“Apparently Stella had set it up for this to be delivered to you if she died.” He handed Liam an envelope. “Technically, she’s dead.”
Liam crumpled it into a tight ball after reading it.
“What did it say?”
“The treatment we were giving her father had been working. She’d gone to Oregon in the days after your house burned down, which is why you hadn’t heard from her, and she switched the bags out for saline when the nurses weren’t looking.”
“Wow.” I wasn’t sure why it surprised me. If he’d treated her half as badly as she’d said, he hadn’t deserved to live. I was more surprised that Stella would want Liam to know the treatment had been working. Part of me hoped that meant the Stella I once knew was still in there somewhere. “She wants you to save others.”
“Seems that way.” He glanced at Philip. “What else?”
“They got into her computer. There are three other zoos. One in the Orlando area. One near Nashville. And one near New Orleans.”
“Tourist traps,” I whispered.
Philip tapped his nose. “Precisely.”
“They’re being handled?”
“Yes, Dante has them covered.”
Liam growled. “Philip, this is tedious. Get to the real shit now or let me go back to sleep.”
I raised my eyebrows and looked at Isaac. How Liam knew there was more, and probably worse, news was beyond me. But I guess that comes from living with someone for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
“Stella’s supershifters.”
“What about them?” Liam ground out through a clenched jaw.
Philip was enjoying pestering his old friend. I imagined it was something that had played out countless times throughout their relationship.
“Stella had her own lab geek. He used to be one of your pharmaceutical scientists. Anyway,” he said quickly when Liam cracked his knuckles, “he developed the steroids for her supershifters. We’ve taken the supply of the steroids but… There are still some supershifters out there and they now belong to Cybil, but I’m going to venture a guess that they all belonged to her to begin with.”
A low growl came from deep in Liam’s throat. His energy rippled over him making me think he was about to shift. He closed his eyes for a few moments and the energy died down.
“She has more supply. She’s going to make more of them.” These two statements came out of Philip’s mouth as absolute facts.
“How are you so sure?” I asked, and he held his phone out to me. “Ah. Well, damn.”
The text from Cybil read: My mutts and I will see you soon, Philly. I like them. They’re fun.
Philip grunted as he put away his phone. “I know Cybil. She will make more. And she will use them and her vamps to start a war between the shifters and vampires.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Because she can.” He glanced to Liam. “And because she wants to take Liam’s place ruling over the supes. She already fancies herself the Vampire Queen, now she wants to be queen of all supernatural creatures.”
I nibbled my lip as I let that all sink in. My life had gotten really fucked, really quickly. “I guess we have no choice but to prepare. We should tell Wallace and Porter just in case she makes a move.”
“I agree,” Isaac said. His voice was strained as though he were in pain which made me shift my gaze to Liam.
He fisted his hands and his energy pulsated through the room. We all felt it and it was uncomfortable. I stood in front of him, but he wouldn’t look at me. His jaw was so tight I really thought he was going to break his teeth.
“Liam.” I lifted my hand to his cheek to make him look at me. When his eyes met mine, I was looking at his wolf. “You need to calm down, Mr. Fraser.”
He blinked but was still in wolfland, so I nibbled his lips a little, and he growled.
“Shh, don’t be rude,” I whispered, licking his lips this time. “Calm down or shift.”
His wolf receded, and he placed his hands on my hips. “Are those my only choices?”
“No,” I said, kissing him until he pulled me against him. “Down, boy. First, share your opinion with the group.”
“I agree. We will call a meeting with Porter and Wallace in the morning. Until then, goodnight, fellas,” he said as he flung me over his shoulder and carried me up to bed.