Page 63 of Hextreme Measures

“Second, you will not be alone.” He picked up his phone, glanced at the antique clock in the corner of the room, and then started texting. “Banshees are no match for vampires.”

“Really?” Ofelia looked hopeful. “How many of them do you think you can take?”

“It won’t be just me either.” Pascal leveled his gaze on her. “I have friends. They’ll be coming with me.” He hesitated, then continued. “You need to contact Zeke and Madeline.”

Ofelia immediately balked. “Why would I do that?”

“I suppose mentioning that Sully is their son isn’t enough in your book.”

“Not even a little.”

“I figured.” He was grim. “There are a lot of people — a lot of shifters — in this town for your wedding. You said yourself that Sully had no problem taking out the banshee at the party.”

“Oh.” Ofelia took a moment to consider it. “I hadn’t even gotten that far, but you’re right. We have an army.”

“We most certainly do.” Pascal bobbed his head in approval. “The banshees are no match for us. I believe that’s why this Shirley woman took Sully. She’s going to try to use him as leverage against you.”

Ofelia allowed that to sink in. She felt better knowing that the only smart plan would be to keep Sully alive. “What do you think her end goal is here?”

“I have no idea.” Pascal’s forehead creased in concentration as he went back to reading the book. “Nothing that has happened is smart. If those younger banshees are her soldiers — and that’s the only thing that makes sense to me — why would she send them to a paranormal party where they were woefully outnumbered?”

“Is it possible she didn’t know that they would be outnumbered?”

Pascal lifted one shoulder. “I’m not certain. Anything is possible, I guess. The only way I can see that working is if they didn’t know about the panthers.”

“Well, I mean, it’s not as if Zach advertises what he is.”

“No, but Shirley is the one organizing all of this, correct? She would have the information from her son.”

That was the other part that Ofelia couldn’t wrap her head around. “What is his part in all of this?”

“I don’t know.” Pascal lowered the book. “You’ve never liked him.”

“I’ve always hated him,” she readily agreed.

“You’ve always questioned his place on the team. Do you think Jack knew that he was from a banshee family?”

Ofelia thought back to Jack’s reaction. “No.” She shook her head. “There’s no way. He looked betrayed.”

“So, Biff was hiding it from him and acting like a normal individual investigating the paranormal world.”

Ofelia waited for him to continue. He clearly wasn’t done.

“Is it possible that Biff hid his origins and made it appear he was smarter than he really is?” Pascal asked finally. “Perhaps Biff made it look as if he was invaluable to the team, and that’s why Jack never questioned him.”

“Honestly? I don’t care about Biff. I’m going to make him pay if he knew what his mother was up to, but I don’t care otherwise.”

“You’re suggesting that Biff was protecting his mother simply because she was his mother and he had no idea what she was up to,” Pascal pressed. “Am I correct?”

Ofelia opened her mouth; it was on the tip of her tongue to agree with him, but she couldn’t actually say the words. “No. That’s not right.”

Pascal’s smirk told her she’d said the exact right thing.

“You already knew that, though,” she surmised.

“I believe I have it figured out,” he said. “I want you to get there yourself, though. We still have two hours to burn until it’s dark. That’s when we’ll be heading out.”

“How are we going to find him?”