Rafe gives me a thankful emotion through our mating bond, and I sigh. He’s not in the hot seat tonight, but he’s with Taurus inside observing. I catch the flicker of him trying to control my pissed-off primary and have to suppress a smile. It’s comforting, but not enough to dissolve the tension in this space.
Why the fuck did they ask for this damn thing if they weren’t ready to spill their whiny-ass complaints?
I sense the others with Taurus and Rafe are tuning in to this drama as well. They’re all watching the surveillance feed just to make sure that if someone flips a table, they’ll know before the shards hit the ground. Everyone is present, waiting for a page in case tempers boil over and someone needs to be physically restrained. That will violate the rules, but I don’t give a fuck. I asked them to do it when Deli wasn’t around so we had backup that wouldn’t destroy the entire neighborhood like she could if she loses her mind.
Lily shifts tactics. “If you want to go, you can go. But Deli, you’re on deck. We’re all here to speak honestly.” She sets the stick down on the table between us, a dare.
What is going on with this bitch tonight? I’m about to punch her.
I look at Deli, and she gives me a tiny, grateful nod. Her relief is palpable, even as the tension stays. I take the stick, roll it between my fingers, and start talking because someone has to.
“I think what’s happening here is we’re all dancing around the same problem. We’re afraid that if we tell the truth, someone will make us pay for it. But we can’t keep pretending that everything is fine, because it’s not.” I glance at Lily, and then at Deli. “If we’re going to survive as a community, we have todiscuss our issues like adults and resolve them without a bunch of backstabbing bullshit. Otherwise, we’ll just tear each other apart.”
My words hang there, and for a split second I think maybe something will move forward, but Lily is already on the rebound.
“Thank you for starting the discussion,” she says, her voice full of frost. “Now, Deli.”
Deli’s face is flushed with irritation and upset, but she doesn’t let her governmental partner continue to fuck with her. Her voice is firmer now that she’s emboldened by my intervention. “I want everyone to stop treating me like I caused these problems. I make mistakes, as we all do, but that’s not why we’re having this meeting. Can we just say what we really mean, instead of playing these games?”
Lily’s lips twitch, and I note the satisfaction there. She wanted an emotional confession, and now she’s gotten one. “That feels like it’s re-directing blame, but it’s a start,” she says. “Anyone else?”
After this meeting, I’m going to kick her hippie-looking ass.
The current in the room shifts at Lily’s statement. I can see already that the meeting will not end well—that the first crack in the dam was just the start. It seems civil now; however, there’s zero chance that it won’t get ugly. Wondering how long it will take to devolve is the unbearable part, and I’m going to go insane as these dipshits sit here like mannequins until it does.
“I’m not even sure what the issues people have are,” Marina says, giving us a sheepish look. “I came because I care about our home.”
I look over at the woman I’d never even heard of before tonight, much less met. “I think everyone appreciates you saying that. Nice to meet you, by the way.”
Marina looks overjoyed, and I grin to myself. The bird isn’t the only one who can charm these idiots to help our mate.
Shaking her head, Tamara finally frowns and says, “I don’t want to tell you what I think the issues are. That’s the problem; I want the Council to tell us what they think is wrong. Then we’ll know if they even see the bad things or if they are too insulated from us.”
“As far as I know, the Council has received at least two complaint letters,” Sari pipes up. “No response has been issued, but that means they cannot claim to be unaware.”
I’m going to kill that stubbly little bitch before this night is out—I can feel it in my bones.
“I can’t start by pitching problems,” Lily answers. “I’m more interested in creating a better future than re-hashing the past.”
Michaela and Tamara both nod, murmuring about fixing the future and examining the past for clues.
Good try, Lily, but that will not stop this train.
I sigh and look out at the women relaxing comfortably due to the hospitality of my mate while making her so upset that she almost fried our family into oblivion. Someone has to kick them in the ass and it’s going to be me because I’m tired of this horseshit.
“I thought the reason we came here was to air our issues and work on fixing them. How do we do that if you refuse to state what they are?”
The crowd murmurs under its breath, looking around at one another again. Not surprising—Sari’s coached them to push to get the past on the discussion table. She wants to drag everyone down into the mud with her, and this is how she’s going to do it.
This is going to fucking suck so goddamned badly.
I reach over and steal my mate’s drink, and she raises a brow. Without a word, she floats another scotch for herself. Once I’ve taken a hefty drink, I look them all in the eye as I prepare to continue speaking.
“I want this to be a safe place to live, work, and play. I don’t see how re-hashing the past will aid in that, but I will do so if it helps,” my mate cuts in before I get words out. “Many times when people come to Lily and me privately, they express emotions but refuse to name names. We hear rumors; we get bits and pieces. We don’t always know the complete story, and it prevents us from acting on the information. Also, we can’t act on behalf of a third party. The person with an issue has to come to us in person, through email, or by phone. We can’t go around accusing people of misdeeds based on hearsay.”
Lily adds, “I don’t know what happened that sparked the need for a meeting. I don’t know about any problems that I’ve not been spoken to about. I hear whispers after things happen—like this morning I heard a troubling rumor that is full of inaccurate information about a council decision.”
Jesus. I don’t even have a past with these people, and I’m already angry.
