“And you’re going to do what with it all?” Mr. Rothchild asked.
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
That surprised even Mel, her blinking at me almost amusing.
“If we use it to take out the warlock elders as things are… What will happen?”
Julian groaned. “People like the head of my bloodline will step up and step in to fill the seats, as they fit the requirements.”
“Exactly. That doesn’t help us with the way things are. But, it gives us leverage. We do a few small things, and they know we got the information and found their skeletons.”
“Or they come after you harder,” Claudia argued.
“They aren’t now?” I challenged. “They are coming hard because they are united. We let them know I have what I need to go after one of them, and after they were willing to sell out Ainsworth, and since they’ve been fighting nonstop—”
“They won’t risk it will be them you will go after specifically,” Darby grumbled, knowing how my brain worked. “And that’s enough for now, but you plan to, once you get more help.”
I snorted. “Yeah, that was the plan, but I’ll have to reassess if we find any that are help.” I mentally winced when I remembered that Neldor had to be there, and then caught sight of him leaning against the windows with steam practically coming out of his ears. “This gives us more options and leverage. We just need to figure out how far we let people know.”
“That’s smart,” Geiger approved. “If only you know, they’ll take you out to keep their secrets. If others know, then they’ll retreat and not risk so much wrath.”
I went to agree, but my phone beeped with Marisol’s emergency message number notification. My eyes went wide as I read what it said. “Well, one of them isn’t taking the chance because Marisol just warned me a hit was taken out on me. She doesn’t know the guy, but we do.”
“Who?” Lucca snarled, several people echoing the question and aggression.
They did not chill when I told them the name of a bigwig in the Underground almost everyone in our world knew about. I only did because he was one of the main players who had attacked Alpha Geoff’s pack when escorting something the Underground wanted to steal. The guy had done a lot of unspeakable things and was very much at the top of all the lists to take out as a threat.
And one of the warlock elders had contacted him with an offer of five million dollars if he could kill me; seven, if he could deliver my body so they could prove I was a witch and take over all my everything. The amount of outrage and cursing in my kitchen when I told them that part was enough to make my ears ring.
“He needs to be taken out, and now,” Neldor declared firmly.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with him,” Lucca grumbled.
“And who will take his place?” I asked again. “The smarter play is to get the proof and slip it to the media. Let everyone else be outraged he would go to that level and work with Underground to murder a supe—a supe they believe to be one of theirs—and that takes away the play of this guy accepting the contract.”
“It also lets them know you’ve been watching this whole time, probably all of them, and that’ll freak them out,” Zack added, smiling when I did. “Nice. Fine, we won’t spank you for poking them.”
I snorted. “I would kick your ass all over the place if you tried.”
“And me?” Darby demanded, still not happy with me.
I gave him my best innocent face. “You can spank me all you want, lover.”
“I plan to,” he bit out.
Oh shit, I was really in trouble.
Yay?
18
Lucca and Darby both dragged me off upstairs while everyone was still talking. I tried to object and ended up over Lucca’s shoulder again, rolling my eyes how that seemed to keep happening.
Getting stripped naked the moment we got to my room wasn’t new either.
Being flipped over Lucca’s lap was.
“Bad mate,” he growled as he swatted my ass.
“Bad girlfriend,” Darby added as he smacked the other cheek.
I opened my mouth to bitch, but then bit my lip when they did it again and I wanted to moan. Like moan.
“You seriously went to egg on the fucking warlock elders and push their buttons on their turf when they’re all after you?” Lucca bitched, slapping my skin several times.
“I had the barrier and—”
“You can’t sense traps yet, Tamsin,” Darby snapped, spanking me as well. “We know that now. Zack and Ray outed you that you kept almost dying saving hobgoblins because you can’t sense the fucking magical traps and objects!”
They were both flung away from me when my barrier went up and I fell to the floor, curling in a ball, hiding away from them.
“Fuck,” Lucca groaned from somewhere across the room. “What just happened?”
“I think we triggered her PTSD,” Darby muttered. “Agra, are you okay?”
I didn’t answer, pulling the comforter off the bed and wrapping it around my nakedness. We had gone way over the line of play, from slap and tickle to their anger surrounding me, and hitting. Logically, I knew it wasn’t the same but… I wasn’t wrong either. We should have had the argument and upset and then went to the play punishment.
This was over the line for me who had suffered so much abuse, and I was upset they hadn’t taken more care with me.
“I’m sorry, kitten,” Lucca whispered from outside of my barrier. “I’m so, so sorry. I was trying not to get really angry and not be an Alpha dick. I was trying to keep it playful, but we went too far. You’re right, we
