Chapter 118: The Danger Beside Him

Michael’s POV

By the time we reached the club, Alaric had become considerably more enthusiastic about his decision to drag me out for the evening.

The place was exactly what I expected from a club that catered to Boston’s wealthiest crowd.

Expensive cars filled the valet area, and the people walking through the entrance were dressed as though they were attending a private event rather than spending a Friday night drinking and listening to music.

Several familiar faces from Boston’s business circles were among them, along with a few people whose names I recognised from financial news.

Alaric looked around with interest as we entered. "Now this is more like it."

I gave him a sideways glance. "You made me come here because you wanted to rest."

"Mhmm." He nodded. "I never said I intended to spend the entire weekend sleeping."

"You could have found a quieter way to rest."

He smiled. "And miss this?"

I didn’t bother answering.

We found a table in one of the more secluded sections of the club. From there, we had a clear view of most of the main floor without being surrounded by the crowd.

Alaric ordered a drink, while I settled for something nonalcoholic.

He looked at my glass. "You really came here just to sit?"

"I came because you insisted."

"And yet you’re sitting there as if you’re attending a business meeting."

"I’m comfortable."

He laughed and turned his attention toward the dance floor.

I let him enjoy himself while I surveyed the room. I had no particular interest in the people around us, but old habits made it difficult for me to sit anywhere without taking note of my surroundings.

A few minutes passed before I noticed someone familiar.

I looked toward the other side of the club and saw Elias Roth.

He was sitting with several women at one of the larger tables. I recognised some of them from previous occasions when I had seen him around campus, although I had never spoken to them.

Elias looked completely at ease among them, laughing and talking as though he had been there for hours.

I had seen enough of his behaviour at school to know that he was comfortable around women.

He flirted easily, carried himself with the confidence of someone accustomed to female attention, and never seemed short of company.

Therefore, seeing him surrounded by women at the club came as no surprise.

Alaric seemed to notice my attention and asked, "What is it?"

I nodded toward Elias. "That is Elias Roth."

Alaric followed my gaze. "Your student?"

"Yes. I told you about him weeks ago," I pointed out.

"The one you said you found unusual?"

I confirmed. "That’s him."

Alaric studied Elias from where we sat.

I had mentioned Elias to him before, particularly after the first time I noticed something unusual about his scent.

I had never been able to identify exactly what bothered me about it.

There had been occasions when he smelled perfectly normal, and others when there was something different about him.

It was never strong enough to give me a clear answer, and I hadn’t found anything suspicious in his behaviour that justified treating him as a threat.

Alaric continued watching. "He seems to be enjoying himself."

"I bet he usually does."

I watched as Alaric’s gaze moved over the people around him again, then he stopped. "Wait a second."

I looked at him. He didn’t take his eyes off the table, so I inquired, "What?"

"Not him."

His voice had changed.

I followed his line of sight.

One of the women sitting beside Elias had just leaned forward to say something to him. She laughed afterwards and touched his arm briefly before returning to her drink.

She looked completely ordinary. Dark hair. Elegant black dress. No visible signs of anything unusual.

Yet Alaric continued studying her.

"What’s wrong?" I asked.

He didn’t answer straight away. Instead, he watched her for several more seconds. Then he said quietly, "There’s something wrong with her."

My attention shifted back to the woman. "What did you sense?"

"Not from Elias."

I frowned. "Then what?"

Alaric finally looked at me. "Her."

I returned my attention to the woman. For the first time, I focused entirely on her rather than the group.

There was something faint beneath the ordinary human scent around her.

It was subtle enough that a human would never notice it, but to us it was unmistakable once we knew what we were looking for.

My expression hardened. "You think she is one of them?"

"I don’t think so." He paused. "I know."

I watched the woman carefully.

The shapeshifter remained completely relaxed, speaking with Elias and the other women as though there was nothing unusual about her.

Elias seemed comfortable around her, which wasn’t surprising. If she had been part of his social circle for a while, there was no reason for him to suspect anything.

He couldn’t possibly know what she was. Humans didn’t know shapeshifters existed.

I looked at Elias again. The answer was suddenly much simpler than I had expected.

He had been spending time with a shapeshifter. That explained why I thought there was something off about him.

Elias himself wasn’t necessarily carrying anything supernatural. He was simply spending time with someone who was.

I leaned back in my chair and watched the woman lift her glass and take a slow drink.

She had no idea we had identified her.

Elias was still talking to one of the other women, completely unaware of the creature sitting beside him.

I watched him for another moment. He had no reason to know.

From his perspective, these were simply women he was spending time with. He had no knowledge of werewolves, no knowledge of shapeshifters, and certainly no reason to imagine that one of the women he considered a friend or an acquaintance wasn’t human at all.

That made his behaviour perfectly understandable.

The woman, however, was another matter entirely.

I returned my attention to Alaric. "Don’t do anything yet."

He nodded. "I wasn’t planning to."

We continued watching from our table.

The music stayed loud around us as people kept drinking and laughing. Elias continued his evening unaware that two werewolves were sitting across the room, watching one of his friends.

The shapeshifter had chosen a very good place to hide. Nobody in this room would question her presence or suspect the truth.

Except us.

I kept my attention on the woman while she continued talking with Elias and the other women at the table.

Something about the way she behaved began to stand out.

She never stayed far from Elias for long. When he leaned toward the woman on his other side, she shifted closer.

When he stood to speak to someone near the bar, she remained seated for a while before eventually moving in the same direction.

When he returned, she was back beside him.

It was subtle enough that nobody around them would have noticed, but I did.

"She’s keeping him within reach," I said quietly.

Alaric watched her for another moment. "I’ve noticed."

"She isn’t behaving like someone who’s simply here to socialise."

"Then Elias isn’t the reason she’s here," Alaric stated.

That was what I wanted to establish.

A few minutes later, Elias stood from the table, said something to the women, and walked away. The shapeshifter remained in the same spot, talking casually with the others.

For the first time since we had identified her, she stopped paying attention to Elias. Her gaze moved across the club and settled on someone else.

I followed her line of sight.

A man was standing near the bar, talking to another guest.

The shapeshifter watched him for several seconds before returning her attention to the women at the table.

I turned to Alaric. "Interesting."

He nodded. "She wasn’t watching Elias."

"Apparently not."

Elias returned to the table a short while later, and the woman immediately resumed her previous behaviour.

She spoke to him, laughed at something he said, and remained close enough to make it appear as though he had been her focus all along.

But we had already seen enough. Elias was part of her cover.

Perhaps he was useful to her for access to certain people or places. Perhaps she simply liked having him around because his social circle gave the opportunities she wouldn’t otherwise have.

Whatever the reason, I wasn’t interested in guessing.

"We should follow her when she leaves," Alaric said.

I shook my head. "Not tonight."

He frowned slightly. "Why?"

"We don’t know who she is connected to yet. If we confront her here, we lose the opportunity to learn anything beyond what she is."

Alaric considered that, then nodded. "So we let her go?"

"We let her lead us somewhere."

I took another look at the woman.

She was perfectly comfortable among the humans around her, completely unaware that we had already identified what she was.

"I’ll have someone follow her discreetly once she leaves," I said. "I want to know where she goes and who she meets."

Alaric lifted his glass. "Better than killing her without knowing what we’re dealing with."

"Exactly."

My attention returned to Elias.

He had resumed his conversation with the other women and was completely oblivious to the danger sitting beside him.

For now, that was exactly how I wanted it.

The shapeshifter could keep believing she was hidden, and we would simply let her show us where she was going.