If Hugo or anyone involved with him thought to overcome that sort of power, they deserved whatever happened to them.

  “I can’t wait to hear how this whole thing goes. Would you like some Hunter Corp. backup? Oh for fuck’s sake, Clive, of course I know I can’t be backup even though I really want to. They don’t want me around for some reason. Maybe more than one reason and that’s a weapon.”

  “I think you make a good point. However,” Genevieve added quickly, “they might have hired wolves to murder you. I don’t want to risk your safety.” As powerful as Rowan was in her own right, as canny and unrelenting, she simply wasn’t at the same level as she, Darius, and Konrad were. “I have enough guilt, Rowan. Please don’t push the issue.”

  “Guilt? For what?”

  “We both think it was the Procellas. They wouldn’t have spared you a second look if you hadn’t been with me. If you hadn’t interceded to protect me.” Genevieve hated that part.

  “Don’t underestimate my ability to piss people off, Genevieve,” she said, dry. “You have nothing to feel guilty over so please don’t.”

  Darius had left the room moments before but came back in, stopping next to Genevieve’s chair and kneeling.

  “I spoke with Marco. He says if Rowan and Clive wish to watch back at one of the relay points, they can view the video feed. As they’d be within our obfuscation spell, no one would know she was there. Marco says he’s got a wheelchair he can bring if Rowan would like so she won’t tax herself.”

  Genevieve knew she blushed. Knew too that her smile was silly and sentimental, but she didn’t care.

  “That’s...very nice of him,” Rowan said. “Clive agrees.”

  Genevieve gave them the information on time and place and disconnected.

  Darius and her father had clicked nearly immediately, both clearly comfortable with protecting and leading. Neither seemed to feel threatened, even though Konrad was used to being the oldest and most powerful witch in the room.

  When Marco had come in and they’d all planned the security for their meeting, they’d all traded ideas easily. It was—oddly enough—the most comfortable she’d been with her father in centuries.

  “You should meet Rowan and Clive,” Genevieve told her father. “With so much more interaction between the Senate and Hunter Corp. it’s necessary. And she’s my friend.”

  “She seems very provocative.” Konrad meant it in a nonsexual way.

  “Rowan is, simply by nature, a very plainspoken person. Impatient on many levels but when it comes to stalking prey, she’s endlessly patient. When she wants to be utterly controlled and businesslike, she will be, and she’ll perform flawlessly, but she’s also capable of stunning insight and driving people to madness so she can break them. It’s quite striking. You’ll like her, I think.”

  They were alike, Rowan and Konrad. Driven by a fire to defend while retaining their sense of independence. A deep respect for loyalty and honor. On the surface they couldn’t be more different, but a person wasn’t the wrapping, but what was inside.

  “The Procellas have indicated they’re bringing their attorney to our meeting,” Konrad said.

  “It’s cute they think that will make a difference.” Genevieve waved a hand. “Will he write us a memorandum of understanding then? Use a series of five-syllable Latin words to...show us the error of our ways? They don’t seem to comprehend the depth of their trouble. Is it willful ignorance or naivete?”

  “Genevieve,” her father began, “there are a type of people in the world who behave as if rules only apply to other people. It’s not naivete. It’s entitlement. In a boardroom I have no doubt their attorney is quite useful. But they can’t scare me with that. It’s no threat. Sometimes it’s a delight to teach people a new lesson.”

  “These Procellas have stepped into our world,” Darius told Konrad. “Woe be to them.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  When they pulled up to the GPS coordinates sent to them, Rowan put a staying hand on Clive’s thigh.

  “Let’s wait for them to approach.”

  Thankfully that happened rather quickly as she caught sight of someone bringing a wheelchair to her door.

  “Do not open that door,” Clive said. “I’m going around to help you out of the car. After I look this Devil over.”

  Rowan peered at the side mirror and nearly guffawed. “Don’t worry. It’s Carl and Star is with him.”

