Daniel said.

The jaguar glided in, followed by his two stony-faced men. “These are my brothers, Ricardo and Juan,” he said. Each man offered Daniel a brief smile as they shook hands with him before their faces returned to their previous hard expressions. While Ortega was the tallest, the other two brothers, who strongly resembled their older brother, were nearly as large. They all wore neatly pressed slacks and spotless, button-up, long-sleeved shirts that accentuated their lithe muscles.

Once the four men were seated in the living room, and Callie was introduced to them and had brought them all drinks and appetizers, Daniel didn’t waste any more time. “The Clan Council meeting is tomorrow. I understand you have a vested interest in being there.”

Ortega nodded. “I do. I have talked with Jocko, and he assures me your view on the Abernathys is identical to ours. I do understand your position and how you must…as you say, keep appearances. Protocols.”

Daniel nodded. “Glad we’re on the same page. I would like to propose a formal partnership.” He detailed what had happened with the dragons and cockatrice, as well as Abernathy’s suspected involvement in some of it, but left out the parts about the Tablet. “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. I’m hoping I can rule against Abernathy without any problem. But if I have to rule in his favor on one or both of those counts—”

“We will be more than happy to step in and assist, as it were.” Ortega smiled, exposing a row of white, even teeth. If he was this terrifying as a human, Daniel imagined he could induce britches-shitting horror in a person when he was shifted. “That way, your Clan is off the hook.”

“Exactly. In return, we will include you in everything regarding the cockatrice. And lend you any help you need in your territory.”

Ortega nodded after glancing at his brothers. He picked at the crease in his slacks before looking back up at Daniel. “It is true what we’ve heard about the Tablet of Trammel?”

Daniel glanced at Callie before returning his attention to the jaguar. “I don’t know. What have you heard about it?”

He settled back in his chair, his massive arms crossed over his chest. “That the cockatrice want it. That they, possibly working in conjunction with the Abernathys, are the ones who killed Bertholde? Bertholde was a great friend to our Clan. She was well loved by many of our kind.” His expression darkened. “We take it personally that she was killed.”

Daniel glanced at Callie again. She sent him a long, single blink. Their cue that he could confide in the jaguar.

He returned his attention to Ortega. “Needless to say, this information does not leave this room.”

Ortega looked to each of his brothers in turn, who nodded. Then back to Daniel. “Yes. Absolutely. You have our word.”

Daniel went back and amended his earlier story to Ortega. This time when he finished, the jaguar silently sat for a long time, his gaze on the floor, his jaw working for several minutes. Eventually, he looked back up at Daniel. “You are a keeper of the Tablet again, aren’t you?”

Daniel nodded.

Ortega slowly nodded. “My grandfather was killed by the cockatrice. Fucking bastards. He went with goodwill to talk with them at their request. To negotiate. They had declared a truce. They murdered him and left his body in the middle of a muddy road like he was trash. They shot him in the back. That was ninety-six years ago, and we never caught the bastards.”

“My parents were killed by them. Believe me, I understand your pain.”

Ortega briskly nodded. “I am sick of these…things. Wolves, dragons, bears, many cats. All the other races. Even the vampires, for crying out loud, as you say in English. For eons we have coexisted, mostly with no ill will. Or, at least, live and let live. With extremely few exceptions. We all have in common that we don’t wish our secrets to get out and we leave each other alone. These cockatrice bastards have no honor. They kill women and children without remorse. They are filth.”

“Preaching to the choir, mister,” Daniel said.

“This Abernathy. He is not much better than the cockatrice.”

“Agreed.”

Ortega nodded. “You have our support and brotherhood.” He extended a meaty hand to Daniel, who shook with him. “Tell us what you would like us to do tomorrow.”

Daniel stood with a smile. “Let’s talk about it while we eat. Callie’s laid out a huge spread. I hope you like turkey.”

Ortega and his brothers all stood. He smiled. “It smells wonderful. My stomach has been grumbling since I walked in the door.”

After dinner, they reconvened in the living room. Ricardo and Juan had opened up between the huge dinner and three bottles of Riesling shared between them. Daniel found them chatty, funny, and best of all, as detesting of the cockatrice and the Abernathys as their older brother.

“I suppose killing this man is not a viable option?” Ortega asked.

Daniel laughed. “He’d be dead already if it were.”

“That’s for sure,” Callie snarked from where she was perched on the arm of Daniel’s chair.

“I am not in the loop, as you say, for all things in this country. I do, however, hear a lot of rumors at Gatherings and from cousins and other families. Rodolfo Abernathy has a bad reputation among many. My experience with him was very typical. Explain to me why, exactly, killing him is not an option, please.”

Daniel’s smile held little humor. “Believe me, it has nothing to do with desire. But we have protocols to follow. We can’t have him end up dead in our Clan compound after we’ve had a go-round with him.”

“But if he were to end up dead some other time and place?”

“We certainly wouldn’t miss him. I don’t want our Clan involved in those kinds of rumors though. The last thing I want is to develop that kind of reputation. Our Clan has done a lot over the past couple of centuries to help maintain peace between not only our Clan and race, but other Clans and other shifter races. I personally have friends who are dragons, bears, and cougars, not just wolves.”

Ortega templed his fingers in front of him in contemplation. “But,” he slowly said, “no one would mourn Abernathy’s passing?”

“No. Especially if it looked like an unfortunate accident,” Daniel said.

Ortega nodded. “Good.” He smiled again. “Tomorrow should be interesting.”