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When they got to the tall corporate-looking building in Brighton, Connor easily maneuvered his truck through the underground parking garage taking a reserved parking spot.

He dug into the console and pulled out his swipe badge ID.

Attaching it to his belt, he got out and went around to open the door for his mate.

“First stop is the front desk to get you a badge,” he said.

She smiled and waved a small piece of white plastic at him.

“I have one from when I filed a complaint about my sister’s disappearance. I showed up at the New York office so often they got tired of issuing me a visitor’s badge.” She clipped hers to her blazer.

“Let’s go,” he said, taking her hand.

They walked through the building until they came to a set of large glass double doors. Using his badge, he swiped to unlock the door and they continued through.

“Whoo-hoo Arkadion, whatcha got there?” a male voice called.

“She sure is a hot piece. You sharing?” Another laughed.

He clenched his fists and looked down at his mate. He didn’t want to assume she couldn’t handle herself, but he didn’t want to let this shit go unchecked either. She looked up at him and her eyes softened. He knew he had made the correct decision.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Madison Claybourne-Arkadion.

You may have heard of my last visit to the New York office, though I find it hard to believe that you two have gone through the sexual harassment training I recommended.

I’m sure the council will be interested to hear that,” she said, her voice taking on a sarcastic, hard edge.

“Claybourne?” one asked.

“Arkadion?” The other stared at her.

“Gentlemen, allow me to introduce my mate. I’m sure there won’t be any problems going forward, will there?” he asked, letting a low growl rumble through the large open office. All conversations stopped and everyone turned to stare at him.

“Arkadion, is that you? Who pissed the bear off?” an older man’s voice asked.

Connor watched as Griffin stepped out of a side room and looked around until he saw him.

“Get your ass in here boy. Bring your mate.” Griffin turned and went back into a large conference room.

Connor turned to Madison.

“We have been summoned,” he said, grinning. He took her hand and walked to the conference room.

He held the door open and closed it behind them. There were two other men besides Griffin seated around a large table. Connor eyed Gary Wendall wearily. He had dealt with the Agency director before, and didn’t like the man.

The second man was Jeffrey Davidson, the council’s most trusted representative to appear when they could not. He had their complete trust to speak on matters. Connor had met Davidson before in passing, so he had no idea why the man was with them now.

Gracefully, Madison took a seat and Connor sat beside her.

“First off, congratulations on your mating. I’m sorry to call you away, but we had another body pop up, this one practically on our front door step. It was Stanton. The bastard took out one of our own,” Griffin said, and Connor clenched his fists.

He had worked with Stanton. He was a laid-back lion who had been lucky enough to mate with a rare female lion shifter. They had three cubs.

“Stacy?” he asked.

“Grieving. She wanted to know who was working the case and was shocked when your name wasn’t mentioned. She seems to have the opinion that if you had been there her mate would still be alive.” Griffin said watching Connor closely.

“I’ve worked with Stanton before, we got along well together. She’s right. If you had called me in before this, he may still be alive. So, let’s cut the shit, gentlemen. Why in the fuck did you wait nearly four months before calling me? Not a high enough body count?” Connor asked bitterly.

“There is reason to believe that the killer is a vampire. Your loyalties would have been divided, seeing as how you are living with the blood suckers.” The wolf shifter sitting across from Connor spat.

“Fuck you, Wendall. Gabriel and his coven saved Arkadia this summer by freely donating their own blood so that shifters would live. My loyalties lie where they have always been, in finding the truth and stopping monsters,” Connor said, barely holding his anger in check.

“Maybe that is how they have gained control of you,” Wendall said.

“You want to say that again?” Connor growled, standing to his full height.

“I must say that I am extremely underwhelmed by your associates, Connor,” Madison said, sounding bored. She looked at Wendall and Connor could see disgust fill her eyes. She continued.

“It’s no wonder this case hasn’t been solved with him heading up the investigation.

He is blinded by his racism and fear. I could send your statements to the council.

I could also recommend they call every single one of your cases up for review.