  “Still.” He slipped from the front seat and though she wanted to leap out, she waited, knowing he needed to exert some control over something. Oh and that she wasn’t in leaping condition.

  Soon enough the door was open, and Star leaned in to give Rowan a good sniffing before she backed up and barked at Carl, who bowed deeply and waved an arm at the chair.

  “Hiya, Agnes! You look like you slapped a brick wall with your face.”

  Carl calling her some random name was precisely the sort of bizarre normal her life had become. It centered her in ways she couldn’t contemplate deeply just then.

  Clive growled and though Carl wheezed a laugh, he locked the wheels and got out of the way as Rowan’s husband stalked over, picked her up ever so gently, and put her in the wheelchair.

  “What’s up, Carl?” Rowan asked.

  “I’d planned to tell you to take blood from your man, but you’ve done that already and good for you.”

  It was positive to have that decision reinforced. “I wanted law enforcement to see me at my worst so they wouldn’t turn it around and say I was the offender. Once that was done, I gratefully accepted the help offered by Scion Stewart.”

  After a grin at the latter, Carl frowned. “Sometimes people are terrible, Jenny. You’re okay to accelerate your healing,” was all he said, but it made her feel a great deal better.

  Okay, then. “I remember you at the attack,” she told Carl.

  “I was two minutes behind schedule. Lots of chaos in the air these days when I’m in Las Vegas,” Carl said, absolutely talking about the Dust Devils. “I wish I’d been just a little earlier.”

  Everyone had guilt it seemed.

  “I would wave away your apology, but one arm is still healing and the other isn’t my waving apologies away hand,” she told him.

  Carl’s craggy face broke into a smile.

  “I’ve had dreams. I don’t know how to decipher them.” Rowan didn’t do well with not knowing how to deal with important things like these dreams.

  He cocked his head. “I think you’re learning just fine.”

  “I didn’t figure out that I was going to be nearly killed while waiting to make a left turn. That doesn’t seem fine to me.” It frustrated her to no end that she’d dreamed of storms and empty places and all that, but nothing about an ambush.

  “Not everything is a portent. Sometimes? Shit happens. You’re sailing in the right direction.” Carl stepped aside and indicated Clive take care of the wheelchair pushing.

  Unexpectedly, Carl took Rowan’s hand. “There will be a time when the first answer is on your tongue, but you try to talk yourself out of it. Don’t.” Straightening, he pointed to a shimmering spot a few feet away. “They’re just right there.”

  “That was pretty straightforward. No poetry or stories about camping.” Carl was a sage and like all sages, he had his own way of revealing knowledge or prophecy and all that stuff. Her fairy godsage was a kooky outdoorsman who usually did his thing via wild stories featuring unpredictable wildlife and/or offending humans.

  When Rowan looked back to ask him another question he was gone.

  “Where did he go?” She tried to twist around farther, but Vampire blood or not, it wasn’t such a comfortable thing to do so she stopped immediately.

  Star just barked and trotted over to the blurry spot as if to tell them to hurry up.

  * * *

  Genevieve said to her father, “Up until now, Rowan has been generally unaware of just how active witches are here in Las Vegas. She won’t care if it doesn’t hurt humans. But she’s paying attention now. Take care.”

  They’d arrived in a room set up tribunal style with seating behind an imposing table facing three chairs. Darius approved of the way guards had been stationed throughout the building as they’d approached. Konrad knew how to run a security team.

  Darius didn’t know Rowan as well as Genevieve did of course, but he tended to agree that any unsavory business wasn’t going to go unnoticed by the Hunter.

  She and the goddess she carried within.

  He was developing a soft spot for the fiery-haired Vessel Genevieve trusted so deeply. Her fate had aligned with Genevieve’s and it was a good thing.

  He wasn’t needed to do anything other than protect Genevieve, so that’s what he did, moving to stand at her back, his arms crossed over his chest once they’d gotten word the Procellas had arrived. Darius didn’t need weapons. And if he did, he’d conjure them with a thought.

