“You do me, Ms. Stewart,” a voice I knew said from one of the laptops in the corner.
A voice I knew intimately.
Aidan O’Malley’s face was on the laptop when someone turned it around. Even from the distance, his striking deep green eyes pierced through me and I felt more confident in my purpose.
“Nice to see you, Mr. O’Malley,” I greeted, giving him the same respect since we were in public and he was a junior councilman.
And to everyone there, we weren’t involved since they thought he was with one of my covers, Sloan Chen.
“I’m actually—it was something you said that made me put this together. Sort of.”
Something shifted in his gaze and he cleared his throat. “That this was the way the system was supposed to work.”
It was my turn to react, doing a double take. “Yes, exactly that. You were talking about ISLE and—but I came to you or we’ve looped in Gavin, and it has helped both demons and vampires. And this alliance is a powerhouse that protects both sides if people stop trying to fuck it up.”
I was thrilled when more people agreed than not. That was ahugeshift.
“We still have people to spank,” Aidan muttered, always on the ball better than most. “You want to propose some sort of trade of spanking. Implement some sort of system. Especially when other groups are still railing against punishments and accusing you now of being money-grubbing whores.”
“I didn’t know that last part,” I growled, adjusting my neck. “Of course lust demons are always whores.”
“It’s the industry and a cheap shot weak people take while tripping over themselves to enjoy it and with jealousy,” someone from a different laptop comforted. “But we hear too much of the same. We will forever be leeches when I’ve seen shifters in human form eat their meat so rare they might as well drink blood.”
We all snorted at that.
I glanced back at Aidan. “We’re helping you with your systems because of Sloan. But if it wasn’t you and we could trust you, I could have my guys I need to spank clean your systems and check crap.Notto endure Best Buy jokes and that bullshit. No more of that.”
“No, but that’s insanely expensive work and hard to find people totrustwith it,” Aidan said firmly. “And we’ve always got people we can send to your clubs who can clean floors with toothbrushes.”
I thought the idea had some merit when several people snorted. “That’s a waste of time and energy, but we can always use more help and yes, we can find ways they can’t fuck up. Hell, the paperwork alone getting papers for demons and transferring assets is—it’s ridiculous.Shreddingit all is…”
“Not something you would trust us with,” Aidan chuckled. “No, but again, everyone can clean or lug things around. But I’ve been asked if there’s any chance of getting your help with papers since a few players have been taken out or I would guess you have swooped in to acquire their services.”
I adjusted my neck again, the people in the room going tense. “More like they were being threatened left and right to shut us down or it would be their heads. It was beyond ridiculous. And—that’s part of what I hope to have this help.”
“The faster more accept you, the faster the threats like that will stop,” Gavin surmised.
“Intheory,” I drawled. “But also something Chun said about any pup can slap paint on a wall.”
Yeah, they had a lot of questions then, but I waved them off, not sure I was actually allowed to tell them that. Or at least yet.
I flinched when my phone rang, people there not hiding their annoyance. “I apologize, but my phone is programmed to override the silent mode in certain dire circumstances.”
“Can we get that?” two or three of the councilmen said at the same time.
No.
No, I wasn’t trusting anyone with my tech at the moment.
But I took the pause to answer. “Lewis, I’ll get right back with you.”
“Okay, boss, but it’s a murder. It’s the one you’ve been looking for. We’re pretty sure.”
“How sure?” I hedged.
“I would say over fifty percent. Fits the profile, and it was that same vibe from the demon who went in to check,” he told me quietly. “And it’s the first murder from what I can tell. We can maybe do it this time.”
“Don’t jinx it. I’ll be there soon. Good work.”
