TWO

It was until she woke that Shira realized she had slept off. It was evening now, the rays of the setting sun stealing into the carriage through the slightly parted curtains. Curtains! Shira wondered why the rogues had come with a curtained carriage, had they been planning to kidnap her all along.

   She was alone in the carriage, but she could still not shake off the feeling that she was being watched, that there was a presence with her. What did the leader of the rogues want with her, and why was he taking her.

   She had a strange feeling that this was some kind of test the moon goddess tried her with. Perhaps the villainous rogue sought to give her reasons to rebell against her one true mate, and the moon goddess allowed him for a season to test the power of her resolve, but she was going to remain loyal to her mate till the end -- surely, that must prove a very easy task.

   She remembered a remark her mother once made, that she forgave too easily. Her mother had told her a tale of a very villainous lord, and she had flared up in her characteristic hot temper, but when her mother had reached the ending of the story where the villian had gotten what he deserved, she had found herself crying, begging her mother to stop ... could not the man be forgiven his crimes. 

She had not understood her mother then, but now she saw the danger in extending her forgiving nature to the evil werewolf rogue who had kidnapped her.

   All she needed to do, was to focus her attention on how much she loved her mate Farok, and how much she hated her kidnapper.

   At last, the carriage stopped, and Shira found herself curious about where they were. She did not have to wonder for long, because the doors were thrown open, and a male offered his hand to help her down. She ignored it.

   'If you treat me like a free lady, then I must let you know that I am here against my will and wish to be taken back from whence you brought me immediately.'

  The male simply shrugged and turned around. 'If it is your wish to be treated like a captive, you only have to say the word -- to the Shark, not to me. He gives all the orders around here.

   The werewolf had turned and was with the rest of the rogues who had travelled alongside her towards what looked like a very expensive inn. Shira suddenly wondered why she followed him. Here she was with her hands unbound, out in the open without a single blindfold on her eyes, what was to stop her from escaping --

   'Don't even think about it.' The werewolf who had offered to help her down from the carriage earlier said over his shoulder, as though reading her mind. 'This is werewolf territory Princess, and Renak is nothing like your alpha's Walik. Here, the werewolves are as uncivilized as a pack of wolves, they use humans for sport.'

   'If they were to know I am the mate of Farok, surely --'

   He whirled around. 'Did they not teach you any history? Renak is no ally of Walik. With that information, they would not kill you for sport, they'd kill you for vengeance.'

   Shira fell silent as the man turned around again and continued to the inn. This time, she followed hard after him.

   If only she could think! 

   She tried to force her mind to focus on the issue at hand, on a way out, but her mind had no focus. For eighteen years, she had waited, eighteen years, she had trained -- all her life. She had had to content herself with scraps of gossip gleaned here and there from servants and a few of the soldiers who dared loosen their tongue around her, and from her siblings. Everyone had called her lucky, the women had said he was known to be handsome and highly favored by all females, both werewolf and human alike. They had not seen him for themselves, but according to them, his reputation preceded him. She too had begun to put together an image of her own in her mind, for of cause, she needed a face to feed the undying devotion in her heart.

   Tales of his very exquisite muscles had been offered by her father's own soldiers, they had all been in awe. She had formed in her mind, a picture of how his lips should look like from what she had heard at the dressmaker's store. Even her own personal maid seemed to know more about her mate than she did, according to the girl, Farok had the most amazing silver-gray eyes anyone had ever seen -- this she had heard from her friend who was another lady's personal maid, this friend had heard it from her mistress who claimed to have heard it rumoured among the ton.

   Shira had finally been set to meet Farok face to face for the first time in her life, to tell him of how much she had trained to please him, regall him with tales spoken fluently in the five languages of Valkyr, tease him with the art Mianna had taught. .. and all this had been twarted because a rogue had set his eyes on her! blast him to the seven blazes of hell! Some part of her mind reminded her that she may not have attracted the Shark's attention had she overcome her temper and acted with more sense. She chose to ignore that part of her mind 

   The Shark. 'to win an opponent, you must understand that that opponent is your rival and not your enemy, only then can you begin to think logically,' her battle instructor had told her, and now, Shira tried to stop thinking of the Shark as her enemy, to think of him as a rival.

