Beastess

“Right this way, ma’am.”

Sophie took back her ID, thanked the bouncer, and sauntered out of the dark moonless night—not that she could tell here in Shadow Town—and into the noisy, crowded, graffiti-covered dive bar. As a templar, Sophie Ryder was used to visiting some seedy locations, but very few as grimy as this one. The neon sign out front didn’t even work right, with the ‘R’ in ‘BAR’ flickering on and off intermittently. Once Roxy was let in behind Sophie by the bouncer, they scouted around for some seats.

The owner of the Careless Angel Bar, Roxy had assured her, was a well-known acquaintance and former business partner of Roxy’s, and thus an ally of the Pack of Abraxas West. In fact, she had told Sophie the owner was the one who had connected Roxy with the doctor who provided the ovary implants and strength-enhancing nanobots for Lexi.

Roxy had told her not to worry about it.

Sophie was worried about it.

If anything, what Roxy said made her even more anxious. Black market doctors? Seedy bar owners with connections to the criminal underworld? What had Lexi gotten herself into? What had she gotten herself into? Thank God she was here now at least, so she could help—

Wait. Should she say ‘Thank Goddess’ from now on?

It would be wonderful if she didn’t have to consider religion at all, for once in her life.

Sidling past the crowd of chromed-out punks, drunk Saturday night party-goers, bikers, and general riff-raff, Sophie and Roxy ordered a pint of beer each at the bar counter. Sophie was grateful for the drink, if only to have something to calm the nerves. She was used to people staring at her when she was in her templar uniform, but in street clothes she was just reminded of how conspicuously tall she was, as multiple pairs of eyes watched her go by—more than a few of them magitech ones, she noticed. She was able to use that to her advantage right now, however, by searching over the top of the crowd and spotting an empty booth in the back far corner.

“Lucky break that Cece was willing to meet tonight, huh?” Roxy asked as her and Sophie slid into the uncomfortably tiny booth and set their beers down on some cardboard coasters. The aged and crackled naugahyde cushions had zero padding, while the wooden table was so battered that any carved letters in its surface were unintelligible beneath old scratches and ring stains.

“Yeah,” Sophie replied, “very lucky. Thank you for arranging this meeting at the last minute, Roxy. When I asked you all earlier today, I really didn’t expect any of you to actually know who Cece was, much less get her to agree to meet the same night.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the hyena beastess said. “It wasn’t hard, really. I dunno how much the Church knew about him, but ol’ Kurtis ‘Snake’ Mandrake was part of the underground network of connections that the Four Packs of Abraxas have all across the megacity. Well, at least until you, y’know, offed the bastard.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Like I said—don’t worry about it. Water under the bridge.” Roxy brushed her mohawk back and smirked. “We’ll be fine. The Four Packs will survive. In my opinion, it’s better in the long run—one less scumbag in the world we’ll be forced to deal with.” She raised her pint glass in the air. “Cheers to that!”

Sophie nervously smiled back and said, “Cheers.” She clinked her glass with Roxy’s and both of them took a sip of beer.

Roxy and Sophie chatted for a little bit as they people-watched, which helped Sophie relax a bit. It was easy to make Roxy laugh—she was a hyena, Sophie reminded herself—and they imagined what kinds of people the other patrons were, through giggles and gulps from their pints.

Here she was, sharing a drink and shooting the shit with a pagan in a run-down Shadow Town tavern called the Careless Angel Bar, because of course it would be named that. If only her younger self could see her now! She’d probably say she had been brainwashed, probably by some secret heathen magic, into joining forces with—

Mac. In the inquisition room. Sophie remembered her words, echoing in her mind.

‘When I’m out of here, come with me. Join my pack. Worship our Goddess. We’ll take you in as one of our own, and keep your sister under our protection too.’

Sophie had been too caught up in the rush of the moment at the time to really process it. After all, her only real goals for the future were to rescue Mac, find her Little Sis, and, if possible, kill that bastard bishop and that perverted archbishop. Think practical, Sophie. No emotions. Simple goals to perfectly execute, just as she was trained to do.

