3

We handled the mal fundido quickly, and I checked the surrounding area just to be safe before Shae and her crew were brought in. Something seemed off though, and after a few minutes of me searching, I cussed up a storm.

"That's never good," one of the ancients sighed.

I nodded and flipped back a bunch of thatch… That was covering eggs. "Whatever the demon did to set this all in motion wasn't just for those he woke early. Or it takes over a decade for their eggs to hatch and that's when they turn carnivores to feed them? I don't actually know since none have been able to locate them before."

"Either way, we have to scour every location we've been to thus far and make sure no eggs were missed," Victor said as he joined me.

"Hence, the potty mouth," I chuckled darkly. I let out a heavy sigh and sat back on my feet. "It just never ends. We think this might be the last one and there's still another trick up their damn sleeves."

Rayaz squatted down next to me and rubbed my shoulder. "Aye, but it's not all on ya, lass. Ya gotta stop taking it all onto your pretty little head. If ya don't start enjoying the wins, ya gonna be the first enchanter with high blood pressure."

"Git."

"I would never deny it," he threw right back. "But even if ya miss an egg, ya saved a lot of lives finding all of these. And that baby evil might die without its mum. Ya done good here, lass. Take the damn win. We are."

I nodded, giving the best smile I could before taking his offered hand and letting him help me up. I stopped Victor when he lifted his heel to smash the eggs.

"What are you thinking?" he hedged.

"That maybe Ikuyo should see these," I muttered. "Or Sangria. Elves are very in tune with nature, and this could give them some way to track things not of nature or other monsters. I don't know. I just got the feeling not yet."

"Why would you let someone help you with this part, but you haven't shared how to locate these dens?" Shae asked. She held up her hand when I spun on her with anger ready to fire at her. "This won't work if you think me the enemy every time I ask you a question. I know you haven't been treated fairly.

"Off the record, I will say that I'm disgusted how you have been treated by my supposed colleagues and even some at my damn station. I'm a blank slate. I'm asking because I want the answer from you . I would guess reasons right off the bat and they're fair. But you don't say them , so others answer for you. I'm giving you the chance to answer."

I let out a slow breath and then another. "I apologize. You're right that it's been decades and decades of questions setting me up to fail and get caught in some stupid soundbite. I'm going to be stuck in that and probably this whole time, so I ask for your understanding."

"Plus, she's dealing with situations that are literally issues that could end our world," Andrew defended, clearly wanting to remind people of that at every turn.

I thanked him and focused on Shae before gesturing to the dead mal fundido . "I don't share how to find the dens because not everyone is on the right side of this—on our side of trying to protect lives and save the world. Hell, governments have called me demanding I turn over one for them to study. So I don't trust that people won't take them to breed or do more evil."

Shae nodded. "I guessed that one but not the governments wanting to use them as weapons. I should have. That's terrifying. Can I ask if my government is one of them?"

Well, that lined me up well to do the UK's prime minister a solid. "No, she did offer whatever resources I needed to help take out this threat even if not within the UK's borders because she's smart and understands that monsters don't care about country lines."

"Glad to hear that," she muttered, shaking her head. "And you're too smart to start a fight with countries by naming them."

"Most days." My lips twitched when several of the ancients snickered. Yeah, fair enough. "Also, I'm not getting blamed when someone gets killed hunting these monsters. It always gets thrown back at me. It's always my fault somehow when I didn't make these monsters.

"I sounded the alarm they were waking early. But someone would be hurt badly by this death machine and it would be my fault. I'm—my people don't need any more of that. You'd have some daredevil thinking they were an awesome hunter—the ultimate get and trophy, but they'd die, and somehow I would be responsible."

"Yes, people would absolutely twist their own actions like that instead of taking responsibility for their choices," she agreed. "I simply wanted to hear it from you."

"Lastly, magic can always be manipulated. The magic that leads us to find these monsters came from the demon who helped create them. I have no idea what else that magic could do. Was it part of the original spell? Could it be used to make more? It could be a bland locator spell or the missing piece for a magical atomic bomb. I don't know, and I never trust demons.

"So no, I'm not sharing that with people. I've made a lot of magic building on what I've learned from others. Even if I wasn't worried about someone getting hurt, I'm terrified of what could be built off this spell we're using. And I never, not ever, hand over Pandora's Box. Not when it has even a chance to make monsters that slaughter many so easily."

Shae blinked at me for almost a minute. "I hadn't even thought about that—it wasn't even a consideration."

I nodded. "You're not magical, love. You think in terms of what you know and how you see the world. I think of what I know. I've made a lot of spells thinking of my end goal and looking at pieces." I gestured around the den. "In the wrong hands, this could just be a piece of something worse. That's what those killer birds were. I don't want more of that."

"No, none of us do for sure," she agreed. "I feel like I need to start at the beginning of a lot to get the full scope to do this series right, but I want to get something out fast about what happened today. People are going to be in an uproar, and if you do not say something, they will answer for you. You made a lot of statements—accusations I don't even understand."

