“The alphas of the Seattle god pack aren’t possessed. I spoke with them earlier today to warn them of the threat at hand and checked their souls. The field team I’m assisting is looking into any active hunter groups, but I figured you would know if any god packs have reported about demon possessions since the Battle of Samhain. They’ll talk to you before they’d ever talk to the government.”
“We haven’t heard any rumors about demonic possession of werecreatures in the United States. The London god pack purged the possessed in their ranks, but they’re still weeding out problems in the more far-flung packs in England with the help of other god packs. They’re the only ones I’m aware of who are still heavily dealing with that issue, but they haven’t asked for any help lately.”
“No recent hunter issues with packs in your area or other major cities?”
“Nothing tied to demons. As far as I know, most of the bigger hunter groups have been lying low since Ethan died. They were excoriated in the court of public opinion after the Battle of Samhain. Kind of hard to be a hunter and consider yourself one of the good guys when you align yourself with the hells.”
“So the packs are good?”
“I can’t speak for any outside New York City, but we’d know if demons were in most other packs. We have more alliances than we did before, and we’re on good terms with most of the major god packs in the country.”
“Seattle’s?”
“Decent-sized god pack. Fair alphas. They sent volunteers to New York City for the fight. They’ll keep pack confidence, but if you need them to listen to you, feel free to say you’re affiliated with my pack. If you don’t want to go that route, I can send someone out there to help facilitate any talks.”
Spencer was well aware of Patrick and Jono’s reputation and the respect they were given by others in the werecreature community. He knew not all of that was because Jono still had Fenrir popping up every now and then. Patrick and Jono had worked hard to present themselves as the alphas of a god pack that was focused on fair judgment and even-handed ruling to keep the packs under their protection safe. It was a far cry from the previous alphas of the New York City god pack.
“If I need to, I will. It’ll depend on the director.”
“Offer is always open for you even if the SOA doesn’t want to pay me. I won’t leave you hanging on the West Coast.”
“Thanks.”
“You said a vampire killed those werecreatures at the gala. Any problems with the Seattle Night Court?”
“Ah, no.”
There was a brief pause before Patrick groaned. “Seriously?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know exactly what I mean. Who’s the master vampire over there?”
“You don’t remember?”
“I know god packs. I steer clear of Night Court politics other than the ones in the five boroughs. They’re enough of a headache now that Lucien’s fucked off to the gods only know where.”
“He left Manhattan?”
“He said he’d be back. He just never said when. No one has been stupid enough to try to take over the Manhattan Night Court in his absence though. But we weren’t talking about Lucien. We were talking about your terrible taste in bed partners.”
“No we weren’t.”
Yes, you were, Fatima retorted, flicking her tail.
He glared at her. “Stop eavesdropping.”
“Fatima?” Patrick asked. At Spencer’s affirming grunt, he laughed. “Tell her Wade misses her.”
“He’s not allowed to keep her.”
Fatima turned her head, ears twitching.I like the fledgling.
Patrick’s youngest pack member was the only other person she’d ever communicated with the way she communicated with Spencer. Most of that was due to Wade Espinoza being a dragon rather than dead, and dragons were outside magical and supernatural norms bya lot.
“He’s hoarding other things right now. We’ve been trying to stop him from hoarding Lillian, but he’s her favorite uncle, and some days he’s the only one who can get her down for a nap.”
“She’s, what, almost one and a half now?”
