“Has Oracle said anything about David?”
“No, but that may be because the Fates haven’t given her permission to speak about him.”
“I’d agree with that assessment.”
“I have to go. Oracle will be leaving shortly but as soon as I have more information, I’ll call you.”
“Good. Give Daniel a kiss for me and once we have the final proof, I’ll come over so we can make plans.”
“That’ll be fine. Bye.”
Maximus ended the call and slipped the phone in his pocket. Thinking about the ramifications of this discovery, he hoped everything would work out for Zane. Hearing Oracle asking for him through their mind link, he left to find his wife.
~/~/~/~/~
After sending a text to his brother asking for a picture of David, Jackson looked up at Steel. “Did your father seem a little off just now?”
“Off? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know exactly but I get the feeling he knows something about Zane’s mate, but is keeping it to himself.”
“Really?” Steel asked, thinking over what his father said. “No, he seemed the same as always.”
“Hmmm, maybe, but he seemed too eager when he asked about the tattoos.”
“I just racked it up to his photographic memory.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Chapter 6
During dinner, Logan kept an eye on Zane and David, wondering what was so special about the newest member of the Blackwood Pack that Jackson would ask for a picture of him. He hadn’t told his brother about what happened when Zane and David shook hands, but he’d get to that when he called him later, back in the privacy of his hotel suite.
“David, are you coming back to the hotel with us tonight?” asked Theo.
Zane spoke up, “We haven’t decided what we’re doing, Theo.”
“Where are you from?” asked Norm, then adding quickly, “Not that it matters but I was just wondering.”
“No problem,” David said. “I’m from a region in Italy called Tuscany.”
“I know all about it,” Kieran said. “It was one of the areas my Shaman made me study. I always wanted to go there to see the Church of the Four Gods. From the pictures my Shaman showed me, it’s magnificent, but he told me I couldn’t really appreciate it unless I stood exactly in the center of it, looked up and turned around in a circle and then I’d understand why so many paranormals chose to follow that religion. Have you ever been there?”
Unsure if Kieran was trying to expose him, David felt the urge to vanish again and it was only Zane’s hand holding his that kept him there giving him a sense of calmness. “Yes, I have,” he answered, “but I never did that. What happens when you do the circle thing?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Kieran said, “I don’t know. My Shaman never told me that, only that I would find understanding, but that doesn’t matter to me, I just want to see the architecture…oh,macushla, did you ever go there?”
“No, but I agree with you…it’s a stunning piece of workmanship,” answered Logan, “and it’s one of the finest examples of Ancient High Gothic Celestial architecture left on earth.”
“It’s a church for paranormals? I never heard of it. Can humans go there too?” asked Theo.
“Only if they’re mated to a paranormal,” Kieran said.
“You mean a shifter can have a human for a mate? Pooh bear, did you know that?” Theo asked.
“No, I don’t remember learning that in school,” Norman answered.
“My Shaman,” continued Kieran, “told me it was more common a long time ago, but after humans started to hunt shifters…and when shifters began to go underground, so to speak…the gods decreed it should stop. They also forbade any shifter from disclosing the existence of another.”
