Justus laughed as he set the bill on the used tray and handed it to the waiter. “What did you mean about Taylor?” He asked as he bolted the door behind thewaiter.
I sat at the table and pulled the dome from the first plate. Waffle-scented steam puffed out at me, and it took a conscious effort not to moan with pleasure. Ireallylike to eat. “I mean, instead of asking him to vote for your acquittal just because that’s the right thing to do, maybe we should show him that he can’t afford to find youguilty.”
Justus pulled out the chair across from me and sank into it. “And how would that be true?” He uncovered the other plate, and his western omelet smelled so good I almost regretted ordering in favor ofcarbs.
“Well, the best thing I’ve come up with so far is that if he votes in your favor, he could be regaining the council power alliance he lost when he got pissy because Abby choose Jace over hisson.”
“You’re going to have to walk me through thatone.”
“He’s said he’s open to acknowledging the Mississippi Valley Pride, right?” I said as I poured syrup over my big, fluffy Belgian waffle. “If that happens, Titus will be a council member. Which means that for the first time in the history of this country, there will be eleven Alphas, rather than ten.” I cut a bite with my fork and gestured with it. “That’s an odd number. There will never be another tied vote. And the best way for Taylor to make sure he’s on the side that wins is to make friends with the tie-breakingvote.”
“Titus.” Justus looks impressed. “And there’s no better way to do that than by voting not to execute his littlebrother.”
“Exactly,” I said around my firstbite.
He shook a bottle of Tabasco over his omelet. “Do you think he’ll go forthat?”
I frowned at his breakfast. “You didn’t even taste that before you put hot sauce onit.”
“You didn’t taste your waffle before you put syrup onit.”
“But syrupgoesonwaffles.”
“And hot sauce goes on eggs.” He looked right at me and shoveled a huge, spicy bite into his mouth. “Are you going to criticize my breakfast or answer thequestion?”
“I don’t really see that as an either/or scenario,” I said as I broke a strip of bacon in two. “But I think Taylor will go for it. That unofficial alliance will give him avery realadvantage.” I ate one half of the bacon and gestured with the other half. “Titus will clearly be allied with Faythe and Marc, who share a vote, with Rick Wade, and with Bert Di Carlo. And probably with Isaac Wade, through his connections to both Rick—his dad, who’s also the council chair—and Jace—his brother-in-law. That’s five out of eleven Alphas. With Taylor as the sixth, they have a majority vote, and they’ll be able to push through any agenda they want. Unfortunately, the same would be true on the other side, should he ally with the other fiveAlphas.”
“Are they split that evenly oneverything?”
“No, fortunately. Blackwell tends to align with Milo Mitchell, Nick Davidson, and Wes Gardner. But Ed Taylor and Jerold Pierce are issues voters.” I shrugged as I cut another bite. “Not that the others aren’t. They just tend to agree with their allies on the issues. But my point is that if Taylor aligns himself with the Blackwell camp, they’ll lose every time Pierce’s swing vote swings the otherway.”
“Wow. Shifter politics makes D.C. look likeplaytime.”
I spoke around my bite. “I know nothing about humanpolitics.”
“I started watching the news for a government class my first semester in college, and it was like digging a hole until you realize you’re too deep to climb out. So, you keep digging deeper, hoping you’ll find something buried in the sludge to make the effort worth it, but all you get is…filthy.”
“That’s depressing. But yeah, sounds about like Shifter politics. There’s one big difference, though. In the justice system, at least.” I dipped my last bite of bacon in syrup, then ateit.
“And that would be?” Justus watched, amused, while I chewed furiously, holding up one “wait a minute”finger.
Then I made him wait a little longer while I washed the bacon down with half my orange juice. “In the shifter justice system, you’re presumed guilty until proven innocent. Which means the burden of proof is on theaccused.”
“What does that mean for me, in terms of thetrial?”
“I’m not sure. I guess we should call Michael Sanders. Faythe’s brother. He’s an attorney. You don’t really have the right to an attorney in front of the tribunal. At least, not the same way you would in a human courtroom. But he’ll probably get to stay with you, to adviseyou.”
Justus swallowed his last bite of omelet and set his fork on his plate. “Yeah, I was supposed to have a meeting with him, so he could prepme.”
“When wasthat?”
“Yesterday.”
I groaned. “That would have been good to know. Maybe we can reschedule. This probably counts as an emergencysituation.”
“You really think fleeing to Las Vegas counts as anemergency?”
I shrugged as I plucked my phone from my pocket. “I think I can spin it that way.” And frankly, I was pleased that he was even willing to discuss actually standing trial. I pulled up Michael’s contact information and tapped his phone number. He answered on the secondring.
