by Selina Woods
“You refused to give me a blowjob.”
The elevator door opened as Kiana and I screamed insults at one another, ignoring the startled faces of the guards in the building’s lobby.
“Get the fuck out of here,” I bellowed. “Trashy whore.”
“Next time you want a blowjob, suck your own dick,” Kiana snarled back.
“I paid you for a fucking blowjob.”
Kiana made a very insulting gesture using one of her fingers, then stalked past the guards toward the doors.
“Someone, take her wherever she wants to go,” I yelled. “Get her from my sight. And get me my car while you’re at it.”
The guards ran to obey me, and a truck pulled up to collect Kiana, and I hoped that from the sideways glances and small smirks I received from those still there that I just got my ass whooped by a hooker. Feigning rage, I glared around at them, finding them suddenly busy looking somewhere else, the smirks gone.
“I killed Duke,” I growled. “I won’t hesitate to kill any of you if you cross me.”
With the gun securely in my waistband under my shirt, it crossed my mind to have Derek show me how to use it, load, and unload it. He knew more about weapons than I did, and as I climbed into the black sedan with my guards, I wondered how easily they might overtake and kill me in it.
I didn’t explain to them why I wanted to go back to my old neighborhood, as the boss didn’t explain things to an underling. I tried to think of as many scenarios as possible in how the gang might try to take me out.
Leaving the guards at the car, instilling terror on the street, I went inside and was nearly mowed down by a pair of dark-haired eleven-year-olds.
“Logan,” yelled Tony. “You’re back.”
A swift glance through the window showed me my minders leaned against the car and watched females and appeared to be gossiping idly. They weren’t staring in to see their new lord hugging a pair of kids. Which I was busy doing.
“Where’s Kiana?’ Albert asked. “Did she sleep with you?”
Appalled, I glanced around to see who might have heard his very indiscreet question. “You’re not supposed to ask questions like that,” I hissed at him.
Tony nudged his brother wisely. “She slept with him.”
“Derek says you’re the new boss,” Albert went on, his voice loud enough that Duke in his grave could have heard him. “Are you going to kill people?”
Grabbing them by their shoulders, I marched them into the back, where I found Derek talking with Kiana. They glanced up at me, then the boys, then resumed their low voiced conversation. I glowered at Tony and Albert.
“Look, guys,” I said. “There are some things you can’t be asking where anyone can hear you. Yeah, I’m the new boss in Miami; yes, I killed Duke. But if I want to make this a better place, you two need to mind your mouths and ask questions only in private. Got it?”
They both nodded solemnly.
“Kiana?” Albert asked. “Did you sleep with Logan?”
Derek laughed while Kiana rolled her eyes. I tilted Albert’s chin upward. “Do you know the meaning of the word ‘privacy?’”
“Sure.” He shrugged.
“Then know when you invade mine and your sister’s privacy by asking questions like that, I’ll bust your balls. Got it?”
“He killed Duke, Albert,” Tony advised. “You don’t want him busting your balls.”
“That would hurt.”
Both wandered out to the front, where I assumed they had work to do. I found Kiana approaching me with a grin and a hug while Derek merely grinned. “Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on all of them for you, bro,” Derek told me. “You two are sleeping together already? Good for you. Next thing—a mating and little Logans.”
“Keep her safe, Derek,” I said. “I’ll have her at the penthouse as much as I can, but if we’re using being a hooker as her cover, she can’t be there all the time.”
“She’s gonna start finding your army,” Derek informed me cheerfully, planting his arm over her shoulder. “Finding shifters who want to turn this city around, getting names.”
“That’s all well and good,” I told him. “But we’re going to need weapons and ammunition. Where the hell are we going to get those?”
He clapped me on my arm. “That’s your job, boss. She and I will talk to reliable people who can keep their mouths shut and be ready to fight when you’re prepared to lead.”
I eyed Kiana. “You be careful. Change clothes often, keep your head down.”
