Shielded
Chapter 20 - The Price of Politics

What a fucking circus. We haven’t held something this formal in years, and I had no doubt that the Blade Clan was shoving their weight around because of Ray. I also didn’t doubt that the only reason my father was a part of this tribunal was because of Ray too. I hadn’t laid eyes on the man since Christmas Day, and now he was here in Oakland two days in a row. I knew for a fact that dear old dad wasn’t high up enough in the rankings of Blade Clan to stand next to their mother fucking Clan Leader and Arbiter during a tribunal. No, this was a political move and the Blade Clan was going to use Blake and me to get closer to Ray. The kicker is that Dad was disgusted when I chose to stay with Blake instead of following in his footsteps and becoming a Hunter. No way I was going to let him use me after the shit that had gone down between us.

--Connor

The last thing I expected this thing to turn into after a couple of teenagers were maimed by their fathers was a social affair. But the moment that the talkative Valkyrie declared the trial over, everyone relaxed their posture and the three Valkyrie in suits came over to our group.

“Elijah, it is too bad about the circumstances, but it is good to see you boy. How are things?” the man I suspected was in charge said with fake cheer.

“It is good to see you too Clan Leader Greer. Things have been quite exciting for us since Valkyrie Olsen came into our lives. Let me introduce you. Hunter Greer, this is Delia Ray Olsen. Ray, this is Hunter Edison Greer, the Blade Clan Leader. And this is Hunter Tobias Eldridge, the Blade Clan Arbiter,” Elijah said while pointing out the Valkyrie that had led the trial. “You had the pleasure of meeting Hunter Ransom Berg yesterday.”

Well, that was really formal. Both Edison and Tobias held their hands out and I didn’t see a way around shaking them without being completely rude. I felt the undeniable clan bond as I grasped each man’s hand, but neither tried to grab me like Peterson had done yesterday. Then our group was approached by both pack masters and I was spared having to make small talk with the Blade Clan’s leader.

“We wanted to express our gratitude towards Valkyrie Olsen for the assistance she rendered earlier this day,” Pack Master Lopez said as he lowered his eyes in what I assumed was a respectful manner. Eye contact was a big deal with the shifters. But what was really interesting was that Lopez was lying. He wasn’t actually grateful. I considered saying something, but now wasn’t the time and I was trying to keep my Truth Gift under wraps. Plus the two mind readers in the room probably already knew not only that Lopez was lying, but the reason behind the lie too. Telepathy really was a more useful gift than Truth.

If I were one of the shifters, I would be hanging onto my temper by the skin of my teeth and I felt bad for them after the display of violence I just had to witness. Lie or not I accepted their platitudes and told them it was no trouble. That seemed to surprise almost everyone, especially the wolves and I decided to try to keep my mouth shut from now on. Once again I didn’t know enough about this situation to read the undercurrents of emotions and nonverbal communication.

“How generous of you, Delia. The shifter packs are lucky to have someone so powerful willing to come to their aid without asking for anything in return,” Edison said in a slightly condescending tone. Did he really expect the packs to do more than they already had? I mean there had been blood, pain, money, and community service. What more could this guy possibly want the wolves to give?

“Please, it was my honor to help out my fellow supernaturals. If you ever need anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask,” I found myself saying to the pack masters just to spite the power-hungry asshole. The elbow to my side from Blake reminded me that I had just decided to keep my mouth shut. Oops.

The pack masters didn’t seem to know how to respond and after saying another round of thank-yous that they weren’t lying about, they left the warehouse and took their pack members with them. After they left the man in the Hawaiian shirt hesitantly approached and Elijah also introduced him.

“Ray, this is Sebastian Powell, the leader of the Fremont Clan.”

“It is very much my pleasure to meet you, Valkyrie Olsen,” Sebastian said but didn’t hold out his hand for a handshake. “Thank you for your assistance today, and please let me know if the Fremont Clan can ever be of any help to you.” Man, Valkyrie were big on formalities.

After that lofty speech, Sebastian also left the warehouse leaving just the guys and the three Blade Clan Valkyries. “Delia, I was very impressed with how the shifters described your use of two different shields to stop the fight. I would very much enjoy seeing something like that,” Tobias said in an overly friendly voice. Oh, I bet you would.

I turned my gaze on Tobias and noticed that he was about the age my father would be. I felt the hold I had on my temper starting to slip and couldn’t help saying, “Do you see me dressed in a frilly dress? Am I holding a rubber wand in my hand? Or maybe a giant top hat with a white rabbit inside? No, because I am not some performer here to entertain you with magic tricks,” I hissed out.

