"Nevertheless, he swore her loyalty, I presume. Weddings generally have that sort of language involved somewhere," Aldric shook his head.
"You're a romantic," Leo grinned.
Aldric just stared balefully at the camera. "At any rate, let us assume that Honeyford is here to take Kaylee back to the Goldfangs. He intends to hand her over to his wife for a time, then to his alpha in some sort of arranged marriage, if I follow your logic accurately."
"I think that's not an unreasonable scenario to assume, disgusting as the idea is."
"Then, when the first attempt failed–“
“Thanks to you, cuz. Excellent work, by the way.” Leo grinned at the camera.
Aldric smiled with his own satisfaction in the deed. “When the first attempt failed he goes back and discovers that Kaylee is no longer at the cabin, so he and his... associates take Cristina Latham in the hopes of tracing her daughter."
"Which plan is thwarted by you and Marc keeping them there at the clan house, thank goodness," Leo said. He paused, then sent his cousin a thoughtful stare. "Hey, I know I'm more technician than soldier, but if you need another body in this battle, you can count on me. I'm not useless in a fight, after all."
"Thank you, Leo, but you are being the most help right where you are," Aldric said. He appreciated Leo's offer, but if they were going into a fight, he would prefer to have his trained enforcers around him. Leo, while he did, indeed, spar on occasion with a few other clan members, was not a soldier. That said... "But I shall keep the offer in mind."
"No problem, cuz. I'll keep looking for where these jerks are holed up. I have a few ideas," Leo said. Leo started tapping away at his keyboard when there was a knock at Aldric’s office door.
"Hey, can I come in?" Faith asked. "Tamika took the kids out for ice cream."
Aldric frowned. "Alone? In town?"
Faith raised an eyebrow. "No, she took some guy I haven't met yet, but Jake shrieked with joy, then ran up and launched himself at the guy and demanded hugs, so I figure he must be okay. That kid seems to be a pretty good judge of character."
"Oh! Is that her?" Leo perked up on the screen. "Hello? Are you Faith?"
"Um, yes? Hello?" Faith came around and leaned on Aldric's shoulder and peered at the screen where Leo was dancing around and grinning. "Hello strange bouncing person."
"Hi! I'm Leo, Aldric's cousin." Leo waved.
"Oh, the computer whiz! Any news?" Aldric braced as she leaned further.
Leo's grin faded. "Well, a bit, and none good. We know who those guys in the surveillance photo were, and they're bad news."
"Shit," Faith's own smile faded and Aldric wished they had better news to convey.
"They are both from a pack that is run by a man who is disreputable at best and twisted at worst," Aldric told her. "The one we believe to be leading this small group is named Jesse Honeyford, and we suspect that he may be, in a biological sense only, Kaylee's father."
"Wait... you really do think Kaylee's half werewolf?” Faith's voice raised with each word. "And her sperm donor is after her now? What the hell right does he have to do that? And why take Crissy?"
"I don't know the answer to that last question, but it might be an effort to discover where Kaylee herself is," Aldric suggested. He didn't like the idea that this Goldfang brute would so brazenly come into Frostwalker territory and start kidnapping people.
"But, wait," Faith leaned onto Aldric's shoulder again, pulling him from his thoughts. "I thought that we were attacked by rogues?”
Leo scrunched his face up, puzzled, and Aldric nodded. “That is true enough. And you found that corpse with evidence of vampires in the area. I’m not sure how that fits in, but it’s too much of a coincidence to be random.“
"So, maybe–" Leo's guess got cut off by Marc who slammed into the room, wild-eyed and half shifted and growled, "Some dead wolves took my children."
17
The second the words left Marc's mouth, Leo started pounding on his keyboard and Aldric reached up to wrap his hand around Faith's where it was clutching at his shoulder. She had been just balancing herself on him while chatting with Leo– and because she enjoyed the feeling of his warm muscles under her hand. Now she couldn't feel that warmth because ice had replaced the blood in her veins.
"How did you find this out?" Aldric asked. His voice had an edge to it that made her glance over. He was stock still, but something about it made her think that it was the stillness before action rather than anything relaxed. A coiled spring. A pendulum at the top of its arc, held there by the barest thread.
"Madeline called me. You weren’t answering your phone, apparently. Simon is at the clinic getting stitched up. Tamika is so angry that she can't sit still long enough to get her own stitches, and is snapping at anyone who comes near her. Madeline says she might have to sedate her," Marc said. As he spoke his features regained their usual, fully human lines, though he didn't stop pacing and snarling. "Whatever happened it was enough to take down Tamika and Simon. He may be young, but he's skilled."
"I agree. And Tamika is nearly as deadly as you are. She is likely to take this as a personal failing. Where were they? What happened?” Aldric asked.
"I can tell you that," Leo piped up. Faith had honestly forgotten that he was still there, connected to the video call.
"I want to know all the details you can give me," Marc rounded the desk to stand behind Aldric's other shoulder.
"I can show you part of it. The Bank's ATM camera caught the edge of the fight. Hang on I'll put it on