“I know what to do, Logan,” she said. “I’ve been planning something like this in my head for a long time.”
“I gotta go,” I said. “Keep those boys from asking the wrong questions. If they don’t shut up, they could get us into trouble.”
Leaving through the front of the market, I saw Tony helping a customer find a product he needed while Albert swept the floor. They glanced at me but continued working as though I were not really there. I grabbed a few apples from the bin, put them in a sack, then strolled out into the sunlight.
The guards straightened at my approach. But a couple of enforcers had arrived while I was in the store and stood waiting for me. I scowled. “Yeah?”
“Uh, boss, we have a problem,” said the one on the right, who looked like a wolf shifter. “Duke would never let us kill a citizen unless he approved it, so this guy, he won’t pay up. Should we, uh, mess him a little? Want us to kill him so his family coughs it up?”
I let my scowl deepen. “How well do dead people pay, huh? Kill them, and we get precious little. Take me to this guy.”
Telling the guards to stay with the car, I followed the enforcers down the street, word running ahead like a hurricane that the new boss of Miami had arrived in person to collect his taxes. As a result, the sidewalk emptied. Fast. Folks who knew me from the market stared in shock as I passed them. Familiar, friendly, faces turned from me, their expressions, tight, angry.
As though I had betrayed them.
I strode on grimly, ignoring them as only the boss might, my enforcers flanking me. They pointed out a shop I had done business with—a cobbler who fixed and made shoes as well as boots. I knew many enforcers took advantage of the poor guy and refused to pay for the footgear he spent time and money making.
Rumors of that nature got around the neighborhood quickly.
He cowered from me as I darkened his doorway, his mate and children, all gaunt and pale from the lack of food, hovering behind the curtain that led to his workshop. I glanced around, seeing the nice boots and shoes lined up, waiting for his customers to pay him and pick them up.
“Hiya, Jasper,” I said, walking in. “How’ve you been?”
“L-Logan? Y-you’re the new boss?” Jasper, a human whose mate shopped at my market when they had the cash to spend on such luxuries as food, went paler still as I moved around his shop.
I leaned casually against his counter. “Yep. I am. Killed old Duke, may he rot in hell.”
The enforcers looked shocked, at least until I scowled at them. They dropped their eyes appropriately as Jasper glanced from me to them and back.
“I tried telling them, Logan,” Jasper pleaded. “I can’t pay right now. I can’t feed my family. I swear I’ll catch up on my taxes—”
My lifted hand halted what I knew would be a long explanation and promise when I already knew what the problem was. Jasper nearly bit his tongue in his effort to stop talking fast enough.
“How many of Duke’s former enforcers paid for their boots and shoes you made for them?” I asked.
The enforcers suddenly paled while Jasper licked his lips.
“Uh, one or two might have paid me,” Jasper replied, clearly confused. “The rest, well, no, it’s their prerogative to take my goods and services without paying.”
“I see.”
I eyed the enforcers sidelong. “Tell me the truth,” I said softly, dangerously. “Are you not supposed to pay for what you take? Food, drink, clothes—boots. Is that not wh
at Duke decreed? Even his enforcers, as they are paid well, must also pay the citizens for the things they need in life? Is that not so?”
The pair literally trembled and would not raise their eyes to look at me.
“I get it,” I went on, my voice still dangerously soft, “you’re the boss’s enforcers. You’re predators. You take what you want; you don’t pay. You collect the taxes, are rewarded for it, and don’t pay a single thing back to the people. That ends now.”
To Jasper, I said, “You don’t owe anything. And from now on, my people will pay for what they need.”
I stalked from the shop, growling low in my throat. I knew I had just signed my own death warrant.
Chapter Seven
“I said no, and I mean no,” I snarled.
I spent the rest of the afternoon arguing with Ramsey over what the enforcers could and couldn’t do regarding their preying upon the citizens and driving them into such poverty that their children died of starvation right in front of an abundance of food.
