“Or, he’s a monster who always wants his own way no matter the cost. Then others have to deal with the carnage in his wake. That’s not success, Hugo. We all saw this unfold. Yesterday that scene with Lotte. Then this relentless rudeness since. Despite the fact I was doing your family a favor in giving you a second opportunity to discuss your project. All very odd. But, as Rowan pointed out, not so very rare in a certain type of person. And then on top of all that, he used magic to harm and not in self-defense in the full view of a Senator and a partner of Hunter Corp. If he can’t control himself then I have a great deal of hesitation believing he could ethically handle the manipulation of humans and their consent.”

  Clive said Rowan’s name softly. Not a demand. Just her name. A shiver ran through Genevieve’s friend and then Rowan pushed herself back, shoving Sergio toward the door. Clive handed her a handkerchief and Rowan blushed before using it to wipe the blood from her sword and then tucking the snowy-white linen away.

  Zara stepped to the doorway, David at her side. Genevieve hoped for Sergio’s sake that he kept his magic away from David or Rowan might kill him on the spot.

  “Get out of my sight,” Genevieve told them.

  “She can’t do this!” Sergio said heatedly, holding a linen napkin to his throat where Rowan’s blade had been.

  “I just did. And I’ll do it again, old man, if you come at me and mine. Your money and power mean absolutely nothing to me. You can’t scare me with it or influence me to let you continue stomping around like a rabid raccoon.”

  Zara, trying to stifle a smirk at Rowan’s remarks, managed to herd Sergio on one side with Hugo and Antonia on the other and soon enough they were all gone.

  “Well. That was a thing,” Rowan said slowly when they were alone again.

  “I’ll return in a moment,” Darius said and followed the others out.

  * * *

  Clive had to satisfy himself with a look that told his wife just how much he enjoyed that little bit of violence on his behalf.

  “We’d made it an entire week without violence,” he murmured, brushing a tendril of her hair from her face.

  “I’ll never get that world record at this rate,” she told him.

  He grinned at her quickly and then shifted his attention to Genevieve. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “I should be the one saying that to you, don’t you think?” Genevieve snapped and then took a deep breath. “Forgive my fit of temper. It’s not you. Please allow me to extend an apology on behalf of the Conclave and me personally.”

  “The air stunk of evasion,” he said. “Not outright lies.” Those were bitter.

  “Grandpa has a whole lot of feelings about himself and his superiority,” Rowan said. “His eruptions came directly after his authority was challenged in any way. I bet he’s ill acquainted with being told no and you told him so repeatedly in a short span of time. If I could get fifteen minutes at his front door again, I could unravel him and leave him a sobbing mess. That sounds like so much fun.”

  Clive laughed. He knew that for a fact. She was excellent at finding someone’s buttons and weak points and then hammering at them until they broke apart.

  “They’re fools to have let him come to this meeting,” Darius said as he came back in. “The witch and the Hunter’s assistant are shadowing the witches to be sure they go home.”

  “I’m done with the Procellas. They can keep doing their little shows with the rules they have now, along with everyone else of that type,” Genevieve said.

  “The Procellas aren’t done with you though,” Darius said.

  Clive noted none of them were meeting anyone else’s gaze for longer than a second or two. Four very powerful beings in one room meant they all needed to be careful, and he was glad to see they were doing just fine at it.

  “Especially not Hugo.” Rowan shook her head and then lowered her voice slightly. “Genevieve, I’m bothered by the way he looks at you. He talks to you like you’re intimates. Not sex intimates, but like he’s on the way.”

  His wife rarely spoke this way and Clive was relieved to see Genevieve take her words seriously.

  Genevieve made a rude noise. “He apparently tried to have that handbag redelivered to my offices at the Conclave. He’s been forbidden from sending anything to anyone there now. I certainly will inform the others on my committee of my decision not to sign this change request and to be on the alert for more of this type of ask. I know the others on the committee so I’ve also mentioned the rumors of perhaps a new movement of these witches trying to loosen our laws and my concern, especially at this point, that it’s a slippery slope. I do love that term.”

  “That’s good to hear. If it’s cool with you, I’d like to have Hunter Corp. updated and also on the watch for any such moves by practitioners worldwide,” Rowan said. “This is Conclave business, and I won’t step on that part. But I’m uneasy. There’s something happening here we can only see the outline of.”

  “That you see the outline of,” Darius said as he came back into the room. “Their reaction to Rowan is far too severe to just be elitism. They want to keep her out of the process and it’s getting in the way of their meetings with you, which they need to get this change.”

  Genevieve appeared to consider it and found herself leaning toward agreement. “I’ll need to think on why they’re so averse to Rowan.”

  Rowan laughed at that. “You’re going to find lots of people are averse to me.”

  “Because you can see through bullshit,” David said. “It’s very difficult to hide from a truth teller.”

  That was a very good point.

  “I have no doubt they’re going to file a complaint about Rowan and Clive. We’re not going to let them know we have video of the meeting until they claim it was self-defense and accuse me of lying.” Genevieve grabbed her handbag. “I’m going to call Samaya now to file my own damned complaint.”

