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Salem looked at the food. “She doesn’t expect me to eat all this, does she?”
“Probably not. She doesn’t know you, so she brought a little of everything. She’s the most amazing cook. She feeds all of us every day. She supervises a staff who all seem so happy when you go in there.”
Looking at all the dishes, Salem asked, “Where do I start?”
“If you like fish, the salmon is especially good, but so is the crab bisque and the pasta. We set it up buffet or family style and people just help themselves.”
A few minutes later, there was another knock. This time it was Shaw with her carrot cake. “You asked for me?”
“I did. Knowingly or unknowingly, Salem’s boss just lied to her. She will be staying here at the manor. Make sure her place looks lived in. Search for listening devices or hidden cameras. We need to know how closely she’s being watched.” He turned to Salem. “I would prefer to keep the majority of your things there, but if you have favorites, we will bring them. Then make a shopping list. We’ll fly someone to the lower forty-eight to get what you need.”
“Do you really think I’m being watched?”
“I’m not sure, but I think we need to know.”
She nodded slowly. “I agree. Shaw, the only thing I’d want from the cabin is a pair of cowboy boots and a flame red, tunic-length sweater and a cobalt blue cashmere one. Oh, and my sheepskin jacket.”
“As you wish,” said Shaw with a smile as he left.
“Now what?” she asked.
“I think your boss was right, you need to use the sphere and see if it will lead us to another nest of vampires. How does it work? Wait. You don’t have to tell me,” he said.
“I don’t mind,” she laughed. “I haven’t a clue. I just pick the damn thing up, kind of roll it around in my hands and voila, I set it down with the lights pointed up and see if I can match the points of light to a star map and then figure out the coordinates.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“What were you afraid of?” she asked, taking a bite of the salmon. “Oh my god, that’s good.”
Cullen grinned. “Told you. What I was afraid of is my belief that the Celestial Key—that one at least—is tied to you somehow.”
“Are there others?” she asked sipping some of the bisque from a spoon. “Okay I’m going to eat nothing but salads. If I don’t, I’ll be the size of a whale.”
“We’ll find ways to work it off. Besides, you have a beautiful curvaceous figure.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
She paused for a minute and then said, “Thank you. My best friend’s mate tells me I’m really bad at compliments.”
“Then I’ll have to see you get lots of them so you get better at it.”
She looked as if she was going to say something, thought better of it, and took another bite of the food. “So where do we go from here? Honestly, I was kind of stumped. I keep running into the same roadblocks that your techs do. It doesn’t make sense unless I accept the idea that someone high up in the SPU is up to something…”
“Or is being duped. Always a possibility with the Shadow League, and vampires for that matter.”
“Don’t we want to believe that we’re smarter than the bad guys?”
“I don’t know that we are,” said Cullen. “What I do know is that we have to prevail. If we don’t, mankind and shifters will be subjugated to those in power. If the League or the vampires win, humanity and the rest of us are lost.”
“Do you think the League wants to partner with the vamps?”
“I doubt it. I think both sides believe they are using the other and that is their weakness. We have to figure out how to exploit that.”
Salem nodded. “Cullen, can your people get me star maps of other locations? The one I had was pretty much for Kenai and the immediate surrounding area.”
“Did you know the Celestial Key could be used that way?”
“You forget. I didn’t even know what the damn thing was called. I stumbled onto its connection with the star maps purely by accident.”
“Then why did you have a star map?”
