“I was just stating an observation,” David said.

“Fair enough,” Ryder said. “No harm, no foul.”

“I think everyone is still on edge,” Jagger said. “In my opinion, we not only have to figure out a way to find the murderer, we have to do it without adding more tension between our people. One way to do that is by keeping the investigation low profile, although I suspect word has already gotten out about the deaths. Regardless, you, as leaders, can do a lot to minimize the tension, but, as Ryder said, it has to start here. The doors to this office are closed. No one outside of this group will know where the clues are leading us or if they’re aiming at a specific group. It doesn’t matter—human, shifter, vampire…” He looked over at Danyon, then August. “Even were. In this room, all bets are off when it comes to getting to the truth of this matter. Outside of this room, we have to be supportive of one another and encourage our people to do the same.”

August laced his arms together and rested them on the table. “Jagger and Ryder are right. As leader of the weres, I know how much pride a leader takes in his people. It is always easier to look at someone else, another race, another culture, and label them suspect. But it is very difficult to look at our own and do the same because it feels like a personal insult. In this case, however, if we don’t put our pride aside and be willing to look at everything, even our own, we could be setting ourselves up for the war of the century.”

“Don’t you think that’s a smidgeon over the top, August?” Armand said, while pouring himself a cup of coffee. “Certainly the death of three weres is not to be taken lightly, but you, Jagger and Ryder are making it sound like we’ve had a massacre, or the commencement to one. Why is that?”

“If I may…?” Jagger said, looking to August for permission to answer the question posed to him.

August nodded his consent.

“Because of extenuating circumstances,” Jagger said to Armand. “They lead us to believe that the stage is being set for an all out massacre, particularly of weres. The evidence has lead us to conclude we’re not only looking at the possibility of that occurring, but that it’s inevitable.”

“What are the extenuating circumstances?” David asked.

Shauna held up a hand before Jagger could answer. “I’m sorry, David, but for safety’s sake, the circumstances Jagger referred to can’t be revealed. It would endanger too many more lives.”

“Now wait a minute,” David said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You call us together to help, but you’re not going to give us all of the details? What’s that about?”

“How absurd,” Armand said. “If you expect us to develop a strategy to end this plight, then the sharing of information is quite necessary, my dear.”

Shauna had to bite her tongue to keep from shooting off at the mouth. She hated when a male, human or otherwise, took the liberty to call her “dear” or “honey.” To her, it sounded so damn patronizing. Armand’s tone didn’t help matters either. He might as well have said to her, “Go play, little girl. The grownups have real work to do.”

Fiona suddenly stood up, leaned over, and pressed her fingertips to the table. She peered at each male in the room before her eyes settled on David Dulac. “David, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

David cocked his head, his brow furrowing. “Okay, shoot.”

“As Keeper of the vampires in this city, do you trust my judgment?”

“Implicitly.”

“Do you think I am loyal to our race?”

“Absolutely.”

“Do you believe the decisions I make for our race are made with the vampires’ best interests at heart?”

“Of course.”

“And why is that?” Fiona asked. “Is it only because I carry the title Keeper?”

Armand tsked. “Oh, Fiona, now please. You know you’re held in high regard by your entire race. It is the same for the shifters, and how we feel about our Keeper. Caitlin earned our trust a long time ago. We believe in her loyalty because she proves it time and time again. And we know the stock she comes from. Heavens, your mother and father were strong, wise leaders, so adored by all. No one ever doubted their word or intentions. Now granted, your parents’ reputation alone gave Caitlin carte blanche to our hearts, but it is being who she is, along with all she does for the shifters, that truly connects her to the very soul of our race.”

“Sucking up for a larger Christmas gift this year, aren’t you, Armand?” Caitlin teased.

He grinned impishly. “www-dot-tiffanys-dot-com.”

Fiona winked at Caitlin and Shauna. “That was eloquently put, Armand. Thank you. I think Caitlin is extraordinary, as well. And so is Shauna—which brings me to my point. I would ask that all of you remember that just because she’s the youngest Keeper, does not mean she deserves less respect. As Keepers, our word is our bond. It means everything. And when we, as Keepers, address you, the leaders of the cultures we are responsible for, it is always with your best interest in mind, not ours. So, David—Armand, if Shauna says that revealing certain information would endanger more lives, her words should be taken as fact. The information is not being kept from you as a power play.”