“I hear what you’re saying, Logan,” Ramsey told me patiently. “Yes, you’re right. If the enforcers take too much, then the citizenry can’t pay their taxes, and then you can’t pay them.”
“So, the preying halts this instant.”
“How are you going to stop them?”
I spun around, my lip curled. “I’ll hang anyone who refuses to obey me.”
He held up both his hands, palms out in a placating gesture. “Yes, besides the threat of execution. Logan, you can’t be everywhere at once. This is not something you yourself can enforce.”
Just as Duke couldn’t stop enforcers like Kell from committing their brands of extortion. I sat in a chair and rubbed my eyes, feeling a headache coming on. “This is my town, Ramsey,” I said. “My people. I have to protect them from the very lawlessness that put them into the precarious position they’re in.”
Ramsey sat down on the short sofa opposite me. “I hear you,” he said softly. “We’re at the top of the food chain, yet also supposed to be civilized creatures. Not wantonly killing and slaying whoever displeases us. We’re not like our wild counterparts hunting on the African plains.”
“And they only kill what they need,” I said quietly. “They don’t slaughter everything in sight, for then they would starve. When they’ve killed everything, there’d be nothing left. Those enforcers are behaving as though there’s an endless supply of wildebeest for the taking, and there isn’t.”
He nodded with a small smile. “You understand.”
“Of course, I do,” I snapped. “Until two days ago, I was one of them.”
“I was one of them as well,” Ramsey admitted, still smiling. “Until I learned that in order to survive, I had to run with the pack.”
“So you don’t like it any more than I do.”
He shook his head. “Not really. In his own way, Duke tried to stop it. But in time, he knew that if he tried too hard, he’d be assassinated.”
He met my eyes squarely. “Just as you will be if you maintain this course.”
“I know I made enemies today,” I said softly. “Word will spread that I will demand the enforcers curb their greed. I’m a target now. The only question I have is, whose side are you on?”
“My own. I bow to whoever happens to be the strongest for the moment.” He glanced aside and smiled thinly. “Cowardly, perhaps. But it’s kept me alive thus far.”
“I don’t hold that against you.” I took a deep breath and continued. “Can I count on your loyalty for at least a short while?”
“My loyalty is bought and paid for by keeping me alive. You do whatever it takes to remain in power and those bastards in check, and I’ll watch your back.”
“That’s all I can ask.”
Though I hadn’t expected him to do it, Ramsey held out his hand for me to take. His eyes on mine, he asked, “Do we have a deal?”
I grinned and clasped his hand. “We do.”
“Then if I hear grumbling midst the ranks, I’ll inform you. If I know of a coup simmering beneath the surface, I’ll tell you. I’ll do everything except die with you.”
“Do the rest,” I said, sending him a quick wink, “and neither of us will die.”
He shook his head with a wry grin. “I can’t help but like you, Logan. I didn’t want to, as, you know, you’d probably get me killed. But I still like you.”
“Were you surprised that I killed Duke?” I asked.
He sat back on his sofa and stared at me. “Yes and no. You’re obviously strong, tough, but Duke was arrogant. Arrogance and fighting are never a good mix. When you used his rage against him, I knew you’d win.”
I gazed down at my hands. “I used his rage and his arrogance against him,” I replied softly. “He thought he couldn’t be beaten. When you think that, you make crucial mistakes.”
“And you won’t make the same one. Will you?”
“Nope.”
With Ramsey’s allegiance, as tentative as that might be, I at least knew he wouldn’t be the one to wield the knife that stabbed me in the back. He assured me that my bodyguards were loyal, as they didn’t have a stake in preying upon the populace. They were paid to guard my body, and a dead prince was a prince who didn’t pay very well.
“Don’t worry about those guys,” Ramsey told me. “They’ll only join the enforcers if you refuse them their pay.” He then shrugged with a wry grin. “Or they might join in on a palace coup if they are certain to get a pay raise.”
