“I paid half a million dollars for those wards. Worth every dollar,” Marek said as he watched CSU work.
Jono grunted his agreement, arms crossed tightly over his chest. Police milled in and out of the bar, checking in with the people processing the scene. Jono and the others had already given their statements, but he knew their night wasn’t over yet.
Leon was in the back room with the police, making copies of the security feed for that night. Emma and Sage were sitting beside Ronaldo on the floor near the stairs to the lower level. He’d been the one manning the door when the attack happened and had taken the brunt of the first hellfire bomb. He’d shifted to his wolf form to heal the burns, but even in wolf form he was wounded. It was taking multiple shifts in order to heal him, and he was exhausted. Sage had wisely taken a slew of pictures of Ronaldo’s injuries in the beginning and had promised to email them to the detectives assigned the case as evidence.
Paramedics with the FDNY were waiting off to the side, asking Emma and Sage quiet questions about Ronaldo’s physical state, but so far weren’t interfering. Jono half thought they weren’t getting closer because they didn’t want to get infected with the werevirus, despite being masked and gloved up.
A tall figure stepped through the bar’s entrance, Casale’s familiar scent hitting Jono’s nose. He was dressed in a suit rather than a uniform, the lingering hints of an evening meal drifting about him. Must’ve had a lot of garlic in the recipe.
“The PCB taking a statement from you twice in one day is not what I was expecting,” Casale said as he approached.
“Not how I wanted to spend my evening either. Or my morning, for that matter,” Jono said.
Casale came to a stop in front of where Jono leaned against the bar. Marek casually hiked himself up onto the closest barstool, making it clear he wasn’t going anywhere. Casale’s gaze flickered over to him, but he didn’t try to get Marek to leave.
“My detectives tell me no one died.”
Jono’s lip curled. “Not for lack of effort on Estelle and Youssef’s part.”
“You’ll need proof if you’re going to go around accusing people of attempted murder.”
“The hunters making a mess of New York since February aren’t enough?”
“Considering there’s a civil war happening within your community, there are two sides to blame. I warned you months ago about how badly this would go if you let it get this far.”
Jono glared at Casale. “My pack and the ones under my protection aren’t going to roll over and show throat at every hint of provocation. It’s within our right to fight back.”
“Is it worth the collateral damage to the city? To innocent citizens?”
“My side isn’t the one who hired hunters. We aren’t the ones throwing hellfire bombs at a packed bar. We aren’t the ones making bargains with demons.”
Casale’s lips pressed into a grim line. “I know. But if you had hoped to keep this fight out of the media, that’s not going to happen. The attack on you at Gucci this morning and the one tonight will make people question the underlying reason ofwhyyou’re a target. Your background as a god pack alpha won’t be overlooked.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know.”
“Any chance Marek has seen something different?”
“If I had, I wouldn’t even make the city pay for the cost of the vision,” Marek said.
Casale glanced at him. “Is that a no?”
“In case you didn’t notice, that’s my very expensive Maserati that got fucking torched by a hellfire bomb. Estelle and Youssef don’t know it yet, but I’m going to sue.”
“Again, you’re going to need proof. Give me something to work with here.”
“Nicholas was the one on the motorcycle. I smelled him,” Jono said.
Casale shook his head. “That’s not good enough. The courts accept a lot of preternatural evidence, but scent isn’t one of them.”
“Then pull the fucking traffic camera feeds on him. I’m sure something will come up.”
“We’ll look into it.” Casale sighed and rubbed at his forehead, frowning at them both. “Can you think of any reason the attacks against you would double in a day?”
“If I had a reason, I’d discuss them with an attorney first.”
“How’d I know you’d say something like that?”
Jono inclined his head in Sage’s direction. “I learned from the best.”
