Brady clasped his hands together tighter, nodding over and over. “Yes. Yes. No worries.”
He led us through a very simple white house. He had only the essentials he needed for survival, and everything was clean enough to eat off. I wasn’t sure the last time Brady had left his house, relying solely on guild members to keep him fed. He waved us off at the door, and we stepped out into a small courtyard garden, which faded away the moment we left his property. All of our shoes were sitting nearby on the pavers, and we pulled them on quickly.
“Holy shit,” Justice said when she was done, her eyes darting from the gray sidewalk to where the garden had just been but was now not visible at all.
“He’s a little paranoid,” I said with a chuckle. “But loyal to a fault.”
No one said anything more; we all got the loyal thing. Tee pressed into me, and I imagined the freedom just to haul her into my arms and disappear somewhere. To love her like she deserved, to worship her body in the way I dreamed of, to crush our souls tightly together so both of us could feel the full effects of the mate bond.
But unless I fixed this huge fucking problem, there would be nothing like that in our future. I would be putting out fires and fighting the human government for years.
“So the meeting is when exactly? Who is feeding you information?” Jacob wanted to know.
I met his startling fey eyes. They had changed slightly now that he was dragon as well as fey, but there was no denying the unusual color. “I’ve left open some lines of communication between myself and one of the guilds. He is relaying information to me from the president. Also, the elders are coordinating it all.”
Jacob shook his head. “The power you wield is stupid. I hope you know that.”
I shrugged but didn’t argue. It was stupid, but I was used to it now. As long as I never went dark again, the world should be fine.
The streets grew more crowded the closer we got, and when we saw a small vendor on the side of the road selling hot dogs and a few other items, all of us stopped and grabbed some food. It had been a long time between meals, and we had no idea how long this meeting was going to last.
Justice groaned. “It’s been forever since I ate human food like this. You know, the nasty kind that will probably give you heart disease or cancer.” Another huge bite followed by another groan. “I’ve missed it,” she finished, mumbling around her mouthful.
Jacob raised an eyebrow, watching her with fascination. “You don’t have to worry about heart disease or cancer, and in my opinion, you’re enjoying that far too much to give up junk food now.”
She tried to glare, but her enjoyment was too great, so she settled for flipping him off.
Just when we finished our food, I got another message. It was time to go. “We’re ready,” I told them.
We were about to step into a world I was not sure of, so I tucked my mate under my arm, keeping her close to me. “I think it’s best if we all keep our mouths shut,” Jacob said, when we neared the guarded gates. “Let Louis do the talking.”
Justice glared, and I hid my smile. It had been pretty clear who he was talking about, and she would no doubt get revenge on him sooner or later. When we reached the guards, I explained we had a meeting inside. They asked for our names, and took a long time checking everything before they searched us all thoroughly and allowed us to enter.
“Did he think we were going to sneak in a human weapon?” Justice scoffed under her breath before sneering at Jacob when he mimed a zipped lip at her.
Guards remained with us the entire walk toward the White House, and I wasn’t surprised to find more lingering around the edges, including a few snipers on the roof. I sensed the target on my back, but since I could disable everyone there in a fraction of a second without even breaking a sweat, I allowed them to think they had the upper hand.
The aim was to not start a war, no matter how much they pissed me off.
When we were inside, armed guards surrounded us, and they were not even remotely discreet about it. Tee shot me a small smile, and I knew she was thinking the same thing as me. Humans were always waving their guns around trying to figure out whose was bigger. There were better ways to get what you wanted, but clearly the president was going for the intimidation factor.
“Hurry up,” one snarled near Tee, and my fingers twitched as I thought briefly of sending him flying across the room. If they kept waving guns in my mate’s face, they were soon going to realize how outmanned and outpowered they really were.
Leveling my eyes on the one who was still far too close, I stared him down. It took less than a minute before he backed up, and then I pushed down my darkening energy, continuing to walk forward. The president waited for us in the Oval Office, and there were upwards of fifty armed guards there. I could see by the cold and calculating looks in their eyes that these were highly trained in their field. Navy SEALs. SWAT. Special Forces. You named it and the president had it surrounding him right now.
He looked quite nervous behind his desk, fingers steepled in front of him. There was no paperwork or anything else close by, just a cleared desk separating us. I waved a hand, and there were a lot of tense jaws as fingers tightened on their guns.
“There is no need for this,” I assured him, moving much slower now so as to not startle them again. “We’re here to ensure peace remains between our people. Definitely not to start a war.”
A tic began in the president’s jaw as he opened and closed his mouth a few times. Finally he spoke. “You’re the … magic one?”
John Caine was an older man, nearing his late sixties, but he’d stayed trim and fit, with very few lines around his eyes. The fear he was displaying now though spoke of a weakness in his soul, and that never boded well for the leader of people.
“I am a magic user,” I said calmly, leaving my hands where they could see them. I had most of my attention on the man before me; the rest was reserved for Tee. Keeping her safe was my number-one priority. “I’m also the chosen representative for the supernatural people.”
He flinched. Minutely, but it was there. He didn’t like to hear our race spoken about so casually. “I’m surprised you have so many humans in the room. What if they talk about this?” I asked.
He shook his head. “If any of them mention this day, the penalty is death. And not just death for them, but also their families.”
