here. And Saint had yet to think of a solution. Shaking his head, his attention returned to cleaning up the room. Curse words drifted from down the tunnel, and he cringed.
“You’re a monster, Quinn Wilde.”
Guilt rode him hard. He should have refused Quinn’s human mate access to Shadow Moon until she’d accepted her fate. Quinn had argued he wanted to ease her into their world and give her a preview of pack life before he dropped the bombshell. Eventually, he’d agreed on the proviso she wasn’t to be left alone. He sighed; even the best laid plans turned to ash. Another burst of profanities echoed from down the hall. Surely the female would have to run out of steam soon. Maybe then, Quinn could attempt to reason with her.
Boots stomped around the corner. Knowing it was a courtesy for his sake, he appreciated the heads up. Placing his calendar on the corner of his desk, he smoothed out the paper and sat down. The room filled with ten male shifters, three weres, and three shifter females living on pack lands. All warriors. Some sat around the far side of the meeting table, and the others leaned against the rock walls. The only males missing were Jaxx, Ethan, and Lucas.
Seb shouldered a filing cabinet. “We got your telepathic text.”
Saint eyed each of them, and his gaze lingered on Slater, Linkin, and Dominic, the three weres. “As you are all aware, I attended an urgent council meeting this morning. A situation has been brought to our attention. We believe weres are being abducted across the territories—including our territory.”
Murmurs grew across the room, and Seb straightened, glancing around. “Hey doesn’t Jaxx have a new were? Where are they?”
His lips thinned. “We aren’t sure if Lucas has fled or something more sinister is at play. Ethan was keeping tabs on him while he was off pack land. He, too, is MIA. Jaxx is out now, hunting. That’s why I’m asking each shifter who has created a were, even if they have joined another pack, to contact them and report back their status.”
From the darkest corner of the room, Cade cleared his throat and asked in his Cajun accent. “Do we know what we’re dealin’ with?”
Saint glanced to the corner and saw the Cajun try to blend into the darkness. For the ten years he had known the male, Cade’s gaze always carried his wolf’s iridescent blue, no matter his form. If it wasn’t for the fact he had seen the male shirtless and knew his glyph was incomplete, he might have been worried the shifter was turning. Cade cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable that he’d drawn attention to himself. Silent and broody, Cade rarely spoke. Ever since Saint had found him next to death in the woods, he had never allowed anybody to touch him, and the years hadn’t changed that.
“I bet it be those bloody hunters.” Flynn relaxed back in his chair and braced his arms behind his neck.
Taryn swiveled in her seat and arched a dark eyebrow. “You can’t rule out the holier-than-thou shifters that want to extinguish were abominations.”
“Let’s not forget the vamps either.” Cadence said, toying with her necklace.
All good possibilities. They hadn’t had issues with the vampires lately, but they couldn’t be ruled out as suspects. Saint swiped a hand over his face and rubbed his jaw. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet. For the moment all we can do is check on our weres, be vigilant, and report any suspicious activity.”
Linkin kicked up his chin. “On that note, we had a run-in with Xavier. He was in the west quadrant of the territory, tormenting a human female. Small little thing, I’d say five three, mid-twenties, with silvery-brown hair and blue eyes. She wore jeans and a beat-up gray sweater. Unfortunately, the female saw us.”
Though Saint appreciated Linkin’s police mind, the description of the woman could fit half the population. Worse, Xavier would more than likely set his sights on the human, seeing her as some kind of challenge. He closed his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Xavier’s made it to civilization already? Was the human killed?”
“No. He scratched her up some. But no bites. It was odd finding a human alone, deep in the woods. Seb and I intervened in the attack. The whole thing was a bust. Xavier escaped, fleeing south.”
Saint’s eyes opened to see Linkin wince. “She assumed I was a vampire.”