  Two of Konrad’s people escorted Sergio and Antonia Procella and a third witch Darius hadn’t seen before. None of them were Hugo.

  “This is our attorney, Felix Procella,” Antonia said as they were pointed to seats.

  “Where is Hugo?” Konrad asked.

  “He will not be attending this meeting,” Felix said.

  “The summons was not optional,” Konrad said. “The allegations against him and your family are very grave. Inform him to present himself immediately.”

  “That won’t be happening. I’m not going to let you railroad my grandson because your daughter wants what she can’t have,” Sergio said.

  Genevieve maintained her control, but Darius knew she’d be seething inside.

  Konrad sniffed with utter disdain before continuing, “Hugo Procella has on multiple occasions harassed Genevieve Aubert. On two of those occasions, coercion spells were set to be triggered by Genevieve and hidden within romantic totems. First in roses and then in multiple pieces of a delivery sent to her home just hours ago.”

  “Bullshit! She’s a liar. He doesn’t need to stoop to such behavior. She wants him, plain and simple,” Sergio said.

  “Grandfather, please,” Antonia said and then turned to Konrad. “I know my brother can be enthusiastic and sometimes that gets misinterpreted.”

  “We could far more easily interpret his supposed enthusiasm if he were not evading questioning on the matter,” Konrad repeated. “Why don’t I see a phone in someone’s hand?” This was a demand from a man used to absolute obedience in certain things.

  Darius saw echoes in Genevieve’s mannerisms.

  “As I’ve said, he’s not going to attend,” Felix began.

  Konrad turned to one of the guards at the door. “Issue an arrest warrant for Hugo Procella and bring him in immediately.”

  Sergio stood and leaned over to raise his voice at Konrad, who stood as well and stalked around the table he’d just commanded. The guards at the door didn’t move to intervene and Darius admired the control Konrad had over them. They believed without a doubt their benefactor could handle anything Sergio Procella tossed his way.

  Konrad stared down his nose at Sergio, their bodies close enough that even a deep breath would bring contact. The power rolled from him, filling the room with magic that tasted of him alone. Sergio’s was the merest whisper in comparison.

  “Did you have something to say other than accusing Genevieve of lying about something multiple witnesses and surveillance video can corroborate? Your son was stalking her and attempted to use magic to steal her choice. That’s rape. And I’m absolutely positive she’s not the only one he’s done this to.”

  “You can’t arrest him!” Sergio declared.

  “I can. I will. I’ve presented you with opportunities to intercede here and get him in to talk with me. You’ve refused. Officially. All right, I’ll take you at your word, then. You wanted to take a chance to see how much power you really have in our world and I’ll be pleased to educate you. He’ll be arrested. And if he continues to run like a coward, we’ll try him in absentia. He can’t hide forever. I have an information network that spans every corner of the planet. He can’t leave the country as his face is on a terrorist watch list now and his bank accounts have been frozen. There’s nowhere to hide where I cannot find him.”

  Darius wanted to nod his approval of this sort of bloodthirsty response, but he kept it all inside. Giving nothing but silence and menace to the Procellas gathered before them.

  “Moreover, you’ll both be taken into custody as well. Not just for aiding a fugitive. There’s also the matter of a recent murder attempt on Rowan Summerwaite in broad daylight just yesterday,” Konrad continued.

  “What are you talking about?” Antonia asked.

  “A team of wolf shifters ambushed Rowan in her vehicle as she was waiting to make a left turn. In full view of traffic cameras and no fewer than a dozen tourists who filmed it with their phones and uploaded to social media. She was shot fourteen times. Her car was rammed into from three different directions,” Genevieve said. “I find it difficult to understand how this is news to you. It’s been on the human news shows ever since.”

  Antonia’s features shadowed under her eyes as she paled. “I don’t watch television and given the state of the politics in the world, I avoid it all. I did not know. Is Rowan going to be all right?”

