Page 108 of B Negative

My stomach flip-flopped, anticipating the weight of what I was about to say.

If this went wrong…

If every one of the supes at the table didn’t agree…

“Julian and Titus are in talks to rescind the ward between our cities. And when that happens, Sunny and I want to make sure that the best parts of our two cities live on.”

“What exactly are you proposing?” Claudia St. James, the head of the Laurel Cove coven, asked.

Everyone around her nodded in agreement.

Sunny and I locked eyes and unwound our plan for them.

If it weren’t for the enormous cloaking spell it took thirteen covens to pull off, every human on the bridge at rush hour would have witnessed a line of shifters, witches, and vampires walking across the surface of the water and convening in the middle.

They really hadn’t liked that wharf town.

“When you said you wanted to choose the meeting place, I hadn’t expected this,” Julian said, gripping my arm while we walked the invisible bridge.

“That makes two of us.”

An enormous round table sat on the surface of the water directly between the two cities.

“Are you sure it’s hidden from the humans on the bridge?” Julian asked for the second time and gripped my arm even tighter. “Because Claudia had a hell of a time cleaning up the mess I made on the bridge trying to get you.”

“Yes, I told you. Big, huge thirteen-coven cloaking spell. Now, what’s gotten into you? You’re awfully jittery for someone about to end a centuries-long feud,” I asked.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was nervous, except Julian didn’t get nervous. Not political things, at least.

His gaze traveled to the river below him and his complexion went green.

“Oh, no. Are you afraid of heights?”

“Heights? Don’t be ridiculous, Eden. Of course not.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him.

He shook his head, almost… almost like he was embarrassed. “I never learned how to swim. Water terrifies me.”

I chomped on my bottom lip to keep from laughing. “Well, next time we have a historic gathering of all the supes in two cities, I’ll be sure to hold it on dry land.”

“Thanks, love,” Julian said without a drop of irony, and squeezed me closer.

Julian and I found our seats among the other supe leaders and waited for Titus and Sunny to arrive. To my left sat a wolf from Cypress City, whose name tag read Aster Field. To my right was Julian, and to his right was one of the Cypress City witches. It seemed Daniel had gone out of his way to make certain everyone sat next to someone from the opposite side of the river. As much as he could anyway, given there were far more Cypress City witch leaders than Laurel Covers.

Sunny and Titus were the last of the Cypress City reps to find their seats, but the moment they did, the center of the table vanished and a tall, thin vampire appeared in its place. Like sci-fi, teleportation shit.

Witches, man. I still can’t even.

Sunny wiggled her eyebrows at me as if to say, here we go.

“Bartholomew?” Julian whispered under his breath.

“Greetings all.. I am Bartholomew of the Onxic Clan, and I’m here as an impartial facilitator during this negotiation.” The vampire wore a long black robe with the hood drawn over his head. “Let us begin with the first matter of business.”

I locked eyes with Jaxson across the table. With a pointed gaze, he directed my attention to Nikita, whose stare was locked on a very attractive wolf from Cypress City.

I quirked an eyebrow at Jaxson. Potential love match?

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