Page 22 of Phoenix Falling
Grim cut me off. “The king is moving to block our preparations.”
Aaaand there was that weight on my shoulders again. “How is that?”
“He has empowered those who opposed us at the community meeting to be his liaisons. They are making the rounds, threatening those who are doing our bidding. Telling people there’s no threat, no evidence the Anigma know where we are. No reason to get into a panic or have anything change.”
I rubbed a hand across my brow, trying to ease the stress building once more like a tight band around my head. “Of course not. That was what he wanted all along, for things to stay exactly the same. Except they can’t. We can’t risk the possibility of attack.” I exchanged the mostly empty bag of blood for the waiting beer. “And if we wait until the Anigma return, that possibility becomes a certainty.”
“The question is, how do we counter his moves?”
I met Grim’s eyes, the only being, as far as I was aware, that he allowed to do so. The male was a mystery to everyone in our clan except me. He’d accepted me, trusted me long before I’d been given the trust of leadership. I alone knew his secrets. His power. And yet here he was, looking to me. Looking for answers I didn’t have. “Grim—”
The sound of a fist pounding on my door cut me off. “What the hell?”
It was Grim who stood, pulling his hood back over his head and down until only his mouth was visible before walking over to the door to my suite. Standing so as to block anyone’s entrance, he opened it.
“Sun!”
The voice cut off abruptly. “Not Sun,” Grim said, his voice deceptively calm. “What can I do for you?”
“Get the fuck out of my way!” With those barked words, the male pushed past Grim and into the suite.
A low, threatening growl filled the room. Oh fuck.
“Grim…” But it was already too late. One hand raised toward the male—one of our supply coordinators, Jasper, I saw now—Grim slowly squeezed his fingers shut. Jasper’s back bowed and he howled in pain.
“You forget yourself, minotaur,” Grim said.
Barely able to breathe, the male clawed at his throat, desperation filling his eyes.
I drained the rest of my beer and set the bottle aside, not bothering to get up. I was simply too tired all of a sudden to bother. “Grim, you’ve made your point.”
“Have I?”
“You have,” the male stuttered. “You have.”
Grim’s hand dropped, and Jasper sagged in relief. While he was trying to catch his breath, several other males crowded into the room, each one careful to give the Aomai plenty of space. With a flick of his robe, Grim turned his back on them and came to stand guard behind me.
Leaning forward, I planted my elbows on my knees and eyed the group, but it was Grim who spoke. “Jasper, what are you doing here?”
I knew without my friend saying a word that he was aware of the identity of every male in the room. Many of our people thought that Grim’s hood was somehow see-through or that he could identify them by hearing their voice, by their gate or style of shoes. None of that was the truth. Part of Grim’s gift was the ability to delve into minds, and whether the males in front of me realized it or not, he had delved into each one without them sensing it. If he’d wanted them to, he could’ve made them feel it and had them on their knees in an instant, writhing in agony.
Jasper was lucky Grim had simply given him a warning. I stared at the ringleader, but the male didn’t speak.
“You needed something?” I asked again.
He cleared his throat, shrugged his shirt back into place. Before he could get words out, the male to his right spoke up. “You’re damn right we do.”
Grim stirred behind me. “What did you say to our prince, Derek?”
The words were low, menacing, the danger a physical vibration that reverberated across the room. I knew because I saw each shifter tense even more, fear reigniting in many of their stares. But not Derek. The idiot growled low, his animal flashing in his eyes—apparently he was too angry for common sense.
He did, however, soften his tongue. “I said…the king has spoken on the issue of the new females. He refuses to release them into the general population.” He smacked his chest hard. “Our possible mates. By what right does he hide them away?”
I barely refrained from telling the group that those females might never mate, not given the trauma they’d been through. No need to add fuel to the fire. And despite the anger sparking inside me at the males’ method of questioning me, I also didn’t speak the words that immediately jumped to the tip of my tongue, that the king no longer possessed the power to make the females off-limits. Only the Warriors Council and I knew how little Solomon’s word mattered at this point.
No, angry or not, I needed to pick my battles right now. Fighting on two fronts, the king and my people, would only lead to failure.
Keeping my voice carefully even, I instead gave the males a half-truth. “The females are not ready to be introduced into our community yet.”
