Page 133 of Smoke and Lure

“Ah, I see you've all received our present.”This is what we agreed upon.You said you’d take our most ill.Those dead and dying.”

Iskah’s free hand fisted, and the trees that bordered the clearing bent inward until she opened her hand again.

“Is this what you have used our serum and the Fae blood to produce?”Aodh demanded, flattening his palms on the table and leaning toward the SAT speaker.

“Now, Dragonlord, I don’t ask any of your kind on the council how you serve up or devour the waste of humans that we send you, so we’ll call the knowledge you seek classified.Official human government business.”

Aodh didn’t even dignify the stupidity of the human male’s comment, implying they feasted on humans.It wasn’t news to him; throughout the centuries, the leaders of the world had chosen to acknowledge that preternatural beings existed.However, they had crafted them as monsters and spread extensive misinformation about them, from false oral tales to storybooks and movies.

However, it was the governor's blatant arrogance that made Aodh want to reach through the radio and rip the cocky bastard's heart out and roast it before him, then burn off each of the man’s limbs one at a time.Aodh knew the political fucker was only brave because the governor was sealed behind a wall.

One, his dragon reminded Aodh he could easily traverse.

“By the way, if that wolf, who can’t seem to keep his damn mouth shut, is there, tell him that our deal is off, that the Continental U.S.Governor doesn’t give amnesty to defectors.”

A deal Aodh doubted the human government had ever planned to honor.And the one they made with them was full of loopholes and political doublespeak.

“Fucking, Farkas.He’s a traitor to his kind.I’m glad I killed him.”Chanin spoke in a low tone that only their keen hearing could detect as he paced along the inner ring of the meeting structure, his blonde hair appearing wild, more like a mane around his head, as the Lupine Alpha clenched and unclenched his fists as if he wanted to punch through two or three of the towering stone columns.

Aodh realized that the human government didn’t have eyes on their territories, which Aodh was only slightly concerned with.It wouldn’t change the outcome of what they all realized needed to happen now.

“Why don’t we get back to why you haven’t sent any more of the marked ones as we agreed upon,” Iskah asked.

Aodh knew it wasn’t because the Fae Queen believed that deal was still on the table for either side.It was a strategy to keep the pompous man talking and see if he revealed more.

“You all want bodies.I want my lost item back that has come up missing.”Governor Muskrand sighed.“Really...there are two of them, but one holds something precious; the other eventually will.I want them back, alive or dead.”

Frowning at the man’s obscure words, Aodh racked his brain, attempting to decipher what the hell the human was hinting at.

Iskah was staring off as if caught in her thoughts.

Aodh glanced around, trying to see if any of the others had a clue.

Then it struck him as he saw Avalore sitting beside his brother and Michaela directly across from her in the arms of Amaros—two items.

The governor hadn’t said four, referring to all the humans who had escaped: Kai, Morlie, Avalore, and Michaela.No, the man didn’t care about Aodh’s mate and her sister.Aodh was pretty sure the human leader only referred to the two females currently in the meeting grounds.

Then what did he mean by one ‘holds something precious’?Aodh looked from one human female to the other and wondered if one of them had stolen jewels or maybe documents.

But the governor had gone on to say ‘the other eventually will,’ so it couldn’t be physical.An idea pricked at the back of his mind, but Aodh couldn’t quite grasp it.

When he glanced back toward Iskah, something in her eyes, as she shifted her gaze away from him, told him she knew.The Fae Queen was keeping secrets.

“What if we can’t find your lost items?The territories are vast,” stalling, Iskah fingered the blue strands of her hair away from her face.

“True.But your creatures can move through space with lightning speed.I’m sure you all will manage.But I’m generous.I’ll give you thirty days to recover my things and deliver them to the back gate where our medical vehicle leaves from.”

“Or?”Iskah asked.

“Or no more sickly treats for your kind.”

Dov growled loudly.

Bleddyn barked even louder.

“We don’t take threats lightly,” Aodh kept his words slow and clear so that the governor understood his meaning.

There was a weighty pause, and then Muskrand reiterated.“Thirty days,” before ending the transmission.

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