“It’s on the coffee table.”
Jono nodded and went to sit on the sofa Wade had vacated and thankfully cleaned up. Patrick sat beside him while Danai had already laid claim to the armchair. Two of the dining table chairs had been carried over for Sage and Wade. Danai had spread out some paper on the coffee table and had a slim laptop open on her lap.
Danai gave Jono a welcoming nod. “You look better.”
“I don’t feel better,” Jono admitted as he slung his arm around Patrick’s waist.
“That’s to be expected.” Danai pointed at what looked like a multiple-page letter on the coffee table and the pen holding it down. “That is your retainer letter. I’ll need all four of your signatures on it, as well as yours and Patrick’s as representatives of your god pack as a whole.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Patrick asked.
“For attorney-client privilege? Yes, it’s necessary.”
Patrick ground his teeth hard enough Jono could hear it. He still picked up the pen and signed. They all did. Sage handed the executed letter to Danai, who slipped it into a manila folder and placed it in her leather tote bag.
“I’ll send you all copies via email tomorrow. Now, as to what happened today, I will need the entire story,” she said.
“Uh,” Wade said, blinking at Jono.
Jono gulped down his tea, not caring how it burned his tongue. “Give her the statement you gave the police, Wade.”
Danai arched an eyebrow. “I need the entire truthful story. You aren’t the first set of clients who have tried to hide something from me.”
“Jono hasn’t been charged with anything,” Patrick pointed out.
“Not yet, but that doesn’t mean the DA’s office won’t bring charges of some sort in the future. You’re in an open civil war with a rival god pack in a major metropolitan city. That alone would be a problem, but the spillover has damaged the subway. People are going to want to blame someone, and even if you didn’t directly cause the damage, you were the reason the damage happened in the first place. Now, tell me what happened today.”
Jono shared a long look with Patrick. “Did Wade tell you what went on?”
“Yes,” Patrick said, mouth twisting.
Jono repeated the statement he’d given the police and left it at that. Danai looked at him, fingers resting over her laptop keyboard where she’d been taking notes, and arched an eyebrow. “Anything else?”
He didn’t know how to explain about gods, mostly because that meant giving up secrets that Patrick had carried alone for years before they became a pack. Despite being smack in the middle of the mess, it wasn’t Jono’s story to tell.
Patrick stayed silent on the subject matter, and Jono followed his lead.
“No,” Jono said.
Danai made a contemplative sound in the back of her throat. “I may not be able to smell the difference between a lie and a truth, but I know when clients are holding back information. Not disclosing the truth to me will only hurt you in the future.”
“They’re trying to protect me,” Wade said.
Patrick groaned. “Wade.”
“What? That’s what you guys are doing. Jono told me not to tell the police I was there when all the fighting happened, but I was the one who melted part of the train. They’re gonna ask about that, won’t they?”
“We’d have figured out a way to keep you out of it if that happened.”
Wade scowled. “But what if it got you guys in trouble? You can’t protect the packs if you’re in jail.”
“A charge would also put your visa at risk, Jono,” Sage pointed out.
“We don’t know her,” Patrick said, jerking his head in Danai’s direction.
“I’m on your side,” Danai reminded them.
Patrick let out a hollow little laugh that made Jono tighten his grip on Patrick’s hip. “That’s not good enough.”
