“I get the point. Do I need to suck his cock in front of you or something equally vulgar.”
“Oh no,” a silkily refined voice said. Oberon could have featured as a villain in any Jacobean drama. His whole body clothed in black, that it was hard to see where the various articles of clothing ended or began. He was oddly scentless, a fact that was easy to forget until you were confronted with him in an empty space.. “I do not think anyone would enjoy that. Especially not your omega. Omegas are a funny dynamic. Far, far fiercer than any alpha… given the right circumstances.”
“I know.”
“Then—“
“How much to make Stimpson disappear?”
“Twenty thousand or he’s a fool.” Puck laughed.
“Twenty?” It was a steep sum. “I could—”
“Do you have such a sum.” Puck seemed to be the one speaking, but I kept my eyes on Drexler, knowing he pulled all the strings.
I nodded. “Can you arrange it for me?”
“Of course. But, and you know this, I abhor vulgarity. Simply paying to, uh, off a cretin like Stimpson seems so… Crass. You are a lord, an aristocrat. I am an artist, though not the same as your lovely mate.”
“We will draw him out. Just as the Colonel and Puck discussed. A prize fight.”
“And you believe Stimpson stupid enough when he knows we want his blood.”
“I have no intention to advertise who is fighting.” Drexler scoffed. “An open challenge. The purse—which you will front—will draw out every scheming little worm in the country if we advertise enough. I’ll take that cost on as a courtesy. And with a little prodding, Stimpson will show his face.”
“I don’t trust it,” Puck chimed in. “Not that it ain’t a pretty picture. But… I want a fight.”
He said the word with such longing that I blinked.
“Enough, Robin.” Drexler snapped. The two alphas glared at each other, growling at one another and yet almost in perfect control. Unsurprisingly, it was Puck who backed down. “You’ll have your fight. Fear not, my Puck. Hear that, Paxton? My fighter wants a real heave ho! Go at it with fists!” He twirled his hands in the air. “Do you think your man up to it?”
“Yes. But I won’t have our mate involved.”
“That’s a dead end. You think the Faerie Queene won’t find out?”
“Hippolyta?” I asked, confused.
“Yes. She might like to pretend she is a highwayman, but in truth she is just a rich girl playing at an alpha’s game. That isn’t a knock against the lady.”
“You know her better than that,” I said, confused why he seemed so dismissive of my mate’s sister. I’d seen Beatrice in a Blaze and could only imagine what her feral sister would be like in a similar fury.
“What I know of the fair Hippolyta outnumbers the stars. What I don’t know of her is twice as much.” Drexler seemed pleased he didn’t know Hippolyta well. “You’ve your fight. You can leave Hell and return to your domestic bliss.” His face twisted into a cruel smile, as if he knew that the future would not be so content.