Page 81 of What Fools These Immortals Be
She shakes her head quickly. “Just… forceful.”
That I can imagine, and I sigh. “Send them in.”
For a moment, I think she will protest. I am alone in the office, and even without a wolf, Kieran is a formidable opponent. I would never voluntarily allow myself to go up against Deacon, either, even if he were not Vasile’s mate.
But they are not here to kill me, and it will not come to blows, no matter how angry they both are.
“Go,” I say, and she nods and leaves the room.
What is there to be done? We must find Augustine, of course, though none of the vampires looking for him have turned up a sign of him so far. If he has some access to a fae willing to help him, that does make sense.
I have little time to think about it. The same guard as before ushers Deacon and Kieran into the room, and I stand behind my desk, unsure how to approach this but certain that I do not want them both towering over me.
Does it help that I am a little taller than both of them? Yes, but I am not about to tell them that.
“Crai,” Deacon says, voice devoid of any warmth.
“Alph—” I begin, but I do not even get the word out before Kieran steps forward.
“What thefuckare your vampires doing?” he growls, all coiled anger. “Augustine should have been under lock and key.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“He attacked Quinn is what happened,” Kieran says. Deacon seems content to watch for now. “He gotthrough our wardsand attacked Quinn in his home.”
I don’t say that Hunter Alwynn told me that. It won’t help. “Is Quinn all right?”
“Why the fuck would you care? You didn’t care when you were pushing for him to take part in a challenge. You wanted Augustine to get his justice.”
I did, but not like this, and we all know it. “What are you saying,alpha?”
To his credit, Kieran does not back down. “Did you want this to happen? Did you leave Augustine with no oversight so he could do what he liked, and the clan wouldn’t be held responsible?”
“Kieran!” A growl rumbles under Deacon’s voice, but Kieran doesn’t look away from me.
The accusation shouldn’t hurt, but it does. I am the leader of the vampires here in London, and I am biased towards them, but just because I wanted Augustine to have a fair hearing for his accusations—accusations that hadalready been provento be true—it does not mean I wanted him to try to kill a wolf.
“No, I did not. To either question.” I gesture at the sofa, and there is no leeway in my voice when I say, “Please, sit.”
Kieran tries to stubbornly hold out, but Deacon growls again, and this time there is a flash of silver in his eyes. Part of me is amused to watch. Kieran doesn’t submit the way other wolves do to the city’s alpha. Their relationship is more nuanced, more like father and son than two men who work together.
Itismore than that, I suppose, though it does not matter now.
They both take seats on the sofa, and I take one of the chairs. “I have vampires trying to track Augustine down.” I hold up a hand for silence when Kieran opens his mouth. “They have been trying to track him for several days now, but to no avail. Whichmakes sense, if you consider… Did Sam sense fae magic in the attack?”
Kieran’s eyes widen in surprise. “Yes, he did.”
Deacon and I exchange a grim look. I have no doubt Kieran and his pack know that Asher and Maurice are in the Wild Hunt and that this means they have some access to fae magic through their blessing. I simply believe he thinksIdid not know.
“What will you do once you track him down?” Deacon asks.
“Before this, I was not certain,” I reply, “but now I will be handing him over to the Hunters’ Council.”
“They may still allow him to challenge us.” Deacon sighs. “They won’t want to kill him.”
Well, of course not. They should not. Should the Council start killing anyone who breaches the treaty left and right, then we have a serious problem.
“Do we know Augustine was going to kill Quinn?” I ask.
