by Ann Denton
"This is so much fun," Kira clapped and laughed as she pulled out a chair and sat down in the meeting room. She kicked her heels up on the meeting table. Four-inch-long stilettos wrapped around her ankles before her skintight leather pants took over. She looked utterly at ease. And way too fucking hot when I was a hot mess.
Rocco and Bodie temporarily stopped arguing to stare at her.
I smacked Bodie's ass and he turned toward me, nuzzling my ear. "I got your texts."
"Why didn't you text back?" I huffed.
"Drake told me I couldn't."
Another reason to kill the overgrown lizard. Reasons kept stacking up like Jenga blocks. Pretty soon I was gonna knock that fucker down.
"So, tell me," Kira said from her seat, where she laced her hands behind her head, "what are the problems you're having with these mages?"
Rocco strode across the room, and while I thought he might settle next to Kira, instead he sniffed, and then sat down right in the spot where Easton had eaten me out.
My cheeks flamed and he grinned as he pulled over a bowl of unfinished food and took a bite. "Mmmm, yeah, tell us all the gritty details."
He didn't mean about the mages.
Bodie growled and stepped in front of me toward Rocco. I let him. I didn't want to deal with this fucking shit anymore.
Just then Drake entered, with Easton and Larry on his heels. His eyes flared with heat when he felt the tension in the room. "Everyone sit the fuck down. I don't care what beef you've got going. We've got real problems. And we need a solution. Fast."
Everyone sat. I made sure to place myself between Easton and Bodie so that I couldn't see the stupid dragon or the nasty saber tooth. Instead, I smiled over at Larry, who smiled exhaustedly back at me. The poor mage had been working day and night with those injured kiddos.
Drake gave the rundown to the new people, not even batting an eye at the fact that I'd called in a fae to help us. Either he'd heard of my rebellious cousin and her quest to fuck up the status quo in Moscow or... he was starting to trust me.
I didn't want to think about the latter. Because I sure as fuck didn't trust him. And I didn't want there to be any soft feelings between us. There never had been. Only animosity. That's what I told myself as I clutched Bodie's hand under the table, reluctant to let him go after I hadn't been able to talk to him for days. The angst I felt was all for him. Only for him.
When Drake finished, Kira spoke up. "In Russia, we have a saying: what will win, the television or the fridge? The media or the empty bellies?" She shoved her legs off the table and leaned forward, steepling her fingers as her golden wings flared out behind her. "It sounds like... in America, no one starves. So, the television wins."
"Shifters go hungry every day," Easton protested.
Kira pursed her lips. "No, not just shifters. You have to look at all the magical community as a whole. In order to beat the television, you must empty the fridge."
"Impossible," Rocco said.
"That's immoral," Larry argued.
The guys all started speaking over one another. But I could see her point. The media always skewed things against shifters.
"We could do our own social media campaigns," I tossed out.
Only Easton liked that idea.
"Too slow," Rocco shot me down.
"Doesn't solve the issue at hand," Drake agreed. "Which is: the thousands of homeless shifters from the fire, and now with the shooting... there's nowhere safe for them to go. Plus, shifters are out for blood."
I resisted shooting a fireball at him. But only because it would burn down the building and the sweet kids sleeping in the vault below. Not because he didn't deserve a flame in the face.
"In New York," Rocco said, "we solve our problems in the streets." It figured that Crouching Tiger was only clever enough to think of street fighting.
"Yeah, but your gangs have been fighting for thirty-odd years," Easton countered. "Our civilians can't handle that. They aren't prepared. Half of them don’t know how to hold the guns we gave them."
"Violence rarely begets anything but more violence," Larry said.
Nobody listened to him. Not even me. With kids’ funerals set for tomorrow thanks to my now-empty bank account, and a little memorial full of candles and photographs set up in the vault below, it was hard to think of anything but violence as an answer.
"Well, they attacked a school. Why don't you attack one of their schools?" Kira asked, as if that were the most natural solution in the world.
"More children?" Larry thundered. "No!"
