Page 27 of There’s a Way (Mythic Beast #2)

I knew what I really wanted to ask, but my Drake NDA said I wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone about the new Senatus.

The vampires all knew the American vampires had formed their own council of vampires and declared we were no longer under the rule of the Italian Concilio, but it wasn’t widely known amongst the shifters yet.

Aaron feels as if they are waiting for the Concilio to try to push their weight around about something before they go fully public to the rest of the American supernaturals — and when I say America here, I’m talking about all of North, Central, and South America.

Nearly every country of all three continents joined with the vampires who broke it off with the Concilio.

But I needed information, so I broke the NDA to ask, “You don’t think the Senatus is going to use Will’s case to challenge the Concilio, do you?”

“I do not know the answer to that, but let’s hope not.”

My stomach flip-flopped at the possible consequences. “If the Senatus says it’s okay, and we tell Will and Davy, the Concilio might try to make an example of them.”

“They might,” he agreed.

“ Fuck .”

“Is this going to change how you go about asking?”

“Yes. Thank you.” I sighed. “I really don’t want to feed you again, but if there’s something else I can help you with, please let me know.” I considered what I might do for him, and added, “I wouldn’t be opposed to draining my blood into a glass and handing it over.”

He kissed the top of my head. “I’m on the lookout for a gay male shapeshifter who happens to be a masochist. A hard-core masochist, not a little pansy-assed one who thinks a few slaps on the ass is pain.

If you happen to find one in need of a sadist, I’d appreciate a heads-up.

” He gave me a half-smile. “Your little Davy would’ve been perfect except he’s human, and humans can’t survive my bite more than three or four times a year.

Too often, and I run the risk of killing the healthy ones.

Anyone with even a slight health condition might not make it through a single feeding. ”

“That must make it harder for you to find food, having to focus on shifters.”

He shrugged. “I’m high enough in the hierarchy I can have my choice of the flock and our security team, and it’s possible for me to cloud the mind so they either don’t feel the pain or feel it but don’t remember it.”

“Well then, if you’ll make it so I don’t feel the pain, I’ll owe you another feeding at some point in the future. If I’ve gone monogamous with Will and Davy, it’ll have to just be a feeding, but if we aren’t, it can be a feed-and-fuck.”

“Thank you for the offer, and I might take you up on it, but I may also hold the favor in reserve for tickets to a concert, or a heads up when he or the band will be performing new material in a smaller venue to test it.” He shrugged. “Or a party invite, if it’s a party you feel will interest me.”

I nodded. “The party invite is doable, and the tickets probably are, but I honestly don’t know how the other thing works yet. We’re still pretty new.”

“I appreciate you’ll only make promises you’re sure of.

Also, I’ll be happy to report to my Master how much control you have over your bear.

I’ve had to use my powers to keep thirty-year-old bears who were born bears from changing when I bit them, but you controlled your bear without me having to step in. I’m impressed.”

“Born bears? Is that a thing?” I thought shifters didn’t turn for the first time until they hit puberty.

He shook his head. “No, they were born in human form. The term means they had it in their DNA from the start, and were taught control all their lives in preparation for their first change when puberty hit. If they’re in their thirties then they’ve had around twenty years of shifting, of controlling their inner bear, and they still couldn’t keep their inner beast from trying to burst forth and eat me. ”

“You have to know I was nearly made a slave because I couldn’t control her, and Aaron sent me to Bran as a last-ditch effort to try to save me from at least twenty-five years of slavery.”

Under the Concilio it would’ve been a century of slavery, but the Senatus has made it twenty-five years for the short-lived, at which point the shapeshifter can be tested for control in order to win his or her freedom.

Most shapeshifters still think it’s a century, though, because most don’t know we’re no longer under the Concilio’s demesne.

Here’s the crazy thing — you can go online and read the Senatus’s rules, all spelled out so anyone, humans included, can read them.

Winston and Kelsey, two geeks in Marco’s coterie, had written an online video game, and the idea was that the vampires had never had a council before, so the game changes as the council makes new rules.

It’s a big deal when they meet and add to the rulebook, in the game.

It’d turned into a huge cash cow for Marco, and we all assumed Winston and Kelsey were getting a good portion of it.

The kicker was that the old rules weren’t online, so I hadn’t known about the famous-person clause. All one knew of the old rules was that The Secret is paramount to everything.

And yes, there are rumors flying through the supernatural community that the whole Congressus in the game is real and America has a new Concilio, but few actually know about the new Senatus, much less that the end of the word is pronounced like truce without the r .

Tuce , I suppose, so it should be Senatuce, but it’s an old Latin word, so the spelling is fucked.

In the game, they pronounce it as Congressuce, so I suppose people might figure out the proper way to say Senatus once it becomes widely known.

“When do they meet again?” I asked Venom.

“I’m sorry that I’m not at liberty to say.” He hesitated a moment, thinking, and added, “I assume your boss can give you some insights.”

I nodded. Aaron probably knew, and that was who I should be talking to about this. He’d told me we’d talk about telling Will and Davy in three to six months, but then he’d told me not to make promises about when I’d be able to tell them. Had he been setting me up for never being able to tell them?

“Bran wants to talk to you when I’m finished with you,” Venom said. “And my guess is that since you know about the Senatus, he’ll have to come clean that he isn’t the one who can help you with the Concilio, as you were told by other shapeshifters.”

Right. Horse had told me Bran would be the one to work out a deal with if Aaron didn’t act as quickly as I wanted to get the okay to tell Will my secret. I already knew the bikers weren’t aware of the Senatus, but it didn’t dawn on me that Horse’s advice might be inaccurate.

“I still have fifteen minutes, and I think I’d like your ass again. Out of the tub and go to knees and chest on the rug, young bear.”

He hadn’t made me use Master for our conversation, but it felt safest to respond with, “Yes, Master,” as I stood to follow his orders.