Page 49 of Lightning Strikes

“Excuse me… what?” I can’t believe this. Did Mac know? He still hasn’t talked to me about anything, and now that Deacon has acknowledged his ‘training’ and sent him off with a group of enforcers, he’s going to be gone too much to want to talk about what happened any time soon…

“I know… Shit is getting weird here, A. I need to see you in person.”

Fuck. There’s no way I can go to the city being the only healer here and there’s no way I’m going to Prescott… “I just started this new job, Mel. And you’ll have to drag me back to Prescott kicking and screaming. Not after what happened to Mac.” I close my eyes. At least all she knows about is Morrow crashing into him and trying to take him up north to a secluded cabin to kill him. Nothing about the theories about him being in on the wolf disappearances or what was around the cabin before it blew up.

“I can come to you.”

I feel like my brain is short circuiting… This is why wolves don’t get close to humans. Shit. There’s no way she will be allowed here. “Not sure if that’s a good idea, there’s some crazy shit going on around this town, too. What about a video call? Can’t you do your secured network thing?”

She huffs into the mic on her end and I can feel her getting angry from thousands of miles away. I snicker under my breath, she’s not one that accepts the word ‘no’. “I won’t say anymore over the phone… But, Ang….I know.Okay? I know and have for a long time and that’s why I need to talk to you. I’ll pay for my own flight and the closest hotel. But this conversation needs to be had face to face.”

I don’t answer for several moments and I sigh. “Let me call you back tonight and I’ll see what I can do.” She hangs up on me and I tap my phone against my hand. Russell and Paul are still waiting in the SUV, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t hear every word of my conversation. I stand up to knock on the window and Paul lowers it with a grimace. “Can you guys take me to the alpha? I need to have a little chat with him.” Again. I’ve had a meeting with him almost every day this week about the clinic, what I saw in Vinny’s head… and the services I can offer him if he’s inclined… He didn’t even blink when I told him more of what I can do.

He’s also been tight lipped around his mate and luckily she hasn’t been around during our meetings in his office. As much as I want to trust her, I can barely trust Deacon as it is. His interviews haven’t turned up any information. At all. Everyone is either really good at lying, or there’s something else going on.

We pull up to Deacon’s house and I step out as soon as Russell throws the SUV into park, already knocking on the door while the guys catch up. What does Melissa know and how? Fuck.

Margaret opens the door with a frown and sighs when she sees me. “Here again, Angela?” She frowns as she steps back, walking away as soon as she shuts the door.

“Is Alpha Deacon in?” I call after her, blinking at her retreating form. What happened to the happy alpha mate I met the first day here?

She points down the hall as she turns a corner and I sigh as I walk down the familiar hall to the office. I knock on the door and hear a groan from the other side. “Yes?”

I open the door and grimace at the exhausted alpha. His clothes are rumpled and his hair is in a disarray as if he hasn’t slept in days. “It’s just me. I have a problem.”

He waves me in and I sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk, wiggling around to get comfortable. “One of my human employees in Arizona called me today, demanding an in-person meeting and gave me an ominous statement that she knows. As in she knows I’m a shifter? Or knows I’m not human?” I frown as I shake my head. “It’s last minute and I know we don’t have anyone to cover the clinic, but is there a way that I could meet with her somewhere in the city for a few days?”

He pulls out his phone and sends me a look. “What’s her name?”

I chew on my lip. “Melissa Walsh.” He nods as he steps out of the office and murmurs into his phone. Not sure who he could be calling… Now I’m more nervous than I was ten minutes ago. I tap my shoes along the travertine floors and stare down at my lap.

Deacon steps back into the room and chuckles as he sits in his seat. “Red hair, looks around thirty years old? Has lived in Prescott for about twenty years and is an ‘orphan’?” I furrow my brows and shakily nod. He leans forward and smirks at me. “She ain’t human, sweetheart. Go ahead and allow her to come, but she has to see me first thing.”

I blink at him and I lean back in my chair. “What do you mean she isn’t human? Is she able to hide her shifter scent?”

He cocks his head with a frown. “That’s impossible… and no. She’s a mage. I called up an associate of mine that keeps a record of every supe in the United States and it’s come in handy more often than not. Luckily she was listed on there… I guess she was caught doing some basic magic in Ireland before running here and switching to a more… human lifestyle.”

“Why didn’t she ever tell me? If she knew I wasn’t human like her, you would think she would say something. I’ve known her for almost ten years.”

He shrugs and scratches his chin. “Not sure. Either way, she’s safe to come here as long as she knows not to harm any of my wolves or practice any magic without supervision. Like us, mages are losing their… potency and strength. Mages now use their skills in technology or as cheap psychics.”

I laugh and can’t stop. Shit, no wonder she’s such an incredible hacker. And how she never asks questions… She knew all along. Fucking hell, I’m going to kick her ass. “Thank you, alpha… Any updates on the other fronts?”

He shakes his head and bows his head. “No. I’m beginning to think they truly have no idea. I’ve tried everything. Threatening to throw them out of the pack, letting loose all of my dominance on them… They’re thoroughly confused and don’t recall any children getting badly hurt that wasn’t taken care of in-house with parent meetings and suspensions. I showed them the files on Vinny and they said that he fell off the playground and another child was not involved. No sweating, no looking away from me. Twenty different people looked at me in the eyes and told me the exact same stories.”

I frown and tilt my head from side to side. I explain to him everything I saw in Vinny’s head. The darkness, the people talking, the masks, capes… “Anyone else inside of the pack, or even outside of it, that has access to the schools? Janitors? Volunteers? Could this be a parent? I know that fae magic is ‘gone’… but the man who knocked me up and disappeared was a shifter. Was able to hide his scent and just… disappear without a trace. Even Melissa… one of the best hackers in the damn nation supposedly, cannot find him. Ella mentioned that it could have been fae magic that hid his scent… What if these psychos are using it to change people’s memories or hide in plain sight?”

He drags his hands down his face and squeezes his bleary eyes shut. “I’ll send guards and enforcers to the schools when I open them back up next week. There are only a few weeks left of this term and we need to catch whoever is doing this. I trust my people and there’s no way they could have lied to me with the tricks I used.”

I cock a brow at him and sigh. “As you wish. Let me know if you want me to try my magic on anyone that you thought was shifty or hiding something.” He nods and I take my leave. There’s no reason for me sit around and especially not with the looks his mate was sending me when I showed up.

Well… Now to call Melissa back and figure out the best time for her to come… Maybe she can help us with the insanity going on in this pack.

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