Page 50 of November Reign
“Yeah. He said he’d kill Zinna if I don’t.”
Zinna was his only family aside from baby Sage and Poppy. He couldn’t lose her.
“Fuck.”
Oak chuckled. “I know. Zinna is just looking for an excuse to get some payback. She’s fine. I’ll warn her of course, I just wanted time with you, not thinking about all the shit hanging over my head.”
I put my head in my hands, unable to understand the depths my brother had stooped to. Threatening Zinna to make Oak get him the coven grimoire and Damon was beyond anything I thought he was capable of.
“Are you sure Zinna will be okay?” Worry ate at me, forming a ball in my gut.
“Baby, she’s surrounded by elves, has Poppy and Sage to care for. She’ll go all mama bear on anyone that tries to touch them.” He tried for a smile. “At first I panicked. I really thought he could pull it off. Then sense kicked in. She’s in Abrocaelum. She’s safe. I’ll make sure she’s protected.”
His use of the endearment made me feel better. He seemed to relax the more he talked.
“Here.” He leaned over to get his phone. “I’ll text her now. If I call I’ll never get her off the phone. I’ll add Pops to the text so she can be on guard, too.” He fiddled with his phone for a moment before silencing it and setting it aside.
“Okay. So what do we do now?”
“We tell Damon. He deserves to know. The messages yesterday were Basil getting impatient. I’ve got three days to come up with something. Maybe you can help me delay him?”
“I’ll try to think of something to buy us more time. Three days isn’t a lot of time to work with.”
“Are you ready?” We were standing together outside of the living room. The rest of the house, minus Barr who was visiting Jorgoth, were waiting for us inside. I’d texted them all to say we needed a house meeting.
“Not really, but we have to do this. Damon will never trust me if I don’t tell the truth.”
“Do you still have the messages?”
“Kept them all.”
“Good. Those are your proof.”
“I dunno about that.”
He handed me his phone, open to the text thread with Basil. I glanced at the bottom message, the reply from Oak to Basil about working on a plan. Eek, that didn’t sound good. I must have made a face because he let out a bitter laugh.
“See?”
“Well, yeah, but also it’s vague enough to string Basil along.”
“That’s what I was going for. C’mon, let’s get this over with.”
Following a step behind Oak, my hand in his, we entered the room. I stood beside him as he explained the confrontation in the cafe, the demand Basil had made, including what would happen if Oak didn’t obey, then the attack.
All through him talking, Damon kept a blank face. The others went through a range of emotions from horror to anger. They all stayed quiet until the end.
“Figured as much,” Damon finally said.
“What?” I blurted.
“Basil wants to use Oak like the Trojan horse. An inside man. I thought he might after he started texting Oak again after so long. I mean, I’m sure Oak gives good dick, but Basil’s managed to go without him for months.”
Oak coughed and spluttered with shock. Everyone else laughed. Damon was as cool as a cucumber as I stood looking at him aghast.
“Sit down both of you,” Damon chided. “I’m getting a sore neck from looking up at you. We need to figure out how to stop him visiting the mansion. When we confront him, it needs to be on neutral ground.” Hehad a good point there. “Plus, I really don’t want him messing this place up. I happen to like this house.”
“How do we buy time?” Cody asked anxiously. He was tucked up under Toth’s arm with Hela on his other side. Even from this distance, I could hear the Hellcat purring to calm Cody down.