She could dream later.

But first in that cramped janitor’s closet with Lexi, and now here in this shitty dive bar, Sophie was being forced to consider that she had no real future for herself, now that she was dead-set on betraying the Church. No plans at all. Nothing she could even conceive of that felt actually attainable or real.

Nothing … except for Mac’s invitation.

A hand extended through a hazy fog, by the one she was falling in love with.

Still though.

Even if it was the best short-term solution she had to rescue Mac and her Little Sis, Sophie was still uncomfortable with being involved with a gang of criminals, and much less comfortable with being invited to join their den of thieves in the future.

She had told Mac, back in the inquisition room under the academy, that she was born to be a bad girl. But did she really have what it takes? To just uproot her entire worldview like that? Being against the Church was one thing, but being with the Pack of Abraxas West was another.

… Wait, what was she thinking? She was working with them, even if it was only in the short-term! She had made it this far, hadn’t she? She trusted them with her secrets, because only they could truly understand what it was like to be a beastess, to be someone like her. And Lexi trusted them too. They helped Lexi transition, miraculously, into a woman and a beastess, and she looked so happy, so understood.

Like she had finally found her people.

And from what Lexi had told her, they broke the law, yes, but they did it to take care of their pack, and to make life better for others in the megacity—people who were neglected, shunned, or mistreated. Wasn’t that what the Church said to do? Wasn’t that what Father Sun wanted?

Come to think of it … these pagans, these so-called heathens, did more for the people of Abraxas than she had ever done in all her time as a templar. All she ever did was arrest and kill people. In her short time with these members of PAW, Sophie had seen that beastesses act on their values, rather than just preaching them.

They followed neither a strict code of ethics, nor their emotional whims. They followed their instincts of what was right and wrong. Careful hunters, restoring balance to the natural order.

Sophie wondered for a brief moment what it would be like to follow her instincts, like they did.

The tiger inside her mind purred.

[You really need to work on not broadcasting your thoughts to other beastesses,] Roxy said in Sophie’s mind, quite literally interrupting Sophie’s train of thought.

[Shit!] Sophie thought back. [I’m, uh, out of practice. And by that, I mean I only discovered last week that beastesses could even communicate this way.]

[Don’t worry,] Roxy replied with a smirk, [I didn’t hear much.]

[Liar.]

Roxy put up her hands.

“Ya got me!” she said with a chuckle. “But seriously … take your time, Sophie. It’s your decision to make. All we can do is show you that we’re not so bad.” She lightly punched Sophie in the arm and flashed another smile, this time more genuinely. “It’s okay to take off the armor and let your guard down once in a while, templar. Live a little!”

Sophie nodded gently and smiled back, as she stared into the foam of her beer and tapped the side of her pint glass with her fingernails.

The glare of lights turning on at the other end of the room drew their attention towards a small but elevated stage, complete with dusty blue velvet curtains, a cymbal-less drum kit pushed off to one side, and an upright player piano with a magitech panel in place of where the paper roll would go. A single bright spotlight shone down on the microphone stand in the middle, mounted atop of which was a bulky microphone with a metallic grilled capsule that looked like the front of a car.

A woman with jet-black hair in a bob cut, dark red lipstick, long luscious lashes, and a glittery form-fitting black dress stepped out from behind the curtains, to much applause and wolf-whistles from the crowd.

“There she is—the gun moll we’re looking for,” Roxy said.

“Ex-moll now,” Sophie corrected. “I made damn sure of that.”

The woman on the stage punched in a few buttons on the magitech panel of the player piano, and it began to play a slow, seductive tune. With that, Cecelia “Cece” Dunaway took the microphone and started her first song of the evening.

Her voice was as captivating as it was versatile. Cece could turn up the charm with a low breathy alto on the verses, while on the chorus she could climb to a dazzling mezzo soprano, before belting the finale all the way to the back row of the venue. Her first number was met with thunderous cheers from the enraptured crowd.

