“I will, but I can’t see it anytime soon. I still have so much to learn about my duties.”
“How’s Adam doing?”
“Oh, my, I’d be lost without him and his lessons. My first appointment is next month…that’s when Steel said the building would be finished, and Adam has explained everything I should know about what’ll be discussed. Now, I’m reading up on all the legal stuff that may come up.”
“Great,” Zane said, “so are you feeling more confident about making decisions about all these requests?”
“Yes…by heaps,” David said, smiling. “Now, did you find out anything about your mom’s friend?”
“Yup, Jackson, Cody and Dylon are on their way down,” Zane said, just as the computer room door opened. Reaching over, he picked up three sets of documents and, giving them to his mate, said, “Hand these out to our guests, okay?”
Grinning, David hopped off Zane’s lap. After everyone had a copy, he took a seat next to his mate, murmuring, “Should I leave?”
Shaking his head, Zane then turned to Jackson. “The first page is a photo of Willow Thatcher taken less than a month ago by a man who was stalking her…”
“One of Josiah’s men?” asked Jackson.
“I don’t believe so,” Zane said. “The picture of the stalker is on the next page…Dylon, have you ever seen him?”
After studying the man, Dylon replied, “No, he wasn’t one of Josiah’s enforcers. Of course, he could have been hired after I left.”
“Who is he?” asked Cody.
“Someone who offers his services on the dark web,” Zane said.
“Illegal services?” asked Jackson.
“Yep,” replied Zane. “He was hired to kidnap Willow.”
“By Josiah?” asked Dylon.
“Nope,” said Zane. “Take a look at the next document. It’s a copy of the man’s bank account and deposits made within the last three months…see the one for fifty thousand dollars?” He waited a few seconds so everyone could find it, before continuing. “It came from someone who calls himself the ‘Collector’ because he collects rare shifters. The next page contains copies of his ads, seeking information about different ones.”
“What do you mean ‘collects them’?” asked Jackson.
“He collects them…buying, kidnapping…whatever it takes to add them to his collection,” Zane explained.
“So, he wanted Willow…why?” Dylon asked, obviously puzzled. “She’s a tiger shifter. They aren’t rare.”
“Right,” Zane agreed, “there are plenty of those around, but Willow isn’t just a tiger shifter. She’s as rare as theycome, because she’s a Bali Tiger Shifter, the last one in the world.”
“Holy fuck!” exclaimed Dylon. “I wonder if the High Council knows this?”
“Not according to their records,” Zane replied. “From what they have on file, Willow Thatcher died six years ago.”
Jackson looked at Zane skeptically. “That doesn’t make any sense.” Holding up the page with Willow’s picture on it, he pointed at the image, “Are you sure this person is Mom’s friend and not the dead one listed in the High Council’s records?”
“I am,” Zane said. “I don’t know why they’ve listed her as deceased, but Willow Thatcher is very much alive.” Turning back to his computer, he clicked on a program, and then, waving toward the big TV on the opposite wall said, “This video is from the New York City police surveillance cameras. It shows Willow and what happened to her. It appears there are at least two men involved…the one following her and the driver of the cab she got into.” When the video ended, Zane said, “Willow was taken by her stalker and her current location is unknown.”
“And you’re sure it wasn’t Josiah?” asked Jackson.
“Absolutely,” Zane answered, “for two reasons. One, I intercepted an email sent by the kidnapper giving the time for the handover of Willow…and two, Josiah has a meeting set up with our cousins’ uncle the day after tomorrow.”
“Wait,” Dylon said, “so Josiah doesn’t know that Willow’s been kidnapped?”
“No,” replied Zane, “he doesn’t even know about Willow, or that Mom’s alive, or that they witnessed the massacre. Our cousins’ uncle just said he had some information that Josiah might be very interested in.”
“Fucking uncles!” exclaimed Cody.
