A Council of Betrayal (17 page)

“Seriously, what are you doing?” I huffed,
irritated at losing my footing thanks to ridiculous shoes.

Logan’s eyes were changing, flecks of
espresso spreading around the raw sienna.

“Release. My. Mate,” he commanded. I’m not
going to lie, just that commanding voice alone was dampening my
panties.

I pushed the siren off easily. “So, are you
going to explain what’s going on?” Down raging hormones, down.

Logan looked at me and I felt him nudge the
mate bond I had been keeping on lock down. Having another with that
level of access was unnerving. Blowing out a breath, I let him in.
His face relaxed with the connection, arms coming to circle my
waist. He bent to my ear and explained, “He was trying to seduce
you.”

I jerked back, needing to see his face to
determine how serious he was. A small smile played over his lips
and I wasn’t sure if that was from the mate bond being reconnected
or his amusement at the situation.

“Mate bond,” he answered, pulling me in for a
bruising kiss. “There is no humor in another touching you.”

He broke the contact and I smiled, ready to
haul him in the room for more.

“Where did he go?” Logan asked. I could feel
the need to eliminate the threat that dared attempt to steal his
mate away.

I couldn’t help but laugh. He looked down at
me, not seeing the humor in the situation.

“Oh, come on, it’s a little funny,” I teased
him, taking his hand as we walked as a group to the elevators. Ali,
Grant, Mercer and Grams joined the party.

Logan growled.

“The siren was doing his best to seduce me
and I had no idea what was going on.”

Logan pushed the call button harder than
necessary and I checked for cracks. The doors opened at my back and
he stalked me into the enclosed space.

“You guys should probably take another
elevator,” I warned over Logan’s shoulder. None of them had even
taken a step into the small space.

…

Logan helped me pull down my skirt and adjust
my underwear, copping a feel of where he had just been. I batted
his hands away before the elevator doors opened and a room full of
Supernaturals got a whiff as to what was going on in there. Can’t
say I even gave a damn.

Actually, I was hoping there were cameras in
there and it got leaked, ‘cause that was some of my better work.
Shame me now, motherfuckers, shame me now.

“What are you feeling smug about?” Logan
whispered, nuzzling his mark on my neck.

I let the mate bond slip again, not realizing
I had locked it up. I watched my train of thought play over his
face before he laughed. He leaned close and I felt his words in my
mind. That was a lot to get used to.

If that video of us becomes public, I will
kill everyone who sees it.

Aww, my big, protective Kitty.

He growled even in my head.

Grams approached me, anger tightening her
eyes. “Were you ever going to tell me? Or do I have to find out
through third party gossip?”

I took a step back, feeling the pack around
me stepping closer.

“You would do well to mind your tone,” Jerry
warned, eyeing the shifters cautiously.

“Give me a minute,” I whispered to Logan,
taking Grams arm, pushing her backwards.

“No!” she yelled, throwing me off. “I will
not be shoved around. This conversation will keep until later.”

With that she stormed off, without
protection. Ali and Grant gave me long looks and I inclined my
chin, giving them permission to go after her. Mercer watched the
exchange before turning and following them.

I blew out a breath, adjusting my white
blouse over my pencil skirt. “This should be fun,” I grunted,
following behind them.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “What’s on the
agenda for today?” I groaned, looking over at Logan.

“A seminar on How to Manage Talent.” I’ll
give Logan credit, he delivered it with a straight face. The group
around me chuckled and coughed.

“There better fucking be food,” I
groaned.

…

I rubbed my forehead as I sat next to Logan
and Ali at the farewell dinner. We had pushed two tables together
to accommodate our now larger numbers.

“Fucking finally, did you hear that speaker
on sexual harassment?” I groaned. Logan had fibbed: Managing Talent
was the first of a long-ass day of seminars.

Ali laughed next to me, imitating the
speaker. “Now Olivia, perhaps you can explain to us how you keep
everyone’s hands to themselves with a highly sexual species.”

Grant laughed on the other side of Ali. “His
face, Olie, his face was shocked!”

I cracked a smile.

“I can’t believe you have been having group
orgies and not telling us about them,” Hudson teased.