I sighed and nodded, texting Tommy to send one of his guys. He showed up himself and I told him what we'd found, smirking when he had the same reaction. He promised he had it in hand since he'd marked it all down.

"This is the type of thing people need to see," Shae told me. "I would never have thought there were so many spots or even of going back. People don't understand all you do with your vast power, and that's why they can be jerks about so much."

I frowned. "Are you here to get the story or be our new PR person?"

She didn't take offense. "A bit of both. I'm giving you an outside honest perspective and not worried about it because you're not my elder. Plus, sometimes we need that outside opinion to smack us upside the head how bad things have gotten."

Fair enough.

There was only one question I needed to know… "How far are you willing to go with this, Shae?"

"All the way. If you're offering the magic that you gave Braun that he's now threatening to sue you over—I've already consented. Helen thought there might be some way you could show it all on camera. Not the angels in their real form, but—the souls and circles. That's what is important here."

I opened my mouth to tell her that I couldn't but then hesitated. "Maybe. Maybe. Let's start with today first and someone else can walk you through a lot while I get done what I need to."

She accepted that, so we ended up in the conference room of PI on the floor with psychics. I needed to eat more, and apparently there was more for me to look over. I frowned at Kate and everything she was giving me.

"We've received some cease and desists from areas saying that we're harassing their citizens and we're scammers," she explained. "And there's more talk that anyone calling will be personally sued since no one can touch you. So for now, we're writing up reports of it all."

"Yes, that's great, thank you. We also need more on the circles. Apparently, the souls are making a ruckus now that they know they can leave messages or send them before they go back." I nodded when she sighed. "No good deed goes unpunished for sure."

She left me with the stacks of everything as I tucked into my food. I glanced at Shae, basically telling her to go ahead.

"You said that every member of that committee had reached out to you for donations," she started with a bang. "I'm sure you didn't say that flippantly."

I snorted. "I could hand over the voicemails from their people or let you talk to my people who had the conversations. They were told the same thing I've said publicly that I do not donate to personal campaigns but causes. The responses—actually, I wasn't shocked but still disappointed. The government—the world needs to do better if we are to survive."

"Threats?" she checked.

"Strongly worded warnings that I wouldn't like the results of not playing ball with them and from their subordinates so they could deny it all. You know the game." I shrugged. "It was about more than their corruption. This isn't the first time the US government has tried to put a leash on me or control what is mine. It won't be the last. The UK government just pulled the same."

"But the prime minister stepped in and handled that," she muttered, shooting me a look that the camera wouldn't pick up that she knew something was there.

Smart lass.

"Yes, she's a rare leader who sees people, not race, gender, or species," I praised. "The problem was more than at the top and greed. I wasn't kidding that the relationship had deteriorated drastically over the past few years, and I was done with them ignoring it. This wasn't just the madness about the murders in Chicago where supes were set up to take the fall.

"And horribly. It's what's happened after, and while the new chief of police cleaned up the situation, I've been honest that I was less than impressed with the apologies I've received since. But my partner works for CPD, so I let it go so I didn't destroy his career. However , I am tired of showing up at crime scenes in other areas and people making frog noises.

"Nine out of ten times, I'm blamed and have the fingers pointed at my coven while people are screaming at me to fix it all—like apartment buildings in Texas—and give them all of the answers. I cannot keep being the problem and the solution. It isn't even logical, and while I was willing to deal with that to help people and save lives, I won't allow my people to endure it.

"I wrongfully assumed that I was the only one really dealing with that because I get called in on the worst cases. I'm the face of it all and the one most media paints as the evil of everything. But no, it's been all of my investigators now. SPU agents touching my female investigators on cases because now they're whores for their lust.

"It's all so ludicrous and disgusting and ignored because we're just witches, right? We're just humans with magic or whatever bullshit other supes tell themselves. And the ones they throw under the bus first so humans don't hate them but focus on us. I've done more to protect shifters, vampires, and elves than their own damn elders and yet they throw mine to haters constantly."

"Let me preface this by saying if you were a man, I would have the same concerns," she hedged. "Some of the reports are concerning and that's all that's been said. Which is why I'm here to get the full story since I doubt what I'm hearing after even meeting you."

I wasn't even going to make her say it after being so polite like that. "I've had relations with three members of SPU. Three." I nodded when she couldn't hide her shock, the camera guy slowly standing from behind the camera and blinking at me. I chuckled at his reaction. "Aye, not exactly what has been said about me, huh?"

"I find myself at a loss of what to say next," Shae admitted.

"It was actually a firm line I never crossed because I had with some FBI humans years ago and it became such a mess and an issue with some agents that I never wanted that headache again if people were going to be such babies," I told her. I cleared my throat and focused on my food. "But then I had a bit of a heartbreak.

