“My grandmother is speaking to some members of Congress today. I had to leave.”
Jono tightened his fingers a little before relaxing his grip. “They still need to think you’re dead?”
Patrick grimaced, staring out the windshield. “Yeah.”
“Do you want to reach out to them?”
“I can’t.”
“But do you want to?”
Patrick opened his mouth to respond, but the words were jumbled in his head. He snapped his mouth shut and stared at the traffic ahead of them on the highway.
“Want is a meaningless desire. That was one of the first things Ashanti ever taught me,” Patrick said slowly.
Jono shook his head. “That’s a load of bollocks.”
“It doesn’t matter. Letting my mother’s side of the family know I’m alive would be a messy distraction I can’t afford right now. We have bigger problems.”
“Like what?”
Patrick straightened up enough that he could dig his cell phone out of his pocket. “Like we need to have a meeting with Lucien before we go home. The government needs his help.”
Jono made an aggravated sound. “Must we? I had plans. They involved you naked and under me.”
Patrick sighed wistfully even as he dialed the latest burner number to reach Carmen. “I’ll let you fuck me after we deal with Lucien.”
“This is why Sage always says you’re terrible at bargains. We should probably have her come with us and do the talking instead of you.”
“You think you’re funny, but you’re not.” Patrick pressed the phone to his ear, listening to it ring. “We can have a pack meeting after Lucien pisses me off.”
The line picked up and Carmen’s sultry voice drifted into his ear. The succubus was Lucien’s partner in all ways, and the face of his business ventures in daylight hours. While Lucien could walk in sunlight without burning—a gift courtesy of Ashanti—he didn’t like to advertise that particularly rare vampire trait.
“How was DC?” Carmen asked.
Patrick made a face even though she couldn’t see it. “Spying on me again?”
“It would be lax of us not to have eyes and ears in the governing bodies of every country we work in.”
“Right. Because you’re on the same scummy level as lobbyists. I need a meeting with Lucien.”
“He’s resting.”
“Then wake him up.”
Carmen’s voice became flat, the protectiveness she felt for Lucien evident in her tone. “He does not answer to you.”
“He can answer to the United States government, who I represent. Tell him General Reed sent me. There’s an offer on the table, and we need to know what he wants in exchange for helping us. We’ll meet you at Ginnungagap in an hour.”
Carmen hummed thoughtfully before ending the call without a word. Patrick pulled his phone away from his ear and scowled at it.
“What’s the offer?” Jono asked.
“We need Lucien to carry the invitation to the auction and buy the Morrígan’s staff,” Patrick said.
“He’ll run off with it.”
“Maybe not.”
