“Then what is the likelihood of our sorcerer being able to locate them?”
“Highly probable,?
? I said. “Finding spells aren’t all that difficult. All he needs is something of theirs.”
“I haven’t the manpower to place a watch on the Redferns’ place.” His tone was grim. Frustrated.
“I doubt you’d need to,” Belle said. “As that note said, he’s been plotting this revenge for a long time. He’s undoubtedly already taken what he needs.”
“Which might just explain the car break-in they reported a month ago,” Aiden said. “It happened at night, but all that was taken were the spare house keys they keep in the center console. They changed the locks the next day.”
“By which time, our vamp had already sent someone in to take what he needed,” I said.
“Probably.” He picked up his coffee and finished it. “Are you up to making an attempt—”
He stopped, his gaze moving past Belle as a mix of annoyance and hostility touched his expression. “Damn.”
I leaned back and saw two men enter the café. Both were tall and dark-haired, wearing gray suits, dark sunglasses, and an official air.
“The IIT?” I asked, my gaze returning to Aiden.
“Yeah.” He pushed to his feet. “Call me when they finish.”
“You aren’t sticking around?” I said, surprised.
“They won’t allow it.” His lips twisted. “Especially given I punched the shorter of the two in the face the last time they were here. It put something of a dampener on our relationship.”
“That is one story I’d really like to hear,” Belle said.
“And one you’re unlikely to.” He touched my shoulder lightly as he moved past. “Be wary of these two. I suspect they’ll treat witches with almost as much respect as werewolves.”
A statement that makes me even more curious as to what went down, Belle said. I wouldn’t have said our chief ranger was the type to lash out without reason.
From what I can gather, the last time they were here involved a witch who was never found, and the death of someone who was close to him. Aiden walked past the two men, offering them a polite nod they did not return. Obviously, the bad feeling was mutual. Wolves are notoriously protective of those within their packs, so it might not have taken much.
Given how controlled that man is, I’m disagreeing. Belle pushed to her feet. Aiden’s not the type to let emotion overrule common sense.
Except when it comes to witches.
Despite his obvious distrust of our kind, he’s treated us far better than many in the past. A smile touched her lips. And now, I shall flee and leave you to the mercy of the IIT.
Coward.
Totally. She gathered Aiden’s plate and cup, and then left, her laughter ringing lightly through my mind.
I looked up as the two men stopped in front of the table. “This is looking rather official—are you gentlemen here to arrest me or something?”
“John Hart, Interspecies Investigations Team.” The taller of the two flashed his badge. “This is my partner, Terry Blume. May we sit?”
They were claiming chairs before I could answer, so I didn’t bother.
“We need to talk to you about recent events,” he continued. “Is there somewhere more secure we could go?”
I gave him my politest smile—a sure sign of hackles being raised. And it wasn’t so much what he said, but rather the way he said it—in that bored, you-are-not-worthy tone I’d heard far too often in my youth. It was an interesting attitude to take given these two had to be dealing with witches on a regular basis. While the majority of bluebloods did restrict themselves to Canberra in order to be close to the Federal Government, there were advisory high witches connected to all State Parliaments, and the lowborn houses were scattered far and wide.
“Yes,” I said. “But there’s no need to go anywhere else. We’re quite safe to talk here.”
“Meaning you’ve spelled the area?” Blume said.