Red-level threat is considered under attack. And I think if Mona were not involved, he wouldn't react so intensely, and we'd be on yellow-level, which is alert and cautious. As his second-in-command, it would be my place to voice disagreement. But I don't, because I agree completely.
It's going to annoy the shit out of Mona, though. She won't be able to go anywhere without protection. With a top-level enforcer, at least.
"The thing I'm most concerned about is how close they were to the course we set up. There was a clear path between the gym and here. The only obstacles were what we made. Fallen trees, boulders. We were trying to push her agility while being hunted. I had ten wolves placed throughout the course. Eli and Kellen were with her the whole time."
We both glance over. While she can hear every word, she and Doc are in conversation about how she's feeling, which, according to her, istotally fine.
"Amber, Cynthia and Matthias were all on your end. The other five monitored from a distance."
"Okay… and?"
"She went off course a little. Not much. Less than a mile. But the witches werethere. It was like they knew where to find her."
"What the fuck are you saying, Gray?"
His eyes flash. "The only people who knew the details of the course were the enforcers."
I shake my head. "They wouldn't betray us. Or her. You've seen the way they look at her."
Mona's head snaps up, her gaze locking onto us. I try to reassure her. "None of our enforcers would have hurt you, Mona."
"Except the ones that already did," she says flatly.
Gray curses under his breath. "Andrea still has friends here. This is her home after all." The unspoken accusation hangs between us.
But then I shake my head, more adamantly this time. "No. No way would she work with the witches. That was the entire fucking point of her beat-down, when she thought Mona was involved with them. She wouldn't work with the witches, Gray."
I'm not Team Andrea. I've always found her to be a colossal pain in the ass. Constantly needling, wanting to change protocols, always forcing her opinion on matters of security. There's just no way she'd work with the witches.
But if she wanted Mona gone…
Fuck. Red-level threat suddenly doesn't seem like an overreaction. It gives us an excuse to have a bodyguard on our mate at all times until we figure out who we can trust.
Too many fucking threats against her.
"I'm not saying it's her," Gray counters. "I'm just saying, she feels like she's been burned. Who knows what she'll do in retaliation."
Doc shifts uncomfortably. He doesn't like hearing this side of us. The suspicious and calculating side. Fortunately for him, it's easy to change the subject. Only one topic is more important, more distracting to me and Grayson, than security.
"Well, if we could all please turn our attention to Mona for a moment," Doc says.
Mona scowls at him. "You just said you don't smell anything and thought I was okay?"
"Yes. That's correct. Whatever happened in the woods didn't affect you."
"Okay…"
"Mona, perhaps you'd like to take a seat."
She crosses her arms and stands a little taller. "I'm good."
"Doc, you've got our attention," I growl, growing impatient. It seems anything involving my mate pulls it out of me. "Get on with it."
"I sent Mona's blood to the lab and ran my own tests to be certain. The results came in this morning, and I consulted with Dr. Halperin—you know her, don't you, Grayson? She's been with Kendrick's clan since—"
"Doc," he snaps.
"Right. Well, in any case. The lab results show residual traces of an herbal mixture in her bloodstream. Not much—most of it has cleared her system—but enough to identify it. Someone created a specific formula to keep her omega nature dormant—to silence her wolf completely."