[Wow, she’s really good,] Sophie thought to Roxy half-way through Cece’s second song. [What’s someone with her talent doing singing in a dump like this?]

[This ‘dump’ may not look like much,] Roxy replied, [but the Careless Angel Bar is one of the most popular bars in Shadow Town. Snake may not have been able to help her perform at the Abraxas Concert Hall or Lady Luck Casino, but he had enough pull to get her a regular gig here.]

The two beastesses waited until the end of Cece’s set, when she had retired backstage, before heading back to the bar.

“Look, there’s the owner,” Roxy said, nudging Sophie. “Hey! Koda!”

The owner of the Careless Angel Bar was behind the bar at the top of a step-stool, grabbing an expensive bottle of rum from the top shelf—someone ordered bottle service, presumably—but when Roxy called their name, they smiled as soon as they recognized the hyena beastess.

“Roxanne!” they shouted over the noise of the crowd, as they handed the bottle of rum to the bartender and leaned against the counter. “Pleasure to see you again, as always.”

Koda was heavy-set and well-dressed in a white button-down shirt and navy trousers, and if Roxy hadn’t just pointed them out, Sophie would have thought they were just a bar-back. They wore a spiffy purple bow-tie and suspenders to match, along with rimless circular glasses and a perfectly-coifed pompadour of pink hair.

“Likewise,” Roxy replied while giving Koda a fist-bump.

Koda’s smile disappeared as soon as they looked at Sophie.

“Ah,” they said with distaste, “so you’re the templar that Roxy was talking about on the phone.”

“Yes, that’s me,” Sophie said. “I know it’s short notice, but the APD keeps me on a busy schedule, so I don’t get much free time for meetings like … this.” She didn’t know what Roxy had specifically said to Koda on the phone, so she kept her lies short and non-specific.

Koda’s frown remained. Roxy had warned Sophie that Koda was always suspicious with new faces, and especially with paladins.

The owner turned to Roxy and said, “This is a big ask, Roxy. You’re really sure I can trust her with Cece?”

“I told you, Koda,” Roxy said, “Cece isn’t in any trouble. If anything, Sophie here would be in big trouble herself if the Church caught wind of this. I mean, can you imagine? A templar from the Abraxas Paladin Department caught working with beastesses to get in contact with Snake’s girlfriend—ex-girlfriend now, I guess—all so she can get some mob connections and pick up some easy money from bribes? She has every good reason for this to go as smoothly as possible.”

Sophie glared at Roxy, who merely flashed a shit-eating grin back at her.

[Fuck you.]

[Just play along, Sophie.]

Great, now she has to pretend to be a dirty paladin! As if she wasn’t already facing a real moral dilemma here, now she was complicit in a fake one too.

“Yup, I’m just here to make some cash,” Sophie added. “I, uh, need it. For drugs. I did a drug this morning, actually.” She give Koda her best ‘I’m trustworthy, I promise’ smile.

[‘Did a drug this morning’? Goddess above, Sophie, you suck at this.]

Sophie kicked Roxy under the bar, still smiling but through gritted teeth.

[Back me up, then!]

“It’s really bad,” Roxy said, rubbing her shin with her other foot. “Sophie does, like, all the drugs. She came crawling to our pack, practically on her hands and knees, begging for our help to get more money somehow. And you know me, Koda—even if she’s a templar, I can’t say ‘no’ to a beautiful woman who’s down on her knees in front of me.”

Sophie kicked Roxy under the bar again, harder this time. The hyena woman, somehow hiding the pain from showing on her face, kicked the tigress woman back just as hard. Neither of them broke eye contact with Koda.

Koda raised a single eyebrow at the both of them. They sighed, took off their glasses, and rubbed the bridge of their nose before putting them back on.

“You fuckin’ owe me big time for this one, Roxy,” Koda said.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Roxy squealed. “You’re a real one, Koda.”

