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States.
    “You carry yourself like a Teams guy, but somehow I doubt that was your path.” There it was. The reason Grif had wanted to talk to him. The Alpha wanted to know where Slade had come from—his background and qualifications.
    “Nah, I’m not a Navy cat,” Slade admitted. He didn’t mind talking about his past in the military to Grif. Slade had read his file. He knew Griffon Redstone and his brother Steve had been Special Operators. Army Green Berets, in fact. It was a small community and Grif probably knew every shifter in the Berets and quite a few of those who had been SEALs, but he couldn’t place Slade yet and that probably bothered him. Slade understood. “Marine Force Recon.” Slade solved the mystery. “Mostly I served in Asia because of my talent with the languages of that region and my ancestry. My great-grandmother was born and raised in Tibet and I picked up a lot from her.”
    Grif looked over at him. Slade could feel the other man’s scrutiny but he was concentrating on the road. He’d already told the Alpha more than most people knew. That was as far as he was willing to go at the moment.
    No doubt Grif had his suspicions. All shifters had heard about the weirdness in Tibet and the strange tales that originated there. It was an exotic land full of mystery and intrigue, both in the human world and in the world of the were .
    “ Recon, eh?” Grif said after a while, no doubt getting the message that Slade would go only so far in revealing his past to a relative stranger—even one as highly placed as Griffon Redstone. “You were tapped by the Company, weren’t you? That’s why you’re off the grid and still connected to the game.”
    “You’re no fool, Alpha,” Slade said by way of answer.
    He wouldn’t come straight out and say he still occasionally did work for the CIA, but if Grif figured it out on his own, he wasn’t going to try to mislead the man either. The Lords knew and the fact that he worked for Uncle Sam when called, wasn’t something he needed to hide from Grif or the Lords. It wouldn’t be good if it became public knowledge, but certain people in the were hierarchy probably needed to know. Slade had just decided Grif was part of that select group.
    Kate too, though Slade didn’t have a good reason to let her in on his secrets other than the belief that she could be trusted and he wanted her to know more about him. His attraction to the priestess was making him incautious, but he was following his instincts where she was concerned. All he could do was pray to the Lady they both served that his instincts wouldn’t lead him astray in the case of the all-too-attractive priestess.
    Slade lapsed into silence as he concentrated on driving. Grif had apparently been satisfied by his revelations and let the matter drop for now.
    Slade lowered the window as they approached the area where the trail had gone cold. Grif followed suit. Both took a deep breath, but it was Slade who picked up on the magical probes coming from the backseat. He caught Kate’s eye in the rearview mirror and winked. The cats would look for scent. The mages would look for magic. Only Slade could do both simultaneously.
    It was a trick that had stood him well in the past. Hopefully the combination would be enough to sniff out the trail this time too.
    Kate was a distraction, to be sure, but he was glad she was along on this particular op. She had skills in addition to being the prettiest partner he’d ever had on a mission.
    “Stop the car.” Kate’s voice sounded strained and only then did Slade stop thinking about the woman and start concentrating on the task at hand.
    He should’ve noticed it before she did. There was magic afoot here. Very close. And very dark.
    “What?” Grif asked, scenting the wind with a scowl on his face even as Slade pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road and parked.
    “Magic,” Slade answered, already sending his senses outward, trying to figure out how best