I felt Oakley stiffen again. “You mean us, right? We’re the new team?”
Garrick grimaced, but before he could speak and put his foot in his mouth right after the two of them finally made up, Tan grabbed his forearm and said, “I’ve called in some reinforcements. We’ll need witches to help combat the blood magic. But we’re still figuring out details, okay? We haven’t decided who’s going.”
And now, I was pissed too. Oakley opened their mouth, but I jumped in first, saying, “Oak and I are the only reason we’ve gotten this far in the first place. We should be leading a team there. We—”
“Roman, I don’t know if you two should—”
Oakley cut their father off. “Are you kidding me? I grew up in Olkport. I know the area, and I know Gepisha’s Iron. I know them, Dad. I can help. I’m probably the most qualified person here.”
“They’re right, Gar,” I said. “They’re the most qualified. Not only that, but the two of us have been on this from the beginning. This is our case. We never wanted to be benched in the first place. You can’t take this away from us again. Please, Garrick. It’s everything we’ve been working toward for months.”
Garrick stared at a folder on the table in front of him with his grumpiest expression on his face. After a long moment, he sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, clearly frustrated,before he looked between Oak and me. “I don’t want to send you into danger. This is obviously very—”
To my surprise, it was Phaeron who cut Garrick off this time. “Garrick?” Gar turned toward him. “Oakley and Roman have both been put in dangerous situations before. I’m afraid it’s a part of the job. But they both know how to handle themselves, and they’re right. Oakley’s knowledge could be very useful and could be the difference between a successful mission and a devastating one. And I, for one, would be honored to follow them into this battle.”
My eyebrows were raised in surprise, but a rush of gratefulness came over me. Out of all the vampires here, I never would’ve thought it’d be Phaeron who’d stick up for us.
Beshiro added, “The three of us”—he motioned to himself and his brothers—“would love to be on the team with Oakley and Roman. I believe the five of us together would be an unstoppable force.”
Garrick was grinding his teeth so hard I could hear it from here. “I’ll think about it.”
Oakley opened their mouth with anger in their eyes, but I gently squeezed their leg and tried to communicate,“Give him time. He’ll come around.”
I wasn’t sure if they heard me or if they simply understood my gesture, but they gave me a small nod, and the two of us refocused on the meeting.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Oakley
For a good two hours, I thought I was going to have to either threaten my father—telling him I’d never speak to him again—or I’d have to sneak out in the middle of the night and fly to the Olkport Territory to take out the trafficking leader myself. But then my dad spoke at the very end of the meeting.
“Fine. The five of you can go with Rome and Oak taking lead. But you’re taking the reinforcements we called in, okay? You also need to pick five more guards to take with you. Think about who else you want and ask them—this isn’t a demand. You need to ask for volunteers. Alright?”
I nodded vigorously, and Roman said, “Absolutely,” while the three vampires agreed as well.
Rome asked, “Who did you call in?”
My dad made a weird face, like sort of a grimace that also wanted to turn into a… smile? Or something. Weirdo. “I called Ailin Ellwood. I believe he’s bringing his viramore and a couple of his kids, who all work for the BCA over there. They’re coming as a favor to me, not any kind of international government deal or anything like that, so they said they’ll follow your lead.”
Oh. Well, those were some good people to have as backup.
Dad continued, “Please remember that we’re keeping this quiet. I let the Olkport Territory leader know what was going on, but she doesn’t want this getting out. She doesn’t want her people knowing this trafficking operation was headed in her territory.”
“Got it,” Jed said while the others simply nodded like me.
After a moment, I asked, “Do you know who Ailin’s bringing?”
“Uh… I think he mentioned Basil and Thayer, perhaps? And I assume they’ll bring along their viramores as well.”
“Probably.” I grinned. I liked Basil, Thayer, Hiro, and Toby. A lot. They were good people. “That was a good call.”
My dad’s eyebrows rose like he was surprised I’d complimented his and Tan’s decision, but all he did was nod.
“Let’s get going,” Roman said, interrupting whatever weird staring thing my dad had going on. “We have a lot to do to prepare.”
Dad glanced at him, then met my gaze. “Please be careful.”
“I will, I promise.”
