by Jaymin Eve
Justice snorted. "Equity? You mean your blackmail material?"
"Whatever it takes to achieve my end goal," he said simply. "Whatever it takes. But I promise, this could be mutually beneficial."
I knew I was going to regret this, but I nodded. "What’s your proposition?"
10
Justice Winter
Why was Jacob even entertaining this asshole? Damn him being a leader and able to sideline his fury so that he wouldn't create an international incident. I just wanted to punch fuckface president in his fuck of a face and then walk my ass out of here.
Apparently, that was not going to be option one today. Dammit.
"You will allow me to form a special supernatural army," the president said, sounding almost proud of his brilliant idea. It wasn't like we hadn't all been aware that was his original hope—he’d mentioned it during our first meeting.
When his plan was shut down, everyone had accepted that now he just wanted to learn more about us. But I always knew he was up to something else. I’d tried to tell Jacob, and he listened to me, discussed it even, but he was always so confident that there was nothing a human could do to really threaten supes.
Guess all the president had to do was try to blow up a bunch of humans and Jacob would fall right into the “save the world” mindset and give this asshole exactly what he needed.
Leverage.
"Supernaturals won’t kill for you," Jacob said, and he sounded quite calm. "They won’t slave themselves either. Mutually beneficial means that we have to get something out of it."
The president nodded. "Yes, I understand. What if I allowed some of you to take positions of power in my cabinet? You could then have a real say in changing laws, some of which might even allow supernaturals more freedoms amongst humans.”
“Why even bother with blackmail if you had this 'mutually beneficial…'"—I exaggerated the finger movements to show that I knew this was bullshit "—agreement for us?"
His smile was beyond creepy. "I like to have the upper hand," he said. “That way I can ensure the most important terms for me are met. Not to mention, none of you seemed that interested in working with humans."
I was raging. This was not mutual. He was going to get so much more out of the deal, especially since we already had Guild members in positions of power.
"I will need to discuss this with my brothers," Jacob started, looking far too calm, "and the supernatural council. Release us from the rest of our stay with you, since you've clearly already gotten what you wanted, and allow us to return home to discuss this at length."
The president nodded and indicated again to his guard that they could relax. The multitudes of armed soldiers around us had remained somewhat vigilant during this conversation, only releasing their weapons at this signal.
"You have one week," the president said. "Don't force me to use the documentation against you."
Jacob smiled. Terrifyingly beautiful, showing his perfect white teeth. If predatory grin had an image, that was it. "I'm going to need to see the evidence as well," he drawled. "You know, not that I don't trust you or anything, but let's be real, lying isn't exactly foreign to presidents."
Red tinged John Caine's cheeks as he nodded and said, "Provide me with a secure email or server to load it, and I will send it right over. Along with all the details of my proposition."
Well, well, wasn’t he just the picture of respect and integrity now he was getting his own way. It was lucky I wasn’t on the supernatural council and had to decide this. At this point, I’d cut my nose off to spite every fucking supe face, and take the risk that the humans would war against us, because I truly hated being manipulated.
It was a character flaw. Whatever.
"We will be in touch in a week," Jacob said. "We're walking out of here now. Do not attempt to follow us."
The president looked like he wanted to protest, but he never got a chance, because Jacob had already reached out to grab my hand, half carrying me out of the room. When I got my feet under me, I tried to pull out of his grasp.
“Dude," I said seriously. "Don't fucking manhandle me."
Jacob squeezed his eyes closed, and when they opened again, the green was dark and murky. "I’m not a man. And I’d appreciate it if you shut up until we got out of here. I’m already on the edge of losing control again."
Okay, then. Looked like there was another fuck of a face I was going to have to punch. His was so pretty that it would be a shame to bang it up, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do. And I didn't take disrespect like this.
Thankfully at this point he’d loosened his hold, and I was able to walk at his side like a person and not a possession dragged along. I was being deliberately obstinate about it, but men were prone to this shit and I wasn’t okay with it.
Two soldiers at the gate let us out, no questions asked, so someone had already radioed to let them know. It was nice not to have to fight another battle. Of course, we were in a war-torn city with no immediate way to get home…
Except.
"Want me to try and open a step-through?" I asked. Jeweled princesses had that ability. Last time I'd had my jeweled sisters with me, but there was a chance I could do it alone. My power was definitely there, as previously demonstrated, even if I didn’t have the best control over it.
"It's okay," Jacob said shortly. "I'll call Tyson."
And I was annoyed all over again. There was no need to act like I wasn’t capable, but since I already had too many battles to fight, I let that one go.
We left the compound behind; the streets were still and silent. The attackers and army were gone, and any locals would have scattered at the first sign of gunfire and explosions.
It was eerie, as if all life had ceased and we were the last two in the world.
All of a sudden Jacob spun, and once again his hands were on me. This time I was jerked closer, and I managed to get my elbow up, cracking him under the chin with it. He didn't even flinch.
