Page 37

“Our best bet is going to be figuring out who is behind this, but that’s our backup option if we need it.” Even with numbers, searching the entire city could take days. Ayo likely doesn’t have that kind of time.

I just have to hang on to the hope that Ayo is powerful enough to protect himself and keep himself alive until we can find him. Even on partial power…

Cal’s translation is proving Ayo’s theory correct with every line he rapidly types. It’s a Nagual spell, something that turns a powerful magic-user into a being who can shift at will but still use magic.

Which means one of the coven has been murdering their own, but why? Who would possibly benefit from this?

Standing still is driving me insane. I need to move. “Kit, keep me updated.”

Teo falls into step with me as I head for the stairs, a hard look in his eyes. “None of the people who suggested the protest are answering their phones. No one’s seen them since the violence started.”

That doesn’t surprise me. “It gets worse. We think the murderer is one of the coven.”

Teo might as well know. At this point, it’s more likely to help than hinder.

Teo stops dead on the stairs. “What the actual fuck ?”

“Keep walking.” I try to pick out Ayo’s scent as we continue to descend, but there are too many layers of scent here to distinguish any one in particular.

Fuck. I would have sworn before this that I could pick out his scent anywhere.

“Ayo found a spell that allows a magic-user to shift. We think the murderer has been using magic alongside shifting. It’s the only thing that fits. ”

Teo’s scent spikes with anger but we reach the foyer without him letting it out. I assume he’s doing the same thing I am—trying to figure out who and why.

My phone rings. It’s Raj, who I can see outside with Skye and Jet, so I reject the call and we rush over to them. I don’t even need to ask what they’ve found. I can finally smell Ayo, as well as cat, wolf, and vamp scents.

Skye shifts from foot to foot. “A couple of witnesses saw Ayo being helped down the stairs by a big guy during the drill. They said he kept saying he was dizzy. From the description, the guy was probably a shifter.”

Dizzy… Why would he be dizzy? Unless he used his magic for some reason and burnt himself out again.

Fortunately, the humans have almost entirely dispersed, so I don’t have to worry about being overheard. “We need to figure out who would benefit from this. Raj, are the task force paid hourly or a flat rate?”

“It’s a blanket monthly fee, but that’s something that was going to change with the new contract. With the increase in dangerous activity, the BSG increased the value of the contract and added a bonus rate to be paid in extreme cases.”

Teo glowers. “You think some dickhead is murdering people just to get paid more?”

I rub my beard. “I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out motive.”

Raj clears his throat. “I didn’t have the chance to update you what with the protest, but the coven is heavily in debt. There’s a layer of financials that the admins see and another that was hidden from most of them.”

“Most?”

“Ayo’s friend Irving was the main coven accountant. He might have been the only one who knew how bad it is.”

Teo grimaces. “The coven have borrowed a lot of money from us. They’re struggling to pay it back. I didn’t expect them to start murdering their own though, Jesus.”

A chill runs over me. “So there’s a possibility Irving found something out he wasn’t supposed to and was killed for it. Who’s been borrowing the money? The task force?”

Teo snorts. “Like we’d lend them anything.

Nah, it was that lawyer chick. I turned her down at first, but then she started spouting all this BS about Ayo’s family legacy and blah, blah, blah.

I figured li’l bro would be devastated if he lost his home, so we drew up some contracts and arranged a loan. ”

“That’s decent of you,” Raj says, not bothering to hide his surprise.

Teo briefly smirks. “It wasn’t for free, mate.”

Of course he’d charge a high rate of interest. I’m not even remotely surprised.

“Jet, how far does Ayo’s scent go?” Because if it went anywhere, we’d be racing to follow it, not standing around chatting.

“The kerb.” Jet points ten feet away. “They must have bundled him into a vehicle, but I haven’t yet been able to find anyone who witnessed it.”

I’m not sure how they managed that with so many potential witnesses around.

“Keep trying. The rest of us will head back inside, get Kit to check the cameras in the area, and see what we can find in the task force data as well. We’re looking for a location or any sort of clue to one.

So far there’s been a gap between every disappearance and the bodies turning up. They must be being held somewhere.”

“Not the manor, boss?” Jet asks.

