Panthera Spelaea

It took me a moment to recover from this. “Your mate? How?”

“We have a long drive to my place so we can talk on the way,” Edward said. The copilot transferred our luggage to the back of his Land Rover, then the three of us got in the back with me in the middle. Edward held the door open for Alexandra to get in, then went around to the driver’s side. As we drove off, he turned to look at us quickly. “Our story will take a while, but I want to ask you two a few things first. Why are you here?”

I shrugged. “Our honeymoon? The girls liked the beaches in Italy, but we wanted to get away from Europe and all the press. Tasmania is about as far away as we can get.”

He nodded at that but kept pressing. “You know I’m happy to host, but I was shocked when you asked to visit. I thought we were friends, but you had reasons to be hesitant. I did set you up in Croatia.”

I hadn’t forgotten that. Edward had been the one to contact Mikhail and tell him of my location on the uninhabited island, plus he leaked the word about the Eagle carcass. “You played your part well, Edward. We’d always intended to lure Mikhail there, but no one expected him to kidnap Melanie. Art’s people let that information leak out, and Mikhail exploited it. Thanks to you, we’re rich now. It all turned out for the better.” I looked in the front seat. “Except for Alexandra. I’m sorry, this talk is insensitive. The money we had would have been yours.”

“I’m fully aware of what you did with my grandfather’s company,” the Russian beauty said. She was tall and thin, her straight raven-black hair going midway down her back. She had high cheekbones, perfect white teeth, and a classic face with subtle made up. Her clothes were designer, expensive and flattering. In her early twenties, she was a woman of power and money. She outshone her mate, who dressed more like a working man. “I’m still dealing with the mess you left me.”

“We’ll get back to that,” Edward said. “You three have had some time to process everything that went on since Russia. What things have you been unable to understand or still bother you?”

“I’d rather find out what you know, Edward.”

“Humor me. I need to see if your suspicions matched mine.”

Fine. The girls and I had talked about a few things. “I guess we could start with Senior Investigator Kaprisov. When we left the hotel in the middle of the night, Marina said it was because he had a judge willing to put me back in jail. That never happened; the Russian government never tried to stop me or extradite me from Italy, Croatia, or the United States. I’m wondering if it was all part of Art’s ruse to get me on his yacht.”

“You weren’t the only one. Art called me as soon as the judge in Russia freed you; he said he was bringing a new one of us in, and we needed to meet you. Duncan got a call about the same time; I asked him. For both of us, it took a while to arrange travel to Europe.”

That brought up a question. “That’s the second thing that doesn’t make sense. I know this was the first time all the Switchers had gathered together, but why? Isn’t it risky to be in one place, especially if the authorities may be watching?” I squeezed the hands of my mates. “I know we all got together again at my wedding, but that was as private as I could make it. Even then, Art’s people were all around.”

“Why do you think Art gathered us if it was so dangerous?”

“He said he wanted to judge if I was worthy of being a Switcher, and if not, he’d have killed me. Why tell me that? He already had been following me, he had Marina in my inner circle, and Ekatarina had talked to us at the hotel. You’d think he had enough information to go on, but that’s not what he said. It would have been safer for me to meet other Switchers individually over a few months. Gathering us made us vulnerable to attack.”

Edward nodded as he navigated the roads. “What about the attack made you suspicious?”

“Zach was right; you don’t just throw something like that together in a day. Mikhail had to hire mercenaries, equip them, train them, and moved them into place. It could take weeks, but I’d only been on the yacht for a short time.”

“Art is a liar and a cheat,” Alexandra finally said. “You were brought together so Art could keep you away from Mikhail. Art set you up. He might STILL be setting you up.”

This threat got Svetlana’s attention. “How do you know?”

“I know because I was Grandfather’s eyes and ears in Moscow. He was obsessed with the Palace Eagle, more so as his cancer advanced. He saw it as his only chance to beat cancer.” She paused and looked out the window at the ocean. “Art Karpen contacted my father, not the other way around.”

“When was this?”

“My grandfather’s people were following up on information about the Cave Lion sightings in Moscow. Mikhail knew that one prehistoric eagle still lived as a Switcher, so why not another animal? There was no other explanation for Siberia and Moscow. My grandfather’s big plan was to have you moved to a remote facility in Siberia. He would then arrange for your death and the transfer of the Cave Lion. Grandfather was very close to making this happen, and then you were released and disappeared. He wasn’t happy about that. Soon after, he got a call from Art Karpen.”

“What did Art say?”

“Art offered to deliver you up in exchange for a forty-percent stake in his steel company.”

Holy shit! I did some quick math; Abrahmov’s company had assets of over twenty-eight billion, so a forty-percent stake would be worth something north of twelve billion dollars. “Could your grandfather even keep his business that way?”

