Page 11 of Beggars, Sin, and Wine

I didn’t really know how a green witch was the answer to all of this, but we’d all heard of Athena and her heroes. We’d managed to figure out it was Athena who touched the green witch. They weren’t really forthcoming about how Athena had touched this woman and refused to even give us her name. That made it harder for my stupid man-brain to trust them, but at the same time, how exciting was it to be a hero in one of Athena’s quests and get to stop the Coalition? As far as I knew, she hadn’t meddled with us in a very long time.

We were letting Benji take point. Being reckless wasn’t in my nature and Pax needed to be taking a crash course on how to be a fake priest for a bunch of extremists. Father Nathan back home was helping him. He hated those people and had no problem with anyone supernatural.

We all volunteered at the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. Father Nathan told us after we were cleaning up for the night that he had his own experience with the Coalition. They didn’t take him. He was as human as they come.

He said he had been born on the same day as his neighbor. They were in daycare together and had been inseparable since they could walk. They took his neighbor and his entire family when Father Nathan was thirteen because someone found out they were vampires and reported them.

We never talked about it, but we were pretty sure Father Nathan knew we were supernatural and that was why he shared that story. He was being vulnerable and honest, so Benji opened his mouth and shared that we tried to help their victims. Father Nathan didn’t come out and ask because it wasn’t safe for us, but he did tell us if we ever needed help to come to him.

Father Nathan made us a little bargain when we asked to raid his closet and for him to give Pax a crash course on fooling these people. It wasn’t unexpected either. Father Nathan wasn’t old in human terms. He was in his forties, so there was a chance his friend and their family were still alive.

That was all he wanted. His friend and his family out of there and if we happened to find them, to tell them about the sleepy small town at the bottom of the mountain we lived in. He’d help them get set up. Which we would definitely do.

We managed to get an Air BnB close to New Eden Asylum. Pax finally came into the living room from his video chat with Father Nathan. I’d been trying to find out anything I could about New Eden Asylum like building schematics.

“Benji is being secretive again, and he asked me if there were any rules in the BnB lease about chickens. You might want to go talk to him.”

Fuck. Benji’s wolf didn’t have as much of a prey drive as they normally did because of his demon. When he shifted, he just enjoyed running and not hunting. If Benji was asking about chickens, he was planning something nefarious and Sherrif Riddle was in another state.

I walked into Benji’s room and he had a whole-ass murder board set up with pictures and red strings. There was definitely a photo of chickens up there. Benji shrieked and threw a sheet over it.

“You can’t see it. If you know what’s going to happen, it’s not going to work. I love that you’re a big, sexy bear daddy, but you’re also like, super responsible. Shh. Sit back and let it happen,” Benji said, pressing his finger to my lips.

“No chickens, Benji.”

“I haven’t decided on the chickens yet. The bitches renting us this Air BnB expect us to do their laundry, take out the trash, and are charging us two hundred dollars to use the hot tub. The chickens were so the Coalition thinks we’re just two dumb shifters who can’t help themselves. I think the chickens would be better served as sleeper agents because fuck them for charging for the hot tub.”

“Benji, the chickens might get hurt.”

Benji gasped.

“No chickens. I’ll figure something else out about the hot tub.”

He was a giant softie for an apex predator. He didn’t even like killing roaches. Pax’s familiar was a snake. Benji loved the snake, but he didn’t love what he ate and pretended like Lenore was a vegetarian. Which was wild because Benji very much wasn’t.

“Maybe don’t fuck with the people we are renting from? If the cleaning fee is that much, how much are they going to charge if you do you?”

Benji gave me this wolfish grin, and those horns popped out. Fuck. I really wanted to kiss him and paddle his bottom. He had this ethereal beauty about him that was even more lovely when he was being a menace.

“Pax rented under fake names and gave them the cards with just enough to cover the house and fees. We’re going to publicly get taken by the Coalition, so it’s not like they’ll be looking for us. They’ll charge the card as fast as they can and forget about us.”

I leaned against the door and Benji looked at me hungrily.

“They could decide not to rent to our kind again.”

“They already don’t. We’re all hiding, Cas. How they gonna know?”

“So impertinent,” I growled.

“No way. Don’t distract me with your magic bear dick until later tonight. The full moon is in a week and I’m onto something.”

I smiled to myself.

“I’ll let you get back to work.”

I went back to the living room to join Pax.

“I talked him out of the chickens. They were more for the owners of this establishment than anything.”

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