by Romi Hart
Even if Bernard himself sent word he wanted Finn, Finn would still believe the request came from her. None of the other Novaks had any reason to request him. He sure as fuck didn’t buy that load of shit about him being some exceptional mind among the backward masses of Central City. That was just ridiculous.
9
Bernard Novak strutted into the conference room and surveyed five of his seven children. Damien, Conrad, Pablo, Lucy, and Claire gazed back at him with their identical blue eyes. “Well? Do you all know what you have to do?”
Conrad inspected his fingernails at close range. “Is this really necessary? Why are we meeting with these people at all? They think we’re negotiating an alliance with them when we aren’t.”
“We have made our intentions more than clear to Finn,” Bernard replied. “If he didn’t relay that to Victor, then the Prometheus Crest selected the wrong man to represent them.”
“You put a lot of stock in Finn, Daddy,” Lucy added. “Are you sure you aren’t misplacing your trust?”
“No one ever said anything about trusting Finn Weeks,” Bernard countered. “He’s the Prometheus Crest’s representative. We keep making it clear to him that we aren’t negotiating an alliance. It’s his job to communicate that to Victor. If he doesn’t, then he’s not the man I think he is.”
Claire spoke up for the first time. “He communicated it to them. He told me so.”
“You put a lot of stock in Finn Weeks, too,” Lucy muttered.
Claire rounded on her sister bristling. “Do you have a problem with that? If Finn is good enough for Daddy, he should be good enough for anybody.”
“I never said there was anything wrong with him. He’s fine as long as you don’t forget he’s one of those people. He isn’t one of us.”
“No one is ever going to be one of us.” Claire heard her voice rising and fought it down. “How exactly are we supposed to find mates if we don’t look beyond the family? Don’t tell me you expect us to get with our own cousins.”
Bernard raised one hand. “Everybody pipe down. We’re not talking about finding mates. We’re talking about negotiating with another Crest. We can save all that for another time.”
Lucy curled her lip at Claire. “You are NOT getting together with that. Anyone but him. He’s a creature.”
“Lucy!” Bernard bellowed and Lucy shut her ugly little mouth.
Claire turned her back on her sister, but her nerves wouldn’t subside. She didn’t realize until this moment that she could get so defensive about Finn Weeks.
Claire dared not make eye contact with her brothers. She couldn’t bear to see the same disgusted contempt in their faces. Did they all think Finn and his kind were creatures from the wrong side of the tracks? Why shouldn’t they?
They considered the Prometheus Crest and shifters like them a lesser species. All SeamStream Crest thought that way about their New Breed relatives. They strictly avoided associating with shifters, magicians, and pretty much everyone from the other Crests. They kept to their rarified skyscrapers where they didn’t have to dirty their fingers with the lower races.
Just for a second, Claire flashed back to the moment when her father walked in on her pushing her tongue into Finn’s pants. Bernard encouraged Finn to hook up with his daughter. Why would he do that if he didn’t approve?
He would do it to manipulate Finn, to tempt him and distract him from the true purpose of these negotiations. He would do it to further his business interests. Did Claire really want to believe her father would sell his own daughter for that?
Before she could answer that question, Bernard waved toward the conference table. “We have a job to do. Let’s get in position.”
Damien and Conrad moved to their chairs, but at that moment, a muffled bell rang in Bernard’s pocket. Everyone present recognized that sound. In a second, the elevator pinged and the doors slid aside.
Bernard strolled out of the conference room and met Victor Griffin and Finn Weeks emerging from the car. Both of them scanned the people already assembled in the office. A faint smile touched Victor’s lips, but Finn’s eyes flashed and his features hardened. He held himself stiff and ready for a fight.
Bernard extended his hand to Victor. “Welcome. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person at last. Is it just the two of you?”
Victor waved toward the elevator. “My brother Malachai and my wife Riley are waiting for me downstairs, but I thought it would work better if we met with just us—at least the first time. I thought if I showed up with all my homeboys in tow it would look a little too much like a gang war.”
Bernard laughed and clapped the big Anarock leader on the shoulder. “You’re probably right. Come on in.”
He escorted Victor to the conference table. The two men radiated ferocious energy walking shoulder to shoulder in matching power suits. Finn dropped behind his leader. His attention darted in Claire’s direction, but she couldn’t read his expression.
He wore his usual black t-shirt and canvas pants with tan work boots on his feet. As usual, he looked underdressed compared to the Novaks and Victor. His black skin seemed even darker next to their paleness. The stark contrast set him apart from them, but that only made him appear stronger, more compelling, and impossibly magnetic.
None of the others would come near him, but Claire experienced all over again the irresistible urge to float to his side. She wanted to take hold of his arm. She wanted to slip her arm around his back and press her lips to his neck. His darkness, his power, and his otherness attracted her very bones until she couldn’t escape him. He obliterated everyone around him, including her father and Victor.
Bernard motioned Victor into a chair. The big dragon shifter sat down and reclined against the immaculate leather. Finn took a position behind Victor’s shoulder and clasped his hands in front of his waist. He surveyed the Novaks arraying themselves in a line of identical faces across the table.
