the curfew. Rescind your lies about me. And leave all othernaturals alone.”
Her gaze narrowed and her lip curled in plain disgust. “I will not rest until your kind are tagged and contained. Or exterminated. I’ll take whichever comes first. Your kind are a plague and the sooner you’re eliminated, the sooner humans will be safe again.”
“My kind have existed beside humans since the beginning of time. Humans are in no more danger now than they were then. My kind are doctors and teachers, police officers and stay-at-home mothers. They work hard. They contribute to society. They love their children. They pay their taxes. They are not the enemy. You are.” His blood went hot with anger, easing the pain still lingering in his bones from the beating he’d taken at her command. “This meeting is over.”
“What’s to stop me from shooting you right here? All I’d have to do is say that you attacked me and I shot in self-defense. People already think you’re a murderer.”
“And lose your chance to kill me in public?” He wagged his finger at her and started inching closer to the opposite wall. That also moved him slightly toward the senator, but his only thought was to get that gun aimed in a direction where it had less chance of hitting Harlow.
Pellimento paled as he came closer, her hand finally showing small tremors. She sidestepped away. “If you even try to touch me—”
“Touching you is the last thing on my mind.” He nodded toward the exit. “You know my demands. You have an hour to make a statement and undo all the damage you’ve done.”
She didn’t budge. “Or?”
“Or…” He shrugged. “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Are you threatening me?” She lifted the collar of her suit jacket toward her mouth and spoke into the lapel. “I’m being threatened. Do you hear that? The fae who murdered my son is now threatening me.”
Cy and Dulce began to meow and hiss. Augustine gave them a little shake of his head as two police officers appeared at the mouth of the alley. She waved the gun in Augustine’s direction. “Arrest him.”
One officer started toward Augustine. He stopped at the senator’s side. “Ma’am, we’d be happy to escort you out of here and back to whatever address you’d like to go.”
Happy wasn’t really how Augustine would describe the look on the officer’s face. Minimal tolerance was more like it. Augustine raised his hand to his forehead in a small salute. “Officer.”
Pellimento looked at the cop in horror. “What? Arrest him!”
The officer rested one hand on his gun belt. “Also, ma’am, I’m going to need to see your carry permit for that weapon.” He held his other hand out. “Until then, I’ll be taking possession of it.”
She jerked the gun away from him. “I am a senator of the Southern Union.”
“And I am an officer of the New Orleans Police Department. I’ll give you one more chance to hand over the weapon and leave peacefully.”
Sputtering like she might blow a vein, Pellimento gave the officer the gun and left with him. She kept glancing over her shoulder, sparks shooting from her gaze like bottle rockets going off.
Dulce swiped a claw at her as she walked past.
As soon as she was gone, Augustine released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. The adrenaline in his system had blocked a lot of his pain. Now it came rushing back. He grabbed hold of the dumpster’s edge as his vision started to tunnel in.
Harlow was instantly there, ducking under his arm to support him. “You don’t look so hot.”
“Don’t feel it, either.” He closed his eyes, trying to hang on to consciousness. “You get what you need?”
“Everything. You were perfect.”
“Great.” He almost managed a smile but every inch of him throbbed too much to figure out what his face was doing. Cy and Dulce reappeared in their fae forms. For a moment, he saw four of them. “I should… probably go back to the… the…”
Then everything went black.
Chapter Thirty
It’s been an hour.” Harlow walked from one side of Augie’s attic room to the other. She’d set up a holovision in the room and since Dr. Carlson had left, they’d been monitoring the local news, watching for an indication that the senator might actually make some kind of apology and set things right.
Augie was propped up with a pile of extra pillows, a pain strip firmly attached to his ribs, which were now bound. He glanced at his LMD on