Beside her, Daric spoke. “Our source called me and told me about his vision. He said that the mages would come for the pups outside Muccino’s. I immediately located Mika and brought her to the scene, then proceeded to gather more of our men to help.”
Lucas’s gaze turned to her. “Why not get our fighters over there first? They were already in the training room. You could have gotten everyone there quicker and then taken Mika after.”
A tick in Daric’s jaw pulsed. “Our source was specific in his instructions. Take Mika first, and then everyone else.”
She turned her head toward him so quickly that a wave of dizziness passed over her. “Me? Why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he saw you saving Sofia first.”
“Huh.” Yeah, that must be it. If twenty Lycans showed up, it would have been chaos and maybe no one would have thought to help the Lupa first.
Lucas threaded his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. “And then what happened?”
Mika cleared her throat and then proceeded to tell them about everything that happened the moment she arrived on the scene. “.…we’ve found the vans by the FDR, but it seems to be abandoned.”
“And what do we know about these men?” Adrianna asked.
“The men who came were trained well, just like the others we’ve previously encountered,” Mika explained.
Adrianna’s mismatched eyes flashed with anger. “Hired guns.”
“The best,” she agreed.
Aside from growing their own numbers, the mages also began to supplement their forces with human fighters, who while not possessing any magic or mystical qualities, had modern weapons and were well-trained. Mika and Daric had initially thought the mages found a way to amplify the power of the necklace of Magus Aurelius so they could control the mind of more than one person at a time. However, as they had discovered in the past year, the mages were simply hiring and recruiting from the best private military contractors around the world to build their army the old-fashioned way—with lots of money. Based on the information and analysis Lizzie had dug up, there was a powerful force behind the mages, one with a seemingly inexhaustible amount of wealth.
“And the pups?” Lucas asked. “Why them?”
“They either want their blood or they want to use them to bargain,” Daric said. “Whichever one it is, you know it has something to do with their final plan.”
Adrianna rubbed her temple. “We’ll have to step up security and keep the pups and Sofia at home as much as possible. And maybe Diana and Alessandro shouldn’t be in the same place until we can put a stop to this. It’ll make it more difficult for them to spread their efforts.”
“I didn’t like it when Papa suggested the same thing, but now that I have Alessandro, it makes sense,” Lucas said. “But yes, we’ll have to tighten our security. Sofia won’t like it, but I can’t risk her getting kidnapped. I’ll talk to Astrid and Nick.”
“We’ll have our team work on this as soon as possible.” Mika stood up. “I’m already having the footage from Muccino’s and Petite Louve’s security cameras sent to Lizzie. Daric? Can you give me a lift to HQ? I left my car at the cemetery.”
Lucas frowned. “The ceme—” His face faltered. “Jesus, Mika, I’m sorry. I forgot what today was.”
Adrianna came around toward her, a hand going to her shoulder. “Why don’t you go home? It’s already ten o’clock You should get some rest.”
Despite the tightness in her chest, she managed a shrug. “It’s fine.” She turned her gaze to Daric. “Let’s go.”
There was hesitation in his eyes, but she sent him a silent plea to not question her. “Of course.”
In the blink of an eye, the Alpha’s office disappeared, and they were inside her office at the GI headquarters. With a sigh of relief, she thanked Daric, who only nodded before shimmering away. Walking around to her desk, she booted up her computer and began to type up the events of the evening.
When she first agreed to head the Alpha’s anti-mage task force, she didn’t think paperwork would be part of the job. But it was imperative she get down the details while they were fresh in her head, as any piece of information could be useful later on. Despite the disturbing events that had happened, she had to stay focused and get to the task at hand.
However, when she got to the part where she was shot and Delacroix helped her by taking her into the shadows, her fingers faltered over the keyboard. How was she supposed to relay what happened, not only how to explain how Delacroix’s powers worked, but how she suspected that he might be her True Mate.
Pushing away from the computer, she rose up from her chair. Fatigue seeped into her bones. Maybe I should go home and get some rest. Recharge, get up early, come back here and start afresh.
“Oh, crap.” Her car was still back at the cemetery. She supposed she would have to take one of the GI cars home for now and then have her car picked up tomorrow. Problem solved, she headed toward the elevators and took one all the way to the garage level. Her mind was so pre-occupied when she stepped out that she collided into someone on the other side.
Damp grass, smoke and—
“You,” she hissed, pushing away desire threatening to bubble over inside her. “What are you doing
