that Mack was still holding.
She followed my gaze, her face abruptly paling. ‘Er…’ She snapped it shut.
‘Something’s approaching the front,’ Floride interrupted before I could snatch the folder away.
Another attack already? My stomach lurched. ‘Shifter?’ I asked him, praying it was simply one of ours returning. There were guards and watchers set up everywhere. It seemed impossible that something could have slipped past the net.
‘I…uh…can’t tell.’
Staines growled, leaving in an instant. I snapped a look at Mack. If it was another attack and she was indeed the target, then it was imperative she stayed well away. ‘You will wait here,’ I ordered, without thinking about it.
‘My Lord,’ she smiled, although I could tell she was pissed off. She had to lose that damned chip on her shoulder if she wanted to stay alive.
I followed Staines out, feeling my heart rate start to pick up. I was only just realising how stupid my efforts to smash the ward had been. In fact, I was lucky I’d not come off worse. If this was another of the demi-goddess’s minions, then the entire keep would have been screwed if I’d been out of action because I’d wanted to look cool.
Staines took the left side of the door and I took the right.
Don’t shift yet, I told him. There was still the chance this was nothing more than a house call.
He nodded, while I put my hand on the doorknob and twisted it, jerking the door open so I had a clear line of sight.
Boran, where are you? I sent out.
The main driveway, he instantly replied. There’s a human approaching.
My entire body relaxed. The guards outside hadn’t failed. I raised my eyebrows at Staines. ‘Human,’ I grunted.
He exhaled loudly, meeting my eyes. Understanding passed between us. If this had been another attack, we would have been ill-equipped to handle it. We got lucky. At least that’s what I was thinking until I spotted just which human it was who’d decided to wander by.
‘What’s wrong?’ Staines asked, noting the glower on my face.
‘Policeman.’
‘Is that a problem?’
Not in itself. But when this policeman was one of the many men with whom Mack was conducting some kind of ridiculous dalliance, it didn’t make me jump up and down for joy. Part of me wanted to tell him to get the hell off my property. Except, unfortunately, it wasn’t technically my property.
He ambled up, whistling. When he caught sight of me waiting in the doorway, he raised a hand in greeting.
‘Is Mack around?’
‘Are you here on official business?’
He cocked his head, his hair falling floppily to one side. That annoyed me too. ‘I’m mixing business with pleasure,’ he said, obviously challenging me.
I took a deep breath. What kind of leader was I? Certainly not the type to encourage a ridiculous display of machismo with a human. I’d never have acted like this before I’d met Mack. I was a hundred times stronger than any human anyway. I told myself to calm down, aware that Staines was watching me with a curious expression on his face. ‘I’ll go and get her,’ I said evenly. Was I actually feeling jealous?
Stalking back into the office, I ignored Floride hovering anxiously by her side. ‘Your policeman boyfriend is here.’
She looked gratifyingly surprised. ‘Nick? But…’
‘Go and get rid of him.’ I took the folder from her hands. At least some good might come from this afternoon. Pushing her out the door, and gazing pointedly at the mage to encourage him to follow, I flipped open the folder. Then I did a double take. It was a love spell. I stared at it, trying to compute what I was seeing. Was this really what John had been hiding? It didn’t make any sense. Then I frowned in the direction of the door. I’d been gone long enough for Mack to replace whatever the original contents had been with something else. Except with Floride here at the same time, either I was yet again seeing more shadows where there were none or the pair were colluding. Knowing deep in my soul that Mack would never do anything to endanger her pack, I reminded myself to trust her. At least with pack business anyway – not with blandly good-looking young men.
I wandered out into the hall, watching as she chatted to the policeman. She had an arm curved around Tom’s waist. Considering he was leaving Cornwall to join us in London – and his girlfriend was coming with him – it was an odd move. Either