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"I think you can die second, lapdog," Dagen said. "I would get a kick out of watching you see Ivory die."
"So, did you actually want anything, Alistair?" I asked coldly. "Or did you call to threaten us?"
"Actually I figured by now you would have heard that I bought the Lair. I just called to rub it in your face. And to see if the assassin I sent was successful. Obviously he wasn't. It seems to be a dying art these days."
I snorted at his pun. "Aren't you relieved he didn't kill me? Then you would miss out on watching me die."
"That would be a shame," he agreed. "But at least you would be out of my way."
"Sorry to disappoint you," I said. "Actually, sorry, not sorry. It wasn't even a good try. He didn't get close to me." Thanks to Hutton.
"No, but by the time you heard about the sale of the Lair, it was too late. The assassin was little more than a distraction. I didn't expect him to succeed."
"Be careful," Jake said. "All that thinking could be bad for your brain. You're not used to it."
Dagen clicked his tongue. "That was a pathetic attempt at an insult."
"That's the effect talking to you has on me," Jake said. "I feel like I have to dumb everything down."
"No," Dagen said slowly. "That's your usual level of intelligence. Did you ever wonder why my father had no use for you?"
Jake's eyes flashed dangerously. "Your father was smarter than you will ever be, which isn't saying much. He knew I would never work for him. Shame he wasn't smart enough to see a threat right in front of his face. He missed it with me and he missed it with Ivory. Then again, when it came to her, he was probably thinking with his cock. Is that why he wanted her to marry you? So he could keep her close?"
I made a disgusted face. The only thing worse than sharing a bed with one Dagen would be sharing it with two.
"He might have made a mistake, but I won't be making the same one. By the time I'm finished, there will be no way back for any white wolf." Dagen sounded certain. Not enough to worry me, but enough to know he was going to be a pain in the ass.
"You make a good threat," I said icily, "but it's going to take more than buying a nightclub and sending an inept attacker with a knife to ruffle my fur. Or some random artefacts."
He and I both knew they weren't random, but I was hoping to annoy him so that he explained the point of all of them.
"Random artefacts," he echoed. "I thought you were smarter than that. I guess I gave you too much credit."
"Maybe," I agreed. "Why don't you explain it to me?"
"Oh, I will. In time you'll understand the full meaning. And by then it will be far too late." He hung up the phone.
"That was ominous," Jake remarked. He looked unconcerned. "I always thought he should be an actor. He likes to be dramatic."
"I think he's been reading too many comic books." I put the phone down. "He's more melodramatic than dramatic."
"Can I ask something?" Cooper asked.
"Can we stop you?" Jake teased.
"I mean, I guess so." Cooper shrugged. "Have the black wolves and the white wolves ever tried to, like, make a peace treaty or something?"
I sat down on the top of the desk and crossed my legs at my knees. "My parents did. So I've been told. The black wolves responded by killing them. They never have played nice with others."
"Would you try now?" Cooper asked. "Just to save the hassle later?"
I considered the question. It was certainly a reasonable one, and something I didn’t dismiss out of hand.
"If I thought he was amenable, I might,” I said finally. “We have an uneasy truce right now. All he has to do is nothing and it can stay as it is. If he insists on provoking us, then all bets are off. Whatever blood is spilled after that, is on him." I cocked my head at Cooper. "I got the impression you were looking forward to spilling some blood?"
"I am," he agreed enthusiastically. "But I can do that if we don't go to war with him, can't I?"
"It sounds like you think we kill people every day," Jake remarked.