“So are you—a real pain in my ass, that is. Lemme put this stool away first, and then I’ll show her to the green room.”

As soon as Koda disappeared with the stool into a room behind the bar, Sophie couldn’t help but ask Roxy a question that was nagging at her.

“Hey, Roxy,” Sophie said, “I don’t know how else to ask this … but is Koda a man or a woman?”

Roxy cackled loudly, covering her mouth to avoid drawing attention. When she took her hand away, she was grinning from ear to ear.

“Neither!”

“… Oh.”

Sophie had never met someone who was neither gender before. Then again, until a couple of nights ago, she hadn’t met someone (that she knew of) who had completely changed their gender either.

Maybe she was more sheltered than she thought.

Koda returned and came around the front of the bar, motioning for Sophie to follow them through the crowd. Roxy stayed at the bar and gave Sophie a thumbs-up of encouragement, which the tigress returned nervously. Koda guided Sophie over to a door on the side of the stage and unlocked it.

“Down the hall, second door on the left,” they said. “Be quick—she’s got another show coming up in a bit.”

“Thanks.”

Sophie followed Koda’s directions down the dimly lit hallway to a door that simply said Green Room. She knocked a few times.

“Who is it?” came a muffled voice from inside.

“My name is Sophie. Koda arranged for me to meet with you.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Right … the templar. Come in.”

Sophie stepped into the small yet comfy green room and closed the door behind her. There was a couch that looked to be real leather, a tall floor lamp in the corner for warm light, and a coffee table which had a few scuffs but was otherwise in good condition. Cece was sitting on a stool, staring intensely at the mirror of the vanity table as she touched up her lipstick. She popped her dark red lips a few times before capping the tube.

“So Koda tells me you’re …” Cece’s words trailed off as she turned to face Sophie. All of the color drained from her face in an instant.

Sophie knew this was coming. The last time they met was in … less-than-ideal circumstances, to put it lightly.

“First of all, Cece, I just want to assure you that I’m only here to—”

“You came here to kill me!” Cece accused, her whole body shaking. “Just like you offed Kurtis!”

“Calm down,” Sophie said. She raised her hands to try to placate Cece. “I’m not—”

“Because I’m a witness, right? Is that it? I’m right, aren’t I?!”

“I just want to—”

“You let me go that night, but the Church must’ve told you to get rid of me, so you’re back to finish the job, right?! Fuck, I don’t wanna die! I’ll scream until Koda comes and—MMFF!!”

Sophie ran over, wrapped her arms around Cece in a bear hug from behind, and clasped a hand over her mouth. The nightclub singer squirmed in her grasp as they both faced the vanity mirror.

“Cece!” Sophie whispered into her ear. “Listen—I am not here to kill you. And I’m not with the Church anymore. I only told Koda that I was still a templar so I could get a meeting with you. I just want to ask you some questions. But I can’t do that if you’re screaming bloody murder and alerting the whole nightclub!”

Cece stopped moving. Since both of them were staring at the mirror, Cece looked up slightly to meet the gaze of Sophie’s reflection. She cocked one eyebrow.

“You don’t believe me? That I’m not a templar anymore?” Sophie asked.

Cece shook her head.

“I can prove it.”

The singer replied with a muffled, “How?”

“Promise me you won’t scream. Promise me, Cece.”

Cece paused for a second. Then, she nodded, albeit with trepidation.

“Good girl. Now watch the mirror.”

Sophie took a deep breath, and as she exhaled, her fingernails on the hand covering Cece’s mouth grew longer and more curved. Thick fluffy fur sprouted out of her skin and spread down her arm in a two-toned pattern, orange on top and white underneath, both intersected occasionally by black stripes. Her black paw pads further muffled Cece’s shocked gasp. The nightclub singer couldn’t help but let out a small squeal.

