So far, my employees were the only ones who had.
"Nah. Callum tells people not to. He'd have to get up and answer the door if we knocked." Liv grabbed my half-empty coffee cup and sniffed it, eyeing the contents.
"Do you drink coffee?"
"Only if it's decaf. Caffeine gives me panic attacks."
"I guess it's not really compatible with your magic."
She shook her head. "Nope. How's that project you're working on coming?"
"Pretty slowly."
"We need that girls' night. Tonight?"
"Kat's busy tonight," Callum said.
Liv rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow, then. Merrily will be wiped out after the meeting anyway. We'll do it at her place."
"Kat's busy then too." Callum's hand captured mine, his expression darker than normal and his grip tighter.
I wasn't sure what was wrong, and didn't think he'd want me to ask.
"Just bring her to the meeting. I can't imagine someone is going to argue if you show up with your mate in tow." Liv turned toward our fridge, opening it up and scanning the leftovers.
When she found a stack of baked goods from the café, she grabbed a cinnamon roll that sat in a box, and picked up a fork.
"I don't think I'd be welcome at a Cabinet meeting," I said.
"No one's welcome there. Everyone only tolerates each other. Worst case scenario, we piss off someone who probably already wants us dead."
"We're not walking my mate into a situation where she would be even more at risk than usual," Callum stated.
Liv took a massive bite of the cinnamon roll she'd claimed. "The most powerful werewolf in the city wouldn't be at risk during a meeting."
I frowned. "Hasn't my sister been to dozens of those by now?"
Liv snorted. "Your sister isn't the most powerful wolf in the city, Kat. You are."
I blinked. "No, I'm not."
She gestured to Callum with her fork. "He's one of the four most powerful fae, and we're the most powerful of the immortals. He's yours, so his magic and life are tied to you."
Callum changed the subject. "If I bring Kat, everyone else will think they can bring their mate to the meetings after this."
"Only the one monster king is mated, so what does it matter?"
"You don't think anyone would take mates just to have another person sitting in on those meetings?"he asked.
Liv jumped up on the countertop with her cinnamon roll. "I think taking a mate is way too big of a deal for any of them to do it just for the world's most boring meetings," she finally said. "If you make a rule that mates aren't allowed to talk or something, that would solve the problem."
"So I can be his pretty little werewolf again?" I drawled.
"So we can establish you as his equal." She bobbed her head toward Callum. "His magic is yours. His home is yours. His job is yours. Just like everything that's yours is his. That's the nature of mates for fae. There's no dividing line anymore—you're one unit."
"That doesn't sound healthy," I said.
"Is it healthier to be suffering under your magic's endless onslaught as half of a whole?"