   A rival was one who wanted the same thing with her. She wondered what it was the Shark could possibly want that she had -- or wanted. For his men to feel at home at Renak, they were probably all Renaki, what could a Renaki werewolf possibly want from a Tynek human girl. She blushed remembering the one thing Mianna had said no man could deny wanting from a woman. Was that why he kept her? To torture Farok with the knowledge that his enemy had bedded his mate -- or perhaps, he sought only to fill her head with the absurd notions that she was anything more than the mate of the alpha Farok. She suddenly thought it would not be very wise to stop thinking of him as her enemy. She could not afford to let down her guard.

The inn was even more impressive on the inside than it was outside, Shira thought she could detect humans, werewolves and shapeshifters within, but she was too tired to trust her own judgement. Perhaps they were all werewolves, and those she thought to be humans or shapeshifters were simply tired or sick werewolves.

   Shira found they had to give information of who they were at the entrance of the building before they were allowed in. She had ground her teeth as the rogues introduced themselves as diplomats. They villians could not survive a lesson in diplomacy even if their lives depended on it, she was sure. She tried to take in the entire surroundings as she was led through winding corridors, she was going to have to escape very soon, and she did not want to loose her way.

  Finally at the last corridor -- for Shira could not see any outlet into another one, she was led down, past several dozen rooms, she was still trying to keep track when the male suddenly opened the door.

  'This is your room. The Shark asked me to let you know he would be having dinner with you very soon. A bath would be brought in for you, do rest and freshen up a little, he would be with you soon.'

   It was his audacity, Shira thought. That he could just lead her to a room, inform her of arrangements for a bath, and so graciously tell her that his Lord, the rogue, Shark was to eat dinner with her later on, as though they were polite acquaintances, as though she had not been brought there against her will.

  She lifted her chin. 'Tell your lord, the Shark that I said he can go to hell.'

  The man shrugged and turned to go, but then she remembered what he had said about the Renaki killing humans for sport, and hating the Walikans, she too had heard something of it during her instructions on diplomacy. She told herself she was brave, not frightened of anything -- but, the rogues who had kidnapped her did not seem like they would harm her -- physically, her sword had been taken away from her, and she did not look forward to facing off any barbaric Renaki without a weapon.

   'Wait!' The plea escaped her throat before she could check it, and when it was already out, she stood then watching her captor with fearful wide eyes, unwilling to shame herself further, and yet undeniably frightened of being left alone.

   He seemed to understand, because he turned around and walked a few paces to meet her. "This is the royal choice inn, it's neutral ground. I'm sure you would have noticed a few humans on our way up. Here no one gets molested or arrested, but if it makes you feel safer, you may lock the door. There is a key within."

   Shira took a calming breath as she watched him leave. Now that she was no longer so frightened, she felt her old companion return, anger. Of cause, this had to be some kind of safe zone, for the rogues to feel so bold. Surely, they were too cowardly to seek lodgings elsewhere, or they could have been spotted and arrested for their thiefing ways. And they had dared to introduce themselves as diplomats!

   Somewhere along the line, they had all taken off their black masks, and at first Shira had been frightened. 'A masked rogue would only show you his face when he intends to kill you.' Her Father had once said in one of the few father - daughter moments they had shared. These were several rogues, but she soon overcame her fear. She was sure that even if they planned to kill her, it would not be anytime soon, and she was going to escape, she would very well be in Farok's arms before they even sort to carry out their threats.

   She closed the door, and told herself she was being smart and not a coward when she locked it, hiding away the key beneath her petticoat. Now she only needed to find something, anything she could use as a weapon.

   The entire room did not look anything like an official lodging quarters for diplomats. It looked more like what she expected to see in a brothel, one of those pleasure houses her love teacher had told her men liked to spend their time in.

   The canopy bed was large, extra large, and it's sheets were a pure white, draped with scarlet quilts. There was a mirror hanging over the bed, and on the wall opposite was a man and a beautiful brunette locked in an embarrassing embrace. They were both naked, and they were on a bed that looked very similar to the one currently in the room.

   Shira wondered what it would feel like to be locked in such passionate embrace with a male -- with her mate, she corrected herself immediately, but yet, it was the memory of the rogues kisses that teased at her heart. Damn the filty rogue! Damn him to pieces!

   A new thought occured to her, and a shiver of fear ran through her bones. What if she had been brought here so that the rogue Shark could take his pleasure on her, and after that, to kill her!

   She began her search for weapons again, frantically this time, but it seemed her room was the most unlikely place to find anything that could even remotely be called a weapon. Then she saw it, a silver knife. It was hidden in a draw, underneath several flimsy petticoats.

 She smiled to herself, Whatever girl it was that had hidden a knife under petticoats was a girl after her own heart -- and it was silver! Werewolves hated silver.