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

a lot about Saffron that the dryad didn’t even flinch. “They know too much, and since you fucked up, you get to clean up that loose end.”

“Yes, my lady,” the dryad bowed. “Where shall we meet you when the task is complete?”

“Nowhere,” Aveena snapped. “You two are done. You’ve been compromised. You are less than useless to me now. Be gone,” both stepped at her command, and wouldn’t be back if they knew what was good for them.

“Now what?” Anna asked from the cactus she was using as a therapeutic bed of needles. She was trying to play it cool, but Aveena could feel her unease as she picked at her teeth with a thorn.

“Now, we wait,” Aveena huffed out the last of her frustration, and tried not to take it out on her last underling. “The cops were all over that place like white on rice. We let them do the legwork for us. We look for an opportunity, and then we strike,” she said it with conviction she was hardly feeling.

“So, I guess I’m not going back to California anytime soon,” the selkie sighed dramatically.

“No. Be ready to move at a moment’s notice,” Aveena snapped and stepped.

“Three more days,” she took ten deep breaths in the Land Between to calm her nerves before heading back to Vegas. “Three more days to see if I live or die.”

***

“It’s not good,” Venus sat at the head of the conference table. Her stylish boots were kicked up on the polished hardwood, and for all the seriousness of the situation, looked completely at ease; even content. Lilith, Dani, Xamira, and Lark were also present to go over the coming shitstorm, and it was going to be a doozy.

“How?” I didn’t understand. “I got out of there clean.”

“Your glamour shattered,” Lark shook his head. “Your face is all over their security footage; even if it was only a few seconds,” he forestalled my complaint, “that’s enough.”

“They’ll comb through every second of that convention,” Venus continued. “They’ll see the glamour you wore, interrogate the people you talked with, backtrack your every move. In fact, the worst thing you could have done was escape so quickly,” she let out a long breath, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Our people in LVPD are on the lookout, but the feds were able to download the data to their servers before we could drop a virus on the casino’s systems. We’ve totally fucked their network, but any footage before we hit them is fair game,” Xamira shrugged, she looked defeated.

“And I’m sure a cyberattack out of left field already has people looking in all the wrong places,” I appreciated the assist, but I would be more thankful if it actually accomplished something.

I hated that she had to be here. I’d fucked up and now everyone was getting the shit end of the stick. I hated being the weak link, and just when I thought I was getting some badass mojo of my own, the universe kicked me in the balls.

“If a warrant comes down through the LVPD’s usual pipeline, we’ll have about an hour to react. If they get it directly from the court and head straight here . . . maybe fifteen minutes,” Lark gave me a pained smile, like he knew what I was thinking. The guy might be the basis for the devil, but so far, he’d been nothing but a great teacher.

“So, we need an exit strategy,” Lilith spoke up, she’d been very quiet since she embraced me down in the covert parking garage.

“No,” Dani and Venus said at the same time. Venus nodded for Dani to continue. “We can’t run from this?”

“Why the hell not?” I asked. Running had worked out fine so far, and the last thing I wanted to do was let some UN asshole get his hands on me.

I had visions of sterile labs, needles, and when they found out what my spunk did to succubae; I shivered as I envisioned some sort of contraption on my dick like the thing they put on a cow’s utters to milk them. If I didn’t run, they’d turn me into some sort of lab rat.

“The cabal just can’t let us up and leave,” Dani explained. “If they have a search warrant, then they’ll be able to legally come into all of the cabal’s security zones. Everything they keep hidden here: magical defenses, priceless research, the art, money, weapons, and all the people that value their privacy above all else. All of that will be put at risk.”

“I don’t care about the gold bullion they keep in the basement,” I screamed. “This is my fucking freedom!”

“Calm down, Cameron,” Venus’s voice hit me like a much-needed bottle of whiskey, and I relaxed like I was on a beach with an umbrella drink in my hand. “Our lawyers are already briefed on the situation. If it comes to it,” by her tone, the if really should be a when, “you four will surrender yourselves to the authorities before they can execute a search warrant. Our lawyers will stay with you every step of the process, and ensure your rights are not violated in any way. They have your defense laid out, bail money is ready to be transferred, and for the most part, we can have you out and safe in a few days.”

“This way, the cabal isn’t kneecapped, and we don’t get fucked in the ass by the long dick of the law,” Dani summed it up like it was a win-win.

I still felt like I was getting the shittier end of this deal, but Lilith’s hand on mine shut me up.

“You took a risk taking us in,” she turned to her mother. “Thank you for that. Thank you for training Cam. Whatever happens, I know we’ll be okay,” she gripped my hand harder.

I felt some