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Rowan couldn’t see the group having international capabilities like the Order did, but a motivated and grieving family member was liable to do anything they could to reach a goal. A goal Rowan was sure would spell disaster for the shifters.

Now it was Rowan’s turn to relay her findings, “I got a hold of a friend in the Brazilian Pit and she told me that the witches found a gorgon head near their borders. No one died, but during their attack, she noticed something strange about the witches. They didn’t jump into action to help them. Instead, it felt like they were just observing the chaos until they found the head.” She templed her fingers in front of her. “I got the same odd feeling yesterday with the wolves. The witches were herding them towards the civilians.”

Kin leaned back in his chair. “That isn’t your prejudice against the Coven speaking?”

“I can’t be totally sure.” She admitted.

“We’ll note it.” Louisa said. “What about the sphinxes and the bears?”

“They both refused to talk to me, but that isn’t surprising. The bears lost six members, they’re grieving. The sphinxes just suck at freely exchanging information. But, I called The Griffin.”

Kin grimaced. “How much did that cost us?”

“It costmetwo golden rods from Tut’s official tomb.” Rowan sighed dejected, “But he told me what the sphinx were hiding. Only one of them had been affected, and it was their leader. He killed six sphinxes before the Atlanteans arrived. They’re also in mourning and he has scheduled his own death two days from now.”

Louisa covered her mouth in horror. “There wasn’t a sign of what affected him? He must know that he couldn’t control what happened to him.”

“We shifters are all proud creatures. He wouldn’t care about that, only that the blood ended up on his claws.”

Rowan frowned, knowing it was the truth. Kin was still depressed about attacking herself and Louisa and they had survived the ordeal. “I want to visit him before the execution. I don’t know if you guys want to come with me, but The Griffin didn’t know what caused it and if we want a clearer picture, we have to get all the facts we can.”

“If they don’t want to let you in, they won’t.” Kin shot her a wary look.

“So then I won’t ask for permission. Something bad is in the air and I’m not stopping until I find out what it is and fix it.”

Louisa groaned. “And the bears, you can’t ask your dragon boyfriend about them?”

The vision of him slamming that gate shut rolled through her. “He has a lot on his plate right now. The sphinxes are time sensitive. I want to focus on them first.”

“Well then, we can get to the bears after the sphinxes. Don’t worry.” Louisa placed an encouraging hand on hers.

“If there’s another attack, it could happen soon.” Kin’s voice was soft.

Rowan bit her lip, knowing she was about to reach a field full of emotional landmines. “We can’t be sure if there will even be another attack, but if your family gets targeted, what do you want us to do?”

Kin’s nose flared. “Your heroic tendencies wouldn’t allow you to turn your back on them, but part of me wishes you would.”

Rowan, aware that diversity made the world interesting and healthy, wished everyone had a family like hers. It wasn’t always idyllic, but it was bursting at the seams with love.

While she didn’t know everything about Kin’s past with an abusive clan, she knew the man well enough to realize that whatever history lay was unforgivable enough to make a loyal person like Kin renounce his connection to them.

“If the time comes, I’ll follow your lead. You’re my priority, not them.” Rowan reassured.

“And if she can’t sit her ass down, I’ll be happy to hex her.” Louisa’s ruby eyes glinted with mischief.

Kin rolled his eyes, but the small smile playing at the corner of his mouth allowed Rowan to know she had said the right thing.

Chapter 13

If the elven woman hadn’t called the moment she had, Alessandro would have gone back into the Estate and had the four heads of houses exiled from any Thunder land. But her awkwardness had amused so much that his breath was even by the time he hung up.

He had calmed down to the point of realizing his people were upset about something. They only ever behaved this way when he disagreed with something they believed was important. It was time to take a beat and listen to what that could be.

“Explain to me why mourning the dead is more important than protecting our living?”

Inside the depths of the library of Draconis, the audience chamber Alessandro preferred to dole out punishment in, was two floors underground. Anytime his dragons stepped through its doors, they knew they had reached a point to pay for the consequences of their actions. It was a recent realization that Alessandro hated it as much as they had.

Its stained glass windows, cement floors and stone walls reminded him of the old days while he liked to live in the present. Still, it had been a necessary move to remind his heads of houses that this discussion wasn’t lax. What they had done had been serious enough to warrant a proper official response.