Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
MIKO
Two fox shifters stood guard at the southern end of Tower Bridge. The structure still stood proud with its towers pretty clean considering, having survived many incidents across history. It was nice to see these things endure.
I wondered if the drawbridge part of it still worked.
Other shifters worked on the bridge, slowly clearing debris, a few of them even moving a red bus.
“State your business,” the woman on the left demanded.
“I want to speak with Lance,” I said, James at my side. “Tell him Miko Reyes is here.”
The woman looked at the man, who chewed on tobacco.
“You ain’t allowed up here,” he responded, showing off his brown-stained teeth.
“I’m still on the south side,” I retorted. “We have no intention of crossing. But I want to speak with Lance.”
“Go get him,” the woman instructed Tobacco Teeth.
He huffed but obliged, stomping across the bridge.
“Lance is close by?” I asked.
She didn’t answer, turning her head with disinterest.
Good. The last thing I wanted to suffer through was a chat with this lackey.
Lance appeared ten minutes later, his hair piled on top of his head, wearing the same outfit as yesterday.
I bet that pissed him off. Lance Forest didn’t do clothing repeats.
“Miko,” he said, arms outstretched. “And James. What a lovely surprise. Still wearing those hats, I see?” He winked at my beta.
James didn’t react. “Hello, Lance.”
The lynx alpha hooked his attention into me. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon. What can I do for you?”
I kept things polite due to having no choice. “I need to come into your territory. Two days max, in Camden to be specific.”
He traced the back of his hand along his chin. “Camden, eh? Why is that?”
“I have some business to take care of.”
“The oracle’s mark?”
“You know about—”
He laughed, wagging a finger at me. “Silly Miko. Of course I know. Why wouldn’t I? I’m me. That’s why you were at Greenwich with that fae.” He sniffed the air, licking his lips around a purr. “Oh my. I smell cherries and fae male on you. How delicious. Are you fucking him?”
I suppressed a growl. “No.”
He chortled, his two guards mirroring him. “I’m not judging you, Miko. You should enjoy giving your dick some love. Fuck every cute guy while you can. Stop being so serious.”
“I’m not here to talk about that.”
“So you might be fucking the fae?”
“Lance, please—”
“Do you remember our night?”
I saw James’s head turn in shock.
“Lance…”
He pointed at my beta. “Look at his face!”
Tobacco Teeth snorted.
I couldn’t look at my best friend.
“It was wild, James,” Lance said. “Your alpha is one filthy boy. I thought he was going to eat my sphincter right out of me.” He moaned, stroking at his crotch. “What a night.”
I wanted to be sick and beat him to death with Tobacco Teeth’s right leg at the same time.
James bowed his head in the corner of my eye, saying nothing.
“Strictly a one-night only thing though,” Lance added. “I don’t lay with too many peasants.”
James did react then. “He’s worth a million of you.”
“James,” I said. “Don’t.”
Lance smirked. “Yet he begged me to spank him.”
Heat reached my face. I did beg him for a spanking, caught in the moment.
Lance had been the first guy in ages to show me any attention, and I’d fallen for it.
Call it youth, call it stupidity with my brains in my dick.
Fuck it. It was one night. He went back to eating out his lover, Charlotte, the next night while I tried to shower the shame off me for a whole week.
He was a big regret, no matter the intensity of that night.
James growled.
“I suggest you keep your beta in line before I drown him in the Thames,” Lance said, offering the smuggest of grins.
“James. No more.” I touched his shoulder.
He stilled, silent.
“Where’s my apology?” Lance inquired.
What a prick. “Your what?”
“James insulted me. I deserve an apology.”
My beta, understanding how Lance worked, immediately responded with, “I’m sorry if I offended you. I should know better. Please forgive me.” He bowed.
Again, I wanted to vomit and kill in equal measure.
Tobacco Teeth snorted again, the woman watching on with morbid delight.
“Thank you, James,” Lance said. “I appreciate the sentiment. Do it again and I’ll take your wife’s teeth.”
It was a testament to James’s cool that he didn’t rip Lance’s head off right there and then.
“Now then,” Lance said, pacing back and forth with his hands clasped behind him. “Let’s get down to business so I can carry on fortifying my borders.”
He always knew how to make me feel small. “Thanks.”
“You want access to Camden to search for a mark,” Lance said. “With the fae?”
“We have to be sure he’s not connected or—”
“Or his blood points the way to the oracle,” he cut me off. “If you can find a mark there.”
“Yeah.”
Lance stepped closer. “I can smell desperation amongst the cherries.”
I bristled with hate. “Aren’t we all desperate for this to end?”
He nodded. “Yes, yes. But have you ever considered this is how things have to be now?”
“No.”
“Ooo, such a firm answer. Why not?”
“How can this be normal?”
“It’s a hard reality to accept.”
“I refuse to.”
