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GREY
“How is she doing?” I eyed Layla as she lounged in the chair in front of my desk.
“Aurelia?” She asked with a chuckle. “She’s too sunny and happy for this place.”
I frowned. That didn’t seem right. She was distrusting as anyone I’d ever met.
“How is her training coming?” I asked sounding bored.
I didn’t have time for Layla’s bullshit.
What is her deal with Aurelia? She’s almost acting jealous, but that’s not possible.
“The others are getting irritated by the amount of time she takes in the gym. They’re complaining she’s getting special treatment.” Layla said with a sneer.
“She is the one person that can get me what I have worked for all these years. Of course, she’s getting special treatment.” I slammed my hand down on the desk, making Layla jump.
“So, am I just supposed to tell them that, then watch the challenges roll in?” Layla asked.
“If anyone and I mean anyone threatens her, I will gut them,” I growled, the threat clear in my tone.
Not even Layla will escape punishment if my mate is harmed. She is fucking everything.
“They have always aired their grievances this way. You can’t put that kind of target on her by saying she’s above the rules.” Layla argued.
She’s right. I can’t put that kind of target on her. These are ruthless criminals, and the slight will only make things worse for her.
“Fine but keep an eye on her and tell me how the fuck her training is coming,” I said.
“She’s a quick learner,” Layla grumbled like the thought of her actually succeeding pained her.
“Good, I want weekly reports on her progress.” I stand buttoning my jacket.
Layla stood and followed me out of the office to the elevator. “I need to take care of something, call me if there are any problems.”
The words with her were left unsaid. Layla knew not to bother me with anything else but Aurelia.
I hit the button for the garage and waited for the doors to close. I needed to get to witch side and meet with Dan. He had information for me and was adamant that I needed to see Aurelia’s former home. I dreaded seeing how my mate used to live.
After the things the witch taught her about herself, I was sure her life wasn’t great before. I would make sure it was from now on. Just as soon as she finished training.
I took my car instead of bothering my driver. The less people that knew where I was headed, the better. The witches wouldn’t appreciate a shifter’s interference in their sham of an investigation. My need to know what happened to bring her to the human realm overrode any concern about what the witches might do to me.
She was a puzzle I needed to solve.
I followed the GPS to the Italian restaurant in what the mortals would refer to as downtown Dallas but had been claimed by the witches long ago.
Dan stood at the entrance as I parked my car on the street and got out.
“This is the place?” I asked with a frown.
“It is. The apartment is above the restaurant. Beware though, the building is predominantly...” He scanned the people walking by as he trailed off.
“Got it.” I waved for him to go ahead.
He didn’t need to say witches for me to get what he was saying. Supernaturals did not allow their existence to be known by humans. That would be disastrous.
Though there were a few humans who closely guarded our secret.
I followed him up the narrow stairs to the second floor of the building and we weaved our way around until we came to a door at the end of the hall. There was nothing there to suggest that this was an active crime scene or that foul play was involved.
“It looks so normal,” I said with a shake of my head.
“She was hexed. I just can’t figure out how someone got in. Everyone I spoke to said she was bed-ridden. If Aurelia was gone then how did she answer the door?” Dan scrubbed a hand over his face.
“So they either had a key or they didn’t use the door,” I said thoughtfully before pushing the door open.
The apartment was small but neat. A threadbare sofa sat in front of a small box TV that belonged in the nineties.
“She died in here,” Dan called out from the hall.
I trudged toward him remembering Aurelia telling me she finally passed out in the hall outside her mother’s room.
“And that’s where Aurelia passed out.” I glared at Dan, still pissed off that he thought shooting her with a dart like that had been a smart move.
“How was I supposed to know she would still fly away even with a tranq in her?” Dan grumbled.
My wolf growled in my mind at the thought of her stumbling through the city ready to pass out and be an easy target. He wanted to tear into Dan, but we needed him.
Dan opened the door to the bedroom and the scent of death still lingered in the air. It had been a week since the witch’s death, but the dark presence filled the room.
“She was in her bed when she died.” Dan pointed to the rumpled sheets.
“I’m not interested in where she was when she was murdered. What did you call me down here for?” I asked, irritated.
“Thought you might want to see this,” he said and grabbed a small vial off the table.
“It’s a medicine from the apothecary, so what?” I took the vial from him inspecting it.