“You promised,” Sophie growled. “Cece, I’m not going to hurt you—but don’t give me a reason to. Here’s how this is going to go: I’m going to take my paw away from your mouth, you won’t scream, you’ll answer my questions, you won’t tell anyone what we talked about, and then I’ll be out of your hair. Deal?”

Cece looked down at the tiger paw over her mouth, then at Sophie. She nodded, clearly still terrified. At least she wasn’t screaming.

Sophie slowly removed the paw from Cece’s mouth and stopped hugging her, taking a step back as her paw shifted back into a hand again.

Wait, was Cece … blushing?

“You’re a … a …” Cece stammered quietly as she turned around.

“Beastess,” Sophie said. “Yup. I’ve been keeping it a secret for some time, even from the Church. But I absolutely can’t stand to work for them anymore, and I’m gonna leave the paladins as soon as I feel safe enough to do so. Honestly?” She hesitated, but then crossed her arms and smiled. “Fuck the Church. God above, that feels so good to finally say out loud.”

Cece said, “S-so you’re working with the Four Packs now?”

Sophie frowned. “Temporarily.”

“I see.” Cece looked Sophie up and down. She twirled a lock of her hair over and over around her index finger. “You’d probably be a valuable asset for them. Being a former templar and all that.” Cece’s voice became breathier, like she was talking to herself more than Sophie. “So tall, and strong, too…”

Sophie furrowed her brow.

“Let’s get back on track here. I don’t have much time with you, so we need to make this quick.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Cece nodded and placed one elbow on the vanity table behind her, casually leaning backwards on it and letting her arm dangle. Her ruby red lips curled into a comfortable smile.

Good, Sophie thought. At least she seemed far more relaxed now.

“What do you know about Snake’s … ahem, ‘business’ dealings? How much did he involve you?”

At the mention of Snake Mandrake, Cece tensed up. So much for being relaxed.

“Not much, I’m afraid,” Cece said, sitting more upright. “Kurtis never did like me hangin’ around his office when he had company.”

“Is there anything you overheard? Anything you saw?”

“Not really.”

Dammit. This lead might be a dead end, Sophie thought. C’mon, Sophie, you’ve done plenty of inquisitions before. Think of a different angle of approach.

Cece looked away and wiped at one of her lower eyelids, so as not to ruin her make-up.

“Nothing I wanna remember, anyway,” Cece said, her voice trembling slightly. “… Can we talk about something else?”

Hmm. Maybe it’s not a dead end after all, Sophie thought. Maybe Cece just needs to feel more comfortable.

She had her angle.

“Hey,” Sophie said gently. “Is it okay if I touch you?”

Cece looked back at Sophie with wide eyes.

“I promise I’m not gonna shift again,” Sophie said.

After a moment’s hesitation, Cece nodded. Sophie placed her hand on top of Cece’s and made eye contact.

“I also know,” Sophie continued, “what it’s like to be controlled. Specifically what it’s like to be controlled by a despicable, lecherous man you once trusted long ago. It … it feels like being kept on a leash at all times. It suffocates you any time you stray. Even in moments of relative peace you can feel it chafing at your skin. You can never feel completely comfortable or safe.”

Cece looked away, then back again. Sophie could feel the singer’s hand shaking, so she closed her hand around Cece’s dainty fingers and gently squeezed them. Cece’s face flushed, but the shaking stopped.

“One of my superior officers—soon to be ex-superior, once I leave the Church for good—had always had an eye for me. Every time we met, whether in public or private, he was constantly leering at me, undressing me with his eyes, or even chancing the occasional ‘accidental’ touch to my body.” Sophie frowned. “Lately he’s gotten more ‘adventurous’. He’s … he’s been groping me. Kissing me. Touching me. And … and …”

She cleared her throat. Now Sophie’s voice was trembling.

“... And violating me. Usually with his fingers.”

“I’m … so sorry,” Cece whispered.