  “You always deliver a good time,” Rowan said. “I need to get back to the office. Clive is reading our other new Vampire hire.”

  “I’ll ride with Darius and meet you there. I can do the read after Clive finishes.”

  David and Zara also headed out.

  When it was just Clive and Rowan, he pulled her close and laid a long, deep kiss on her. When he set her back from him, her eyes remained a little blurry for a bit. “Thank you for protecting me,” he told her.

  “You’re the one who came in here because he was insulting me,” she said, answering his question about whether or not she’d known he was watching the feed with David. Rowan grabbed his hand. “Come on. Gioberto said the chef made me a bunch of yummy stuff to take with me after the meeting. I’ll eat it while you read Katya. Don’t worry, I’ll save you some.”

  “Or you could have a meal with me here,” he suggested though he knew she wanted to be in her office where she could speak freely without a bunch of Vampires in her business.

  “Normally I’d say yes. It means you take care of yourself, and I can watch,” Rowan told him as she gathered her things. “But I want to take care of Katya’s readings before we leave for Prague. Then she can get started training and it won’t be hanging over my head. And, it gives her extra protection because once she’s gone through the full process, she’ll be an official employee and that comes with more protection just in case these shitlords of yours decide to make a go at these extrajudicial killings they promised.”

  He certainly couldn’t argue with that. She was right. It would protect Katya and that was important to him as well because Katya was an affiliated Vampire living in his territory. Far from seeing her as betraying the Nation, Clive saw it as the sort of PR one couldn’t pay for. A Vampire would have access to Hunter Corp. in ways even he didn’t, and he was married to Rowan!

  He could help steer the Nation through this very rough patch. A big maybe, but one he felt he could manage because Nadir backed him, as did Paola and Warren. The situation with Tahar and Takahiro was fluid and changing by the hour, but they were beleaguered enough they didn’t pose any real threat to the other Scions.

  “As you say,” he told her as he placed his palm at her left elbow. Normally he might touch the small of her back, but she wore a sword along her spine, so he avoided that.

  By the time they got back down to the host stand, Gioberto was there with several insulated tote bags containing their food.

  “I’m sorry the witches were so rude to you,” Rowan told Gioberto. “They’re the ones with poor manners. You were quite perfect the whole time. I know Clive appreciates you and your service. And so do I.”

  Clive was flooded with pleasure—and pride—at her words. At the way she sought to comfort and lift up one of his people. It was precisely what the partner of a powerful person was supposed to do but Rowan had been born to it. A lot of her so-called training from her father combined with the gifts from the goddess who lived within her had given Rowan a sort of ease that the recipient could see was genuine.

  And this particular recipient was a human in service to the Vampire Nation. Not always a place full of acceptance from any direction. Clive made a mental note to check on the salary numbers for the humans in his direct employ. Gioberto deserved a raise and doubtless, others did as well.

  Gioberto blushed as he smiled at Rowan with open affection. “I’m pleased to know I was useful to you in such a difficult situation. There’s no need for you to take responsibility for those others. That sort of rudeness is more of a reflection on them than on me.”

  “There’s extra security here tonight. If there’s a problem or any magic users come in and seem intent on causing a problem, report it immediately,” Clive told him on their way out.

  “I can’t fucking believe that asshole came at you,” Rowan snarled once they’d driven away from the valet stand and were on the way back to her office. “If it had been anything but Genevieve’s meeting I’d have beat the shit out of his ass.”

  “You did slice into his neck,” Clive purred at her.

  She gave him an exasperated look. “Barely. I wanted to lop his head off. He used magic on you. To hurt you. In your own place. And I was the one who made it happen. What if he’d have attacked Gioberto? What if they now think they can come at me through Fleur and those who work there? I was so stupid to bring them there.”

  “It was incredibly clever to bring them there, as it happens. As flattered and turned on as I am that you defended me so ably, of all the people he could have attacked, I was the perfect target. The entire room is loaded with spy gear so you can watch it all over and over to figure out all the weak spots with these three. You couldn’t have done that at your offices. They wouldn’t have relaxed the way they did today. You know more now than you did before they came through the door.”

  Traffic snarled as it often did at this time of day, but he was with Rowan so that was fine with him. Clive wasn’t pleased she was blaming herself, so he’d be paying close attention for any repeat so he could nip it in the bud right at the start. She had an impossible job, and she did it to protect other beings. He would not tolerate anyone degrading her path even and especially Rowan herself.

  “As for targeting Fleur? I’ve increased our security. But they won’t come for me or mine because he knows I would retaliate until there was nothing left but ashes. And after your reaction to his attack? He’ll know you’d be striking the match at my side. They needed to understand that. I watched you in that room. You were calm and remote. Perfection. Until someone under your protection was assaulted. Then you reacted swiftly and violently. Now they know.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rowan waltzed into work the following morning, waving as she caught sight of Genevieve. They hadn’t been able to chat much the night before after the meeting at Fleur. There’d been a quick debrief but they’d all gone off in different directions to do other things.

