The sight of it had my legs tensing, urging me to run the other direction. I fought my instincts, hoping that Lucas hadn’t changed his mind. That he really was out there somewhere. Listening in case I needed him.

Because I had a feeling I might need him very soon.

Another man came out of the building wearing the same outfit—black pants with a long black tunic. Coordinated clothes seemed normal for a secluded sect like this, but not coordinated auras.

The evil was there like Lucas has warned me. I’d expected that. But identical auras?

Auras were usually unique. Even the wolves, who had lots of similarities within their pack, varied in gold tones from white to orange to amber. Lucas’ was a very light yellow, almost white, while Dastien’s was a dark amber color. I couldn’t read my own aura, but I doubted mine was that close to Raphael’s and these two men weren’t twins by any means.

Matt stepped forward and talked quietly with the older man for a minute. The man nodded and turned to me, waving me over.

Swallowing my apprehension, I forced my feet to move. I had to do this. It was the only option. I repeated that in my head as a drop of sweat rolled between my shoulder blades.

“Hello, I’m Father Valentine. This is Father Alfred,” the old man said as I stood there, studying him. His tone was friendly enough, but I could see so much more. No matter how nice he pretended to be, this man wasn’t someone I should trust. “Don’t be shy. Come this way.”

I pushed all my fear aside, and gave him by best grin. “I’m Claudia de Santos.” My plan was to kill them with kindness, as my father always said. People usually underestimated what a kind person could do. “I’m sorry to come without calling first. I hope we’re not intruding on your day too much.”

He scoffed at that. “Not to worry, my dear. There’s no way to reach us without stopping by. We lack many of the amenities of the modern world—like running water and electricity. It’s nice to get an unexpected visitor or two.” He turned back toward the building. “Come to my house. We’ll have tea and see why you’ve traveled all this way.”

Father Alfred nodded, and led the way. From what I could tell, the older man, Father Valentine, ran the show around here.

As we walked into the compound, I tried to search for a glimmer of the white aura I’d seen yesterday. If I could narrow down where it was, then maybe I could sneak away to investigate.

A bright light caught my eye and I turned to find the source: a building in the back. It had no windows, only an open doorway but something glowed inside.