“I just need to stretch it out. Elliot woke up. He said he’ll lock up before he leaves. Come on.”
We were only on the road for maybe five minutes when Venni’s phone went off, and he looked at the screen. I glanced at him, hating how his expression smoothed out to hide his emotions.
“What?” I asked.
“I need to meet with the shifters.”
“Or not,” I said.
Venni sighed. “Laila, can you drop me off? It’s important.” He put the address into the navigation system in my truck. I barely used the thing so I was impressed with how easily he did it.
“Fine.” Underneath my breath, I said what I really thought about the pack. Venni was kind enough to pretend to not hear me. Or he was too distracted with whoever was texting him. He texted back rapidly.
“Can’t you just tell them to go fuck themselves?” I asked. “You were just shot, and while you hide it remarkably well, you’ll need another day of healing.”
“No, Laila, I can’t do that to them. I can help them. And I will.”
“This is their own mess,” I said. “There’s no reason you need to help them clean it up.”
“The people attacking the shifters are hurting, and they are doing what they think is the best way to get the shifters’ attentions.”
“Well, it’s working,” I grumbled.
“Yes, too well. While I don’t agree with what they’re doing, and I think they need to pay for what they did, I understand the why of it. Mixed bloods do not make it out well in the shifter community. They’re treated like second class citizens. This is their civil rights movement, their way to make sure they get the same rights as the other shifters. I do support that.”
“With all groups fighting for something they believe in, there are always radical groups.”
“Exactly. And we are dealing with such a group. I’m helping the shifters because I hope to play the voice of reason with them. They’ll punish all mixed bloods because of a small organized and deadly group. They’ll eradicate them all. If I can help them not to do that, then I will, but to do that I need to be at these meetings.”
“Even if they make you want to claw your eyes out?”
He chuckled. “Even then. I’m a protector, Laila. My job is to make sure my race survives. If I need to play nice for a little while, I will.”
I sighed as I turned onto the road where they were meeting. “I’m worried,” I admitted.
“About what?”
I glared at the road, trying to blame it for my discomfort. “That they’ll take you away from me. They’ll keep you.”
“I’m not something they can keep.” Venni rested his hand on my knee, giving it a comforting squeeze. “I told you before, and I’ll tell you again. They don’t have power over me.”
“And I don’t understand why you are so damn sure about that. People find ways to manipulate others. What if they threaten your loved ones to get what they want, or dangle something you can’t resist over your head in return for your services? They could be like ‘Yo, Venni, if you want that chick safe, you need to do as I say. Got it? Good.’ Or: ‘Venni, my man, those kiddies you’re always spending time with are getting sick, right? We have the cure, but we’ll only give it to you if you do this one thing for us.’ ”
“Laila—”
“Or!” I made sure to deepen my voice. “Venni, if we don’t get your help doing this, people are gonna to die. Do you want people dyin’? Is that the kind of person you are?”
Venni broke out laughing. “Stop. Please, for the love of Luna, please stop.” He shook his head. “No more of that voice. No man talks like that.”
Still doing the stupid manly voice, I asked, “Are you sure?”
“Dammit, yes, I’m sure.”
“Fine. But it doesn’t change my point. People do whatever they need to do to get what they want.”
“If the Alpha tries to force my hand, he will look weak and those circling around him will use that as a sign to challenge him. He won’t force me into anything I don’t want.”
“But he can make it look and smell like pretty flowers. You are good, Venni. You do good things. If the Alpha tells you that doing something will save a lot of lives, you’ll be the first in line to help.”
“Maybe, but he won’t manipulate me like that. You forget, but we know when someone lies. I’ll be able to call out his bullshit.” He pointed to a driveway. People were in the front yard and they all stopped and turned to us as I pulled in. It was all men in the yard, and all of them had similar expressions of anger.
“Do you think they’ll eat me if I get out of the truck?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks for the reassurance.”
He sighed. “No one is happy right now, and they know I was hurt. The shifters want blood. Don’t worry about picking me up, I’ll have one of the others come.”
“I can take care of myself. They’ll never be able to get their hands on me.”
“Maybe so, but I’d never put a female in the position of being surrounded by angry male shifters. I don’t even want to imagine what could happen. Go home, Laila, do some more training, relax, bond with Atasha. I’ll call one of the others, maybe Rhett, to come and pick me up.”
“Okay, but only if you call Rhett. He’ll put them in their place if they try anything with him.”
I leaned over and kissed his cheek. He turned his head and ran his lips lightly over mine before briefly deepening the kiss. When he pulled away, I wanted to yank on him and never let him go. I wanted more.
“See you later,” he said and climbed out. I stared as he moved around the truck and called out to the other shifters. They watched him, and when he got close enough, closed ranks around him. They didn’t need to say anything, but I got the message loud and clear. They had staked their claim on him, saying I had no place.
Too bad for them that I trusted Venni. They could huff and puff all they wanted, but Venni said he’d be fine. That meant he’d come back to me.