I shake my head. “Too risky. Ayo was still living there until the most recent death, and the task force work in the building.”

“They could be in on it,” Teo points out.

“They could, but the people who grabbed Ayo today are mixed species. I think Lola, or whoever is behind this, is paying minions rather than keeping it in-house.”

Teo’s scent spikes with anger again. “My people just pulled up. You want some help with that data?”

The doors of two SUVs open and seven cat shifters get out. Normally the answer would be an automatic no, but Ayo is missing. The quicker we can narrow down a location, the more chance we have of saving him.

Fuck, we have to save him.

“If they make it through the wards and stay in the conference room, yes.” Ayo’s wards will only let in people we can trust right now. Kit has also isolated the data from the rest of our system, so Teo’s people won’t be able to access anything we don’t want them to.

We’ve all started to head for the building when a Mercedes pulls up at the kerb and Vittorio rushes over to me. “Zaiden said Ayo’s missing.”

I send the others on ahead. No point in everyone standing around for this conversation, and Raj can handle dividing up the work.

“That’s right. We believe the murderer is one of the coven. We’re working on a location he might be being held.”

Vittorio exhales, his shirt sleeves pushed up roughly to his elbows and his previously immaculate hair looking like he’s run his hand through it a bunch of times. “I’m breaking Ayo’s confidentiality with what I’m about to tell you.”

Okay, the vampire now has my complete attention. “He’s my fated mate, if that helps your conscience, and my mate’s life is worth any price.”

“Ayo’s life is worth his anger, yes.” The vampire looks around and lowers his voice further. “Ayo is about to come into an inheritance.”

I frown. “He didn’t mention that.”

“He told me he didn’t want to distract you from the case, not when he’d been warned off once already. Anyway?—”

“Wait, warned off?” It clicks. “The alley. When they beat him up.”

Why the fuck didn’t he tell me? He and I will be having words about not keeping secrets from each other when we find him.

“Correct. He believes the inheritance is some sort of magical artefact that someone wants to get their hands on. If he hadn’t claimed it by his twenty-first birthday, it would have defaulted to the coven. He only recently became aware of it at all.”

“And got you involved, keeping the whole thing secret. You think this is why he’s been taken?” His birthday is in a few days. “You think they want to kill him so he won’t inherit the artefact?”

Vittorio shakes his head and checks around us again. “They could just steal it afterwards if that were the case. Ayo doesn’t know yet, but he’s set to inherit the entire coven estate including the manor and all other buildings on the land. He’ll also inherit a large sum of money.”

“Holy shit.”

“Your mate is a billionaire, Ethan.”

“ Holy shit. ”

“And while the coven as a whole would inherit the wealth if Ayo didn’t claim it, it would come under the control of one person.”

“The coven leader.” I can barely breathe. Ayo has no idea. It would be typical of him to think it’s some sort of grimoire or artefact instead of anything more than that.

The worst part is that he trusts Nyoka. He won’t know to keep his guard up around the man.

Nyoka as the murderer fits just as well as Lola, though.

Perhaps more so. Nyoka is in charge of the coven, therefore responsible for the debt and the loans, even if Lola is the one who actually made the arrangements.

He’s in charge of the task force so could have planted evidence about Xana that perhaps the task force aren’t even aware is fake. None of them would suspect him.

He also had access to the family grimoires. Ayo thought someone outside of the family had found out about them, but what if they didn’t? What if the Nagual spell was kept in the family after all?

“Come with me.” I rush back into the building, Vittorio also restricting himself to human running speed at my side. It doesn’t take us long to make it up to the office.

Raj comes over as we enter the crowded conference room. “We’re searching now.”

“It’s Nyoka.”

Everyone in the room stops, all eyes now on me. Teo is the first to speak. “You’re sure?”

“As certain as I can be. Everyone, pull up everything you can find linked to him and cross reference any communications with or links to the victims prior to their deaths.”

I don’t even realise how badly I’m shaking until Raj pulls me into a tight hug. “We’ll find him, Ethan. You have a lot of people willing to turn this city upside down for that man. We will find him.”

Fuck, we’d better. I can’t even contemplate the thought of facing a life without him in it.