“Probably not,” Alexandra replied. “It was more than half of his holdings, the rest owned by his fellow investors. It would have made Art Karpen the most significant single shareholder. He could easily take control of the company my grandfather built over his lifetime.”

“I can’t imagine your grandfather took that well,” Anna said.

“He was FURIOUS,” Alexandra replied. “Grandfather told Art he was out of his mind; if he couldn’t have the Cave Lion, he’d find the Eagle. Art laughed and said Mikhail would never find Ekatarina because every Switcher in the world was under his control. If Mikhail didn’t take the deal, he’d move on. ‘There are plenty of dying rich people who would gladly pay my price. What good is your money when you are dead?’ Art told him to call back when he was ready to deal. My Grandfather is a stubborn man, and he wasn’t going to let Art Karpen take his company. We started making other plans.”

“Like what,” I said.

“Finding out everything we could about Karpen Investments,” she replied. “We knew he was cruising the Med in his superyacht. We’d flipped some family members on the Elements with offers of cash, and we were monitoring his electronic communications. Grandfather knew his planned movements, but he didn’t know about the size of his defense force or the arms locker he hid onboard. He figured the guys would kill everyone, and pirates would take the blame for the attack. It was a simple, direct, and much cheaper solution to his problem. All he had to do was wait until you or Ekatarina were on board. You and the girls disappeared from Moscow and showed up in Italy. Our agents saw you boarding the helicopter and flying out. Art was kind enough to provide us with proof of your Switcher nature.”

“What proof?”

“Drone video from the beach the next day, showing you shifting into your Cave Lion and hunting. Art edited it so we couldn’t tell who the bear or cat shifter was, but Grandfather knew there were at least three switchers on the yacht. He ordered his men to attack and kill you all. My grandfather, father, and uncle would board later and start touching dead people until all three of them were Switchers.”

I felt like Don Corleone in ‘The Godfather’ when he realized it had been Barzini all along. The betrayal hurt because he’d done it and THEN played like he was my friend and protector. His first instinct was to use me to further his interests, not to help me out. The girls could tell I was upset as I processed the information. Anna was the one who finally broke me out of my anger. “I can’t believe I’m a sister-wife to a man worth BILLIONS,” she said with a giggle.

“Nobody else can have him,” Svetlana replied.

“I’ll never see that money. My girls are priceless, though.” They got me calmed down again, and we were able to continue talking. “What happened with Ekatarina?”

“We think Todd went rogue on that one,” Edward said. “With the attack a failure, he had to know we’d find the mole.”

I nodded. “And the island?”

“When Edward called, it sounded like the perfect opportunity. Grandfather didn’t blink at the cost; he’d lost more money than that already fighting off Art’s attacks. He was mad about my Uncle’s death at your hands. Taking the Eagle and the Lion was worth any cost.”

I just shook my head. “And now they are all dead, and you’re left picking up the pieces. Then you find out you’re a billion dollars short, and some guy in Tasmania is now a major stakeholder in YOUR company.”

Alexandra nodded. “I was pissed off. In my mind, Edward had double-crossed my father and failed to deliver. It took me some time to push the estate through and assert control of the company, plus I’m still dealing with Karpen Investments and their takeover effort. I needed to rally other stakeholders to stick it out with me, which meant I had to see Edward. If he voted his shares with Art, I’d be hard-pressed to hold the Chief Executive position. I got on a plane and headed for Tasmania.”

“What were you going to do?”

“Kill him for his betrayal,” she said before looking at him dreamily. “Then we met, and it was love at first sight. That night I tried to fuck him to death, but the man’s immortal.”

We all laughed at that comment. “And now you are the immortal mate of the Scimitar Cat.”

“I know,” she said as she shot a look at the girls. “Am I going to have to share him like you two?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “I’m kind of new at this.”

Edward moved the discussion back on topic. “That’s why I’m glad you are here. I’m voting my shares with my mate; you control another ten percent. If you vote with us, Alexandra can keep control of her family business no matter what Art does.”

“But if I do?”

“Art will see that as us betraying him personally. He may come after the two of us, and you know what kind of reach he has.”

“Fuck.” I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, trying to see a way out of this mess. “No wonder you didn’t bring Alexandra to the wedding.”

“If Art finds out, he’ll figure out what’s been going on. I’m keeping our relationship secret as long as I can.”

The secret wouldn’t last forever, and I’d have to vote my stock sometime. I needed to talk to Dad before I did anything else.

I looked out at the rocky shoreline, where Australian Fur Seals lay sunning themselves. I suddenly felt like a seal swimming among Great White Sharks. They had those here in the Great Southern Ocean.

Big ones.