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  “Commercial?” she asked.

  He arched an eyebrow at her.

  “I’m just saying, Ortega told me that his feelings would be hurt if I ever wanted to fly somewhere and didn’t ask him to send his jet for me. You know, Clan relations and all. I am their Seer, too. He adopted me as their Seer. And he’s a friend. And Connor’s godfather. I know he wasn’t just saying it to say it, he really meant it.”

  Ain let out a long, frustrated sigh. “You can ask Ortega if he wouldn’t mind picking us up at the Pt. Charlotte airport on the way, if it’s not out of his way,” Ain clarified. “If it is, then we’re flying out of Tampa and into Bangor and renting a car like normal humans.”

  “Whatever that means,” Cail snarked. “‘Cause there damn sure isn’t anything normal about us.”

  Elain fist-bumped with him.

  A little later, after nursing Ellie and with her men watching TV with the babies sound asleep in Brodey’s and Cail’s arms, Elain walked outside with her phone to call Ortega back.

  “Okay, we’re a go. It’s the Saturday after this one.”

  “Excellent. When shall I pick you up? My schedule is clear, and my plane is at your disposal.”

  It felt good to have friends in high places.

  It felt even better to know he was doing this because he was a friend, not because he felt he owed her. He genuinely wanted to do this for them.

  “When were you guys planning on coming up?”

  He laughed. “Uh-uh-uh. That was not my question, dear.”

  “Did you have any other business you needed to attend to while we’re up there?”

  “I always have business to attend to wherever I go.”

  “You are an infuriating cat, you know that?”

  He chuckled. “I am serious, Elain. You choose the time. I am at your disposal, my friend.”

  She thought about the logistics. She wasn’t sure how good an idea it was to leave Jan and Rick on their own yet at the ranch for a long period of time, but she didn’t want to be rushed.

  “How about you pick us up that Thursday, and we’ll fly back on Sunday after brunch?” She knew several of their hands would be more than happy to take double overtime pay to hang around, even if they weren’t scheduled to work on the weekend.

  And she needed some face-time with Lacey that she didn’t have to Seer Says her way around.

  “Marvelous. I will call you with our departure time from Pt. Charlotte once we’re in the air Thursday.”

  “Seriously, thank you. It saves a lot of hassle with us trying to fly commercial.”

  As she suspected, the jaguar almost sounded hurt. “Elain, unless there is some unforeseen scheduling emergency that I cannot work around, I would never have you fly commercial. Even if it meant me chartering a flight for you. You are our Seer. If Lina weren’t so stubborn, I would fly her across the Atlantic when she has to go to France, but she ‘doesn’t want to impose.’”

  Elain couldn’t help but snicker at Ortega trying to imitate her friend. “In fact, Elain, do me a favor, please, and convince Lina that yes, she absolutely should impose upon me. She is a Seer. Perhaps not our Clan’s Seer, but I consider her a friend and extended family. And Mai as well. All three of you are equally beloved to us.”

  “Thanks. I’ll do my best, but she’s…stubborn.”

  “That she is. Beautiful redhead with a fiery temper. She is well-suited to being the mate of dragons.”

  “That she is.”

  She got off the phone with him and stood there for a moment. Other than the usual evening noises, the breeze rustling the nearby trees, and the occasional cow making noise in a nearby pasture, it was…

  Peaceful.

  Unfortunately, every time Elain closed her eyes for too long, she now saw the vision of what could happen if they didn’t stop it.

  The ugly, deadly blossom of a mushroom cloud over the Midwest.

  The devastation it would leave in its wake—and the chaos it would spawn all over the globe—was probably a bazillion times worse than what she imagined.

  Until they could stop it, none of them would ever know true peace.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Without taking a day off, Elain, Lina, and Mai worked on trying to make progress with the vision all the way up until it was time for Elain and her men to head to Maine for the weekend.

