Dirty Little Secret
MORGANA
“ N ow that Li has saved the girl and Iggy outed himself, can we please figure out where that damn dragon is?”
I look at Lucas curiously, and he shrugs. “If we’re going to be out, I’d like to enjoy ourselves, not be hunting for shit.” He grins broadly as he shrugs. “We should go dancing sometime. That would be fun.”
My young mate is an absolute font of surprising things, and I adore it.
“Your Nana made you take lessons, didn’t she?” Iggy says knowingly. “I’ve been there.”
Liam nods in agreement. “Same. Slade?”
“No, that wasn’t one the Finns gave a shit about. However, I’ve worked with the theater department since I arrived and I think I’ve picked up enough to not be embarrassing.” The siren smiles shyly and my heart squeezes.
“We should definitely come to one of the performances of the musical to hear you play, just like we should go to one of Lucas’ games.
” Liam looks delighted as he says it, and I sigh happily.
They get along so well that I almost worry about when it will stop—except I know.
When we find that damn dragon, he’ll be a fucking pill and ruin everything.
Dixie comes back with a punky looking girl who I believe to be a shifter.
Narrowing my eyes, I sniff the air—ah, she’s aquatic.
If I hadn’t sniffed out the scent of the sea, I would have figured it out when her eyes widen as they land on Slade.
“Morgana, Your Highness… and guests… this is my colleague, Jayda Thanneer. She’s able to assist you in your other requests… only .”
I laugh when our new friend gives the pretty shifter a firm glare.
Dixie didn’t want to lose our table, and she certainly believes that this woman will try to snatch it away.
“Thank you, Dixie. We are very satisfied with your service; your friend is here solely to provide extra recreational options.”
That makes Jayda frown, her lip sticking out at the guys.
Now I’m giving her a warning look because fuck if I’m going to let her assume she can use her feminine wiles to contradict my edict.
Liam snorts behind his hand, trying not to show it, and Iggy sits his glass down hard to get everyone focused.
“Miss Thaneer?—”
“Oh, you can call me Jayda, Professor Briarton. I’d be honored.”
For fuck’s sake…
“Jayda, knock it off,” Lucas says abruptly. “We’re not interested, and you’re wasting our time with the Bambi act. Give us the menu so we can order, or we’ll ask Dixie to bring another provider.”
The girl straightens up immediately at his dominant bark, and I lean against his arm to murmur, “Very nice, babe.”
“I’ve seen this situation in the past, and I knew she wouldn’t stop until we made it clear.
” The bear shrugs, turning to drop a kiss on the top of my head.
“It behooves the middlemen and women to sexualize themselves if they think it will help them sell more services. Their commission is based on cost or the service, so every add-on they can peddle will get them more bang for their buck.”
“Great. Not newbies at all. Thanks, Dixie,” the server grumbles before sighing heavily. “Okay. Here’s the tablet. I’ll buzz off to greener pastures while you look. It will ping me when you’ve selected and I will assist with anything I need to at that time. Have fun, kids.”
That said, the shifter stalks off in a huff, and I blink. “I guess she didn’t have any interest in trying to up-sell us if we weren’t easily manipulated.”
Slade wrinkles his nose as he swipes over the screen.
“I’m fine with that. Sirens and rusalkas do not get along.
We have competing interests, for one, but also they are usually associated with eastern European gangs and mafias in the States.
My mother has many nemeses—you can imagine why—and one of them works for a mafia that controls the ports in Northwestern Russia.
That rusalka is fucking terrifying, by the way.
Her name is Koral, and I’d rather deal with fifty orcs than be in her presence. ”
“I didn’t know that,” Liam says thoughtfully. “You are a fount of knowledge about the criminal element, Slade. I’m fascinated by it; it’s like watching a true crime documentary.”
Lucas clears his throat. “While that’s definitely true for me, too… Pop that thing open and tell us what you see, man. I may have been around this before, but every rich kid's playground has a unique system and offerings. What are the owners of Howl allowing to infect this joint?”
I nod, scooting over to Slade to peek at what he’s doing. “The opening page is pretty standard ‘Here's a fancy rich person secret club’. You need to open it and see what the menus are.”
Iggy frowns at me. “Not all of us, you know.”
“Says the man with a secret magic scanner on his phone,” Liam retorts. “Ignatius, I believe our mate knows that we are not the typical children of affluence. We don’t have to remind her simply because her distaste for the bad seeds makes us uncomfortable.”
“Point of fact, when I sound disgusted, I’m usually talking about the shitty assholes.
” I wink at Iggy, who rolls his eyes, and shrugs.
“But you must admit, especially at this time and place, being critical of the Uber wealthy is kind of important. Supernaturals aren’t any better than humans with hoarding shit; we just have a better social safety net built in. ”
“See? The Society isn’t so bad,” Slade says as he expands the menus to show the categories of things available.
“They make certain everyone has health care and shit is managed—mostly. That helps when you decide to defy your dickhead parents and move across the country to study something they disdain.”
I frown as I see the headers ‘Human’ and ‘Supernatural’.
The thought of them allowing human peddlers to take part makes my gorgon angry.
