“Back here!” Bastian hollered.
“Bas!” Aaron shouted before entering his office holding a white file box. “I’m so glad that you’re here.”
“What’s that?” Bastian demanded suspiciously.
“A box?”
He was surrounded by smartasses. “No.”
Aaron shrugged. “It really is.”
Bastian rose slowly. “That’s a box from the council.” The packing and writing on the side were too familiar.
“Here me out,” Aaron said, placing the box on the corner of Bastian’s desk.
Bastian scowled at the box, knowing he wasn’t going to like what Aaron had to say.
“Bas…” Aaron drew out his name.
“What? This better be good.”
“You know how the council tried to convince Leo to stay? They really like the idea of having representation in the area.”
“I thought Leo told them to fuck off,” Bastian replied.
“Well, he said it nicer than that,” Aaron said. “But yeah, he quit for good.”
Bastian waved toward the box that had an overnight sticker on the top, so it had to have been sent the day before.
“He might have told them that if there was something important that could affect the family in our area that he’d be willing to look into it,” Aaron told him with a shrug.
“Of course he did.” Bastian rubbed the back of his neck. This was typical. Leo was all about helping, no matter what it cost him. “And within a couple of days they already had something for him, which means us, to look into?”
“It’s not like we’re busy with our clients yet,” Aaron said. He nudged the box toward Bastian.
“We’re not even set up yet,” Bastian complained.
“It’s just the little touches at this point. We even have an interview set up for a receptionist this afternoon.” Aaron glanced at his watch. “In about twenty minutes, in fact.”
“No one told me that.”
“You said you didn’t care as long as you weren’t expected to answer the phone,” Aaron reminded him.
Shit. He had said that. It was just that things were moving quickly. Bastian was on week three of being in town and had started a business with Leo and Aaron, met his mate, and was trying to plan out the rest of his life. Excuse the fuck out of him for not wanting to sit in on interviews.
“Hey.” Aaron walked around the desk. “You don’t have to help. I know how you feel about the council.”
“And you don’t feel the same?” Bastian knew that Aaron did.
“It’s better now that I’m away from them. I guess I can understand why they did they what did.”
“They collected kids that were traumatized and alone in the world to turn us into soldiers,” Bastian said with disgust.
Aaron nodded. “I know. The hunters had devastated the entire paranormal community. It was wrong, but I think I get it. It was about survival.”
Bastian didn’t want to even consider the council had reasons for what they’d done to them. “What’s this case?”
“Are you sure?”
