Page 25 of Beggars, Sin, and Wine

“What did you expect?”

“There’s going to be some ‘Olga of Kyiv-level’ vengeance for this slight.”

“Benji,” Cas growled. “Rein it in. We just need to get them experimenting with those ingredients so everyone gets fed better.”

“These are dino nuggets, Cas. It’s morally reprehensible. Chicken shouldn’t be stegosaurus shaped. It’s wrong.”

How was he not pissed about it? Chickens were magnificent creatures. They’d shank your ass if they could. Grinding up chicken parts and putting them in a dinosaur-shaped mold was an insult to evolution. Everyone here should be rioting about this injustice. I’d start one, but it would blow my cover.

“Eat your dino nuggets like a good boy, Benji. You’ll need your strength later,” Cas purred.

I savagely bit the head off of a T-rex.

“It should be against the law to use my praise kink against me to get me to eat this abomination. You can’t even follow through because we’re being cock blocked by a fake blue priest.”

“Aww, Benji, you know you love it when we make you wait. It’ll be the best IOU and when I finally deliver, we’ll have our mate with us.”

“You’re so mean,” I said, sticking my tongue out at Cas.

“There are plenty of people who like dino nuggets. And you got one over on Hannibal. Correct him or don’t, but make sure everyone is getting this, including our mate. You did good.”

“Did I tell you Father Nathan’s friend is here?”

“No shit? I can’t fully trust Di and his friends since they either won’t give us their names or gave us a fake name, but their intel has been good. It seems like we are exactly where we need to be.”

Cas was going to have to get past all that fake name shit, but I could tell from the start Di was one of us. Cas and Pax were trying to figure out if his missing girlfriend was also our mate, but I already knew. She didn’t have to tell me. Di didn’t either.

My whole life had led me to this point. When I escaped from the Coalition, my shadow demon took over and got me out of there. I ended up in a barn and scared the pigs. The horse didn’t kick me, though.

Two men came out to see what the ruckus was. It was a polar bear shifter and a Smith instead of a human who would have brought me back. I was terrified, but I let them coax me out of the hay. I fought every instinct to run because there was this small, nagging feeling to stay. When I did and finally let them in, I realized they were my pack.

Di might not be his real name, but his girlfriend was our girlfriend, and he was also pack. Cas and Pax would eventually figure that out.

Iwasn’t reaching out to my mates, even though I wanted to. I didn’t want them to get attached unless I knew I wouldn’t kill them. But, man, did I have some questions for Benji. Like, how he’d accomplished anything that had happened in the basement today.

He warned me, but he hadn’t exactly prepared me. Everyone was having stomach problems. And I didn’t know how he did it. One of the wards was down, but the rest of them were still up. Benji was just like everyone else here. We could all feel our magic, but we couldn’t access it.

Hannibal tried shrieking some fire and brimstone at all of us, but it was mostly directed at me. He only lasted a few hours when he went running out of the basement in a cloud of stench. It seemed like everyone involved with the basement was having stomach issues.

“If the universe is trying to make a point about everyone’s shit stinking, I don’t think their intended target is getting it,” Jezebel moaned.

My head was pounding from lack of food. The last time I ate was just two pieces of bread and that was a few days ago. I was trying not to laugh because it hurt. These people couldn’t be bothered with Aspirin because they thought suffering was good for you. I tried to laugh and then I moaned. My headache was awful.

“You okay in there?”

“Yeah, just really hungry.”

“I wish there was a way for me to slip you my food or use my lure to get you some.”

“I know. I’m going to try to sleep it off.”

I nestled down on my shitty mattress with no blanket and tried to get comfortable. I needed my mates. I needed Di to find me so that we could all be together. It just wasn’t safe yet.

“You okay?”

Pax. He was the first one I met after I got here. Benji was like screaming into the abyss and raging against chaos. Cas was like a giant hug when it was cold outside. Pax was more like a cold drink of water when you were parched outside. I didn’t answer right away.

“You can be honest with me. I’ll be pissed, but not shifter pissed.”

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