“Ray, that was completely disrespectful and out of line,” Elijah snapped before I could say anything more. “Apologize to Hunter Eldridge.” I tore my gaze away from the hunters and looked over to Elijah to see that he was completely serious. Not that I took orders from Elijah, but if I didn’t start back-peddling, the Blade Clan was going to observe how independent I really was. I was confident that if that happened they would do everything in their power to take away that independence.

“My apologies Hunter Eldrige. It has been a long day and I took my frustrations out on you. I am sorry,” I even managed to sound a little regretful.

“Of course, my dear,” Tobias said in an understanding tone. “After all of the power you expended today you must be dead on your feet. You can show me the dual shields some other time.” Actually, I felt fine, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

When I didn’t say anything back, it started to get awkward again. At least when you are invisible you can avoid awkward silences. “Boys, it has been too long since we really sat down and caught up. Since I am in the area, why don’t I stay for dinner?” Ransom asked, sounding stiff as a board. I looked over to see Connor clenching his jaw and Blake looking like someone had just granted him a wish.

“Oh, that sounds lovely. It’s been such a long day. Maybe we could all join if you don’t mind Elijah,” Edison said in his fake cheery voice.

“We would be honored. The Blade Clan is always welcome at our Clan House,” Elijah said and I had to remind myself not to roll my eyes. This douche had just invited themselves to dinner and knew that Elijah couldn’t turn them down.

“And how about you Delia? Will you join us? It will give us a chance to get to know you a little,” Edison said and I realized that the whole thing was a setup. Blake realized it too and his face fell sending a spike of rage through my chest. How dare this man manipulate a family just to get what he wanted.

“I can’t. I am scheduled to work tonight,” I clipped out.

“You work?” Ransom asked in disgust as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. And that was it. I was over this whole thing. I was not going to stand here and let a man who didn’t know anything about me judge me. Yes, I had to work a minimum wage job. Yes, I was only a step away from being homeless. Yes, I was an orphan that no one wanted. But I was surviving the best way I knew how. Fuck this asshole for thinking he had the right to judge me for it.

I felt the light cloak I had over myself slip away as I glared at the twin’s father. “Yes, I work. And if you will excuse me I need to get back to school. I am missing my classes,” I said in a cold tone devoid of emotion. If I allowed even the slightest hint of my anger through right now I was going to do something that I would later regret. Like putting a couple of throwing stars into the twin’s father’s leg. That’s not what friends did.

“Delia, I am sure Elijah can get you excused from your classes,” Edison said harshly. He had completely dropped the fake happy voice. He was entirely focused on me and wanted me to follow his direction. Well, that wasn’t going to happen.

“I prefer to do the work. Goodbye Hunter Berg. It was nice to meet you, Hunter Eldridge. Clan Leader Greer,” I said in the same dead voice and then turned and walked away. For a couple of steps, I thought that they might actually let me go, but then I heard the unmistakable sound of multiple footsteps behind me. I turned my head slightly and used my peripheral vision to see that it was just the Three Musketeers. I was okay with that. Plus I didn’t have a car.

When I walked out of the warehouse doors I felt the three of them press in closer to me until I was surrounded on three sides. They were walking so close that my arms brushed against Max and Blake’s and I felt the clan bond through my icy anger. “Ray, can you pull back on the allure a little,” Connor said through gritted teeth and I looked over my shoulder to see that he had both hands in tight fists. Like if he was fighting himself from reaching out and touching me. Shit.

I immediately cloaked myself and felt all three of the guys let out a sigh of relief. If this is what happened when I lost my temper I was going to have to be careful. The last thing I wanted was to force the guys to feel something for me that they didn’t. “Sorry, I kinda just lost it in there.”

“We understand,” Max said and led us over to Elijah’s black Audi. That was right, none of the guys drove here either and we couldn’t exactly take the police cruiser back to school.

Once I was settled into the back seat with Blake and Max pulled the car out of the lot I asked, “So will someone please explain all of the unspoken things that I haven’t been understanding all day. How badly have I fucked up?”

“Well, if staying below the radar was your goal then I would say you fucked up pretty bad,” Blake said in a playful tone making my lips tip up into a slight smile.

“No really, please tell me what I got myself into today,” I said and this time Max gave me a straight answer.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Ray. You just did things a little differently than Valkyries normally do and everyone noticed.”

“Spell it out for me.”

“Well first of all, you should know that you most likely saved Lawerance’s and Kace’s lives today. Possibly the other shifters too, because when a more dominant wolf shifts the less dominant ones tend to follow. If they would have fully shifted and revealed their second natures in school, the pack masters would have been forced to kill them. So even though the broken hands may have seemed harsh, it could have been way way worse,” Max explained in his clinical voice that made everything feel more manageable.

