Masked By Danger by Christa Wick

Chapter Twenty-Four

Sitting nextto Cade in Denver's office, Iris listened in silence as those gathered dissected her memories. The only unfamiliar faces were Oram, the leader of the West Virginia clan, and Slater, the clan beta from Tennessee, his alpha too sick to travel and only tenuously maintaining power.

Other clan leaders were too far away. The decisions that had to be made about the care of the cubs could not await their arrival.

"You're saying Hunters have charms to pass as wolves," Oram started then jabbed a thick finger at Iris. "And only she can sense them?"

Esme waved her hand at his phrasing.

"There might be others who can smell certain kinds of magic if they've ever been around it, but Iris is the only wolf I've encountered. She also has other qualities that I've never seen in a wolf."

A little of the tension that had been building in Iris since the meeting convened eased. She had been worried Esme would start throwing around references to the All-Mother.

So far, so good.

"The two men assisting Hank were definitely charmed," Esme continued. "And, since Riya's death, I don't know of anyone other than Iris, wolf or witch, who can smell magic on someone. So, perhaps not the only one, but the only one living that we know of."

Ah, damn it!

The witch smiled, her magic pushing moral support in Iris's direction and, perhaps, an apology for bringing The Nakari into it.

Turning back to Oram, Esme adopted a professorial expression.

"There are two things we can draw from the shape of the silver pendants Iris remembers them wearing, and the conclusions are exclusive of one another in my opinion." She paused, waiting for Oram and Slater to indicate they followed her line of reasoning. "One is that a claw or wolf charm is used to control wolves. Forcing wolves who were strangers to Iris and not part of the West Virginia clan to assist Hank in trying to kill her."

Oram and Slater's brows knitted, much as Denver, Seth and Cade's had done when Esme presented her argument to them before the arrival of the two other wolves. Unfortunately, Oram had far less respect for Esme's intelligence. Iris felt that it would be a long meeting before the old wolf was convinced.

"The other, opposing, hypothesis," Esme continued, "is that the charm is used so that Hunters can pass as wolves. This hypothesis is bolstered, if not proven, by the artifacts Iris describes finding in the car. The two men, whether wolves or Hunters, acted as couriers for high-level Hunter material. While I believe that we can use some of the glyphs and incantations Iris has described to neutralize or extract the crystals from the cubs, I'm certain they were developed by Hunters. And why would wolves have them in their possession?"

"But this cub Oscar shifted and he supposedly stinks of the same magic!" Oram argued, his gaze skipping uncomfortably to Iris. "And you can't say it's because of the crystals…or does the head of the damn Witches' Council stink, too?"

Oram's question about Esme provoked a growl from Denver.

"I guess that depends on whether you like oranges," Iris answered before Denver could turn the meeting into a brawl. "Look, this is new. I haven't even been here a week—"

"No, you haven't," Slater said, finally opening his mouth to do something other than breathe.

The look Cade shot him had the Tennessee wolf trying to fade into the chair he sat in.

"And my exposure to magic for the last twelve years has been limited," Iris continued, her hand landing lightly on Cade's arm in the hope it would calm him. "When Esme or one of the witches is actively casting, I can catch a scent of it. But it doesn't linger on the object charmed. And Esme is casting basically every waking hour of her day to keep the clans safe. But, hey, if you all want to wait around a couple of days and have her do zero casting, we might learn that her magic is cancelling out the odor of the magic that put the crystals in her."

"Care to have your dicks hanging in the wind that long, guys?" Denver asked Oram and Slater.

Silence followed his question.

Iris felt the fine hairs on her arm lift in warning. With every encounter she'd had with the gingery wolf, she had made a careful study. Most of the time he seemed too relaxed, bored even. But she knew better. He was a deep thinker—and a consummate predator. When it came to disagreeing with Esme on anything, especially on removing the threat of the crystals, Oram was an adversary...prey, even. Far from bored, the wolf in Denver merely waited for the right moment to snap its jaws around the other man's neck.

It didn't take long—just another dismissive pass of Oram's hand when Esme tried to steer the conversation back to recovering the papers Iris had found.

Denver leaned forward, his hands resting lightly on the surface of his massive desk, and stared at Oram. The battle was silent and quick, wolf parrying with wolf, but Iris felt each blow exchanged. With the palpable tension running through everyone else in the room, they felt it, too.

Oram began to redden, the challenge from such a newly installed clan leader a high breach of wolf protocol.

But there was no protocol higher among the wolves than leadership by the strongest among them. Iris could only imagine a handful of shifters as strong as the witch's mate, and one of them had his hand curled around hers.

In the end, it was Cade who broke the silence, looking at Denver as he spoke. "I'll take my team and retrieve the papers."

The witch inhaled sharply, her surprise the only physical acknowledgment of what Cade had just done. He had broken from Oram, who was still his clan leader, as surely as if he had stood up, crossed the room and punched the old wolf in the face.

And he had dragged his team along with him.

Giving Cade's hand a little squeeze, Iris drew his attention to her. "Just remember that you get 'mate' when you rearrange 'team.'"

His lips parted and she knew an objection waited at the tip of his tongue. She silenced him with a smile and another squeeze. "I haven't told anyone exactly where I hid them. And having a half-witch, who just so happens to be a homicide detective, on your team will improve the chance of success."

The room's energy changed, the air pressure plummeting. Both Iris and Denver, their faces growing pale, looked at the cause—Esme.

"A witch and a half," she whispered, her hands and lips trembling. "I'm going with you."

"The hell you are." Rising from his chair, Denver closed the short distance between him and his mate. He pulled her up with a fierce tenderness. The dark glittering of his topaz gaze threatened to physically restrain her if she made any attempt to go on the mission.

Esme, her eyes misting like a fog rolling in from the sea, placed her palms against her mate's chest. She didn't push for release, just gently reminded him of the crystals in her. "Other than the cubs, who has the most to gain from retrieving the papers?"

"Then I'm going, too."

This time she did push, her head shaking violently as she rejected the idea. "You're too important to the clan."

"You're too important to me." He cinched Esme to him, his hands interlocking behind her back. "The clan means nothing."

Across the room, Oram squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. Iris looked at her hand as Cade gave it a discreet squeeze, the gesture and the push of his wolf telling Iris that Cade felt the same as Denver. His mate's safety came before the clan, before his status within it, before his very life.

Iris buried her face against Cade's neck as Esme slowly chipped at Denver's resistance.

"With the crystals in us, Oscar and I can't travel together any more than two cubs can." Standing on tiptoe, the witch nuzzled her mate's cheek. "And he needs you with him. You're the only father that cub will ever have."

"You're the only love I will ever have." Tears glittered in the big wolf's eyes, as if he had already lost his mate forever, her leaving only a formality. "You said we would always be together."

Esme slid her hand across his chest so that the palm centered over his heart as she answered. "And we will."

At that moment, Cade squeezed Iris's hand in return, the same promise echoing through Iris with the warm push of his wolf at hers.