Flowering bushes were everywhere, making the grounds colorful and the air sweet. I was tempted to stick my nose in a wild rosebush or two, but the buzzing of fat bumble bees kept me following Chase up to the house.
“Is Queen Leila at home?” Greyson asked.
“My Sovereign is currently receiving visitors.” Chase adjusted the earpiece that was tucked around his ear. “Or at least she should be. But it seems she is attempting to avoid them.”
“Avoiding them?” I asked. “Are they ambassadors from the Curia Cloisters with paperwork or something?”
“Not quite, but close.” Chase opened a magnificent wooden door and stepped aside, motioning for me to enter the huge mansion. “They are fae royalty.”
The inside of the mansion was as beautiful and luxurious as the outside with dark wooden floors and floorboards, elaborate blue and purple damask wallpaper, and tea sets settled on nearly every surface to the point that I made sure to keep my arms tight against my body so I didn’t knock any over.
Tea—it’s a fae thing.
“Why would she avoid other fae royalty?” Greyson asked. “Queen Leila is powerful. I was under the impression that she bowed to no one.”
“My Sovereign is powerful.” The slant of Chase’s eyebrows said he didn’t appreciate Greyson’s doubts. “She is also…eccentric.”
“When we met Queen Leila for her inauguration ball she seemed very kind,” I said as I trailed behind Chase as he led us up a fancy set of stairs.
“She is kind—in some ways, too kind,” Chase said. “She also has the good sense of a turkey that has fallen out of too many trees.”
“Hey, turkeys are wily creatures.” I peered up and down the hallway when Chase led us out of the staircase and into a similarly decorated second floor. “Don’t underestimate them.”
Greyson glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “Let me guess, you feel a kinship to prey animals?” he muttered to me.
“We can’t all be high and mighty wolves,” I said.
“Maybe, but you should at least try to learn from them and hide rather than attack others.”
“If you’re referring to Amos, that hardly counts. I broke his nose in one hit. If I’m a prey animal, he’s a plant or something,” I said.
Chase opened a door. “My office.”
Unlike the rest of the mansion, Chase’s office was slightly less lavish…because there was no room for it.
One wall consisted entirely of screens that showed live video feed of various parts of the mansion grounds—the fancy stable, several angles of the vast gardens, the front driveway, the garage, and more.
There was a long row of computers—two of which were occupied by fae wearing headsets who took them off, bowed, and scurried out of the room before Chase said anything.
(It had to be the slight Alpha edge he had—and that they obviously respected him based on the quick smiles the fae flashed me before they ducked out.)
Windows occupied the far side of the room, and positioned in front of them was a desk that was so tidy and bare it could only be Chase’s. There were a few metal folding chairs placed around the room in the scant space that wasn’t taken by the sword racks and locked gun and ammo cabinet.
“Pip is here to visit me.” Chase shut the door, then shifted his yellow gaze to Greyson. “But why are you here, Alpha?”
“Huh?” I blinked and looked between the two.
Greyson seated himself in one of the metal chairs, his long legs stretched in front of him. “When you were dealing with the attempts on Queen Leila’s life, elf magic was used against her, correct?”
Chase stood straight—even if he was now a part of the Night Court, he’d still always have ties to the Pack, and his Alpha edge was no match for Greyson’s overwhelming power. “Yes.”
“Were they spells only? Or have you seen or heard of any elf potions being circulated?” Greyson asked.
Standing safely behind him, I rolled my eyes.
Of course, I should have guessed there was a reason he wanted to visit Chase. Always the Alpha! Though it’s not a bad idea. Although the elves have been dead for a long time, it seems odd that isolated uses of their magic are suddenly popping up.
“Spells only,” Chase reported. “And I believe they were recreations. You think there is an elf potion that survived the purging the supernaturals held of all elven magic and artifacts?”
Greyson nodded. “I don’t believe, I know. The Low Marsh wolf was dosed with wolfsbane. The original point of the potion was to create domesticated werewolf and shifter pets for the elves—so we lost our humanity and acted like dumb animals. The Low Marsh wolf was apparently taking low doses of it to avoid the loss of his human mind, but to gain strength and stamina.”
“Similar to performance enhancing drugs humans occasionally take?” Chase asked.
Greyson nodded. “During Pip’s appearance before Arbiter Tanaka—”
That got me a narrowed glance from Chase since I had “happened” to leave that tiny detail out when I’d asked if we could visit him.
I smiled and yanked my white hair out of its orderly bun, trying to look like the Pomeranian puppy the wolves were forever telling me I was.
Chase narrowed his eyes, but obediently shifted his attention back to Greyson, who hadn’t stopped talking.
“—Hunter Fletching reported that the Low Marsh wolf had been taking small doses of wolfsbane for the past few months, and that the Low Marsh Alpha reported that wolf had recently moved up in the rankings.”
“I assume because the potion gave him the necessary strength?” Chase asked.
“That would be my guess.” Greyson abruptly stood, pacing back and forth in the narrow space by the computers. “But I want to know if the use of this potion is restricted to northern Wisconsin, or if it has infiltrated the Midwest in general.”
Chase nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. Have you told the Pre-Dominant?”
“Fletching will submit her a report if he hasn’t already, but I don’t want her to know I’m looking into it,” Greyson said.
Chapter 14
Pip
I frowned. “Why not? Don’t you trust her?”
“I trust her with a lot of things,” Greyson said. “My life and my loyalty. But I don’t want her making a big deal about this. If I’m lucky, she’ll never have to find out we’re investigating the issue, and won’t have a chance to parade me around.”
“Understood,” Chase said.
I pushed my eyebrows together, not half as understanding.
But if he means to be the Pre-Dominant…wouldn’t he want the opportunity to show off? Unless he doesn’t intend to become the Pre-Dominant? No—he has to. Why else would he agree to take over the Northern Lakes Pack when he had no connection to us, and Alpha Hudson was nowhere close to retiring?
“Do I have permission to explain the situation to Queen Leila?” Chase continued. “I’ll get farther if I can use the power of the Night Court’s reputation to request documents.”
“Would she mention it before the Regional Committee?” Greyson asked.