Night Shadow (25 page)

Chambers sat. On a secret ley line, the location could, literally, be

anywhere on the planet. Or beyond, for that matter. It was soundproof,

bombproof, and magic-proof.

One came when ordered to do so. One left the same damned way. The

slightly sweet smel of beeswax candles coupled with some sort of

aromatic herb lightly perfumed the air, yet no candles burned. There was

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no need since the lighting in the room was bright enough to require

freaking sunglasses.

He glanced around, when what he really wanted to do was find Lexi, then

get back to his regularly scheduled program of reporting in, and finding

out what the fuck was going on with the dust mite tangos. A visit to the

Council Chambers was premature. He didn’t have enough intel to share.

When he did, he’d instigate a visit himself. Until then he had other things

to do, other places to be.

Leaving him to cool his jets while he waited wasn’t an effective form of

intimidation. He’d spent months imprisoned in a five-by-eight cel on the

island of Marezzo many years ago. Among other things, being caged had

taught him how to bide his time. He had the fucking patience of a saint.

He could stand here all damn day long if necessary. He hoped it wouldn’t

be necessary.

The plush, deep burgundy carpeting beat a vermin-infested floor, and

unlike that tiny cell, the spacious room was easily a hundred feet long and

thirty feet wide. Plenty of fresh air. No rodents. Much easier to hang here.

Heavy leather furniture clustered in conversational groupings, luxurious

claret-colored drapes broke up the long expanses of mahogany paneling.

Alex bet there wasn’t a single window in any of the twenty-foot-high walls.

Three large, leather-covered wingback chairs stood a dozen feet in front of

the antique rosewood desk.

“Stone.” Duncan Edge materialized without fanfare. Behind him, on the

curtain-draped dais, seven black-robed men and/or women also appeared,

seated in a semicircle. Al but hidden in their own personal shadows, their

silhouettes were indistinguishable from their surroundings, their faces

obscured by their cowls.

He’d known Duncan Edge for—Hel , he didn’t remember how long. Eight,

nine years? Known him as a fellow T-FLAC/psi operative. They’d shared a

few beers and shot the breeze several times over the years. Duncan’d

always been an affable guy, if a little intense. Dedicated came to mind.

Word was he was excel ent at his new post as Head of the Council.

The guy he remembered had little to do with the man wearing the

ceremonial black-and-silver robes of the Head of Council standing straight

and tall before him. There were few things that rattled Alex, but standing

here in the large, light and shadows room, facing these men and women,

facing
this
man, was suddenly one of them.

Seeing them all shrouded in darkness, while he was in a spotlight, was

theatrical as hell. And as far as intimidation went, it worked.

Although he’d been brought here without notice, Alex sensed no danger

with the arrival of the Council. The power pulsing in the room made the

hair on his arms and the nape of his neck rise with static electricity, but

there wasn’t a direct threat. Still, his heart pounded in a fight-or-flight

adrenaline rush.

Senses sharpened, he noticed a loose silver thread on Edge’s sleeve,

heard the soft, sibilant breathing of the silent motionless majority, felt the

utter stil ness in the room.

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The col ective strength of the Council was tempered with benevolence and

profound wisdom. They were the good guys, he reminded himself. Stil , he

would’ve liked at least a few minutes’ notice to collect his thoughts before

he’d been summoned. Literally snatched out of thin air and delivered like

a pizza without a fucking please, excuse me, or thank-you.

“Where’s the woman I was with?” Alex demanded without preamble.

“Your Lifemate?” Edge’s voice echoed slightly.

Romantic nonsense. There was no such thing. He almost said it out loud,

but wasn’t about to split hairs with the Head of Council. “Fel ow operative,

and a member of my team. Where is she?”

“Not here.”

For fuck sake.
Clearly.
Squinting against the bright white light surrounding

him, Alex took an aggressive step forward. “Don’t dick with me, Edge.

She’s stil my responsibility. Where is she?”

Duncan’s eyes glittered beneath the cowl of his elaborately decorated

black robe. Fire danced between his fingers. Like the council behind him

he was cast in shadow.

He ignored the pyrotechnics. He hadn’t been asked to sit. Fine with him.

He didn’t plan to linger. He had things to report and some tango ass to

kick.

“She’s safe, but if you want her here—” Edge’s voice trailed off. The threat

hovered, almost visible, in the charged air between them.

“HQ’s good,” Alex said between clenched teeth. Montana was a safe and

healthy distance from the Council Chamber. They didn’t need Lexi. What

there was to know, he’d tel them. He didn’t want her involved in any of

this.

Fuck. Any of
him.

The licks of flame traveled from Edge’s hands up his arms and shoulders,

eerily reflecting in his dark eyes and glinting orange in the metallic silver

embroidery, turning his entire body to a living, breathing flame. “She’l be

questioned, later, of course.”

This
danse macabre
pissed Alex off. “
She
doesn’t know a damned thing,”

he informed Edge, voice hard and cold. Hel ,
he
didn’t know enough yet.

Not enough to share here and now. But here and now was where he was.

“We’l allow her to speak for herself.”

Fuck this. Alex attempted to shimmer. Not a damn thing happened. His

temper spiked. Caught between a rock and a goddamned hard place. “It’l

be short,” he said tightly, “and I’ll be with her.”

“You don’t tel us how to do our jobs, Stone,” one of the Council snapped

as if he were a recalcitrant child. “It’ll take as long as necessary.”

“Miss Stone can be accompanied by a T-FLAC rep if she requires one,”

Edge added flatly. Despite the orange-and-blue flames leaping across the

fabric of his robe, close to his face, it was stil impossible for Alex to see—

read
—the other man’s features.