“You’re not invited,” I shot back.

He held his heart, pretending to be
wounded.

The same announcer who began The Conferences
smiled his same fake smile at center stage. “Welcome everyone and
thank you for being with us.”

I drummed my fingers on the table, inaction
making me cranky as I tuned him out.

He extended his hand to welcome Hash to the
elevated platform and I sat up, paying close attention.

Hash had a shit-eating grin up on the stage.
“I’m happy to announce that Grams with the Supernatural Council has
agreed to do what I am hoping everyone will. She has released to
me, and to the government, all the names, address, and types of
Supernaturals under her protection.”

I roared, clearing the table, sending food
splattering to the ground and dishes crashing. I landed with my
forearm against her throat, rage pouring from my body, slipping
past my guards.

“Tell me he is lying!” I screamed at her.
“TELL ME!” I begged her.

She coughed, and I eased back slightly. “I
did.”

I screamed, a noise of pure frustration and
outrage, leaning my forearm heavily against her throat, planning on
ending her life.

The djinn chose that moment to bombard the
Conferences, hundreds of them swarming through the doors and
attacking everyone without bias. Still I kept the pressure against
her neck, a tear slipping down her cheek as she silently begged for
her life. The wetness was mirrored on my own face. I screamed
again, pain cutting a clear path through my chest at her
deception.

Searing pain in my side forced me off of her.
Hash ripped her from my grasp, a gun dangling from his hand. I
reached down, touching the seeping wound in my side in
disbelief.

“The fucker shot me,” I grunted, pulling
myself up. Mercer’s expression was torn: did he stay and try to
fight off the Supernatural monsters that weren’t his
responsibility? He owed me for saving Mindy, but his loyalties were
being tested after I had just tried to kill his girlfriend.

“Go Mercer, get out of here. Go back to
Mindy.”

I didn’t see if he took my advice, having
instead to block a meaty arm from slamming against my temple. The
pain in my side only fueled my insane anger. A hatred and fury born
of rage flooded my body and I destroyed any of the djinn who were
foolish enough to cross my path.

“Olivia!” Mark cried.

I turned, trying to find him in the crowd,
too much going on for me to focus on the mate or pack bonds
closely.

Instead, I threw myself into the fight,
slicing with my dagger, rounding and stabbing. They weren’t killing
blows, but it was about survival at that point.

A shifter bellowed and I felt the energy he
pulled as he changed forms. My head spun as I was pulled into his
change, seeing the world through Alec’s wolf’s eyes. Shaking my
head, I took a blow to the stomach, doubling over and crashing to
the ground, slashing out at my attacker’s shins.

The blow earned me a moment to suck down
air.

A rust colored wolf lunged at my attacker.
“Thanks, Alec,” I wheezed

Fucking hell, we needed to find the actual
djinn. Only by killing him or her would we eliminate the clones.
With this many, the fucker would be weakened and hopefully easy
prey. The problem was I had no idea where he or she was.

Why were they attacking
everyone
? This
made no sense.

I sighed, taking my frustration out on the
throat of my next opponent. We were winning, slowly.

An anguished cry went up from a shifter and I
felt her pain as the drug exploded inside of her—no, no, no. Was
all of this just a distraction?

“Alec, cover me!” I yelled, going down on a
knee. Closing my eyes, I threw down my guards, sifting quickly to
find her golden thread turning black. I latched on to it, sucking
all the toxins I could. The cord grayed. I fisted my hands, my
nails digging into my palms, before pulling again. Her cord turned
yellow and I opened my eyes, finding Alec overwhelmed. I lifted my
blade, finding it pointless.

I closed my eyes, found Logan’s thread and
tugged. I sure as fuck wasn’t about to beg for help, but after
saving her ass, I needed some.

His lion answered, bowling over djinn and
slicing their heads off in one fell swoop. I stood unsteadily,
opening my senses to the other shifters.
Someone get a sample of
that crap so I we can make an antidote.

Another anguished cry and I sucked myself
back into the golden pond, slipping, tumbling, my cheek coming to
rest on the cool tile as I finished.