I pulled off, doing my best to remain calm. He was going to be okay.
My phone rang when I got back to my house. Dwight.
“Yeah?” I answered.
“Laila, how’s Venni?”
“I just dropped him off with the shifters. They had another meeting.”
“And wanted to make sure he was okay, no doubt.” He was silent for a moment and the lack of talking got to me.
“Is there something I should be concerned about?”
“No. I’ll be sure to send Rhett to pick him up when he’s ready. I actually called for a different purpose. I know things have been hectic, so I wanted to check to make sure we were still on for our date tonight.”
I smiled. “Afraid I might stand you up?”
“Never.”
“Yes, our date is still on tonight. The tickets are non-refundable.”
“Oh, tickets? Dr. Laila Porter, are you taking me to a show?”
I grinned, not bothering to hide the humor in my voice. “Something like that. I think this is something we will both enjoy very much.”
“Then I’m looking forward to it,” Dwight purred over the phone before hanging up.
I chuckled and headed back to the house.
Atasha was waiting for me with a grim expression the moment I opened the door. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
She sighed. “Come, sit down. We will have a short chat.”
I settled into the chair in the living room, and she sat on the couch. Rowan hovered behind her.
“This is about the council meeting, isn’t it? It went bad? They’re threatening you?”
“They are playing politics, and they are good at it. They have expressed concern over you. They have fears that I am working to either alleviate or to disprove, but they are firm in their beliefs.”
“What beliefs?”
“That you are a danger. Their main argument is the device Padraig had created. They fear that since you were already working on it once
before, that you will work on it again, and you will not use it for the good.”
I gaped at her. Disbelief washed through me.
“They have half the council on their side.”
“You say ‘their.’ Do you mean Maev?”
“Yes.” Atasha frowned briefly before smoothing out her expression. “They want assurance that you are under control. That means that I permanently stay here. If I do not, they threaten to kick you out of this city, and they will ensure you cannot go to another. They will work to get you exiled into the wild.”
“They can’t do that,” I snapped, jumping to my feet.
“They are willing to try.”
“Why? Because they want you to stay in the city?”
“They want to force the relationship, and so they are trying to hold this threat over us.”
“I can’t leave this city. It’s my home. Everyone is here.”
“You won’t,” Atasha said, reaching over and squeezing my hand. “Like I said, they play politics well. But I have centuries over them. I won’t let them. Shanton was there too.” Her lips curled into a smile. “He has already made it absolutely clear where he stands with this and told them to cut it out or he will make them regret making an enemy of him.”
I smiled at that. Sounded like Shanton.
“Now, I only told you so you are aware of what is going on and what they are playing at. Like I said, only about half the council is in agreement with Maev. She has painted you into a being who needs to be watched, especially since you are still learning control and have the power to wipe this city off the map if you wish.” Atasha stood up. “Now, since your date is not until the evening, we need to train more. Then they will not have anything to stand on when you prove to have better control than they do over their mouths.”
I laughed as we headed outside to the backyard.
“Did I ever tell you I’m so glad you came?” I asked.
“You haven’t, but I’m glad you feel that way. I’m glad I came too.”
Chapter Seventeen
I picked Dwight up at Biomystic since he seemed to live there more than he did his own home. I wasn’t even sure what his place looked like. I knew it was a ritzy home only a few blocks from the company but never went by to get a good look.
My clue to seeing a show helped him dress appropriately in a dinner suit. He wore a dark blue suit, with a white dress shirt and black tie. As he climbed into the truck, I stared at the fabric as it tightened around his thighs and biceps. Damn. This date was going to be difficult.
“Where are we going?” he asked as I pulled onto the street and headed east.
“A dinner and a show,” I said vaguely.
“A mystery still?”
“Yes.”
It didn’t take us long to get there and a valet took my truck for us. He even patiently listened as I warned him about taking care of my baby. Didn’t even bat an eyelash. Good valet. I needed to tip him well when we left.
“A hotel already,” Dwight teased. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”
I looped my arm with his and led him off to the banquet room to the right. We paused at the doorway, with others waiting in line to hand over their tickets.
“A murder mystery?” Dwight finally spotted the poster. He grinned as he looked down at me.
“Let’s solve a mystery together. Show these other couples how to do it.”
Just as I expected, his expression lit up, and I gave myself a mental pat on the back. Inside was set up like a nice couples’ dinner. Tables for two took up most of the room with a stage at the front. We found our seats and had a server at our side right away, filling our glasses with wine.
“You surprise me, Dr. Laila Porter,” Dwight said.
“How so?”
He chuckled. “I never thought you’d take me to one of these events.”
“I bet you thought I was going to take you to the opera or something else as equally as stuffy. Maybe a Shakespearean play? That old mage needs something better to do with his life other than writing obscure plays that only he understands.”
“Not a fan of Shakespeare?”
