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“And in the meantime, you and I should head down to the morgue, son.” My father motions for Cam, who’s been unusually quiet this morning, to come take control of his chair. “They’ve finished the autopsy on the kid who caught fire in the loading bay. Anton’s made a positive I.D.”
My brows lift. “And when was Anton going to make me aware of this development?”
“He did make you aware,” Dad says, waving an impatient hand. “I went through the messages on your desk this morning.”
I bite back the impatient words on the tip of my tongue. I don’t want to seem at odds with my father in front of my advisors—many of whom were once his advisors—but we need to have a talk about respecting my boundaries as Alpha.
I’m in charge now. I’m guiding this ship and I can only guide it competently when everyone, including Dad, is obeying the chain of command.
“You’re all dismissed,” I say. “We’ll meet back here at five. Hopefully we’ll have more to share then.”
As chairs scoot back across the carpet and everyone disperses to do their part to preserve our pack, I turn to arch a meaningful brow at my father.
He scowls but he waits until it’s just the two of us—and Cam—before he says, “All right. Yes. I get it, son. I’ll stay away from your desk. I’m not trying to take over. I just want to help. I have to do something or I’m going to lose my fucking mind.” He rubs at the hollows above his eyes, wincing as his hand falls back into his lap. “I keep hoping I’m going to find something that explains all of this. That…excuses it somehow.”
I sigh. “I know, Dad. Me, too. But it’s not looking good right now. And if the scouts I sent out find Bane’s headquarters, I intend to make a pre-emptive move.”
He nods tiredly. “As you should. I was thinking that same thing.” His lips quirk as he glances up at me. “You sent the scouts to Pennsylvania, didn’t you?”
I nod. “Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The trees in the video look like redwoods, but I had the IT guys zoom in on the star formations in the sky above Kelley and Bane. That promo was filmed on the East Coast and there are only a few places with old growth forests and trees that big on this side of the country.”
Dad reaches out, clapping me on the back. “I knew all those weekends camping and stargazing would pay off. I’m proud of you, son.”
“Be proud of me once our people are safe,” I say, wondering what Dad would think if he knew about the conversation I had with Willow last night.
Knowing my father, he’d be horrified. But then, he wasn’t above forcing me into a marriage. Maybe he’d be okay with me forcing a pregnancy, too.
But I can’t bring myself to ask him about that, and I’m actually grateful to hear Cam pipe up for once.
“Speaking of keeping people safe,” he says in rough voice. “I reached out to Maggie’s protegee to fact check everything she shared with us. I was worried she might have led us astray, but it looks like the intelligence was solid even though she was…compromised.” He clears his throat. “I’m sorry for that. It never entered my mind that she couldn’t be trusted.”
“It never entered mine, either,” I assure him. “It’s all right. I don’t blame you, Cam. We’re all doing the best we can right now. There’s going to be a lot of fumbling in the dark before we find our way.”
He nods, his gaze fixed on the floor. “I appreciate your understanding, but I intend to be more careful in the future.”
“And I intend to get to the morgue before ten a.m.,” Dad grumbles. “We should get going. Anton has been on duty since midnight. He’ll want to get some rest soon.”
* * *
We head down to the morgue, where we learn the boy who caught fire in the theater’s loading bay was a rare black bear shifter, one of a pair of twins. Anton used dental records to connect the teenager to a community wiped out by a mine explosion fifteen years ago.
A community in Pennsylvania…
It’s not a smoking gun, but it’s another connection that might lead to my brother.
“The boy said the person who sent him threatened to kill his sister to get him to cooperate,” I say as Anton covers the charred body with a sheet. “Any word on where the sister is now?”
Anton shakes his head. “Before this, neither of them had been seen in years. The woman I spoke to in the missing shifters department said they ran away from a foster home not long after they turned twelve and have most likely been living in the forest since then. She said she would get a tip about a couple of kids who matched their descriptions out alone in the woods every few months but didn’t investigate too hard. Bear shifters are so vulnerable to human disease, she figured if they were doing okay out on their own, it might be the best place for them.”
“And where was this woman based?” I ask, trying not to get my hopes up.
The coroner’s brow furrows. “The name of the town slips my mind, but it was in Jefferson County.”
I exchange a look with Dad, whose eyes are lit up.
Jefferson County borders the old growth forest I sent the scouts to investigate. With a little bit of luck, we could have an idea where my brother is hiding out within a day or two.
It’s promising news, but not promising enough to guarantee we’ll be able to eliminate the threat Bane poses without worrying about the prophecy. Even if I manage to lock my brother up and throw away the key, he has allies. Lots of allies. And the only way to dissuade them from attacking us to free Bane would be to prove Willow and I are the favored fated mates.