"My lover at the time found his mate. It's not fated like some humans think, but more their animals find each other—I can't fully explain it since I'm not a shifter. And while I wasn't in love, I did care. A lot. No one likes to be shown the door, and it brought up bad memories for me because that's happened many times with me being involved with shifters.

"So I had a fling with a very handsome SPU team lead who knew exactly what it was and even called it a ‘case fling.' It was his first time being with someone since he had become a vampire and he didn't have to be scared of hurting me. He's a good man, and that was constantly in his mind, so… We were there for each other.

"It was nice. Unfortunately, his coven leader found out and told him to get closer to me—which they always do—and he was glad to end things. That fling made my partner jealous and admit—to himself at least—that he had feelings for me. We actually hated each other to start—we're still together. And no, I have never cheated. He knows everything about my other anything."

"You're not exclusive and still date," she said without any judgment.

I frowned. "No, it's not like that. Hunt knows and has a say." I sighed and switched containers, taking a few bites as I thought of how to frame it. "Wolves are curious and like to play. They like to test limits and—this isn't as weird for supes as it is for humans. We can live forever. But it's not just anyone or I hook up if I want to. I would never do that to Hunt."

"But the rest is no one's business," she muttered.

"No, it's not. And before more people say he's less of a man for enduring that, they should stop assuming things. I'm bi-sexual. My partner is very, very happy with our relations. Everyone else—isn't it upsetting to others how focused some are on my bedroom activities? It honestly disturbs me how fixated some people are on my number and—"

"Do you know your number?" she asked with a chuckle. "But yes, it does disgust me as well how ridiculous people act about this."

I shrugged. "I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was over a million." I laughed when they all couldn't hide their shock. "Darlings, I'm over a thousand years old. That's a lot of years. For as much as some societies are prudish or try to revert to more prudish preachings, there are many who are not .

"Especially before the age of TV or even newspapers to tell them others would judge them. Orgies were all the rage, and at most parties—human ones even—people would worry that you were ill if you didn't have a lover or two at them. I have no idea my number. A lot. So what? I don't care. No one else should either."

"I think it's just a lot more than most can wrap their minds around," she muttered. "I'm even having trouble digesting it."

"That doesn't bother me. What bothers me is if you feel you have the right to judge me. What bothers me is that people fixate so much on that number instead of the number that really matters."

"What number is that?" she muttered.

"How many she's saved," Isaac answered as he came in and joined us. "A demon attacked one of the charm stores? I was told you would know what that meant. They didn't get any and no one was hurt, but the damage was done and—"

"They nullified the fucking magic in them," I seethed. "Those fuckers are really trying to see if I'll just obliterate them all but then I start a war my people will fight in." I let out a huge sigh. "Okay, get with Connie and the top investigators. Since I'm pulling them from going in on new cases, it's time they learn how to lay demon traps. We're laying them around everything."

"All your stores?" he hedged.

I shook my head. "No, not those stores. They mean storage—we're all originally from Britain, love. Those are the charms for the coven to keep them safe or we use for—too much." I opened the file he handed me and swore. "Okay, make sure—Helen saw this but not Jerome?"

"I think so."

"Jerome needs to help replace these since Keegan is training with Ikuyo when he can."

"Connie is as well. She was the one who volunteered for that," he reminded me.

"Idiot. Loyal and selfless idiot," I whispered. "I need the list of who signed themselves up for war. I have to add extra protection on them like I sneak on Keegan."

Isaac snorted. "It's not sneaking it on him when he knows it's there."

"The brat doesn't know all of it, just my magic." I thanked him before he left and focused back on Shae.

"Clearly, he's the third member of SPU," she practically purred.

"It's complicated, and my life has been—I didn't hide that I was attacked over the summer. It did damage to my relationship with my partner." I gave her a look that the topic was over. "But those others at SPU and even human cops—they should be smarter as cops. We have records and shit. People blabbing that I've been with them and I've never met them.

"I've never worked a case with them. I've never been to where they are stationed. And yes, they can say they transferred, but there is a paper trail of that too. Or fine, I could have met them somewhere else, but I am always working. I've only recently started to make any sort of public appearance—it's all ridiculous. But it's all stemmed from sexism."

"It has at that," Shae agreed.

"And while I would like to remind people I have standards and see auras so I never go near jerks, I also don't just accept anyone or every offer. Even if I did … What does that have to do with other enchanters? How does that transfer over to the females who work for me? It's disgusting , and I'm pissed more aren't upset.

"Real men, men like my partner, shut that bile down. He made it clear the idiot who tried to touch one of my people would lose his hand if he did it and then got the guy written up. I could be the biggest slut in the world, but that has nothing to do with others. It has to do with the darkness of the person who thinks that of women and we're all toys for them."

What else was there really to say?

Probably a lot, but I didn't have the energy to constantly repeat myself. I really didn't.