Page 61 of Vibing Unity

“I told you he should have just had an accident, baby doll,” Neldor said from my right. He was beaming at me. “Really? You used me as a threat?”

I gestured at Ronald. “He’s too sexist to hear that I’m the most lethal and kill-happy one here. And how the fuck did…” I glanced at one of my dogs when I felt guilt coming off of him as he brought another kill. “Snitches. You’re all fucking snitches.”

“I’m really good at bribing. You know that firsthand, My Queen.”

I shivered. Fucker. He’d just “bribed” me a few days ago by eating me out for like two hours.

And that was just because he wanted to pick dinner. Seriously.

He and Hudson laughed as I flipped him off.

Ronald was appalled though. “How can you joke and flirt while she’s just—you’re discussing killing me?”

Neldor shrugged. “If I can flirt with her after eight hours of budgets and meetings…” He gave a wave at Ronald and moved towards me. “This is just the inevitable in my opinion. I respect Lucca, and I’ll give you the chance to prove me wrong, but there is alistof people in Faerie who want you dead.”

“My dad especially even if he was nice to you.” I nodded when Ronald couldn’t hide his shock. “You wanted to breed his daughter. In what world would you let—”

“I’d kill any who even suggested it about my daughter,” he accepted, looking scared again.

Good. That was the whole point of this.

“Please just give me a warning if I get close to the line,” he whispered after a few moments to mull over everything. “I beg you. I accept all you have said, but—your ways or wants are not what I know. Something could be completely normal grandparent-related to me.”

That was fair, and he had only shown happy at the idea of Lucca being Alpha and us having kids, nothing darker.

“Fine, but if I give you that warning and you argue, that’s when I’ll pull the kids away and go no contact. Accept that now or…” I gestured to the pile of dead animals my dogs had brought me.

Ronald swallowed loudly as he looked at my threat and nodded.

I made sure to check with his bear and both surrendered. Completely and totally.

Good. Finally.

“I’m shocked you’re throwing down about this,” Hudson admitted after we left and picked up food. “You’ve been clear that you’re not having kids anytime soon.” He cleared his throat. “Unless you have different feelings with Lucca that—”

“No.” My voice was firm and convicted. “He is the one I worry most about having a child with and seeing—I still don’t know if it will happen.ButI’ve seen too much go wrong, beastie. We’ve been through too much to not handle potential problems better. I’ve gotten hurt badly because I ran first and didn’t just take care of what I knew I needed to. Others have.”

I was glad he accepted that, but I saw the worried look he gave me knowing this was about more than Lucca and our nonexistent children.

Smart dragon.

16

The next morning, I woke the remaining fairies besides the two queens. It was only a hundred thousand for the last time, but a lot of them were injured, and people were immediately jumping in to help and heal. I did as well as soon as I recovered, and what I’d learned was already a huge help.

Plus, my dad was there, and nothing beat the demigod normally.

But when I saw several people with broken wings, I had that feeling again—more could be done. The wings weren’t amputated like Stefanie’s. It wasn’tgone, just… Mutilated sounded so wrong. Nothing sounded right and it was all cruel.

Damaged beyond what current magic could help.

Which was why I slipped away and skipped the celebrations awaiting the last of our people. Not being able to help everyone we should have didn’t seem like something to celebrate.

I found myself at the temple that was the center of the neutral zone between the realms. It was maybe the most beautiful one to me, and I knew that was partially because of what it stood for. It was always the first step in what had been so important to me.

In what I had accomplished—or I would when I became Queen of Faerie.

All Faerie.

---