Page 89 of Dragon Unleashed

No one of consequence. Hell. Precisely none of mytios.

“Find your mother,” I snap at Alarick. “I want answers.”

“She’s abroad.” He tugs my sleeve. “She…she wouldn’t have okayed this if she were here, Chano. You have to know that.”

“Right now, I know nothing. And Ishouldknow everything. We have a traitor.” I pick up a flimsy wooden chair and hurl it at the wall. It disintegrates with a pleasing crack.

A hunched figure steps forward. He keeps his eyes on the ground, wringing his hands together.

“I—I ca-ca-can help, b-b-boss.”

The man in front of me is a shell of the one I knew.

“Deago?”

He physically shakes at hearing his name from my lips. I scrub a hand over my face and calm my breathing. I did this to him. I turned him into this.

But he ran drugs on my turf behind my back. The Maveriks are not, and never will be, a drug cartel. He deserved it.

Kind of.

The more I see him, the more I regret my actions. He’s still my cousin. Tucking him away at home kept him out of sight. Off my conscience.

“Speak.”

He trembles, stepping closer with his eyes fixed on my shoes. I jerk my chin and the room empties. Raff shuts the door, and Alarick pulls up a chair, pushing Deago into it. His mouth opens and shuts.

“So help me, Deago,” I snap. “Speak.”

“It wasn’t D-Dad. I swear.”

The warning rumble from my chest sets off another bout of body shakes.Hell. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I pull achair up in front of my cousin. Straddling it backward, my arms resting on the top rail, I gentle my tone.

“Okay, Deago. Tell me what happened.”

Deago looks to me briefly, then Raff and Alarick. He squirms on the seat.

“You won’t like it.” He takes a deep breath. “Yourtios, n-not Dad, they took a backhander. From the Virrey, to run that story on NewShift. Then they bribed the other news corporations to run it too.”

Keeping my gaze fixed on him, I pull my phone out of my back pocket. Hellfire. Alerts from all the major supernatural news outlets light it up. Lorelei. Will she be okay? I should have stayed.

“The Virrey?” I lean in so close he must feel my breath on his face. “Are you sure, Deago?”

He gulps and nods. Mytioshave gone too far. Lorelei is my Aeternum,however badly we’re getting on. Attacking her is an attack on me. And siding with the Virrey? My own family is declaring war against me.

They better be ready for the fallout.

My chair scrapes the floor as I stand and stride from the room.

“Ask Scarlet,” he says quietly. “Ask Lottie.”

Outside the door tomi mami’shouse, I motion for Alarick and Raff to stand guard. No one except immediatefamiliahears what goes on inside these walls.

I push openmi mami’sbeautiful front door and step into her bright hallway. Breathing in the scents of home, I follow the aroma toward the heart of the house. The kitchen. Hot pastry and cloves… I lean against the door frame, watching from behind asmi mamiwheels herself back and forward in front ofher ridiculously huge range cooker. Flour dusts her hands and hair, and she’s humming some stupid festive tune. She looks happy.

I’m about to change that.

“Mi Chano!”she screams, rolling her chair toward me at breakneck speed and crashing into my shins. Her thin arms wrap around my legs.

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