Talia’s behavior was both normal and completely out of pocket. Nobody knows what she will do next now that she’s bouncing off Deli and Rafe. Instead of freaking out and making herself a visible villain, she showed restraint and came off angry, but more reasonable than she ever has before. It hurts our case thatshe’s unrestrained violence and we’re all justifiably afraid of her. I haven’t figured out how to solve that complication yet and it pisses me off.
She and Deli clearly have a code, a language of glances and micro-gestures that is impossible to decipher from the outside. When Talia issued her ‘exclusive’ declaration, she made certain my ex-lover was okay with it. Deli’s face in that moment was an interesting mix of dismay, affection, calculation, and acceptance laced together with a thread of genuine surprise. She wasn’t ready to admit that out loud, and Talia did it to lob a grenade at me.
It worked, but not exactly how the ex-Cabal leader wanted it to.
In the past few days, I’ve been combing over the security videos, searching for subtle tells that betray what Deli and Talia are planning. I saw an elaborate ballet of avoidance; the Pride women never once stepped over the line when it came to Deli’s position as co-mayor, nor as members. The cat made certain people humanized her over and over via the baby, while Talia got them to see her in a less adversarial atmosphere with no real ‘power’. It was a brilliant strategy, especially since the video showed everyone who misbehaved from all the angles, even the ones we would have preferred remain unseen.
Wilde has watched with me, and so has Belle, though we’ve kept that from Amanda and my family. I’m hoping to see what I missed in the thick of it, but it’s like reading a story where entire chapters have been torn out. There’s something going on that I can’t see or hear; that’s how they stayed in synch even though Lily sometimes didn’t support the cat as I would have expected
Belle keeps telling me to let the situation unfold on its own, but she doesn’t see the angles the way I do. I know there’s a spot touse Lily’s obvious disenchantment with Deli’s withdrawal from others and Talia’s stupid ‘no genitals’ zone. However, something in my gut says there’s more to it than that. I’m missing a bigger button to push that could break this shit apart.
Even so, I have a plan; I always do.
Tonight, I asked Belle to meet me on the rooftop of The Zoo. There are no cameras, just the wind and the lights of the Resistance Quarter below like frozen fireworks. She arrived wearing a coat two sizes too large for her, which meant she’d been with Havoc earlier. My exiled friend sits cross-legged on the parapet, looking out into the distance not at me. I think she’s actually happy to be living full-time in Safe Haven and frustrated that I made her come here.
“We need to get Amanda to push the limit. I think that plan will ensnare your ex and when it does, we will sever their ties. You know how Talia is; she hasn’t changed, nor has Taurus. It’s the best route to an easy victory.
Maybe, but it will also deep-six any chance of Wilde and I getting what we truly want.
“Amanda’s not ready,” I say grimly. “Her loyalty is strengthening, but we’d need her to convince her droid. I don’t know if she’s dumb enough to sell him out for good to help us. She will know that it’s going to fuck up his shit forever; there’s no coming back from it.”
“No one is until they’re asked to serve.” Belle doesn’t turn to face me as she shrugs. “It’s better this way. If she thinks it was her idea, she won’t fight it so hard. That’s the angle you need to take.”
I want to argue, but her logic is unimpeachable. Talia’s entire identity is tied to being exclusive—with Taurus, with Rafe, and now with Deli. That much hasn’t changed despite her foray into polyamory. I’m sure the cat got around that by saying it was while she’s preggers, but once she’s not? It will be hard for her to turn away from those she cares about. But we don’t have that long to wait—who knows how long a goddamn clone baby will gestate?
Belle is right; we need to force her hand now so it splinters that family group.
We sit in silence for a while after that as I think. The sky above us is dark because there’s no moon tonight. I think about all the people in this community, each with drama of their own, and wonder how many of them are willing to fight as hard as we are. Would they follow us into a war like in olden times? I’m not sure the Resistance that exists now is as tough and disciplined as the one that took down the Cabal.
“Do you think Constantine will play along?” Belle says finally. “I can’t stand to be around him, so you’d be the expert.”
“He’s easy enough to manipulate,” I reply. “Especially because he’s all mopey about losing his Twinkles. If Amanda has given him the run-down from the meeting, it will help us push him over the edge.”
Belle laughs, the sound full of delight and evil. There’s a reason I like her. “You’re not worried that Deli will know you’re behind it, aren’t you?”
“No,” I lie. I am concerned about that, but she doesn’t need to know that. Belle has her own jealousy issues and Deli is at thecenter of them. “I’m sure she’ll be too busy getting her heart ripped in half by her fellow Pride members to worry about me.”
What I want to say is that Belle is no different than anyone else in my sphere—useful at times, but deluded if she thinks that she’s a main character.
But instead, I look at her seriously. “We’re putting this in motion. Get your people to help. Be careful getting out of here; if you get caught, there will be hell to pay.”
Once I’m home,I head straight for my room to change. I find a card on my pillow in Wilde’s handwriting and smile to myself. He’s always leaving little missives around now, and it’s nice to have them be to and about me for the first time in a long time.
“Have you found clarity around our issue, beloved?” Wilde asks as he appears in the doorway and I yelp in surprise.
“Jesus fuck, Wilde!”
He grins wickedly. “One would think your canine instincts would have smelled me before I was able to spook you.”
I smile, a small, involuntary twitch that neither of us believes. He knows that I’m not quite as integrated with my coyote as I’d like and definitely not as much as the cat is with her feline.
“I’m working on it,” I say, and it comes out less confident than I wanted.“What do you want?”
My mate considers, his head cocked like a bird of prey trying to triangulate the source of a faint sound. We never really stop playing the game, not even in the long after-hours when everyone else is either asleep. “I believe we should use the opportunity that the meeting created inadvertently," he says, the words measured and heavy. “Not only to strike back at our enemies but also to teach everyone a lesson in loyalty.”
The word ‘loyalty’ makes me smirk. I watch him, waiting to see if this is a test of my resolve. “How do we do that?” I ask carefully. “What kind of mischief do you have in mind?”
Wilde leans in, his lips almost grazing my ear. “We use their remaining ties to sever their bond. If we plan thoroughly, we will drive a wedge between those we wish to be rid of and our family.” His breath is warm and for a moment I feel a pang of nostalgia—of the days when things were simpler and alliances were forged on the basis of shared hunger.