  “Trying” being the operative word, because they hadn’t learned much more than they started with, except that they could feel even more frustrated than they ever imagined possible. Although the Triad could replicate the backward vision, it always started in the same place, and they could never get around the barrier the river presented. Even after studying maps and figuring out exactly where they started in the vision, they couldn’t manage to maneuver their way west enough to head straight south to Marston and find out where the bomb was at before they lost sight of the cloud.

  At the beginning of the vision and working backward, there were people standing around, some obviously looking toward the mushroom cloud, some driving or riding in vehicles, pedestrians leaving stores or entering them.

  Nothing to indicate why there, why that particular time, why the vision took place in New Madrid and not in or near Marston, where the bomb apparently detonated.

  They concentrated on license plates, the registration stickers, trying to track down people and narrow the date range. Now with something to go on, their focus had completely shifted from trying to decipher the past of the cockatrice books and artifacts in their possession and trying to figure out how to stop a nuclear apocalypse.

  Which was fine with Elain, because even looking at the physical copies of the books gave her a weird, unsettled feeling she hated. If she didn’t need to decipher the physical copies or work with the little creepy statues, she wouldn’t complain. After hearing Lina report how the little stone icons made her feel, Elain wasn’t relishing the job of figuring them out, either.

  Despite the heavy weight of the vision’s deadline looming in the not-too-distant future, Elain looked forward to the Maine trip. It would be a little bit of a respite, fun to see Callie and Blackie and some of their other friends, a chance to go to Lacey’s thinking rock, and the opportunity to have Connor and Ellie’s private recognition ceremony.

  It was also a chance for Elain to get away from Brighton for a couple of days and have some alone-alone time.

  There was also the fact that, while in Maine, Elain wanted a crack at the rock pile to see if she could have any other visions about Aliah and what had happened. If there was anyone Aliah had been working with who might be able to give them information that could help stop the explosion.

  The journey to Maine was, fortunately, uneventful. The children’s recognition ceremony was the first thing on the agenda that day when Blackie called the Clan meeting to order. This was more a formality. They’d have a full, formal celebration there in Maine with all their family and friends in attendance in four weeks, but Oscar and Gigi were out of town, and Mom and Dad’s house was almost ready for them to move in and they were busy working on that.

  That meant rather than trying to get everyone up to Maine for this weekend, they’d opted for a quickie ceremony, and they’d repeat it in four weeks.

  Once that happy bit of business was completed, they proceeded through the rest of the agenda, knowing it would be impossible to try to get anything else done once Ortega made his announcement. Another reason to recognize the babies first, because waiting until the end would have upstaged their recognition once everyone knew about Rodolfo.

  Cail and Callie had taken the sleeping babies back to the guest cabin to await the others. Elain had taken the precaution of pumping breast milk so they could bottle-feed Ellie if she awoke early.

  Elain hadn’t wanted the babies there, even at their young age, and exposed to the dregs of the shit that had once been Rodolfo Abernathy.

  Dead or not.

  Blackie looked around from where he sat on the dais with Ain and the other C
lan Council members. “This brings us to the last item on the agenda today. Ortega Montalvo, you wanted to publicly address the Clan?”

  The jaguar stood, his massive presence alone commanding attention even before figuring in his demeanor. “Yes, thank you, Daniel Blackestone. This announcement isn’t just for the wolf Clan, but for the mega-Clan Council at large, and any representatives of that who might be here today. But since the original order came from the Maine wolf Clan, I didn’t feel right announcing it anywhere else first.”

  The jaguar looked around the room as it went quiet in anticipation of his announcement. “The rogue wolf Rodolfo Abernathy, who carried an outstanding death order against him for confirmed crimes committed against the Maine wolf Clan, is dead.”

  A wave of murmurs swept through the meeting hall, so loud and disruptive Blackie finally had to gavel them down. “Quiet, please. Let him continue.” He glanced at Elain but didn’t make eye contact with her for long. “Do you have the proof with you, Ortega?”

  “Yes,” Ortega said. “His death is verified by myself and others.” He produced a thumb drive, which Blackie had him put into a laptop attached to a projector.