Claire took her seat with her father and brothers, but her heart wanted to be over there with Finn, on the other side of the table. Did that make her a traitor to her own Crest?
Bernard swiveled his chair back and forth and rested his fingertips on the tabletop according to his habit. “I think Finn told you about the prostitutes who infiltrated our Crest from the Omega Battalion.”
Victor adjusted his jacket lapels and reclined. Of everyone who ever met Bernard Novak in this room, Victor Griffin was the first man to take a matching relaxed pose. The others all sat bolt upright and alert in their seats. Victor settled right down for an afternoon nap. “He told me about the whores, but you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t jump to the conclusion that they came from the Omega Battalion. They could have come from anywhere.”
“Who else would use one of these interdimensional portals to escape?” Bernard asked. “Did he tell you about their enhanced anatomical abilities?”
Victor bit back a grin and chuckled to himself. “He told me all about it, but that don’t mean nothing. Other people have the power to cast these portals and I’m sure there are plenty of girls who can use their anatomical abilities to get what they want.”
Damien cut in. “Like who, exactly? Who do you know who can do that?”
Victor shrugged at no one in particular. “I’m quite sure a few people of the NightRage Crest have those abilities. I happen to know of at least one who can form those portals and as for the other thing ….” He laughed again. “That’s nothing unusual with NightRage. Then there’s the Blood Kin. They can use these portals with no trouble. I don’t know how much sexual ability they have, but that means nothing. They could have power we don’t know about. One or more of them could have come through a portal to Anarock.”
Claire stared at him trying to get her parched throat to swallow. The Blood Kin? She stole a sidelong peek at her father and discovered him looking her way at the same time. A cloud darkened his features. For a Crest who prided themselves on knowing everything about everything and everyone in Anarock, how could they
miss this? How could they not know about the Blood Kin—whatever that was?
She glanced up at Finn’s iron visage, but he gave nothing away. Did he even realize Victor caught the SeamStream Crest in an intelligence lapse?
Bernard recovered in seconds. He rotated his chair the other way. He lifted his fingertips off the tabletop and let them fall. “If you don’t think it’s anything worth considering, that’s your business. I only mention it as a gesture of goodwill. If we seal this alliance, we’ll be sharing our information with you as a matter of association.”
Victor cocked his head and raised one eyebrow. “Does that mean you have definitely made up your mind to seal an alliance?”
“Not at all,” Bernard returned. “I merely point out the fact. I expected this tidbit of advanced warning of the Omega Battalion’s activities to mean more to you. I didn’t think you would discount it so easily.”
“I couldn’t discount it any more than I could accept it and take it as gospel, could I?” Victor countered. “You can share this or any other information with me as part of some hypothetical alliance. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I just took it and acted on it without checking it against my own system, would I? I would be neglecting my duty to my Crest and all Anarock by doing that.”
Bernard dipped his eyelids and bowed his head. “Touché. I should have known you wouldn’t just take it at face value.”
“I hope that doesn’t offend you. It says nothing about my opinion of you and your Crest or the value of your information. I want to make that crystal clear right up front.”
“Of course,” Bernard murmured. “I understand completely.”
Victor smoothed his jacket again. “So tell me this. What exactly do we need to do in order to seal this alliance?”
Bernard lifted his hand. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is our first meeting. We have more to discuss before we get into all that.”
The placid smile slackened on Victor’s features and his eyes took on a sharp, piercing glitter. “Like what?”
Claire peeked up at Finn again. Did he recognize the pattern here? Bernard Novak always strung his prey along through several meetings—sometimes countless meetings—before he concluded any deal. He delayed as long as possible to give himself as long as possible to gauge their reactions and search for any weakness.
Finn still gave no indication that he suspected Bernard of any scheming or subterfuge. Finn stood rock solid behind his leader. He held his hands together in front of him. His deep, dark eyes skipped from one face to the next. He gave no other sign that he heard the conversation. He didn’t intervene or warn Victor of anything.
Bernard let his fingertips come to rest on the smooth, shiny surface. “I like to be friends with my business partners. I like to establish a base of trust and mutual regard before we complicate the relationship with money and assets and all that stuff. I find that, when I build a friendship first, things transpire better later on.”
Victor stiffened ever so slightly. “I didn’t think your Crest had any friends. I thought you kept to yourselves.”
Bernard indulged in a smile. “Maybe we do. Maybe you can explain to me what my Crest would stand to gain by forming an alliance with you. So far, you and your people have done all the fighting against the military and the Omega Battalion and whatever other antagonists you’ve managed to make enemies of. What reason could I have to put my people in danger fighting them for you?”
Victor’s relaxed façade began to erode and his jaw clenched. “You would stand to gain a greater chance that we would defeat them and stop them from invading Anarock ever again. You would stand to gain a measure of protection for all New Breed, including yourselves. You can’t honestly believe that you can continue to run your business up here while the rest of us fight and die down on the streets.”
