“Now, you know what comes next,” I said gently, hating to push her, but the council should have already gathered, and leaving them to make decisions on their own could be a bigger mess to handle.
She took in a slow breath and let it out before meeting my gaze and holding out her hand to me. “I, Bevin Millen, blessed by the goddess Bé?inn, ask you join my circle as my priest, Derek Wyatt.”
“It’s my honor and I accept,” I promised as I gently took her hand. Suddenly, her soft skin felt like touching a hot stove that was also shocking me. I felt Quinn’s worry as he raced to me, but I couldn’t focus on that as what felt like a city’s worth of electricity was poured into me.
A grip stronger than Bevin could manage held my upper arm as she cried in the background. There was a grunt and the hand let me go as I seized on the floor.
When had I fallen to the floor?
“He’s fine, not in any pain, Ms. Millen,” Andy lied through his teeth.
“I’m not that much of a blonde bimbo, Headmaster,” she snapped. “He’s not fucking giggling.”
Gods, I really did have it bad for her because that sass turned me on. She was so awesome.
I groaned as my body started to calm down. The hand grabbed me again and I tried to push up, worried what had gone on.
“Calm yourself, Derek,” Andy said firmly. “She came for help. What the fuck happened?”
“We can’t tell you,” she snapped. “I already told you that. Don’t push him when he could let it slip and get me…”
Punished by the gods. Wow, that was a trip.
“Sorry, Andy,” I moaned. “She got help, but the warning was clear.” I licked my lips a few times as I tried to relearn my body before I blinked open my eyes, staring into his worried ones. “Information is a weapon. She was told why there’s not much information about those like her.”
He sighed heavily and plopped down on his ass, ignoring how he was dressed. “I get it but—fuck, Derek, you were off the floor convulsing. Warn a man next time.”
“We weren’t given that much information,” Bevin bitched. “And I have a feeling that was intentional.” She sighed when my gaze snapped to hers. “I couldn’t have hurt you like that to protect myself.”
“Try to heal me,” I told Andy, groaning in relief when I felt his power.
“I think I can guess what just happened since you’re about to go into battle and what is going on,” Andy hedged.
“Keep it to yourself,” I begged him. “The warning was—there’s a price for disobeying the gods, Andy. Please.”
He searched my aura and nodded. “You good?”
“Yeah, she…” I sighed, giving Bevin a frustrated look. “I finally understand how fucking infuriating the secrets and all the hoops are for you.”
“Thank you,” she exclaimed. “Everyone brushes that off, but it’s really damn hard!”
I chuckled and sat up with Andy’s help. “Yeah, it is.” I scrubbed my face a few times before looking at Andy. “I could use the backup because I’m going to go piss in some powerful corn flakes.”
He took in a slow breath and let it out. “I’ll join in this, but I want someone on my mate. Someone trusted, not just a trainee. I’ll pay, but I don’t know who to hire, and things are already getting dicey for me.”
“Done,” Bevin immediately agreed. “And I would suggest some off-the-books interviews with the guards. The ones I’ve met are clean, but I noticed some practically turn around when they see Link. That’s not suspicious or a red flag.”
“Always so much fun,” Andy said as he pushed to his feet and helped me up. “Okay, let’s go jump into the fire. If I get divorced because of this, I’m sleeping on someone’s couch.”
I snorted. “Your mate would forgive you anything besides cheating. She’d be mad if you turned me down.”
“She likes you better than me some days,” he agreed. He checked on me again and then Bevin before we hurried to clean up and grab our stuff.
Emma was waiting and then we were circling to the council estate. The fact they were doing this on their turf wasn’t lost on me.
Nor on Taylor Reid from the pissed expression he had when I walked in.
But then I realized it was way more than that and Conrad Hanson was just standing off to the side with his father and a few others like this was a meeting.