“He said my body was his, to do with as he pleases,” Sophie growled, regaining her composure. “I have to keep my mutiny a secret while that pervert has his way with me each time we meet. He’s lucky I haven’t sliced him open yet with my claws. From one head to the other one.” Sophie traced her finger from the top of her head down to her crotch.

“This same superior officer,” she continued, “has been blackmailing me into performing secret missions for him ever since I joined the templars. They were horrible missions. Bloodbaths, some of them. I still get nightmares about those. Sometimes they were secret arrests where I basically kidnapped people, and other times they were covert assassinations like … well, the one I was on when we first met. Officially, the Church has no involvement in Snake’s death. Unofficially though … ”

“I knew there was a cover-up!” Cece said.

“My point is this—you’re free,” Sophie said. “Snake can’t hurt you anymore. And I’m almost free myself, from that petty tyrant in a robe … but to get there, I need your help, Cece.”

Cece removed her hand from Sophie’s grasp. She drummed her fingernails on the vanity table, staring at them in thought.

“What was that asshole blackmailing you for?” she finally asked. “Does he know you’re a …” Cece used her nails like claws to slash the air in front of her.

“No, but he knows my Little Sis is one,” Sophie replied. “My parents have looked up to him for as long as I can remember, so he has always kept a watchful eye on my sister and I, ever since we were kids. Before he learned my Little Sis was a beastess, he threatened to harm her if I didn’t carry out those damned secret missions for the Church. And recently—right before he told me my body was ‘his’—he told me that my Little Sis has been handed over to the clutches of Archbishop Steele. Apparently, he told me as well, the archbishop has been secretly kidnapping and trafficking beastess girls for who knows how long, all to satisfy his own personal perversions. Steele has been working with the criminal underworld of Abraxas to make it happen, and getting other high-ranking members of the Church, like my superior officer, to cover it up … by bribing them with ‘exclusive access’ to said beastesses.”

Cece gasped.

“I think I get it now,” she said. “About why you came on to me for—shit! I mean, why you came to me for help.”

“Exactly,” Sophie said. She smirked. “So you do know something about how Snake is connected to the archbishop.”

“Well, I don’t know exactly how,” Cece said. “It’s not like Archbishop Steele ever came knockin’ around our place. But Kurtis did talk about him, occasionally. Not with much respect, mind you. He would mutter to himself sometimes, when he thought I was busy doing chores and not listening. He’d say stuff like how the archbishop was puttin’ too much pressure on him lately. Or how that ‘filthy old man’ was making him risk his neck without proper compensation. How he’d make the archbishop pay one day if he was pushed too far.” Cece shook her head and let out a single wry laugh. “Heh. He always surrounded himself with people who agreed with everything he said, ‘cuz he was the boss. So he never learned when to shut the fuck up.” She frowned. “His big mouth ended up costing him his life, I guess.”

“Do you know what he meant by any of that?”

“Not at the time. Although, now that you mentioned the archbishop has your sister …” Cece scowled. “I think I can read between the lines. I’m not surprised Kurtis would be involved in something as disgusting as that.”

This was going well, Sophie thought, but it wasn’t really enough information to go on.

“If the archbishop never came over to your place,” Sophie asked, “then how did Snake communicate with him? Did he ever say where he went, or did he have any private correspondence with Archbishop Steele? Letters, emails maybe?”

“He never told me where he was goin’. As for correspondence, even if he was pen pals with the archbishop, the Church confiscated all of his records from the, uh … crime scene.”

“Damn.”

Surely Cece saw or heard something that would link Snake to Archbishop Steele. Sophie steepled her fingers together in thought.

Here is the church.

Here is the steeple.

Open the doors, and see all the …

“Can you remember any people that came to visit him? People from the Church, maybe?”

Cece pursed her lips and looked up at the ceiling.

“No … no one in robes, at least. It was just an endless parade of guys in fancy suits.”

