26. Finley
Finley
After two days of straight sleep and three more days of keeping things low-key as we watched the world around us implode with the news blasting my story all over the place, I was almost back to full health.
Rath and the elders helped speed along my healing with their magic, but there was only so much they could do since it was my shifter side that was taking its time to recover from the sliver.
Now we had a day to perfect our plans before we brought this whole thing to a close.
The invite to the Coexist Gala was on my doorstep a day after the story went live.
The Senate had been doing damage control, making a show of cracking down on crime against supernaturals, but it was all surface-level bullshit.
While I was out, Ayla and Derven went and dealt with the two targets I’d picked out, and it caused the collapse that I’d hoped for.
The Dark Ring now knew that I was coming for them and they closed ranks just as I hoped it would.
They all had bodyguards with them at all times and changed their routines in as many ways as they could think.
The interesting part was there was always something they would never give up on and that’s where I decided to leave little presents for them.
With the help of the army I was building, I had supers all over the world helping me deliver my little gifts, that on face level, didn’t have any connection with me.
The gift was an invitation to witness my coronation that would be happening the day after the Coexist Gala.
The truth of the matter was no such event was planned or needed, but it was my way to remind them that I was the one hunting them down, and I could still get to them no matter what they did.
Watching the chaos it created was just how I hoped the news would be taken.
The more they panicked, the easier it made my job.
They would strip down the list to those that had to be at the gala or lose face, making it all the easier to take out the biggest players.
In this whole cat and mouse game, the only person I ignored completely was James.
I had him under watch and knew every move he was making, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing I cared.
He was one person I wanted enraged, frothing at the mouth with anger because then it would make it so simple to get him to walk into my trap.
No matter what his skill with magic was or how powerful he was with mental manipulation, like Delilah seemed to think, I was stronger.
The thing that brought down my mother’s one-time mate was his confidence and ego.
James would never see me coming until it was too late and that was the beauty of it all.
What I was worried about was Morwyn. Zander hadn’t been able to get ahold of her or Peter.
I’d shared with him what I’d overheard the werewolves say, but there was no way for us to check on any of it unless we made it obvious we were working together.
I knew she was alive because I was, but it was always lingering in the back of my mind if I might just drop dead at any moment.
While we all tried to ignore that possibility, it wasn’t as far from our minds as we’d like to believe.
Finally, I decided it was time to bring in reinforcements, so I called Eli.
We hadn’t really spoken to each other after the interview since he didn’t stick around for me to wake up.
Even if he wasn’t someone I wanted to rely on all the time, he held the keys to the Organization and they could get the information I needed without drawing attention.
Since the press release, I could no longer go anywhere without someone recognizing me, which was what I wanted, but I was quickly learning it had its drawbacks.
“Daughter, it’s good to hear from you,” Eli greeted. “Have you recovered already from your injuries?” he asked, sounding surprised.
“I’m nearly back to full health, still have some stiffness, but I’m working through that,” I answered, allowing the small talk.
“I’m incredibly glad to hear it. Now, while I’d hoped this was a social call, something tells me it isn’t,” he commented. “How can I help?”
“Can you get information on Morwyn?” I asked.
“During the attack, I heard that it might have been found out that she was betraying the Senate and trying to leave. Zander hasn’t been able to get a hold of her or her bodyguard, Peter.
I know Tabitha has been working with them as well, but I don’t know how to reach her. ”
“Hmm, I’ll put my feelers out and see what intel I can gather, but I’ll be honest. One of the hardest people to spy on is Gareth. That wolf has eyes in the back of his head. I’ve lost one too many of my good people to him and I’m not looking to add to that number,” Eli warned.
“I understand, but with the contract between us, her life does affect mine,” I reminded him. “I need to know if plans need to change. Can I wait two days, or do I need to act faster?”
