get back to the hotel. I know the weather is shit, but could one of your pack members give us a ride downtown? I lost my sunglasses in the crash, and getting a taxi with my eyes is difficult enough without a blizzard in the mix, as I’m sure you know.”
“Every god pack member knows. Will our people be safe if they take you back?” Alejandro asked.
“I can’t make that promise. I don’t know what’s out there in the storm.”
Alejandro and Naomi glanced at each other, having a silent conversation. Finally, Naomi nodded. “I’ll go. You stay.”
“Take Monica with you,” Alejandro said.
“Of course.”
“I’ll go start the car,” Monica said.
She was the only one who left. The rest of the Chicago god pack who were present in the home remained where they were. Naomi approached, absently braiding her long hair with quick fingers and tying it off at the end.
“Patrick offered pass-through rights for any pack coming from Chicago who wanted to go to New York,” she said.
“If that’s what he offered, then I’m in agreement,” Jono replied.
“And what of Estelle and Youssef?”
Jono gave Naomi a hard smile. “They want a fight, so we’re giving them one. Our pack might be small in numbers, but our alliances include the fae and every Night Court in New York City.”
“Every Night Court?” Alejandro asked sharply.
Jono nodded. “Yes.”
Naomi eyed him. “You smell like truth.”
“We’ve taken in the packs who’ve left Estelle and Youssef’s protection, and we’re doing our best to keep them safe. We’ll do the same for whoever comes through our city from yours.”
“There is a pack who settled here five years ago from New York. Fifteen people who uprooted their lives came to us and asked for permission to stay and for protection. They didn’t trust the god pack alphas they left behind,” Alejandro said.
“I wouldn’t have either. I came to the States about four years ago, and I didn’t care for how Estelle and Youssef handled things then or now.”
“But they let you stay as an independent?”
“They didn’t have a choice.” At Alejandro’s dubious look, Jono continued with “A seer brought me over from London. I got to stay because Estelle and Youssef couldn’t say no to the government.”
“You’re going to have a war,” Naomi said.
“We already have one, but my pack isn’t backing down. Too many people will be hurt if we do.”
Naomi and Alejandro were silent for a few seconds before she waved at him to follow her. “Come on. Let’s get you back to the hotel.”
Jono looked over at where Wade had oh so casually been perusing the mantle over the fireplace, noticing that half the knickknacks that had been there were now gone. He sighed. “Put them back, Wade.”
“But they’re shiny,” Wade protested.
“And they’re not yours, mate.”
Wade scowled and sulkily pulled out at least ten knickknacks from his pockets and set them back on the shelf. “They could be.”
Jono shook his head before offering Naomi and Alejandro his apologies. “Sorry about that. Wade was a pickpocket in a past life, and it’s been tough breaking him of that habit.”
“I think you mean current life,” Wade muttered.
The pair eyed Wade a little warily before Alejandro snorted. “A pack under our protection said they’d seen a dragon at the cemetery the other night. We thought they had to be mistaken, or it was an illusion.”
Jono didn’t say anything into the silence that followed, and Wade thankfully kept his gob shut. Naomi smiled slightly at their reticence but didn’t seem annoyed.
“Let’s get you to your hotel,” she said.
Naomi waved at them to follow her out of the home. Jono settled a hand on Wade’s shoulder and steered him toward the front door and back out into the cold. The snow beneath Jono’s bare feet was icy.
“Thanks for your help today,” Jono said once they were in the back seat of Naomi’s car.
She looked at him in the rearview mirror, amber eyes bright in her face. “The attack happened in our territory. We would have come no matter who was in trouble, but I’m glad it wasn’t Estelle and Youssef. I don’t like what I’ve heard about them.”
Jono didn’t blame her. If Estelle and Youssef ever needed his help, he’d never give it, not for all the money in the world.
16
“Arresting me in front of my colleagues was uncalled for,” Dean Westberg snapped furiously when Patrick entered the interview room.
“You weren’t arrested. You were just advised to come quietly to sort things out. It’s not our fault you had the press