Barney tilted his head. “Any accent?”
“Nope. He sounded like a news caster, his accent was so bland.”
“Any other marks on him? Tattoos, scars, anything that comes to mind?”
Jim tried to remember if he’d seen anything of the sort. “Nothing that I can think of. Honestly, I was just trying to keep him from putting me on the ground.”
Chloe shivered, tensing in his hold. “This sucks rocks.”
“It also tells us the Senate is aware of Jim now.” Ryan glanced at Barney. “We’ve got to figure out what the fuck is up with this shit before it escalates.”
“I’ve got Francois trying to get a hold of Vaughn, but no one has heard from him in weeks.” Barney sat on the couch, his ankle resting on his knee. His battered cowboy boots looked like they needed to be reshod. “I hate to say it, but I’m worried about him.”
“We need to track him down.” Jim sat in the chair next to the sofa and tugged Chloe into his lap. It was his favorite place now that his mate was in his home. Chloe seemed just as happy as he was with the arrangement, snuggling into him easily.
“What’s this ‘we’ shit, newbie?” Barney cocked an eyebrow at Jim. “You’re no Hunter.”
“Neither is the man who went after him.” Chloe’s tone was low, filled with worry for Jim. “And if the Senate is sending out non-Hunters for so-called rogues? What does that mean?”
Barney’s expression turned grim. “It means we’ve got a cluster fuck of epic proportions on our hands, and it’s all centered around you, Chloe.”
Ryan stood and began to pace. “All right. We know Jim and Chloe have been declared rogues, but they aren’t. So someone in the Senate is either crazy, or they’re up to something.” Ryan waved his hand toward Jim and Chloe. “Why them, and why now?”
“It wasn’t Francois that attacked you, I know that much.” Cyn scowled.
“Francois’s alibi checks out,” Barney added. “He was hunting a legitimate rogue in Baton Rouge when Chloe was attacked.”
“So we’ve got more than one would-be rogue hunter in the area.” Jim cuddled Chloe closer in his arms, the danger to his mate once more riling his Wolf.
“How are they slipping in undetected?” Cyn put her hands on her hips and glared at Ryan and Barney. “I mean, shouldn’t they be checking in with Max and Emma?”
The two looked at each other with similar duh expressions. Ryan shrugged. “If they haven’t then they’re in the territory without permission.”
“At least the ones that aren’t Hunters. Hunters have a great deal more leeway where that sort of thing is concerned, because the rogue could turn out to be the Alpha of the territory.” Barney got up and went into the kitchen, helping himself to a soda out of the fridge. He came back carrying enough for everyone. It was pretty clear the man was used to being in charge wherever he was. It never seemed to occur to him to simply ask permission to do something. “However, even they could claim their presence is sanctioned due to the Senate.”
“Do they have proof that they have that authority? Like cops have warrants?” Cyn had a good point.
“She’s right.” Jim stroked Chloe’s back, the gesture soothing both of them. “There’s no way to tell that someone is a Hunter. I mean, I can’t feel anything different about either of you.”
“You would if we were facing a real rogue.” Ryan nodded toward Barney. “And I could tell pretty quickly what Barney was when I met him.”
“Like calls to like.” Barney grinned, and something about the way he moved altered. Jim’s Wolf sat up and took notice, watching the man warily. “Too bad Jimbo here isn’t one of us. Then we could tell the Senate to shove it up their collective poop-holes.”
Chloe choked on her soda, some of it spraying out of her nose.
“Wait.” Spencer held up his hand. “Jim was attacked because of Chloe?”
Chloe flinched, and Jim glared at his brother.
“That came out wrong.” Spencer mouthed Sorry at Chloe, who nodded back even as she tried to wipe up the soda she’d snorted all over herself. “I meant that someone is after Chloe, not that this is Chloe’s fault. And they’re targeting Jim because of their connection, right?”
“Exactly.” Barney stared at Chloe and Jim, his brows furrowing. “At least I think so.”
“Nothing unusual happened to me before Chloe and I mated.” Jim nodded his thanks to Ryan. He hadn’t even seen the man leave the room, but he was handing Jim a dish towel to help wipe Chloe’s mess up. “Other than that, the only time I’ve been on their radar was when the shifter that was after Glory changed me.”
“And we all know he was loco.” Cyn sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I swear, this town sees more action than a porn star.”
“So the guy who handed out the orders is missing, we have non-Hunters going after non-rogues, and the only tie they have is someone in the Senate is handing down conflicting orders.” Ryan slumped down on the sofa and stared at his hands. “How high does this go?”
Barney stiffened. “You think the Leo is involved?”
Ryan shrugged, but refused to look at any of them. “As much as I hate to say it, it’s a possibility.”
“But, why? None of this takes pence!” Chloe grimaced as her nerves affected her speech.
“No, it doesn’t. And that’s beginning to piss me off big time.” Barney tapped Ryan on the head. “And it’s your job to ask questions and find answers, even if we don’t want to think about it.”
“What’s a Leo?” Spencer tilted his head.
It was Chloe who answered. “He’s the leader of all of the shifters, a white Lion who—”
“White, like you?” Spencer sat forward, his elbows on his knees. Jim was glad his brother was strapped in and had locked the brakes on his wheelchair. Spence had taken more than one tumble out of his puppy-like eagerness to learn all he could about Jim’s “woof-ness”.
“And like Super Bear.” Cyn smiled, her gaze growing fondly distant. She had to be thinking about her mate.
“So white shifters are like the super-duper version of their plain old boring counterparts? Are there white Wolves too?” Spencer practically bounced in his seat. “What about—”