“And now the mages are working with turned witches and human separatists. They use guns. The human organized criminals we found last year had been working with witches to run a brisk business in prostitution and drugs. They use guns too. They use guns and explosives and they’ll hit a crowded street party filled with children just as easily as choose a military target.”
Meriel looked to Nell. “What do you think?”
“She’s right, and you’ll bear the scar that underlines her point.”
Meriel touched the place on her side where she’d been shot only two months before by mages.
Point made, Nell continued. “We found explosives in that warehouse. Homemade timers. Several small frag bombs. These people want to hurt us, kill us, take everything they can from us and they’re not only going to use magick. In fact, they won’t because we’re superior at it.”
Lark nodded. In total agreement.
“This isn’t Los Angeles.” Edwina wasn’t going to make this easy.
Lark shrugged. “No. It isn’t. You have a fairly decent relationship with your local wolf pack. Ours can be contentious at times. The largest vampire population in the United States is concentrated in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Overall your crime rate is lower. And yet your leader was shot in an attack by mages. Here on Owen land.”
“And this wouldn’t have happened on your watch?” Edwina Owen, who until only recently had held the seat of Clan Owen, was clearly insulted.
“It is not Gennessee’s intention to insult you. Your land is different. The challenges you face are different.” She looked to Nell, who, thank goodness, understood exactly why Lark was there.
“What I
am
saying is that I have a tactical team trained specifically to deal with hostage situations. Our job gets bigger each year. There was a time when all hunters did was round up witches who broke the rules of the clan. Seven months ago one of our witches had thrown in with a group running a meth lab. Oh true love. I had to send in a team to clean that up. Because I’d made connections with the local authorities, I was also able to get them involved to clean up the biohazard the lab had created.”
“My sister has less problems with being discovered by humans than I do.”
Meriel had warned her to be prepared for such an attack, and so she was. She stood her ground. Gennessee had nothing to apologize for.
“With all due respect, Ms. Owen, that doesn’t make it any less likely to happen. Being discovered will happen eventually. It’s not dependent on whether or not you believe in doing it. You tie the hands of your hunters when they’re not trained as they should be. They’re your best defense against external threats. Now we’re being hunted for our magick. We can be predators, or we can be prey. I know which I plan to be.”
Meriel gave her a discreet thumbs-up.
“If I may speak?” Nell stood and, even with the swell of her growing belly, continued to look entirely capable.
“Yes, please do.” Meriel motioned to Nell to continue.
“I’ve been quite open about my support for the idea of expanding our hunter teams to specialty units. I
do
believe that we’d have been far better able to meet the threat those mages posed us two months ago during that showdown if we’d had teams like Gennessee. We aren’t just sage-burning kitten-huggers. We face threats darker and larger than ever before.”
Meriel leaned back and looked them both over. Edwina stayed silent. Meriel had taken the reins of leadership of Clan Owen just a few months prior, but the changes had already begun.
That had to be hard on mother and daughter both.
“What is your sense of next steps then, Nell?” Meriel asked.
“With the permission of the governance council, I would like to set up some special teams. Get them up and running, get people trained. Lark has offered to help with this project. And in addition, Lark and I, in conjunction with Arel from Rodas Clan and several other hunter team leaders across the United States and Canada, would like to set up one large unified team to deal with the threat the mages pose. We’ve got a turned witch on the loose who’s working with the mages. And that’s just the one we know about. There are others. There will continue to be others.”
Dominic Bright, Meriel’s bond-mate and soon-to-be-husband, sighed. “Nell and Lark are right.”
“Make it happen. Keep me apprised. Lark, I’d like it if you could help not only the hunters here, but our rank and file membership.”
“I’m under orders to share and help as I can.” Which was sort of true.
Berkley titles by Lauren Dane
HEART OF DARKNESS
NEVER ENOUGH
THREE TO TANGO
(with Emma Holly, Megan Hart, and Bethany Kane)
MESMERIZED
INSIDE OUT
INSATIABLE
COMING UNDONE
LAID BARE
RELENTLESS
UNDERCOVER