Page 13

"We need to be careful about who we trust with this information," he said, his voice carrying the intensity of someone who'd learned that betrayal could come from unexpected sources.

"Until we know who's been manipulating the records, we can't assume anyone in official positions is completely trustworthy. "

"Including the council members who assigned you to supervise my research?" Aerin asked, her pale eyes reflecting understanding of the paranoid logic their discovery required.

"Including anyone who might have had the authority to alter official documentation without triggering oversight protocols," Leo confirmed grimly. "Which makes our research significantly more dangerous and probably explains why your arrival triggered such immediate interest from multiple parties."

Aerin was quiet for a moment, processing implications that added layers of personal risk to their already complex situation. "Leo, if someone's been working to destabilize the founder network, and if the betrayal sigil represents a threat to their plans, then our research makes us targets."

"It also makes us the best chance this town has of stopping whatever's been planned," Leo replied, his lion's determination overriding caution. "If we can figure out how to activate the sigil safely, we might be able to cleanse the corruption from the entire network."

"And if we can't? If the activation requirements are a trap designed to exploit our connection?"

"Then we deal with the consequences as they come," Leo said, his tone carried the certainty of someone that believed that action was preferable to paralysis. "But we don't let fear of manipulation stop us from trying to save thousands of lives."

Their conversation was interrupted by a soft knock on the library door, followed by Lyra's voice calling, "Aerin? There's someone here to see you. Says she's from the fae university."

Leo and Aerin exchanged glances that carried multiple layers of concern. Official contact from the fae university could be routine academic follow-up, but given what they'd just discovered about internal manipulation, any unexpected visitors represented potential threats.

"Did she give a name?" Aerin called back.

"Dr. Silvane Morwyn. She says she's here to conduct a progress evaluation of your research."

Aerin went completely still, her face draining of color in a way that made Leo's protective instincts surge to full alert. "That's impossible," she said quietly. "Dr. Morwyn died three months ago in a magical accident at the Arctic research station."

Leo was on his feet immediately, his lion rising to the surface as threats to his mate triggered responses that bypassed rational thought. "Stay here," he ordered, his voice dropping to the rumble that meant his animal half was in control. "Don't open the door for anyone until I get back."

"Leo, wait?—"

But he was already moving toward the library door, his enhanced senses cataloguing threats and defensive options. If someone was impersonating a dead researcher to gain access to Aerin, it suggested their enemies were escalating from subtle manipulation to direct action.

He found Lyra in the inn's main parlor, speaking with a woman who looked exactly like what Leo would have expected from a fae academic—tall, elegant, with silver hair and features that seemed to shift slightly when he wasn't looking directly at them.

But his lion's senses detected something wrong beneath the surface, a scent that carried traces of deception and old magic used for purposes that didn’t mean legitimate research.

"Dr. Morwyn," Leo said, his voice carefully neutral despite the way his lion was snarling warnings. "I'm Captain Maddox, Dr. Thorne's assigned liaison. I wasn't aware the university had planned any progress evaluations."

"Captain," the woman replied, her smile carrying too many teeth for comfort. "The university is naturally concerned about Dr. Thorne's extended residency and the reports we've received about unusual magical phenomena. I'm here to ensure she hasn't exceeded the scope of her authorized research."

"What reports?" Leo asked, noting the way the woman's magical signature felt wrong in ways he couldn't quite identify.

"Reports of unauthorized activation of ancient magical systems," the woman said, moving closer with fluid grace that reminded Leo uncomfortably of predatory hunting patterns. "Reports that suggest Dr. Thorne may have become emotionally compromised by local influences."

The accusation hit too close to their recent concerns about manipulation and compromised objectivity, but Leo's lion was focused on more immediate threats.

Something about the woman's scent was making his animal half increasingly agitated, as if she carried traces of corruption that his senses could detect but not quite identify.

"I'll need to see your credentials," Leo said, positioning himself between the woman and the stairs leading to the library.

"Of course," the woman replied, reaching into her briefcase with movements that seemed perfectly normal until Leo's enhanced vision caught the subtle wrongness in her anatomy. Her fingers were too long, her joints bent at angles that suggested something inhuman wearing a human disguise.

His lion exploded to the surface before conscious thought could intervene.

The partial shift happened in seconds—bones elongating, muscles expanding, senses sharpening to supernatural acuity.

Leo's human consciousness remained in control, but his body took on enough lion characteristics to make his true nature unmistakable.

Claws extended from fingers that had become decidedly non-human, and his voice dropped to a growl that made windows rattle.

"What are you?" he demanded, his enhanced senses now clearly detecting the wrongness beneath the woman's disguise.

The fake Dr. Morwyn's elegant mask slipped, revealing something that definitely wasn't fae nobility. Her features began to shift and blur, as if her human appearance was dissolving to reveal something much less pleasant underneath.

"Clever lion," she hissed, her voice taking on harmonics that hurt to hear. "But not clever enough to prevent what's already in motion."

The thing that had been pretending to be Dr. Morwyn dissolved into shadow and mist, disappearing through the inn's walls with laughter that sounded like breaking glass. Leo stood in the parlor, partially shifted and breathing hard, while Lyra stared at him with wide eyes.

"Well," Lyra said finally, "I guess we know somebody's definitely targeting your research partner."

Leo forced his lion back down, his human form reasserting itself though his hands still trembled with adrenaline and protective fury.

Whatever had been impersonating Dr. Morwyn represented a direct threat to Aerin, and the implications of such focused attention made his possessive instincts roar with the need to ensure her safety.

"Get Cade," he said, his voice still carrying traces of his lion's rumble. "We need to establish better security protocols immediately. And call the council—they need to know we're dealing with something that can perfectly mimic trusted individuals."

As he headed back toward the library where Aerin was waiting, Leo couldn't erase the thought that their enemies had just escalated from subtle manipulation to open warfare.

The sigil's activation triggered responses from forces that preferred to work in shadows, and their research had just become significantly more dangerous.

But it had also become significantly more urgent. If entities were willing to risk exposure by impersonating dead researchers, it suggested they were running out of time to complete whatever they'd been planning for decades.

The question was whether he and Aerin could figure out how to make use of the betrayal sigil's cleansing protocols before their enemies decided that direct elimination was preferable to continued manipulation.