she needs to move it to next month? Say she’s dealing with Ryder and his bullshit here, or cleaning up his mess and working with him. Whatever’s believable.”
“The two of us working together would not be believable,” I put in.
“It would if Willow can play the role of Goddess,” Luna said from beside Edon. She’d remained quiet for most of the discussion, but she was very much aware.
“Elaborate,” Jace said.
“She’s blonde. Tall for a female. Similar figure. Put her in the right clothes, only show her from behind, keep her away from the crowds, and you have a glimpse of a Goddess.”
Several of us gaped at the woman, including myself. Then I laughed. Because it was fucking brilliant in the most immoral and depraved sense. Which, of course, made me love it. “I can almost feel Lilith rolling over in her… well… the freezer. No grave yet. Or coffin.”
“That might actually work,” Damien said, ignoring me. “I could capture some photos and leak them. We can have her in Ryder’s office when he goes to meet with others in the conference room. He’d just need to shut the blinds as he leaves to give her privacy—something Lilith would demand. For a few weeks? We could totally pull this off.”
“While Jace and I search for the labs in Chicago,” Darius said.
“That also gives us time to reach out to a few of the members on Lilith’s unhappy list,” Jace added.
“Let me do that,” Kylan said. “Everyone knows I’m dissatisfied with Lilith already. It won’t come as a shock when I call and say vile things about her.”
Jace nodded. “Meanwhile, Luka, Logan, and Edon can start working on the clans closest to home. Find out what their pain points are. And, Jolene, it’s time to start reaching out to your older contacts who might be willing to help inspire a revolution within their clans earlier than expected.”
“That’s why you turned out halfway decent,” I said, looking at Edon. “Jolene kept you in line.”
Edon grunted at me, obviously still sour at my commanding his Enforcer up to my room earlier. Well, he’d just have to get over it. Willow needed her friends.
And I needed her.
I checked my phone again to find her no longer in the suite. Frowning, I searched the hallway to see it empty as well.
“Does she know you stalk her?” Kylan asked, looking over my shoulder again.
“Where’d they take her?” I demanded.
Kylan nodded toward the glass doors to where the three of them were approaching. “I told Raelyn they might want to venture upstairs so Willow could agree to the asinine plan of impersonating the Goddess.”
“It’s not asinine,” Luna fired back.
“It’s brilliant,” Edon assured her.
“I didn’t mean to imply it won’t work; it’s just a lot to ask of a recently turned hybrid who will have to mask her scent everywhere she goes in that stench Lilith referred to as a perfume.”
“It really was horrible,” I agreed.
“I know,” Kylan replied. “You would think she’d have chosen a more attractive scent. I mean, particularly as she essentially conquered the world.”
“There’s just no accounting for taste,” I told him.
“Sadly, true,” he murmured as the doors opened. Rae entered first, walking straight to Kylan to sit in the empty seat on the other side of him.
Willow didn’t appear as certain, her surprise at finding herself in a room full of vampires and lycans palpable. I stood to offer her my chair, as there weren’t enough in the room, while Silas wandered over to stand behind Edon and Luna. His smirk told me he was communicating mentally with his triad, a trait I now envied.
“Come, mate,” I said to Willow, holding my hand out for her.
Her eyes smiled at my chosen nickname. I still intended to call her my pet as well, but in this room right now, I needed her title known so they understood she was my partner and equal.
Rather than sit, she stood beside me, allowing me to wrap my arm around her lower back. “Rae mentioned you needed me.” She spoke softly and only to me, not to the room.
“We want to dress you up as Lilith,” Kylan drawled. “For some photo ops.”
Her eyes grew. “What?” She looked at him, then back to me.
“Only from behind,” I told her. Then I elaborated on Luna’s plan—in a far better way than Kylan had—and included why we wanted her to pretend to be Lilith. By the end of my explanation, Willow seemed a little more comfortable.