Page 165 of Drama Queen

Which meant there was no justification at all. Even juvenile shifters could pose a threat if they were large enough. This girl? She would have presented as a large kitten, not even large enough to look like an adolescent cat. In her shifted form, she would probably be small enough to fit neatly into Leonard’s cupped hands.

Her shifted form also explained why this had hit him so hard. Not only was it a young child, not only was it a travesty of justice, but she was a feline shifter. Someone he would connect to on an instinctual and cellular basis. Whether he knew the family or not, they were his people, and once the initial grief had passed, he would tear the world apart to protect them.

Which meant Charlotte needed to protect him. From himself.

“When are they releasing it to the press?”

Leonard looked at his watch. “We have until five pm to formulate our response. The president has asked me to do a joint press conference with her, to ameliorate the responses on both sides. Tensions have been high enough, and this could result in a civil war.”

“We should all be there,” Tony stated firmly. “A united front to show that all shifters are affected by this, and we are united in our grief.”

Phillip Westlund had been quiet until then. The governor for reptiles wasn’t the most outgoing of the representatives, yet he was known for his wisdom and cool head, which was ironically not due to being cold-blooded. Reptiles could be just as blood-thirsty and gregarious as their warm-blooded cousins. His calm demeanour was something the man had mastered on his own.

“That would be foolish,” Philip intoned, the deep rumble of his voice drawing all attention. “It would be the perfect opportunity for extremists to wipe us out. There’s been increased chatter about a mass strike against shifter leadership, you all know that. Giving them the perfect target would only play into their hands. Leonard should be there, and the pro tem. Nobody else. Our elected leader, and our elected representative, or at least her temporary replacement. It’s a strong enough statement, especially when they are with the human president.”

Tony glared at him, but didn’t argue further, something Charlotte was grateful for. They didn’t have time for that right now.

“Alright, I have to write the speech of the decade. I want your top talking points now so I can start crafting our message,” she said, not bothering to wait to be called upon. This wasn’t the time to adhere to protocols, not when lives were at risk. The blow-out from this would take years to overcome, and whatLeonard said at this press conference would make a massive difference to the outcome. They couldn’t afford to fan the flames of discontent already affecting their people. Shifters might win a war against humans, but the rest of the nations on the planet would only rally against them and wipe them out.

This whole situation was a powder keg, and the fuse was already lit. It was up to them to try to control where the damage occurred and prevent more lives being lost in the process.

“What makes you think you’re writing my speech?” Leonard asked her, without rancour.

This wasn’t the time for games. “I’m not playing games, Leonard,” she replied, dropping all formality, making the frowns return. “One, there’s no assistants in here, which means we’re the only ones who know, and I gather we’re keeping it like this for now. That won’t allow anyone else enough time to be brought up to speed and write a speech. It’s also what I do and what I’m good at, the main part of why you brought me here in the first place. Two, Garret is fantastic at what he does. I don’t think he’s the right person for this, but I’ll allow that I’m biased in this instance. However, if I’m standing on that stage beside you, giving the appearance of my support while you make a speech, then it had better be a fucking speech I wrote.”

“Who do you think you are talking to our president like that?” Tony snapped at her.

“A pissed off woman who has reached her limit and refuses to play games when a little girl lost her life to this bullshit that keeps going on. Either we do this properly, or we go back into hiding, because you know the extremist groups will use this as a platform to roll our rights back a hundred years or more. Of course they should have killed her, she was taking an aggressive stance. If she learned to do that at six, imagine how terrifying she would be as an adult, never mind the fact she’s a tiny fucking cat even when she is full grown. They will spew their rhetoric,spread their lies, and overwhelm the humans with hate until all anyone can see is the enemy. We need to nip this in the bud, both in terms of the overreaction from the humans, and the grief from the shifters. Children shouldn’t be subjected to this, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to pussyfoot around with protocols, while the future of our people hangs in the balance.”

By the time she finished, Charlotte’s voice was loud enough to be heard outside the building. At least by shifters. Even humans would have heard her from the next room. There was a beat of silence as everyone processed what she said, several of them nodding in agreement. Even Tony had backed down, although she suspected that was more due to a newfound fear of her, rather than actually respecting what she had to say. Fuck him. Whatever worked for now was good enough. She had bigger fish to fry.

“What else do you need?” Leonard asked her.

“I need to know the location. This has to be some place neutral. Not in front of their government building, not in front of a fucking police station — unless they actually want the riots to start right away — and not somewhere normally associated with children or families.”

“Why not the last one?” Patrice asked, a slight bump in her nose showing how close her rhino was to the surface.

Charlotte sighed, the pain of what had happened resonating through her to her bones. She understood now why Leonard had been hesitant to say it aloud. Even though the answer was on the tip of her tongue, she didn’t want to say it.

“Because a family was torn apart today,” Phillip replied before she could gather enough courage to spit it out. “It would be a juxtaposition of what we’ve lost — familiarity, safety, and comfort, adding insult to injury. What about a hospital?”

“No, I don’t want to disrupt lives that have already been disrupted enough. It’s hard enough to get a park around themnormally, nevermind with a dual presidential press conference. A conference centre or university hall. Something like that. A hotel even, as long as it has the equipment and space necessary for the press to set up. Don’t ask me about security, that’s not my thing, but indoors would be better than outdoors.”

“The Islington has a large function room that could work,” Roxanne said.

“Good, then someone get onto the humans and suggest it. They can pay, by the way. This is their shit we’re dealing with, they can fucking pay for the room.”

“Agreed.”

“What else?” Leonard pressed.

“I need researchers, or if we can’t let the pool of those in the know expand, then I need you all to become my researchers. I need statistics of human on shifter fatalities, and vice versa. I need numbers for violence too. I want to know the protocols for police when dealing with callouts where shifter involvement is suspected. We need to find the root of this problem and shine the biggest light on it we can find, because if we want this shit to stop, if we want change, then we’re going to have to use this poor little girl as the leverage to make people listen. I don’t want her death to be in vain. I’d rather she hadn’t died at all, but she has, so we make sure she’s the last one.”

There was a patterned knock on the door, and the president held up a hand before she could say anything else. “Come in,” he called out.

A sharply dressed man walked in, handing a white phone to Leonard, who sighed again when he spotted it. He held a finger to his lips, before raising the phone to his ear. They would all be able to hear whatever was said on either side due to their superior hearing, which meant this was safe enough for them to be witnesses, whoever it was.

“Mr President, how may I be of service?” Leonard asked.

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