Free My Brother's Keeper by Alanea Alder

technology; unilateral decisions regarding warrior training; placing unit warriors in positions of power to gain more influence; allowing a unit witch to cast the perimeter spell over the whole city, and finally, allowing a unit warrior to be compromised by the enemy."
    Meryn paled. "Holy shit balls, that's mostly crap I've done," she declared.
    Amelia's cheeks were flushed with anger as her eyes flashed dangerously. "They are daring to complain about the square and Meryn's flour spell? We saved lives! Or does that not matter anymore?"
    Rheia's voice trembled. "I can't believe they are using what happened to Keelan as a grievance, and we have no idea who cast the perimeter spell."
    Elizabeth turned to Aiden. "Who are they talking about when they said you put a warrior is a position to gain more influence?"
    Aiden sat up and sighed heavily. "Caiden. He's been performing two roles since Amelia was born. When his father, the witch elder, decided to travel with his mate, Caiden picked up the duties since it didn't require a lot of attention. He's been acting as Storm Keep's witch elder and unit leader for decades. I don't see why it's such a big deal now."
    Elizabeth pursed her lips together. "I'll bet you my favorite day planner they use that as a platform to put someone else of their choosing in that role--'temporarily', of course. Aiden, you have to be prepared to lose him as a unit leader; he's too valuable as an elder to lose that seat due to positional jockeying."
    Gavriel agreed. "Beth is correct. We need every ally we can get at the council level."
    Aiden nodded. "I'll start looking at rosters."
    Anne frowned and looked around the room. "So, basically, what you're saying is that the charges are technically accurate?" Her question was met with silence. She continued. "Then what you need is a good, old fashioned, spin doctor."
    Colton blinked. "A what?"
    Amelia clapped her hands excitedly. "She's right! This so-called Committee is trying to launch a smear campaign, so what we need to do to counter that is share all the great things that Aiden and Meryn have been doing."
    Darian didn't look convinced. "Do you think that will work?"
    Elizabeth nodded slowly. "If done correctly, yes, it could definitely work. But we need to avoid giving them new ammunition against us."
    Everyone at the table turned as one to look at Meryn.
    "What?" she demanded.
    Amelia wagged a finger at her. "You know what. Be good."
    "Why does everyone always say that to me? I'm never really bad." Meryn pouted dramatically.
    Aiden chuckled. "My little angel."
    Meryn grinned devilishly up at her mate before looking around the table. "On to the next order of business, ferals." Meryn pulled her legs up until she was sitting cross-legged in her chair. "Okay, so what do we know? I'm not sure how much information Kendrick had available to him. There's no telling what was released by the officials at Storm Keep, and I know Anne is clueless, so let's lay it all out for them."
    Amelia wrapped her arms around herself. "We now know that the necklaces are made from souls."
    Darian wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. "We know that the necklaces are being created for the express purpose of giving the wearer shifter abilities, halt physical and mental degradation, and they can sometimes render the user invisible."
    Elizabeth turned to Gavriel. "We know they are actively trying to recruit warriors by any means necessary."
    "We know that the necklaces glow bright green when you break them." Aiden grimaced. "We've already broken a few--one by accident and the others because they were hurting Amelia."
    Meryn tapped her fingers on the table as if she was typing on an imaginary keyboard. "We also know they have been organizing for a long time; this shit didn't happen overnight."
    Anne leaned forward. "Not to sound like a five-year-old, but why? What are they after?"
    Kendrick looked up. "The number one reason for every cause of misery in the paranormal world since