One thing I would never deny was how tough he was—a fact that both scared and enticed me. Because I was damaged like that.
"What the fuck are you doing to me?" he demanded, his eyes still murky. "I never lose my cool and lately it's been every single day you're near me."
Our bodies touched in all places, except the small space where my elbow was still lodged against the base of his throat. It would be a simple thing for me to shift it higher, cut off his ability to speak…
But I wanted to hear what he had to say.
Only ... he wasn't saying anything else, and me being me, decided to push his buttons. "Are you saying that I'm the reason we're in this mess?" My voice got low and flinty—just the thought of that flicked my bitch switch on. "Like when a woman is raped and the man claims it was her fault for wearing a short skirt?"
Careful, fey. Answer very carefully.
Jacob jerked his head like I'd actually followed through with my elbow again and belted him in the face. "Never," he rumbled, and the conviction there, not to mention the heat billowing off him, was enough for me to see the truth. "I claim my own actions. I’m the reason we're in this mess. But I need to know why you affect my equilibrium as you do. Very few things in this world, in my years of living, have changed the base of my calm nature. You ... you change it." He didn't like feeling out of control, didn't know how to deal with it, and I decided to be brutally honest.
Swallowing hard, I said, "I think you're my mate."
11
Jacob Compass
Her eyes were lasers beaming into my fucking soul. She was watching closely for my reaction to her declaration. Unlike her previous comment, comparing me not so subtly to a rapist, this one didn't kick me in the gut.
Nope. This one kicked me in my dick, as that asshole jumped to attention like he'd just been given permission to seduce the woman I held in my arms. We were pressed close together, so no doubt she had an idea of the way she affected me physically, but now was definitely not the fucking time.
> I wasn't sure there was ever going to be a time.
My brothers might be happily mated, raising little supes, and living lives of loved-up bliss, but there was a reason I felt uneasy around Justice. I was not myself. I didn't like the loss of control, and part of me wondered if maybe the best thing was to walk away.
Could I walk away?
"You're just not going to say anything?" she asked, the fire that lived in her soul blaring to life in the red of her irises. "I drop that bombshell and you’ve got nothing but a bit of an eye and dick twitch going on."
I snorted. "Fuck, you have zero filter."
She shrugged, or at least attempted to around my hold. Let her go. I'd been saying that to myself pretty much since I first touched her, but apparently I had selective internal hearing today.
"I appreciate the truth," she told me, and I nodded.
"I do as well, but right now we don't really have time to deal with that truth. We need to get back to Stratford and figure out our next move."
My head was a mess, and Justice deserved better than that. Besides, we didn't know for sure we were true mates, no matter what my body was telling me.
I released her, and in the same moment pulled my phone out to call Tyson.
"Everything okay?" he asked, answering on the second ring.
"I need a step-through," I said shortly, my emotions all over the place.
True mates. Dammit to hell. This was not the time to be dealing with my personal life.
"Be right there."
The line went dead but he knew how to track me through our bond. I felt it surge inside and Justice raised an eyebrow at the burst of Tyson’s magic smashing through my energy.
"You … felt that?" I asked, surprised because my bond to my brothers was subtle when we were apart. No one outside of the bond should feel it.
"Your power is impressive," she admitted, sounding like she wished she could insult me instead. Her need to throw barbs at me in the form of snarky dialogue was one of my favorite facets of Justice’s personality.
"Your power is impressive too,” I told her. “The day you decide to control and strengthen your energy, you'll be quite the formidable supernatural."
She wrinkled her nose at me. "Please, no dick measuring here."
I crowded her again, which was apparently my signature move lately. "Why so prickly, Ruby?"
Her throat worked as she opened her mouth, before slamming it shut again. Finally, she said, "I don't know any other way to be. When your innocence and softness is stripped away, in brutal abrasive ways, you become nothing but prickly edges and shattered dreams."
I was going to kill every single one of the humans who had hurt her. It was high on my list of priorities. We might not be at a place to deal with the "possible true mates" situation, but that didn't mean that I wouldn’t protect Justice with all I had.
It was the least she deserved.
A step-through appeared in the middle of the deserted street. At this point it didn’t really matter if we were spotted anyway.
That ship of keeping us secret from humans had already sailed. At least from the humans who mattered—the ones in power.
"Aren't you two a sight for sore eyes," Tyson said, jovially. A spark of joy at seeing my brother after so long unfurled inside of me, and I found myself moving forward to give him a hug.
"We really missed you," Tyson said, pulling away and clasping a hand on Justice's shoulder. "Let's get home and figure out what the fuck to do about the president."
"President Fuckface." It sounded like Justice muttered beneath her breath. No one here was going to disagree.
Tyson's step-through was still swirling strongly, so we filed through, leaving him to shut it down. That sort of magic was not something the fey had access to, most of us anyway, but Justice and the jeweled princesses did have a similar rainbow version.
I should have let her try it.
