“Not why I’m here.” She remained standing on the outside of the fenceline, though she wondered if they would allow it. “The Council would like to meet with you.”
Every guard behind Nick started laughing, but he didn’t, though he did smile. “You bitches never do learn any new tricks, do you?”
She didn’t respond to his insult and she just continued on. Clearly she was there for a single purpose. “What should I tell them?”
“You can tell them they can suck my copper-coated cock is what.” Nick stepped forward toward her, completely unafraid of a Skyborn, especially with all his guards nearby, and got within a few steps of her. “If this was any other century, I would send them back your head in an iron cage. If your Council wants to meet with me, they know where to find me.”
The Skyborn looked him up and down. “Copper, huh?” She really was a little mentally off, even for a Skyborn, but she had been the only one who had volunteered. “I’ll tell them.”
“How are my dear friends the Council members these past few days?” Nick asked, still with a friendly lift to his voice that was undercut by the screeching of the gates as they swung at his command. “I thought to see them on our last trip to Switzerland, but they all pissed themselves and ran.”
“They’re healthy and strong. Don’t you worry about them.”
“I’m not worried. But they should be.” Nick sneered, all manner of violence promised in his tone.
The Skyborn swooped low into a bow. “I expect that you and…my Council…will see each other soon.”
“I look forward to it.” He turned around and headed back inside, completely bored with the conversation, and the gates swung themselves locked behind him. He sighed as he got back to his fighters, passing Lea with a look that showed just how tedious he thought the whole thing was. “Well, that didn’t take them long.”
Lea shook her head, but she was glaring out as the Skyborn left. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to wait.” He said as he’d been saying for the past few days whenever someone asked him that question. “We’re going to wait, and we’re going to find a few more friends.”
Lea looked back at the house where his parents stayed, and then back at the disappearing Skyborn. “They’re going to think that we’re incredibly weakened. Under new leadership and with so many dead.” She didn’t say it to be negative, just as a statement of fact. Nick’s father was dying, and it was hard for him to rule more or less alone. Some people were still furious with the way that Nick took over when he didn’t even have a mate, and that he did it for a bitch he didn’t even want anymore.
He stopped and looked at Lea with a challenge in his eyes that wasn’t truly meant for her, but for everyone else around him. “Are you saying we’re weak, Lea?” He said it without moving from where he stood.
“No.” She said firmly, since she didn’t think they were weak. Instead, she looked around at the people. Lea was never one to back down from a growl, even from her perpetually angry Alpha. “And we never will be as long as we remain united and support you, Alpha.”
He nodded to her and to the others. “Not to be forgotten. Now, I need nine teams established, messenger crews of seven wolves each on your recommendations by the end of the night. They have a lot of ground to cover and not much time to cover it in.”
Lea acknowledged his command and went to do as she had been asked. Another captain among his guards would have questioned, asked the purpose of such an order, but never Lea. She had never been contrary when she served his father, when she’d guarded Nick growing up, and Nick was glad to see that she would not be so now.
As soon as Lea stepped away and everyone started to scatter, Zara felt that she could approach Nick without anyone thinking that she had control over him. “They won’t be expecting you to respond so quickly. It’s very wise on your part to act immediately.”
“Why are you still here?” He said as dismissively as he could, walking past her without even making eye contact. “You’ve been given leave to go, so why are you still here?”
She followed him, hands folded, with her eyes on the ground, keeping a few steps behind her. “I want to be here. I want to help.”
“We’re not your people.” He said bitingly. “Your people are up in Amsterdam in their own little Hellfire Club, last time I heard.”
“This is the first time I’ve ever had a choice about where I want to be.” Zara’s voice had none of the same bite in it that Nick’s did. “The first time that I’m no one’s servant, no one’s toy. I want your people to be my people. I want to stay.”
“My people will never be your people.” He stopped and looked over at her closely. “You may stay and do whatever you wish to help those still wounded. Micah and her people tell me you’ve helped a great deal that way in the last few days. But do not stay under the illusion that this will ever be your place. Because it won’t.”
She took a few steps closer to him, one arm swinging at her side, her other hand tracing the outline of a pendant hanging from a fragile chain around her neck. I love your people already. I love their strength, I love their passion, not to mention their jewelry is divine. She said with a smirk. You can’t get rid of me that easily.
I told you to stay out of my head. He growled back at her, definitely unhappy about her intrusion.
Zara took a few steps closer.