There’s little chance any of them have a clue what they’d be getting into and that requires risky abilities to wipe their memories.
It might backfire and do worse damage, which no one would be monitoring.
Growling softly, I click on the supe header, watching it open to reveal sub-menus labeled ‘delectable, cerebral, sensual, and securable’.
“This is terrifying,” I mutter. “I don’t even want to know what falls under sensual. It will set off both of my sides.”
Looking up at me, Slade reaches over with his free hand to pat my arm. “I’m with you, Morgana. There may be perfectly harmless things in it, but I imagine that isn’t always the case. I don’t care if any being wants to get high or whatever, but things that require others to be unsafe bother me.”
You’re telling me, my gentle musician.
“You think this is how we find him, right?” I flex my fingers in and out of fists as we follow the curvy rusalka through the club. “You’re sure, Li?”
The Prince nods, his handsome face resolute as his hand covers mine on his arm. “I do, Macushla . Kaspar probably believed he could procure a specific service that would help us. I’m just uncertain which one he was seeking.”
“We have a lot of needs at the moment,” Lucas grumbles. “Figuring out what the hell was in my dorm, getting rid of your ex’s cursed shit, questioning the staff, forcing the cops to back off me…”
I blink as that hits me. Our little family definitely has a metric ass ton of supernatural needs, and any of them could have been what the dragon was fishing for in this gilded pond.
I almost want to let him off the hook, but then I remember he worried the fuck out of Li.
My mate isn’t making out like it’s a big deal, but I can feel his concern.
He knows Kaspar can take care of himself, but the picture of Lucas being poisoned and the other attacks have to be plaguing him.
We have no idea who all our enemies are—which means anyone could be a bad guy.
“Even if we do, he should have told us where he was going. Or set up a distress signal or something .” My voice is firm as I look at them.
“It’s not fair to worry us all like this.
We could be at home drinking margaritas and licking salt off one another…
but no . We’re here, chatting up slime balls in this damn club. ”
The groan they all share makes me grin. I hoped that bringing sex into it would rile them, and I was right. Liam flashes his fangs at me, his eyes playful, and I return the favor. “Morgana, now is not the time. You know that.”
I shrug. “We need an edge. No one said it can’t be that one.”
Iggy gives me a smirk from his spot at the front of our pack. We agreed he should stick closest to our frustrated hostess to make certain the nymph doesn’t fling anything magical our way. “I suppose it’s not the worst plan I’ve ever heard, as long as everyone keeps their heads in the game.”
“We’re almost to the receiving rooms,” Jayla says.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t do my duty and advise that nothing within these walls is private.
Entities who are contracted may request footage of contractual obligations should negotiations result in a completed transaction that falls through at a later point in time. ”
“Very business-like,” I whisper to Liam. “The criminals want to make certain they can punish those who don’t hold up their end of the bargains—or whatever they strike.”
Jayla stops in front of a door labeled ‘XII’, and raps her knuckles on it.
The sound of a lock disengaging echoes in the much quieter hallway, and our guide gives us a fake smile.
“This is where I leave you. Whatever is purchased will automatically be added to my totals, including a thirty percent tip. Should you wish to add to that, you can let Dixie know. I have other customers, so good luck.”
She walks off, wiggling her way down the corridor without even allowing us to respond.
I sigh, my frustration at the lack of care she showed once we stopped her flirty bullshit eking out.
“That girl is definitely one of the ones Dixie was angry about. She didn’t give a shit about anything once she figured out that we couldn’t be coaxed into buying more for a peek of her tits. ”
Lucas sniffs, then shrugs. “I don’t blame her.
The people who work in the gray areas at elite playgrounds are often bosses who run programs like boiler rooms for stocks in the human world.
They turn and burn deals as fast as possible with as much profit as they can.
Anyone who isn’t ‘making numbers’ won’t be employed for long and the kind of money they make can affect their lifestyles.
Our new friend isn’t wrong in her assertion that it basically traps them into a ‘trafficked’ mentality. ”
Eyeing him suspiciously, I ask, “How do you know so much about this?”
He shrugs again and mumbles, “At times, my parents go between being super wealthy and extremely in debt to their vices. Once I was old enough to understand, Nana explained to me why my parents were basically cut off and what causes them to crash out so often. It’s not just drugs and party people's behavior—it’s what they do when they get in too deep and can’t get out. ”
Slade makes a soft sound, reaching out to grab my bear’s hand. “Yachting. Or… something similar. Right?”
I frown, unfamiliar with the term, but Liam grimaces. Iggy doesn’t, and I note he looks curious as well. Obviously, there’s a fine line delineation between mega wealthy and stupidly rich that he falls just on the other side of. “What the hell is that?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Slade murmurs.
“Suffice it to say that the uber rich, especially those who are new money, have a lot of ways to pump up their bank accounts that most people would be horrified to hear about. It’s not the usual business deals and nepotism bail outs, either.
I know because… you know. My mom has arranged a lot of shit in Bay City—anything to do with the water is theirs.
This occurs there more often than anyone realizes. ”
By the looks of shame on his and Lucas’ faces, plus Liam’s grossed out expression… I don’t think I need him to elaborate.