Page 70 of Sinful Mates

Lisa. No. It couldn’t be. The school ought to have at least ten students with that name. I scanned the staff reports within the school’s computer. Lisa Knight. The superintendent’s daughter.

This story required further investigation. I slid of the chair and bent down to be eye level with Mia. “Why did you hit her?”

I needed the whole story here. Her words. See if it matched the story the teacher reported to the principal. “Tell me what happened.”

She tucked her head. “Not hard. She hurt me first. I’m not sorry.” Fiery little thing possessed her mother’s temper when upset, and it flared the vengeful fires inside me.

Tit for tat. Eye for an eye. This little girl was more like us than Aaliyah cared to admit. There was a future Jackal in Mia. Our woman wouldn’t be very happy about that.

I lifted Mia’s chin, forcing her to meet my gaze. “We don’t retaliate, Sot Nesu.” I swiped at her rosy cheek. “Not like that, anyway.”

Gods. I really was becoming her Mentor Daddy. My form of reckoning required more subtle means. Toying with my food like a cat to a mouse.

She sniffed and swiped at her nose. “Lisa spilled her drink on me in the lunchroom.” That explained the stains on her school shirt. It also matched the report. Mia’s bottom lip quivered. “She told everyone I live with murderers.”

Little bitch ought to shut her mouth.

Law of Maat. For every reaction, there was a consequence, either good or bad. In our case, we were the cause of Mia’s humiliation, and I felt like a worm for bringing this gregarious little thing tears.

Anger for the injustice rose to the surface, reckoning sliding under my skin. “So does she, Sot Nesu.” I did my best to keep my voice level and not let heat inject into it.

Mia sniffed. “How do you know?”

I rubbed the sides of her arms. “I just do.”

Her beautiful, jeweled eyes, a mirror to Aaliyah’s, rested on me. “You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”

I rubbed at her hair. “Yeah, I am. You can be too, when I teach you.” Listen to me making promises I wasn’t sure I could keep if we went up against Colton Raine.

“Will the gods send me to sleep for hitting Lisa?” Not a question someone as young as her should worry about.

My hand waited for hers and she slid her tiny palm into mine as she hopped off the chair. “Only those who do bad things with hatred in their heart anger the gods, Sot Nesu.”

She squinted up at me. “What about when I do bad things like sneak an extra cookie?”

Her question bubbled a dark laugh out of my throat. The gods lied, cheated, and stole all the time. Osiris cheated on his wife with Set’s and set off the whole chain of events with our fucking curse. Even they weren’t above the laws of Maat. Unfaithful Osiris got chopped up by Set and died for his indiscretions.

I bopped Mia on the nose. “Just make sure you do everything with good intentions and the gods won’t get angry with you.”

“Okay.” She pouted. “I won’t hit Lisa.”

Tomorrow that little bitch’s dad’s name would be on everyone’s lips.

“Don’t you worry about Lisa. She won’t be a problem anymore.”

I scribbled a note on her Instagram profile and pulled a photo from her phone.I lied about Mia Heller. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it. My dad is a criminal.

“Come on, we’ll go get an ice cream.” I brushed my fingers through her hair, walking slow for her to keep up.

Tugs at my Thoth highway said Lisa’s contacts replied to my post, warned her in private messages, and she scrambled to delete the post. Immediately, I put it back up. She tried three more times to scrub the evidence and each time I added it back, doubling the posts, ensuring all her followers read it. Her sycophant friends commended her for her honesty, and I chuckled inside. If they only knew. Tonight, their parents would know the whole truth, and they would warn their children to stay away from Lisa. Crimes of the parent. I felt sorry for her, caught up in her father’s war.

Back at the bikes, Brix grunted and got ready to leave. Lisa and her mother were long gone. No sign of the cops her father ordered to the school.

Lingering students gawked as I lifted the tiny human onto the back of my bike and secured her helmet. Carefully, I slid into place in front of her, and cranked the engine, making a real show as we drove off. In the side mirror, Mia pumped her fist in the air. We’d definitely make a Jackal of her one day. Driving out of the school zone, I motioned for Brix to leave us, and he checked in his mirrors for tails and made the turn-off back to the club.

I laughed as the officers the superintendent deployed arrived as we departed and patched though a report of our absence to their boss. Slothful assholes.

Moments later, Mia and I sat on the grass, reckoning burned in my veins, getting hotter and hotter the longer I left it to boil. For dragging Aaliyah’s kid into this, I flooded government departments with hundreds of complaints across the state, my fury burning out with each one submitted. Serving underage drinkers. Opening beyond license hours. Hygiene breaches, rats, mold, leaking water, and safety concerns. You name it. Too many for their limited number of staff to deal with. Enough to occupy the assholes for months.

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