Lance looked up at the blue sky. “Such a lovely day, isn’t it? The world still turns, still shows us her wonders, day after day. We never stopped to appreciate it before, especially in this city. Sometimes I wonder if mother nature played her hand to make us who live see the errors of our lives.”
Who the hell was he to say that? He lived in nothing but daily decadence, the epitome of drama.
“Honestly, Miko, I quite like this new world.”
God, I longed to cut out that tongue. “Why? What’s to like about it?
“There are always diamonds to find within the rough.”
Prick. “Dawn has to end, Lance.”
“Why?”
“Because it does. Because it’s not right.”
He chuckled. “Such a pathetic answer. Because it’s not right. Translation: The status quo got shaken up and poor little Miko doesn’t like it. Boo hoo.”
I kept a lid on my anger. “Are you really telling me you want to keep things as they are?”
He paced, mulling over his answer. “I’m not sure, Miko.”’
“Then you won’t let us into Camden?”
“I didn’t say that. I need time to think.”
Crazy fuck.
“Give me a day,” he said.
“The zombies aren’t dying off,” I countered. “They rot but they don’t starve.”
“Dawn may well be their daily fuel,” he said.
“I know, Miko. What do you think I’ve been doing these past two years?
Washing my hair? I’ve been out there, fighting to survive, trying to build myself a life.
” No smirking now, his bottom lip trembling.
“And I have. I’ve found a family. I’ve bounced back from so much shit.
” He shook his head. “Whatever you think of me, I’m sure we’ve gone through similar experiences.
Lost too many good people, stared death in the face too many times a week.
Cried in the dark, begged for a miracle.
But we’re still here, Miko. We’re in a new world we might have to finally learn to live in.
Maybe zombies are a new predator we must adapt to.
Maybe humans are done and never coming back. When was the last time you saw one?”
I sighed. “Not for a long time.”
“There you go.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to live with zombies.”
“Fair enough.”
“Ending Dawn ends them.”
“And you know this for sure? The oracle is nothing more than a maybe. Is it worth the risk?” He cocked his head. “I never thought you to be a man to fall for fragile hopes.”
“I like to hope. This can’t be it for us.”
He undid his hair, shaking it free as if in a shampoo commercial.
“I think it’s dangerous to drag that fae into Camden.
I also think it’s dangerous to put so much hope into the oracle.
You don’t know if Dawn can really be stopped, or if doing so will reverse everything and bring about a land of sunshine and rainbows.
That, my dear wolf, is bullshit. But I’m willing to consider letting you try. ”
He loved this power, this opportunity to spew off his beliefs. Why would he want to change things? The control he could strangle not only London with, but the rest of this country would be whetting his appetite.
With Dawn or without it, he’d be gunning for serious power.
I kept things as polite as possible, weak against his position. “Thank you for at least considering it.”
A bright, cruel smile. “Anything for you, Miko. I’m always happy to help where I can.”
Can anyone else smell the steaming turds? “I appreciate it.”
“Now, off you go,” he said. “Come back here at the same time tomorrow to hear my decision.” He waved us off, turning dramatically to stride across the bridge, hair billowing behind him.
“You heard him!” Tobacco Teeth barked, spitting a brown glob of salvia at the ground. “Fuck off.”
I pictured those teeth on the ground joining his spit, his arms broken, his voice pleading for mercy.
One day…
“Come on,” I told James.
We walked away, our fury crackling between us.
Once out of earshot, James said, “You really slept with him, sir?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. But sorry I never told you.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Miko. I’m just…surprised.”
“Not my finest decision.”
“It stays between us.”
“Thanks.”
We turned a corner, a couple of slowies spotting us.
Funny how Orion’s terms for the biters had sunk into my vocabulary.
Pulling out a dagger, I killed one while James dealt with the other. Quick, easy, and quiet.
“He’s not letting us into Camden,” James said.
“Yeah. I know.”
“If he does, I’ll eat my hats.”
“Then what will you do?”
He pouted. “You’re right. My whole fashion game will be shot to shit. Scratch that.”
We ducked into an alleyway—a shortcut back to Haven.
“How are things between you and Orion?” he asked.
I slowed down, turning to face him. “Better now.”
“Good.” He didn’t probe too deeply.
For some reason, I carried on talking about the fae. “I spent the night with him.”
“Cool.”
“No sex, just sleeping.” I left out the fuck in the apartment building to myself. “It was…nice.”
“Only you could say that without feeling.”
Rude bastard.
“But I’m happy for you.”
“I don’t know what comes next.”
He smirked, clearly wanting to make a smutty joke. “Take your time and don’t put pressure on yourself. Enjoy it and him.”
Now I was done with the subject. “As soon as we’re home, I want to fill everyone in about this.”
“Okay, sir.”
We discussed nothing more the rest of the journey home, but the tension spoke a thousand words.
What was coming next from Lance?
Had I fucked up by asking him for access to Camden?