“Let me make the position of the Council absolutely clear, Stone.” Alex felt

the cold fire of Edge’s power on his skin. “You are involved in a grave

matter, one that greatly concerns and affects
all
wizards. If not the entire

human race.”

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One of the women seated in the darkness behind the Head of Council

discreetly cleared her throat. Phlegm? Or a caution to Edge?

Jesus. He was paranoid. With cause. “Agreed. But it concerns
me
more.”

Concerned him and scared the bejesus out of him. He couldn’t think of

anywhere far enough away to stash Lexi until this was . . .Whatever the

hel was about to happen. The fact that a matter handled by T-FLAC’s psi

unit was before the Wizard Council was alarming.

“It’s bigger than you, Alex. A hel of a lot bigger.” Edge threw back the

cowl covering his head, and his chest lifted in a smal breath. “You’re a

very small cog.”

Yeah. Alex got that. He was expendable.

Duncan Edge walked around the desk and addressed the Council. The licks

of flame that circled him subsided until there were just a few leaping

about like playful orange curls against the dense black material

surrounding Edge’s powerful body. “Let’s cut the formality. It has its

place, but right now—
not.
” Apparently receiving an affirmative, he held

out his hand to Alex. “Good to see you. It’s been awhile.” They clasped

hands. No power play, just a firm grip that made Alex feel considerably

better than he had a few minutes before.

“This is grim shit, Alex, really grim. And I have to tel you not all members

of the Council are in agreement on how to handle this extremely volatile

situation. In the hope of getting a clearer picture, I’ve asked my brother

Caleb to join us. He’l be here soon. Grab a seat.”

He indicated one of the chairs, then returned to the other side of his large

desk. Not a social call apparently, Alex thought wryly, as he took a seat

and kept a neutral expression on his face.

Alex had never met the middle Edge brother, and he had no idea why he

was doing so now.

“Tel us what you know about the Vitros,” Edge’s voice echoed slightly in

the cavernous room.

Alex raised a brow. “Vitros?”

“The tangos leading you about by the . . . nose,” Duncan Edge’s voice was

dry.

“I didn’t know they had a name.” In fact, Alex didn’t like that they’d been

given
a name. He didn’t believe in giving serial kil ers nicknames either.

Too personal. Too fucking touchy-feely. Dig them out and blow the fuckers

to hel . Done. No need for cute names.

I agree.
“You’ve seen the DNA results?”

Edge was reading him clear as glass. Intrusive as hel , no matter how

benign. Alex reminded himself to censor his thoughts. “I was en route to

Montana when you—detoured me. Wanted to check the results myself

before coming here.” He’d decided to report to El icott directly and in

person, then report to the Council. Edge apparently had other ideas on the

order priority. Fair enough.

“This is a Council matter.”

Alex kept silent.

“How severely are your powers impacted?”

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That came as a surprise. “You know about my powers short-circuiting?

How?” Must’ve been one of his team members, since he’d told al of them

only a few hours ago. Or perhaps Mason Knight, whom he’d left messages

for, but who had yet to return his calls. Jesus, where was he? Alex really

wanted to run all of this by Knight before he opened a can of worms to

anyone else. He hoped to hel the old guy was okay.

“None of your team alerted us,” Edge said, reading his mind. Alex tried

again to block him, but Edge was al -powerful here, and Alex’s attempt to

hold his intrusion at bay was laughable. “And we’d like to know the

whereabouts of Dr. Knight as wel .”

Something in his chest did a double-clutch. “Why Knight?”

In the Council chambers, Duncan Edge was the five-hundred-pound

goril a.

The Head of Council’s lips twitched at the goril a reference, but he sobered

immediately. “There were three sets of DNA.”

That didn’t answer the damned question of Knight, or who’d told the

Council that his powers were flickering. Alex’s heart lodged in his throat at

the implication of the Council knowing about his loss of control. This was

serious. Even more serious than he’d imagined.
“Three?”
El icott hadn’t

said a fucking word about there being three sets of DNA when she’d given

him the bad news earlier.

Christ. Now what? Was this good news or bad news?

When Edge motioned, the draped sleeve of his black robe spread like the

wing of a raven, the silver thread catching the light in almost liquid

ripples.

“What the fuck?” Simon Blackthorne said indignantly, suddenly appearing

to Alex’s left.

A second later Lucas Fox stood to Alex’s right. “Who the h—Oh, shit.”

“Now that al three key players are here, the meeting can commence.” A

blurred holographic image suddenly shimmered over the polished surface

of his desk and his older brother instantly materialized beside him. “Take

a seat, Caleb. Yes,” he said, obviously answering a mental question from

Caleb, “but hold that thought. Be seated, gentlemen. We have a lot to

discuss.”

Lucas and Simon sat on either side of Alex, Caleb Edge slouched in a chair

a few feet away.

Duncan looked from Simon to Alex to Lucas. “Exactly how long have you

been aiding Vitros?”

The three men bristled. Even as Alex opened his mouth to rip Edge a new

one, Fox sat forward. “I don’t even know what the hel you’re talking

about, so how can I, or we be aiding them? Or it, or whatever a Vitro is?”

Lucas snapped.

“The three of you appear before the Council accused of
conspiracy
and

treason,
” a man said from the darkness behind Edge. “I suggest

answering the questions in a respectful manner, Mr. Fox.”

“I think I speak for al of us when I say we don’t know what a Vitro
is,
”

Simon answered calmly. Alex tried in vain to pick up on either Simon or

Lucas’s thoughts, to see if he could get any insight on what they’d been

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