Page 81 of Out of My Flocking Mind

Beth looked his way and gave one hell of a political smile. “Something came up and he was unable to attend. He sent me in his stead.”

Ruben pressed his lips together, then gestured toward the Mind seat.

I guess Harrison can’t even stand the idea of seeing me. I stared down at my lap, the pain greater than I would have expected. Somehow, I’d held out hope that he’d forgiven me, that if we could just see each other, just speak, we could get past this. That night had been hard on us both, but I wanted to move past it.

It seemed he didn’t.

“Thank you all for coming,” Ruben said, taking his spot, standing at the head of the table, his voice strong. I had to admit, he looked rather stunning the way he took control of a room full of powerful Spirits like that. He didn’t so much as flinch when dealing with such strong personalities. He started to go over the list of issues they were dealing with, the new problems, the resolved issues.

I zoned out partway through because, fuck it, I really didn’t care. The entire point of the council was to keep the peace between the clans, and given my position as a clan of one, none of it really had anything to do with me. They could fight out every little problem between them all on their own while I imagined what underwear each person was wearing. It was a good way to pass the time, at least.

Beth was probably in something cute and practical. Porter was likely in boxers, because I couldn’t imagine him caring much about such things. Kelvin was probably not wearing anything, the kinky bastard. He looked my way, lifting his eyebrow and smirking as though he could tell I was thinking something filthy.

I rolled my eyes and kept going with my little game. Galen would be in boxer briefs, no question about that. Ruben? I dropped my gaze toward his waist, trying to picture what was beneath those shockingly tempting black slacks. I decided to imagine briefs, partly because it was fun to picture something snug and that didn’t leave much to the imagination.

“Grey?” Ruben said, startling me.

“A thong!” I yelled back, then frowned as I realized how little that would mean to anyone else. Worse, no one seemed even startled about the weird statement, as though they all expected that nonsense from me.

“Anyway”—Ruben pushed forward—“what do you think?”

“Clearly, she thinks thong,” Kelvin said. “You’re as useful as ever, Grey.”

Ruben shot Kelvin a sharp look, then went back to me. “We were talking about the influx of Weres—especially strays. Does your clan have any opinions on the matter?”

“Oh. Not really? I mean, do you want me to adopt a few or something?”

Galen choked, then patted his chest as though trying to fix his erratic breathing.

“So the Chaos clan stands mutes,” Ruben said, which was probably a much more appropriate way of saying what I had. “Then we will leave the issue to the Weres for now—however, if you cannot bring this under control, if stray Weres continue to cause problems for the other clans and the humans, the Were Clan will be held responsible for it.”

Galen nodded, but a tension in his face suggested this issue was far from over.

After that, the meeting wrapped up quickly.

At the end of the meeting, once Ruben had closed it, I rushed over to Beth. “Harrison didn’t come?”

She said nothing back, her poker face impressive. After a moment, she shook her head. “No, as I said, something came up.”

“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter,” I muttered softly. “He just didn’t want to see me, right?”

She swallowed hard, the answer clear in that one tiny action. Still, she was a professional, and answered with the same careful expression as before. “As I said, he simply had other matters to attend to. If you’ll excuse me.” She nodded respectfully before walking out, leaving me there, staring at her back.

“Two vampires,” Kelvin said.

“I doubt you were close with them,” Galen snapped back.

I turned to find the two men speaking in the corner of their room, but their deep voices carried. Even more than their voices, the threat there.

“No fights in the council room,” I said as I slid between them. “I just got a chair. Let’s not ruin it, hmm?”

Galen offered me a bored look, then darted his gaze to Kelvin’s. “The council room also isn’t the place for such displays as earlier.”

“What? Am I not allowed to offer my thrall a bit of affection? Perhaps you should find yourself a mate so you can enjoy such benefits?” Kelvin spoke with such false sweetness in his voice, he could have sent a diabetic into a coma.

“You’re lucky she still needs you,” Galen snapped.

“What are thralls good for if not shields?” He stayed behind me as though he’d ever actually let me protect him. “Well, I suppose they are good for a few other things.”

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