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She pulled me up, turned me, sat me down, and buckled me in all lickety-split, and then she was seated with her own seatbelt on once again.

“Thank you,” Will told her, and I closed my eyes at the comfort of being between the two people who’d become my family in ways my grandparents would never be.

“We’re all in this together,” I told Micca.

“Our boy’s right,” Will said. “And maybe we don’t fully understand what you are, but we still accept you, and we’ll do whatever we can to keep the three of us together.”

* * * *

Micca

How did they know I was contemplating staying away from them until we sorted through this? I didn’t want to endanger them, and I knew in my heart they’d never be safe with me in their life.

But I leaned in and let Davy hold me a few seconds before I sat up and asked Mira, “Who are we meeting?”

She shook her head. “There’s a class of beings you don’t know about yet, and I don’t know how much they’ll tell the three of you, but suffice it to say that Nathan isn’t fucking around with the guys in Italy any longer.”

I felt my eyebrows rise. “There are people overtheirheads?” If so, that was certainly news to me, and if Nathan had an in with them, that should be a good thing. Right?

She gave a noncommittal shrug and looked to Will. “Don’t speak unless spoken to, don’t threaten anyone, and speak respectfully whether you’re talking to someone on our side or theirs.” She glanced at Davy and looked back to Will. “My preference would be for you to tell Davy not to speak at all, but at least give him the same instructions I just gave you.”

Will held eye contact with Mira for a handful of seconds before he looked at Davy. “I’m not going to silence you, but it’s probably a good idea to follow Mira’s advice.”

As a human, I used to have a really hard time holding eye contact with Mira. Will clearly managed it, and I wondered if that had more to do with just being ballsy, or if perhaps he didn’t pick up on the danger thatisMira. She’s a snake shifter, but more. A lot more. I’m not sure exactly what she is, but the rumors are that if she chose to pull on her power, she’d absolutely be too much for Nathan, and could possibly even be more powerful than Aaron Drake — the king of the dragons. Also king of the swans, but that doesn’t sound as powerful, does it?

I’m not certain she’s stronger than Aaron, but a super-strong snake evinces a visceral fear. My bear can deal with it okay, but the human I used to be didn’t deal well with it at all.

And even though my bear can easily hold eye contact with her, based on what I can sense of her power, I’m pretty sure she’d win if the two of us ever found ourselves at odds with each other.

“I’m happy to have you here, on our side,” I told her. “Can I assume that, since this is about me, I’ll be able to speak up on my own behalf at some point?”

“I think you should look at the guy Nathan is bringing while respectfully thinking towards him what you want to say, and see if he gives you a positive nod or a negative reaction.”

I feltpoweroutside the helicopter and looked out to see the ground getting closer.

Why do we say the ground nears us, rather than the helicopter is nearing the ground? At any rate, we were losing altitude and I could feelpowerbeing thrown around long before I could see who was throwing it, and I instinctively knew this was a bad sign.

I knew Aaron and Nathan had killed some high-level Concilio vampires — one per day until they agreed to acknowledge the new Senatus was the ruling power over the Americas. Had the Concilio gone back on their word? Whatever was going on in that field didn’t bode well, and since I knew my human boyfriends couldn’t feel the power or see anything at a distance, as soon as I could see who was standing in the field, I said, “Aaron, Nathan, Kendra, Apollonius, and four people I don’t recognize.” I sighed. “Kendra used to live in Chattanooga, and I’d like to think she’s on our side. I don’t know much about Apollonius, except that he and Bran are friends, and I believe he’s friendly with Aaron and Nathan. He’s technically on the other side, though, since he lives in Italy.”

“Kendra and her boss have chosen to remain in the old organization while also joining the new one,” Panda said. “They’re out on the edge, barely still in North America and really close to Russia and Asia.” He sighed. “I’m disappointed it’s Kendra and not her boss, to be honest.”

“I’m not,” Mira said. “Kendra engenders more fear than her boss.”

“A valid point,” said Ranger, and he gently brought the helicopter down about fifty yards from the gathering. “Seat belts stay on until the rotors stop. Everyone stay put.”

Aaron Drake walked to us and stuck his head in the door as the rotors were slowing but not quite stopped. “Micca, you’re with me. Will and Davy are with Mira. Ranger and Panda, flank us all. Mira, whatever you have to do to keep your charges safe, do it. No limits.” He met her gaze. “You understand? If things go to shit, only those in the group are going to see what happens.”

“I do. Thank you for clarifying.”

“Thank you,” I told Aaron. He’d just put the most powerful guard on our side in charge of keeping my boyfriends safe. Mira is faster than the vampires, or at least as fast as them, and they run so fast most people think they teleport across the room because normal vision can’t see them moving. He’d basically told her if things go to shit, everyone on the other side will die, so there’ll be no witnesses who’ll talk about what happened.

I’m pretty hardy these days, and can heal from major damage, but humans are so damned fragile, so I worried about Will and Davy.

“You’re all going to learn things today that will fall under your oaths to not share supernatural knowledge,” Aaron said. “Any questions you have can wait. This isn’t the time for that. We need to stay on topic, so it’s best to let the people we’ve assembled speak on your behalf.”

Aaron lifted Davy and set him on the ground, and Will jumped out before Aaron had a chance to do the same with him. I jumped out beside him, kissed Will on the cheek and then Davy, and turned to Mira. “Thank you.”

“You and Aaron first. We’ll follow.”