“Fuck, man, and Ian accusesmeof being turned on.”
He chuckles as I pull away, turning to lean against the opposite side of the couch. Not because I’m opposed, but because it does raise a few red flags that he’s trying to distract me and avoid answering. I know he needs to keep a certain level of secrecy with whatever he has going on, but if he plans to bring us into the fold, I want to know what we’re getting into. If we see too much and then decide we don’t want to be a part of it, I might very well wind up with a second bounty on my head despite being Hawk’s mate.
He adjusts himself before thumping his head back on the arm of the couch. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I just-“ he scrubs a hand down his face before pinning me with his bright blue eyes, jaw tight “-I don’t have as much of a block as the frost giant does. Harder to squash down my instincts and you just smell so damn enticing.”
“You like peaches, I take it?” My breathless chuckle does little to lessen the intensity in his stare.
“I like licking their juice off of you,” he responds, voice gravely like he’s barely keeping himself in check. “But no, gorgeous, it’s all you that has my mouth watering.”
“That’s enough.” A second later I’m lifted off of the couch and set back on Rheyas’ lap. “Pretty sure she asked you a question, wolf.”
Don’t wiggle around on his lap, don’t do it. He’s going to push you onto the floor.
Leaning back into Rheyas’ chest, I try not to focus on every hard ridge and muscle, but I swear, the man was hewn from stone. Even though I have the restraint of a damn angel and manage to keep myself from rubbing against him, it doesn’t stop me from thinking about it.
When a heavy hand falls on my knee I startle, mind in the gutter and distracted. As he tightens his fingers, it only serves to send my heart sprinting, my breaths quickening.
“You were asking a question?” Ian prompts, smirking, and I shake my head as if that action alone can dislodge all of the depraved ideas rattling around in there.
“Right.” Glaring at Hawk, I gesture for him to start talking. “Not sure what kind of succubus magic you’ve got going on there, but stow it so we can talk.”
That seems to help dissipate the heavy sexual tension saturating the air a bit as he barks out a laugh. “Just my natural animal magnetism, love, no tricks.” Clearing his throat, he sits up more, trying to get the right head in the game.
“We want to change society. We aren't trying to get everybody to be a big happy family right now; that’s just impossible, currently. There’ll be a lot of bloodshed, so we’re leaning towards having the different species break off to govern themselves and coexist.
“Right now, we’re laying the foundation; an undertaking of these proportions doesn’t happen overnight, or hell, even within a couple of years. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but we want to do this right, not fuck it up by getting ahead of ourselves because we’re impatient to see real change.”
Taking a deep breath, he runs a hand through his dark brown hair. “Currently, we’re working on befriending the more influential mages and stronger shifters, sway them to the idea. Once we get those two species on board, refusing to keep tolerating what the humans are doing and start pushing back, it’ll remind the humans of the strength we hold.
“While humans hide behind their guns and vast numbers, that’s all they have going for them. Put a single mage up against a dozen unarmed humans, he’ll kick their asses. Throw a wolf into a herd of the sheep?” His eyes alight with something dark, and it’s clear that while these people are the lesser evil, they aren’t exactly good either. “It’ll be a massacre. Just one of us has the power to cripple them, so what would happen if we banded together? They hold onto their strength by pushing the shifters into the fringe towns and wilds, of spinning a narrative that we’re feral abominations to incite hatred and a shoot on sight mentality.
“Mages?” he scoffs. “You know the sort of blackmail they resort to to pretend that your power is something that they control like they have some sort of right to it.”
Ian leans forward, intrigued. “So you’re currently planting sleeper cells, more or less?”
Hawk licks his lip, smirking. “An entire network thriving in broad daylight, gradually destroying the humans' weapons, and other sources of their power. And all the while we’re working on the end goal.”
I sit up straighter, lust draining away as I catch his meaning. “You’re not going to take over the cities and divvy them up between the species; you’re setting up the new territories.”
He shoots a finger gun in my direction, grinning. “Hard to start over when there are too many fresh, painful memories associated with them. The humans can keep their cities, we don’t want them. We can do some renovations on the smaller fringe towns for the mages, but only the ones closest to the wilds are we willing to actually risk starting on this early. Mostly we’re raising funds and supplies, creating plans, and gathering workers.
Rheyas’ arm wraps around my waist, almost like he needs to remind himself I’m not about to be shipped off to a designated site. “And the shifters?”
Hawk cracks his neck. “They’ve already built their own territories out here next to the wilderness, as far away from society as possible.”
Running my tongue over my top teeth, I ask a bit harsher than I intend, “And what of setups like us? Interspecies couples? Don’t you think it’s taking a huge step backwards on that front? Where would people like us live?”
Throwing up his hands in surrender, he rushes out, “Not black and white, love. There are plenty of mated people in the underground handling that issue specifically. We’re thinking it’ll be a similar set up to what we’re dealing with now; plenty of judging and issues in certain areas, and more tolerant towns. Remember, our goal isn’t to segregate everyone, it’s to remove ourselves from the humans’ dictatorship. But you can’t think that after living like this for so long and then finally being free, any race is going to simply accept mages or shifters taking over as leaders?
“Everyone is going to believe they can do a better job than the other, and honestly? After this much trauma we all need a step back to reevaluate and cool down, let everyone feel like they’re in control of their own lives, and realize that their freedom isn’t going to be stripped away at the drop of a hat. Everybody needs some time to let their wounds heal before coming around to the idea that a council made up of representatives from each race is ideal. The main problem?”
I sigh. “That it’s not going to happen in this generation, maybe not even the next. That hatred is ingrained into our beings, taught to us as we learn to walk, and we’ve dealt with too much. It’ll only be new generations that don’t have to suffer the way we did that will have any hope that things can be different because they’ll come into the situation with fresh eyes and less inherent hatred.”
“Exactly,” he says on a sigh, looking exhausted already. “It’s a massive undertaking that will only be accomplished by working together and being patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but we’re hoping that society can shift before there’s nothing left worth trying to save.”
We all let his words sink in, trying to wrap our heads around them. What he’s doing, it’s not just making friends and sabotage; they gather intel, stop other people from trying to rise to power before they can. Hell, he admitted right off the bat that they’d been observing the company that killed Sadie, which means if they can’t sway those mages to their cause, they’ll kill them. Something like this, people are willing to do terrible things in favor of the greater good, of preserving their dreams.
It’s not as inspiring as he seems to think it is, because this feels an awful lot like a cult. After all, how many horrible things have been done in the name of religion? Who are they to decide the world needs to bend to their ideals?