Sophie sighed, and said, “Well, shit. I don’t know what else to ask. Thanks for the infor—”

“Well, hold on,” Cece interrupted. She raised one finger in the air and looked at the ceiling again. “It wasn’t all guys in fancy suits. There was one woman who came by every so often as well. I never learned her name, unfortunately for you, but she was hard to miss, that’s for sure.”

… A woman who was hard to miss, huh?

“Can you tell me what she looked like, at least?” Sophie asked.

“She was tall,” Cece said. “Like, at least a head taller than you, maybe more. She looked like an athlete, like a basketball player or something. Um, she had white hair—like, white white. But half of her head was shaved. And she was definitely a chrome punk. Dressed like one too, with skinny jeans and shit. There was a magitech plate in her head on the shaved part, and her neck had spinal implants too. Hmm, what else … oh! She also had a scar over one eye—same side as the shaved part of her head. She always gave me the creeps, to be honest. She scared me sometimes, because I never heard her footsteps if she was coming. Does any of that help?”

Yes, it does!

There’s only one person Sophie can think of who would meet that description.

It’s gotta be her!

“I think so,” Sophie said, keeping her composure while mentally logging everything she just heard. “It’s another lead, at least. Now … I don’t think I have any more questions, so all I ask is that you remember to keep your promise. Everything we’ve talked about just now never leaves this room.”

“I promise,” Cece said, holding her right hand in the air like she was taking an oath. “It’s the least I can do after you saved me.”

“Thank you, Cece. Good luck on your next performance tonight, and I’m glad to see you’re doing well for yourself.”

Sophie turned to walk out, but felt Cece grab her arm to stop her. She turned back, confused.

“Sophie …” Cece said. “Thanks again. For rescuing me that night. You were my knight in shining armor.” She searched for the right words, blushing. “Would you, um, ever want to grab a drink sometime?”

Ah, shit. Sophie was gonna have to let her down gently.

“I’m flattered, Cece, but I’m already taken.” She looked the nightclub singer up and down. “You’re a beautiful girl, though. You deserve better than some asshole like Snake.” Sophie smiled warmly. “I think you’ll find someone out there who will treat you right.”

Taken aback at first, Cece returned the smile, hopeful.

“Someone who’ll treat me like I’m a princess?”

“No,” Sophie corrected. “Like you’re a person.”

Cece’s smile fell, but not into a frown. It was more like a lightbulb had turned on in her head.

“Best of luck, Cece.” Sophie winked at her and left the green room, shutting the door behind her.

The tigress woman found Roxy back at the booth they were sitting at earlier, taking sips from a bottle of beer this time. Roxy looked around for eavesdroppers, and then leaned in close to Sophie when she slid into the opposite seat.

“Well?” Roxy asked expectantly. “How did it go?”

“I didn’t get much from her, I’m afraid,” Sophie explained. “She knew Snake was working with the archbishop, but Snake never allowed her in the room when he did his dealings for the family business.”

“She didn’t hear or see anything we could use?”

“Hear, no. But she did see something. Or rather, someone.” Sophie knocked on the table with the knuckles of one fist, before settling back into her seat and crossing her arms triumphantly. “I think we just found out who the rat is in the Four Packs—the rat who sold out Mac to the Church and told them about her investigation of the archbishop’s crimes.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense here!” Roxy said, leaning in closer. “Who is it?”

“She didn’t catch a name,” Sophie said, “but she said Snake regularly met with someone who definitely fits the profile of a beastess that both you and I know within the Four Packs. I only know her from the APD’s records on the Four Packs of Abraxas, but you’ve probably met her in person. Let me ask you this, Roxy—which beastesses do you know who are tall and slim, with white hair? One side shaved, with a metal magitech plate in her skull, and a scar over one eye?”

Roxy’s eyes widened.

She clutched her hands into fists and pounded both of them onto the table at once, hard, enough to rattle the nearly-empty beer bottle in front of her.

“That sneaky cheetah BITCH!” Roxy spat, her voice filled with wrath and contempt. “Fucking Goddess above! Of course the rat’s fuckin’Ripley Belladonna!”