He cut me off, “Spare me your statistics.” I waved, “Seriously, Dante, you are paranoid. Go back to Nashville and whatever hole you crawled out of. No one here likes seeing your rat face. You’re surprisingly unattractive for a supernatural.” Dante grunted, “You can’t speak to me like that.”
I replied, “I think I just did... so I’m pretty sure that I can.” I acted like I was going to punch him while asking, “What are you going to do about it? Oh yeah, that’s right... nothing.” He jumped back in fright knowing I could take him down.
Addison linked, “Umm whatcha doing? He’s going to push it.” I replied, “He’s might, but it’s fine. My concealers work now. Or he’ll take it out on me.” She reasoned, “Everything you’ve mentioned about the Hackura says Micah won’t let him.” That was true, which meant Dante would die sooner than I planned. I was ok with that though.
Dante sputtered, “I’m not leaving until he takes off his shirt.” I knew it was too much to ask that he just leave. I turned to Micah and blinked twice. That was a sign to any Hackura that the person had their six. He’d know it and trust me because wewere meant to be family. I’d put the concealer on him, and I knew it worked. I’d had Luna Elena test it for me.
Micah stared at me. Come on. I encouraged, “Go on Micah. If he tries to make a move on you, we can both kick his butt. Easily. I mean I’ve done it… like thirty seven times… not like, actually thirty seven times. Ok… it’s actually forty-five… I was lowballing it for some reason…To be fair, I’ve had to.”
I pointed at Dante, “He’s a bit of a pervert. Though… most guys are. I mean I swear, what’s up with the grabby ‘I’ll own you’ or ‘let me fuck you’ crap? Honestly. Oh, I can’t forget the time honored ‘I’ll possess and tame you’ rhetoric. It’s like people forget women have standards.”
Micah’s jaw clenched. Sierra linked, “Are you trying to get Dante killed? Because I think Micah might kill him.” I was not opposed to that idea, but I was just trying to get Micah to trust me. His jaw could clench for several reasons. One being these people wanted to kill his mate…which offended him for obvious reasons.
I continued, “I’ve had to ask a few of these guys if their pick up lines actually work for them. I mean obviously, they have some reason to think they would. It’s not like any of them are god’s gift to women or anything so… I don’t understand how it wor….”
Dante interrupted, “ASHLEY GRIFFEN WILL YOU STOP RAMBLING FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!” I was surprised he didn’t just say shut up. Micah tapped his thigh letting me know he trusted me and just like that an old feeling burst into my chest.
An emotion so sharp I nearly went down again. He trusted and believed in me. He was a good guy who knew how life was supposed to be, and he was trusting me. It meant more than he could ever know. Micah took off his shirt.
The guys who brought him in hit each other smugly. Dirk grunted, “See? I told you he was cool, Dante.” I muttered, “If we are being technical, I believe I said he was cool. He’s killed more Werewolves than you’ve ever thought about killing. He could also snap you all like twigs. Seriously, you all want to fight Werewolves, and you can’t lift twenty pounds... it’s sad... honestly...” He’d killed rogues, but they didn’t need to know that.
Dante yelled, “SHUT UP, ASHLEY!” I glared at him, wishing I could kill him here and now. I warned Dante as I moved in front of Micah, “I’ll drop you like a sack of potatoes if you try anything weird, Dante. I just told Micah you wouldn’t, and I meant it. Which you totally know because you laugh when I lie to you…” Several people snickered.
I grumbled, “You don’t even like guys.” Dante complained, “You rarely stick up for anyone. You barely have friends of the male persuasion. You hate most of the guys here. We have a pool about whether or not you're a lesbian.” I had male friends! That wasn’t a remotely true comment.
I snorted, “I totally have male friends… that’s a thing… that I have… just not here, because you suck! As far as you are concerned on my sexual preference... let’s go with that. It’s simpler. There’s one man I’d ever let touch me in the way you all want to, and one man alone.”
“So keep on dreaming. You all with your grabby hands have NOTHING that I want. I don’t want to be touched by ANY of you jerks, and you INSIST on trying knowing that… and that I can beat you. There’s a definition you should look up. Insanity.”
I pointed at the man who should be my brother in law, “Micah here does swing the other way which means I don’t have to worry he’s going to try and cop a feel. He’s actually a good guy, unlike you tools. Come on Micah. Let’s go get some food and catch up.”
Sierra linked, “Maybe don’t tell them he has something else in common with the Micah related to the Conners.” Yeah, that would’ve been good advice a second ago. I asked, “Samantha and Cindy do you guys want to join?”
Addison answered, “Yeah, we’re coming. Dante, you know if you keep treating the new people like this they won’t join.” Several people made noises of agreement. They were so easily led it was a little sad. They were all riled up and on Dante’s side a second ago.
Dante cleared his throat, “We’d welcome you, Micah. I don’t lead this group. A man named Nate does and he will be back tonight.” Micah said, “I was prepared to join, but after whatever the hell this was, I’ll have to think about it.” The answer was no because I wasn’t going to let it happen. This was an in I could take and protect Micah all at the same time.
Dante offered, “Ashley, do tell him he could work with you if he joined, since you two know each other.” I scoffed, “Because he doesn’t have ears and can’t hear you himself? This isn’t kindergarten. Tell him yourself… which you did, so… I’m not your telephone. I swear you all are a bunch of pups with grabby hands.”
When we got outside Micah asked, “Uhh have we met? Because I don’t think I was there.” I lead him to my car without answering. Addison groaned over link, “Do not geek out about meeting him.” Yeah, that was going to be hard. I admired him and his dad. His dad was my tech idol and mentor without knowing he was.
I managed to not answer Micah as everyone got in the car. Addison linked me, “You ok?” I sighed, “Let’s just get to the diner. He won’t be alone.” Addison replied, “And if he’s with his mate? Or his mate’s brother?”
I sighed, “We will find out. It’s not Xander though. He’d have been in front of me declaring me his and I’d have passed the hellout because… when he finds out who I really am…. We’ll have a lot to talk about.” Addison frowned but didn’t say anything as I started the car. This could be a long night.
It turned out in my favor really. We got everything we wanted and something I never thought I’d get; an in with the Hackura. I knew their inspection of everything was going to go just fine, but I was still nervous. Virgil called me.
I answered, “Hey.” He declared, “They got everything and left. No one was hurt.” I replied, “Thanks! Get out of there.” He chuckled, “Got it.” He hung up and I got back to work. Black Path members came in, including Trevor McCann. He lived to torment me.
Normally they left me alone in King’s Diner. I knew I spent a lot of time here, but I liked it. Mason and Hendrick kept the whispers to a minimum. I could also work without the pack people bothering me.
I had narrowed down a spot for The Resistance headquarters away from here. I just needed to win another fight, and I could buy the building. I needed my other money for my inventions. I’d set up a shell corporation. Manford at Modd. It was just a silly antigram but putting a shell corporation that spelled out ‘For T, mom, and Dad’ was too obvious.
Only Fairies would guess the real name, and they’d have to look really hard. I doubted the Ring would ever figure it out. It would have to be an allied Fairy for Red Run. Or the Fairies in Red Run themselves. They’d taught me Fealish and worked with me on making antigrams.
It hit me again how much I missed being back home. I missed dancing at my spot in the woods. I had to close my eyes and imagine I was back home sometimes to dance. I’d found a place to dance here, but this place sucked the creativity out of everything, including nature. I sighed.
Everything would be different once I had my wolf. Beta Jason would see… they said after my shift... maybe I could come home. I’d talk to Elise. She’d help my friends, and we could continue our work. I was positive nobody in Red Run would want to see much of me, so it was perfect.
