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Pride shone from those sweet brown eyes as Jazz and Edrick explained the system they’d developed to the entire Council, who had made the trip for the unveiling, as well as Edrick’s inner circle. Wilder wasn’t entirely sure if he’d been asked to attend in support of his mate, or as a Council enforcer, since the system would help him find rogue shifters.
Either way, he was just happy to see his mate in his element. Jazz radiated joy at having accomplished what they’d set out to do in just three weeks. They warned all, this was only the beta version. The system would be installed in every Council member’s office and they were all expected to use it in order to find any bugs that might still need work.
Wilder and Jazz would be each given a laptop, which eventually all enforcers would carry with them, to help them locate shifters who gone on the run. It would also help them to stay in communication with each other, posting pictures and last known whereabouts of criminals, so they all would be able to be on the lookout.
It would be similar to what the human police used, but on a much larger scale. This system would link all shifters around the world. The hope was to install the system to all shifter groups once they’d got it working. That way alphas would have a way of communicating with the Council without having to try to arrange appointments or reach them by phone.
Plus, if there was some kind of emergency, they’d be able to put it on the system and anyone nearby could help.
“Case in point,” Jazz said as he went into more detail. “Just last week, an earthquake buried several towns in Chile. Not only were two human towns affected, but so were three shifter communities, two of which the human population didn’t know about because the shifters mostly stayed in their animal forms.”
There were few tragedies worse than a natural disaster. Not that a killer on the rampage wasn’t horrifying, but something like an earthquake did so much damage and usually ended up killing hundreds of people. That was especially true in the mountains of Chile.
“A small colony of chinchillas had been trapped when a landslide covered the caves they lived in. If it hadn’t of been for a family of pumas in the area sending out an alert, it’s doubtful the colony would have survived.” Grief dulled the color of Jazz’s eyes as he added, “As it was, four of the young ones died because it took too long to get word out for others to come help.”
“We don’t know if anything would have saved them, Jazz,” Edrick said. “The fact is, in something like an earthquake, especially in an area as remote as the Andes Mountains, the odds of them getting an internet connection to send an alert probably wouldn’t happen.”
“So, how do we address that?” Saber asked. “I mean, a lot of shifters live in remote areas in order for them to have the freedom to shift. Which means, internet access will be sketchy at best.”
Wilder tried hard to not get his hopes up that this new issue would keep Jazz in Miracle longer. At least Jazz no longer seemed to get upset at Wilder’s less than thrilled reactions to their going on the road.
Edrick glanced over to Jazz. “Any ideas?”
Jazz was already shaking his head. “No, but what if we reached out to Yosi? He loves a challenge and if anyone has the resources to find a solution, it would be him.”
The tension in the room rose, causing Wilder’s bear to become antsy. He couldn’t help but step closer to his mate, partially shielding his mate as he waited. For what? He had no clue.
It wasn’t helping his bear’s anxiety when his mate’s back became rigid, most likely from the way everyone was staring at him like he was crazy. Jazz had been working hard on all the issues of his past, but he still worried that people would judge him and find him lacking.
“What’s wrong with contacting Yosi?” Wilder growled out, pissed that his mate had been feeling so damn good just a few minutes ago and was now starting to once more shrink in on himself.
“He’s an enemy to shifters,” Koen Dirks, Councilman and a professor in the only shifter only university in the upper most regions of Canada. “Everyone knows that.”
Jazz let out a gasp. “But why? He didn’t seem like a bad guy when I met him.”
There were more than a few gasps of surprise from some of the Council. Yet, Saber, Edrick, and his inner circle weren’t at all surprised by Jazz’s statement Then again, that was because Jazz had already told them Yosi offered him a job, which he’d turned down.
“Is that why you’re in Miracle?” Jerzy Rocha, a coyote shifter, snarled out. “To spy on us for Yosi?”
Wilder stepped completely in front of Jazz, keeping himself between his mate and those who dared to accuse him of such a ridiculous idea. “I suggest you take that back unless you want to be challenged.”
“Jerzy has a point,” Banyan, a Ram shifter, said in defense. “Yosi has been wanted for treason for at least twenty years. If your mate knows the traitor as he claims, we have the right to at least question him.”
Wilder growled, the sound rumbling through the room. “You’re both idiots.”
Jerzy stepped forward as if to attack, but Saber intervened. “Enough,” he said in a tone that didn’t allow anyone to disobey. Edrick might be the Alpha of Miracle, but Saber was Council Leader. Their animals demanded they submit to his will.
Wilder didn’t hesitate to tilt his head in submission. It took longer but eventually so did Jerzy and Banyan.
“Mind explaining to the room why Yosi isn’t the traitor everyone seems to feel he is?” Saber asked Wilder.
“Yosi had become wealthy and powerful both in the human world and the shifter one,” Wilder told them. “When he refused to do Refugio’s bidding and use his technology to spy on all the world leaders, Refugio made him enemy number one.”
“What?” Banyan huffed out. “You can’t possibly know that.”
Since it all happened when Wilder was still fairly new as an enforcer, that should have been true. “Call Trygg in. He was the one ordered to hunt down and execute Yosi.”
It was after Wilder had gone to Trygg with his misgivings about what Refugio had been ordering him to do that Trygg let him in on how those refusing to do the Council Leader’s dirty work handled things.
“Yosi set up a remote refuge for anyone Refugio put a hit on for things like, being gay, mating outside one’s species, or for just speaking out against him or anyone else on the Council.” It still galled Wilder that he’d been party to it in the beginning, even if he hadn’t known the truth. “We helped fake deaths and hand them over to Yosi’s men, who took them to the sanctuary.”
“Um,” Tanis said. “How do you know Yosi didn’t just kill them?”
“He didn’t,” Saber told them. “Yosi contacted me shortly after I became Council Leader. He told me what had been happening and that many of those he was protecting wished to go back into society.”
Chadwick had a huge grin on his face. “The ones that chose to leave, are here,” he said smugly. “In Miracle. That’s how we know Yosi not only isn’t a traitor, but is telling the truth.” Then he winked at Jazz, who had come out from behind Wilder and stood at his side. “Now, I suggest you apologize to Wilder’s mate. You saw him in the ring and I have to say,” he looked both Jerzy and Banyan up and down critically, “neither of you has the chops to win.”
Both men’s faces flushed a deep red, but they did as Chadwick recommended and apologized.
“Now that we’ve resolved that,” Saber said, as he grinned first at his mate, then turned it on Wilder and Jazz.
A chill of foreboding went down Wilder’s spine. He hadn’t been around the new Council Leader much, but he did know that look didn’t mean anything good.
“Since Jazz not only knows Yosi, but also knows computers, I think it’s time for you two to go on your first field assignment.” Jazz beamed when Saber told them the good news.
Wilder wanted to tear the man apart. Sure, as assignments went, this was fairly benign. But Wilder had learned long ago it was the easy ones he needed to look out for.
