Page 5 of Beggars, Sin, and Wine

“I’m Di. These are my friends. Their names don’t really matter.”

Pax and I exchanged a look. The two friends didn’t seem to really care about that, which raised a few suspicions. I always introduced my team. We’d come this far by vetting the people who called us for jobs.

I couldn’t figure these men out. The blond one was clearly bisexual. He wasn’t just flirting with Benji. He was checking out Pax and me, too. And my bear kind of liked it. The tall, dark goth drink of water was wearing a wedding ring. He was the only one. The bearded man looked like he wished Di would stop flirting and get on with it.

“How would you like to stop the Coalition for good?” Di asked.

“We’d love to, but first, you’re going to tell us why you contacted Benji instead of me.”

“Down boy,” Di purred.

His friends rolled their eyes.

“You ever heard of Cassandra? She was one of the most famous seers during Greek times. A lot of people opted not to listen to her, but we always did. Bringing down the Coalition has everything to do with the three of you, and it has to happen now. She said if we called you and not the hybrid, you’d tell us no,” the goth man said.

Damn right, I would have. Benji’s mental health was my priority.

“There’s a green witch in the bowels of New Eden Asylum in New York. You get her out and the Coalition will crumble,” the bearded giant said.

I scoffed. A green witch wasn’t going to topple the Coalition. Most of them were off getting mad if you killed weeds.

“Explain,” Pax said.

Benji tugged my ear. He always did that when he wanted something because he knew it was my weakness.

“Hear them out. I want them to pay for what they did to me.”

“Sit,” Di said.

I’d hear them out. I didn’t see how this was possible, but if I could stop the Coalition and get Pax and Benji closure, I’d do anything.

Igot why Cas was suspicious, but Benji and I needed this. We’d been picking away at the Coalition and saving their victims, but we really needed to hit them at home. We hadn’t because if we attacked them, they’d use it to say we were violent. They’d say they were right about us all along and people would believe them despite everything they had done to us.

I had my doubts about a green witch ending this. They tended to swing one of two ways. They were either healers or they were out there bombing facilities they thought were harming Mother Nature. If the Coalition had their hands on one and she’d been away from nature for too long, she was probably in fire-bombing territory by now.

The only reason most of us who escaped were even functional and sane afterward was that Cas or another giant daddy or mommy found us and made us that way. Cas was such a daddy. But I was getting distracted.

“First off, I should be honest. The green witch is my mate and precious to all three of us,” Di said.

Then why was Di clearly giving off vibes he’d like to fuck all three of us if their group was complete?

“She belongs to all three of you?” Benji asked.

The bearded man felt absolutely horrified at the idea and the goth guy seemed like he found it terribly amusing.

“Definitely not. She’s more like an adopted child to me. I found her dirty and broken outside my workshop and took her in. I don’t look at her like that. I’m ace anyway,” the bearded man said.

Di turned his head the goth man.

“If you’re going to say it, don’t ruin this for me.”

“I’m married. I’ve been in love with my wife ever since she broke into my house, terrorized some house guests, and decided she lived there now. She has to travel for work half the year and I miss her horribly. She’s friends with the green witch and used to stay with her when she was traveling for work.

“My wife does not view cheating like my sister does. If she thought I was stepping out on her with anyone, she’d drug my wine, staple my cock to my thigh, and then tattoo her name on my forehead so no one got confused I was taken. I adore that woman,” he sighed.

Kinda fucked up, but okay. Cas had his resting bitch aura on and was just staring at the trio with his arms crossed, waiting for them to get to the point. Benji was just nodding.

“I’d do the same to Pax and Cas if they looked at another man,” Benji said.

---