Page 66 of Shifter Situations

“That’ll be the best way, and we both know it. I need you or one of the vampires to look through the minds of the doctor and the faction alphas for that static or whatever it is that you keep talking about.”

“Call them in. I’ll ask Novak and Blaire to look into it.”

“I’ll go,” Blaire commented. “You don’t have to ask. Novak went with Palmer to put wards on the outside of the building, and the Elliott brothers are catching up with a childhood friend. I’d like to be there to get another read on the shifters after they’ve relaxed, anyway.”

I nodded as I surveyed the faces in the crowd. I recognized a few of them from reports.

Grim and Vaughn went around checking the captives out and healing what they could; which wasn’t much. Some of them were timid and jumpy, but most of them were hostile and unwelcoming of the extra assistance.

I couldn’t blame them, I would’ve been like that too in their situation.

The whole place was a mess. I couldn't understand how this had gone so far, but I also knew we might not have found this place if it hadn't been for Cooper coming forward. It could have been so much worse than it was.

Now it wasn't difficult to understand why he had been so freaked out.

The pack itself was in a bit of a predicament as a result. All the bullshit surrounding the rogues, the abductions, and the drug usage had put a kink in the pack’s trust of their Alpha.

I hoped this would rekindle that relationship.

Because I wasn’t staying here full-time. Charlie King would still be running the pack, but their wellbeing and any major decisions would be placed on Briggs and me.

Jack took Blaire to Dad as some of the guys worked to calm the shifters down. When he returned, he and Stone began taking them, two at a time, through the Void to the pack lodge.

I knew they would settle down once they were in the presence of the Alpha, but getting them to trust the demons wasn’t an easy task.

I had no way of knowing just yet, but I suspected these shifters were the next round of rogues. I didn’t think they had been injected with the SEF47 yet, though I wasn’t completely positive either.

We had no knowledge of how long it took to make their minds fuzzy, so we would have to check on them if Dad said they were acting strange.

Honestly, right now I was more interested in the feline shifter who had spoken to me.

Ripley?

She knew Briggs and Baylor, and they seemed to be close. She wasn't fearful like the other captives. Even though I had not met her before today, she felt familiar, and I couldn’t figure out why.

Something about her called to me.

Maybe it was her anger.

Maybe it was her fight.

Whatever it was, I had an irrational urge to protect her.

We wouldn't be able to keep her safe. Not until we were done with all of the risky shit we were doing. But there had to be someone who I trusted who could protect her—someone she would trust enough to let them protect her.

I was getting ahead of myself. I knew it, but I couldn’t help it.

Stone walked by, his hand gently squeezing my arm to get my attention. "You could call Dolyn. I don't see much getting through him. Stars would be safe for her. His house is basically a fortress, anyway."

"That's... Not a bad idea, actually. I'll talk to her first. I don't think Dolyn will mind, but I'll call him to double-check too."

“Vaughn added some fae magic to Palmer’s wards. I added a little into the mix as well,” my demon mentioned, wiping his palm off on his shirt.

“We don’t know what’s in here, and we don’t know what they’d take if they come back. I think it would be best to—”

I smiled, nodding in agreement. “Cover our tracks? Make sure there are no gaps in the protections? You’re right. I don’t want them coming back into this building.”

I glanced around as Grim swept up the last of the lingering souls. The room was clear, but there were quite a few places that we needed to check. If I could get a vial of the drug back to CBP, then they would have a sample to synthesize and begin research for an antidote.