"Calm your jets," Kira responded, getting the saying wrong. She waved her hand. "I don't mean children. They have a mage university, right?" Her accent became prominent on the word 'university.'
Silence was the only answer.
Until Bodie nodded.
Larry exploded. "NO! Just no! They might be legal adults, but they still are just students."
"They're a puppy mill, churning out potions for the Mage Council," Drake countered.
"They are eighteen-year-olds who've never attacked anyone!"
"Yet," Bodie said.
My eyes swept around the room. Kira and Rocco looked triumphant. Easton was hesitant. Bodie's face was dark, shut down, wearing the mask I assumed he used when he had to go out and kill someone he'd never met in order to protect his pack.
I leaned over and looked at Drake, who looked calm as a fucking cucumber. But, somehow, I knew he wasn't. That expression was as fake as most women's eyelashes, only taken off when he went to sleep. When he really felt things.
If he felt things.
Murderer.
I sat back, hiding myself from him once more.
Across from me, Larry's eyes bulged. His entire face was red as he slammed a fist on the table. "I will not stand for this ‘eye for an eye’ shit! No! I'm out."
He shoved back from the table and stood his hair standing on end. He looked just as frantic as Doc in Back to the Future. But not nearly as funny. Larry was dead serious.
Next to me, Easton's jaw dropped. Bodie's expression didn't change, but his hand tightened around mine.
I didn't know how integral Larry was to their plans and inner workings. But he'd been there every day since I'd arrived. He was the only thing that stood between life and death for some of these poor shifter kids.
He couldn't just walk away.
We couldn't let him.
But the assholes in the room didn't say a damn thing as Larry stomped off.
Panic jittered my heart and I dropped Bodie's hand, standing, my wings flaring out. "Larry, wait."
He turned and looked at me.
Everyone looked at me.
Fucking shit.
"Did you have a plan you wanted to share, Dollface?" Drake used that damned nickname just to piss me off further.
No, I didn't have a plan. Other than to keep Larry from walking out the door. "We have other options. We just need to talk them through."
"What other options?" Rocco gave a harsh laugh. "If your people can't fight—"
I stared at Larry, ignoring the others. "Larry... " What the fuck can we do? I ran through Mage Police scenarios in my head. The guys had already tried to take a political prisoner and negotiate.
That hadn't turned out well, if you discounted the mate bond.
The Mage Council wouldn't negotiate.
But... on the other hand, one prisoner was easy to ignore. An entire school... how could we take an entire school prisoner?
My eyes scanned the room and kept coming back, annoyingly to Drake. Why the hell was my subconscious mind stuck on him? Fuck him. His hands went to his pockets and he shoved back from the table. He appeared to enjoy my discomfort as he crossed his legs and moved the pouch on his hip to the side.
The pouch.
We had raided every damned potion that my station had. His pouch held a magical arsenal courtesy of the MP.
I turned back to Larry and said, "What if we use sleep grenades? What if we take
the entire school hostage instead of killing them? We'll cut off the Mage Council’s supply of potions, get ourselves a safe place to hole up. We can take all the shifters there. They can't attack us without killing hundreds of mages. We could draw a movement restriction circle, the way the Mage Council does for their hearings, to ensure nobody can move if they step into the circle without authorization from the spell caster. So even if the MP try to attack, they get stuck."
Behind me, I heard a single clap. Then another. I turned to see Drake applauding.
I glared at him. "Not funny, Dragon Ball Z. I'm serious."
"Not laughing, shoo fly," Drake shot back. "It's a good, non-violent solution. They might have ignored it when we took you—"
I cringed when he brought up that sore point.
He continued, "But how can they ignore all those kids? How can they cover that up?"
Kira leaned forward. "You'd also starve them of magic. The stupid councilors don't make their own potions anymore. Most of them treat the college students like indentured servants, free labor. They use words like internship and job training and crap. But they are no better than dictators who take without earning."
Bodie's hand came up and slid over my ass. "I like it, Butterfly."
On my other side, Easton smiled. "That's my Spitfire."
