Driving Force Read Online Free PDF Page A

ourselves as a threat to the safety of our community. He called us traitors. Several nuts over fruitcake maximum, this Arrhan.”
    “Is that his name?”
    “That’s what he said.”
    “It’s the old ways,” Maggie said worriedly. “It’s like having some medieval baron turn up who’s never heard of the Magna Carta, so starts having conniption fits about the peasants having rights. He hasn’t made the adaptation. Who knows what kind of damage he’ll do before he learns to adjust?”
    Kurt frowned. “That wasn’t a stupid man I was talking to. I don’t know why he’s here, whether he fled through the Gate to avoid some threat or was cast through it by enemies. But now that he’s here, he’ll learn fast. Our granddaddies have told us that passage through the Gate gives one the ability to speak and understand and even read the new world’s language. If I were him, I’d read the newspapers, listen to the TV, do some research. It’s not some Viking berserker we’ve got here.”
    “Don’t discount Viking berserkers,” said Ian. “Before they flew off into that blind rage, they could be cunning as all hell.”
    Kurt looked around at the group. “That’s why I called you all here. I figured you should know what was happening. I have no idea how much trouble he can cause, but I want you to be careful, look out for each other. Look out for the humans as well. We don’t know what his intentions are and I don’t want anybody getting hurt. He’s a lion and that makes him Lowe responsibility. We’ll try to bring him in where we can talk, maybe get him to see the way things are. The rest of you keep your heads down and stay out of it.”
    “And hope that the Gate doesn’t open again anytime soon,” muttered Abel as the meeting started to break up, some of them leaving and some sticking around to socialize.
    Ian was thinking that maybe Arrhan was the lion who had sent Sierra off the road. Fresh out of the Gate, he wouldn’t have known about cars or how fast they could move.
    “You doing anything the rest of the night?” Nick purred at Maud.
    She grinned at him. “You…up for something, tiger? I’ve gotta bodyguard Kurt home, but then I’m all yours if you’re interested.”
    “Oh, I’m interested.”
    “Damn,” muttered Simon to Ian. “I had hopes in that direction.”
    “Try tomorrow.” Ian shrugged. “Maud’s favored us before. She will again.”
    “Don’t forget the cheetahs are having a ‘come one, come all’ tonight in that field behind Twyla’s place,” said Abel softly behind them. “All-nighter and it’s not even midnight yet.”
    “Lead on, MacDuff!” Simon grinned, misquoting happily.
    Ian went too. The cheetahs knew how to party and were the second largest clan after the lions. Their several unaffiliated females harbored a distinct preference for the Raeder boys that all three brothers had capitalized on in the past. Ian wasn’t interested in that right now, but the music, dancing and booze would provide a very pleasant distraction for the night.
    The Gevlin property was several miles out of town, which was a good thing since the blare of the music and the roar of so many voices would certainly have drawn complaints if there had been any neighbors. The property itself covered over a thousand acres, since cheetahs liked to run, but the house was set close to the highway and the party was being held just behind it in the open ground that stretched to the forest. They parked at the end of the slew of cars sprawled along the shoulder of the highway, then headed around the side of the house.
    “Humans here,” muttered a cheetah male as they passed him.
    That meant, “Don’t shift while they’re around.” No problem there. Cheetahs tended to throw a party whenever they felt like it and hadn’t cared that it wasn’t the weekend and tomorrow was a working day. The humans would leave or be encouraged to leave by two or three in the morning, then whatever Shifters