Courts and Cabals 2 by G.S. D'Moore (best novel books to read .txt) 📕

have any fire powers. Those changelings were killed by Aveena Foxbelle or Lilith Venitas. My money is on Venitas since they were Fae, but since it was an agreed upon duel to the death, she’ll claim self-defense. We might be able to get her on manslaughter, but that’s only if the state elects to press charges. We’re in the process of contacting the next of kin, but it’s going to be up to the New York Attorney General to file charges if they’re going to move forward.”

“Fuck,” he hissed. It was an election year, and the last thing someone running for election in a blue state wanted was to be seen conversing with the Response Division. He gave it thirty-seventy odds that charges would be leveled against the Venitas scion.

“Son of a bitch,” he was really getting tired of the cabals.

“We’ve got a warrant out for Dupree on failure to register, but it’s not even a felony. Due to the fact we weren’t able to figure out he was supernatural for months; his cabal lawyers will be able to get him off by paying the fine and registering. Since we should have details from the Aussie girl by then, we should have a new category.”

Normally, a new category was a big deal. The UN brass trotted out celebrities, and broke the budget to celebrate “diversity”. They tried to make it sound like it was a good thing. As a supernatural, Vernon felt he could say it was a load of bullshit. Some of the things that had been discovered by the UN were nothing more than monsters.

“We can hold him to verify the category,” Vernon brainstormed. He wasn’t just going to let Dupree walk away scot-free after this clusterfuck.

“We could, but be careful, Vernon,” her face softened enough to remind him she wasn’t a robot without emotion. “Don’t forget about the Fae.”

“Yeah,” he exhaled, and the last of the fight went out of him.

The UN wanted Dupree, and Vernon would make sure they wrung the kid dry for every bit of data and punishment they could. The kid deserved it after what he’d done, but the UN was bound by international law, the federal statutes of the United States – since that was the country everything was occurring in – and then state and local law. He wasn’t a lawyer, but some of those layers conflicted; which only made the Response Division’s job that much more difficult.

“I wish Becky was better,” he sighed, he bet they both could work off a little tension.

“So, the mission is to still keep Dupree alive?” he knew the answer.

“Yes, he’s an American citizen whose only crime is not registering,” she replied succinctly.

“Only crime that we know of,” Vernon knew he was biased, but his instincts had been right all along. Something was up with Dupree, so Vernon would keep following his instincts.

“Where do you want me, Boss?” he asked, falling back into his roll of loyal employee after venting his rage at her, the universe, and the poor receptionist.

“Take twenty-four hours and make sure your mate is okay,” she replied.

“Whoa,” Vernon was up out of his seat and immediately on the defense. “Mate . . . um . . . we just started seeing each other. We’ve only fucked . . .”

“I don’t need to know about your love life, Agent Dud. Make sure Sheriff Wood recovers and then come back to see me,” she looked down at her computer, and waved her hand in dismissal.

“I was meaning to ask you about Becky . . .” Vernon began.

“You seriously aren’t going to ask me to hire your girlfriend after you came marching in here like a spoiled brat who just had his favorite toy broken,” she turned her steely gaze on him.

It was only because Becky had a really tight pussy that Vernon held the Director’s gaze. “Just think about it, please.” He didn’t beg often, and he swore he saw a smirk tug at the edge of the old woman’s mouth, but she didn’t commit to anything.

“Twenty-four hours, and then get to Vegas. That’s where the next part of this will play out,” she gestured for him to get the hell out.

He got. He went straight down to the hospital wing to check on Becky. The Director’s words about her being his mate pinballed through his mind the whole way.

Chapter 8

“This must be what POTUS feels like,” I grinned as the motorcycle honor guard roared around us. You might not like the guy, or the guy before him; hell, you might not like any of them, but there was no denying they traveled in style. I felt untouchable at the center of a small shifter army descending on Las Vegas.

Sometime before we hit the city, three identical SUVs entered our convoy. “This is some Jason Bourne shit,” I watched as the SUVs played a shell game among the shifter bikes. Whenever we reached an overpass, or something that hid us from aerial surveillance, the cars slid into new positions. I was in one of the cars and I couldn’t keep track of it.

Dani watched my face with a smirk. “You’re such a baby,” she cooed and reached back to ruffle my hair, but I dodged away. “You’ll get used to the tradecraft. Soon, it’ll be second nature.”

“Really?” my mind went back to a conversation with Lilith not too long ago. “You told me the cabal was on the up-and-up.”

“We are,” the succubus reiterated.

“For the most part,” Dani edged the bet for both of them. “What?” she yelped when Lilith reached around and succeeded in swatting her.

“Cam,” Dani gave the succubus a glare, “sure, the cabal was into a lot of shit back before the Revelation, but that was a necessity. If you were trying to keep your existence a secret from the world, and