Momentary silence. Then, a long, deep sigh. “Fuck.”
“Yeah. That. I’ve said that a lot in the past couple of hours. Let me tell you what I heard, then you correct me where I’m wrong, okay?”
Resignation now colored Mark’s tone. He knew he couldn’t bullshit Daniel over any of this. “Sure.”
When they were both up to speed, Mark had returned to the open tone of voice that told Daniel they were once again allies. “So what do you want me to do on this end?” Mark asked.
“Nothing. Not right now, at least. This is a courtesy call. I just wanted to talk to you first. My next call is to Aindreas Lyall. I didn’t want you blindsided on the back end by him ripping your ear off over the phone. And yes, I will make sure he knows you didn’t rat him out, that I found out from other sources first.”
Mark laughed in his ear. “Let me know how that works for you. He’s going to tell you to go fuck yourself and the horse you rode in on.”
“Yeah, and it’s not that simple, unfortunately. I need you, Aindreas and his brothers, their mate, and Micah and his mates up here for a Council hearing.” He took the tone, the Alpha head of the Council tone that would brook no resistance, with him. “Pronto.”
Mark went silent for a moment. “Fuck,” he said.
“Yeeeahh. Exactly. I don’t want to be a dick and throw my weight around, but I also don’t need you guys down there making me look like a fucking douche, either. I need some cooperation here. You know as well as I do there’s no way in fucking hell any of us are going to let Abernathy get his way in this, but we have to, at least publically, give him a hand job and tickle his balls for the benefit of all the other Clans, or there will be serious shit to pay later down the road. Understand?”
Mark finally laughed again. “Fuck me sideways. Jocko picked the right man for the job.”
“No thanks, I don’t swing that way, but I appreciate the compliment. Have a good one.”
Daniel smiled as he hung up over Mark’s laughter on the other end of the line. He knew he could count on Mark as backup on this subject.
Hmm. I think I’ll add him to the top of my mental list of potential Council members.
He stared at the phone for a moment. That call had gone easier than he’d hoped. At the best, he’d expected guarded acceptance of the situation, not helpful welcoming of his ascension to the—cue the heavenly horns—exalted poo-bah status of head of the Clan Council.
He knew if someone called him about his good friends and told him there was a perennial prick out there to take away not only the love of their life, whom they’d looked for over a century, but the mate of their close friend and cousin, too, he wouldn’t be quite so accommodating.
Fortunately for him, as Callie was fond of saying, he had a way with words.
Actually, she said he had a magic tongue. Same thing.
All right, let’s do this. He pulled up Ain Lyall’s number and hit send.
The phone rang twice before Ain answered. His tone didn’t sound guarded.
Yet.
“Hi, Blackie,” Ain said. “What’s up?”
“Well, a lot’s happened in the past twenty-four hours. You got a few minutes?”
“Um, sure.”
Again, Daniel started with the easy part of the information, that he was now head of the Clan Council and the information about the cockatrice.
“Lina and her guys are here. Should I tell them all this?”
“Yeah, but that’s not the only reason I called.”
Now Ain’s tone turned guarded. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I think you know why I’m calling.”
Ain let out a ragged breath on the other end. “Abernathy.”
“Yeah. Howling like his tail’s on fire. I’ve already called Mark and gave him a heads-up. And no, he didn’t rat you out, either. Neither did I. Jocko found out from Abernathy himself. But Elain’s not the only reason Abernathy’s upset.”
A momentary silence met that comment. “How the fuck could he know about Mai?”
“Exactly. Apparently he’s had someone down there following all of y’all around. Now you know as well as I do we’ve got to have a Council hearing on all of this so he can air his challenges.”
Now Ain’s tone turned rumbly, growly. “No fucking way are we turning Elain over. Or Mai.”
“Calm down, Ain. You and I are on the same page. Like I told Mark, publically, at least, we need to let Abernathy piss and moan and have his day. It’s going to be a damn kangaroo court, of course, but it needs to at least look to everyone else like we gave him a fair shake so he can’t go whining to everyone about it. If I have to rule in his favor on anything, then you know damn well we’ll make this disappear on the back end, one way or another.”
Daniel wouldn’t have said this next part to anyone but Ain Lyall. He’d already made his mind up, but hadn’t told Jocko, that if he had to rule against Ain, he would ask Callie to fix things. “You know who my mate is. Do you really think I’m going to sit by and let that shit weasel do his thing? We do, however, have to put on a good show.”
Another moment of silence from Ain, but at least when he next spoke, his tone sounded more open. “You sure I can count on you for that?”
“Ain, please. I am not your enemy here. You’re old enough to know how Clan politics work. This is the beginning of the true end for Rodolfo Abernathy and his band of freaky fuckwads. We can’t let him paint us with shit-colored glasses on his way out the door. Capice?”
Ain sighed. “I know you’re right. I just hate like hell to have to do this.”
“So do I, but Abernathy wants a show. We’ll not only give him a show, we’ll make it look like Cirque du fucking Soleil.” He paused. “Can I count on you and your brothers? I swear on the Code of the Ancients, I will have your back on this, but you have to trust me as head of the Council to do things my way.”
“I’m probably going to have to edict the hell out of Brod, Cail, and Elain, but yeah. I trust you.” His tone turned dark. “I’m holding you to it, though. If you screw us over on this, there won’t be anywhere you can hide.”
“Don’t worry. This will work out. I need you up here in a week. Next Friday is full moon, and I’m going to convene the full Council to hear shithead’s challenges. My next call is to his royal fucktardness himself.”
Finally, a laugh out of Ain. “How did Jocko sucker you into this job?”
“That’s exactly it, he suckered me. See you next Friday.”
“Can we bring Lina and the guys up with us?”
Daniel considered it. “Actually, I would strongly suggest you do.” His own tone turned grim. “We might need her help with things, depending on the outcome of the Council meeting. We have to get Abernathy’s bullshit out of the way so we can focus on finding the cockatrice nest and deciding on our next move regarding all that mess.”
Daniel said good-bye to Ain and sat back in his chair. He had Abernathy’s number. Unfortunately, it was the last call he wanted to make. He knew by the time he hung up his blood pressure would be through the roof.
Let’s get it done.
He dialed. A man answered on the fifth ring. “Yeah?”
The lack of basic manners pissed Daniel off to start with. “Rodolfo Abernathy.”
“Hold on.”
After a moment, another, older-sounding man came on the line. “Hello? Rodolfo Abernathy.”
“Daniel Blackestone. You’re expecting my call.”
Daniel wouldn’t call Abernathy’s tone exactly friendly, but he’d tolerate it for a few more minutes, at least. “Ah, about time. When do I get those two women back?”