Page 81 of Nocturnal Desires

“Okay. So how many of your pod should we include in the plan?” Alaric asks.

“Skarlyt, can you go get Narissa and bring her here? This is a conversation she should be included in,” I say as Skarlyt walks through the door, a cookie halfway to her mouth.

“But I…” she begins, her mouth opening and closing, no doubt wanting to argue that she just got here. Instead, sheshoves the entire cookie in her mouth, scowling at me before vanishing and popping back in with a wide-eyed Narissa.

“What is the meaning of this?” she demands.

“Skarlyt. You could’ve at least told her why you wanted her,” I say and Alaric snorts knowing his best friend.

“You asked me to go get her, not explain why. Besides, how was I supposed to explain with a mouth full of cookie?” Skarlyt says with a shrug, walking over to her brother.

I narrow my eyes at her before turning to Narissa.

“Sorry about that, some witches need a lesson in manners.” I send a pointed look at Skarlyt who places a hand on her chest in mock innocence. “But we were going over the plan for tonight and wanted to get your input.”

Narissa’s eyes are still wide after the short exchange between Skarlyt and me, but she clears her throat.

“I appreciate that, Pearl.”

“You’re welcome,” I tell her, placing my hand on her elbow and guiding her back to the table. “We need to know how many in your pod are comfortable fighting on land and how many would rather wait and be ready to heal anyone who is injured.”

“Who is going to fight if not us?” she asks, anger in her voice.

“We are,” Drake and Rayne say at the same time.

“And us,” Skarlyt says, gesturing to herself and her brother.

“Us too,” Darren says nodding at Alaric.

“Why? Why would you all fight for people you don’t know?” Narissa asks.

“Because Pearl is their family,” Loukas says, stepping back up from somewhere behind me and placing his hand on the small of my back. “I haven’t been on this island long, but I’ve learned that the people here genuinely care for other supernaturals.”

Narissa scoffs. “What do you want in exchange?”

“Nothing. They…We want nothing in exchange except for your pod to be safe,” I tell her.

“But we’re sea nymphs, not witches or vampires or shifters.”

“And that doesn’t matter,” Skarlyt says. “Maybe once upon a time, all supernatural factions were separated by their bigotry, their purist beliefs, but no more. If that were the case, my mate wouldn’t be a wolf.”

“And mine wouldn’t be a hunter,” Drake adds.

“Nor would ours be phoenixes,” Alaric says, tipping his head toward his brother who nods.

“I don’t understand,” she says, looking at me and then at Loukas and around the rest of the table.

“You will,” I assure her.

“How can you trust that they will fight as hard as we would?”

“They won't,” I say with a soft smile. “They’ll fight harder and better because every single person in this room has fought before and train in combat regularly.”

I search Narissa’s eyes and see that she’s not going to believe me unless she sees it.

“Can you show her some of the 911 missions?” I ask Sebastyn, knowing that out of everyone in this room, he knows the system the best. Still not as good as Matt, but he’s the second-best option.

Sebastyn nods, leading Narissa over to the wall of computer screens, Loukas following behind. I watch with a smile on my face as they both watch, eyes wide, glancing at each person around the room.

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