Sons of Destiny Prequel Series 003 - The Shifter Read Online Free Page A

give them a second chance."
    Manolo eyed Bellar, asking shrewdly, "Did he give you a special phrase or word to give to them, or tell you to have them say something specific when going to him to look for work?"
    "Why would he give them a special saying?" Anaika asked, giving the older shifter a puzzled look.
    "It's fairly obvious to me, and I think to Kenyen," Manolo told her, "that whatever else this Family Mongrel has been up to, they've been trying hard to avoid drawing attention to their activities. The Corredai aren't like us in culture—few outkingdoms are—but they do have laws against the beating and raping of women just as we do. Laws against brutality of all kinds, and laws against theft. Laws against murder.
    "Given how much the writings said that the men of Family Mongrel enjoyed their violent, brutal ways, and how many pains they took to avoid being found or tracked by anyone, it's clear they knew their actions were illegal, and clear that they enjoyed doing them anyway," Manolo stated, returning his gaze to Bellar. "Yet it's also clear they took in new members at one point. Your brother might've joined Family Mongrel, or may have simply known about their activities. If your brother wanted to keep people away from the back of this cave, then he likely knew about the dead body bound behind these rocks, and that's the sort of thing they might've done."
    "He's not a murderer," Bellar muttered stubbornly.
    "Bellar, if he knew about that body being back there, why didn't he report it to the authorities in Correda so they could come and bury it in accordance with their traditions and contact the missing man's family?" Kenyen asked pointedly. "There are too many questions here, with many of them pointing at potentially ugly answers. So we are asking you, did your brother tell you to say anything to banished Shifterai, or give them anything, or direct them to approach him in a specific way whenever you might have the chance to point another banished man in his direction?"
    "Use the Truth Stone," Ashallan added as Bellar hesitated. "If your brother is simply helping the banished to find legitimate work, then he has nothing to fear from us. All kingdoms honor the Truth, be it by stone or by wand or by spell. But all kingdoms revile murder, and we have a body behind that rock fall that was apparently bound and imprisoned and left there to rot... and your brother knew something about it. Something unpleasant enough he didn't want others to find this cave, nor explore it beyond those stones."
    Sighing roughly, the middle-aged shifter gripped the marble disk. "Nollan told me that... that if I knew of anyone—any male, that is—who was being banished from the Plains, I was to point them into the mountains toward him, and instruct them to tell him they were looking for work."
    "Anything else?" Manolo asked when Bellar displayed the unblemished stone.
    Bellar shrugged. "Just that they were to be honest with him as to why they'd been banished... and that he particularly wanted me to encourage them to go looking for him if they were strong shifters, and that if I thought they'd get along with him, they should bring him a gift. But he didn't tell me what kind of gift. That's all he said on the matter."
    Again, he displayed the stone, showing it was white.
    Manolo eyed Bellar. "Well, whatever your brother has been up to, at least he's done his best to keep you ignorant of it. I'm not sure if that's more than a single point in his favor, since he might be concealing more crimes than those which earned his banishment, but he kept you innocent of it."
    "He made a mistake, and he was banished for it. He doesn't deserve further persecution just for that," Bellar argued back.
    "If he's innocent of further wrongdoing, then he won't be. We just want to ask him some questions. But first, we'll tear down the rocks and bury the body with respect," Ashallan instructed the others. "Then we'll split up in the morning."
    "We'll meet in the town