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“Although Iamvery glad Jem didn’t walk in while it was actually happening,” I added sourly. “If he’d gone into that room while Nick was still unconscious and Aura had her hands on him, Dalejem might’ve killed her.”

A ripple of surprise left Black’s light.

“You think he’d go that far?” he asked.

I considered that, really considered it, and slowly nodded.

“Maybe,” I admitted. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

The surprise on Black’s light turned to alarm.

“How sure are you?” he asked.

“If pressed, I’d say pretty sure,” I said, exhaling. “If this was a police case I was consulting on, I would recommend an overnight stay in a facility where he could be observed. I think he’s looking for an excuse, Black. He’s definitely angry we won’t ‘deal with her’ the way he wants. And he’s scared. Scared people can be extremely dangerous. In some ways, fear is more dangerous than anger.”

“Did he say anything else?” Black asked.

His voice sounded harder now, more in military mode.

“Just that he wanted us to ‘deal with her.’ That none of us would believe him enough to do the right thing.”

“And what would that be?” Black asked. “What did he want us to do?”

I sighed again. Staring up at the ceiling, I tried to be accurate.

“I don’t know precisely,” I said. “But if I had to guess, it would start with locking Aura up, at least, and refusing to believe anything she says. He doesn’t understand why we won’t just all agree as a group that she’s a threat and treat her as such. It’s almost like we’rebetrayinghim by ‘taking her side.’ He also seems to think she’s manipulating us, like she’s some evil mastermind that’s got us all snowed.”

Black’s voice grew darkly amused, but also incredulous. “He thinks we’re being manipulated by some kind of dangerous agent?”

“Maybe. Yes… although he didn’t use any of those words.”

“So he wants her dead?” Black asked, blunt.

I frowned, still doing my best to be accurate and not exaggerate, especially given how hard Jem had been slamming into my light and triggering my own emotions.

“I mean, he might not be telling himself thatexactly,”I said cautiously. “But it’s definitely the vibe––”

“Could it be jealousy?” Black cut in. “Do you really think this isn’t about Nick?”

I pondered that, and slowly shook my head.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “If you’re asking what Ithink,or what my gut tells me, then I’d say no. It’s not about that. It’s definitely notonlythat. Although Nick is definitely mixed up in all of this in Jem’s mind. He seems to fear Nick’s betrayal the most.”

There was a silence while Black turned over my words.

With a human patient, I definitely wouldn’t have divulged so much, particularly not to that human’s boss. But seers did things differently.

Black had explained to me––multiple times––that the same rules couldn’t be applied to seers. Psychological issues could go sideways extremely quickly in seers, so it was much more of a community safety issue, especially with someone as highly-trained as Jem.

For the same reason, doctor-patient confidentiality wasn’t really a “thing” among seers. Seer Law, which they generally referred to as “Code,” leaned more towards regulating the volatile emotions of seers, particularly when it came to bonded mates, infidelity, separation sickness, and other things that could turn deadly quickly.

I could grudgingly see the practicality of it.

Also, I knew why Black was worried. He was worried Jem might hurt one of us.

He was worried Jem might hurt Nick.

“You don’t know when this started?” Black asked. “Jem being unstable like this?”