Page 46 of Broken Mate

15

DESIGNATED RULER

SARIEL

Elias was an interesting man—and his right and left hands? Even more so.

Jack was a baby-faced witch with an attitude problem that seemed to have been copy-pasted onto Ashe. The young shifter wasn’t as snarky, but one could definitely tell that he’d grown up under Jack's care. That became even more apparent when the duo shared skeptical glances and smug smirks during our weekly debrief; Elias tried to curb it with pointed glares, but neither of the men took him seriously, it seemed.

Knowing how much he cared about both of them from eavesdropping on Aria earlier that morning and why from Ashe himself, it made sense. Those two knew they had the poor man wrapped around their fingers.

“They’re not going to attack right now,” Jack argued, proving my point when Elias growled at him and got an eye-roll for the effort. “It would be stupid. The Free Kingdom has all but rubbed their faces into the mud at this point. They’ll risk losing the war that they started if they do.”

“They’ve already lost public support, too,” Ashe pointed out thoughtfully. “Almost every pack has gathered under the Resistance flag, and without demon support, it’s just a bunch of angels and witches. Pagani won't risk his own people after the majority requested their support be withdrawn.”

“They didwhat?” Aria gasped.

Ashe grinned at her, looking thrilled. He leaned towards her like they were gossiping amongst just the two of them instead of telling the entire room what intel he’d managed to gather from his contacts in the Upper Council’s circle.

“Vampires have the smallest population at this point. Their birth rates have rapidly decreased in recent years, so it’s made them touchy about the deaths of their kind,” he explained, bracing against the table he was standing in front of. “His coven took a vote and presented their findings, so even though he hasn’t made a public statement yet, all the vampires know their necks are off the line.”

“I thought that was just a rumor,” Auren commented. “How do we know it’s the truth?”

Ashe’s jaw visibly clenched in annoyance. It was only the second time I’d seen his toothy grin crack. At least Auren wasn’t letting his maybe-there mate bond interfere with official business, but that also clearly wasn’t earning him brownie points.

“Because Ashe doesn’t present baseless rumors,” Elias intervened before the conversation could derail. “Weknow that it would be a bad move, but Azazel and Francesca aren’t exactly the most logical members of the Upper Council. Even if Pagani argued against it, they could simply decide to make a move on their own.”

Auren grimaced at the reminder, letting out a long sigh before nodding. “I’ll fortify the camps they’re targeting. Then, worst case scenario, they can just spend a few weeks training up some of the smaller encampments.”

“Speaking of smaller camps,” I started, then bounced my leg when everyone turned to me. “Do we know if Lucy and Credence slipped into one?”

It was a theory that my brother had been keeping to himself, but it made a lot of sense. If Azazel couldn’t find my mother and grandmother, it meant they were somewhere out of his reach—so either with us, right under our noses, or in the Free Kingdom. Since the former seemed more likely with how difficult it was to get out of America in this current climate, he had put out the word that we should keep an eye out for them.

“They’re probably glamoured,” Grel commented, “but none of my people have found them if they’re hiding out in the Free Kingdom.”

“None of ours have, either.” Auren sighed. “I wish we could, though. I’d feel better if mom wasn’t just out in the world wherehecould catch her.”

“On the bright side, he doesn’t seem to be looking for anyone at all,” Elias murmured, rolling his huge shoulders. “He’s fixated on the war and catching Sariel, so everything else has fallen to the wayside.”

Small mercies. If he’d forgotten about Lucy and Credence, I’d take it. Auren seemed to be of the same mind, nodding slowly.

“It’s unfortunate we can’t find them. Michaelson requested she be at the wedding, as well, and he’ll be disappointed if none of his family is there,” Grel said, and I got the feeling he was trying to gauge our reaction more than anything.

Aria sighed, obviously sensing my discomfort with it all. “I think we should go.”

She looked at me as she spoke, face determined. “He deserves to have us show our support, even if it’s in the middle of this mess.”

“I agree. I’d like to… clean up things with him. He should know I’m alive, too,” Auren admitted. I got the feeling he was watching me from behind his shades, too.

“We’ll be there, okay?” I said, conceding. “We’re going.”

I didn’t mean for it to be snappy, but it was. Aria just sighed again.

Grel smirked and nodded approvingly. “I knew you’d come to the right decision.”

“Now that the happy family is all sorted,” Neo grumbled, looking more bitter than usual as he picked at a speck of lint on his shirt, “why haven’t we petitioned Heaven for help wrapping this up? We tried asking Hell.”

“Because Michael already said they weren’t interested,” Aria answered.

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