Page 76 of Assisting the Alpha
Teo might as well know. At this point, it’s more likely to help than hinder.
Teo stops dead on the stairs. “What the actualfuck?”
“Keep walking.” I try to pick out Ayo’s scent as we continue to descend, but there are too many layers of scent here to distinguish any one in particular. Fuck. I would have sworn before this that I could pick out his scent anywhere. “Ayo found a spell that allows a magic-user to shift. We think the murderer has been using magic alongside shifting. It’s the only thing that fits.”
Teo’s scent spikes with anger but we reach the foyer without him letting it out. I assume he’s doing the same thing I am—trying to figure out who and why.
My phone rings. It’s Raj, who I can see outside with Skye and Jet, so I reject the call and we rush over to them. I don’t even need to ask what they’ve found. I can finally smell Ayo, as well as cat, wolf, and vamp scents.
Skye shifts from foot to foot. “A couple of witnesses saw Ayo being helped down the stairs by a big guy during the drill. They said he kept saying he was dizzy. From the description, the guy was probably a shifter.”
Dizzy… Why would he be dizzy? Unless he used his magic for some reason and burnt himself out again.
Fortunately, the humans have almost entirely dispersed, so I don’t have to worry about being overheard. “We need to figure out who would benefit from this. Raj, are the task force paid hourly or a flat rate?”
“It’s a blanket monthly fee, but that’s something that was going to change with the new contract. With the increase in dangerous activity, the BSG increased the value of the contract and added a bonus rate to be paid in extreme cases.”
Teo glowers. “You think some dickhead is murdering people just to get paid more?”
I rub my beard. “I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out motive.”
Raj clears his throat. “I didn’t have the chance to update you what with the protest, but the coven is heavily in debt. There’s a layer of financials that the admins see and another that was hidden from most of them.”
“Most?”
“Ayo’s friend Irving was the main coven accountant. He might have been the only one who knew how bad it is.”
Teo grimaces. “The coven have borrowed a lot of money from us. They’re struggling to pay it back. I didn’t expect them to start murdering their own though, Jesus.”
A chill runs over me. “So there’s a possibility Irving found something out he wasn’t supposed to and was killed for it. Who’s been borrowing the money? The task force?”
Teo snorts. “Like we’d lend them anything. Nah, it was that lawyer chick. I turned her down at first, but then she started spouting all this BS about Ayo’s family legacy and blah, blah, blah. I figured li’l bro would be devastated if he lost his home, so we drew up some contracts and arranged a loan.”
“That’s decent of you,” Raj says, not bothering to hide his surprise.
Teo briefly smirks. “It wasn’t for free, mate.”
Of course he’d charge a high rate of interest. I’m not even remotely surprised.
“Jet, how far does Ayo’s scent go?” Because if it went anywhere, we’d be racing to follow it, not standing around chatting.
“The kerb.” Jet points ten feet away. “They must have bundled him into a vehicle, but I haven’t yet been able to find anyone who witnessed it.”
I’m not sure how they managed that with so many potential witnesses around. “Keep trying. The rest of us will head back inside, get Kit to check the cameras in the area, and see what we can find in the task force data as well. We’re looking for a location or any sort of clue to one. So far there’s been a gap between every disappearance and the bodies turning up. They must be being held somewhere.”
“Not the manor, boss?” Jet asks.
I shake my head. “Too risky. Ayo was still living there until the most recent death, and the task force work in the building.”
“They could be in on it,” Teo points out.
“They could, but the people who grabbed Ayo today are mixed species. I think Lola, or whoever is behind this, is paying minions rather than keeping it in-house.”
Teo’s scent spikes with anger again. “My people just pulled up. You want some help with that data?”
The doors of two SUVs open and seven cat shifters get out. Normally the answer would be an automatic no, but Ayo is missing. The quicker we can narrow down a location, the more chance we have of saving him.
Fuck, we have to save him.
