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neither here nor there. When are you coming back? I hope soon. The situation with the strange wolf-shifters has deteriorated.”
    Pushing aside his irritation at his brother, Sy switched his mind into work mode. “What happened?”
    He listened, and once Kian was done explaining, Sy cursed. “I’ll see if I can hurry Kaya and get there as soon as possible. With your permission, I’ll bring her straight to the main conference room.”
    “I don’t mind her, but I need you to convince her to leave the two wolves accompanying her to wait in the outer waiting area. At this point, my trust only extends so far.”
    Sy was surprised Kian trusted any of the wolves at all after the poacher incident six years ago, but he would trust his brother’s judgment. “Will do.”
    After hanging up the phone, he looked at Aidan and Dani and answered the question in their eyes. “They just found another infected wolf, but this time, she came with a message.”
     
    ~~~
     
    Standing across from Erika, Kaya steeled herself for another round of doubts from her second-in-command. And, as expected, her friend had thought of yet another reason why she shouldn’t go to DarkStalker’s land. “Even if you trust the cougars, I highly doubt they’ve disinfected the place. The crazy purple-eyed wolves may not be contagious to the cats, but I sure as hell don’t want you coming back in a black body bag.”
    Kaya rolled her eyes. She’d humored her friend long enough. “Erika, I get that part of your job is to protect me, I do. But my word is final, and I’m going. So let’s talk about what needs to be done in my absence, okay?”
    Erika might be protective, but Kaya was still in charge. By giving a final command, her friend could do nothing but obey. Erika let out a sigh. “Fine. But can I make a suggestion?”
    She gave her a wary glance. “What?”
    “Before you go, will you let one of our researchers draw blood from each of the three cougar-shifters? I’d feel a whole lot better if we were at least working on a cure, just in case you, or anyone else for that matter, become infected. If the cats are immune, our researchers might be able to find out why.”
    She nodded. “That’s a great idea.” One she should’ve thought of herself if she hadn’t been distracted by Sy’s revelations inside the sentry shelter.
    Kaya picked up her phone and dialed. After contacting Donovan, one of her infectious diseases experts, and telling him about Erika’s plan, she hung up and focused back on her friend. “My assistant can give you my schedule for the next few days, but the only major thing that needs to be done is to turn in the paperwork on my desk to the US Bureau of Shifter Affairs. It’s due in two days. But don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or need an answer on any of my other appointments. If I don’t pick up my cell, call Kian Murray and he’ll find a way to get me the message.”
    Erika raised her eyebrows. “You seem to trust the cougar-shifter leader more than I would’ve expected.”
    Kaya shrugged. “He could’ve sent the infected wolves out for testing and used the virus against us later. Instead, he asked us for our help. I’d say that’s something.” Kaya went to the door and looked over her shoulder. “Anything else?”
    “Just be careful. You say you’re over Sylas Murray, but I’m not convinced. Spending a lot of time with him could end up hurting you in the end.”
    Erika didn’t know the half of it, but she was clan leader and needed to be strong, so she shrugged. “I doubt anything could be worse than him not showing up to our mating engagement ceremony. If he annoys me, then I’ll remind him of that fact. He should get cooperative fast after that.”
    Before Erika could say anything else, Kaya exited the room and headed for her private quarters. Just mentioning that memory made her heart squeeze. While engagement ceremonies were usually jolly, happy times, hers had been as lively as a