Page 20 of Wounded Soul
No... The agreement was the best way for all involved.
“What can we do?” he asked, finally getting a hold of himself, fangs safely away.
“Nothing.” Raph shook his head. “Not with respect to Peter anyway. But if you hear him trying to encourage people to his way of thinking, by all means tell me, but don’t confront him.” Standing, Raph walked over to the small window, the sun almost ready to set by now. “This situation needs careful handling if I’m to avoid a full coven revolt. The review meeting will hopefully give me the chance to show people how far we’ve come in fifteen years. How much things have changed for us, for the better? I think it’s easy to forget how things were, and what we’ve gained, when all you can see is what we’ve given up.”
Jesse hoped it worked. The last coven leader had stepped down amicably, but it wasn’t always that way. Jesse had only seen a full coven revolt once since he’d been turned—too green to the life to be involved or offer an opinion—and it had been violent and bloody. Coven members had died at the hands of each other. No matter how much Peter pissed him off sometimes, he didn’t want that.
“What about the VLCD visit?” he asked, wanting to change the topic before his mind ventured to places he’d rather it didn’t. “Do you need any help with that?”
Raph grinned, the seriousness from before gone in an instant. “Funny you should ask...”
“I hate you, Jesse,” Lys whispered from beside him, and the gleam in Raph’s eye made him wish he’d held his tongue.
“That blood you brought in last night, or this morning should I say, needs to be logged and the invoices filed.”
“Okay.” That didn’t sound all that bad.
“And I’d also like you both to check the paper work for the last six months, since their last visit. All the blood we’ve had needs to be properly accounted for. I don’t want to give them any cause for further investigation.”
Jesse groaned. Six months of paperwork? That was gonna suck. “Fine,” he muttered.
“I know it’s not the best job in the world, but I need people I can trust to do a thorough job.” Jesse felt slightly appeased. “The VLCD are just waiting for us to slip up, and I need this inspection to go off without a hitch.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Thank you.”
“THAT’S IT FOR the blood you brought in last night.” Lys closed the door on the fridge-freezer and pulled herself up onto one of the tables, swinging her legs underneath. “So,” she began, and Jesse knew what was coming next. “When are you seeing Ian again?”
“Lys.” He gave her a sharp look, then glanced towards the open door.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not stupid. Everyone’s either gone out or hiding away in their very soundproofed rooms. Except Raph, and he’s in his office. With the door shut.” She waved a hand at him. “Listen for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
Not that he didn’t trust her senses, but just to satisfy his own mind, Jesse closed his eyes and listened to the rest of the house. The murmurs and creaks of the old building were the only sounds that met his ears, along with what sounded like... “I think we might have mice.”
Lys laughed. “Yeah, I agree.”
Not that they’d find any food in these cupboards.
But she was right regarding the rest of their coven. Jesse wondered where Peter had gone and who with. Was he already trying to sway coven members to his way of thinking? He shuddered at the thought.
“Have you called him yet?” Lys persisted.
“Who says I’m going to?”
“Oh, come on,” she leant back on her hands, staring at him. “When was the last time you told me about someone you had sex with.”
“I thinktoldis a bit of a stretch,” he muttered dryly. “More like you smelt him on me and badgered me until I gave in.”
She huffed and started to tick things off on her fingers. “Firstly, you made no effort to hide his scent. You could’ve gone back to the flat and showered, but no, you liked it on you.”
“I’d also been running late to meet you.”
“Because you didn’t want to leave his bed.”
Okay, that part was true. Lying next to Ian’s solid, warm body and listening to the hypnotic rhythmic beat of his heart had been hard to walk away from. He gave a non-committal grunt instead.
“Secondly, usually when I quiz you about your sex life, you either ignore me, change the subject, or say it was okay, nothing special.” She poked him with the toe of her shoe. “So tell me, what’s so special about this one?”
