Everyone quieted as all attention turned to Marco.
“For those who don’t know already, last night Adrien followed two fighters suspected of being part of an unsanctioned fighting ring into vampire territory, where he was ambushed. He managed to get a tracker on one of the guys enroute before that, and we now have the address of where that tracker ended up. It’s in an area with limited cameras to tap into, so all Luca’s been able to track down is some grainy satellite footage and a collection of shell companies that own the location. He confirmed the links between the feral fighter and the unsanctioned ring. Rafe’s research suggests the deaths were related to illegal medical research, most likely undertaken by the D-2S for unknown purposes.”
“Well, fuck,” Emilio said as Marco paused. “Does that mean we can go kill them now?”
“This is the best lead we’ve had on a physical location associated with the D-2S yet, but there’s too much of a paper trail. It’s sloppy compared to their usual MO. I doubt it’s a significant site, but I’ll take any lead I can get on whatever is turning these shifters feral. They won’t stay there long if they’re using it for something. We need to go in hard and fast tonight and get as much intel as we can. Rafe is coming to identify any medical equipment and run triage if things go wrong. Adri is there for any insight or knowledge of the fighters there. We’ll confirm tactics once we’ve got eyes on the building. Any questions?” Marco continued.
“Given the history of explosives, Blaze is making a fire witch available to you, and I’ll come along to keep your approach hidden,” Rocco chimed in.
Marco tipped his head in thanks. “We’ll roll out as soon as they’re here, then.”
“Will you shift when we get there?” Adri asked.
Rafe glanced over at him before looking back at the road as he drove the same SUV he’d used to get them to the fight.
“No. I need to carry medical supplies on me, and I prefer to have some clothes on if I’m patching people up in the middle of a gunfight.”
Adri couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. He’d never seen Rafe’s wolf. It shouldn’t matter. He hardly shifted himself because he’d spent so long ignoring and suppressing that side of himself as a child, only to have it exploited as an adult. Watching the way the Lunetti Pack had been together had reinforced what he might be missing out on by keeping himself aloof, though. Maybe a pack wasn’t all bad.
A strong hand reached out to squeeze his thigh. “You want to see my wolf, kitten? I’ll show you whenever you want. Or you can come run with me in the forest one night with the pack.”
Adri shrugged, not ready to admit what he wanted yet. “I’m going to shift.”
His senses were much more acute in jaguar form. He’d be better able to make sure no one snuck up on his doc while he was busy. Plus, he wasn’t interested in wielding a gun, and his bite force when shifted was an excellent weapon.
“I’ll do my best not to let your beautiful jaguar distract me, then.”
Adri rolled his eyes. Rafe was ridiculous sometimes.
“I’m serious, kitten. I can barely tear my eyes off you in either form. If you’re going to use your cat senses, could you see if you can sniff out anything that might be a neural chip? It’s probably too much to hope there’s one with brain matter on it that will make it easy to scent, but you should be able to pick up on the scent of solder if it’s somewhere it shouldn’t be.”
“Yeah, Doc. I can do that, but I’m sticking close to you.”
“Good—” Rafe swallowed back the ‘kitten’ at the end of that sentence, clearly thinking better of it, and Adri couldn’t decide if that made him more or less annoyed.
“Are we heading back into vampire territory again?” Adri asked, peering at the surrounding streets as they crossed one of the three boundary roads that trisected the city.
“Yeah, Marco’s been talking to Darius about it. If we find evidence that Kyan is involved with the D-2S, he’s going to have to move up his plans to take over the coven, whether he’s ready or not. We can’t leave that kind of threat in charge of a third of the city, and we can’t trust the Council to deal with it without going full nuclear option and replacing all of us.”
Adri’s brow furrowed as he considered this information. He’d been peripherally aware of the power plays in the city, of course. You couldn’t avoid it when you worked for the Lunettis. But no one had ever trusted him with any sort of detail about it.
“I thought the Council was there to maintain order.”
Rafe scoffed under his breath. “They’re there to maintain power.Theirs. But to do that, they need to be perceived as the least bad option by the vast array of supernatural communities they deal with. Some individuals who work for them are fine. They have morals. They genuinely want to keep people safe. Rocco’s family is like that. Marco had to quietly look into them before we finalised the marriage arrangement with the MC. The rest range somewhere from unknown to dangerous power-trip.”
“Should you be telling me things about Rocco and the Council? Isn’t he part of the Lunetti family now?”
“So are you, kitten, and you can’t be part of Marco’s inner circle without understanding the political context we’re operating in.”
Adri’s head whipped round to glare at Rafe. “I’m not part of that, though!”
“You don’t get to decide who we let close. If I have my way, you’ll be on my lap at every meeting I attend from here on out.”
Adri swallowed hard. How had things between them changed so quickly? “What if I betray you?”
“You would never hurt me, kitten. Not like that. But you can keep kneading me with those delightful claws as much as you like.”
Adri looked down in surprise to find his hand had migrated to Rafe’s leg without him realising, and he was, in fact, digging his partially shifted fingers into the fabric and scratching at his skin. A hot flush spread up his neck to his face.
