Moon Shifter 02 - Primal Possession

overpowering haze of potent rage flooded the air.
    Liam and his brother hadn’t told the Council about Kat’s kidnapping and her subsequent involvement in killing one of the men or even their own involvement in the killings. At the time, involving the human had seemed like more trouble than it was worth. But with Jayce in town and with his connection to her, it seemed smarter to tell him about it now instead of letting him find out later.
    “That’s how you know Kat?” Jayce looked at Liam almost accusingly.
    Liam nodded. “It happened a few weeks ago.”
    “I didn’t know…. Was she hurt?” His voice was raspy.
    Liam knew that asking about this in a room full of strangers was a blow to Jayce’s tough-guy image, but it was obvious he didn’t care. “She was roughed up but she wasn’t raped.”
    “I didn’t see any reports about this.” Now Jayce was back in control of himself. His voice was even, monotone.
    “She killed one of the men and we killed the other. We left before the police showed up, because she insisted on it. Said that she didn’t want shifters involved because she worried we’d somehow get blamed even though they were rapist bastards. We’ve kept in contact with her since,” Connor said.
    “Was she targeted because of her involvement with…shifters?” Or one shifter in particular. Jayce didn’t say it, but everyone in the room knew what he meant.
    Connor nodded. “We think so. They called her a shifter whore more than once and from what we’ve gathered,they’re loosely connected to the man who tried to hurt December a few days ago.”
    Jayce’s gaze narrowed slightly. “That’s only two men. You said you knew of three dead APL members.”
    “A couple weeks ago I found a guy trying to kidnap December outside her store—he’s the one in jail and the police only think he wanted to rob her—and he mentioned that a guy named Chuck was killed by an Edward Adler, who sounds like their boss, for failing to complete a couple APL missions.”
    “Chuck?” Jayce asked.
    “I don’t have a last name, but apparently Chuck was responsible for the first attack on December weeks ago—in her
house
—and for the attack on another woman we’re friends with. Apparently his boss wasn’t happy with his failures.” Liam sure as hell wouldn’t lose any sleep over his death.
    Jayce frowned. “They ever find a body?”
    “Nothing’s been reported. At least not here or in any of the surrounding areas.” This time Ryan spoke up. He’d been monitoring every agency and news report online.
    “What about this Adler guy, then? What’s his deal?” Jayce asked.
    “So far we haven’t been able to dig up anything concrete on him, but whoever he is, he sounds like the leader of the APL in this area. The man I questioned was scared of him. Almost more terrified of him than he was of me.” Liam had been able to smell the terror rolling off that asshole who’d wanted to take December. Even though he wasn’t in jail for attempting to kidnap her, he’d copped to a few other crimes just to get himself locked up. The guy had been smarter than he looked. In jail he was protected from Liam and his boss.
    Jayce was silent for a while and no one else saidanything. He was the one who’d been sent by the Council, and while Connor was Alpha of this pack, Jayce had a broader scope of how powerful the APL was. The past few weeks the only thing Connor had been concerned with was keeping his pack safe and Liam didn’t blame him. But if they could drive the APL from the Fontana region, they would.
    Finally Jayce spoke. “What I’m about to say stays in this room.” When everyone nodded, he continued. “The Council has been in contact with the Tuatha. They’ve sent someone in to infiltrate the APL branch in this region. I don’t know who their spy is or how much progress they’ve made, but I’ll see if I can get in contact with them and work out a plan to bring down their leaders. It might be possible to work together.”
    “The Tuatha told our Council all this?” Connor sounded surprised.
    Liam didn’t blame his brother. The Tuatha were the royal branch of the fae, and their headquarters were located in Ireland. Unlike his kind, which had a semidemocratic set of rules, the fae were completely draconian. And they weren’t exactly known for their diplomacy. Most supernatural beings stuck to their own kind, but the fae were positively brutal in their rulings and in their separation from all