“Give me a few hours and I’ll get what I can for you,” Eli stated and hung up the phone. Clearly, my dear father didn’t like to be reminded that my fate was tied to hers. There was nothing I could do to change that now. I had to make the best out of the situation I was in.
Getting up from the couch, I headed downstairs to the kitchen and pulled open the fridge.
My stomach was rumbling and I didn’t know what the guys were up to.
I glanced at the clock seeing it was late afternoon, so they were probably out coordinating things with the new elves that started to arrive yesterday.
I’d wanted to go out and greet them, but I was under house arrest until my men deemed I was well enough to resume normal activities.
This included any sexual interaction, which I was not pleased about.
“Snuggles, whatcha doing?” Mason asked as his face appeared next to mine.
“Looking for something to eat,” I shared, snagging a bowl of fruit from breakfast. It was cut up and easy to eat because I did not have the energy to make an effort for more.
Turning, I crashed into Noah, who’d been behind me. “Babe, that’s not going to cut it. You need real food, meat to help you recover.”
This had been an argument between us for the past two days. “Noah, I’ve been eating meat with every meal the past two days. I just want something light and fresh.”
“That isn’t going to help you get better, though,” Mason countered. “Look, you’re already exhausted, and all you did was work on some stretches and a little hand-to-hand fighting with Elias.”
My lower lip popped out in a pout as I looked down at the fruit. “Can’t I eat this while you make whatever meat you decide I need to eat?”
Noah let out a heavy sigh and pointed to one of the chairs at the counter. “Sit, eat your damn fruit while I make you something.”
Smiling, I popped up on my tip-toes and kissed him. “You’re wonderful. You know that.”
Playfully he smacked my ass as I walked by, making me laugh. “Sit your fine ass down before I do something else with it.”
My wolf and I perked up at the flirting, but Mason gave me a stern look that told me absolutely nothing was going to come from it. With my pout back out, I sat down and picked at the fruit. “Just so you know, this whole treating me like I’m an invalid isn’t fun, and I’m sick of it.”
“You just have to suck it up, Sally, and deal with it until after this shit show of a gala. We can’t have you getting hurt, overtaxing yourself, or anything else that might affect how things go down.
Remember, we’re going up against the two most powerful groups of people in our world.
” Mason stated, crossing his arms as if he was preparing for me to argue with him.
Instead, I just popped another grape in my mouth, trying to tell him I was well aware that what we were up against wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
I just needed to get through the next day full of primping and final adjustments to my dress.
The biggest perk of the announcement that I was queen of the elves meant I had companies reaching out to me to wear their dresses.
They came to the house so I could try them on and did the fittings.
Later today, the seamstress was coming with the dress to make sure it was perfect.
The same thing happened with jewelry, shoes, and purses.
You name it, they were calling like crazy.
Zander seemed to think that I was more famous than him now and needed my own manager.
I knew they wouldn't want anything to do with me once we destroyed the government of the supernaturals as we knew it. It’s not in good taste to glorify someone who slaughtered two hundred people at a party, even if they were the scum of the earth.
“Here you are, chicken stir fry. You wanted something lighter, so that’s what I came up with, protein and veggies,” Noah announced.
Just as I put the fork up to my mouth, there was a knock at the door. I looked up at the other two, pleading for them to ignore it so I could eat because if I had to be dressed up like a doll and gushed over, I’d stab someone with this fork.
“Eat,” Mason ordered, pointing at my plate like I didn’t know what he was saying, and went to answer the door.
“I’m here with the dress…”
The moment I heard it was Tabitha, I dropped my fork and raced to the door. There she stood, indeed holding the dress with another lady next to her, cowering like she was going to be attacked.
I looked at her and smiled. “Thank you so much for ensuring my dress got to me, but I think I’ll take it from here.”
“Yes… of course… I’ll just go now,” she stuttered as she backed away and bustled off to the car she’d driven up in.
Grabbing Tabitha’s arm, I yanked her into the house, and Mason shut the door after her. “What’s happened?” I demanded.