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I weighed the situation out for a moment. Admitting Jade was human would make it that much easier to find her. I didn’t want Killian knowing exactly what incident I was referring to—it’s why I hadn’t given her role of secretary away—as learning Jade’s identity would lead Killian straight to my apartment doorstep.

“Why are you concerned about the dealings of the Curia Cloisters?” Killian asked, taking advantage of my silence. “You don’t care about supernaturals as a whole. You don’t care about the world. Why would you possibly care if an innocent was harmed?”

I could practically hear the cranks in Killian’s crafty brain clank as he tried to reason through the situation.

“The situation involved humans,” I cagily said.

“So? You care about humans even less than you care about supernaturals,” Killian said. “Unless…you don’t have a donor. Do you?”

He’s going to go personal—I need to distract him and cast a wider net.

“No. I’m not that stupid—or desperate. But the involvement of humans means there’s potential consequences.” I pinched the stem of my wine glass. “I have no desire to emotionally care for or grow attached to anyone—human or otherwise. But—despite the fact that the lot of you Dracos offspring have painted me as a villain of the worst kind—I do wish for society to survive as I have no desire for wars to return us to the lifestyle we had before indoor plumbing. Hence, we must be watchful,” I said, for once being honest if not misleading.

Killian rubbed his jaw. “That sounds reasonable. As a general rule, youaren’treasonable. What is this really all about?”

It was ironic that Killian’s cunning and stable temperament that had endeared him to me was turning out to be very inconvenient.

I took another sip of blood to mentally fortify myself. “Stop asking for details I’m not going to give you.”

“Why else—”

“Killian Drake, offspring of Dracos,” I said putting more power in my words, bending him to my will. “Stop asking questions.”

Killian snapped his mouth shut—my power clamping down on him and keeping him from asking anything else.

I was aware of several of his offspring stirring in their position by the club entrance, but Killian held his hand up, and they resettled.

“Fine,” Killian said. “If it’s information you want, I can look into the situation—”

“I don’t want an explanation,” I said. “I want you to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” I smiled widely, which seemed to unsettle him. “For the good of the supernatural community.”

“Very well,” he said. “We’ve been talking about expanding the Department of Supernatural Law Enforcement and providing more guards. I’ll support the issue when it comes to the Committee.” He made a face. “Though you better be grateful. This means I’ll be facing down the miserly Queen of the Night Court, who is allergic to spending money.”

I tilted my head. “Is one fae so terrible to face? They are typically obsessed over their appearance and Court politics.”

“This particular queen is a regular nightmare because she’s invested and concerned.” He shuddered, revolted by the idea. “Since it’s a security issue I imagine she’ll let herself get talked into it, but my reputation is going to take a hit if it’s known I care about Curia Cloister employees.”

“Please,” I snorted. “You’re already sinking your fangs into wizard affairs.” I pointedly looked at the files Josh still held.

Killian shrugged, unrepentant at getting caught in a lie. “It comes with having a wizard wife—who is alsoinvestedandconcerned.”

Ahhh—so his One is the source of his sudden acquisition of honor. Interesting.

“To answer your original question, fights within the Cloisters aren’t common,” Killian said. “The place is spelled to the gills, and losing one’s temper within the building and acting violent would have some stiff repercussions. If a non-combat employee was hit, it was likely that it happened as collateral damage.”

That lined up with what Jade had said.But she was quite banged up to simply be someone caught on the sidelines.

More likely, my recollection of human fragility had failed me, and I no longer had a reliable mental scale to ascertain exactly how hurt Jade was.

But… There was still something about it that didn’t sit well with me.

Don’t dwell upon it. Jade is diverting, but she’s a human.

I leaned back in my chair letting the last whisps of power I’d held onto evaporate. “You said there are plans to expand the department?”

“Yes,” Killian said. “Specifically, the Magic Response Task Force. The wizards have been suggesting it for a month. I wasn’t inclined to agree until a certain elder vampire started running around Magiford, and it struck me that a bigger task force might indeed be warranted,” he snidely said as he pulled his buzzing phone out of his suitcoat pocket.

He didn’t look too bothered, but I might have pushed Killian a little too much with the use of my powers. He wasn’t arrogant—he was too competent for that—but no vampire would take well to being ordered around within their territory.