Shit, this took a lot out of me. A third and
fourth cry rent the air, and I lost the ability to hear as I was
busy pulling out black crap.

A warm nose nudged my side. “Didyougetit?” I
slurred.

“Not sure that was English, Olie,” Grant
informed me.

“The sample,” I tried again.

Logan stoked my hair back. “We did.”

“Good, call Tommy and let’s get the hell out
of here.”

Apparently, we were already out of there.
Like a computer doing too much at once, I had been overloaded by
the four almost simultaneous pulls, causing me to slow down. While
I was successful at saving all the parties, it was with a huge
personal toll.

“I hate flying,” I groaned, flopping over on
the couch.

“We know,” the cabin chorused.

Logan’s phone on speaker reverberated with
the sound of ringing across from me. I plunked an arm over my
face.

“Yo, boss man,” came the voice at the other
end.

“We have the sample, Tommy, and we are on our
way,” Logan informed him briskly.

“Check and check. We will be ready when you
arrive. Olie there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” I groaned.

“I need to, I mean, I need your approval.” He
sighed and tried again, “I think Grams is up to something.”

Ali scoffed, “Yeah, she released our names,
address and species to Hash.”

Tommy grunted, “Was she supposed to?”

“No, she betrayed us,” I whispered softly,
the sting overriding my currently exhausted state. Grams had
betrayed me and everything we had worked for.

“Good, because I corrupted the file. Hash got
nothing.”

“What?” I breathed the word, not daring to
hope, sitting so quickly my head spun.

“I monitor our computers tightly here, and
the email sent up several red flags.” I could see him
shrugging.

I closed my eyes, pressing against the stupid
fucking tears that wanted to fall. “Hey Tommy, you know how I said
you couldn’t have a dog?”

“Yeah?” he asked, excited.

“We’re going to adopt one when I get
back.”

“WHAT? Are you serious? Olivia, you cannot
tease about this,” he screamed at me.

“I’m not teasing, Tommy. I need you to get
with Becky and cut Grams off from everything. She isn’t to be
allowed in the house. Have the locks changed. I’m hoping we beat
her back to St. Ann, but if not, remember she’s a traitor. Treat
her as such.”

“Are you going to kill her?” Tommy’s voice
was soft. Grams had been a part of his life for the last five
years. Hell, she had helped raised all the children I rescued.
Could I take her away from them?

“Yes, Tommy,” I answered honestly. I hated
that I was hurting him. “She betrayed us, all of us, to the human
government. She put us all in danger. If I don’t kill her, I’m
making myself look weak.”

Silence met my confession.

“I’m so sorry, Tommy.”

…

There was too much on my mind to even give
the plane ride more than a few minutes of irritation as we glided
over the skies.

I looked over to Ali and Grant, who had been
silent since my conversation with Tommy.

Tapping my fingers against the leather of the
sofa, I met Logan’s gaze. He inclined his head to them and I
nodded, the unspoken message received.

I moved to sit across from Grant and Ali. It
wasn’t lost on me that Grant was looking out the window blinking
rapidly or that Ali’s eyes were dripping with silent tears. The
leather dipped as Logan took a seat next to me. I checked the mate
bond, finding I wasn’t blocking it, waves of reassurance washing
over me. At least one person understood the situation I was in.

“I never,” Ali started, drawing a breath,
meeting my gaze. “I never dreamed it would come to this. That she
would betray her own kind.”

“We’re not her kind though, are we?” Grant
asked me, anger replacing his sorrow.

“No, Grams is human. I’ve made no attempt to
hide that fact,” I answered softly.

“But, but I thought she was like you, a
succubus?” Ali asked, her tears forgotten for a moment.

I shook my head, clenching my hands
together.

“Why would you put a human in charge of the
Council?” Grant demanded.

I leveled a look at him, debating if I needed
to put him in his place or let his anger run its course. “I am the
one who put her there, and I am the one who kept her there. I am
also the one who has put you both there and will keep you
there.”

His eyes widened slightly as he looked over
at Ali, taking her hand. Their silent exchange had me shifting in
my seat. I hoped they were up for the challenge; they had been hand
selected by Grams.