Her face twists as she looks out at the river she made. “I was there the day Scythe made himself known and threw a tub with the splattered body of the cold cassowary patriarch on our table. We all thought he’d never last on land.”
“Ah, that’s why his rejection hurts so much,” I muse. “Because he might have understood you. He might haveseenyou under those hard scales.”
Her head snaps back at me, much like a saltie’s whip-quick movement. “Go home and suck Mace’s cock like a good general.”
“It’s so funny that none of them want you back. Even with your fancy hyena spell.”
She holds up the knife. “The spell is holding. They are under my complete control. Ifshecomes here, they will capture and shackle her on sight, and that will be the end of Aurelia Boneweaver.” Her grin is all teeth. “How ironic for her own mates to be the end of her now when they were the ones who gave her up for execution to begin with.”
“I’m impressed,” I admit. “That’s some kind of poetry there.”
Scythe’s wounds have already closed up, the blood pooling at her bare feet long clotted. “Why are you here, anyway?” Katerina asks.
“Mace wants to know if you’re breeding Lorian the unicorn.” She narrows her eyes at me. “Alright,Iwant to know if you’re breeding Lorian the unicorn.”
“Get out, Ghoul. You’ve haunted this room long enough.”
“I came all this way for nothing?” I gesticulate widely.
She snarls at me in annoyance. “If I get the girl, the first fucking thing I do will be to stud Lorian on her. She was supposed to be subservient for the mounting rack after we took off her leg and I personally nursed her back to health, bonded tome as her saviour, butsomebodygot in the way of that process.” She throws a glare at Xander.
An involuntary hiss emits from my mouth, my lips curling into a snarl over my fangs. But it’s the smirk Katerina throws my way that gets me under control again. She knows exactly what she’s saying. “I don’t think she’s subservient to him either,” I say, showing her I’m unaffected. “Too stubborn.”
“No, but…she’s soft in other ways. Now that I have these four, I get three chances with a knife at their throats for her to agree to be bred. Twice with Lorian, at least.”
“Three chances?”
“Oh, I’m not killing my pretty shark.” She runs her fingers down his chest. “He’s chained to me forever. Once Aurelia is bred to her maximum parity, she’ll be executed and I’ll wear him down eventually. I’m in this for the long game.” She smirks at me. “Just like Mace was with you.”
Chapter 25
Aurelia
“Don’t ask me why I was there,” I say firmly as we all meet in my pack’s suite. “But half the council—and for all I know, all the council members—are drugged captives of Mace Naga at their new house.”
Marduk regards me mildly from where he sits on the dining room chair. “That would explain why Ablo is not returning my calls.”
My phone rings, and I yank it up to see Rufus’ name. I glance at Beak before picking up. “Rufus,” I greet. Beak and Yeti stray closer to hear better.
“My lady,” Rufus says, and my hackles raise as I sense the tension in his voice. “Early this morning, there was an incident at the subdivision of the enterprise we refer to as Blue Bird. Council agents bearing Naga insignias raided five chain stores and took possession of all of them.”
I can barely hear him over the war drums in my head. “What…subdivision is this exactly?”
Rufus lowers his voice. “We are cleaning money through Blue Bird, my lady. This is a chain of confectionary stores.”
Money laundering. I shouldn’t be surprised. I cast Minnie a dark look, and she goggles her banker-family eyes at me. “Right, so what do we normally do in situations like this?” I ask, feeling fully out of my depth.
“Just one extra thing. Those bank accounts are now frozen. You’ll likely find yours frozen too, my lady.”
I cringe. It’s not like I was ready to go on a shopping spree anyway, and the academy provides everything I need already. “Okay, I can handle that.”
“Funds are no issue due to Mr Xander’s secured treasuries; however, normally we are able to negotiate agreements around this type of interference. It seems that’s not an option at this stage. Our only option is to lie low.”
I take a deep breath while he lets me process this. My father thinks I’m powerless without my mates. That he can move in and simply snatch our funds. He thinks I won’t make a move. “Mr Rufus, lying low is not an option. Rest assured, I will take the necessary action. Is that all for today?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Very well. We will speak again in two days.”
