Desiree and Will both fought losing battles against grins.
“I hate you both,” he muttered. “Anyway. Alders. Marcus. Coming after us. Go.”
Fortunately for Cole’s blood pressure, Desiree dropped the teasing and filled Will in on what she’d told Cole.
“So the issue now,” she said when she was done, “is that those two maniacs are working together. They want the Iberian Puffin, and they want both of your hides.”
Will exhaled. “I don’t suppose it would help for us to tell them we don’thavethe Puffin?”
“Pfft.” Cole rolled his eyes. “He’ll just try to gaslight us into thinking we actuallydohave it, and then get pissed at us for not giving it back to Alders.”
Will rocked his head from side to side. “I mean, that’s probably true, honestly? Like I could fully see him doing that.”
“Me too, now that you mention it.”
“Ugh. What did we everseein that guy?”
Cole grunted. “Who the hell knows?”
“Boys.” Desiree glared pointedly at them. “You can reminisce later about your mutual ex-boo. Right now, we need to make a plan.”
“What kind of plan can we make, though?” Will shrugged. “It isn’t like we can magically conjure up the Puffin.”
Cole considered that. “We could hand over a counterfeit.”
Will and Desiree both peered at him curiously.
He shrugged. “Lilith herself said there’s a ton of fakes out there. Hell, she has one—maybe she’d let us have it for this.”
“You think so?” Will asked.
“Worth a try.”
“He’s got a point,” Desiree said. “Obviously neither Marcus nor Alders would know the real Puffin if it pecked them in the balls.”
Cole snorted, clapping a hand over his mouth. Will barked a laugh.
“Am I wrong?” she asked, eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Nope,” they both said. “Not wrong.”
“Right. So, if we can get a counterfeit—Lilith’s or anyone else’s—then you boys can offer it up to Marcus and Alders.”
“What if one of them does clock it as a fake?” Will asked. “I don’t think it’s likely, but we should consider it.”
“Hmm, probably.” Cole switched the phone to his other hand, since his arm was getting tired. “We could always throw Marcus under the bus.”
Desiree’s eyebrows flew up. “Figuratively or literally? Because I’m game for both.”
Cole chuckled. “In this instance, figuratively, though don’t let me stop you from the other one. But I think if they catch on to it being fake, I mean…” He shrugged, then adopted his best puppy-dog eyes and innocent voice. “It’s the one Marcus told us to get. We had no idea what a real one would look like, but he said this one was the real McCoy.”
Silence fell.
Will stared at Cole in horror. Desiree was so still, Cole thought the phone had frozen.
He glanced back and forth between them. “What?”
Will shifted beside him. “Dude, that’s fucking scary.”
