Page 15 of April's Fool
Parker’s rich laughter warmed my soul. This is why he was my family. We were of the same mind most of the time.
“Austin, huh? I feel quite good about it. Like it’s necessary, y’know. How do you want to do this?”
Laughter bubbled up, pushing away the last of my melancholy from watching Cody with Toth, the demons, and the shifters. All of them had a place. There was nowhere for me. I shoved that last trace of sadness away.
“I think our friend is going to have a terrible accident.”
Home, sweet, home. Or rather, temporary base, sweet… yada yada. I had this feeling that prickled under my skin, that we needed to be moving basessoon. We had spent weeks in this place, more than we usually did, and there were too many threats.
Parker’s face filled with relief as I walked through the door. He stood from his desk, crossed the room in a few steps, and had his arms around me for a crushing hug.
“Overreaction much?” I huffed into his neck.
“Shut up,” he muttered against my head.
He was about half a foot taller than me. He had the alpha height, just not the alpha designation. I’d wished for it, for Parker to have been born an alpha. Prayed to Parker’s goddess, when he had fallen to the beta sickness. Parker had shaved years off my life when he became ill and slipped into a coma within a day like all the betas in the Sweetwater pack had. For an entire month, I’d watched him. I’d paid private nurses, all kinds of healers, even approached a witch for my brother, but nothing except time had done the trick.
The beta sickness was still a mystery, yet it had affected vast amounts of betas. It affected the Sweetwater pack disproportionately. The Northarbor pride had a few betas affected and the Northarbor aviary had none. They were the strongest indicator that there was an outside force at work there. Perhaps Parker’s beloved goddess, The Luna.
Parker had taken weeks to recover and still hadn’t gained all of his former muscle tone back. Partlybecause I had been reluctant to let him back into the field with me. But I would need him for my plan.
We broke from our hug, both looking away in our embarrassment. I loved Parker. He was my family, but we didn’t hug and do feelings.
“So I have a plan. I’ll need your help on this one.” Then I launched into how I was going to end Austin’s life for all that he had done to Cody.
Bonus was, it would damage the company that had fired my best friend for being half demon, too.
There wasn’t a lot of time for us to plan it. We talked into the night before crashing for a few hours’ sleep. If we wanted to get this done, Parker needed to be in Austin’s building before the lunch orders went out. I had to be there all freaking day, to not stand out.
Worse still, I had to wear a poorly fitting suit! A cheap one that I might have stolen from Cody’s closet. What? Now he had no need for it. He was going to be a freaking prince! He shouldn’t be seen dead in that ghastly poly-blend suit!
Parker got into the building easily under the guise of doing maintenance. He had already hacked into the security system earlier, but Parker also had a physical part to play in our plan. He was lucky and got access to Austin’s office after looping the cameras, so his presence would go undetected. With hisquarry in hand, he went to the break room for the next part of the plan.
Job done with no one noticing he wasn’t there to actually work, Parker left the building just as the order for the food went through.
Austin was easy to anticipate. He liked things on a schedule and only ever ate from the building’s cafeteria. They were used to his demands, however ludicrous, and catered to him with only muttered complaints.
The building was vast, and they served breakfasts and lunches to many of the employees for a subsidized fee. Yeah, the company was so greedy that they didn’t even provide free meals. This worked in Austin’s favor, as he had very particular dietary requirements. His meals were prepared especially for him under strict controls. Really, it worked for me too. My job was to get my hands on Austin’s lunch and switch them out.
I completed the trade quickly and easily. No one really noticed me and I knew that Parker would have my back and scrub any trace of me, switching them on the cameras in the cafeteria. They needed to be able to see me collect the food and take it to Austin.
Prize in hand, I took the elevator to Austin’s floor, whistling a jaunty tune as I stood alone for the car to get to the correct level.
“Don’t celebrate just yet. We need this to go off without a hitch. Get ready to give an Oscar worthy performance, Damon.” Parker’s voice came from the tiny monitor in my ear.
Most places of business had wards that prevented most spells from working. They always forgot about technology. I shook my head, but stopped whistling. I didn’t reply, not needing to be seen talking to myself.
At her desk, Austin’s assistant was looking harassed. “Oh, hey. I’ve not seen you before.”
“Intern,” I explained. I’d used clever make-up and prosthetics to look younger than my thirty years. “Got lunch for… Austin?”
She lit up. “Fab. He’s in a bear of a mood. Would you mind going in?” I would not feel bad for her later. She was willing to throw an intern into the lion’s den, knowing that I was going to get the brunt of Austin’s foul mood.
Maybe I’d had Parker play with some of their systems while he was in the building. It was child’s play for him to access their system. Really, for such a powerful company, their security was shocking. If I fancied being legit, I could consult with them to fill those holes. If they took Cody back first, though.
Frankly, I didn’t see that happening after we were done with them. Plus, a prince was far too important to be working for a shitty company like this. Maybe Icould convince him to sue them for the last of their worth later on. I’m sure Cody had dreams that needed funding.
Maybe Mori could help with that. Those suits… the man wasn’t hurting for cash. He was impeccably dressed and seemed to be used to money. Hadn’t he said something about owning hotels?
