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“How does the saying go? Am I my son’s keeper?”
“Brother,” I said. “Not son.”
“Right, right…” Dario sipped his drink.
“A lot of people have been asking about Turk. It sounds like he’s gotten himself into trouble.”
Dario sat down on the edge of his desk and gestured for me to take a seat in one of the large leather armchairs. I waved my hand. I was just fine standing up. I trusted Dario, but I wasn’t going to let him have the high ground while I sat back.
“Turk always gets himself into some kind of trouble. If it’s not a power play, it’s a girl. If he’s really stuck, he’ll reach out to me. Don’t you worry about him.”
“I’m not worried abouthim.” I didn’t give a shit about the sleazy kid who abused the fact that his dad had the money and the ranks. “I’m worried about the fact that he’s brought the New York alpha’s attention to me. I don’t like it when I have to clean up someone else’s mess, and I don’t like it when it’s about my territory.”
Dario frowned at me. “Colter Price is here?”
“No, but one of his lackeys is, and I don’t like the looks of it.”
Dario grinned, his frown disappearing. “If Price isn’t here himself, then you have nothing to worry about. We have bigger fish to fry, anyway. I wanted to see you for a reason.”
He pressed a button on his desk and looked eagerly at the door. A moment later, a woman appeared in the doorway.
She was a thin, tall thing with hair so light, it was almost silver and hung like spun silk down her back. She had deep, dark eyes, and as she moved, I could almost see the veins beneath her translucent skin.
Her appearance was jarring, but the magic that spilled into the room when she walked toward us was even more of a stunner.
“What are you?” I asked, struggling to place her magic. That wasn’t normal for me—I usually knewexactlywhat I was dealing with. Take Rory, for instance.
I’d known immediately she was a wolf shifter and how powerful she was.
“Come now, Bishop,” Dario said with a smug grin. “You keep the company of fae all the time. Don’t tell me you don’t recognize their magic when you taste it.”
I narrowed my eyes at the woman. “You’re fae?”
“I am, Alpha,” she said. Her voice sounded strange, and her face had no expression.
“Alina is going to help us get what we want.”
“And what’s that?”
“Power,” Dario answered. “She has the means to put spells on you and yours that will trump anything you’ve already done. Your magic will multiply three-fold, ten-fold, hundred-fold if that’s what you want!”
I frowned and shook my head. “That doesn’t sound right. Fae can’t do spells like that.”
Hell, if they could, I would have had Sabrione do that for me ages ago.
“Oh, you misunderstand, Alpha,” Alina said. “It’s not that fae can’t do it. It’s just that theywon’t.”
My frown deepened. “You’re referring to your own kind asthey.”
Dario laughed and shook his head. “Don’t be so suspicious. She’s not one of them because she doesn’t follow their rules. We all break a few rules to get what we want, right? Alina here chose to turn away from her roots and do bigger things. You should be happy. I traveled very far and very wide to find her for you. What is it they say? Don’t look a gift horse in the face.”
“Mouth,” I corrected him.
Dario waved his hand. “You know what I’m trying to say.”
I looked at Alina and tried to decide how I felt about this. I didn’t like that I couldn’t place her magic, but if she was a fae, and she’d turned away from her roots, maybe that was it. She was here to cast a spell that would give me more power, and I wanted that. I wanted more power, more ground. I wanted to rule a greater territory.
Now that my world was threatened, I didn’t believe Colter’s third was here for something unrelated to my power.
