“It’s your show, but we have to make sure we show up in style. Your man looks good too.”
Romano shrugged. He knew how to make a power play through the visual. He’d gone for a black on black suit to compliment Kalinda. His guns were firmly in his under-arm holsters. This time, he wouldn’t be putting them to the side when they entered the Council grounds.
They left, meeting Giuliana in front, and rode to go get Dominic. The Capo di tutti Capi had come prepared with a small cadre of soldiers. They piled into cars behind the main vehicle, and at the gate, Arturo’s lead car and his men met them.
This trip would go very differently than the first. They weren’t interested in a show of openness and an extended olive branch. Everyone here had battle skills and was prepared to use them. Zoey remained behind, in the event things got uncomfortable.
“Subdue and then control. It’s the best way to go in,” Dominic explained. “The National Council agreed to not alert the Trinity of our arrival and why we’re coming because of how the Ales was treated, so there is no telling how they’ll react. We may have their letter and stamp of approval, but we have to get them to see it in the first place.”
“I have a plan for that one, actually,” Kalinda offered.
Dominic looked to her. “What’s that?”
“Silva and I kick ass and subdue.”
“Come again?”
“They expect me to be weak, and if I use you to use brute force on them, they’ll cry about being attacked by the shifters and call foul. But if I come in hard and fast, with backup, I have a right to. They disrespected me, threatened me with death, and maneuvered to have me under their control knowing what position I was actually meant to have. I plan to pay them back tenfold for that.”
Dominic looked to Romano. “How much practice does she have with control?”
Silva answered instead. “At this point, if she’s not careful, even I can feel the bite of it pretty strongly. I still am not affected the way you all are, unless I ingest her magic directly, but I’m protected from that because of my status as Fae royalty. A normal Fae would be knocked on her ass.”
“There are drawbacks,” Kalinda warned. “I’m not all-powerful. While I can take an Alpha or two down to their knees for a few seconds, the stronger the power I’m fighting against, the more it’s possible I can be knocked out with its use. I can maintain against Silva at full power for about fifteen minutes before I’m knocked down with debilitating pain. It would probably be less time for a powerful shifter Alpha because of the difference in the magical quality.”
“She’s been a quick study with everything since the change in circumstance. They won’t know what hit them,” Silva agreed.
Dominic nodded. “If you believe you can, do it, but you have to get them under control within two minutes, or I take over. We won’t risk them lashing out and harming those we’re bringing with us.”
“I can understand that, and I wouldn’t want to risk anyone, but I need to do this. If I don’t, I’ll never know if I can stand up to them, and it will mean nothing.”
Romano wouldn’t allow Kalinda not to get her chance. She’d suffered enough at the hands of magic, and now she could take back her power and her life in one fell swoop. She may not know how she’d deal with the fallout, since no one knew how the Trinity would react—or if they would even bow down before they destroyed everyone.
If they did, Romano was sure the Council was going to look much different than they looked before she took them by storm. He personally couldn’t wait to see what she did.
Several hours later, and all of them tired of waiting, they pulled to the large gate blocking their last few minutes up to their fate.
“State your purpose.”
Kalinda rolled her eyes. “They really are all about pomp and circumstance,” she muttered under her breath, but not quietly enough for the shifters not to hear it. They laughed, even as she answered the receiver on the gate.
“It’s Kalinda Thorton.”
The gates swung open without anything else being said. They pulled through, ready to face whatever came. The same over-the-top fountain and circular drive met them, but the landscaping had changed drastically. There were still the large, twisting rose vines and flowers Romano and Zoey had grown, though they’d been cut and manicured to look like they were meant to be there.
Romano looked on with a critical eye. “Looks like they found a way to turn our awesome Grow and Show to their pleasure.”
“Grow and Show? Zoey will probably like that name a lot better than Miracle Grow,” Dominic commented.
“In that case, I’m changing it back to Miracle Grow. I can’t have her too spoiled, can I?”
“Since it’s my job to spoil her, I suppose it doesn’t matter,” Dominic countered.
“Touché.”
The cars came to a stop one after another in the circular drive, and the familiar lion’s door waited for their entrance. As a group, they all got out. Kalinda and Silva, as planned, took up the front, Arturo and Dominic behind them, followed by Giuliana and Romano leading the soldiers. The level of firepower they had with them must have been enough to stop a small army, but Romano couldn’t deny he liked these odds much better.
At the door, the Puss refused to open. “Leave your weapons behind, and only the Ales and her mate need enter,” it warned.