Across the table, Rocco rolled his eyes. "So, we have a damned idea. But now, we need a solid plan."
That was true. Ideas were one thing. Execution was another. We needed a damn good plan.
11
Aubry
"After sitting here, breathing in all this sultry and savory air," Kira commented dryly, "my only plan is to eat some food and get laid. Any takers?"
I leveled her with a scorching glare that only a summer fae could master.
She might have been here on business, but she was clearly single and ready to mingle. She'd just better keep her magical faerie cunt away from my guys’ oversized shifter cocks.
Rocco turned and gave her an appreciative eye, skimming up and down her lithe body like she was a strip of lean white meat. But Kira didn't seem to notice. Because she had her eyes set on Drake.
Heat shot like a flare gun up my spine. I growled internally... and maybe externally, too.
Bitch! Moving in on my shifters!
My eyes went wide as soon as that thought crossed my mind. Technically, Drake was not off limits. Because, technically, Drake wasn't mine.
My pussy disagreed.
What kind of fucked up world was I living in right now? I had two damn mates. I didn’t need more.
Bodie and Easton each shot me a glance. Easton's was a knowing smirk. Bodie's look was full of angered confusion. Shit. I forgot he had no idea about the would-be additional mate bond bullshit. Ugh. He had no clue about my possible connection to Drake thanks to these two idiots joining his clan or valor or whatever-the-hell it was called.
The bastard dragon had the nerve to glance my way before pinning my cousin with a sultry stare. "I think we need to keep the conversation on the topic at hand. But, maybe after, we could discuss our options? I have very specific sexual preferences."
Those words made my nipples turn to diamonds. I wanted to know… had to know… what did Drake like? My lips parted a little and I had to squeeze my thighs together.
Rocco chuckled and put an arm around the chairback next to him as he leaned toward my cousin. His fingertip brushed the edge of her wing suggestively. "Not I, baby. I'll fuck anything with a cunt. And yours smells delightful."
She turned to him and smirked, as if just now realizing he was still sitting there, and that she actually had options beyond the sexy dragon shifter.
Not sexy. Stubborn. The stubborn dragon shifter... who may or may not have just agreed to a one-night stand with my cousin.
My blood boiled for the second time in a minute, and I was almost positive I let another fucking growl escape my clenched teeth. That dickhead.
"What is your problem, babe?" Bodie asked me, trying to piece their words and my actions together into something that made any fucking sense whatsoever.
Kira threw her head back and laughed. Then she propped her head on her hand, her elbow leaning on the armrest of her chair, and with a smirk she said, "Spending too much time with your new shifter lovers, I see. You're even picking up on their animalistic tendencies and instincts."
Goddamn it, she was right. I had never growled to show possession over something, let alone someone, back when my life was... normal? I didn't even know what to call it anymore.
My eyes met the dragon’s for a second. But his curious blue gaze was too intense and we both quickly glanced away. I ignored how my stomach dropped out like a gumball from a vending machine.
"Anyway," Drake said, steering the conversation in a different direction, "we need a plan for securing the school. Any suggestions?"
"I am an autumn fae," Kira said haughtily, "Wind is my specialty."
I crossed my arms and scoffed. "What are you going to do? Pick the university up in a tornado and drop it off here?"
She pursed her perfect Russian lips and smiled, allowing her perfect cheekbones to shine like apples. Poison apples. Shifter stealer.
She tilted her head and asked, "Aubry, my dear cousin, have I done something wrong? I am sensing hostility in you."
Drake glanced my way but addressed Kira. "You haven’t seen each other for a while, I take it. Aubry, here, always has a shitty attitude and disposition, don’t you, Dollface?"
My eyes snapped back to his. If I could have slapped him, I would have. Stupid skink. But I had no doubt Bodie or Easton would stop me.
Bodie slid a warm hand across my knee. He glanced between Drake and I, trying to understand our stupid staring contest and obviously failing. "I don't know what sort of fight the two of you got into while I was gone, but Drake, you need to lay the fuck off my mate. She's clearly upset with you, and I don't want you making it worse."