“It was never used. So, the witches that are accusing Aurelia of hexing her mother are lying.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Explain,” I barked.
“The woman she bought the medicine from said she bought this specific medicine the day of the murder giving Aurelia a means to kill her.” He shook his head and walked past me.
“But, what’s her motive?” I asked as I followed him into the hall.
He opened a door to a room that was no bigger than a closet. There were blankets piled on the floor and a few sets of clothes piled in the corner.
“They are saying she was being mistreated by the witch and she had reached her limit. This was her room,” Dan said with disgust.
That was her bedroom? I hate the witch even more than I did before.
“What else have you found? Anything that tells us how she came to live with the witch in the first place or how she disguised herself her whole life?” I rubbed my temples.
The room was barely fit for a dog. I couldn’t believe that a supernatural treated another person so poorly, especially one as powerful as Aurelia.
“There are some legal documents from the human authorities but that’s it.” Dan shrugged.
“Show me,” I growled.
He wandered from the closet and I scanned the room again to see if there was anything that she left behind that she might want. I crouched next to the pile of clothes but nothing there was as good as the things that I could get for her.
I stood and followed Dan into a small office. The office was still bigger than the closet that Aurelia had lived in, and I growled. Shelves with spell ingredients lined the walls and a safe sat in the corner. “Did you crack the safe or was it like that when you got here?”
“It was like that already. Someone got what they wanted probably before Aurelia even woke up.” Dan crouched in front of the safe.
He pulled out a manilla envelope and handed it to me. This couldn’t have been all the witch had on her ward? Was someone else looking for information on Aurelia and if they were, why leave her passed out on the floor?
“None of this is making any sense,” I grumbled.
I pulled the papers from the envelope and scanned the top one. I frowned at the page.
“I know,” Dan said warily. “How does a small child just show up out of nowhere?”
“I don’t know, and why would this particular witch take in a child of unknown origins. This was the first and last time she fostered a child. Something isn’t adding up.” I shook my head.
“Whoever killed the witch, knew what they were looking for and exactly where to find it. Could it have been a seer?” Dan asked.
I didn’t look up from the papers in my hand. “A seer? They are incredibly rare. Almost as rare as Aurelia.”
“I know, but nothing else makes sense. They would have seen every possible scenario and are trying put the future they want into motion.” He sat heavily in the chair behind the desk.
“Well, shit,” I said.
Are we dealing with an evil seer wanting to force us into a situation that we can’t get ourselves out of?
“Yeah, this may be bigger than we expected.” Dan shook his head.
I grabbed my phone from my pocket and dialed Layla. We needed to get someone down here to do a mimic spell.
“Yeah, boss?” Layla answered on the first ring.
She sounded like she was busy, but she could drop what she was doing. This took precedence.
“I need you to send Karma to witch side,” I said vaguely.
“I’m a little busy breaking up a fight,” she grumbled.
“This is more important than a couple of delinquents fighting over the gym,” I yelled.
“Is it more important than me trying to calm your girl down so she will put the shifter down that her magic pinned to the wall?” she huffed.
I grinned. Aurelia had someone pinned to the wall? She was learning rather quickly.
“The shifter probably got what they deserved. Send Karma to the address I am texting you to meet with Dan. I’ll be back to the facility soon.” I hung up the phone.
Dan shifted in the chair pulling papers on the desk close to him and pretending to read them.
“Aurelia got into a fight with a shifter?” he asked with a grin.
“She did. I need to go. Karma will be here soon to do a mimic spell. Get her whatever she needs and see if you can get a look at the person who killed the witch.” I said and turned to leave.
I took the papers with me hoping after closer inspection I could find something that would give us a clue. I needed to get back to the facility because there was a very real possibility that the shifter would be stuck to the wall until I calmed Aurelia down.
The very idea that Layla thought she could calm Aurelia down was laughable. Neither woman liked the other.
I drove back to the facility with more questions in my mind than answers and it pissed me off.
When I got off the elevator at the training center, Aurelia was standing in a swirl of her own magic surrounded by angry shifters. They’d ganged up on her. On my mate.
I lost it. My wolf took control, bursting through my clothes. I jumped at the nearest wolf with a snarl.
“Boss, what the fuck?” Layla yelled as she stepped between me and the shifter.
I scanned the room, snarling at any shifter that got too close. They would not gang up on my mate. I would make them pay.
Aurelia was mine and no one was going to take her from me.