Jacob's Ladder (String of Fate) Read Online Free PDF Page B

of his mate and setting up a home for them both.
    Cade’s partner, Mitch, had also been lost to her service at the same time. He had been gravely injured. Poisoned, in fact. He had almost died—and would have—if not for the attentions of the woman he had discovered and claimed shortly thereafter. His new mate, Gina, was not only a doctor, but born and bred tiger shifter royalty.
    Mitch had been touched by the Goddess during his healing and had somehow ended up becoming the Tig’Ra—the tiger shifter king. He lived in Iceland now, at the traditional seat of tiger shifter power, on the side of an active volcano. He also had a penthouse in New York and he and his new mate were working hard to clean up the mess left behind by the usurper who had ruled over the tiger Clan by deceit for decades.
    “I might be able to shed some light on why the violence has escalated recently,” Jake said quietly from the other side of the table.
    Ria had avoided looking at him, but she couldn’t do so any longer. Something about Jake’s cool, steady gaze sent little tingles through her body. It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but it was something she didn’t understand and wasn’t really prepared to deal with. She had lived her life mostly on the run. She had never really had time to date or be in a relationship. Nothing that lasted, at any rate.
    In all the ways that counted, she was as green as a young girl when it came to men. And human men in particular, were a mostly unknown quantity. Ria was surrounded by shifters all the time. Her Guard were shifters. Her friends were shifters. There was a protective wall of shifters between her and the rest of the world—and humans in particular.
    Ria saw Edvard angle his body to look hard at Jake too, but the human didn’t even fidget under the scrutiny of the powerful selkie’s regard. No, Jake seemed to be made of stronger stuff than that. He wasn’t cowed by Edvard and he had already proven how capable he was of spiriting her away from danger. If not for Jake, she would probably be dead right now.
    “I’ve been in touch with the Lords of the Were in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. I’m also in close contact with a friend in the snowcat enclave in Tibet. Those of us with foresight, and those who have access to foreseers, all seem to be seeing the same thing. Danger. Threat. The specter of massive violence against all leaders of shifters everywhere. As you probably know, there were a series of consecutive attacks on shifter monarchs all over the world, timed perfectly as a distraction.”
    “Distraction from what?” Ria wanted to know.
    “An attempt to divert the power of a volcano in the Pacific Northwest to influence the veil between worlds.” Silence met his words. “This has actually been attempted twice now. First at the site of the tiger stronghold in Iceland, and the most recent attempt in the Cascade Mountains. Mount Baker, near the Canadian border, has come to life for the first time in decades. That was the second attempt to divert the enormous power of a volcano that was, thankfully, interrupted at the last moment. We speculate that the Venifucus are getting bolder in their attempts to bring down the barrier between worlds, and return Elspeth from the farthest realms to the mortal plane. Which is why they’re after you in a big way, Ria, I’m sorry to say. The power you control is very tempting to those who would use it for evil purposes.”
    Edvard’s gaze shifted to Ria, making her want to squirm in her seat, but she held her ground. Edvard knew about her abilities—as most shifters did—but not where they came from.
    “It is said that the Nyx speaks for the departed,” Edvard said quietly into the ocean night. “But does it go beyond speaking? Can it? Can they use you to break through the veil, Ria?”
    She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to lie to her old mentor, but she couldn’t say too much. The secret was important to keep. The