So?” Vander looked across his desk, his fingers tabled as he waited for Damen to close the door. “I don’t care what you have to do. I want answers and you’d better have some.”

Damen sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk and watched Vander’s eyes narrow. Jag was unusually quiet as he sipped a tumbler with whiskey.

“They were drugged,” Damen replied without preface. “All four men.”

“Drugged? How?” Jag asked.

Damen dropped what looked like a lab report on Vander’s desk. “I had the remnants of their food tested. The watered Sidaii I allow whenever the men sit sentinel was laced with a narcotic. They were out cold before they swallowed the first gulp.”

“Who prepared their food? Was it from our kitchens?” Jag asked.

Damen nodded. “Everything but the wine. Because it was Maddox, a high-risk prisoner, I gave orders that even watered Sidaii was not to be allowed. One of the guards must have paid someone to smuggle it in for them.”

“Fuck.” Vander rubbed his forehead. “Has the caliber of guard dropped so significantly? Where are these men coming from that they show such disregard? It’s not like they’re not well compensated.”

Jag swallowed his drink in a single gulp, the alcohol burning down to his stomach. “Maddox wasn’t the only one opposed to you mating Ivy. Many, including members of the elite guard, don’t like the idea of a human as queen. Maddox and his psycho followers are a problem that needs to be dealt with, but that doesn’t make them less of a threat simply because we think they’re nuts. Don’t forget, it was one of our own who double-crossed us and kidnapped Ivy. If it happened once before, it could happen again. They’ll take a spear through the heart for you or me, but they’re having trouble rallying the same emotion for a girl they see as inferior.”

“Damn, bro.” Damen shook his head. “Considering you spent the better part of today sniffing the hind end of your own human plaything, you shouldn’t talk.”

Jag grabbed the whiskey bottle and poured another shot into his glass. “Hey! Riley is something special. A real woman. She’s beautiful, inside and out. With a generous heart to match her generous curves, which is a lot more than I can say for most of the women I meet around here.”

“Wow. I never thought I’d live to see the day.” Damen chuckled.

Jag pointed the end of the whiskey bottle at the man. “Shut up, Damen. No one asked you.”

“He’s got it bad, Vander. Your brother’s been bitten by a notorious Earth insect. We’d better call pest control.”

Vander’s lips twitched as Jag sunk into his chair with his whiskey. “You mean the love bug?”

“I hate you both,” Jag grumbled. “We’re dealing with serious issues, yet you two infants would rather bust my balls about a girl.”

Damen snorted. “Girl? Didn’t you just tell us she was a real woman?”

“Fuck you, Damen.” Jag sat up. “I notice you track Henley often enough when you think no one’s looking. Or are you just keeping tabs on our visitors?”

“Okay, you two. Enough,” Vander interjected, directing the conversation back to the topic at hand. “Jag’s right. We have a real threat under our own roof.”

Jag shot back his drink and coughed. “Speaking of threats, did you get my message?”

“I got it.” Vander lifted the torn envelope and held it out to Damen. “Take a look at this.”

The chief of security scanned the note. Pressing his lips closed, he folded the hand scribbled letter, passing it back to Vander. “What do you think this means?”

“I think it means we need to find out if Bors survived your xenos. Your inner cat is ancient and deadly, but we were so concerned for Ivy and getting her to safety we never checked to see if Bors was truly dead,” Jag replied.

Vander raked a hand through his dark hair. “It’s impossible. I felt his skull crack in my jaws. Every bone in his body shattered when I shook him.” He looked at Jag. “His neck snapped.”

Jag lifted a hand in commiseration. “I know, Damen and I saw it, too. But Bors is a mountain tribesman. He might have been rogue, but they still have magic and could have kept him in stasis until he could shift. His body couldn’t have healed. It’s a longshot, but from what little Kes said about the nomad’s scars,” he shrugged, “the description fits.”

