Proof of Life (The Potentate of Atlanta #4) - Hailey Edwards Page 0,95

spots, and we all just sat and let this latest revelation settle around us.

“Do we have to poke the hornets’ nest?” Lisbeth wondered out loud. “Can’t we ward it to keep others out, them in, and leave it be?”

“We could,” Ford said, thinking along the same lines, “but that would mean dumping the problem in someone else’s lap to solve later.”

Oh, how tempting that would be. To drape it around the next potentate’s shoulders when the time came. Except for the fact I had untold years ahead of me and no idea how many of them I would spend as champion of this city. The pack was here, so Midas would stay, which meant I would too, but early retirement sounded sweet right about now.

Thanks to Remy, I had a budding sheet empire to fall back on.

Thanks to Midas, I was co-beta and had a pack to help manage.

Thanks to Linus, I had the cash to do pretty much anything I wanted.

But thanks to Ambrose, I was in a unique position to fight back against the coven.

Atlanta was my home now, and its citizens were mine to protect. I had family here. Midas, Tisdale, Remy, Ford, Bishop, and the rest of the team. I had worked too hard to walk away from my duty because it was hard or scary or—let’s be honest—likely to kill me.

“We can’t,” I contradicted him. “Natisha wants those beating hearts for a reason. Seven of them. That’s a magical number.” I flicked a glance at Bishop, who had warned me realm walking might be in her plans. “Now we’ve got a much clearer idea what doors she can unlock if we give her the right keys.”

“She’s right.” Midas lent his weight to my argument. “We can’t hand Natisha that type of power.”

“You must honor the bargain.” Bishop frowned in Ford’s direction. “You won’t like the consequences if you don’t.”

“We’ll honor the bargain,” I assured him, since we had no choice if we wanted to keep Ford alive. “We’ll just have to find a way around giving her what she wants.”

Lisbeth curled into Ford’s side. “How do we do that?”

“I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “I’m working on it.”

“I’m sorry.” Ford rubbed the base of his neck. “I didn’t mean to make more work for you.”

“You’re worth it,” Lisbeth said with quiet certainty. “You’re a good man, Ford.”

“She’s right.” I smiled at him, but it was as tired as it was true. “You are worth it.”

“The coven is an issue she would have faced regardless.” Bishop tossed in his two cents. “The archive is too. Your role in the bargain is one complication in dozens, the proverbial needle in a haystack by comparison.”

Brow wrinkling, Ford scratched his chin. “Uh, thanks?”

“Sentimentality aside, we need you,” Bishop continued. “You’re a solid enforcer with a decent tactical mind. We need all the brains we can get if we’re going to figure out how to destroy the archive, the coven, the hearts, and Natisha.”

Midas jerked upright, his voice a jagged rasp. “Destroy…Natisha?”

“If we can’t think our way out of your bargain, we have to void it.”

“Goddess,” I breathed. “That’s a bit extreme.”

“And by extreme,” Ford pitched in, “she means virtually impossible.”

“All fae can die.” Bishop shifted uncomfortably. “That doesn’t mean they’ll go down easy.”

A buzz in my pocket had me fishing out my phone, and I fumbled it when I saw the number. “Hey.”

“I’m calling with an update,” Abbott said gently. “Adelaide and Boaz are both well enough to go home, and Matron Pritchard is demanding an early release as well.” He hesitated. “Linus discussed the arrangements for Mr. Whitaker?”

“Yes.” I relaxed in slow increments. “Do you have a facility in mind?”

“I do.” He exhaled. “It’s not cheap, but it’s the best. He said that’s what you wanted.”

“I can afford it,” I assured him. “It’s worth it if it gets him well.”

“I’ll begin the paperwork then.”

“Thanks.”

“With your permission, I’m going to encrypt all four files and transfer them to my home computer.”

That pulled me upright and drew Midas’s attention. “Any particular reason why?”

“There are commonalities between Matron Pritchard, Boaz Pritchard, and yourself that would make you more comfortable if they weren’t in a database where other staff might access their records in the event of an emergency.”

“Oh.”

“Especially since you lack similar commonalities with your sister or your father.”

“Um…”

“You don’t owe me an explanation.” He kept his tone gentle. “You’re Hadley Whitaker, future Potentate of Atlanta, and the mate of my beta. You’re pack. Whatever else you are, whoever else you