  The jaguar pulled up pictures that Elain damn well knew were taken just after Marston had first turned Rodolfo over to the jaguars.

  Before any of the torture had begun.

  In the photos, Rodolfo lay naked, eyes closed, and sprawled on the metal exam table in Ortega’s private fun room from hell. Obviously—well, obviously to Elain—the old wolf had been drugged out of his gourd.

  But he damned sure looked dead in the pictures. From the reaction of the spectators, that’s exactly what they thought, too.

  More murmurs filled the room. Blackie once again gaveled them down until he could be heard again.

  “And you captured him how?” Blackie asked Ortega, going along with the prearranged wolf-and-pony show to make it look good for the audience.

  “He was delivered to me via a third-party who wishes to remain anonymous due to their vulnerability. They are afraid of incurring the wrath of any Abernathy sympathizers. It is no secret that I have had a sizable bounty on that wolf’s head for more than a few years. Someone finally cashed it in once the Maine wolves declared a death order on him.”

  Fortunately, Mai and Lina weren’t here. When her friends had offered to come with for moral support during the Abernathy revelation part of things, Elain had hinted that she needed some alone-alone time with her men.

  Not counting the babies, of course. But when the babies were asleep, it was almost as good as alone-alone time.

  No adult ears to pick up on what might be going on.

  And yes, they did have the guest cabin all to themselves.

  Plus Elain didn’t need either of her fellow Seers accidentally getting a hint that perhaps the truth of the story wasn’t exactly as Ortega was laying it out.

  That Marston Hill was alive and well and in Ortega’s care.

  Blackie pointed to Elain. She walked over to Ortega and took his arm, as they’d planned before the meeting ever started. That was more for show than anything, for the spectators. Because as soon as the meeting adjourned, if not sooner, word would be spreading like wildfire throughout the wolf Clan and the mega-Clan at large.

  She nodded. “He’s telling the truth, Daniel.”

  She couldn’t lie to her own men.

  But…loophole…She specifically addressed her comment to Blackie, so, technically, it wasn’t a lie.

  Which, actually, it wasn’t a lie anyway. Marston had cashed in on the bounty, and there was a legitimate concern for his safety and to maintain his anonymity, even if only Elain, Ortega and his men, and Lacey knew that part of the story.

  Besides, Elain’s men already knew Rodolfo was dead. They also knew, via Blackie and Ortega, that Ortega had custody of Rodolfo when he died. What her men hadn’t asked for, other than her conversation with Ain, were the specifics.

  She’d already agreed with the jaguar that they would keep the details to a minimum and let Ortega set the public story himself. It’d be easier that way.

  The applause started somewhere in the back of the room and swelled, thundering as people clapped and whistled and cheered and stomped and made a variety of howls and bellows and other celebratory noises.

  Elain caught Lacey’s gaze, where she sat off to the side next to Jocko.

  The old Seer slowly nodded, a playful smile on her face.

  Blackie waited a few minutes for the noise to finally begin to die down naturally before he gaveled for quiet again. People had wanted to get up to shake the jaguars’ hands and congratulate them.

  “Where’s his body?” Blackie asked.

  “Incinerated,” Ortega said. “After I dismembered him personally.”

  “And you have witnesses who positively identified him and who verified the process?”

  “Absolutely. I personally knew it was Rodolfo Abernathy, as did several of my men, and my brothers. All of whom witnessed it, and who will gladly submit to our Seer for verification. There is no doubt.”

  More hoots and hollers of approval.

  Blackie once again let the noise start to die down before he gaveled for order. “There’s no need for that. As many years as I’ve known you, you’ve always been an honorable man. All I care about is that the guy is dead and no longer a pain in this Clan’s ass. Therefore, as the leader of this Clan, and the representative of the mega-Clan Council, we hereby commend you for following through on the death order and removing the threat. I think I speak for pretty much everyone when I say thank you, and that the chances of you ever having to pay for your own meals or drinks when there are other shifters around just dropped to zero.”

