“And while we don’t believe the London god pack sent you, I’m thirsty and would like a drink.”
It wasn’t a yes, but it wasn’t a no to his request. The nonanswer was frustrating, but it was what Jono had expected after the two checked in with London.
Gaspard got to his feet and helped Mireille to hers. “You and your pack will have dinner with us tonight at our home near la pelouse de Reuilly.”
“There’s four of us. My co-leader had other business to attend to today.”
“Come by our home in five hours. You will abide by hospitality.”
Jono nodded. “We’ll be there.”
Gaspard rattled off an address that Sage tapped into a file on her phone for later. Jono let the Paris god pack leave first. The second they vacated the bench, Wade threw himself onto it and stuck his face into the bag, humming to himself as he picked out his next snack. The prickly presence he exuded abruptly diminished, his scent returning to that of a normal human’s as he dragged all that he was back behind the shields Reed had taught him to build.
“That went better than I thought. They didn’t outright deny us entry,” Sage said once the Paris god pack was out of earshot.
Jono sighed. “They still might.”
“There doesn’t seem to be any love lost between them and the London god pack. Makes me wonder what international pack relations have been like since Cressida joined them.”
“Bloody awful would be my guess.”
Wade lifted his head and stuck his arm in the bag, coming up with an almond croissant. “Can we eat dinner before their dinner?”
Jono eyed him. “You want two dinners?”
“They’re eating late. I can’t wait that long.”
“You just ate two crêpes, who knows how much gelato, and that entire bag was full before you made it up the hill.” Jono shook his head. “Must be growing pains.”
“No, I think it’s his normal appetite,” Sage mused.
Jono sat beside Wade and pulled out his mobile to text Patrick the update. They had time to rest there for a bit and let Wade finish his food before they headed back to Nadine’s.
The sound of wings flapping through the air and the distinctivecawof ravens and crows made Jono look up at the sky. Overhead, dozens and dozens of the corvids momentarily blocked out the sun as they flew over Sacré-Cœur and the park, their cries ringing in Jono’s ears. People looked up at the sky and pointed at their passage, the birds dark spots against an endless blue.
Jono watched them fly, unease washing through him.
* * *
“You’ve gotanother pack who wants protection,” Emma said into his ear.
Jono hummed thoughtfully as the taxi drove through the 12th arrondissement to their destination. “Which one?”
“The Davenport pack.”
Jono’s eyebrows crept upward. “Really?”
“Their alpha seemed annoyed you were out of town, but she’s willing to wait for you to return and pass judgment on her.”
“I doubt I’ll find her lacking.”
Some of the packs who came to them asking for protection were denied such support because their underlying loyalties remained with Estelle and Youssef, despite their claimed change of heart. Fenrir was one hell of a lie detector, and Jono never questioned his patron’s final decisions.
If Fenrir accepted the Davenport’s request, then that would effectively cede half of Brooklyn to them. The Davenport pack wasbig, not a huge supporter of Estelle and Youssef, and had always been on good terms with the Tempest pack. Their alpha was married to a federal judge and was herself a partner in a venture capitalist firm. She’d leaned hard into her local ties to make it difficult for Estelle and Youssef to retaliate against her pack, but those connections only went so far.
“That’s what I told her,” Emma said cheerfully enough.
“How are things otherwise?”
