once used by the Atrum Core
Workings: Core workings of power, assembled and triggered via amulets
Prologue
Marlee Cerrosa, stuck in a boring internal security meeting where everyone else had more seniority than she, pretended her cell phone wasn’t ringing.
Is he insane, calling me here?
She smiled apology at the others, wishing that the Mission Impossible ring tone didn’t come through quite so clearly. Their understanding amusement came through just as clearly, along with a hint of condescension—although she didn’t imagine they knew it showed. She was the youngest on this Brevis Southwest team, and the most human of those working internal tech support—barely enough Sentinel blood to be here at all. And so she still worked out of a corner cubicle, batting cleanup and grunge work. They knew she could do more; it was nothing personal. A matter of putting in her time, earning her way up.
Just how much more she could do, she didn’t think they knew.
And she was sure they didn’t know who’d just called. Or that although she scribed notes during the meeting, looking as concerned as anyone about the recent system aberrations, she knew exactly how those aberrations had occurred. She didn’t blame the Sentinel field agents for their concern about security, but she knew better. There was no actual breach.
Just…a little sharing.
They needed a reality check.
When the meeting finally ended and they all gathered up for their predatorial meat-heavy lunches, Marlee grabbed up her Tecra computer tablet and her chilled Scooby-Doo lunch box with fruit and salad and went up to the roof for some fresh air and some privacy, not to mention the best cell phone reception in the building.
A place she could use her phone scrambler without question.
“I can’t believe you called me here,” she said, as soon as he picked up the phone. “I can’t believe you called me in the middle of a security meeting.”
“Oh, come. Don’t tell me it didn’t give you a thrill. A deep, secret little thrill.” His tone was beguiling…personal.
She hated that.
“I’m not doing this for thrills.”
“Ah, there, now.” He backed off; he always did. It was how she knew he needed her.
But dammit, he always tried—getting personal, making insinuations—and she was tired of it.
“Nick Carter will be out in the field,” he said.
She didn’t question it, as unlikely as it seemed—for the brevis adjutant rarely went into the field, and when he did, he didn’t go alone. After all, Nick Carter, Sentinel shapeshifter extraordinaire, was the primary assistant to the Brevis Southwest Consul. Brevis Southwest, Brevis Northwest, Brevis Central…north into the Canadian regions and south into Latin America. All huge swaths of land overseen by men of too much power and tied by allegiance to their Brevis Nationals—although men at Nick Carter’s level usually wielded that power from behind closed doors.
But he wouldn’t have said it unless he knew. Not this man. “I need you to interfere with his incoming communications. Phone, e-mail…whatever.”
She laughed out loud, as ill-advised as it was. “You must be kidding.”
His brief silence served as a response. “I want a virus on his personal computer system—turn it into mush. I want them locked out.”
Now she let her own silence speak. She leaned against the giant EVAC housing structure on the roof—there, where she’d set up her lawn chair and shadescreen, habitually hiding from the sun even on this relatively pleasant early November day. Up on an old town roof in Tucson…the sun always seemed warm to her.
He said sharply, “You can do these things.”
It wasn’t a question.
She said, “I don’t work for you. I take suggestions when it comes to keeping the balance. If I didn’t truly believe—if I hadn’t seen—” She didn’t finish the thought. They both knew why she did what she did. Because the field Sentinels, the shapeshifters…
They were far too powerful. They called themselves protectors of the earth, but they’d gotten above themselves…beyond themselves. And while Marlee didn’t think the Atrum Core family branch had taken the right path when choosing to work against their druidic brothers those thousands of years ago in a Roman dominated Britain, she could understand why they felt the need to do it at all.
For not only could the Sentinels shift to another shape—each to his own, and invariably something powerful, something predatory—they often took on enhanced abilities even in human form. Keen of vision, keen of hearing, of scent…swift on foot, strong in hand. And most of them had their own individual talents. Wards, healing, shields…there was the field agent in northern Arizona who rode power, and who had been in not one but two scandals. How brevis had cleared him a second time, Marlee couldn’t imagine.
It was for men like him that she did what she did, driven by a childhood of watching subtle injustices and power plays. Made her small changes, her small interferences. Helped to keep the balance between the Sentinels and the Atrum Core, without actually benefiting the Core.
She watched a raven swooping down between the redbrick buildings, knowing that it, too, might well be a Sentinel, and happy it came no closer. “What you’re asking will expose me.”
“Ah, no,” he said. “Not my Marlee. You’re too important to us all. We’ll make sure you’re covered. And while this level of interference might seem extreme, it’s only temporary. A few days at most.”
Cover her? She’d assumed she wasn’t the only Sentinel in her position—mostly human, but come of long-established bloodlines. Not quite special enough to fit into this world, but with eyes open far too wide to merge happily into the world that knew nothing of Sentinels or Atrum Core or the ancient battle between them.
But she hadn’t truly considered how many others might be right here at brevis with her.
“I would not ask, my Marlee…” He let the words trail away, the implication clear enough. If I had a choice. If it weren’t important.
She hated the way those words made her feel. She loved the way those words made her feel.
As if he possessed some part of her…as if she’d forever given up something of herself to this man who was so used to taking what he wanted. And yet…as if she was making a difference, here among people who assumed she couldn’t. As if she was the only one who could.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she told him.
Chapter 1
He saw her in stages.
Pure feral grace…
Surrounded by the chaos of the Pima County Fairgrounds with a complex breed ring and performance dog show