  Blackie grinned. “And having said that, we’ll break for two hours for lunch. Ortega, I’m buying for you and your men.”

  This time, Blackie didn’t have to gavel down the cheering. Elain forced herself to stay put when Lacey made her way over to where she stood and smiled up at her.

  “What?” Elain finally asked.

  “You did good, Seer,” she softly said.

  Elain snorted. “Not sure I like that title much,” she muttered.

  Lacy hugged her. “Get used to it,” she whispered in Elain’s ear. “You’ll be wearing it for life.”

  “Oh. You and I still need to have a conversation.”

  “We do?”

  “Yeah.” She stared down into Lacey’s eyes. “What else is buried in your garden? Or should I ask, who?”

  Lacey wore a serene smile. “Why don’t you come over in a little while, and we’ll have tea and talk.”

  “Tea? Seriously?”

  “I can make coffee.”

  “I have a feeling I’ll want to hit Jocko’s stash of booze in your cabinet.”

  “Maybe, child. Maybe.”

  * * * *

  Elain knew she wouldn’t be able to do any drinking yet, anyway. At Ellie’s last visit with Dr. Alberto, the doctor reminded her of what she and Lina had already warned, that shifter babies frequently got their teeth in far sharper and sooner than human babies, ready to wean much younger.

  But for now, Elain needed to behave herself. Ellie was thriving, Connor was apparently none the worse for wear for his bottle-feeding, based on his growth, and both babies were healthy and…

  Normal.

  Elain actually caught a break, because Kitty wanted to discuss cockatrice hunting with Brodey, Blackie wanted Ain to hang around for a discussion with Ortega and some other mega-Clan representatives, and Cail opted to join Brodey and sit in on the cockatrice hunting meetings.

  That left Elain with the babies at the guest cabin once Callie bid her leave. Her men already knew Elain was planning on visiting Lacey, so once Elain was alone, she packed a diaper bag for the babies and then called Lacey.

  “I’m home, so come over any time you want,” Lacey told her.

  “We’ll be right there.” Elain ended the call, slung her purse and the diaper bag over her sh
oulder, then grabbed a baby carrier in each hand and closed her eyes.

  When she opened them, she heard Lacey gasp. “When you said you’d be right here, I guess you really meant right here.”

  “You aren’t used to me doing this yet, are you?”

  “No. It’s one thing to have you appear outside and I can process that you appeared. It’s another thing to see you do it.” She walked over and took Connor’s carrier from Elain.

  “I thought you were used to this with Callie and the others?”

  “I was. And exactly my point. I’ll get used to it. It’s just…an adjustment. So you wanted to talk?”

  “What’s in your garden?”

  “I think you know.”

  Elain glared at the old Seer. “I think you know what I’m talking about. What else is there. Who else is there?”

  Lacey sighed. “A woman needs her secrets, Elain. If there was any reason to tell you, I would.”

  “You are sooo not Seer Saysing me on this.”

  “Afraid I am. I have my reasons. If there was any reason for you to know, I would tell you.” She met Elain’s gaze. “What if I want to read your diary, hmm? Would that be an invasion of privacy?”

  “Bodies buried in your backyard is not the same thing as a diary.”

  “But it’s every bit a statement about my past, right? I’m entitled to that, if I want.”

  A thought struck Elain. “Did you have a vision about me burying Mercedes?”

  “I knew that you’d need my place for what you needed to do, and that you should have your privacy to do it.” She smiled. “It was a happy coincidence that the timing worked out for my own…trip.”

  “Well, at least we didn’t dig up another body in the process of burying her.”

  A laugh burped out of Lacey. “My, I would have liked to have seen Ryan’s face if that had happened.”

  “So there are bodies in your garden?”

  “I know of at least one.” She met Elain’s gaze, not flinching, not backing down.

  It wasn’t a lie, Elain knew, but it also wasn’t the full truth.