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“Of course, Master.”

It took a little finagling to reach up and over to get my left arm free, but then it was a piece of cake to free my ankles.

I wasn’t too worried about the light blinking. For something big, they’d have beat on the door. The light blinking just meant to contact them when it was a good time to do so.

When no one was right outside the door, Master checked his texts first and then made a phone call, and Panda’s voice came through the speakerphone after the first ring.

“My bosses should be here with your third in about twelve minutes.”

“Earlier than expected, but that’s fine. Maybe you can talk to them a few minutes? We might need closer to fifteen to be presentable.”

“Roger that.”

Master disconnected and met my gaze. “Shower in the bathroom down here, across the hall. I’ll run upstairs and get clothes for both of us and then run back down and get in the shower. I’ll expect you to be clean and on your way out when I return.”

Chapter 25

Micca

The new Senatus voted that I could tell Will and Davy my secret under the normal oathing procedures, and the Concilio sent a messenger to tell us that if I did, Will and Davy’s lives would be forfeit.

And Marco had killed the messenger, which is apparently a statement of war. I mean, I could’ve guessed that, but it’s a codified thing. So, no doubt about it, the Senatus and Concilio were officially at war — and I’d put myself and my lovers smack dab in the center by asking to tell them the secret.

“I feel like you advised me wrong,” I told Aaron. “I wouldn’t have made the request if I knew it would come to this.”

“At the time, it’s what I would’ve done, based on the information we had. Apollonius didn’t believe they would move forward for war so long as Marco handled the ceremony, but it appears Alaric and his people lobbied hard for the vote to give us an ultimatum. I’m sorry it’s come to this.”

“It was my decision, and I appreciate all you’re doing to make sure we stay safe.” Blaming Aaron and Nathan wasn’t going to help anything. They’d advised me as best they could.

“The question is whether you want to go through with telling them, or hold off,” Nathan said.

“Is that still an option? I assumed ya’ll would tell me it’s off the table now.”

“Marco is prepared to let his top people handle the ceremony if you choose to.”

I shook my head. “I can’t put Will and Davy’s lives at risk, but if I can never tell them, it means I need to leave them. That’s probably best, right? So I make sure they stay safe?”

“Let’s not pull that lever yet,” Aaron said. “We’ll hold off on telling them for now, but don’t blow your relationship up. Do you trust me to handle the explanations of why we’re in a security situation?”

I sighed. “What are you going to tell them?”

“That you were given clearance to finally tell them all your secrets, and someone with substantial power who doesn’t want civilians to know found out and made some threats, so the possibility of you telling them has put everyone’s life in danger. We didn’t expect this to happen, but now that it has, they need to let me move all of you to a more secure location until we get this resolved.”

I sighed. “Yeah, it’s the truth without telling them anything. Thanks.”

“Aaron and I are going to handle this outside of supernatural politics,” Nathan said. “Once we kill a half-dozen of the top Concilio members, the rest will back off and agree the Senatus operates on its own, and not under the management of the original council.”

“And if they don’t,” Aaron said, “we’ll kill a few more of them, and keep doing so until they formally agree, in writing, that they are no longer the planetary vampire leadership, but only responsible for Africa, Europe, and Asia.”

Panda was waiting for us at the gate, and he opened it and then closed it behind us, watching it the entire time to be certain no one else got through. Eunice was waiting for us at the parking area, and he walked behind us, with me between Aaron and Nathan, until we were in the house.

Mira stepped to us from an alcove and asked, “Any issues getting here?”

“None,” Aaron said, “but they had no way of knowing where we were. They likely do now, because odds are the house is under surveillance. Anything I need to know?”

“Will and Davy spent the evening in the locked playroom, which simplified things for us. Silver, Animal, Hailey, and Ghost are in the basement theater. Any chance we can keep everyone on the lower floors tonight?”

“We’ll get everyone moved soon enough, and yes, we’ll keep everyone downstairs until we implement our exit strategy.”