I had to get my shit together and stop acting like the worst stereotype of a fucking caveman around her. A huge part of me wanted to throw her over my shoulder, carry her to my “cave,” and keep her there, protected from the harsh realities of the world.
Only I knew I was years too late for that. Justice had been through more than I could understand. I might not know all the details, but I read between the lines, and there were dark demons in her past. Demons I wanted to fight until they were conquered.
Which of course, made it very hard for me to be of the mindset that this true mate journey was not the right path for me. These warring emotions were going to destroy me if I let them.
So for now … I’d just be patient, see what happened with the president … and deal with the rest once we didn’t have this emotional escalation from the drama in our lives.
That would be best for everyone.
Stratford looked exactly the same. To be expected when I’d only been gone for a month, but damn I had missed this place. Just being back near my house and the forest that spanned far into the distance, shading the back porch of our wood cabin, soothed my nature-loving soul. The first thing I wanted to do was spend hours among the familiar trees, but there was no time for that. My brothers and I were gathered in the council leader’s office, waiting for the email from the president.
"He said he has video evidence?" Braxton asked, sounding more pissed off than usual, and that was really saying something.
I nodded. "We’ll have to check the authenticity of it, but he indicated that he had more than enough to convince the humans of our existence." I dropped my head back, exhausted.
"I’ll check again and see if it’s arrived," Braxton said, returning to the computer.
This was the only computer in town, a special make that didn’t explode around the energy of supes. Tyson and Maximus didn’t move from where they were sprawled back on the broad-backed captain chairs by the window, sipping on whiskey.
Apparently, we had reached the stage of day drinking, and I honestly thought the timing was about right.
While we waited for Braxton to load the emails, I told them the rest of what happened in the month we were gone. Most of it was easy to convey in a few sentences … outside of today in Syria. That took a little more time.
"How did Justice handle it all?" Tyson asked, swirling the amber liquid in his crystal glass. "Grace has been worried about her. There's tragedy in Justice's past that she never speaks about and it's obvious that, at times … she's just not okay."
Grace saw what I did. The demons.
"She's tough," I finally said. "Tougher than I expected. Maybe it's the fact that she's such a smartass at times, prickly to the point of abrasive, that you miss her quiet inner strength. There’s no doubt she's been through a lot. A fucking lot. She made a few comments about men and the way they'd hurt her in the past to indicate that it wasn't always roses and sparkles in her life."
I shook my head, trying to force down my anger. There was nothing I could do to change her past, to ease her scars and demons. As much as I wished I could.
Mental battles were often the worst of all.
"You like her," Tyson said suddenly, and it jolted me out of my rage.
"What do you mean?" I shot back, defensive.
My brother stood, his glass landing with a thump on the table. "I can feel your emotions, bro," he said slowly, rolling his shoulders a little. It was a signature move of Tyson's when he was casually preparing to beat the fuck out of someone. "You can't control yourself when it comes to her. I've never felt you so ... erratic."
I forced myself to relax, to slump back near the wall and not jump to the fight he was itching for. Bastard was deliberately trying to stir me because I was being so reticent about what was happening between Justice and me.
But fuck, I really didn’t know what to tell them.
"I care about her," I said with fake casualness. "She's Grace's jeweled sister, part of our pack, and we had to lean on each other a lot during the past month.” Memories of our time with the president crashed th
rough my mind. “We talked a lot—" And that was the truth. Despite our bickering, we'd managed to have meaningful conversations, and I sensed that I knew more about Justice than almost any living being on this world.
"Just talked?" Maximus asked with a snort. "That doesn't sound like your usual fey charm. You’re telling me that you didn't end up in bed after spending a month in close quarters with her?"
When he put it like that…? What was wrong with me? Justice was gorgeous. Not to mention, and even more importantly, she was also funny, smart, powerful, and viper-tongued—basically the exact way I loved my women.
But I hadn't tried to seduce her. If anything, I'd spent the month slowly self-destructing and I had no goddamned idea why. "She fucks with my head," I admitted, standing straighter as the screen grew brighter on the computer, and Braxton waved me over.
There were dozens of emails waiting for our attention. Most of them would have been sent today, since we tried to go through them once a day. The life of running the supernatural council of America. It never ended, and even though we were all ready to hand this shit over to someone else, so far no one stood out that we trusted to do a good job.
Despite a ten-page list of possible candidates.
"File is here," Braxton rumbled, moving his chair a little closer. "It's fucking huge."
He side-eyed me, like I was going to make some sort of dick joke about that.
Unfortunately, this was no situation to joke about. A huge file could only mean one thing: President Caine had been recording a hell of a lot more than he’d said.
Sure enough, the first series of photos were from two days after we started with his secret service. It was the first night I'd drank with Bryce; that fucking Irishman had done his best to get me plastered, trying to pry my secrets out. I hadn't spilled any of course; it would take more than a barrel of rum to make that happen, but I'd gotten a little power happy, and there was a nice image of flames dancing across my fingers. I mean, it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be explained as photo manipulation, but when it came from the president, along with everything else … it was damning.