“Then why was Lopez lying when he said he was grateful I was there?” I asked, feeling confused.

“I am sure he is very thankful that you were there to stop them from shifting. We all are. But Lopez also picked up on the fact that the only reason big guns like Eldridge and Greer were even there was because of you. Also, I suspect that they thought you were going to demand a huge restitution. The local packs aren’t super well off and the fine will already be hard for them to pay.”

“Why would he assume that I would ask for restitution?”

“Because you fucking deserve it,” Connor blurted. “Jesus Ray, you put yourself in between two partially shifted wolves without shielding yourself. What were you thinking?” I was thinking that I can take care of myself, thank you very much.

“Connor, do we need to spar again so that I can show you just how well I am at protecting myself?” I growled. “And I didn’t get in between anyone. I used the shields to pull them apart and my allure to distract everyone from the fight. I may not know all of the politics involved, but I do know how to fight.”

“Alright Ray-Ray, we know that you are badass. It was just scary as shit hearing that Chasity just left you in a room with a dozen angry shifters. You can’t blame us for being worried,” Blake told me and I kinda had to agree. If the situation had been reversed I would have been worried too. I reached over and grabbed his hand, soothing us both with the clan bond.

“Back to the original question,” Max said a little stiffly. “Most higher-up Valkyries demand to be paid when they do something outside of their clan duties. We are responsible for keeping the supernatural in Oakland in line. You are not. If a royal stepped in and did what you did today, they would be well in their rights to ask for the pack’s next born child. And you just shrugged your shoulder and said, no big deal. Let me know if I can help again.”

“Holy shit, you can’t be serious,” I asked in a horrified whisper.

“Like he said before, Ray. You possibly saved a dozen shifters, including two pact master’s dominant sons, and kept the secrecy intact. In our world something that big requires a heavy price,” Connor said from the front seat. Holy shit, they were serious. That was completely barbaric.

“What would a royal do with a shifter child?” I asked and my stomach sank at the possibilities.

“Anything they want,” Connor said in a soft voice and I felt my hands run cold. My father had a child that he did anything he wanted with.

No one talked after that and I leaned my head against the window of the car and watched the buildings pass by. What kind of world was I walking into? Yes, I was a Valkyrie and thus a supernatural, but I had been living in the human world for four years now. But the human world hadn’t exactly been all butterflies and rainbows either. If you really wanted to understand just how evil the human race could be, just spend a little time in the foster care system.

When Max parked the car in the school parking lot, none of us made any move to get out of the car. “You sure you want to go back to class Ray-Ray?” Blake asked.

“You know that before I met you guys I hadn’t missed a single class all year. Since I met you, I think I have only managed to get to all of my classes two times,” I told them without moving my head from its place on the glass.

“We will make things square with the administration,” Blake replied but he was missing the point. I wasn’t lying when I told Edison I would rather do the work. I didn’t want to start relying on these guys to make my life easier or better. The only person that I could trust to ensure I made it through this world was myself. I was going to get that diploma and I was going to be at the top of my class and I was going to do it for me.

I pulled the door latch and pushed myself out of the car. I had a class I needed to get to. Max walked with me and together we waited outside the chemistry classroom for a few minutes until seventh period ended. When the bell rang and the hallway filled with students I cloaked both me and Max so that no one would bother us. We spent the entire hour that way. Cloaked and quietly taking notes, just how I liked.

Max offered to drive me to Polly’s and it wasn’t until we were halfway there that he asked if I was okay. I really thought about my answer before telling him that yes, I was okay. Today had been full of not-so-pleasant surprises and I couldn’t believe it wasn’t even four yet, but it was far from the kind of bad days I used to have. I survived my childhood and I would survive whatever happened next. Somehow I would figure out my place in the supernatural world.

My shift at Polly’s started out completely hectic. It was the first time that I had seen most of my coworkers since the shooting and I was once again surprised by how much they seemed to have worried about me. Almost every waitress, busboy, bartender, cook, and dishwasher came over to make sure I was okay and tell me how scared they were for me. Some of them were lying, but most of them actually meant the sweet sentiments and went out of their way to help me because they believed I had an injured hand that I had stuffed into a glove for sanitation reasons.

At about seven we were packed with a waitlist because everyone wanted to eat at the place where a shooting had taken place. Which is why I was extra surprised when Camilla said they were clearing tables in my section for a large party of eight. I glanced towards the front and saw both Elijah and Edison standing at the podium and could only guess that this party was the guys plus the three hunters for the Blade Clan. It would seem that when the Blade Clan Leader wanted something, he got it. He wanted to spend dinner with me and now here he was.