“Bors disguised himself as a nomad when he double-crossed Maddox and took Ivy to sell her to the highest bidder instead of giving her to the jungle warlords,” Damen added. “Everyone knows those jungle chiefs are more coldblooded and pitiless than even the mountain rogues. Among the Mirror Mountain rogues, money talks. The jungle warlords would eat their young if it suited their needs.”

Vander exhaled. “We need to know if he’s still alive or not. I sent both of you to negotiate with the warlords once before, but—”

“No, Vander.” Damen shook his head. “They will not negotiate. They want you, your kingdom, and the control the Palladian capital has over the sand trade routes. They know that’s where the power lies, and they’ll use whatever means necessary, including Bors’ hatred for you after what your xenos did to him. That’s if he’s still alive.”

He nodded. “Then, it’s settled. We need to find out and the only way to do that is to canvas the seedier side of Palladia. If it comes to it, we might have to send some enforcers into the mountains to get them to give up whatever they know. Things have been so restless, but I thought we could stop the fight from spilling closer to us.”

“I have people if you need them,” Damen offered. “People you told me to cultivate, just in case.”

Vander shook his head. “We don’t need them here in the palace, not yet, but you might need them if it comes to a war with the jungle.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but we also have a rat hiding in plain sight right here. Like you said, no one is above suspicion,” Damen continued. “My guess is it’s someone with money and outside contacts. I think we should start with the staff. Get them to give up who paid whom for what. If that doesn’t work, and Ivy’s right and the children are as much a threat as she thinks, then if we leave out enough cheese, the rat might come to us.”

Jag shook his head. “Riley will never allow us to use those children as bait.”

“I wasn’t planning on asking Riley. Besides, she has no say in this matter,” Damen shot back.

Vander looked between the two men. “Ivy would never agree, either, but what the women don’t know won’t hurt them, but leaving a traitor loose in the palace just might.” He moved his gaze to Damen. “Do whatever is required, but for the sake of my marriage and my mate, keep those children safe.”

Jag nodded. “That goes double for me. Riley is halfway to mama cat with those two ragamuffins.”

“Don’t worry. I have my methods. I’ll get the job done with the least collateral damage possible.” Damen nodded. “We have to watch out for our people, though.” He glanced at Vander. “Your people. I’ve heard rumors even the desert tribes are in cahoots with the rogues.”

“What?” Vander and Jag said in unison. “No. They rely on the palace to keep them safe.”

Damen shook his head. “It’s just a rumor, but you know the mountains. For the right money, they’ll do anything, and that includes trafficking.”

Vander frowned. “The nomad that was so keen on that little girl.”

“Lettie.” The image the conversation formed made his mouth sour. “No. No way in hell. I’ll visit the sands myself to make sure there’s no truth to the rumor.”

Damen held up a hand. “First things first,” he said. “Let’s canvas our own backyard. Hit the clubs and the bars. The dives where these lowlifes hang out. See what you can pick up.”

“Fine,” Jag agreed. “I’ll give Riley a heads up. If I’m hitting the town, I’m taking her with me.”

Vander’s brows knotted. “Have you lost what sense God gave you? Do you honestly think I’m going to put one of our girls in danger?”

“Vander, we’re taking matters into our own hands. If it looks like I’ve got my own human hoochie in tow, the right people might offer information that’ll give us the lead we want. Besides, what’s going to happen with me there? I’m the best warrior you’ve got.”

Vander’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t shake his head. Jag was right. His brother was a machine when he fought. Vicious, but methodical. His mind circled back to the desert and that night in the mountains when Ivy was taken. The anguish of not knowing. The ache for the love he might never see again. If Jag felt even one-tenth of that for Riley, then he’d kill first and ask questions later.

“Okay, Jag. Do it.” Vander nodded and then looked at Damen. “Handpick a squad from your personal guard. Between yours and mine, I can cover the palace for one night if you want to help my brother divide and conquer the Palladian club scene. Just make sure you fill Henley in, as well. That girl’s mind is as much a strategic steel trap as yours.”