I’m sure they would be curious to see how many of the cases you have solved had a convenient vampire perpetrator.

That being said, my own brother, Dr. Maddox Claybourne, created and administered the cure to the shifter virus in Arkadia.

He and Elder Lachlan Lewenhart have reported that there were no side effects in using the vampire blood so generously donated by Prince Gabriel’s coven.

Now, it sounds to me like you have a problem with my mate, my brother and my elder.

I’d like to know why,” Madison said coldly.

Connor felt like hugging his mate but knew that would be counterproductive to the professional image she wanted to portray. He stayed standing and crossed his arms. He glared at Wendall, who looked mad enough to spit nails.

“I would be interested to know why as well.” Connor growled.

“Connor, Wendall is a jackass, but he may be right about this being a vampire,” Griffin said, trying to diffuse the situation.

“What evidence do you have? Because I have been keeping tabs on this case for months and didn’t see any indication that made me think this was a vampire,” Connor said, taking his seat.

“I suppose you have all of the crime scene photos?” Wendall asked with a sneer.

Connor grinned back at him and watched the sneer disappear.

Wendall turned to Griffin. “Did you know someone in your department has been leaking information by sending Arkadion photos?” he demanded.

Griffin nodded and looked Wendall in the eye.

“Yes, because it was me. We needed him on this case from the beginning, but for some ridiculous reason it was decided that this case fell under the Agency’s jurisdiction. I had to lose a man to finally get Arkadion called in. Now, stow your shit and let the man speak,” Griffin roared.

Connor looked down at the table to hide his grin. His commander was a gruff, no-nonsense bastard most days, but he had the loyalty of every single Sentinel that served under him and that was because he always had their backs.

“You…” Wendall started.

“Just shut the fuck up already. Arkadion, what do you have?” Davidson snapped.

Connor looked up and smiled at Jeffrey Davidson before turning to his boss. He picked up the manila folder and started flipping through the case notes.

“Sir, I have been tracking the locations where the bodies are found.”

“Found. You are implying that they are not killed in these locations?” Wendall interrupted.

“That’s exactly what I am saying.” He turned back to Griffin, ignoring Wendall’s sputtering indignation.

“Each scene where the bodies are found, at the beginning anyway, they were almost clinically clean. No blood splatter, no loose hairs or fibers. Each location seems to have been chosen to somehow mock the happiness in the life of the victim. The first was found in a playground. He was an elementary school teacher. The second was found at a café table where the victim days earlier had confessed to friends, that it was the planned location where he was going to ask his mate to marry him. The list goes on. Each victim is completely drained of blood, with two open holes in the neck, yet there is no evidence of blood being spilled from the wounds or any of the victims clothing. All the victims are healthy shifters in their prime. Of the males taken, every single one show signs that they had been severely beaten, all the females were repeatedly raped.” Connor sighed and continued.

“None of the victims are children, nor have any of the victims been parents with the recent exception of Stanton, but I’ll get back to him.” Connor spread out the photos and stood to go to a pinned map. He examined it for a second before turning back to the table.

“The red pins show where the bodies were found, the green ones show where they were taken from. I believe that he takes them to a third location, where they are tortured and drained. I think that his base of operations is central to all three locations, which would put him somewhere around the warehouse district,” Connor said, pointing to the map.

“I don’t think you have a rogue vampire on a killing spree. I think this is the work of a drainer collecting blood, the holes in the neck are from pick lines,” Connor said, sitting back down.

“Arkadion, all you did was restate some of the facts that we already know,” Wendall said.

“I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. But, before I go on, where was Stanton taken and where was he found?” Connor asked.

“He was taken from a stakeout van at Purgatory last week. He was found yesterday in his kid’s tree house, his Sentinel windbreaker was shoved down his throat,” Griffin said sadly.

Connor took a steadying breath and felt a warm hand take his under the table. He looked over to Madison. There was warm sympathy in her eyes. He nodded and pulled his hand free, taking out his own notes from the folder.