Simon flinches and almost drops the briefcase as he struggles to open it. The witch mutters a whispered “asshole” under her breath. I take out my phone and shoot a text to Malik while Simon is busy arranging the tripod.
Me: Send Emily in, please. And then tell Leo he’s next. Can you also let the dancers know they have time to eat before they come in? They can order whatever they want. It’s on me.
Malik: Sure. Should I also fix the wall?
Me: No. That can wait until Captain Dickbag is gone.
Malik: ’Kay.
Emily strides in after a few minutes, plopping down on the chair to my right. The witch sits next to her while Simon starts the camera.
“State your name and species,” Barnabas tells Emily.
“Emily Dawson. I am a wolf shifter pertaining to the Silverfangpack.”
The inquisitor’s lips turn down in contempt. My fingers curl into tight, eager fists beneath the table in response. It would be so simple to teleport to where he’s leaning against the wall and snap his neck.Do it, my demon side urges. But I can’t. So I bury the alluring violence beneath that titanium wall.
“Are you under a magical oath of secrecy?” he asks.
“No,” Emily replies, tucking a stray ash-brown curl behind her ear.
“Ms. Jones. Verify the statement.”
“I will need to touch you,” the witch tells Emily.
When Emily nods, the witch closes her eyes, then her fingers circle the wolf shifter’s wrist. She opens them. “She’s telling the truth.”
17
Kaiden
“What now?” Dominic asks while raking a hand through his raven hair. He’s standing next to the floor-to-ceiling windows in my library, the night sky and city lights glimmering at his back.
“We just have to wait and see how the Council reacts,” I reply, massaging my pounding temples as I sink further into the soft leather of the armchair. “But they have nothing on us.” Barnabas dragged the interrogation until I could barely contain the urge to shove that ridiculous cane down his throat. His blatant show of repugnance almost pushed me over the edge.
Between this never-ending day and the countless boardmeetings I had to attend this week, I feel like I can’t catch a fucking break. But I ignored the legitimate side of the Obsidian Conclave’s business for far too long while I was Iris’s shadow. And now I have to deal with the consequences. I don’t regret it, though. Hell, if it meant we could be together again, I would relinquish my position within the Conclave and give away every cent I possess in the blink of an eye.
Logan’s amber gaze flicks to Malik. They’re both seated on the brown leather couch on my right. “Did you erase Erik from everyone’s memory?”
Ava’s absence is notable. Since becoming Luna of the Silverfang pack, Ava has been a permanent fixture at our Conclave meetings. She and Logan make all decisions for the wolf shifters together. But because it’s past midnight, and she had a tiring day running her bakeries, she decided not to attend.
Malik shakes his head before replying, his septum ring catching the light cast by the chandelier. “That would have been too suspicious. Only of those who saw that shit stain with Iris.”
“We couldn’t deny he was at Sin because of his phone’s location,” I chime in. “As long as the Order thinks Erik fled the club in a panic when the fire broke out alongside the other patrons, we’re good.”
“I wish I was there to see that inquisitor’s dipshit face when he left empty-handed,” Dominic says.
“It was fucking priceless,” Malik chuckles out, then takes a long pull from his beer. “Smoke was coming out of his ears all the way to the exit.”
“What about the Kabal? Did you find anything?” Logan inquires. Malik and Dominic were investigating a lead on the Kabal the night Adramelech escaped and Iris killed Erik.
“No. They burned down the building before we got there,” Malik answers.
Logan swears sharply under his breath. He jumps up to pacethe room. Frustration is pouring out of him in thick, noxious waves. And for good reason—he’s worried about his wife.
The Kabal, my father’s organization, operates in the shadows, kidnapping and experimenting on dark creatures. This is why I endured years under Mammon’s thumb to become the leader of the Obsidian Conclave—to finally obtain enough power to undo the gruesome crimes committed by my father. To atone for my part in them. After we blew up their secret lab in the Vatican five years ago, we thought we had eradicated them. Or at least hindered them enough not to present a problem anymore. But like a damn hydra, when we least expect it, the Kabal grows two more heads.
Before Logan met Ava, she was just a human who had a miraculous heart transplant. Turns out, this was another one of the Kabal’s sick experiments. Ava received the heart of a wolf shifter whom they kidnapped when she was only a teenager. Somehow, by receiving Hope’s heart, Ava became a wolf shifter and Logan’s new fated mate.
