Chapter Eight

Jasper

After meeting with Floyd, I head back to Asher's office to fill him in. When I step inside, I'm surprised to find that Emily is sitting in with Asher, Luca, and Mariana. All their faces are grim, and a feeling of dread settles down over me.

Emily looks up and gives me a small smile, but I can see that she's nervous. Troubled. As far as she's come in recovering from the hell she endured after her abduction, she still has trouble trusting and opening up to people. There are very few people she's comfortable being around and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that she's clearly a little overwhelmed by sitting in with the Clan Chiefs.

I want to go to her. Put my arms around her and tell her that it's all okay. But, I know she doesn't want word of our relationship to get out just yet. And I want to respect her wishes. But seeing her sitting there in such obvious discomfort bothers me. It bothers me a lot.

“What's going on?” I ask.

Asher leans back in his chair and runs a hand through his hair. “Emily was just filling us in on her morning,” she says.

“I looked for you at Luca's, but you weren't there,” Emily says to me.

“I thought it best that she brings this to Asher right away,” Luca explains.

I look at Luca and Asher, questions in my eyes. I would have looked at Mariana too, but she's busy very pointedly ignoring me.

“Bring what to Asher?” I ask.

“As if we don't have enough on our plates to deal with right now,” Mariana says, still not looking at me. “We now have some political wannabe looking to exterminate the clans. All of the clans.”

Pieces from my talk with Floyd start to fall into place and I nod. “Let me guess,” I say, “it's the guy running against Richards? Yeah, Dr. Floyd filled me in a little bit.”

“He sounds like a real piece of work,” Asher says.

“Running on an extremist, violent platform,” Luca chimes in.

“And the best part is that he's trying to say we're not humans and are therefore, not entitled to the same Constitutional protections real citizens are,” Mariana says.

“He sounds like he wants to make hunting and killing you legal,” Emily says.

There's a tremor in her voice and her eyes are locked on mine. There is a genuine fear in her face and it breaks my heart that I can't go to her and comfort her.

“Well, that's a load of bullshit,” I say. “That's never going to fly. Not here.”

“Don't be so sure,” Mariana says, her tone surprisingly civil. “We've seen people who have been scared out of their minds do some really stupid things in this country.”

“And that's what this Brooks Green is doing,” Asher says. “Running a campaign based on fear. Fear of us.”

“He's putting the murder of those two hikers on us,” Luca says.

A knot of dread forms in my stomach as the feeling of apprehension that's enveloping me deepens.

“It's actually four murders now,” I say.

“Four?” Asher asks, his tone carrying a hint of alarm.

I nod. “Yeah, two more were brought in last night, apparently.”

There's a long moment of silence around the room as everybody takes in what I just said. When it was supernaturals being killed in town, people were aghast and fearful, of course. But nobody ever feared us. But, now that it's humans being murdered, and the implication that we're behind it floating around out there, it's a whole new ballgame.

The root of fear is digging deeper and deeper. And with somebody like this Brooks Green exploiting these murders to drive that spike of terror deeper into the people, it's only going to make things worse. I look over at Emily and see that she's withdrawn into herself a little bit. Her arms are crossed protectively over her chest and she seems like she's sinking back into her chair, trying to make herself as small as possible, hoping to avoid notice.

Once again, I'm almost overwhelmed by the urge to go to her. To comfort her. But, I know it would be a mistake and in that moment, would do the exact opposite of what I intend.

“What did you find out?” Asher asks.

“Nothing conclusive,” I say. “But, Dr. Floyd feels strongly that the two sets of murders were committed by the same creature. And that in the second set of murders, there was an attempt to frame us. He is convinced that the larger, more ragged wounds in the second set of bodies was inflicted post-mortem.”

“Well, he would know,” Luca says.

“Wonderful,” Mariana says. “That old chestnut again. I'm telling you, these people have a severe lack of imagination.”

“You examined the bodies,” Asher says. “What do you think?”

“I saw some of the same marks on both sets of bodies,” I say. “Those narrow claw marks are definitely not a bear. The claw marks on the second set of bodies though, were made by something big and powerful. More than likely a bear or some other large predator.”

“One of us?” Luca asks, his eyes wide as he exchanges a look with Asher.

Asher groans and runs a hand through his hair and Mariana just looks – perturbed.

“It's possible that whatever predator got to the bodies was natural,” I say. “It doesn't have to be one of us. It could have been a non-shifter.”

“Is that what Connor thinks?” Mariana asks.

I suppress the smile that threatens to cross my lips. I don't think she even realizes she used his name in such a familiar way. Although I want to use what Dr. Floyd told me to embarrass her, I know that now is definitely not the time to razz her about what he told me. But, that time will come at some point. And when it does, I am going to have some fun with it.

“Connor,” I say, stressing his first name – yeah, I can't resist taking a small jab and am gratified when I see her eyes widen slightly, “thinks the secondary wounds are too precise to be a wild animal. He's pretty convinced that the secondary wounds were made in an effort to erase the first ones.”

“Well, that's fantastic,” Luca says.

I clear my throat and step a little further into the room, and a little closer to Emily in the process. Even though I can't reach out and touch or hold her, I want her to at least take some comfort in my presence.

“I don't think it's as bad as it sounds,” I say. “I mean, realistically, we only have two suspects – Richards and this Brooks Green. Right?”

“Unless you count the U.S. Government who seems pretty hellbent on wiping us out,” Mariana says, her tone dry.