With that, Fiona sat down and busied herself with a croissant. Shauna wanted to reach over the table and hug her sister for standing up for her, literally and figuratively. It was the first time she truly felt like their equal. Not just Fiona and Caitlin’s little sister.

“Now, if we can get back to the business at hand,” August said, placing his elbows on the table and steepling his fingers.

From where Shauna sat, she could see the small smile hiding behind his fingers. He was obviously pleased, as well, that Fiona had stood up for her.

“Unfortunately, at the moment, we don’t have much to work with in respect to clues,” August said. “Alphas from Lake Charles to New Orleans’ West Bank have been instructed to place their strongest, most loyal weres at post. They’re to keep an eye out for any unusual activity or people, beings, what have you. The challenge is we don’t know what we are looking for, which brings us to one of the main questions in this case. Who or what has the strength to restrain a were once he’s transformed? If we knew that answer, it would at least give us a target to aim at.”

“I hope this won’t be taken the wrong way,” Armand said. “Like I’m unwilling to offer up my own as possible suspects, you know? But honestly, I seriously doubt the murderer is a shifter. Most of us are my size, tall and slender. Just a willow in the forest of life.”

Shauna turned her head, so Armand wouldn’t see her rolling her eyes.

Armand sighed heavily. “My point is that not even a dozen shifters cemented together could hold down a were.”

“But what if those twelve shifted into something larger than a were?” Ryder asked. “Wouldn’t it be possible then?”

Armand shot him a look. “Whose side are you on, Mr. Mallory?”

“He’s on the side of justice,” Caitlin said. “Haven’t you been listening to what’s been said? Each of us has to be willing to put our own on the table for examination. Even shifters.”

This time Armand was the one to roll his eyes. He tsked and looked away, all but saying, “Go away, little gnat, go away,” despite all the virtues he’d just proclaimed about Caitlin.

“They could have shifted into something bigger than a were,” Jagger said. “But when a shifter changes, doesn’t he or she have to mentally map what they’re changing into?”

“Yes,” Ryder said. “Unless they go into auto-shift.”

“What’s that?” Shauna asked.

“When a shifter is young and shifts for the first time, nine times out of ten, it’s random, almost accidental,” Ryder explained. “One day a dog, a cat, a bird, whatever, catches their attention, and, in that moment, for some odd reason, mother nature decides it’s time for their first shift. So whatever they’re focused on gets imprinted on their brain, and they never have to mind map that particular thing again. For many shifters, whenever they get frightened or sense danger, their shifter nature goes into automatic response and shifts them into whatever imprinted itself in the very beginning.”

“If they have to mind map something or someone before changing into it, what or who is bigger than a full grown were in this area?” Shauna asked.

“Andy Saville,” David said.

“Man, that guy is big,” Ryder said.

“And he’s also wolven,” Shauna said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jagger said. “Everything gets put on the table, remember?”

Shauna nodded hesitantly. She would have bet everything she owned, or ever would own during this lifetime, that Andy was not the murderer.

“Well, I think a vampire is completely out of the question,” David said. “A vamp can’t shift into just anything they please. If one did attack a were, the fight would have been fang to fang. A vamp wouldn’t bother wrapping silver around a were, only to remove his claws and fangs. He’d simply rip his throat out.”

“If the vamp could catch him,” Danyon said, with a lopsided grin.

“Touché.”

“But what if a group of vampires glamoured a were?” Caitlin asked. “Is that possible? Could they glamour a were long enough to restrain him? Once he’s secured, all they’d have to do is release the glamour, and the were’s anger would force his transformation.”

“It’s…possible,” David said, after giving it a moment’s thought. “But I don’t think it’s probable. What would they have to gain? From what we’ve been told, the murdered weres lost a lot of blood. Vampires wouldn’t have wasted an opportunity like that. The were would have been drained dry.”