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Zeke put the little overnight bag Celine had brought with her last night into the back of his closet, minus her dirty clothes from the day before.

Those, he could easily put into the communal laundry chute, which would go to the base’s central laundry and be redistributed from there.

She’d get her clothes back without anybody being the wiser.

Even if somebody questioned her clothes originating in his building, she worked here every day, and it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that she’d change her clothes here sometime for whatever reason.

A spill in the kitchen. An after-work outing where she couldn’t, or didn’t want, to go back to her room to change.

He honestly didn’t expect anyone to question it.

Last night had been magical. He’d enjoyed every moment of being with Celine from the comical way he’d snuck her into the building to the mind-blowing sex they’d shared.

He felt deeply for her already and wouldn’t have minded if she’d wanted to shout their new relationship status from the rooftops, but Celine was cautious and more than a bit shy, he’d discovered to his delight.

He’d let her set the pace. He was a patient man. He could wait.

Pretending he didn’t know what she looked like as she came was a bit harder in the light of day.

He took his breakfast in the dining hall and caught glimpses of her through the kitchen door a few times, but he was on duty that morning and couldn’t linger.

Which was probably for the best. They had a day of psychometric testing scheduled to see if Zeke could glean anything further from some of the objects taken from Celine’s house.

While he’d examined a lot of things while he was there, he and the team had decided to pack up a few smaller objects to bring back to base for a more detailed reading.

Lynn had spent time testing them all for evil magic, though Zeke had no real idea what that entailed.

She’d passed them, and today was the first opportunity for him to give them another look.

He was raring to go, hoping he could find more clues that would help the investigation.

They’d set him up in the lab this time, though all the observations were being recorded by hand since they’d decided hard copies were more difficult to steal than electronic data.

This time, their unit commander, Captain Haliwell, was there to observe, as was Liam Kinkaid, to give the shifter perspective.

Zeke was glad of that as he sat down to work.

He went through the first round of objects, eliciting only a few more details about the attack and the mage.

But when he moved on to the next set of objects, he hit pay dirt.

One of the knickknacks—a small porcelain bird figurine—held memories of a conversation that had not taken place at Celine’s house.

Far from it. Zeke stiffened in his chair, and everyone in the room went on alert, though Zeke only noted their reactions peripherally.

“What is it?” Hal asked, prodding Zeke to fill them in on what he saw.

“This was sent to the family as a gift, but it didn’t come from the person they thought.

It was a holiday gift, and they assumed it came from Great Aunt Tessy—or whoever was on the return address.

I don’t actually know the name on the package.

I’d need the packaging to see that, I think.

But I can see Celine’s mother admiring it for a few seconds before placing it on a shelf in the living room.

It was there through all the action, but that’s not what’s important.

” Zeke paused, scrunching his eyes closed as if that might somehow make him see things more clearly.

“What’s troubling you?” Lynn asked quietly, clearly wanting to help.

Zeke opened his eyes and sought hers. This probably was in her field of expertise. He still knew next to nothing about magic.

“Is it possible to place a spell on an object that reports back to the mage and then just dissipates, leaving the object un-magical from that point on? I mean, that lamp was bespelled, or whatever you call it, but it retained that magic and linked me to the mage. This thing, though…” Zeke lifted the little figurine which he held in one hand.

“It doesn’t have that same feel. Though, in the past, it did, for a short period.

Like it was sent, reported back and then fell silent, somehow. ”

Lynn looked intrigued. “As you know, I tested all of these objects yesterday, and none show any signs of residual magic. I’d have to check with my Gran, but what you’re describing is possible.

Probably some sort of low-level tattletale spell that is designed for a single use once the object reaches its destination, sends its information, and then, what little magic it was given is dispersed completely. ”

“That’s what this feels like. As if the moment Celine’s mother opened the box and touched the figurine, it launched its magic outward, never to return,” Zeke confirmed.

“A Trojan Horse?” Hal mused.