  “Eventually.”

  “What could Hugo have to do with wanting to hurt her?” Antonia whispered.

  “It’s all lies, you stupid girl!” Sergio yelled. Konrad made a little flick of his wrist and Sergio’s knees buckled and he ended up in his chair again in a boneless heap.

  “Do shut up as we answer the question,” Konrad told him.

  Genevieve said, “Hugo showed up at Hunter Corp. here in town. He’s on video from the parking lot into the first floor and then interior cameras picked him up. He wouldn’t leave so Rowan physically threw him out.”

  “That was when you showed up at his front door,” Sergio said. “He told me all about it!”

  “He lied. Or you’re lying. Regardless. We have footage, as I said. Please roll it,” Genevieve said and one of the guards brought a laptop and queued up the footage and hit play.

  Darius watched the Procellas as they took in the video image of Hugo doing exactly what they said he’d done, including Rowan tossing him out into the parking lot and him tearing off.

  Konrad looked over to Felix. “You’re going to want to rework your strategy.”

  “He’s been so anxious about the rule change,” Antonia began.

  Konrad said, “That’s not a problem. There’ll be no rule change. In fact, there’ll be a full-scale investigation into the types of entertainment you provide to both witches and humans. The nature of these compulsion spells is too dangerous to ignore.”

  Sergio struggled to stand up but let it go when it was clear whatever Konrad had done wasn’t something anyone of his power could undo.

  He did manage a disgruntled, “You can’t do that! That’s abuse of power.”

  “I can do whatever the fuck I want. Even if it was an abuse of power. Don’t you forget it,” Konrad growled out. “The Conclave is dealing with levels of betrayal from witches against other witches the likes of which we haven’t seen in centuries, and you want to play games? Who will you complain to, Sergio? You can tell me where Hugo is or spend the night in a cell. Both of you.” He looked over to Antonia.

  “I didn’t know he’d been stalking you like this,” Antonia said. “He’s fascinated by you.”

  “Obsessed.”

  Antonia winced at Genevieve’s correction, but then nodded. “Obsessed. But I didn’t...the coercion spells... I wouldn’t allow that. Even if he is my brother, I would not have remained silent if I had known. I don’t know where he is. I swear it.”

  “Where’s your father?” Genevieve asked.

  “He’s in San Diego. That’s where our offices are for our cruise entertainment business,” Antonia said. “He and Hugo are estranged. My brother won’t go to him.”

  “Just because a father is estranged from a child doesn’t mean he wouldn’t still move heaven and earth to help if asked,” Konrad said. “If you know, if either of you know where Hugo is, it’s better to say so now. Better for him to give himself up before my people run him to ground.”

  “I don’t know,” Antonia repeated.

  Both Procellas were taken into custody. Their attorney was allowed along until they were secured properly, and soon enough, the room was empty of everyone but Darius, Genevieve, and Konrad.

  * * *

  They’d been listening via the microphones placed in the room with the Procellas and Genevieve. Rowan was quite honestly near speechless at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

  “Hugo is a creep. A stalker. He couldn’t have just developed this behavior recently when he saw Genevieve for the first time. Yes, she’s pretty fucking gorgeous and all, but he seems to have a routine, which indicates a history, they’re going to find out she’s not the first woman he’s obsessed on. Probably not the first he tried coercion on either.”

  “Darius won’t allow him to remain at large,” Marco muttered. Rowan liked Genevieve’s lead guard. He was more human than many of the others and though he was still scary, he was also more accessible.

  “Let’s hope he doesn’t get smuggled onto a ship or whatever,” Rowan said.

  “No ship is leaving their dock without being searched for him. I guess with that name this should be expected,” Marco said with a sigh.

  “Hugo?”

  Marco shook his head with a chuckle. “No, Procella. In Latin if I remember correctly, it means uh, like a big storm.”