Page 96 of Honorable Convictions
Peter’s head snapped up, and his blue gaze was blazing with fury. “I could be mad because you lied to me for so long, but honestly, Mitchell, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You sat around for decades talking shit about your mate and created an environment so bad, Murphy refused to fucking speak to us,” Noah accused.
“How dare you treat your gift from Fate that way,” Sophia added. “You made it awkward for our whole team. It was impossible for us to have any sort of real camaraderie with Pierson. I guess we know why you wanted to get the hell out of Vegas and why you two were suddenly pals when you returned. You must have an enormous heart to be able to forgive Mitchell for his appalling treatment of you.”
“Our friendship and caring for you had us taking your side because of our own issues with Murphy’s success,” Noah tacked on. “You didn’t bother to answer any of our messages or texts about how we go about trying to make it up to Murphy. It makes sense that you two are going to oversee us, but how is that going to work after the way we treated you?”
Pierson opened his mouth, but Mitchell laid a hand on his back, signaling that he’d like to speak first. His other half gave him a small smile and let him have the floor. “First of all, he’s Brooks-Murphy, so if you’re going to continue to refer to him by last name, do it right. The reason I ignored my phone was because I was ordered to enjoy the weekend of my mating ceremony. I apologize to everyone about my lies and the things I said about Pierce. As you can imagine, we had a complicated relationship that went sour from the day we met. If Pierce had lacked the courage to walk away from Vegas, who knows how long it would’ve taken us to get our act together? I take full responsibility for the appalling way I treated him, and I’m going to do everything to make sure this is a positive working environment for everyone. We’re a team, and Pierce and I are determined to build bonds between us.”
“Let me add that I’m not harboring any ill will. It was apparent to me that you were close with Mitch and would therefore tend to lean toward his views on things. I must apologize for always holding myself away. I don’t want to make excuses for myself, but in the spirit of getting everything out in the open, I was rather miserable, and it was impossible to make myself vulnerable after things fell apart with Mitch. I intend to do whatever it takes to hopefully make it up to you guys so we can be the team Mitch spoke of.”
Peter hopped up and gave a startled Pierson a hug, then did the same with Mitchell. His actions were soon repeated by the other JKs. “Congratulations on your matebond,” Peter said once Mitchell and Pierson were able to hold hands again. “And I am so excited about you guys being MJKs. It’s going to make our jobs so much more awesome, and you two are perfect to represent us and supervise our division.”
“Thank you. We can’t wait to get started and bring in the kind of change we’ve all discussed for years,” Mitchell responded. “Now, let’s get Roman to assign you guys cases for the last time. Pierce and I are going to start the restructure afterward. If you’ve got ideas, get them together now. Today is the day. Text that shit to us both, and we’ll address what we can.”
“You guys…they call each other Pierce and Mitch,” Cecily commented, laying her head on Peter’s shoulder. Rolling his eyes, Mitchell fired off a message to Roman and was ready to seize his new role as Master Juris Knight.
∞∞∞
After a month in their new positions, Pierson was astounded by the changes. The Juris Knight cluster was redesigned with Mitchell and Pierson sharing a large space that could be split with a sliding door if they needed to discuss things privately with clients if their new conference space was otherwise occupied. Around them were the offices of the other JKs, and they’d opted not to call in new ones from other cities. Instead, their focus was on building a friendly working environment where complaints and suggestions were asked for in equal measure. It allowed them to improve the way they functioned and thus far, it was heralding in new success.
With Pierson’s requirements, they’d designed a checklist that was available to all Juris and fallen knights. It was the same one he used mentally with each case and was added to the training he and Mitchell did around the country. Everyone was thrilled that the amount of cases being sent back was continuing to decline. The Council passed the amendments within hours, officially making the MJKs part of the leadership and allowing them to employ the arbitration system.
Each week, Pierson and Mitchell sat together with files that were sent over by JKs that they didn’t feel warranted a judge. Instead, it was the MJKs who brought in the parties and worked out resolutions. Sometimes it was done with a couple of phone calls, and other cases necessitated the parties coming in to hammer out details. Pierson and Mitchell enjoyed the new aspect of their careers, and it was moving things more swiftly through the fallen knights’ system.
It was wonderful for the pair to work so closely with the RKs and VKs too, and Pierson hoped they were representing their team well. On the day of their ceremony to anoint their titles, the RKs had surprised them with rings of rank designed by none other than Madeline D’Vairedraconis. The heavy band on his finger was one he wore with pride—he and Mitchell had worked hard to achieve a new first in their race, but they refused to be arrogant about it.
One thing the Reverent Knights had been correct about was that they had a lot on their plates, and it was becoming cumbersome to have to manage case assignments, arbitration schedules, their own cases, and the other various duties that came with being MJKs. So, it was a relief that the fallen knight resurrected by the Arch Lich was arriving momentarily, having finished his training at the Ascension Center.
There was a knock on the open door of their office, and Conley appeared along with his mate and a stranger. “Hey, we have someone we’d like you to meet.”
The RKs walked in and Pierson stood as a short man tripped over the threshold, dropping like a ton of bricks. Pierson winced when his face hit the carpet.
“Are you okay?” Drystan asked, helping the uniformed man up.
A smile formed on his subtly freckled face, lighting up his eyes. “Yeah, happens constantly. Hi, Master Juris Knights, I’m Tucker Eversly, an unranked fallen knight.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tucker,” Mitchell said, shaking hands with the friendly JK Office Manager, then stepping aside so Pierson could do the same. “How did you enjoy the Ascension Center?”
“It was nice,” Tucker enthused, pumping Pierson’s arm enthusiastically. “The sentinels didn’t trust me with pointy objects, though, but they did let me do hand-to-hand training with them. It went…well, horribly. Those guys are crazy coordinated.”
“Mitch and I were trained before we combined our facility with the sentinels, so I never had the opportunity to take classes with them. I must admit, I’m rather glad I didn’t. I am not the most coordinated person on the planet.”
“He never did take me down,” Mitchell remarked with a smirk.
“I guess you’d prefer to do other things on a mat with your mate anyway,” Tucker replied with a waggle of his brows. His grin made his dimples flash, and Pierson liked his spirit. It was going to be fun to work with him.
“Exactly,” Mitchell responded. “And I hope you meet yours soon, so you can enjoy what I have with Pierce.”
“I know I just got resurrected and stuff, but I’m all about having a mate so yeah, if you’ve got an in with Fate and can put in a good word for me, I’d appreciate it,” Tucker said.
“I don’t think she likes us much,” Pierson teased. “We ignored her wishes for more than a century. You’d have better luck having the RKs talk to her.”
“I’ll send every positive thought I can for you, Tucker,” Conley vowed. “And the past doesn’t matter, guys. The important thing is you honor her now.”
“When I can, I honor her a couple of times a day,” Mitchell bragged.
“Like I want to hear about your sex life,” Drystan drawled. “We’re out of here. Let us know if you need anything, Tucker. The only hard-and-fast rule of the Order of the Fallen Knights is to never let Kyle touch your computer.”
