about my mate in the first place? I only told you I’d found my true mate – I didn’t say who he was, where we were, or what my mate can do.”
Burton sneered, and Rocky, who’d been standing on the other side of the table, leaned over it and snapped his teeth above the bowl. Watching Burton jump back and then flounder because the sides of the bowl were very steep had Dian internally chuckling.
“Joran, Joran Stone and Brach – they are telling everyone who’ll listen to them at the council offices,” Burton yelled quickly. “Brach is pissed off, him and Stone both. To hear Brach tell it, he only sent Stone to stalk the mayor’s kids because he was worried about them. Fae kids don’t do so well with shifter parents.”
“That’s bullshit as well,” Dian said firmly. “Ra and Seth have already worked out a deal with the Brach lawyers to keep their kids safe.”
“Yeah, well…” Burton pushed one of his men who had the audacity to fall against him. “Brach is more interested in saving his hide and trying to hang onto his company; he doesn’t want to spend the next hundred years banished to the fae realm. He’s busy telling the council prosecutors how if he’s allowed to keep his position, his company can ensure the stability of paranormals everywhere due to his secret weapon – namely your mate.”
“Since when did I become a weapon?” Kee cried. “I work in a bar.”
“Excuse me!” Burton waved at the men around him. “Look what you did to us.”
“I could make you a lot smaller.” Leaning over the bowl, Kee held up his hand showing a gap of about half an inch. “I could shrink you down until you ceased to exist. You hurt my mate. He was bleeding. In our house. You don’t have that right.”
“He wouldn’t let me talk to you.”
“I didn’t want to talk to you,” Kee shot back. “I don’t need your protective custody. I don’t need anything except my mate and my friends. I’m safe here – safe for the first time in my entire life, or I was until you shits came along. You don’t have the right to lock me up, detain me, or put me in protective custody simply because of my genetics.”
“The dust you have could be of a huge boon to paranormals everywhere.” Burton knew how to argue his case. “Think of the good you can do.”
“I know the good I can do.” Kee huffed. “I helped save a rabbit shifter not that long ago. I saved my mate, although you were totally doing an awesome job against four attackers, babe,” he added over his shoulder.
Dian chuckled out loud this time. “My ego’s not hurt having you fly in and save me, looking like Tinkerbell on speed.”
“See, you get me.” Kee grinned at him. “I was totally thinking all I needed was a tutu and a wand and people would think I was Tinkerbell’s brother. But you,” his smile fell away as he turned back to Burton. “Why didn’t anyone on your illustrious council think to come and ask me if I wanted to sell my dust for the greater good. Why did they send a man with goons at his back, instead of lawyers with a proposal and contract for the dust I create?”
“The council prefers to show might instead of right,” Mal said from where he was making coffee in the kitchen. “It totally makes sense to them to bully a prospective asset instead of woo him.”
“You’d sell your dust?” Burton looked incredulous. Dian was surprised about Kee’s idea too, although he didn’t let that show on his face.
“I don’t see why I shouldn’t.” Kee shrugged. “My lovely mate told me when he found out about the dust, that it’s worth a fortune on the black market. I already know it can have positive uses when blended with the right magic or spells, like helping paras with mating sickness, or being used in a protective sense. My mate’s always ready to sex me up, so it’s not like I’m going to run out of the stuff anytime soon.”
“Freaking buy it.” Burton shook his head. “You’re right. Why didn’t any of the boffins think about that? An exclusive contract would give the council all the control they needed.”
“They’d only control the dust and there’d be conditions,” Kee warned. “Brach will never get his hands on it for a start, and I won’t have it used in any way that