I stared glumly out the window. “How many enforcers are there to how many guards?”
“You only have about fifty guards,” he said. “And four hundred and seventy-five enforcers. Not great odds.”
“Not yet,” I replied, leaning back in my chair and resting my boots on top of the antique European desk. “The enforcers are only getting a little suspicious of my current plans. Once they do, I’ll have an army at my back. Where are the rifles and ammunition kept?”
Ramsey straightened in his chair. “What army?”
He stared hard at me, at my neutral expression. “Oh, no, Logan,” he moaned, covering his face with his hands. “Don’t even think about arming the civilians.”
“Why not? I daresay they’ll prove more loyal than the enforcers.”
He rested his face in his folded arms on the desk. “Logan, baby,” he wailed, “they are children playing with matches. They’ll set Miami on fire and roast weenies. They have no concept of order from chaos. And will most certainly cause your downfall. And mine.”
I grinned. “So sure, are you?”
“Yes,” he replied wearily. “They are good people, no doubt, but they haven’t what it takes to kill. Most will freak upon seeing a flipping gun.”
“How much do you care to bet on that?” I asked. “Put your money down, bucko.”
He glared at me. “I’m not talking about money here. It’s lives, Logan.”
“So am I. I believe we have thousands ready to rise up and take their city back. With planned strategies, we can seize the enforcers and give them an option—surrender or die.”
Ramsey scraped his hands through his dark blond hair and blew out a gust of breath. “I see what you’re thinking,” he said, his voice calmer. “Like guerilla warfare.”
“Exactly,” I said, getting up from my chair and pacing around the sitting room. “Look, we secretly arm several hundred strong, able-bodied folks. You and I know the schedules of each neighborhood, who is to collect taxes from whom and when. We hide our guys in the shops; the enforcers go in but don’t come back out.”
“That might work for a few days, Logan,” Ramsey replied, “but the enforcers will get suspicious when their brothers start to vanish.”
“By then, their numbers have been whittled down,” I went on. “That’ll still give us an edge over them. That’s when they’ll come after me.”
He also stood up, watching me as I paced. “And then what?”
“I’ll be the bait.” I stopped pacing
and met his eyes. “Bring them to a place where they can be surrounded.”
“That’s a helluva risk, Logan,” he told me with a quick head shake. “You’re talking about a full-scale battle where a lot of people will get killed, them and your citizens.”
“I never said it would be easy. But I’m willing to put my life out there to bring change. They’re going to turn on me no matter what, so I’ll go down fighting on the right side. Not like a rat in a hole.”
Ramsey stared at me for a long time, then sat down on the sofa again. “You are SOOO gonna get me killed,” he muttered. “The weapons are kept on a big fishing boat out there in the marina. Duke also feared his enforcers would turn on him, so he little by little collected rifles and shotguns. Only his personal guards carry rifles; the enforcers carry knives and handguns.”
“The guards will not like a governmental change either,” I continued, pacing again. “They like their lazy lifestyle of sitting on their asses looking important. We’ll have to take their guns from them, too.”
“True enough. But they’ll stay fat, dumb. and happy until close to the end. They don’t talk much with enforcers and may not know about the coup until it’s too late.”
“So,” I said, gesturing for him to accompany me to the balcony. “How do we get the guns off the boat without the guards being aware of it?”
He pointed toward a distant derelict fishing boat moored just off the marina. “The guards don’t know the weapons are stored there,” he said. “However, they’ll raise a fuss if it simply goes missing. It’s sound, even if it doesn’t look it, and if we can wait until we get a nasty storm, we can sail it around to a hidden cove.”
I grinned. “And it’ll appear as though the storm sank it.”
“Storm season is upon us,” he answered with his own smile. “We’ll have to locate not just a place to moor it, but someone who knows how to sail that hunk of junk in bad weather.”
“I’ll start working on those,” I told him. “You take a look at the scheduling of the enforcers, design a strategy where we can take the most out at the same time.”