California Girls

california girls

“ G ood job,” I mutter as I move closer. “Now this motor mouth will tell all his friends about our trip like he just did with theirs.”

Morgana rolls her eyes at me, and I wonder if she tires of doing so. “Jackson will not spill the beans to randos. He wouldn’t have told us about this Jo-Jo’s trip if we weren’t trustworthy.”

I snort, shaking my head. “This self-absorbed idiot thinks everyone is trustworthy if they pay him.”

Lucas glares at me, and I return the dirty look. His money doesn’t scare me; the Court has more money than the Wolfberg’s stored in their shoe closets. “Kaspar, you’re the fucking worst, man. Just keep your paranoid crap to yourself. Maybe it helps you protect the Prince to be so jaded, but the rest of us would like to believe we have a snowball’s chance, okay?”

“If you want to blow sunshine up your own ass, have fun.” I cross my arms over my chest, my eyes meeting Li’s. “But he’s my responsibility and my duty, so I’m not going to back down because you’re all dick drunk.”

“Delicious,” Jackson whispers, and Eli elbows him in the ribs. “What? It is .”

“Morgana and her men are still finding their ground,” Channing cuts in as she narrows her eyes at the leonine lawyer. “Don’t be rude, Jax. You understand there can be waves when mixed groups come together like this.”

What does that mean, I wonder?

Regardless, I can’t let these people distract me. My fury earlier put me far from my Prince if the dragon had attacked closer to campus; I just got lucky when I ran into it. “If Thorne will allow us to borrow his plane, it will help keep us off the radar with the Court, a slew of over-involved relatives, and perhaps the Society… except for one thing.”

Her eyes widen, and she smacks her forehead, finally realizing the flaw in their ointment. “My tracking spells. I’m not supposed to leave State U without proper clearance. It will take ages to get through that red tape.”

“No, it won’t.” The polar bear smirks as he nuzzles his nose against Morgana’s hair. “Nana will take care of it. And yes, grumpy lizard, she can be trusted. That woman has more secrets locked in her head than the fucking tombs of the pharaohs combined.”

I arch a brow at him. “And she doesn’t have a security team on her only grandson twenty-four hours a day?”

“I was trained after the first three kidnappings when I was a kid.” He shrugs as if it’s nothing, and I blink. The children of the Fae royals have guardians, cadres of guards, and magic to keep would-be assailants at bay. Lucas sighs and looks at us seriously. “I don’t look like it, but I can withstand a fuck ton without even trying. Nana made sure no one would try to use me ever again.”

Maybe I’ve misjudged the little shit; the look on his face is more serious than ever before.

“Fair enough,” Iggy says. “Jackson and Eli will go do their research and plane booking shit. Lucas will get Morgana a furlough. What else do we need before we head off to the land of sun, surf, and shifter mafias?”

Slade looks uncomfortable, but he finally sighs. “I need to reach out to old friends and gauge the atmosphere. Hopefully, they can let me know what kind of mood my father and his minions are in. It will help us plan for contingencies.”

“What contingencies?” I ask. “Magical? Physical? Emotional? Give me something to work with, kid.”

“ Don’t ,” the mage says as he shifts slightly to block the siren. “Slade’s family treats him like crap, so yeah, we need to see if the old man is in one of his bouts of fury about his eldest son refusing to be a mobster. Also, yes, we should worry about magical and physical responses to our arrival. Bringing unknowns to their territory without calling first will piss the giant fucking tuna off.”

Morgana frowns, biting her lower lip for a moment before she speaks. “What is your father, Slade? Not a siren, right? Males are extremely rare. They come from recessive genes passed on the mother’s side.”

Look who’s a goddamn geneticist now.

As if she can hear me, the gargoyle whips her head around to give me a withering look. “I’m a unique hybrid, and that’s hard when you’re young, especially if you’re adopted. I did a lot of research, so stuff it, briquette breath.”

The siren chuckles and nods at her. “You’re correct, Morgana. We are rare and that is how the trait passes. My mother is half kraken, half unknown magic user—and yes, we’ve tried to identify it, but there’s some weird spell blocking her past. We assume the siren is from her, but no one can prove it.”

The Prince squints at him curiously. “Not to be rude, but is it possible your dad…?”

“Oh, very much so, but my next oldest brother, Tracer, is full kraken. Beck and Duke are hammerhead shifters like Axel, I’m a siren, and my triplet sisters are all the most likely to be extramarital indiscretions because they’re all hybrids.” He pauses for a moment, as if thinking about it hurts him and I file his support for his mother away for later. “Coral is part siren, part mermaid; Isla is part kraken and part shark; and Roxy is part mermaid, part selkie. That shit puzzles everyone, but it’s what it is.”

That’s a fucking nightmare of possibilities, especially if he’s not mentioning whether they have magic.

“Great,” Morgana says with a grumble. “I’ve always been awesome with aquatic folks—not.”

Slade’s eyes widen and I almost laugh. “Well, I mean… I’m not like… I know gorgons don’t…”

“Fuck, kid, calm down,” I grunt. “She knows you’re okay.”