“Something to confirm the receiver’s identity, perhaps. So they could be sure they had the right address for Celine’s family. When was it sent? This year?” Liam asked Zeke.

“No. Last year,” Zeke replied.

“Can you tell who sent it or where it came from?” Liam continued his questioning.

Zeke nodded gravely. “It came from the mage. There are echoes of a conversation I can just about hear, as if this thing was in the room but not very near to the speakers. It’s two women.

The first one says something like, ‘ If we can find his family, then we can probably trace from them back to him. If we kill them, he’ll want revenge, and then, we can follow him back to where they are all hiding. ’ ”

Liam cursed. “This could be really bad if they’re talking about the master chief.”

Zeke held up his hand. “There’s more. The other one says, ‘We want them dead anyway. The vision was clear. They will side with the cursed Goddess worshipers and screw up our plans if we don’t rid the world of them before we go to war.

’ Then the other one laughs. ‘Either way, they will lead us to Santini, and he will lead us to the motherlode of military shifters. They have been a thorn in the side of our patron for many years, and he wants them all dead. Especially Santini.’ There’s a little more, but it’s too muffled, as if they were walking out of the room. Sorry.”

“Shit,” Liam cursed, losing his cool for a moment.

“This is big,” Rick agreed.

“I think we need to alert your dad to this right away, Liam,” Hal said, already standing as he headed for the door, the lion shifter following close behind. “You all carry on here. Let me know if there are any more developments.”

Zeke kept going with the rest of the objects they’d set up for him to read, but there were no other big revelations.

Finally, he sat back and looked at Lynn and Rick, who were regarding him with interesting expressions.

Rick looked sort of appraising and proud while Lynn seemed pleased as they both watched him.

“What?” Zeke finally asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you realize how far you’ve come?” Lynn asked in reply to his question.

Zeke wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.

“I threw in some truly ancient objects in this batch, and you didn’t bat an eye,” Rick added, as if that was meant to clarify his thoughts. It didn’t. At least not for Zeke.

“So? What’s the big deal? They weren’t violent artifacts. Just really old,” Zeke muttered.

“That should be our next test, actually,” Lynn said, turning to nod at Rick, who nodded back. Then, Rick turned back to Zeke and explained.

“Do you remember when you first got this gift? Everything you touched sent you into a spiral, and you passed out a lot. I mean, a lot ,” Rick reminded him.

“You’ve grown stronger in just the past several days,” Lynn confirmed.

“It looks to us like the more you use your gift, the better you get at it. You’re also acclimating to its draw on your power. No more passing out,” Rick went on.

“Even the stone and its magical backlash didn’t really faze you. Or that lamp incident. Even this little figurine would have sent you unconscious a few months ago, according to Rick’s observations,” Lynn went on, pointing to the little bird statue.

“Huh,” Zeke said, taking in their words. They were right. He was getting better at this.

“Training and persistence. Just like all the other tasks we’ve mastered as Green Berets,” Rick intoned as he stood and collected the items that were left on the table.

Lynn smiled broadly. “Or, as my granny always says, practice makes perfect .”

Zeke went about his regular duties for the rest of the day.

He was off night shift this week. They rotated it among the single men, for the most part, so the guys with wives and girlfriends could have more quality time with their ladies.

Not that the guys who had women didn’t take the occasional night patrol, but the single guys took the duty more often than not.

Whatever the brass was deciding to do with the bombshell information Zeke had discovered in his morning psychometric session, Zeke wasn’t part of that decision-making chain.

Hal had warned the shifter hierarchy, and he’d been on that side of the base all day.

When he got back, Zeke and the rest of the unit would probably find out what steps they were going to take.

Zeke hoped it meant they were going into action.

Taking the fight to the enemy was always the best tactic, Zeke believed, and he didn’t want to just sit around here on the island, waiting for the mage and her supporters to strike. She had to know by now where Santini and the rest of them were.