Kyros straightened. “The demon king has expanded his realm into the ravine, not simply taken up space in ours.”

Shit. That hadn’t occurred to me. If Sascha was right, we had a few patches of demon realm in our knolls.

“This is market research, for sure,” the princess put in. “For us too. So, shall we start planning? I have a mani-pedi with Tommy this evening.”

The surrounding magus had listened to every word we’d said, and they seemed impressed by what the other supernaturals had put together. If they knew what a mani-pedi was, they may be less impressed.

I led the others down the alpine slope, sending a jet of magic at Basilia’s high heels when I noticed them.

She winked at me after.

“Who’s Tommy?” I asked.

“My bestie. You’ll meet her soon enough. She wants your cousin to do the drink magic on her.”

Drink magic. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

We gathered in the advisory chamber, and I took my authority while the others spread out in the available seats.

Wild entered the chamber in a burst and swooped to kiss my cheek. “My love.”

“Anything new?”

“We’ve placed groups at key points along each ravine. Our numbers are more spread out, which is an obvious disadvantage. Alarms are being set along the ravines and below the surfaces as well as surrounding your quarters on all sides. We’ve set a range of masking spells in case any demons in the ravine are attempting to gather intel.”

Good. “We have suspicions that the demons have expanded their realm into the ravines and my quarters.”

“I agree,” he surprised me by saying.

Wild took the seat on my right.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I fear you entering the smoke as I fear you entering the demon realm.”

Kyros and Sascha both riveted their focus on him.

“You can’t follow her there?” Sascha asked.

He and Kyros both looked at their mates after.

Wild shook his head. “I suspect not. I’m not willing to test the theory.”

New tension rippled through the males in the room.

“Any updates from your territories?” I asked the other supernaturals.

Kyros was the only one who hadn’t sat. “The gates remain closed. No more have been found. Defenses have been formed at the sites. Are you able to set alarms on our gates and key them to alert us of any change?”

“We can. And we can ensure that the alarms reach the rest of us too.” I looked at the Luthers.

“No change for us either. You were right. This is where the demon king plans to begin,” Andie said. “What about here? Anything else new?”

Coven business was coven business, and yet I did feel these supernaturals should know somewhat of the difficulties within the coven. “There’s dissent from a group within our caves that worsens with outside influence from another coven who would see a leader of their choice on our authority. Also from the effects of the demon magic to some degree. I must tread carefully until the internal threat is managed or I fear we will be too divided or distracted to fight as we should.”

“That’s the hardest kind of threat to manage,” Andie said. “When I was leading the tribe, they found out I’d become a Luther. Let’s just say they weren’t happy, my sister included.”

So that’s what happened between them.