Within ten minutes Camilla had somehow cleared enough space to put together two tables and squeezed them into my section. The Valkyries sat and politely ordered their meals. I didn’t know if I wanted to yell at them to leave or lecture them about how wrong it would be to take a child as restitution but in the end, it didn’t really matter. I was far too busy to stand around a chat with them. I did however feel the heavy weight of their stares throughout the rest of the night.

Polly’s was a restaurant that served your usual beach fare. Fish tacos, fresh salads, hamburgers, and baskets of fish and chips. Nothing fancy and we turned the normal table in about an hour, ninety minutes top. But the Valkyries took their sweet time, ordering appetizers before placing their dinner orders and then finishing everything off with desserts and after-dinner drinks. By the time nine o’clock rolled around, Polly’s dinner crowd was thinning and Camilla stopped giving me new tables. I was to be one of the first servers to get to go home tonight.

So when Edison waved me over to talk, I didn’t have any excuse not to comply. “What a lovely place. Dinner was excellent,” Edison told me with his fake cheer. So he was going to try to be my friend again.

“I am glad to hear it. I will tell the cooks you enjoyed your meal,” I replied in an equally fake upbeat voice.

“How long have you worked here?” Edison asked.

“About eight months now,” I answered

“A job is a great way for a young person to learn responsibility. Your parents were wise to suggest such a thing.” Now he was just fishing and I wasn’t particularly interested in answering these types of questions. Somehow I didn’t think the leader of the most powerful Valkyrie Clan would respond very well to the fact that I slept in a broken-down bus.

I nodded my head and asked a question of my own to throw him off his game and close down the topic of families. “Does the Blade Clan have a Tracker?”

Edison cocked his head to the side but I could tell that he was pleased that I was asking about his clan. “Why yes, we do. His name is Dominic and he is very skilled. Is there someone in particular you would like our assistance in finding?”

I could practically feel him vibrate with excitement of having something he could use against me. My guys clearly didn’t know where I was going with this and shifted in their seats uncomfortably. “Oh, that is so impressive to have a Tracker within your clan,” I breathed and widened my eyes to try to look duly impressed. “I personally don’t need to find anyone, but I am so glad to know that you will be able to locate that missing shifter from the Fremont Pack, Logan. Clearly, his brother was just distraught about him not coming home last night. Kace and the Fremont Pack are so lucky to have a Strong Valkyrie clan like yours to help them out in their time of need.”

The dangerous glint in Edison’s eye told me that he knew exactly what I was doing. But I had backed him into a corner. If he didn’t help find Logan now, he would look weak. And hopefully, he would see this little mission as a way to prove himself to me and wouldn’t charge the Fremont Clan for doing his job.

“Of course, a simple matter of finding some deadbeat shifter is something that we can easily do. If this is something you want to see done, I can take personnel off more important matters to do it. And for doing this favor for you, I am sure you will find it in your heart to forget how badly Hunter Peterson acted yesterday. His inexcusable bad manners have been haunting him all day and he wanted me to make sure you knew how sorry he is. As I am sure you know, Empaths feel things so much stronger than the rest of us,” Edison said, playing the game I started. If I wanted the Blade Clan to get off their asses and find Logan, then I was going to have to drop any excuse Peterson had given me for not interacting with their clan.

I gritted my teeth and gave Edison a placating smile. “Yesterday was overwhelming for all of us and I know finding me at the Oakland Clan house must have been quite the surprise. Consider the entire affair forgotten, and let Hunter Peterson know that I fully accept his apologies,” I said in my own version of a political tone.

“Wonderful!” Edison exclaimed and I fought not to show my revulsion. Everything was a power play to this man. Just as it had been for my father. I made up some excuse of helping another one of my tables and then did my best to stay clear of their table for the rest of the night. They stayed another half hour discussing something that I was too far away to hear, but I wasn’t interested enough to rejoin their conversation. Edison paid the bill and left me an outrageous tip that I had no problem sticking in my pocket. I had deserved every cent for not losing my cool again.

The twins stayed behind when everyone else left and moved to the bar to wait till the end of my shift. When I was ready to go, I was more than happy to let them give me a ride home. Blake kept things light, talking about school gossip and Maddison’s constant yammering about the spring fling dance. When we pulled up in front of my bus, Conner pulled out a large manilla envelope and handed it to me. Inside I found the homework assignments for the classes I missed today along with a complete copy of the calculus notes we had been working on when I left the class.

Maybe they didn’t fully understand why I needed to do things independently, but these boys were definitely putting in an effort to be supportive.

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