“I’m sorry,” Jacque said, her voice unsteady. “Did you say she’s in a relationship?”
“She works at a place called The Dog House.” Okay, so Jen was able to get her mouth to do something more than just hang open and invite in flying insects.
Stralina blinked, looking back and forth between the two girls as though she wasn’t sure who she should answer. Peri tapped her shoulder and smiled. “I’ll take it from here, Stralina. You did good.”
“Thank you, Perizada.” She bowed her head and stepped back.
“She died and cut her hair?” Jen continued.
“Do they touch?” Jacque asked.
“Surely not,” Jen responded and shuttered.
“Ugh, do they kiss?” Jacque asked as she covered her mouth with her hand as though she couldn’t believe she’d uttered something so terrible.
“No,” Jen shook her head. “No, there is none of that. Sally wouldn’t kiss someone else, I don’t care how jacked up her head was.”
Stralina started to say something but Peri stepped in front of the pixie. “I don’t think those are the things that are really important right now. She’s alive and relatively safe and healthy. That’s what counts.”
“Sure, sure,” Jacque agreed but then frowned. “But do they touch?”
Peri groaned and plopped herself down, ungracefully, in an empty chair. “Is it really that important?”
Jacque looked at Jen; they both shuddered. “It’s just the thought of another male wolf touching me,” Jacque started but Fane’s growl interrupted her. She patted the muscular arm that was wrapped around her. “Calm down, wolf-man, there is no other furball for me besides you.”
“What Jacque is trying to say,” Jen cut in. “Is eww.”
Jacque nodded. “Exactly.”
Peri looked at each of them and threw her hands up. “So now that you know your best friend is alive and relatively safe, all you can think about is her relationship status.”
“Now you’re catching on,” Jen sang. She looked over at Jacque and motioned to the fae. “She’s finally catching on.”
Jacque nodded. “Totally catching on.”
Peri glanced over to Stralina. “Now do you see why I didn’t want to tell them?”
“Is Sally’s relationship with the werewolf connected to her lost memories?” Thalion asked.
Peri clapped her hands. “Thank you, Prince. That is a question worth my time. Not, do they touch.” She shot Jacque a glare. “And, yes, I believe the two things are connected.”
“So she isn’t safe,” Jen countered.
“I said relatively safe,” Peri pointed out.
“Jericho, Jericho.” Vasile’s voice stopped Jen from responding. “Is that the same Jericho that went missing from the Missouri pack?” he asked Peri.
She nodded. “One and the same. I went and spoke to his former Alpha yesterday.” Peri went on to explain to them about her conversation with Wadim, and then the Missouri Alpha, as well as her talk with Jericho. “As bad as all of that is,” she said, after giving all the information. “It’s not the worst of it.”
Vasile’s eyes narrowed. “You still haven’t told us who is responsible for taking Sally and using magic on her. Certainly Jericho would not be capable of such a thing.”
“Bullseye, Alpha,” Peri chuckled and tapped the side of her nose. “You’re correct, I haven’t, and that is the worst of it.”
“Bloody hell, spit it out already,” Jen groaned. “Someone needs to die and I need to know who to kill.”
“You aren’t killing anyone,” Decebel rumbled.
“Watch it, butthead or I’ll put you at the top of my hit list,” she growled back. “Who, Peri? Who did this to her?”
“Your mate is correct, Jen. You wouldn’t stand a chance against this one, I’m afraid. He’s one of mine.”
“What?” Fane, Decebel, and Vasile growled at the same time.
Peri nodded letting out a sardonic laugh. “Yes, a high fae took your gypsy healer, cloaked her mind, and is a traitor to his own supernatural race.”
“Alston,” Cyn whispered and all eyes snapped to her.
“Ding, ding, ding,” Peri chimed sardonically.
“Why?” Cyn asked her.
Peri smiled but there was no happiness behind it. “You ready for this?” Her eyes narrowed and the power around her pulsed. “He works with the Order of the Burning Claw.”
