Canyon read from his computer monitor—The last thing Khain said was,‘Promised, come here,’, but before that, he said, ‘She’s close, I can feel it,’ and ‘The Promised, I can smell her. She's scared.’”
Burton turned thoughtful. “So they were overhearing his thoughts. Could be that’s normal for a One True Mate, but why would Blake be able to hear him? Does it have anything to do with the coma he’s in now?”
Timber shrugged. “Maybe it was his nearness to Ella, we don’t know—but Troy and Trent say Blake is partfoxen.”
Burton nodded as if he already knew. “Afoxenpolice officer,” he said quietly, looking at the floor.
Timber watched and scented Burton carefully, trying to discern his feelings, but Burton’s face and scent gave nothing away.Foxenwere mostly an unknown and manywolvenwere contemptuous offoxen, thinking of them as always on Khain’s side, but Timber, Canyon, and Sebastian, had evidence that wasn’t the case, not usually. They’d given up trying to talk to Wade about it, and anything Wade believed, Trevor believed, sothey weren’t going to Trevor. They were waiting for a good time to talk to Eventine, but maybe Burton was approachable, now that he'd snapped out of his decades-long stupor.
When Burton gave nothing away, Timber went on.
“Khain met Pickett in the street and killed him—just fried him where he stood—then he went inside Abigail White’s store, where Ella was. Ella blasted him with her power and got away. By the time our team showed up, Ella had run off and Khain had left the Ula.”
“And thefoxenwitch?”
“White was right there, scenting like a human and acting traumatized.”
Not an act, according to Trevor and Blake.
Timber nodded. “They both saw her in the ambulance and said she was screaming and crazy. She’d been bitten by a fox on her shoulder. Ella said she had been wearing a fox pelt around her shoulders—what the females call a stole, but no trace of one was ever found in the store, and she didn’t have it in the ambulance.”
“Khain could have enlivened it,” Burton said.
“That’s what Wade said. Talk about fucking creepy. Dead shit needs to stay dead.”
Canyon balanced a pen on a knuckle, nodding.Definitely creepy.
“Later, Blake went to the hospital to interview White, but she wasn’t coherent. An hour after that, the hospital called and said her family had come to collect her, and she left against the doctor’s advice. Blake went to the address listed on her driver’s license, but no one answered the door at the house for weeks. She moved her store a couple blocks over, but she wasnever there either. She was so hard to find, we thought she’d moved out of Serenity. We never did find evidence of a fox or the fox pelt. Since she was bitten, we don’t think she called or summoned Khain. He was looking for Ella from the get-go. The next day, Khain showed up again, this time right inside Ella’s house.”
Burton growled. “He got her address from the witch?”
“We don’t think so, or he would have already had it. However it happened, Ella escaped and called 911. Trevor responded and they met. They both felt a strong reaction to the other, but Trevor ignored it because she was human and she didn’t fit the One True Mate prophecy so he sent her to a safe house.”
Burton recited the prophecy in full, his voice flat and unemotional. “In twenty-five years, half-angel, half-human mates will be discovered living among you. This is how you will rebuild. Warriors, all, with names like flora. Save them from themselves, for they will not know their foreordination. They will not be bound by shiften law, but their destinies entwine so strongly with their fated mates, that any not mated by their 30th year will be moonstruck. Those who are lost may be dangerous.
A pledged female will have free will that shiften know not. Never forget this or it will cause grave trouble. Her body may respond to any, until she is mated in a ceremony of her choosing, then she will acknowledge only one male, as he becomes her One True Mate, and she, his One True Mate. He shall be sworn to her in her life's purpose, to rebuild the shiften race, so that they may fight the evil Matchitehew and protect the humans from him, until the day he draws his last breath.”
Timber moved his chair from his desk next to Canyon’s desk and he straddled it backwards, facing Burton. “You know about the tunnels Grey had built from Chicago to Ella’s aunt’s house, yes?” he said.
Burton growled. “I do. Wade took me to see them.”
“And you know about the boxes of Grey’s code that were in the basement?”
Burton gave a stiff nod.
“And you know Grey used his Citlali powers to force a relationship with Ella’s grandmother and maybe her mother and aunt?”
Burton growled lightly, his face set in hard lines. “Fucking degenerate. His bloodline in the family is the reason Ella is ‘the first and best promised’. The angel sought out Ella’s motherbecauseof Grey’s involvement with the family.”
“That makes sense. Ella could hearruhiright away. We think the voices she’d been hearing were her picking upruhibetween Trevor, Trent, and Troy, anytime they were within a couple miles of her. She’s incredibly strong inruhi.”
Burton nodded. “I’m surprised she can’t shift.”
Wouldn’t that be something if she could,Canyon said.
Burton nodded, then waved at Timber to go on.
“This was about the time that Trent met Smokey,” Timber said.
