“Looks like it,” Oz said.
“All right,” Elias said, nodding as his fingers drummed on the table, brow creased as he mulled over the new information. “We know more than we did. The problem is, it’s all a bunch of disconnected pieces that we need to bring together to come up with something cohesive. Which begs the question, how the hell are we supposed to do that?”
He raised his eyebrows as his gaze swept across the room, opening up the floor for suggestions.
“We need to figure out a way to turn the two of them against one another,” I said. “If we can get them at one another’s throats, they’ll be distracted, and that will give us enough time to come up with a plan to go after whoever wins.”
“Bets are still open for who’s going to win,” Oz piped up. “My money’s still on the wraith.”
He quieted, biting his lips as Elias shot him a withering glare.
“We can’t just wait, hoping one of them will take out the other for us,” Elias countered. “It’s a nice fantasy, but it’s not feasible, nor is it practical.”
“The good news is that we’re not helpless on either front. We know iron hurts demons. Emma and Rachel can help with the wraith,” Sam said.
“Liv, too,” I muttered, turning the heads of most of the other wolves in the room. Only Elias and Sam didn’t look surprised. Their mates must have told them what was going on.
“Wait.” Oz held up a hand, eyebrows shooting high up his forehead in incredulity. “Are you telling me that Liv’s a witch, too?”
“Looks that way,” I growled.
Oz blinked. I knew my friend well enough to know that he was currently biting back a thousand questions he desperately wanted to ask.
My lip twitched upward despite myself. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“They can help defend the town against the wraith,” Elias conceded, ignoring Oz’s shocked interjection. “But I’m not risking them to attack him head-on. I’m not putting them in danger.”
Sam snarled his agreement. I gave Elias a short, sharp nod, trying hard to hide my relief that he didn’t plan on putting Liv directly in harm’s way. It had been one of the things that had kept me up at night ever since she had told me she wanted to train with Rachel and Emma. Knowing that wouldn’t be an issue, as I had feared, let me breathe easier.
“All right, so we have three witches we can use,” Oz said. “I think that we need to utilize them as much as possible. We’ve got an advantage that would be moronic to squander, you know?”
“I’m guessing you have an idea?” Elias said.
“Considering I’m just finding out about a third witch, not at the moment. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll figure something out.” Oz tapped his foot, staring up at the ceiling as he contemplated, entirely oblivious to the fact that the rest of us were staring at him.
“Maybe they can create something for us?” Oz finally suggested. “Ever since this all started, I’ve been doing some research into witchcraft. There are plenty of examples of witches enchanting objects with magic. Maybe we can get them to do that for us to go up against the wraith.”
“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Elias admitted. “I’ll talk to the girls and see what they can figure out. If you could tell them what books to look at for those spells, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’ll make a list,” Oz promised.
I found myself breathing a little easier. We had plans. That always made things feel more manageable, even with wraiths and demons and all the other things plaguing the town. Knowing we could do something, that we knew what to do, always helped me focus. We were taking strides toward action.
A knock sounded on the door, and the entire room fell silent. We all looked to the door. There was no reason to expect anything was wrong, but it was as if a cloud had just covered the room, weighing everything down. I didn’t know how to explain it, only that I had the uncomfortable certainty that something was very wrong, and that whoever was on the other side of the door was about to deliver some very bad news.
Glancing around, taking in Elias’s and Sam’s stricken, uneasy expressions, I had a sneaking suspicion that they had the exact same thoughts.
Lucas was the one who actually opened the door. On the other side stood Theo, one of my patrolmen who was supposed to be circling the town right now. That intuition that something was very, very wrong deepened into cold certainty. Theo’s features were taut, his shoulders tense, his expression grim.
No one said anything as he stepped into the room, all of us watching him intently. Theo licked his lips.
“Sorry for interrupting,” he muttered. He turned to me. “I know I’m supposed to be patrolling, but—”
I waved him off. “I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t be here if it weren’t important. What is it?”
“I was on patrol and was on my way past the oasis when a couple of people stopped me,” he began. “It’s impossible. I don’t know how it could happen. If they hadn’t dragged me over to see it, I probably wouldn’t have believed it myself.”
I held up my hand, and his babbling died away. “What happened exactly, Theo?” I asked.