Chapter 17
“The Great Luna created the werewolves because man had turned on himself. Families were divided, countries were crumbling beneath the weight of war, and humanity did not seem all that humane. Yet, the last few enemies I have faced have not been human. The current enemy I face is not human. What does that say about us?” ~Vasile
Vasile, for the first time in a very long time, felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under him and then shoved over his face to suffocate him. Alston. Of all those he knew in the supernatural world, he would not have picked Alston as a traitor. Pompus ass? Yes. Traitor? No. Perhaps, Vasile’s instincts were growing rusty after two centuries of life.
“Okay, forgive me for not knowing everything,” Jen said as she pushed on Decebel’s arm. “But what the crap is the Order of the Burning Claw? And why do I feel like I need some sort of dramatic music playing every time we say Order of the Burning Claw?”
“Dun, dun, duuuuuuuuuun,” Jacque sang.
Peri cleared her throat. “Thank you for that, wolf-princess.”
“I do what I can, Peri. I do what I can.”
“The Order,” Vasile spoke up, deciding that it was better to go ahead and cut the females off before they even got started, “is an ancient organization—”
“What isn’t ancient with you supernaturals?” Jen muttered.
Vasile glanced at her with a raised brow as he paused.
“Sorry, continue,” she said with a bow of her head and a wave of her hand.
“How gracious of you, Jen. As I was saying, the Order is an ancient organization of supernaturals that believe that the human race is inferior to them. They do not think that we supernaturals should have to live in hiding.”“But they don’t want to just come out and say here we are, we come in peace, do they?” Jacque asked.
Vasile shook his head. “No, they do not. They believe that life is about the survival of the fittest—the strong prevail, and the weak do not. They consider humans weak. But that doesn’t mean that they believe all supernaturals to be equal, either.”
“Who’s the leader of this Order?” Fane asked.
Vasile noted that his son was able to speak again without growling and that was a good sign, though he still hadn’t let go of his mate.
“Who knows? No one has heard from the Order in a very long time. But, it was usually the strongest member at any given time. At one time it was a fae, at another, it was a vampire,” he explained.
“I thought the fae were the most powerful of all the supernaturals—end of story?” Jen piped up.
“We are, and don’t you forget it,” Peri told her. “But not all fae were created equal. Most of us with brains, and therefore power, would never consider joining the Order.”
“What about your father?” Decebel spoke up, his amber eyes turning on Thalion. “You said he’s involved with the Order. Could he be their leader?”
Prince Thalion shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. After seeing him today, I would not believe him to be of sound enough mind to lead such an organization.”
Jen laughed. “And what leads you to believe that any leader of a radical organization hell bent on the destruction of an entire species is ever of sound mind?”
“Point,” Jacque called out as she pointed at Jen. “She’s totally got ya there, elf boy.”
Peri rubbed her forehead. “Did I miss something while I was saving your life?” She looked over at Jacque. “I mean, did I knock some more screws loose while I was in there?”
Jacque pulled her shoulders up and scrunched up her nose. “I don’t know. It’s like these things just keep spilling out of my mouth and I can’t shut it off.”
“Soooo, there’s two of her now?” Thalion asked pointed at Jen.
Cyn elbowed him.
“Dude, B wishes there was two of me,” Jen said as she smacked her thigh and laughed.
Decebel growled and whispered something in Jen’s ear that had her frowning at him.
Vasile pinched the bridge of his nose and glanced as Peri. She shrugged. “This is how they handle a crisis, you know this. We tell them that the world is being threatened and they turn into mouthy comedians. Roll with it, Alpha.”
“We need a plan,” Vasile said as he grabbed the chair from behind his desk and rolled it around to add to the chairs that had already been maneuvered into a circle.
Jen, finally breaking free of her mate’s iron grasp, rubbed her hands together. “Now we’re talking. The Order wants to jack with my best friend. Well, I’m going to jack back.”
Jacque smacked herself in the forehead as several of the males coughed to cover their laughs. “Jen, please, please think about what you just said and never say it again.”
Jen paused and then shook her head. “Yeah, I totally don’t have an excuse for that one. That was just poor execution.”