Jessie grinned at him, and Zach’s heart did a weird double flutter. Then she also smiled at Kade, and his gut clenched.
Oh, man.
She lifted the platter. “Your fave.”
Zach peered at them. “No carrots?”
“I thought of adding them, but we didn’t have any.”
“Fed them to the rabbits,” Cara explained.
Kade unfolded the map he’d brought in. “Okay. Battle plan.”
Jessie moved the muffins to make room. Zach sat across from her and watched as Kade ran thick fingers over their approximate location.
“We’re going to see if Jessie can use her connection to Braden to help Zach track him,” the Were explained.
“So Cara said,” Zach reminded him. “Still don’t know if it will work.”
“Do we need Zach’s power for this?” Jessie asked. “You said my attraction is drawing me to this bastard. Why can’t we just follow that lead?”
“Because following your impulses takes too much time,” Cara said. “And the moment you step out of my protections, he’ll be aware of you. So he’ll either know we are coming and be long gone or have lots of time to set a trap. By using Zach’s power, we might stand a chance of sneaking up on him.”
“But we have to be careful, even then,” Kade said. “Braden is trying to operate under the council’s radar. I’m sure he’ll have hired other Cryptids to keep an eye out for possible trouble.”
“If he is operating under their radar,” Cara pointed out.
Kade glared her way. “True,” he conceded.
Zach glanced from Cara to Kade. “The council might know what he’s doing?”
Kade glared before answering. “Not all of the council, no. It is possible that some members are linked to this venture. It’s something I’m looking into.”
“Carefully,” Cara added.
Kade nodded. His expression discouraged further comment.
Zach glared and opened his mouth to continue.
Jessie handed him a muffin. “Look. This one has double chocolate chips.” She shoved the muffin, butter dish, and knife toward him.
Zach met her gaze. Her eyebrows did a little dance and she tapped his hand with the knife handle.
He sighed, took the knife, and began to butter.
Kade smoothed the folds in the map with big, broad hands. “I have the crew on standby, with the exception of Kitani who has agreed to sit in the van.”
“You convinced Kitani to stay out of this?” Neil looked impressed.
“Cody and Ryan were quite persuasive,” Kade stated. “You’re good to go?”
“Yep. Count me in.”
Kade nodded. I’m leaving Grayson with Laura. So that gives us eight altogether. I have the others waiting in their vehicles at the Polo Park lot. That’s central enough they should be able to close in on what we find pretty quickly.”
Zach looked up from his muffin. Eight Sabre Weres? “How many wolves do you think Braden has?”
“They are Dires, not wolves,” Kade said through gritted teeth. “And we know of six, for sure. One of which is dead. So we should be fine.”
