Page 51 of Prey

“We’re ready to take you down if you all are ready?”

My dad nods and Ethan walks over to help him up. Kadi comes in too and gets on the other side. It’s slow going, but my dad clearly wants to try to walk on his own as much as he can, though the three of them side by side barely fit in the hallway and staircase.

We finally make it down the stairs and are met with Emmett who is crying. He sees my dad and comes up to him, stopping just before going in for a hug when he realizes the condition my dad is in.

“Emmett is that you?” My dad looks at him in awe.

Emmett just nods and grabs my dads hand. “We are still inseparable, minus the fact that Shasta forgot to inform me you were still alive.”

My dad just chuckles. “Cut her a little slack, it’s been pretty hectic from what I hear.”

Emmett just nods and says, “I’m so glad to see you home, Amir, and if you need anything just let me and Josiah, my boyfriend, know.”

Josiah waves at Dad from across the room and we all move to the dining room. Ethan and Kadi gently help my dad into the recliner at the head of the table. Alaric, Hank, Joaquin, Laken,and a couple others are already seated at the table. Emmett and Josiah sit, and then the rest of us do as well.

Ethan clears his throat and the meeting begins.

Chapter twenty-seven

Meetings & Migraines

ETHAN

This has really been the longest day in history. I want to get this meeting over with, take Shasta home, and then justsleep. I should want to ravage her, and I do, but we are all so tired that I don’t even think that’s an option right now. Not to mention the massive migraine I have right now. Being the leader isn’t always my favorite thing to do.

Trying to navigate a raid when we have no idea who’s going to be there and what their powers may be is a daunting task. Fortunately, we have Shasta. She’s going to be our ace in the hole. Jessa showed up too, as well as a couple of the other witches and warlocks. Though I did notice that Jessa is sitting as far away from Joaquin and Laken as possible and studiously ignoring them. Shasta also noted it and I see her brow crease in concern.

I love my friends but they can definitely be hard headed sometimes. I also know how I was with Shasta at first too, so I don’t have any damn right to say shit to anyone about how they handle their mates.

The Devil’s Gate is a huge hotel with thirty floors. The meeting rooms are only on the bottom two floors, so that narrows down where the meeting can be, but still leaves room for error. We don’t have any choice but to send someone in to try to figure out where it’s being held. Personally I think it’s too risky. The Society isn’t full of idiots. They have been doing this for a long time and there’s a reason for that. We may not like them, but I can’t sit here and be stupid about it either.

“Okay, we need to figure out who is going in, but I’m only going to say this one time and I expect my orders to be followed. Whoever goes in, if you feel at all uncomfortable or like you think you’ve been outed, get out immediately. Don’t try to be a hero. You’ll have to rent a room for the night and inconspicuously scope out the hotel to see which room they’re holding the meeting in. So if you look too suspicious, someone will notice,” I say firmly.

Nods all around. Then, Jessa raises her hand. “I know a spell that can change what I look like so I’ll go. You all are too noticeable. You don’t fit in with regular society. Big, hulking, tattooed men aren’t people who stay at a high end hotel like that unless they are up to something.”

Joaquin and Laken immediately jump to their feet in protest.

“Sit. Down.” I’m not going to allow their bullshit to get in the way here. She’s right. As much as I hate it. Shasta is looking at me like she’s going to kill me in my sleep if I say yes. I don’t have a choice though.

“I have to make hard decisions sometimes. All of you know this. Is it ideal to send Jessa in alone? Of course not. It isn’t something I’m going to take lightly. Shasta, is there any way we can send her in with some kind of extra protection? Spells, charms, anything?” I watch her face carefully.

She thinks for a minute and then nods. Looking at her father she says, “The spell for a body barrier that’s in the Grimoire, do you think I can alter it a bit and also turn it into a defense spell to freeze someone long enough for her to get away?”

He looks at her shocked. “You just came up with that on the fly? And also you remember all of the spells in that book? It’s like six inches thick.”

Winnie laughs. “Amir, that girl has spent every single day since you’ve been gone digging through and memorizing every single thing in that book. The only thing she couldn’t read all this time was the family tree. Though that isn’t an issue anymore. I don’t think there’s many spells in there that she hasn’t tried at some point either.”

Amir looks gobsmacked. “No one in my family has ever learned all the spells in there and some of them are so dangerous that most haven’t even tried to copy any of them.”

“Remind me to tell you about the dark spider sucking later,” Winnie says with a laugh.

“Grams.” Shasta turns red with embarrassment. I wonder to myself if that has something to do with when she tried to get the spider out of me at Supe Gen. Though based on the look on Shasta’s face I don’t think I’ll ask her about it. Better to choose my battles, since I’m sending one of her best friends into the viper’s nest.

Joaquin is glaring at me and Laken has his knife out. I sigh. This meeting is going to shit really quickly. “Listen, we have to know what’s going on in there. As long as Shasta can offer a bit of protection for her it will be ok. It’s not like I don’t already know the two of you,” I say, pointing at Joaquin and Laken, “won’t defy orders and keep an eye on her anyway.”

Laken just smirks at me. I roll my eyes and see Jessa doing the same. She is over their bullshit already I see.

“Okay, so Jessa’s going to go rent a room with protections from Shasta. Laken and Joaquin are going to ignore me and stalk her while she’s there anyway, so that’s covered. Once Jessa reports back with which room the meeting will be in we can cover where everyone will be stationed. This is no different from any other raid job we’ve had to do. The main thing is that everyone needs to stay alert and prepared for anything. Alaric, as usual, will be posted wherever he can keep an eye on the most areas so that he can let everyone know what's happening. Am I missing anything?”

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