Jordan lifted his head and sniffed. “You boys have explosives in the back of that vehicle?”

“Yep,” Benny said. “Your sense of smell is amazing. It’s good to stock up once in a while.”

One of Jordan’s sandy blond eyebrows rose. “Interesting. You’ve never been part of the Realm, Benjamin, and I know O’Cearbhaill here has kept his distance as well. Why would you be using Realm transportation and sending Adare’s mate to headquarters?”

Adare needed to get inside the hangar and now. Yet the shifter nation could not learn about the Seven. The cats wouldn’t like it. Not at all.

Benny came to the rescue. “Well, now. Adare’s mate hasn’t been feeling all that well, and he thought the queen could take a looksee at her. You know that Chalton, my nephew, is the head of the tech arm of the Realm, right?”

Jordan turned his attention on Adare. “You didn’t accompany your mate?”

“No.” Adare wasn’t going to explain.

“I find that odd,” Jordan said, his chin lowering.

It probably was odd to the leader. “Even so, I don’t have time to chat. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go interrogate the crying moron,” Adare said, stepping around Benny toward the door.

“I do mind,” Jordan said mildly.

Benny sighed. “Jordan, this is what it is. I’m calling in a favor.”

The cat looked at Benny for several long beats. “We’re even, then. Also, don’t think I’ll let this go for good. Just for tonight.”

“Fair enough.” Benny clapped Jordan on the back. “Say hi to Katie, Menace and Mayhem for me, would you?”

“Sure.” Jordan turned, and silent as death, disappeared into the darkness.

Benny watched him go. “That always creeps me the hell out. I mean, we move silently, but feline shifters are just too quiet. Nobody should be that quiet.”

Adare paused. There was a chance they’d just made an enemy if Jordan dug deep enough to find out about the Seven. What he and his brothers had had to do to become the Seven wouldn’t be tolerated by the shifter nation. Or the witch nation. He’d heard of Katie Pride, Jordan’s mate. “Who are Menace and Mayhem?” he asked, heading for the door.

“Jordan’s twin girls, Samantha and Sydney. They have to be in their early twenties by now. Jordan gave them the nicknames when they were born, and they just stuck. Fun kids but definitely wild.”

So Pride had a weakness. Good to know.

Adare shoved open the door to find a lone figure duct taped to a chair in the center of an empty airplane hangar. He had to appreciate the aesthetics of the situation.