I shook my head. “No. He’s well over five hundred years old. There are better things he can do with his time. Did you know they make us learn about him in school? They integrated his work into the school’s English curriculum. At least wait until the old bastard passes before turning him into a fiction icon? Now he has an ego matching a dragon’s.”
Dwight’s body shook as he fought off his laughter. I gave him a couple of minutes to work through it. “I think I’d pay to see you and Shakespeare in the same room.”
“Have you met him before?” I asked.
“No, he hasn’t come over to America, and I make sure to stay away from Europe. They’re too stubborn over there. Last I heard, he’s become a close companion of a well-known vampire over there.”
My face curled into disgust at that. Vampires—excluding Rhett of course—were very low on my list of species that I liked. Just below troll. It said something if I’d rather meet a troll rather than a vampire.
The lights dimmed and someone took stage. As he went into detail about the schedule for tonight, our meals were served. We had a choice between chicken, steak, or vegetarian. Dwight went for the steak, and I chose the chicken. As soon as we were served, we split our meat and shared.
The setup was easy. While we ate dinner, we got a back story, or well, a show as a prequel to the mystery. We got to meet all the characters who were going to act as witnesses when we questioned them later and saw how they interacted with each other.
The storyline was simple. A man was found dead in the bathroom of his hotel room. They want to claim drug overdose, but there was obvious signs of a struggle. Someone forced the drugs into his system. The show went through his day leading up to his death and ending before we could see who knocked on his door.
“I bet it was the wife,” I whispered to Dwight.
“I’m going for the wife’s sister,” he answered.
We grinned at each other.
“Next date’s choice?” I asked.
“It’s on.”
As soon as we were allowed to begin our investigation, we took off, giggling as we went to the scene of the crime. A fake enforcer stood outside the room and after looking at the clues around the room, bombarded the poor man with questions.
He never had a chance, especially when Dwight gave him his Alpha-male gaze that set my body on fire. Damn that look was magic I’d never be able to protect myself from. We continued to keep that pace as we went through all the witnesses. There were a lot of suspects, especially since the hotel had been hosting the victim’s business retreat.
We were able to narrow down the suspects to the three, two of them our predictions.
“I swear, it has to be the wife. She learned about the affair and the miscarriage,” I argued.
“I think it’s the wife’s sister because her miscarriage is technically his fault.”
We needed to come up with the final suspect and our reasoning behind it, but Dwight was being just as stubborn as I was.
His phone buzzed as I flipped through the notes I took, trying to find why I was right and he was wrong.
“Lombardi.”
He listened for a moment, his expression turning serious. His eyes met mine and his frown deepened. “Okay, I’ll be there.” He hung up and sighed. “I’m sorry, Laila. I need to go in.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“There’s a shifter’s only childbirth class and it was under attack.”
My eyes widened. “No. No fucking way. Please don’t tell me…”
He shook his head. “As far as they know, everyone is safe.”
“What do you mean?”
His eyes were pained as he said. “They took them. They took the mates. And with this class, most of them are in the last trimester.”
“Enough stress and they could go into labor.”
He gr
abbed my arm and pulled me along with him as we made our way out of the hotel. We weren’t going to get our official answer for the murder mystery, but I was fine with that. Pregnant women were in danger.
“I’ll bring you,” I said. “You don’t have your car, remember?”
He swore as he realized that and then dumped me into the passenger seat before hopping into the driver’s side. I passed him the keys, and he took off.
“I’m taking you home. Venni is going to pick me up at your place.”
“I can help you,” I said.
“No. Too dangerous. This was too much. The shifters are going to be out for blood now since their mates and unborn children are at risk. It’s best if no one is around them if they don’t need to be. I’m not even willing to send the guys in on this.”
“Are you in danger?” I asked.
“No.”
I remained quiet as he brought me home. Venni was already waiting. Dwight leaned over and kissed me quickly. “We will finish this date and we won’t be interrupted next time.” He jumped out of the truck and met with Venni.
Hopping out, I leaned against the back of my truck as the two of them took off, driving well over the speed limit to head to a very real crime scene.
Siitha came bounding around the house and nearly tackled me to the ground.
“Hey, big guy, where have you been?” I rubbed him hard. He licked my face, and I smiled. “Want to help me practice magic? I need to release some of this excess energy.”
Siitha yipped in agreement and followed as I went to the back of the house. The rest of the night was spent floating sticks and leaves around the backyard as Siitha tried to snatch them out of the air. The behesiff could jump really high when he wanted to.
Chapter Eighteen
The sun was bright as Shanton and I settled at our table for brunch and the final date. My birthday was tomorrow, and Ami had called this morning with a huge status update. Pretty much, everything was settled, and I didn’t have to worry about a thing. I was going to love the party. Or so she said.
I didn’t know what to expect since this was going to be my first birthday party and Ami wasn’t giving me all the details. For all I knew, she invited dancing mimes to the party. I really hoped not.
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