I enjoyed the fact that Nasiah and Erazel had formed their own bond. Erazel is a huge part of my inner circle. When you are in my circle, you are family.
“Why do you say that?”
“She keeps asking me where you are and looking around nervously.”He chuckles.
The pride I feel knowing she wants me there with her has me wanting to say fuck all this other stuff and go find her. It’s not like I don’t already crave being around her.
“Tell my girl I’ll be home by the time her lunch date is over.”
“Will do.”
As I go to disconnect the connection, his voice stops me.
“The cousin,”he starts.
“What about her?”After years of watching Nasiah, I know her cousin. She’s one of the few people I think genuinely cared about my girl.
“Is she single?”
I pause.“I’m not sure. Why?”
He hesitates again.“I’m interested.”
Now this is new. Erazel has a strict succubus only rule. I’ve never known him to be interested in humans.
“Well then, ask her out. But Era, don’t fuck this up for me. That’s Nasiah’s cousin. You do her wrong and I’m kicking your ass.”
He chuckles.“I got you, Boss.”
I pull away from the mind link. As soon as I do, Unina walks into my office with files in her hands.
“We have a problem,” she says, coming around to my side of the desk.
“Fuck,” I say before taking a seat. She opens a folder and places it down in front of me.
“We have a decrease in passages. Our numbers are down 20%. We have never been down that low. We aren’t even that low whenever Khalid comes to stay.”
I swear, lately it’s one bad thing after another. Scanning through all the pages, I noticed the decline at all my portals, not just the two that were down.
“I think word is getting out that your portals are having problems.”
She’s most likely correct. Imagine there was one airline that kept having issues. It doesn’t matter that it was only two planes that had the problems; after a while, people are going to stop trusting that airline.
Scratching my chin, I come up with a quick solution.
“Start a campaign that portal two is now back up and running. And for a limited time, if you come through that portal, you get a five-hundred-dollar voucher to spend at my casino and free drinks.”
Yeah, that comes out of my pocket, but the money I’d lose would be worth it to get my numbers back up. Unina pulls out her phone and makes a few calls.
We spent about forty minutes setting up the marketing for the eastside portal and spreading the news about the voucher. Once we’re done, she gathers the papers on my desk and heads out the door. She bumps into Conah on her way out.
“What do you have for me?” I ask my ambassador as soon as Unina shuts the door behind her.
“My source tells me Gadiel had a private meeting with a human three days ago. It could’ve been about the death mark.”
My veins ignite with my anger. There will be no saving Gadiel if I find out he placed that mark. Standing, I slip my coat off and toss it on the back of my chair. I don’t want to get blood on it when I beat the soul light out of Gadiel’s ass.
“Let’s go pay him a—” my words are cut off when I feel the racing of a heart in my chest. I know it isn’t mine. It’s the same feeling I got the night the drudge attacked Nasiah.
