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Trust me, being skinned alive is no fun.

He motioned towards the table, but I didn’t sit because Fluffy was bringing my food, and I waited for him to put the plates on the table before I ran to him for a hug. Fluffy had helped me so much, talking to me while I ate his scrumptious food, reminding me Bran wasn’t my enemy, and the sooner I figured that out and treated him as a respected teacher, the sooner I’d be able to leave.

Imagine Chef on South Park as an actual person, and you have Fluffy. He’s wise and kind, with an impossibly deep voice that should be used professionally, but the man enjoys feeding people.

“I’m happy to see you, too. Now sit and eat before it gets cold.” He ended the hug and touched my nose. “Listen to Bran. He knows best.”

I nodded, sat, and began eating. Normally one waits for Bran to give the nod, but Fluffy had told me to eat, so I ate. He’d have just told me to sit if he thought I needed the okay from the Master of the Manor.

“How much help can you give me when I ask permission to share my secret with Will and Davy?” I asked Bran.

“First, I’ve decided your men can know what you told them. I won’t ask Venom to erase their memory of your conversation.”

Relief flooded my system. The pain of Venom’s bite had been worth it, after all.

“Thank you, Sir.”

He nodded, “I don’t believe Hailey wants them to know, so the two of you need to work that out between yourselves before you officially ask. If she doesn’t want them to know, it’s unlikely you’ll be given permission.”

I’d assumed she hadn’t told them because it’s a work relationship and not a personal one, but Bran was right — the situation was completely different if she didn’t want them toknow her secret. Once they knew about bear shifters, the joke about her being a vampire because of her supposed sun allergy would no longer be a joke.

Hailey is a Lugat vampire, same as Bran. They don’t die at dawn, though they prefer to go to sleep at that time. Still, the fact she can sleep when she wants makes it easier for her to function in human society. She can go outside on cloudy days, or when it’s raining, for a short time without her skin being burned. Direct sun is bad, but she just gets an extreme sunburn, she doesn’t burst into flames. The tour bus has light-tight blinds plus extreme UV shielding on the glass, so they can open the blinds when it’s raining or heavily overcast. Hailey has made it work without her bandmates knowing she’s a vampire. Of course, she’s more than just a vampire, which means sometimes she can eat solid foods. Bran doesn’t do that, so it’d be harder for him to try to pull it off with humans he’s close to.

“Okay, assuming I can get Hailey on board, what has to happen for me to convince the new council to let me tell Will?” I wanted to tell them both, but I’d settle for just telling Will, if that would help me get permission.

“I don’t know the answer to that. I’d likely have to pull in a favor to even get it brought to a vote if Italy were still making decisions. With Dark Haven making decisions? You’ll need to appeal to Marco directly.” He shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt to have Cora on your side, but that won’t necessarily change Marco’s vote. Can’t hurt, but likely won’t be all you’ll need to do.”

“And even with Marco’s vote, it might not be enough.”

“True. I don’t suppose you’re friends with Becca?”

I shook my head. “No, but Matty is friends with Blaze.” I shook my head. “Friendsmight be too strong of a word, but he’s done a lot of work for them, redecorating the coterie house’s public spaces and the Master’s suite. Some of their vampiresalso paid him to redecorate their private spaces. Matty mostly worked with Blaze, and the two became close.”

“As much as it pains me to have you invite the slayer into our territory, have him invite her up for a Girls’ Night Out, and come a day early. The two of them should stay in your apartment for your own little party, to give you time to lament about not being able to tell your true loves who you are. Don’t ask her to talk to Augustus for you, and don’t be too quick to get into the conversation. Blaze is smart, and if she thinks she was invited just for this, she’ll tell Augustus to vote against it. The slayer can be quite contrary.” He sighed. “Actually, scratch that. She’ll see through it as soon as you bring it up. We need someone besides Blaze.”

I ate while he thought, and he finally said, “I’ll talk to Zander and Gavin. They both owe me a few favors. If you can get Marco on board, that’ll give you three people to argue it on your side. You need seven of the eleven votes.”

“What will you want from me to use your favors up with Zander and Gavin?”

“Smart girl. Three days with me on my island for one of the favors, and I’ll hold the other in reserve to be used at a later date.”

“Thirty-six hours on your island, and the future favor can’t require me to be duplicitous with those who trust me, or to go against my work or relationship obligations.” I was probably missing some wording, but I thought that should cover the biggest part of what I should be saying.

“Three days, but I’ll only torture you for the first thirty-six hours, and you can help me torture others for the rest of the time.”

I nodded. “Okay, but it’ll have to happen before I promise monogamy to Will.”

“This coming weekend, then.”

“The weekend after the coming weekend.” Will had this big boot camp thing the two of us were going to put Davy through over the weekend. He’d explained how it helped set up the energy of Davy being owned by us, following the rules of the house by instinct. It got him into the habit of obeying. It was important, so I hoped Bran would be okay with delaying his weekend.

Bran hesitated, and I worried he’d insist, but then he nodded. “Fine. You’ll let me know whether Friday through Sunday or Saturday through Monday works best with your work schedule. We’ll fly down the night before, and your time will begin at midnight.”

“Thank you for being flexible.”

Chapter 23

Four months later