In Tate’s living room, the entire council had reconvened, with Sean, Caleb, Collins and Reeve all sitting in the chairs laid out, while Tate himself sat on the couch with Tessa by his side. Tessa didn’t usually attend council meetings, but given what they were discussing, Wes wasn’t surprised to see her there.

He was somewhat taken aback by the fact that he was there, though.

“So what’s going on?” Wes asked. “Were you able to confirm she is who she says she is?”

“We did some quick digging,” Tate replied. “And we did stumble upon a family reunion photo online. Dakota was there, right beside who Tessa identified as Mr. Thompson.”

Tessa nodded at his side, looking deep in thought.

“So assuming she really is who she says she is,” Reeve chimed in, rubbing his beard. “What does that mean? We still can’t be sure why her father was in possession of that amulet, and all that other stuff Tessa and Tate saw at his house when they broke in. Maybe it was to keep those things away from demons, maybe it wasn’t,” he shrugged, earning a nod from Collins.

The two elder council members were usually in agreement, and usually more cautious than Tate, Sean or Caleb, so their hesitance to trust Dakota on her word alone didn’t come as a surprise to Wes.

And the men were right – there was still too much they didn’t know about the Thompsons to really come to any conclusions. But Wes’ gut was still telling him Dakota was one of the good guys.

“You talked to her,” Caleb nodded in Wes’ direction, crossing his thick arms in front of him and frowning to himself. “What do you think? Any holes in her story, anything she let slip?”

“I felt she was being genuine,” Wes shrugged, feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes on him. “Her stories definitely fell in the category of too crazy not to be true,” he added. “She knows a lot about all this demon stuff, that’s for sure.”

He didn’t divulge that he also thought that she was positively fantastic, finding it a little too gushy for the somber gathering they were engaged in.

“Remember what Roman said?” Tessa looked from Tate to Caleb. “That there were these demon-hunting families who were responsible for keeping demons from crossing over to our realm?”

“And to think I thought he just had a couple of screws loose,” Caleb scoffed. “Look at us now, discussing demons like it’s no big deal.”

Wes had never met Roman himself, as Caleb’s uncle-in-law preferred to keep to himself, living deep in the woods an hour’s drive away from Pinedale. When Tessa and Tate had first returned to Pinedale with a demon on their trail, they had gone to see the old man off a hunch he might know something.

Turned out Roman had had his own run-in with the supernatural. But this was the first Wes had heard anyone mention demon-hunting families.

“Then Dakota’s story makes sense,” Wes commented. “She’s picking up where her father left off.”

“We don’t know that for certain,” Reeve reminded him. “Even if her father was part of this demon-chasing family, we don’t know if she wants to follow in those footsteps. These items she wants to get her hands on are probably very powerful. What if she decides to use them for her own gain?”

Wes didn’t have an answer for that. Really, what did he know about Dakota? That his wolf inexplicably liked her? That wasn’t the strongest argument. And with the high stakes of a possible demonic apocalypse, it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Sean, you’re being unusually quiet,” Tate remarked, looking over at the blond wolf sitting between Caleb and Reeve.

“You know I like to think the best of people,” Sean started, earning a smile from Tessa.

“We are aware,” Tate chuckled.

“But after what happened with Loch, I’m a lot more cautious than I used to be,” Sean continued. “I’m not saying we should interrogate the woman or anything, since there’s a good chance she really is trying to keep the world safe from these dangerous magical items,” Sean sighed, unusually somber. “But maybe we could… keep an eye on her, just in case?”

“What exactly are you saying?” Collins asked, leaning forward in his seat, his long hair falling down his back. “That we stalk her?”

“Well, if you put it like that, it just sounds downright creepy,” Sean replied, pursing his lips. “I was thinking more like… monitor. Just until we’re sure of her motivations.”

Wes fell silent as he observed the reactions in the room. Caleb was still frowning, but that was no surprise. His penchant for seeing the worst case scenarios of any given situation was what made him so useful on the council. It never hurt to plan for the shittiest outcome. Someone had to do it, even if all the wolves were a little more naturally inclined to doubt rather than trust to begin with.

Tessa seemed surprised Sean would be the one to come out with such a suggestion, while Reeve and Collins exchanged a glance Wes couldn’t really read. Tate was the first one to speak, his face serious and his tone even.

“As much as I would have liked to think Loch was a fluke as far as demons showing up in our realm goes, it’s becoming clearer that’s not the case. And now that we’re aware of the threat, we can’t just squeeze our eyes closed and pretend it doesn’t exist,” he said, capturing everyone’s attention.

“If it happens that Ms. Thompson does have some ulterior motives in getting back her father’s collection, the consequences could affect a lot of people. I don’t think we have any other choice but to make sure she is on the up and up,” he finished, earning nods from around the room.

Wes had to agree. Shifters usually kept to themselves, preferring to be among their own kind, but that didn’t mean they saw humans as lesser than them. There were fanatics both among shifters and humans who spewed rhetoric about keeping the races apart and all that, but those nutjobs were in the minority.

As far as Wes was concerned, they were all, humans and shifters alike, a part of mankind, and needed to look out for one another. Especially now, when goddamn demons were running around. At least he had his wolf to give him strength. Humans didn’t have that advantage.

Add to that the fact he wanted to know more about Dakota and her whirlwind life, Wes had already opened his mouth before his brain had fully caught up to it.

“I’ll do it,” he blurted out. “I’ll go and keep an eye on Dakota. Discreetly,” he said, as everyone turned to stare at him.

Well. Maybe I could have made that sound a little less eager…