Risky Business
MORGANA
J ackson looks down at his phone, his posture confident as he checks his notifications.
“I know it’s a gamble, but I think we’ve reached the point of no return,” he says. His tone is firm, despite the confused looks most of us give the lawyer. He looks over at Lucas and Slade, both of whom obviously know what the fuck he’s talking about.
Iggy is clearly in the dark, like me. He’s watching our legal lion carefully, and I know he wants to ask who this damn guy is but refuses to admit he doesn’t know. Li and Kaspar’s expressions don’t change in the slightest; I have no idea if they think this is a bad idea or not.
Looks like I’m going to have to break the damn silence.
“Who the fuck is this person?” My voice is brittle as I demand Jackson reveal his plan rather than dance around it.
Iggy leans forward, his face reflecting morbid curiosity. “Tell us, Thorne.”
Slade and Lucas exchange a loaded look. Lucas is trying not to move, so he doesn’t mess up the scene, but I can tell he wishes he could pace.
Slade is wringing his hands to keep from moving, and I can tell by his expression that whatever he knows about this is bad.
The tip of his tongue pokes out to lick his lips before vanishing, and I know it means he’s nervous as hell.
Across from me, Kaspar and Prince Liam are statues, twin studies in cultivated indifference.
Kas is standing stock-still, arms crossed as if he’s waiting for an enemy.
Liam has his hands in his pockets, his entire presence reduced to that of a marble bust in an empty cathedral.
He’s normally so alive, but Jax’s declaration has him mimicking his bodyguard in a way that I hate.
Jackson glances at me, waiting to see if I’m going to lose my temper or let him speak. I incline my head, permitting him to proceed. We don’t have a lot of time before the damn cops get here, and this has to get settled before that happens.
“Are you going to tell us or what, Jax?” I ask impatiently. “You can’t drop that on us and stay quiet. Rip off the bandage.”
“The Serpent’s not a person, strictly speaking.
More like—a service.” He tilts the phone so I can see the outline of the logo: a smooth Hydra, every scale rendered in monochrome pixel art.
“No website. No phone number. You can only get them by invitation, or if you’re desperate enough to use one of the back channels rich people always have access to. They fix problems.”
I hold out my hand, and Jackson passes me the phone. The screen shows nothing but the logo and a timestamp ticking down slowly in seconds. I flip the phone back to him. “You’ve done business with them.”
It’s not a question—he definitely has, or he wouldn’t be able to show me this.
Jackson nods, rubbing the back of his neck. “Once, with my father, for a senator’s son. We never spoke directly—everything was through intermediaries. Payment was—” he stops, catches himself, glances at Liam. “Let’s just say, expensive.”
Iggy is the first to find his voice. “What kind of expensive? Money, or something we’ll regret in six months? Because we’ve already bargained with a demon this week, and I’m not eager to do it again.”
“Both. There’s always a favor on the back end,” he says with a shrug. His brow furrows as he repeats, “You’ve already bargained with a demon this week? What the hell is going on at the damn campus, Morgana?”
I roll my eyes. “Not related to this murder shit. We needed a line on a specific type of supe that will help me get this place in order more quickly.”
Kaspar cocks his head. “Why them, and not a normal PR team? It feels risky to draw the attention of evil just to make things easier.”
“Because Lucas,” Jackson says, deadpan, “just stepped in the evidence for the second fucking time in three months, dragon. Your rotten luck is a bit out of the skill set of the normal supernatural agencies, especially if anything else makes this worse.”
Slade’s nostrils flare at Jax’s mild rebuke, and I watch the tic in his cheek.
He didn’t like our lawyer criticizing Lucas, and he doesn’t want to cause trouble by saying anything.
I meet the siren’s eyes, thanking him for keeping his anger in check so we can continue the conversation without getting derailed.
“If we do this, we need to move fast—before the police sniff around. The last thing we need is for the faculty to catch wind,” Jackson adds as he looks at me. “And now that you’ve contacted security to allow them on campus, that’s a foregone conclusion.”
For a heartbeat, I want to burst out laughing like a maniac. So many things happening one after the other, and we can barely deal with one before the next comes barreling at us.
We just contracted Celestara to get the unicorn so we can clean up SU and focus on the bigger danger.
Kaspar is finally trying to be less of a dick.
We didn’t need this shit right now. But that’s irrelevant—it’s done, and we’re contemplating hiring a mysterious organization that ‘fixes’ problems for fees and favors.
I turn to Kaspar, studying him before I say, “You’ve been awfully quiet.” I meet his eyes in a challenge, but for once, he absorbs it without so much as a smirk.
Maybe he is actually trying.
Kaspar smiles a slow, glacial smile, baring his fangs. “I think if this doesn’t work out, the King will come for your legal companion.” His eyes say more than his words; he’s deadly serious.
“True as that may be—” Jackson starts, but Liam cuts him off.
“I’ve heard of The Serpent. They don’t come cheap, but their results are—legendary.” The prince glances at Slade, then at Lucas, then at me, before he sighs heavily. “The question isn’t whether they can help. It’s more like… do we want to owe them?”
