Page 88 of Mate
Her sister’s face blushed bright pink, and she started giggling.
“I love it here!” Wendy laughed, clapping her hands together. “Can we move in?” she asked the cat.
“No,” Samael said, coming around the corner and tucking his shirt in his pants. It looked like he had just gotten out of the shower with his blond wet hair brushed back. New sunglasses sat on his face, hiding his dark, inky eyes. “We’re doing the ritual, and we’re getting out of dodge. Period.” He looked over at me and grinned. “No offense, just have to protect my own. Hard to do with Madame Juana about.”
That wasn’t comforting to hear. Samael was always good in a scratch, but witches tended to scare the shit out of him. I didn’t blame him—well, not anymore. Even the one he’d raised and loved was able to send him to a hell plane for a few months because she didn’t want a spanking. He probably would have stayed if anything else was knocking on the door: goblins, demons, monsters, vampires. Witches, not so much.
“Understood,” I told him, nodding my head.
“We’re taking Macy with us,” Wendy informed Samael, pointing at Kaci’s little sister.
Samael’s face fell. “No, we’re not. That’s not getting out of dodge. That’s being smack in the middle of it.”
“No, definitely not in the middle, boss,” said Ombre. The shadow wiggled his head to the side. “More to the side of it. Adjacent?”
“It’s called being a good neighbor,” Wendy educated crisply.
“And bad businesspeople,” the cat added after it lapped up the coffee in an embarrassingly catlike way. That goblin in the cat suit had certainly gone native. "Samael, she persists in this vexing habit of not levying appropriate charges!" he lamented with a tone of dignified frustration towards Samael. "I am at my wit's end. Her actions, should they continue, will undoubtedly lead us to financial ruin."
To Samael’s glare, Wendy waved her hands as if everything was inconsequential and we weren’t talking about a war or huge dangers, but like she was planning a trip to the mall. “It’s not abeaucoupdeal. I’m going to put us somewhere real safe,” Wendy assured. “I have the perfect dimension in mind.”
“I’d prefer this one,” Samael grumbled, looking completely out of humor.
“The one I’m thinking of has coconut trees!” she announced, putting her arm around Macy and giving her a squeeze. When Samael continued to look less than pleased, she reached up and gave him a little pat on the cheek. “You’re gonna love it! It’ll put some sun on that pretty face,mon chou!”
Samael did not look like a demon who appreciated sun on his face, or being called a cabbage. But he didn’t say anything. He had the look of a man who had just had a long fight the night before and didn’t have a whole a lot of juice still left over.
“Why can’t we all go there, then?” Beau grunted, pointing to Wendy. “Why can’t we just hang low?”
“Because this isn’t about just us,” I snapped at him. “They’re trying to develop their ownroyalty. Do you know what that means?”
Beau pursed his lips in a pout.
“I don’t!” Roger said. He was black and blue and sitting at the table with most of the other pack. Everybody looked at him, and not just because he still looked very beat-up. At least he didn’t look so swollen. “What?” he said to their looks. “I’m a biology guy! I wasn’t listening to anyone growing up. I thought I made that clear?”
I sighed and turned towards my pack. “Our wolves can bewolves, Rog. They will know alpha royalty, and they will do exactly what that royalty says. Ultimate alpha. They can take over the wolves like they’re more or less… puppets. It’s how the original Lycans lived. If vampires didn’t kill some of theroyal families, we might have never really gotten human-like autonomy. According to Kaci, that’s what we’re heading for.”
Rog nodded and looked over at Kaci. “So, it’s true? She’s royalty?”
“I could consult some spirits to verify,” Wendy said with a shrug. “But if Madame Juana is behind dis, den Kaci’s gonna be what Juana says. But we gots some things for ya’ll that Juana doesn’t know ‘bout.”
“Wendy, please stop offering charity!” the cat snapped, getting up and glaring at her. “We don’t have any gifts.No gifts,” he announced, his tail pointing straight down.
She waved her hand at the cat dismissively. “Shush.”
Samael nodded at me and jerked his chin in the direction of the ballroom. I followed him there and he said, “Look, Cael, I’m worried about today. Wendy pulled a tarot, and even though the answers come in poetry, it isn’t good. This could be bad if you don’t do everything perfectly.” He waggled his head and added, “I mean,bad.”
This being said by someone who just spent four months in a hellscape, was saying something. “You mean death?” I asked. My heart was in my throat, so I adjusted my tie.
He pulled off his glasses; I didn’t find that comforting. Now I was looking into orbs so black they didn’t reflect any light. It just made my heart rate increase.
“I don’t know, Cael. As I said, future-telling isn’t science, it’s poetry. Probably, though. Could be worse than death. Lots of things are, believe you me. I’ve been around thousands of years, and I’ve seen some things.”
“Obviously,” I grumbled. “What’s Madame Juana got to do with this? Why is she suddenly against us? Can’t Wendy help?”
“No. I understand why you think so—I’ve let Wendy get out of control.Way out of control. She thinks she’s invincible, that there’s a solution for every problem. Madame Juana has been around for amillennium. She’s seen things Wendy hasn’t dreamed of, and Juana has lost a lot of power. Wendy has no idea what sort of rage that can generate. Wendy doesn’t give a shit about power, she can’t even fathom caring—which is good, it’s what I wanted when I raised her with Cajuns. But Juana used to be a queen, Caelum, and that’s not a title she’s willing to give up. She’s happy to take over any kingdom, and yours is easy. Alphas don’t have a choice who they’re mated to, fate decides. And Juana knows how to make fate bend to her.” He gestured at the door we’d just come through. “Fuck, you saw how easily she did it to you. It’s fucking child’s play to her.”
My eyebrows narrowed. “You think she’s gotten herself mated to their alpha and beta.”