Something weird was definitely going on there.
“I’ve been working for years now, trying to track down the hunters’ markets in Kylma,” Caz explained. “I want to remove them. They’re illegal, but everyone ignores that, thanks to my father and the tyrants before him. If I want to stop the treatment of wing-clipped and others, I have to catch someone with incontrovertible proof. My word alone isn’t good enough.”
“And you haven’t been able to do that in years?” Ella asked, glancing at me.
Caz growled, clenching a hand in frustration as his eyes glowed silver-green. Ella reacted by pulling away in fear, and Dirk’s eyes lit up as well, swiveling to lock on his brother.
“Whoa,” I said, putting a hand out in themiddle of everyone. “Let’s back that up. Shall we? Caz is frustrated. He’s not mad at you, Ella. He doesn’t think you insulted him.”
“What?” Caz looked sharply from me to Ella. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry, Ella. Please forgive me. I was voicing my agreement, my frustration that it’s taken this long. You didn’t offend me. Even if you did, I wouldn’t take out my anger on you. You can ask Anna. You don’t need to fear me. I promise.”
Ella looked at me for confirmation.
“He’s telling the truth. He’s not … Ella, this isCaz. He’s a person. Remember that.”
“Okay,” she said, but she didn’t quite lean back over all the way.
“It’s been hard,” Caz acknowledged. “The hunters don’t make it easy. I’m certain one elite in particular is funding them, but I haven’t been able to pin him downatthe market yet. I need to trap him there.”
“Because if he’s there, he’s actively doing something illegal.”
“Exactly.” Caz looked at me but pointed at her. “Your friend is quick.”
“Ella is the brains of us,” I confirmed with a smile.
“Too bad she didn’t find a way to delay us finding one another that day,” Caz said, chuckling with idle irritation. “I was tracking him, and then something happened to leave me all distracted and flustered.”
Ella shot me a sharp look that I echoed.
“What do you mean you were tracking him that day?” I asked.
Caz noticed the glance between us. “I was hot on his trails. He was right there. In the open market. I almost had him!”
“Her,” I said slowly.
“What?” Caz looked from me to Ella and then to Dirk, standing up straighter. “What did you say?”
“An elitewasthere just before you,” I told him. “A very powerful one. But it wasn’t ahe.”
“The woman with the silver eyes,” Ella whispered, and I nodded.
“A woman?” Caz said slowly. “You’re saying it was a she?”
“Yes, and her eyes were so bright they were nearly white.”
Caz’s head snapped up to lock on to Dirk, who also looked stunned.
“Bryna?” he said, shaking his head. “There’s no way!”
The men began to all talk excitedly among themselves. I watched them go through the realization that they were looking for a woman they apparently knew. They weren’t bothered by that fact. Like Caz, they were upset at themselves for being blind to the possibility.
Most of all, though, they believed it. Theybelieved Ella and me immediately, without doubt. That was a strange feeling. In a room with all these powerful shifters, the strongest of them now holding my hand and resting with his shoulder comfortably touching me, everyone was talking about the consequences of what we’d revealed.
Not one of them questioned us. That was new. They simply … trusted. Caz had said I was part of their flight, but those had been the words of one man. This was the actions of many, without hesitation, and it included Ella automatically.
“Everything okay?” Caz murmured through the commotion, leaning down to whisper in my ear. “Your pulse is freaking out.”
I nuzzled my head into my mate’s shoulder a little harder. Despite everything, he still had a portion of his focus on me at all times. “I’m not used to people believing me when I tell them what an elite has been doing. Usually, I get yelled at. Or worse.”