I feel my anxiety spike at his words. If Liam’s heard of them, the royal courts of Faerie use them.
That means four of the five men in my life are tied to people powerful enough to interest this sort of group.
That fact is likely why we’re being targeted, not my sordid murderous past with Magnus Corona.
If both things are true, then we’re going to have to take the risk.
We need more firepower on our side before this gets worse.
Jackson looks at me expectantly, and I nod. “Alright.”
“They say the Serpent always collects,” Lucas says from the stage. “We need to figure out what we’re willing to barter again before Thorne hears from them.”
I’m about to make a joke—something snarky that will let everyone breathe again—when I notice Slade’s right hand, the veins bulging out, fingers digging into his palms. He’s absorbing a lot of the negative energy in here and has been since he found the body. He needs relief.
“Slade, love. I need you to breathe.” I tilt my head at his clenched fists, and the siren drops his head to comply. “We’ll get you out of here soon; I promise. Just hold on, okay?”
His voice is soft when he replies, “If it’s the Serpent or the police, I’ll take my chances with the snake. While I’ve been rounded up by cops plenty of times because of the Sons , I know this goes deeper than a local station. I’d rather us take the chance, even if I know how dangerous it is.”
Iggy glances at me, his expression concerned. He knows Slade better than anyone, and if he’s worried, we all should be.
“Okay, Slade.” I turn to Jackson, swallowing hard as I say. “Get us a meeting.”
Before he can respond, the doors to the theater fly open and Detective Kowalski and a nervous-looking sidekick enter. “Of course it’s you freaks. That’s what happens when you put a convicted murderer in charge of a college instead of dealing with it the right way.”
Jackson spins on his heel, his posture ramrod straight. “What did you say to my client, Detective? Did you dare to malign her character while suggesting the Society made a mistake in its judgment? Oh, I cannot wait to bring this case to them. It’s making me just a little giddy.”
The walrus shifter goes white beneath his bushy mustache, and I have to hold back my chuckle. Thorne certainly knows how to threaten the cowardly shithead, and I enjoy seeing him reduced to a babbling mess every time. “See here, Thorn, I’m an officer of the law and?—”
“You aren’t above the law you serve.” Liam’s voice makes me turn to smile at my mate gratefully. I don’t care what Kowalski says about me as much as I want him to get shit moving, so Slade and Lucas can get off that damn stage.
“Uh, Detective?”
I arch a brow as the forgettable partner gets Kowalski’s attention.
“What, Sanders?!”
“Should I call the forensics team and the coroner?” The small shifter steps back from the angry aquatic asshole, and I frown. I hope that dick doesn’t actually abuse the people he works with like he does suspects.
“Yes! For fuck’s sake, Sanders. Get it together.”
I don’t think Sanders is the one who needs to get his shit together, but I’m not willing to interject and drag this out.
My gaze flicks to Lucas and Slade, who both look tired as fuck, and ready at least to be able to sit down.
“That’s a good idea. We haven’t touched the cloth or the body at all.
We waited until you arrived so nothing has been disturbed. ”
“As if I’m going to believe that the bear who found Pierre LaMount after a public disagreement has now stumbled onto another dead body with no connection to the murder. You people must think I’m stupid.”
I look at Iggy and then Liam, hoping to keep my expression from letting Kowalski know that’s exactly what I think.
The prince has to cover a snicker, and the Draconic bodyguard clears his throat as he gives me a pointed look.
Facing the red-faced slob, I shake my head.
“I’m merely informing you that Lucas and Slade have been standing in place without moving since they discovered the body.
When I arrived, I made certain that they didn’t move or touch anything. ”
“We’ll see about that.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I push my frustration with this unprofessional yokel down. “I’m sure we will, Detective.”
“Now, Wolfberg…” Kowalski says as he moves around us and heads down toward the stage. “Tell me how you’re standing in the middle of my crime scene again if you didn’t kill… who is this supposed to be now, Sanders?”
“The dispatch said they think it’s Rialto Beauregard.”
The bulky, trench-coated policeman stops cold, turning to look at his partner in disbelief. “Motherfucking Rialto Beauregard?! Are you shitting me, Sanders?”
He’s figured out that this is going to be another high-profile case and his drool is forming.
“Why didn’t you say that on the ride over? Fucking Zeus in a basket, Sanders, we need the best damn forensics team possible. Make sure it’s the actual coroner, not an assistant. Get a move on, you idiot!”
I hear Kaspar growl, and I know it’s because he’s caught the same whiff of self-centered greed that I did.
Kowalski is definitely going to latch onto Lucas and Slade now that he knows who the corpse is.
He’ll want to ride this to national news and promotions, so he won’t give a damn if my mates are innocent.
“We don’t know for sure, though, because no one’s lifted the fabric,” Slade says, stopping everyone in their tracks again. “You might want to confirm that before you tell everyone it’s true.”
Kowalski scowls, stomping up to the stairs on the left side of the stage to do just that. “If this is Beauregard, you two are cooked. That family is going to see that you fry. No getting saved by Society softies in this case.”
Yep, that’s exactly what I expected from this dipshit; I’m glad we settled on The Serpent before he arrived.