I imagined myself pinned to the ground, my mate straddling my hips with a triumphant expression, and heartily disagreed with his assessment. “Let’s just say I’m trusting my gut.”
Lucien chuckled, and I could easily imagine his incredulous expression. “It’s your funeral. She can fight like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
I grinned, not at all deterred by that statement. “Good. Maybe I’ll learn a few things.”
“Be that as it may, that’s not why I called,” he said drily. “I might need you to postpone your sparring plans. We’ve got a new problem.”
I stood up straighter. “What’s wrong?”
“I just received a report from Batten in Canada that the local goblin clan here in Europe is missing two members.” I blinked down at the phone in my hand for a second.
“If I’d had one thousand guesses as to what you were about to say, I still wouldn’t have guessed that.”
“That’s not all. There’s a missing lynx shifter, a warlock who didn’t report for council duty, and a vampire who has been reported as defecting from the ODL after his leave. His family, however, is insisting he never came home to begin with and is putting up missing posters.”
“What in the nine hells?” I mumbled, confused. “What do you think happened to them?”
“The same thing that happened to Sandrine. And that’s what we need to find out.”
I kept my mouth shut as he outlined what he needed me to do, taking notes when he gave me an address a short drive away.
“Oh, and V? Don’t go alone. Take someone with you. All the missing were alone when they were last seen, so it stands to reason that they were abducted alone. Possibly because they were easy targets and nothing more.”
“Makes sense. Pick people off one at a time. But for what?”
“I have no idea, other than nothing good.”
I couldn’t disagree with that, but a new thought struck me. “Hey, Luce? When we went to follow up with Sandrine, didn’t Reed say that Petró was buying magical protection devices?”
“Yes, yes, he was. You think that has something to do with this?”
“I think it’s too close an issue to be a coincidence. Those disappearances all happened within two hundred miles of the pack lands. Sandrine too.”
“We’ll do some more digging. Something bigger is happening here, I can feel it.”
I could feel it too, but I kept that to myself as we ended the call. Some bad shit was about to go down, and I hated not knowing which direction it was coming from.
I tossed the phone on my makeshift dresser and left to go tell Kane I needed someone for a mission tomorrow.
Chapter 23
Elodie
Ihad just finished washing my face and had climbed under the covers when a quick triple knock at the door had me climbing right back out of bed. Dread had my steps dragging as I pulled it open.
Head Priestess Marciana stood on the other side, still fully attired in her pristine blue robes. “May I come in, sister?”
“Of course,” I answered reflexively, stepping back and waving her in just as I would have if I were sleeping at the enclave instead of this charred husk of a castle.
The rough wooden frame of my borrowed bed wasn’t the worst place I’d ever slept, but it was a far cry from the previous splendor of these rooms.
She glanced around and, upon finding no seating of any kind in the sparsely furnished room, settled gracefully onto the edge of the bed, patting the space next to her for me to sit.
I did, her relaxed posture not making me an ounce less nervous.
“How are you?” she asked, studying my profile as I astutely avoided her gaze.
“Fine. Worried about the pack, mostly.” I tucked my hands under my thighs, knowing that I’d fidget if I didn’t.
