and snarly brooding from me, it had been enough that we’d built a relationship.
A small consolation was the few times I had managed to sneak into Faerie to see her, she’d looked bright and free. The first time she was using her magic, the next laughing with her parents, and the third was with her jeweled sisters. Everything she’d hoped to achieve with an extended visit here appeared to be working out.
Truth be told, she’d asked me for this time to try and connect to her fey side, and I owed her my patience in waiting.
And as long as she was safe, we’d get to the rest.
I’d been busy at least, even if the days dragged. The vote had been almost unanimous for choice two, so in the months since the president's demands, we'd formed a task force, allowing that old bastard to assume he had us exactly where he wanted us. None of us were wising him up on the fact that his carefully constructed house of cards was going to fall down soon.
"The first fifty are being called," Braxton told us that night over dinner. "I just got the email."
"We stalled as long as we could," Jessa said with a sigh. "I kept hoping he'd have a heart attack in that time and save us all the trouble."
I had to laugh. "If you could kill him with the power of your mind, Jessa babe," I said, "he'd be six feet under for sure."
Her lips twitched. "He would have been the moment he tried to blackmail my family, taking my Jake away. No one touches my shit unless I say it's okay."
Grace and Mischa exchanged a look. "Thank fuck she likes us," Mischa murmured with a sigh. "Otherwise we'd be down some true mates."
Jessa shrugged, and we all waited for her to disagree, but apparently that wasn’t happening.
"Do you like Justice?" I asked, needing to know.
Jessa was family, and while there was no way she could stop me from pursuing my true mate—my obsession was very real—it would make life difficult.
Jessa's face softened and she even stopped eating, which was a huge deal. "Jake, seriously. I'm half joking.”
Behind her Braxton shook his head, mouthing No, she’s not.
Jessa didn’t even turn her head, choosing to just throw her arm out and punch her mate in the chest. “I am possessive of my family,” she continued like nothing had happened, “but I include Justice in that now. She's proven herself, and I feel the strength of her character when we’re near her. You don’t need it, of course, but for the record, you have my blessing."
She was right, I didn't need it, but it was still a relief.
"So back to the first fifty," Maximus said, scooping his potatoes neatly into his mouth. For a vamp, he was surprisingly fastidious with himself and his eating habits. "Did we get enough volunteers, and do they all know exactly what they signed up for?"
Braxton nodded. "Yeah, the council decided that using American supes for the first recruits was best. We’re hoping that we won’t ever need a second lot.”
The president had just been elected for his second four-year term, and we weren’t sure what information might be passed to the next president. So for now, we’d wait and see.
“I’ve briefed the fifty,” Braxton continued. “We have our few Guilds on the inside, already working to gather evidence against the president. The plan is that within the year, we’ll have him out of office."
"The Guild is actively maneuvering their members to get them into even higher positions among the White House staff," I added, having read the email this morning. "We've been too lax in pushing for that level of power and control. That's all going to change now."
Tyson shook his head. “No more letting the humans off their leash. From now on, we’ll be in control.”
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes on his mate as she ate. It was a hungry look, and since I'd just seen him hoover down enough food for two supes, it had nothing to do with food.
Fuck. I wasn't sure I could stay here around so many mated supes while mine was in another world.
"Ready for bed, love?" Tyson drawled, distracting Grace.
She snorted, waving her fork at him. "It's barely 8 P.M. Way too early for bed."
From the corner of my eyes I could see her smirk, and I loved that she was teasing him. Tyson needed someone to knock him down a few pegs, and no