Page 1 of Planet Wolf
1
“I’m not crazy,” I hissed at my cousin Patrice, despite being pretty sure I might sound that way. “Not even a little bit.”
In between assuring her of my mental capacity, I stuffed a briefcase with everything I might need to pull it off. “If the Shifters meet with the Union, then we have to know what they’re saying. That way, Doug can either strike another deal with them or brace for the impact of their decisions.” I lost my breath and stopped to catch it before I could continue. “We know they plan to have a full delegation going, and we know half the people don’t know the other half. We’re never going to get another chance like this one.”
My blonde-haired blue-eyed cousin Patrice couldn’t look more opposite from me if we planned it. Currently, the pale light of that hair glimmered as she shook her head. “Esther, for goodness’ sake. I’m not saying it isn’t a good idea. Of course, it is, but itiscrazy for you to be the one doing it. Have you forgotten how sick you’ve been lately?”
I hadn’t forgotten. How could I forget when I was the one actually living with the illness every single day of my life? “That’s why ithasto be me.”Deep breath to reset my system. “If something happens to me—well, no one expects me to make it much longer anyway.”
Patrice gasped then pulled me into a hug. “Don’t say things like that.”
She likely meant it, since we’ve been together since we were children. They raised me in her house after they locked my mother away for being a raving lunatic. Well, that wasn’t howtheyput it exactly, but ultimately it described her and what they did to deal with her. So, because of Mom being a nutter, I lived with my grandparents in the same house as all of my aunts and uncles. My cousins. The staff…
Why am I thinking about any of this right now?
Is it because it is easier to think about the mundane than what I have to do?
Shoving it all aside, I continued my explanation. “If we’re going to get Doug elected and oust the Union, we have to do it now. I’m going to this meeting, end of story. I’ll keep to myself on the shuttle. Act busy. Then we’ll get there, and I’m just going to listen. That’s all.”
She put her hands on her hips, and already I could get a glimpse of the mother she would become in roughly three months. “I’m only going to agree to this if you take a tail. We’ll send a ship to follow behind you discreetly. If they get any sort of indication that things have gone bad, they can rescue you.”
I knew what tail they’d send—my other cousin, Lucas. I had a lot of cousins, but Lucas would be a terrible choice in this case. He couldn’t singlehandedly attack a Union ship if things went badly for me. Still, if it would pacify Patrice’s worries, then I would do it. “Sure. That works.”
Her face lit up. “Great. Don’t forget your medicine, and for goodness’ sake, don’t forget to take your pills.”
I wouldn’t forget. I never did. They didn’t work, but I took them with precise accuracy anyway. Since no one could really diagnose what was wrong with me, no treatment ever proved effective, or not for long.Story of my life. Seizures—well, there was medicine for that symptom, at least. Sometimes the medicines worked, sometimes they didn’t. Why did I have the seizures in the first place? Well, they had no idea. Why did I have fainting spells? No idea, but there were medicines for that symptom. Same problem—sometimes it worked and others it didn’t. Puking up everything I ate? Huh, no idea, but that was a weird symptom.
Spots on my vision.
Skin itching everywhere.
Symptom after symptom, yet all my scans came back clean—except for some slight anomalies in my bloodwork no one could ever explain, but those shouldn’t be a big deal.
Maybe I was making it up? That had been my favorite diagnosis over the years, one which proved total bullshit since my first symptoms started when I was four years old. Despite my mother’s issues, I’d always been a very happy kid.
Her illness led the doctors to believe what happened to me had to be at least partially related to some kind of mental illness.
Not that they knew what was wrong with her, either.
“You’re obsessing again, aren’t you?” Patrice lifted an eyebrow, and I laughed. It was good to have family who understood. Very good, indeed.
Of course, I was lying to her, though. None of my plan would be easy. False identification should get me on the shuttle, but it was possible they’d find me out immediately. My forger came highly recommended, if such a thing were really possible, but we’d just see how it went. Patrice and our other cousins would never think to hire a criminal. They didn’t have a devious bone in their bodies, but I did. So did Doug, but since we were trying to get him elected by making him the alternative to the evil Union, it wouldn’t do for him to get caught trying to gather information.
Hence me boarding the shuttle to go see what the Union was doing with the shifters.
The letter from Tiffany Keyes burned a hole in my brain. In those terse words, she gave me proof the Union were dirty dogs doing business with canines willing to blow up everyone to get what they wanted. Tiffany lived on Planet Cat now with men she called her mates, but once she’d been a member of the Union, and a pretty high up operative at that. With the information in her letter, including the names of people who left Planet Bear to start a new life, I could reach them to call for help if we needed it.
After the meeting, I would finally have enough proof to take down the Union, and their demise couldn’t come a moment too soon.
I walked slowly to the departure point, knowing Patrice would arrange for me to be followed even as I arrived at the loading zone. Despite nearly having a heart attack getting on the shuttle, the second my ID worked, I became part of the group. Everyone remained almost eerily silent, staring at each other in chilly quiet in the cramped space while pretending not to judge one another.
Based on my experience, the Union employees hated each other. At the very least, they didn’t trust each other whatsoever, something our intel had suggested for a long time and confirmed by Tiffany. On the ship, surrounded by employees, I could see it for myself firsthand. The hatred so filled the space, it practically dripped off them, pulsing at the cellular level like a living thing.
We shared bedrooms on the journey, which should’ve been companionable, yet no one said a word to each other. Naturally, I tended to be a chatty person, but I was happy to keep quiet and leave them alone with their thrumming animosity. Eventually, the chairman exited his huge suite to tell us we’d be divided into groups, each one of us leaving with a different shifter group to complete our various missions or jobs. They handed me a piece of paper, and it simply readBears. I hoped someone would be forthcoming with explanations once they started talking, since currently everyone simply followed directions as if they knew the steps to the dance in advance.
Maybe it was knowing they were doing horrible things to the universe? How did they not realize I wasn’t supposed to be there? When I ran programs for the family’s charities, I had lists upon lists of carefully gathered intel and information to guide my choices and behaviors: who would be in attendance, what were their likes and dislikes, what were their motives.
But not this time.