  “I was hoping you’d be in soon,” Genevieve told her. “Madam made you a batch of muffins. They’re still warm.”

  “Now that’s how a gal likes to be greeted when she comes into work,” Rowan said. “I need to check in on a few things, but are you free in twenty minutes or so? We can eat muffins, have coffee, and you can let me know what’s going on in Conclave land.”

  After that was handled, she began to go through all her messages. Most were administrative. Those she happily forwarded to David and Vihan.

  From Nadir she read, “The parties in question have been located and/or presented themselves to be questioned officially. The Vampire Nation wishes to repudiate, once again, the unsanctioned actions of a small group of lawbreakers and underline its willingness to discuss the ways in which Hunter Corp. and the Nation can work together on issues going forward. My office will be in contact with your assistant to work some meetings regarding the employment issue, into your upcoming Joint Tribunal meetings.”

  Yadda yadda. But it got the job done and that’s really all Rowan cared about. Essentially, they were back at square one, before these lords put themselves in the middle of the process. Rowan had made her hires and the Nation’s ability to be part of that was past. But a good clearing of the air and the establishment of some ground rules for the future would be important.

  Twenty minutes later, Genevieve and Rowan decided to take some muffins down to the first floor where several of the new employees were receiving their paperwork, getting codes, keys, and assigned workspaces. David moved efficiently through the space, pausing to give directions or answer questions.

  “My little man is all grown up,” she said to Genevieve, who laughed.

  “He’s very good at this. You chose well.”

  “He chose me, as it happens. He assures me it was on purpose. By the way, he left me a note that he had some more data for me on the missing humans situation. I’ll make sure he keeps you updated too.”

  Genevieve’s phone rang and when she picked up, Rowan overhead Darius saying something about someone coming toward the building and that Marco was watching.

  “He is?” Genevieve asked. “Well, I can’t imagine why, but he’s no threat to me.”

  Whatever Darius said was too low for Rowan to hear.

  “What’s up?” Rowan asked.

  * * *

  Genevieve tipped her chin toward the reception area where Hugo Procella stood holding a giant spray of roses.

  “Want me to handle it?”

  “Yes. But I need to do it.” Genevieve stood taller and headed toward where Malin was telling Hugo to wait while she contacted Genevieve.

  “Genevieve,” Hugo said while thrusting the flowers at her.

  “Senator Aubert. I’m sure I don’t know why you’re here,” Genevieve said, avoiding the vase as he repeatedly thrust them in her direction. Clearly frustrated, he finally put them on the counter of the reception area.

  Hugo’s gaze cut to Rowan, who simply stared back.

  “I was thinking...can we speak privately?” Hugo asked.

  Rowan looked to Genevieve, not bothering to give any attention to Hugo. Genevieve nodded slightly that it was okay.

  “I’m just going to be over there speaking with David,” Rowan said. “Watching in case something needs to be handled.” Then she made one of those fingers to the eyes moves before she pointed the same fingers at Hugo.

  She stepped just a few feet away and David stood at her side, both with their attention on Genevieve.

  How this sense of family and connection had found itself in her life, so at home and deeply comforting, she wasn’t sure. But she was too selfish to let it go and head back into a place she felt like she was on her own all the time.

  Feeling the need to get away from those damned roses, Genevieve indicated Hugo follow her to a place near the doors. There they’d be in full view of the parking lot where Marco was. Somewhere. In some form. No doubt Darius was either there or on his way after he made that call to tell her Hugo was on the way into the building.

  “Here?” he asked, disappointment in his tone. “I thought perhaps your office. Or I can take you to lunch.”

  “You don’t have clearance to leave this area. What do you want?”

  “I do hope you won’t hold my grandfather’s zeal to run his business his way against me personally,” Hugo said.

  Genevieve had been alive long enough to know what he was doing, and she most fervently did not want anything to do with it.

  “I told you everything you need to know yesterday at the conclusion of a meeting you then went home and filed an official complaint about with the Conclave. I will ask once more. Why are you here?”

  “I don’t think I’m imagining this heat between us. So much chemistry. I’d very much like to get to know you better. We can refuse to discuss business.”

  “You are imagining it, yes. I’ve told you no multiple times. I’m not interested. It’s absolutely unacceptable for you not to back off at this point. Though I’m fine refusing to discuss business with you. Please leave and take those flowers with you.”

  “We got off on the wrong foot. Let me take you out so you can get to know me better.”

  “I said no.” Genevieve kept her expression as bland as she could. “You need to leave. I’m not going to discuss business or personal matters with you.”

  “Is there someone else? You just moved here. How could you be with anyone yet?”

  “I told you the first time I said no to your invitation to dinner. Yes, there’s someone else,” Genevieve said because she would have felt wrong denying it. The answer wasn’t so much about Hugo as it was about herself. “However, let me make clear that even if there wasn’t anyone else the answer would be no.”

  His magical energy began to coil up and she flicked two fingers his way, freezing him in place and draining the energy from his spell that dissolved all around him.