Page 1 of Briggs (Paranormal Council Enforcers #16)

Briggs

“ W e’ve been looking into this pride for well over a year now, and although we’ve had enforcers visit several times, we’ve finally gotten some sort of direction to move in. It’s not definite,” Alpha Sergei told us, “but it is a start.”

“And we’re to ask about the missing children? Nothing else?” Raiden asked as he picked up the sheet of paper that we’d all been given.

“Yes and no. Yes, ask about the missing children, but that is not all. You are to gauge how the pride responds to representatives of the council being there this time. We need to know if they become nervous now that you are asking about children or if they show no concern at all. Both will be telling since they will not be able to hide their scent from you,” Alpha Sergei said.

“How many children?” I asked.

“We know for certain of four. Todd was rescued first but no longer missing nor a child. The pride won’t know that he’s been rescued, though, as it is believed those responsible assume he died long ago.

We were able to locate his brother, John, a few months after Todd was found.

Their sister Tracy was located a bit after John.

We’re still trying to locate the youngest, which might be difficult as she was an infant when she went missing. ”

I winced. Not only because of the thought of a tiny, helpless baby going missing but because they were so reliant on others, they often didn’t survive long.

Alpha Sergei continued. “When we were able to ask John questions, he mentioned that there are many more children he was friends with who simply stopped coming out to play one day. We believe that for whatever reason, the pride had decided to get rid of their children, and they have gone missing for the past several years, if not longer,” Alpha Sergei said.

“In reality, it’s very likely that most, if not all, of the children from that pride have been sold as Todd and his siblings were. ”

“The man we were looking into specifically left the pride two years ago,” Chief Daegal told us.

“His name is Robert Miller. He’s Todd’s uncle who the children went to live with after their parents died.

At a minimum, he was in on Todd and his siblings being sold off.

Most likely, he’s the one who organized the entire operation. ”

“That’s it?” Felix asked. “So we’re checking out a pride to what? See if all of the children are gone?”

“No,” Alpha Sergei said. He glared at Felix, but the fae seemed a bit oblivious and didn’t realize that he’d irritated the created dragon. Dimitri, who was sitting on my other side, cleared his throat before speaking up.

“We will be happy to check out the pride,” he said. “Is it possible that there are children still there somewhere? Is it believed that Todd’s youngest sibling is in the area?”

“We’ve looked. There are children in the surrounding communities, but they are all human.

We have not been able to pick up on any shifter children or teenagers in the area.

It’s as if they have all vanished,” Master Edison said.

“Todd and John remember their youngest sister, but Tracy doesn’t.

Both of them would like to know if it’s possible that the baby is in the area, but neither believes she or any other children are around pride lands.

“The pride, although registered, are incredibly secretive. They haven’t updated anything with regards to their pride’s dynamics since the 1940s.

That was long before Todd was even a thought to his parents.

To this day, there is still no registration for him or his siblings, which is why the current visit from the council,” Master Edison said.

“Be observant. No children were spotted on previous visits, but that doesn’t mean there are no children.

It is possible they were simply elsewhere.

In school, or at home. It is an unknown. ”

“Are we sure that’s where he’s even from? This Todd person? Or his siblings?” I asked. It was possible that whoever Todd was didn’t know where he was from.

“They didn’t scent of lies when they told us where they were from. They aren’t the only ones who haven’t been registered. There are literally no records of the pride since the forties. No matings, children, deaths, changes in anything doing with the pride’s alpha, nothing.”

If that didn’t scream “we’re hiding something,” I didn’t know what did. I nodded at this new information.

“Since Benjamin is taking some extra time off,” Dimitri said before he looked pointedly at Felix, “who will be taking us?”

Master Edison smiled. “Carrington will be accompanying you on this trip, as will Damien.” Master Edison nodded. “You can have whoever you are most comfortable with transport you to New Mexico.”

I didn’t need to look down at Felix to know that the fae was most likely looking anywhere but up.

I felt bad for him, but I was in agreement with Dimitri.

Felix was nice, and he had been great when on assignments, but he wasn’t the best when it came to transporting us from one place to another.

