“This is what you do?” I murmured as Raif came to stand beside me. “Walk around and bullshit?”
“Have you ever seen Congress in action? This is what the gallery looks like right before a voting session,” he said.
“I’ve never been to D.C.” I said. “Have you?”
His knowing smile was all the answer he’d give before he went to stand beside his brother.
As I contemplated the possibility that Raif had actually visited Washington, D.C., I fell into my role as a stoic man—well, woman—in black and tailed the king as he traveled from group to group. Raif was right; politics in the supernatural world were just like politics in the human world, with everyone jockeying for their views to be heard and backed up.
“Alexander!” A tall, drop-dead gorgeous woman approached, and I took a step forward, astonished at the protective instinct. Her red hair was streaked with gold and cascaded down her back in curling locks that shone with an unworldly light. Creamy peach flesh and golden eyes complemented a silk dress of peacock blues and greens. Her refined features were good enough for any fresco. Hell, Botticelli would have wept at the sight of her. My skin tingled as waves of energy emanated from her, the power seeping into my pores.
“Gods above!” she exclaimed, planting a kiss on Xander’s cheek. “Your entourage reeks of gin.”
Wait just a damn second! Indignation flushed my cheeks; I had not been drinking. Xander chuckled, and the blood drained from my face. Not gin. Jinn. Oh, give me a fucking break!
“Yes, well, my new security team leader has a little pet, my dear Luna. I hadn’t realized you didn’t favor the Jinn.”
Luna pulled her eager gaze from Xander’s face long enough to give me a sneering appraisal that would have made Anya proud. “It’s not that I don’t favor them. But have you heard what their delegation is proposing on the Shape-Shifter Initiative? Surely, you won’t be voting . . .”
I’d blocked her out once I realized Luna liked the sound of her own voice almost as much as Xander did his. Besides, if I’d had to listen to her disparage the Jinn delegation for a moment longer, I may have been persuaded to try out my fist on her perfectly shaped nose. But the king listened like a devoted admirer, nodding and hanging on every word. If it came to a vote, of course he’d consider her stance on the issue, and, yes, he would be honored if she’d return the favor to his issues as well. Spare me! Next group, please!
As if he’d heard my mental urgings, Xander kissed Luna’s hand and continued on his stroll. “Shape-Shifter Initiative?” I asked Raif as he fell back to walk with me.
“Politics.” He shrugged. “It never changes. The shifters are asking for the embargo to be lifted on their hunting grounds. The pheasant population in northern Idaho has diminished over the years, and the bird happens to be sacred in one of their coming-of-age ceremonies. They want to be allowed to hunt before the harvest moon and the autumnal equinox. It’s up for vote in a few months.”
“You mean the supernatural community actually makes environmental-impact decisions?” My brain reeled as it fought to soak up all of this new information. Levi would shit a brick if he could’ve been there to hear it all!
“Why wouldn’t we?” Raif said. “We inhabit this world, just like the humans. We must make decisions to protect natural resources, enact laws and policies. This is not chaos, Darian. We are not ungoverned animals.”
Hands tucked behind my back, I followed Xander as he paced from group to group. From the corner of my eye I watched as Tyler did the same, his hands flashing in animated gestures as he talked, sometimes emphatically with a stern expression on his face. I wondered as I watched, What is his stance on the Shape-Shifter Initiative?
“Darian,” Xander said as we approached a small group comprised of men in tailored business suits, “I’d like you to meet Dylan McBride. He owns a consulting firm out of Portland. Though didn’t I hear, Dylan, that you’re considering moving your headquarters to Seattle?”
I tried to discern any pattern of energy coming from Dylan as I studied him top to bottom. Graying salt-and-pepper hair, fine lines at the corner of his eyes when he smiled. Dylan seemed as average as any guy walking down the street. “I am, in fact, planning a move. We’ll be anchored here by spring.” He turned his attention fully to me and took my hand. A firm but not unusual grip.
“What kind of consulting do you do, Mr. McBride?” I couldn’t help but ask. Maybe he advised pixies on the best brand of magic dust to buy.
“I’m a financial consultant. I also manage business ventures for clients who have an issue with blending into normal society. Estate sales, acquisitions, stocks, bonds—I pretty much do it all.”
Dylan’s gray eyes sparkled, and I looked to Raif, who mouthed the word human. Sure, why not? Everyone else seemed to be here. Why not a human or two? I needed a drink.
“Nice to meet you, Dylan,” I said, stepping back behind Xander. Dylan clapped the king on the back and moved on, smiling and chortling with his cohorts as they passed.
“Surprised?” Xander asked with a sideways glance in my direction.
“You have no idea,” I said, sour and not afraid to show it.
His arrogant laughter sent chills down my spine. I hated the way he affected me, made me want to silence him for good. “What now?” I asked, my mood taking a dive. “More meet and greet, or are we going to get this show on the road?”
“I have one more person I’d like to speak with. By then, I believe we’ll be ready to start.”
Xander plowed ahead, Raif beside him and me trailing behind, trying to look like I had my shit together. But I so didn’t. Not even close. Son. Of. A. Bitch. How in the hell could I have been so blind? I was walking through a supernatural pep rally with hundreds of attendees, by my estimation. How had I never noticed them before? Or was it like Levi had said, and the supernatural population had suddenly shifted their focus on Seattle and the brewing conflict between Xander and his heir? I felt like throwing up.
We approached a man and a woman, both tall and unusually thin. Their pale skin appeared luminescent against the warehouse lighting, an aura of pinkish light hovering around them. With features too similar to ignore, they had to be related. Faun-colored hair, straight and fine, trailed down the woman’s back, while the man’s had been clipped short. Their eyes, the lightest blue and hauntingly empty, only made their faces look more ethereal. As we came near, identical smiles graced their mouths—a baring of teeth that could only be described as predatory. They were a frightening pair, and I rested my hand near my dagger, ready to defend if need be.
“Sidhe,” Raif whispered close to my cheek. “The oldest living creatures in the Fae lineage. Older than recorded time. Do not look them in the eye.”
Okay, easy enough. Just a glance in their direction made my skin crawl. Literally. A powerful energy, greater even than what I’d felt from Luna, crept out from where they stood, slithering over my skin like rough-skinned snakes.
“Alexander, I bring greetings from your father’s father,” the woman said. “To you as well, Raif.”
Raif bowed his head, and Xander followed suit. My own gaze I kept toward the floor, but I felt an urge to drop lower, as if invisible hands pushed me down. I looked up, just enough to see the man staring at me, his pleased smile telling me he was the one pushing my buttons. And I refused to let him. Without looking him straight in his eyes, I focused my gaze at his hawkish nose, fighting his influence with all I was worth. It felt like I was squatting five hundred pounds, but I resisted the power flooding from him as well as the urge to kneel at his feet.