I know Mariana wasn't even thinking and hadn't meant it, but the mere mention of the government's involvement with efforts to wipe us out sent a shockwave of fear through Emily. I can see it in the way her eyes widen and her face pales. She trembles, and her eyes seem to well with tears automatically and she seems to shrink into herself even more.

It was the government – or at least, a rogue branch of it – who'd done the horrible things she'd endured. The horrible things she is still trying to fully recover from. And though she's so much better today than she was a year ago, there are still certain triggers that set her off. Certain memories she can't shake. I know that she still has nightmares that plague her and will sometimes pull her out of sleep screaming and fighting off invisible attackers. When that happens, all I can do is hold her close to me until she can find sleep once again – something that doesn't always happen.

“Oh shit,” Mariana says, a look of genuine concern on her face. “I didn't mean – I'm really sorry.”

I take the opportunity to step over to Emily and kneel down in front of her. I place my hand on her shoulder – in a very platonic, encouraging way – and give it a gentle squeeze. It takes a moment, but she eventually raises her head just enough to look into my eyes.

“It's okay,” I say. “You're safe here. You're among friends. Nobody is going to hurt you here. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

She nods and wipes away the tears that spilled down her cheek, trying to be quiet as she sniffs. I know she hates looking weak more than anything and that it's something she's working on with her shrink. But, I also know it's a process and is going to take some time. She'll get there. I know she will. Until then though, all I can do is reassure her that everything will be okay and that there's nothing wrong with having an emotional reaction to such a traumatic event in her life.

Mariana reaches over and gives her arm a squeeze. “I'm sorry, Emily,” she says. “I wasn't thinking. I'm an asshole. Forgive me?”

She gives Mariana a weak smile. “Of course,” she says. “And you're not an asshole. I'm just all screwed up. It's not you.”

“We're all screwed up,” Mariana says, a smile touching her lips. “And I'm definitely an asshole. Just ask Jasper.”

“I can confirm, she's an asshole.”

Emily laughs, and I see the veil lift from her eyes. She's not back to one hundred percent yet, but I can see that she's feeling a bit better.

Asher clears his throat. “Right, then,” he says. “Richards and Green are the most viable suspects I can see. They both stand to gain something by getting rid of us.”

“Yeah, it's a race to the bottom,” Luca says. “If Green's opening salvo is any indication, they're going to fight tooth and nail to see who the biggest bigot is.”

Asher nods. “True,” he says. “But, I also don't see Richards as the type who'd actively try to frame us.”

“No, he's content accusing us of everything from the Lindbergh baby to faking the moon landing,” Mariana says. “He's just hoping something sticks one of these times.”

“Exactly,” Asher replies. “He's an asshole and accuses us of everything, but doesn't actually try to frame us.”

“Which leaves us Green,” I say.

“What do we know about him?” Luca asks.

“Not much,” Mariana says, reading from her phone. “Former prosecuting attorney. Seemed a lock to be Seattle's next DA. But then, rumors about him started to circulate and the next thing we know, he pulls out of the DA's race and winds up here.”

“What kind of rumors?” Asher asks.

Mariana scrolls through some things on her phone. “Nothing's ever been proven and a few of the more salacious accusations have been debunked,” she says. “But he's been accused of corruption, taking bribes to fix cases, ignoring evidence that could have exonerated somebody to secure a conviction –”

“Damn,” I say. “That's quite the list. And I'd say it fits in perfectly with the MO of somebody who'd try to frame us for his own personal gain.”

“Green insists the accusations were all part of a smear campaign orchestrated by his opponent,” Mariana adds. “And to be fair, those are all rumors and innuendo. Nothing has ever been proven.”

“Still, I'd say the appearance of impropriety moves him to the top of our suspects list,” Luca says.

“I agree,” Asher says and nods.

“Which creates yet another problem for us,” Mariana says. “If he beats Richards and becomes the new Sheriff...”

Her voice trails off, but we don't need her to finish her statement to know where she was going with it. If Green wins the election, given his belief that we don't qualify for the protections citizens enjoy based on DNA that isn't one hundred percent human, it's going to be open season on us.

If he wins, a lot of our people are likely going to die. And it's not like we have anywhere to turn for protection. The Feds aren't going to help us. Along with denying our very existence, they take active steps to destroy our kind. As what they did to Emily proves.

No, we're on our own here.

“Then we have to make sure Richards wins,” I say.

“Better the devil you know,” Luca adds.

Asher sighs. “I suppose so,” he says. “Talk about two choices that suck complete ass though.”

Mariana shrugs. “Gotta hold your nose and go with the lesser of two evils,” she says. “Wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last.”

“This is all great in theory and all,” Luca says. “But, how exactly are we going to help make sure that Richards wins?”

“I've worked on some campaigns before,” Emily pipes up. “I mean, nothing major, just some local stuff. But, I can help.”

I'm not entirely sure it's the best idea for her, but I can't say anything here. It's going to have to wait.

“Okay, that's great,” Asher says. “Thank you.”

“Not to be a wet blanket or anything,” Mariana starts, “but how are we going to actually help Richards? The good Sheriff hates us. Am I the only one who thinks he's not going to let us anywhere near his campaign?”

“True,” Asher says. “But, we've got a common enemy this time – Green. Richards hasn't run a campaign in like ten years. I'd bet he's forgotten how to do it.”

“Which makes it imperative that we make him see the need to have us help him,” Luca says.

Asher turns to me and gives me a small shrug. “Think you can do it?” he asks. “Convince him he needs help?”

I shrug. “I honestly have no idea,” I say. “But, I'll give it my best shot.”

“That's all we can ask,” Asher says.