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Chapter Seventeen

ETHAN

“Right, what details do we have?” I’ve been pacing back and forth, now dressed in clothes Skye brought down from my flat, but I force myself to stop and sit at the conference room table with the rest of my team.

Thank fuck Ayo calmed me down before this happened. I’m still blown away that I have a fated mate who loves me, who I intend to bond with as soon as he’s ready. For now though, we’re one hundred percent focused on the investigation.

Raj eyes hold the same disappointment that’s on every face in the room. “Wren said the task force found hard evidence that proved Xana was the murderer, so they arrested her. They’ve charged her and taken her to Wargate.”

“Already?” Ayo gasps, looking put together in a fresh shirt. “They never move suspects to the supe prison so fast.”

“So this is unusual?” I ask.

Ayo’s scent fills with concern. “It’s never happened before. Let me make a call.”

“Who—and he’s gone,” I say.

Cal’s scent briefly flares with affection, although his neutral expression doesn’t change as he watches Ayo dart out of the room. We can’t hear anything, so he’s probably put a privacy ward around himself so he doesn’t disturb us.

“All right, let’s keep going. Do we have any way to find out what the evidence is?” I say.

“Does it matter?” Kit sounds sullen. “It’s over.”

I give them a sharp look. “It matters because I’m not convinced Xana is guilty.

Forget the contract for a minute. Do we want an innocent person to go to prison and be locked away for multiple homicides?

Do we want the real murderer to get away with it?

To potentially go on to kill others, if not here then in another city or town to escape detection? ”

“And if she is guilty, we need to know what we missed so we can improve for future investigations, even if they’re for private clients instead of under BSG contract,” Raj adds.

“Sorry, I lost my fabulous glow for a minute there.” Kit shakes themselves out, then starts tapping away at their laptop. “Fear not, boys, I’m back.”

“Can you find this evidence by legal means?” I ask.

Kit stops tapping. “Nooo… We’re still on the legal train?”

I understand the reason for their question. It would be a lot faster to just let Kit hack into either the task force’s systems or the mayor’s, but I’m not willing to give up on getting that contract.

“Yes. It seems like we’ve lost, but I don’t want to completely rule out our chances just yet.”

Skye perks up. “You think we’ve still got a chance?”

“If it turns out the task force have made a false arrest? I’d say that puts us squarely back in the running.”

“I really hope she’s innocent,” Jet mutters, picking at his fingernail.

He’s been oddly quiet since he got here.

“Hey.” I wait for him to look up. “Even without the contract, we have Ayo working with us now. We’ve got a much better chance of getting supe contracts. You won’t be stuck working with humans forever.”

“It’s not that.” Jet fiddles with his mug but doesn’t drink from it.

“All supes hate being confined, I know that, but us jaguars are particularly sensitive to it. I have a second cousin who went to prison for two months. Came out a completely different person; legit lost his mind. I read up on the statistics and more than eighty percent of jaguars who go to prison for over thirty days have a psychotic break.”

“Shiiiiiit,” Kit breathes.

“That many?” Skye asks, scent clouded with concern.

Jet nods miserably. “So while I want the murderer locked up and the key thrown down a deep, dark well…”

“If Xana is innocent, we need to get her out as soon as possible,” I conclude. Not that we weren’t planning to do that anyway, but it does add some urgency to the situation, over and above still potentially having the real murderer out and free to kill again.

Ayo rushes back into the room, and I resist the temptation to snag him and sit him in my lap, instead letting him retake his chair beside me.

“What did you find out, sweet thing?”

“Kit, can you please pull up my email? My password is?—”

“I already know it. Hang on.”

Ayo frowns at Kit before shaking it off. “So I should be getting an email any minute that contains the evidence the task force submitted to the mayor’s office along with their stated reason for moving Xana to Wargate immediately.”

“How did you swing that?” Raj asks, sounding vaguely impressed. “Wren wouldn’t give me that information.”