Bernard’s ice-blue eyes slid sideways, but only for a second. “You might be right about that, but we would be sharing valuable information with you as well as giving you the advantage of your numbers and our power. From where I sit, you would be the ones to gain while we, on the other hand, wouldn’t gain much, if anything.”
Victor waved over his shoulder. “Finn tells me you know everything about everyone and everything in Anarock, but maybe that isn’t strictly true. Maybe there are a few things you don’t know and maybe there are a few things you don’t even know that you don’t know. Maybe one of these days it would be us giving you information. I can’t say if that would ever happen, but I can think of a lot of reasons you should join forces with us. Not only would we not have to face these antagonists without the benefit of your help, but you wouldn’t have to face them without the benefit of our help. You like to stay anonymous and that protects you. You’re powerful up here in your office, but if the day ever comes when the humans find out about you, you’re gonna need friends on your side. You won’t find anybody more capable than us. The question isn’t whether we can help you. The real question is can you bring yourselves to accept help from us?”
He scanned the people across the table and his fierce eyes left nowhere to hide. Claire felt herself shrinking from that gaze. Finn added his own unwavering stare to the challenge and Claire cringed.
So they figured it out. Whether Bernard or any of the others realized it beforehand, Finn must have picked up on their xenophobic superiority. He was too smart to miss it. He must have told Victor the Novaks considered the Prometheus Crest something lesser, something useless and superfluous. Between them, they put two and two together and realized the Novaks’ real motivation not to get into an alliance with the Prometheus Crest.
Bernard bit back that infuriating smile. “You might be right. In fact, you are right. If that day ever came, we couldn’t ask for better friends than you. Your people have proven more than able to defend this city against all your enemies without any help from us.”
Victor didn’t soften. “Does that mean you’re happy to let us keeping doing that without any help from you?”
“It means we would be very happy to count you among our friends.” Bernard swung to his feet and extended his hand across the table. “Let’s meet again and get to know each other better. I won’t keep you any longer, but I hope I see you again soon. I hope we can both work toward building a foundation of trust and goodwill. With luck, that will eventually lead to an alliance that will benefit us both.”
Victor got up and shook his hand. He buttoned his jacket and Bernard escorted him and Finn to the elevator. Damien, Conrad, and Lucy accompanied them across the office, but Claire hung back. She observed the party from the conference room door. They clustered around the elevator waiting for the car.
She couldn’t make out their conversation from here and she didn’t pay enough attention to care. No doubt Bernard was filling Victor’s head full of so many more meaningless platitudes.
While they stood there, Finn glanced between her brothers’ shoulders and spotted her. His black eyes drilled to her insides. She didn’t want him to get in that car and ride away. She wanted him to stay where she could at least look at him and maybe talk to him and get near him.
The light blinked on and the elevator pinged. The doors whispered open. Bernard shook hands with Victor and the big Anarock leader strode into the car, but Finn didn’t go with him.
Victor pivoted around and waved to the party. The doors shut him in. A minute later, the display panel read the numbers falling as the car rode toward the ground floor.
Finn faced Bernard and the two men stood murmuring back and forth. Damien and Conrad could hear them, but Claire couldn’t. She couldn’t move or speak. She could only hold her breath and stare. What was Finn saying to her father? What made him stay behind instead of going with Victor?
Finn and Bernard shook hands. Bernard nodded and walked away somewhere. Damien and Conrad shook hands with Finn before they disappeared, too. They left Finn alone in the reception area.
He rotated all the way around. Now nothing blocked his path to her. A clea
r stretch of carpet separated them from each other—nothing more. Nervous energy sizzled through her. Would he come over and talk to her? Would he walk away without a word? Did she mean anything to him, anything at all, or was she just a problem he would rather avoid?
The office echoed oddly quiet and deserted all of a sudden. Her father and her brothers were still here…. somewhere. She sensed them out of sight, but they didn’t disturb the peculiar quiet between her and Finn. Silent understanding filled the air between them. It breezed in his nostrils, into his lungs and out again. It touched every puff of air she inhaled. She contacted him through that invisible substance. It was the only way she could make contact with him.
She caught her breath when he advanced on her. He halted right in front of her and nothing prevented her from filling her sight with him and nothing else. How black and good and fine he was. He always struck her as inescapably beautiful and perfect and exquisite in his blackness, but now he seemed a thousand times more so because nothing distracted her from drinking him in with all her attention.
He pursed his lips, glanced away, and came back to peering straight into her eyes. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. She had to gulp to get her voice to work. “I’m fine. Are you okay? I’m sorry about all that?”
“That?” He shrugged toward the conference room. “That was nothing—nothing I haven’t been through a dozen times before, anyway.”
She could only nod like a dumb fool. The Novak clan perfected the art of throwing their enemies and even their friends and business associates on the defensive. They narrowed the process down to the tiniest detail to work every negotiation to their maximum profit.
All in a minute, Claire couldn’t stand the guilt of doing the same thing to Finn. She was ashamed of herself, not just of that but of playing with his body and his feelings for an ulterior purpose.
She didn’t realize at the time she was doing that, but she should have. She thought she was just going after something she wanted. Now she saw the situation from her family’s point of view.
