I glanced at the picture of the woman from the shooting. No, it wasn’t her. It was someone I met recently, though.
Then it clicked. “Gabby.”
Levi raised a brow. “Liz’s sister.”
“Yes.”
Levi nodded, and Tabitha made a note. That didn’t sit right with me. “I need to call Liz.”
“You can fill her in when we’re done.” Mario put a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off but didn’t argue.
“We have a location for Adrianna. I was going to have Oliver scout it out.” I glanced at the third screen. “I see you have him on surveillance as well.”
Catalina nodded. “As a precaution. Your uncle is a bit of a loose cannon. When we send him out on missions, we send someone to track him.”
I snorted. “You know you aren’t fooling him, right?”
“We know. The hope is that he behaves himself when he’s under surveillance.” Catalina chuckled. “Sometimes it works. Other times he does stuff purposely to piss us off.”
Yep. That was Oliver. “What mission do you have him on now?”
“That’s classified,” Catalina answered without missing a beat. “Only between the King and us.”
I was tempted to argue that one, but I figured I’d learn eventually. Most likely when it came back to bite me in the ass. “Is that all then?”
Catalina shook her head. “There’s still the discussion of Samuel and his threats. We don’t know if he’s tied to the shooting, and until we can hunt the woman down, we won’t know anything.”
“Samuel has set a specific date that I cannot leave the mansion until. That means he’s either planning something that I need to be out of the way for, or he needs me in a location for a reason. Knowing his love for drama and power shows, I’m willing to bet he’s going to show up at the party.”
Catalina nodded. “That was our thought as well. So you will have guards spread out through the party. Mingling with you and other guests so that it’s not obvious who is there to protect you and who is there because it’s your party.”
“Because Simon,” Mario interrupted, and there was a tinge of bitterness in his voice. “And you are dating, he’ll be around you more. We are trusting that the Alpha knows how to protect you.”
I was not going to rise to that bait. He was testing if I trusted Simon or not. I bit my tongue to keep me from lashing back. “You know what they say about plans made…”
There was a muttering around the room. I nodded. “I’ll make sure to keep myself safe as well. I’d like to enjoy my party, seeing as it’s actually the first party Levi has thrown for me since I was four.”
Levi seemed to choke on something at me calling him out. “And with that, I think it’s time to return home. Princess Abigail will be working on the case from the mansion. As she stated, she and Liz already learned something new today. We’ll take this new news back tonight and see what comes of it.”
I stood, and Mario and Levi stood as well. We walked out of the room, and Levi put his hand on the small of my back, taking us back to the mansion.
The smell off coffee greeted us when we appeared. I closed my eyes and inhaled. “Liz must be awake.”
“Seems like it.” Mario nodded and then took a few steps away from me. I started to walk down the hall toward the kitchen. Levi and Mario both followed.
“Thank you for taking this seriously, Abigail. You conducted yourself very well tonight.” Levi chuckled. “Very few outbursts.”
“No outbursts, actually, and I got something useful out of it.” I turned the corner of the kitchen and saw Liz sitting there with a cup of coffee. She stared at the countertop as if lost in her thoughts.
“Liz?” I asked softly, not wanting to startle her.
She jumped a little bit anyways. “Abby.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”
I went to the coffee pot and made myself a cup. “You’ve got a lot going on, no need to apologize. I come bringing news from the council.”
“Oh?”
Levi hovered near me.
I nodded. “They have surveillance of the first scene you sent me. It’s of Mason and his crew working it.”
She stiffened. “And?”
“Gabby was on the scene.” I kept my voice even.
Liz shook her head. “Gabby wouldn’t be there.”
I raised a brow. “There’s video evidence. Do you know why she would be there?”
“She wouldn’t be there,” she said again, her voice more forceful this time. “Gabby wouldn’t be working with that witch.” Her hands tightened around her coffee mug, and her magic started to leak out.
Levi took a step forward, but I held my hand up to tell him to wait. “I’m not saying that she’s working with Adrianna. I’m simply saying she was at the scene, dressed as part of Mason’s crew.”
The coffee cup in her hand exploded. Liz hung her head, seemingly not bothered by the hot coffee that had covered her. “She’s…Abigail.” Liz shook her head. “Please, excuse me.” She stood and walked out of the kitchen.
I followed her. “Liz, you need to talk to me.”
“Gabby is working with the fucking witch. After everything,” she screamed, spinning around to look at me.
“That’s how she knew the location. That’s why she led you there.”
“Why lead me there to save you if she’s working with Adrianna?” I paused for a moment. “She’s tracking you.”
Liz nodded. “That’s why I had you start the spell. That’s why I had you use your blood.”
“Fuck.” I ran a hand through my hair. “So now what? You just used your magic because you lost control.”
She nodded. “Adrianna
