Mikhail let out his breath slowly and turned to look at Gregori. “I don’t know why I’m not more surprised that this mess we’re in began long ago with Xavier.”
“Where did you see this mark?” Gregori asked.
“Damon, Daciana’s brother, acted against his moral beliefs. Each time he was questioned, I could see that something kept him from remembering. His head hurt. His nose bled.”
“Mage-shadowed,” Gregori said. “You’re describing someone mage-shadowed.”
Branislava nodded slowly. “There’s only a handful of mages who were good at it, but only three that I know of that might be able to mass-produce mage-shadows on unsuspecting victims. Damon recalled going to a meeting of the Sacred Circle, but he couldn’t remember who was there encouraging him to join with the assassins targeting Skyler and Dimitri.”
“His orders,” Zev added, “were to wound wolves and leave them as bait in the forest. Dimitri has a certain reputation. His mission has always been to save the wolves in the wild.”
“I thought Lycans had that same mission,” Mikhail said.
“I thought they did as well,” Zev said, a hard edge to his voice. “Fortunately, Damon didn’t take the shot he had and I didn’t kill him. If I had, we never would have had a chance to discover that he’d been manipulated. I questioned him, and Branka spotted the signs.”
Gregori’s silver eyes bore into Branislava, making her want to squirm, but she stayed very still, determined to keep her composure.
“You knew he was mage-shadowed yet you checked for a signature without anyone to aid you if you got into trouble, didn’t you?” His tone was low. Accusing.
She nodded, clutching Zev’s hand in a death grip.
“You knew how dangerous it was, but you still did it—why?”
Gregori’s voice lashed her like a whip. She even winced under the stroke. Beside her, Zev’s head went up, his eyes going entirely wolf. Immediately a feral, wild scent enveloped her. She felt him coil.
“I would prefer, Gregori, that you watch how you talk to my woman,” Zev said, his voice nearly hoarse with the effort it took to keep from growling. “Otherwise, you and I will be going outside to have a private discussion.”
Shock showed on Gregori’s face.
Mikhail coughed into his hand, clearly trying not to laugh. Gregori, just in case you have never met yourself, that’s you sitting over there.
Gregori sent the prince a sour look. Your amusement at my expense never fails to amaze me.
The way you make friends everywhere you go never fails to amaze—or amuse me.
“O jelä peje terád—sun scorch you, Mikhail,” Gregori said irreverently to his father-in-law, the prince of the entire Carpathian race.
Mikhail’s expression never changed, but his laughter was contagious. Gregori clearly tried to hide his own amusement, glaring at Mikhail, but in the end he knew Mikhail knew him far too well not to feel his laughter at his own expense.
“Please excuse me, Bronnie,” he said aloud. “I know the dangers of trying to remove a mage-shadow and the thought of you attempting such a thing without protection was such a shock I spoke without thinking. I have removed splinters, but not a mage-shadow. I tried, but wasn’t successful. It was . . . vile.”
Branislava heard the sincerity in his voice and knew it had nothing to do with fearing Zev. Gregori didn’t like bullying women.
“If it makes you feel any better, I would never have tried such a thing. That’s why I asked you and Mikhail to meet us here, to decide what to do,” she said. “I needed to know if my suspicions were true. Damon was adamant that the only place he’d gone was to a Sacred Circle meeting. There was someone there he couldn’t name, a person he’d met many times, and yet each time he tried to recall him, he became quite ill.”
Gregori nodded in understanding. “You suspect a mass shadowing?”
She pressed her lips together hard, her heart stuttering again, reliving that moment when she was quite certain who had placed the shadow in Damon’s brain. She nodded slowly, frowning a little. “Who else, Gregori? Who could do such a thing? If not Xavier, then one or both brothers have to still be alive.” Her voice quivered. She couldn’t help it.
“And when you checked?” Gregori gentled his voice.
“It was as I feared. Xaviero.”
Tatijana gasped and covered her mouth. She shook her head.
Branislava nodded. “It was, Tatijana. There is no mistaking his signature. He’s alive, and he’s infiltrated the ranks of the Lycans. Like Xavier, he is working to destroy anyone who might oppose his power.”