Ayo gulps down some probably lukewarm tea before answering. “Coven admins do all the paperwork for the task force, including submitting this kind of stuff for BSG processing. I called my friend Sally, who I used to work with.”

“And she just handed it over?” Raj asks, a hint of surprise in his tone.

Even as a friend, handing over this kind of thing to a rival company would surely have given the person pause.

Ayo shakes his head. “Not even close. She point-blank refused, under any circumstances. She wants the murderer hung, drawn, and quartered, never mind locked up. But then I pointed out that what if it were her girlfriend who’d been arrested?

Her girlfriend is also part of Teo’s prowl.

After that, it didn’t take much convincing.

I told her we were just double checking for thoroughness and staff training, that we’d only challenge the evidence if we were convinced Xana is innocent and have another viable suspect. ”

“Brilliant.” I lean over and give him a quick kiss. His scent fills with pleasure and satisfaction, and I can’t resist pecking another kiss to his full lips.

Someone clears their throat just as Ayo’s phone rings.

He pulls it out and shows me the screen. Teo.

“Put it on speaker, please.”

Ayo does. “Teo, I’m with Ethan and the team. You’re on speaker.”

There’s a brief pause, then Teo’s angry voice comes over the line. “ Tell me you people can do something to get Xana out. She didn’t do this. ”

“While we can’t make any promises—” I ignore Teo’s snarl. “—we’re about to review the evidence the task force submitted and we have a plan for tonight to pursue the viability of another potential suspect.”

“ What the fuck does that mean? Do you know who actually did this? ”

Ayo puts a hand on my arm, a questioning look in his eyes.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t share a potential suspect pool outside of the team, but in this case I’m tempted. Teo sounds angry enough that he could take action if we don’t reassure him we’re looking into it and give him a viable alternative suspect.

Unfortunately, the legal position is clear. I shake my head at Ayo.

Ayo returns his attention to his phone. “We have a lead we’re following. That’s all we can say right now.”

Teo snarls again. “ Understood, li’l bro, even if I don’t fucking like it. ”

I glance around at the determined faces in the room. My team, who have stuck with me through hell and back. Maybe my pack? In Teo’s position I’d be just as frustrated.

It’s that which prompts me to offer some kind of reassurance to the jaguar. “I promise you we will do everything to ensure the real murderer is caught and convicted, no matter who that is.”

Teo exhales. “ That’s the best I can ask for, I suppose. But promise me one more thing. If you need additional numbers to go after whoever this is, call me. I’ll lend you a few people who are handy in a fight. ”

There’s very little the six, now seven, of us can’t handle, so I doubt it’ll be necessary, but that’s not what Teo wants to hear right now. While I have my doubts about this man, I do respect his loyalty to his prowl member and his determination to seek the best outcome for her.

“Thanks, Teo. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Hey, Teo?” Ayo says. “Do you have a photo of Xana in her shifted form?”

“ I don’t think so, why? ”

“Because I saw the shifter who attacked me. It’s kind of a blur, but maybe there’s something about her that would trigger a memory. It’s a long shot because she’s the right species and fur colour, but…”

“ Hey, anything that would help at this point. I’ll see if I can track a photo down. One of my people might have one, although we tend to avoid being photographed in our cat forms. ”

“Thanks, Teo.”

“ Stay safe, li’l bro. ”

As soon as Ayo hangs up, I look around at the determined faces of the team who are relying on me. They’ve followed me into hellish situations so many times, and I refuse to let them down. It doesn’t matter how bleak this looks for us. We will figure it out. Together.

“Right, we have a few hours to review this evidence,” I say. “Tonight, we stick to the plan.”

The team all straighten in their seats. Even Jet perks up a bit, which doesn’t surprise me.

Infiltration is one of his favourite parts of the job.

Mine too, if I’m honest. And the idea of infiltrating Nyoka’s home?

Yeah, I can’t deny I’m looking forward to it.

After all, swiping a possible answer to the case right from under his nose, one he’s overlooked, isn’t just the right thing to do.

It’ll also be satisfying as hell.