Shit. That was yet another thing Bodie hadn’t found out—the fact that Drake had killed my father. We had so much to catch up on.
Drake dragged his glare away from me and let it land on Bodie, pausing there for just a moment before moving on to Rocco. "What about you, saber tooth?"
Rocco chuckled and held up both hands. "What you see is what you get. I'm packing brains, brawn, firearms, and fighters. My boys are downstairs as we speak getting acquainted with your shifters. Even brought my mage along because, why the fuck not?"
Drake nodded and turned to Larry, who looked uncertain. "What's wrong, Lar?"
Larry shook his frizzy-haired head. "I don't like the brawn, firearms, and fighters part. I thought we agreed this would be peaceful? And as for the brains part..." He trailed off and shook his head once more.
I nearly chuckled. Apparently, Larry was as impressed with Rocco as I was.
"Let's approach this from a different angle," Drake said with a sigh. "How are we going to get on campus without being seen?"
"There will be spells surrounding the area," I said flippantly. "It’s in Bel Air near UCLA so there are a lot of spells to ensure only the right crowd gets in."
"What sort of spells?" Drake asked, staring straight at me.
"Compulsion Spells, if I recall correctly," I said, staring at my nails so I didn’t accidentally look into his eyes. "They surround the campus grounds so that unsuspecting humans get the urge to just turn around and walk away."
Drake nodded, taking my word without argument, which made me irrationally smug. I needed to get the fuck off this stupid high horse I was riding where he was concerned. Who cared if he fucked Kira? I shouldn't. Who cared if he thought my ideas were good or not? I shouldn't.
"So how do we get around the spells?" Easton asked, glancing at Larry. "Can you and Rocco's mage friend take care of that?"
"Tony," Rocco supplied with a jutted-out chin.
Easton shrugged because the dude's name was pretty damn inconsequential at the moment.
Larry shook his head. "
I mean, we could, if we had to. But this Tony fellow and I probably need to be working on Movement Restriction Spells so we can surround the school and make sure no one gets in or out after we secure it."
"What about flying in?" Kira suggested. "At night when no one can see?"
Drake smirked. "Not everyone has wings like us."
Us. He was grouping the two of them together? My fucking lip curled. Even if I sincerely hated Drake, instead of... whatever I felt... I still didn't want to see him cozying up to my cousin. And I did not want to address the reasoning behind that or acknowledge the supposed 'feelings' in question. I stared at the table and started to scratch the crappy veneer.
"So we carry them," she said, as if it were simple. "Aubry and I have wings." Then she eyed Drake suggestively. "And I'd love to see your wings. I bet they're simply massive."
She bit her lower lip and I got the distinct impression that she was not talking about his wings at all. Thirsty fucking bitch.
Stop it, Aubry! She's not doing anything wrong. You're mated to Bodie and Easton, not Drake. Easton’s theory is wrong. And Drake’s technically fair game. He's also attractive as hell and so is she. They'd make... a gorgeous couple.
Ew. My stomach curdled and my head spun. For a moment, I was afraid all that Vietnamese food was going to come back up. I stood, unsure of what I was even going to say or do.
"I..." I swallowed hard and blinked. "I need some fresh air."
Rocco chuckled, a big belly-laughing thing. "Can't stand your own scent anymore, pretty little fly?"
Bodie stood behind me and pointed a finger at the saber tooth. "One more vile or perverted word to or about my mate and it'll be the last fucking thing you say."
I turned and touched his chest to calm him. "It's okay, Bodie. It's not him. I just... need a minute."
I strode toward the door, and to my immense surprise, Drake spoke.
"Aubry," he pleaded softly as I passed. His hand lifted ever so slightly, like he wanted to reach out for me, but he squeezed his fist and lowered it to the table before him. Clearing his throat, he addressed the rest of the group. "Never mind. We'll just... carry on without her. We need to hammer this plan out. Okay, if we can get in via the sky, they’ll be able to do so as well. Unless we protect it."