That’s my good deed for the week, for goddamned sure.

“You know, I’m pretty certain he’s going to come around, peaches,” Jackson says to the lounging gargoyle. “Just give him time. Dragons are the most stubborn supes I’ve ever met. They’re worse than demi-gods or demons, for sure.”

Blowing a soft breath of steam in his direction, I bare my teeth. “We also have no problem fricasseeing nosy kitty cats who annoy us.”

“You’d have a hard time flying everyone to California on your back,” Eli says with a small grin. “Not impossible for a storm dragon of the size I calculated, but not very fun.”

“Guys.” The small woman Morgana is fond of leans forward to address everyone. “As fun as this thrust and parry is, don’t you think we should all get to work? It’s getting late and if Morgana and the guys are going to the West Coast in a few days, there’s a mountain of work to be done. She’s missed so much with Lucas’s trouble and now the dragon, and if she doesn’t put face time in at the office, I’ll have trouble keeping them in line while you’re gone.”

“She’s right. I need to get my shit together, go into the office and kick some ass before we leave.” Morgana looks at each of us, her eyes dark. “Kaspar, work on security and stay out of my face. Jax and Eli will get our transportation. Iggy and Slade will deal with the welcoming party, and Lucas will get me a reprieve.”

“What about me, Saaladir ?” Liam asks quietly. “What can I do to help?”

I’d prefer he simply go to his classes and not draw extra attention to himself, but he won’t listen to me. “Li…”

Morgana smiles, her expression grateful as she interrupts me. “Just do your classes and then come stay with Lucas and me. Being close will be enough.”

Gag.

“That I can do, as well as order some things for our trip.” She protests and my Prince shakes his head. “Nope. No one gets to complain. If my connections aren’t of help for this mission, then I’ll make use of one of my other redeeming qualities—filthy rich git.”

“You’re not Tony Stark,” I grumble as I roll my eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, Liam.”

“Hush, Grumpy Dragon,” he replies. “I’m going to enjoy spoiling people; no one ever lets me. It’s exciting.”

I watch as he lets out a zing of magic; the sparkles traveling out to each of our new circle and spiraling around them for a few seconds before coming back to the Fae. It’s a parlor trick, but it makes everyone ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ as he beams. They don’t realize he just used magic to take all of their measurements for whatever insane spending spree he’s going to go on.

“There we go. Now everyone can focus on our roles and jobs without worrying about packing anything except personal and magical items.” Liam looks proud of himself, and Morgana rises to her feet, crossing to the Prince quickly.

Her hand comes out to cup his face, and she smiles softly. “Thank you, mate. I appreciate you taking care of everyone, even if we didn’t admit we needed it.”

“Okay, that’s our cue, sweet cheeks.” Eli stands at Jackson’s urging and Channing joins them. “We’re heading out, and we’ll drop Miss Channing off on our way to meet the others. They should have met with the Guardians who cleaned up your enemies—something that will help us trace their friends down—and we’ve got a long night of hacking to do.”

The look on his face says that’s not all he’s planning, but I have zero intention of pointing out Morgana’s friend being that close to her counsel.

The gargoyle stands, walking to the door with her friends, and I look at my Prince.

“Liam, this trip is…”

“Dangerous? Indeed, old friend.”

Huffing, I walk over to him, feeling dread in my bones that I can’t explain. “Yes, but not just that. It seems… superfluous. Can’t we use other sources closer to the school? Why get mixed up with mobsters and criminals?”

Ignatius smirks at me. “Because if a bunch of supe baddies are pairing up all over, don’t you think major criminals would get offers to join in? Even if they wouldn’t—like Slade’s father—riches would tempt them, too. Axel trusts no one, and he knows non-aquatic supes can’t really take away his territory, outside of deities. He doesn’t have a good motive to join, but others might.”

I ponder that for a moment. “Like The Hand. The royals’ strength prevents them from establishing a foothold in Faerie. But someone combining power with them might offer to help. And that offer could be replicated to displaced supes in all the realms: Faerie, Earth, Hell, the Gardens, and Mounts…”

“Exactly.” My head turns to see Morgana standing with a smug look on her face. She shrugs as she pads back into the living room. “You’ve been too caught up in suspecting me. Whatever strategy skill Liam keeps you around for has been pushed aside to be snippy with me. I’m glad you’re back in the game.”

Running my hands through my hair, I look up at the ceiling, not wanting to admit she’s right. “Okay. Fine. I’ll back off of you and try to focus on this fucked up chess board. But if you…”

“Yes, yes. If I step a toe out of line, you’ll zap my ass with lightning,” she says as she waves her hand. “I get it, man.”

I can’t help it. I crack a smile this time. She really is indefatigable.

“You got it, toots.”

That makes her grin a little as she herds the others from their seats. “Let’s go get everyone set up in their rooms. I won’t be able to sleep if I think I have another dragon roaming this place unchecked.”

If only she knew…