“I don’t need a bodyguard, Papá,” Lucas said.

“You—”

“He already has one,” drawled a voice behind us.

We turned to see Clay heading our way. Although they’d been twenty feet away, and around the corner, they couldn’t help eavesdropping—one drawback to a werewolf’s enhanced hearing.

“I’ve got it covered,” Clay said. “He needs a bodyguard; he’s got me.”

Benicio looked at Clay. Then his gaze slid to Elena, who was coming up behind Clay. He gave the barest nod, as if making the mental connection.

“Clayton Danvers, I presume,” Benicio said. “Your reputation precedes you.”

“Then you know your son is in good hands.”

Benicio hesitated only a moment, then looked at Lucas. “You’ll keep your cell phone on?”

Lucas nodded. “And keep you updated.”

With that, Benicio let us go. A relatively easy victory. Too easy. When Benicio was gone, Lucas told us to expect to be tailed to the hotel by another car, one carrying a Cortez security team. And we were. So Benicio had assigned long-distance bodyguards. An inconvenience, but better than having Troy oversee our every move—and relay our every move back to Benicio.

We took the food back to Jeremy and Savannah, and filled them in.

After we’d finished, Jeremy walked to the nearest window and parted the curtains. “We have about an hour of darkness left. Elena…”

“Get back to the alley and get sniffing,” she said. “Do you guys have anything belonging to Edward?”

“A shirt taken from his clothes hamper,” Lucas said. When Elena gave him an odd look, he explained, “We needed a personal item for a clairvoyant.”

“Clair—? You mean like—?” Elena stopped and shook her head. “My world was so much less confusing when it only had werewolves. A worn shirt is perfect.” She shot a grin at Clay. “Even you could track from that.”

“Yeah? Well, in that case, you won’t mind me coming along…unless you’re afraid I’ll find him first, show you up.”

Her grin broadened. “Never.”

“Good. So—” Clay stopped and looked at Lucas. “Or maybe you’ll need to handle this one on your own, darling. I promised Lucas’s dad—”

“Go on,” Lucas said. “Even my father would admit I’m safe here. Edward could hardly break in and overpower all of us.”

Both Clay and Elena looked over at Jeremy, waiting for permission. I still find that very strange, the idea that Pack werewolves don’t act without their Alpha’s approval. And stranger still that they don’t seem to mind. I’m sure it helps that Jeremy never makes a big deal out of it—he’d never jump in when they’re in the middle of making plans and yell, “Hey, I neversaid you could do that!” Instead, he does what he did now, intercepted their questioning looks with the barest of nods.

After visiting Faye, we’d left Edward’s shirt in our rental car. Lucas gave Clayton the keys and told him where to find the shirt.

“Paige?” Elena said as they headed for the door. “You want to come along?”

Of course I did, but I also knew it wouldn’t score me any points with Clayton.

“You two go on,” I said. “I should wait here for Jaime’s call.”

“Can I go?” Savannah said, jumping up.

A chorus of nos answered her. She scowled and thumped back onto the sofa.

“Have you tried the arepas?” Lucas asked her. “These are stuffed with chicken, and those over there are beef.”

She sighed, but allowed Lucas to put some arepas on her plate and explain how they were made.

Next, Jeremy suggested that we invite Cassandra and Aaron to join us, so we could all discuss a plan of action. I’d intended to propose this myself, but had been waiting for Elena and Clay to leave. I suspect Jeremy had been waiting for the same thing, knowing neither of them would be pleased at the prospect of working with Cassandra.

Jeremy also suggested that Jaime join us. This was a more difficult decision to make. Aaron and Cassandra already knew the werewolves; Jaime did not. The Pack had only rejoined the interracial council last year, after more than a century of cutting themselves off from the rest of the supernatural world. Elena might joke about her world being easier when it contained only werewolves, but there was a lot of truth in that. For the Pack, coming back to the council meant a trade-off between gaining allies and giving up the layer of protection that came with isolation.

Outside of the interracial council, few supernaturals could name the members of the Pack, and even fewer could put names to faces. Jeremy was happy to keep it that way, and I didn’t blame him. In this case, though, he weighed the danger of identifying themselves to Jaime against the help she could provide with the portal, and decided she had to join us.

At six, Jaime phoned to say she had something, and was coming right over to explain it. Aaron hadn’t returned our messages yet, likely having turned off his cell phone while they hunted for us, so we left another, giving him the hotel address, and told them to meet us here. Moments later Elena called. They’d hit a dead end and were heading back.

While we’d been waiting for Jaime’s call, I’d talked to Jeremy about the case, hoping he might see some clue we’d overlooked. After about twenty minutes, I noticed Lucas had gone quiet, looked over, and found he was asleep. I suppose dying does take a lot out of a person. I’ll admit, though, that on pretense of removing his glasses, I did surreptitiously check to make sure he was breathing. I’d probably be doing that for a while.