Especially since most of the time, it was to somewhere he’d never been before.

“Hey, no offense taken,” Felix said suddenly. “I get it—I’m not anyone’s first or even second choice when it comes to getting around anywhere.” Immediately, I felt bad for him.

“Felix,” Master Edison said, but the fae only shook his head before continuing.

“No, seriously. I get it. My magic is fully functional, and I’m great at getting the bad guy with it. But I’m not from this realm. None of us are. And we don’t know the geography like centuries-old warlocks or hellhounds. It’s fine.”

Master Edison stared at Felix for a moment before he nodded once. “Please come talk to me after the meeting.”

I could scent Felix’s unease and tried to offer support to my teammate by sending him what I hoped was an encouraging smile.

He offered a shrug, then looked down at the table.

Me personally, I would never interrupt Master Edison for anything unless it was an imminent danger situation, but he was the created warlock, and he could take care of things so much better than I could.

“Any other questions or concerns?” Master Edison asked.

When none of us spoke up, we were dismissed. We all filed out, except for Felix, who remained in his seat. Once out in the hallway, we all lined up along the wall and waited. We didn’t even have to discuss it; we simply did it in support of our teammate.

“Do you think he’s in trouble?” I asked. I didn’t really expect a response, but I also hadn’t been the one to interrupt Master Edison either.

“I doubt it,” Raiden said. “He might be advised to not interrupt in the future, but I don’t see him getting into trouble.

” Raiden shook his head. “Now, if it were my brother and it had been Chief Daegal, then yes, he would be in trouble.” Raiden chuckled at that.

I smiled a bit, remembering how Ramsey always seemed to be in trouble with the created gargoyle when he’d first arrived at the council.

He’d settled down a great deal since claiming his mate, but those two still seemed to be at odds at times.

It was only a minute at most when the door opened, and Felix came through. He looked at us and then turned to his left and started walking down the hallway. We quickly caught up, but when Raiden gently bumped his shoulder into Felix’s, the fae didn’t say anything.

“All good?” Raiden asked when he hadn’t received an answer from Felix.

The fae sighed. “Yes. I’m not in any type of trouble, but he feels that what I said might have a deeper meaning to me and the other fae.

Now they’re going to be upset with me because we are all going to be questioned about how we feel we’re being treated here at the council.

The last thing any of them is going to want is to be questioned. ”

“Maybe if you give them a heads-up, they won’t be upset? It shouldn’t be an issue if the council talks to us enforcers though. We’ve all been checked up on periodically,” Raiden told him.

“Yeah, I get that. But we’re already the outsiders here. That’s why we stick together so much. None of us are mated, and we don’t have any family here. Well, except for Evan, and now Beau is mated and has a baby, and Evan spends some of his free time with his brother’s new family.”

Hearing how Felix was talking made me realize that the rest of us hadn’t done a good enough job in making the new fae enforcers feel welcome.

I could relate to not having family in the area.

Although my pack wasn’t too terribly far away, I hadn’t been back home since I’d joined the enforcers.

I didn’t have a bad relationship with my family, but we weren’t exactly close.

I called my mother every so often, and my father would say hello through the phone, but that was it.

My pack was one of many that just had so many members that it wasn’t too big of a deal when someone left for other things.

That didn’t mean that I should be so antisocial now.

But I had really been enjoying having my own place and not being dropped in on every evening after work.

It seemed like I’d been enjoying it a bit too much since I’d obviously not done anything to help make the new enforcers feel as if they were wanted here.

“You’ve gone quiet,” Dimitri said. “That is not like you.”

I looked up at the dragon shifter. He wasn’t what I would expect from the created dragon’s grandchild. But Alpha Sergei and Alpha Mate Chin were both incredibly down-to-earth. I sighed inwardly at the thought about Apha Dane. He was…another who I was surprised by.

“I was just thinking about how I’ve not done enough to help the new fae enforcers feel more welcome here.

I grew up in such a busy house and pack that I think once I joined the enforcers, I might be taking the ability to have peace and quiet a bit too far.

I don’t really talk to anyone outside of work. ”