“How are we doing, boys?”
“Been better, Dad. We’re discussing to what level of the government is helping Viola.”
Dad waved that away. “Nothing to be done about it. A few crackpots on the inside trying to help her still won’t be as bad as before. At least, I hope not. They can’t operate in the shadows anymore.”
“Have either of you seen Sinthy?” I asked. Our new pack witch was the best weapon we had.
Luis gestured to the window behind me. “Saw her out front a few hours ago. She was mumbling some stuff out of that old book she carries around. Said she was strengthening the wards.”
“Good.” I nodded. “That’s our first line of defense. It’s kept most of the crazies from barging onto our lands.”
“Yeah, they can’t get in,” Luis said ruefully. “Except they’re still coming. There has to be at least a hundred people outside the gate. I’ve had reports of a few stragglers roaming around the outskirts too.”
Dad chuckled. “Speaking of. Did you see the footage from last night? The security cameras set up in the northern forest?”
“I heard about it, but I haven’t seen it yet,” I said.
“Pull it up,” Dad said and walked around my desk to watch. Luis joined us.
“What’s the time stamp?” I asked.
“Three-thirteen in the morning. Camera twenty-seven.”
I pulled up the feed. The cameras were equipped with night vision, and I immediately saw the three men and two women sneaking quietly through the underbrush toward the boundary of the pack’s land. Sinthy’s protection spells went about twenty feet past all our fences. These folks were getting very close.
“They can’t be this stupid,” I said. “These people should know by now that they can’t infiltrate our land.”
“Contrary to popular thought, knowledge does not actually increase intelligence,” my dad said with a smile.
Two of the men in the lead hit Sinthy’s wards. They stood rigid for an instant as if they were being electrocuted. A second later, they were blown backward ten feet, tumbling and rolling through the grass and shrubs. I would have snorted a laugh had it not been so worrying that people were still trying to get inside. I could only imagine what those idiots had planned for us.
The other three picked up their injured companions and dragged them back the way they’d come until they were out of the camera frame.
“How bad were they hurt?” I asked.
“No idea,” Luis said.
As though Fate stood in the corner waiting for the perfect moment to make my day worse, my office phone rang. I looked at it with unease before answering.
“This is Nicolas Lorenzo.”
“Mr. Lorenzo, this is Jessica Barton with Channel Nine News out of Tampa. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
I glanced at Dad and Luis before answering. “Uh, sure. What’s this about?”
Before she spoke again, I hit the speaker button.
“Mr. Lorenzo, I’m currently about twenty yards outside your gates. We’ve had multiple reports from individuals who are peacefully protesting outside your compound that they are unable to get closer than twenty feet.”
“Miss Barton, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but being a shifter these days comes with some serious security issues. Is there an issue with them staying back a safe distance?”
“That may be, Mr. Lorenzo, but they’ve also told us the reason they can’t get to the gates or fences is because there is some kind of barrier around your lands. In fact, a group of concerned citizens informed us that two men were severely injured last night while taking a walk in the forest near your lands. Would you like to comment on the fact that two innocent men were injured?”
I barked out a laugh, and my father’s face blazed with anger.
“Lady, those men were not taking a moonlit stroll. We have video footage of them trying to sneak onto our land. They, and their friends, were armed.”
“The question I really want to ask, Mr. Lorenzo, is whether shifters have access to technology that humans do not? The ability to project an invisible electric fence is beyond the capabilities of any government agency. I’ve done the research. We are only trying to allay the fears of our audience.”
