Page 57 of Assisting the Alpha
“Then let’s go. I think I know a place.”
Chapter Fifteen
ETHAN
“Wait, so let me get this straight.” Kit looks up from their laptop. “Xana doesn’t have an alibi for any of the murders, displays a clear hatred of all magic-users, and is a black jaguar shifter, which we have an eyewitness saying is the species of their attacker, but we’re not arresting her because…?”
“Lack of evidence,” Raj says.
My entire team is with me in our conference room because I’m not convinced we’re making any real progress and I’d really value everyone’s thoughts right now. Ayo finally convinced Teo to help us talk to Xana with the promise that we’re just trying to find a serial killer, not pin anything on anyone. Unfortunately, it didn’t help as much as I’d hoped it would.
“It’s all circumstantial,” I agree. “With no DNA or scent at the scene of any of the attacks, we have no way to prove conclusively that it’s her. Added to that…” I huff. “Honestly? My gut says it wasn’t her. My wolf didn’t like her, but I really didn’t get the sense that she was capable of cold-blooded murder. It was moreof a ‘watch my back’ sort of instinct. Like she’s quick to jump into a fight.”
“So where does that leave us?” Cal asks. “Won’t we run into the same problem with any suspect we identify?”
“Unless they confess,” Skye points out.
Jet wriggles in his seat. “The thing I don’t get ishowwe don’t have DNA or scent evidence.”
Every eye in the room locks onto Jet.
“Elaborate,” I say.
Jet leans forward in his chair. “Well, that was it, really. How do you remove DNA? How do you mask your scent?”
“Magic,” Ayo says. “Both those things are possible. Well, I don’t know about the DNA thing, but in theory you could use a personal shield tight to the body that would allow full movement but not allow anything through in either direction. That would prevent scent and even DNA, I guess.”
“Can you demonstrate?” I ask, wondering why we haven’t discussed this before now. Too busy focusing on finding the shifter to consider the details, I suppose. Fuck, we need to do better.
Ayo wrinkles his nose in concentration for a minute or two before his scent, which is a mixture of him and me these days, disappears entirely.
“Holy shit,” Kit whispers.
Raj whistles, and Cal raises an eyebrow.
“It worked?” Skye checks. He doesn’t have the same enhanced sense of smell that the rest of us do.
“Definitely. Thanks, Ayo.” I’m relieved when my boyfriend drops the shield and I can smell him again. The absence of his scent was seriously freaking out my wolf. “So are we looking for two people? A black jaguar and a magic-user working together?”
“In this city?” Kit’s face shows their scepticism.
They have a good point. “Why would someone who is potentially out to get the coven, or even just magic-users in general, work with a magic-user to cover their tracks?”
Jet spins in his chair. “Maybe we need to find a shifter who can do magic.”
Ayo stiffens beside me.
“That’s not a thing,” Skye says.
“It could be! How epic would that be?” Jet retorts. “If they weren’t murdering people, obvs.”
“Ayo?” I lay my hand over my boyfriend’s. He’s unnaturally still.
My tone must get everyone’s attention, because they all quiet down.
Ayo’s voice is hesitant. “I think that is actually possible.”
No one moves. I think most of us aren’t even breathing at this point.
