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Before the two had time to get to their feet, Dax raised the timber of his voice. “Enough!” It wasn’t the famed ‘alpha voice’ but it was enough to stop them both in their tracks. The last thing he needed was a wolf and a bear rolling on the floor right now.
When they had settled down, he continued, “I got some solid intel from him, and I want you all to listen carefully. I have a plan, but I want your input here,” he added, scanning the shifters.
“Marius was more than cooperative. Turns out he has landed himself in some serious hot water. He had run up some debts and had this hare-brained idea to start dealing this shit to get out of it. I won’t get into it, but we are using it all to our advantage. I don’t know much about Fae laws and customs, but they must be pretty severe. Either that or Finch is more of a bad ass than I give him credit for. I think he mentioned ‘banishing” or something. That and arranging to help Marius out of his predicament is doing the trick. Marius is falling in line, and none too soon.”
They all sat up a little straighter and were leaning in toward Dax. This affected them all. They were sworn to stand with each other and to protect and serve the town. Dax knew they would gladly die in that service. The cost of being the tip of the spear for the Tribunal had been made all too real in recent years.
He continued, “It seems Marius was just small time and operating out of desperation. I don’t even want to know what, um, extra-curriculars got him into debt in the first place. I didn’t ask, so don’t ask me.” That elicited a low chuckle.
“But those men that went after the mother and daughter, Chris and Kim, they are something else entirely. Our sources on the street tell us that they are sitting on a whole pile of this drug and are intent on unloading it all, and soon. Marius was actually acting under their noses, even starting to deal in The Tree. Apparently, they are human, believe it or not, and though somehow they caught word of The Tree as the hub of the town, they have, for obvious reasons, been unable to find it. But I am sure they will find other avenues to get the drug out to willing buyers.”
“Humans?” Dayton laughed. “Let’s just go find ‘em! I’ll handle ‘em in five minutes. One shift and they will be so freaked out they will high tail it all the way back to wherever the fuck they came from!”
“Language,” Rollo said.
“You may get your chance, Dayton,” Dax was saying, but wedoneed to find them first, preferably before they unload this big supply of Supernova right here in Fae Crossing.”
“I’m not sure why Finch was so tweaked by the idea of drugs,” Clint piped up. “Seems to me that half of the fae that come here are already on drugs, always talking about the ‘amazing energy’ of Fae Crossing.”
“Let’s not get into fae and their vortex and get back on task,” Dax said to try and rein them in. Vaguely, he wondered where Duke was with their next round.
“All we know is that they are from out west,” he said, getting up to pace while he spoke. “I doubt they have vampires putting them up to it, but you never know,” he added, addressing Jack as he spoke.
Jack nodded, as if to show appreciation for Dax’s acknowledgment of his concerns.
“Marius will do whatever I ask at this point, so I have come up with a plan to flush out these dealers, or whatever they are, before they can do any more damage here.”
He paused for a moment to take in their reactions. “We are going to set up a sting. We send Marius out into town accompanied by Kim and Chris. We already know those thugs want the women for whatever reason. My guess is that they will want a piece of Marius too. I bet they are still here in town and the target of all three of them, Marius and the women, all together, will be too much for them to resist.”
Just then the door swung open.
“Ah, just in time,” Dayton was saying as he gathered the empties into a bunch for Duke. But it wasn’t Duke that had entered the room.
Bloom backed in, her elbow propping open the door as she carried two fists full of beer bottles. “Wait a minute.What’syour plan?”
Daxchecked his watch. It was four thirty. He was sure they had agreed on five.
She must have seen the surprised look of consternation on his face. “I hope you don’t mind my coming early! Here, take a beer as a sign I come in peace!”
Dax felt his stern features soften. “Crafty.”
“I thought so. Again, apologies,” she said as she set the beers down.
Her sudden appearance caught him off guard, but only served to highlight the sway she held over his dragon. From curled up and relatively dormant, it had jumped up to begin pacing behind his eyes.
He had jumped to his feet as she entered, as had the rest of the crew. Even Dayton took his feet off the table right quick to stand respectfully for the lady now in their presence.
After a moment, he realized an awkward pause had formed. He was still taking in her form. She had actually put on a sort of flowing sundress. She looked amazing and he was having trouble remembering what they had been talking about. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, but in reality was probably only a second of so, he got his bearings.
The crew grabbed up the beers as he pulled up a chair for her and they all once again took seats.
“Boys, you all know Bloom,” he said as they all offered very polite greetings. Knowing her place in Dax’s heart, whether that was in the past or not, as well as what she had been through, they all showed her every deference.
“Again, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I just had been thinking and couldn’t wait any longer. Mack has the bar under control – along with the added help of our two guests, I might add,” she said looking around. “You’re sure it’s okay if I join. I can wait up front if you’d like, but it seems my timing is pretty good.”
“It’s fine, but what do you mean about timing?” Dax said.
“Well, I heard what you said, and I was thinking along the same lines with Marius,” she said tentatively. “But I will meet with Marius instead of Chris.”
