There was a pause and then a soft chuckle. “Oh, she is good. Hand the phone over to your lovely girlfriend, yes, I’ll speak with her.”
Nice. I smiled as I took the phone from him, the vampire shaking his head at our antics. “I thought it would be better if Darby called you to schedule that dinner at a Cherrywood resort your mate is apparently so excited about.”
“Well, well, that’s already reached your ears? That’s fast, even for our world,” she muttered, losing her amusement.
“Apparently, it has thrown some warlock elders into a tizzy,” I admitted after a moment. “Off the record, of course.”
“Of course. It’s best we probably say this call never even happened.”
“I’d prefer that, or Darby called you to set up that dinner.”
“Yes, but not so late at night or tongues will wag. In the morning, I would love to speak with him and do exactly as you said. I’ve only been to one Cherrywood resort and while lovely, it was under different management and the event wasn’t to my taste.”
I bit back a snort. I could only imagine given how dirty the elite vampires who had controlled most of the company had been.
“We love calm, pleasant dinners,” I promised her. “Our dates normally include some sort of food challenge, as he enjoys my startling humans with how much I can eat, but I’ll try to behave myself. My guards like those dates too, as they sit at another table and polish off hundreds of wings right with me.”
She laughed so hard, I thought she might drop the phone. Nice.
“Off the record, you understand they did what they did to help you, not set certain men into a tizzy, yes?”
“I do, which is why I’m calling. Our assumption was something I gave them panned out, and they were able to act on it.”
“Yes, one councilman will not have his place, or his head, after tonight,” she bit out, sounding like she was fighting the need to growl or her wolf take over.
I snorted. “If only the other councils handled their people like that, this world would be so much better. The corruption on the other councils is—not one warlock elder is remotely clean. The only vampires who are ignore everything the others do, so they’re just as guilty, as they know and do nothing but stick their heads in the sand.”
“Yes, and they are the other two biggest councils,” she sighed. “The dragon royals are the fourth most powerful group, but they took heavy hits when Africa and Australia were overthrown. That was when the corruption spiraled out so bad. It has been incremental since the fairies left, but that was the catalyst. There was no balance anymore.”
“And other shifters are following their lead instead of the wolves,” I worried.
“How do you know this?”
I snorted again. “A hawk councilmember tried to have me arrested for stealing from him without listing what was stolen and when it happened, so it wasn’t in the report it was hobgoblins. The conditions we’re learning of that they endured is—humans don’t allow their pets to be treated that way. It’s sick. And those are the elite and leaders. It’s all off the rails and terrifying.”
“So you are the one saving them,” she murmured.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” I chuckled darkly. “I simply run the havens they’ve been coming into.”
“Of course. My mistake,” she purred.
Oh, I liked her.
“The problem with the warlocks not acting reasonable is trying to figure out what to do next. Backing off would make things worse.”
“Yes, as they would jump on any chance and think their pressure worked and your council would bend to them. Their egos would see it as such.”
She didn’t answer right away, sighing heavily. “Yes, yes, such egotistical men would. That is disturbing.” There was tapping in the background and I realized it was her nails on a hard surface. “There is something I want and it isn’t difficult—it benefits you even—but I want to be upfront that I do have a goal in all of this.”
“I adore your refreshing honesty instead of treating me like moron that can easily be manipulated,” I blurted, shocked down to my toes that someone was being straight with me.
“I appreciate yours as well,” she chuckled. “I would like you to broker a meeting with Queen Sasha. I would like to be her ally and get to know her better, but there is history. Not ours. Our mothers did not get along, and I’m sure mine told me she was wronged, as Queen Sasha’s told her the same. We weren’t even alive, so we won’t know, and I would like to leave it with our mothers who are both gone.”
“I can’t see that being a problem. She’s not one to hold grudges, and certainly not for the sins of someone else. I would do that without your help, but what are you offering to help with?”
“I offer my friendship, for one. As your friendship with Queen Sasha has made parties think twice about trying for you, a friendship with the mate of the high elder of the wolf shifter council is protection.”
“Thank you, but I’m truly friends with Mrs. Vogel, and I don’t use people like that.”
“You really are as lovely and honorable as my mate said,” she whispered, sounding shocked. “I still would give it and we can get to know each other, Ms. Vale. You’re doing a lot of good we wish to help with. We might not be able to do as much as we would like, as you’re not a wolf, but it’s not only your fight you’re engaging in.”
I nodded, even if she couldn’t see it. I’d heard that
