“Agreed,” Graydon says. “Let’s go, Care.”
Carrie says, “Before we go, have you figured anything out for us?”
“Not yet,” Erica responds. “But we called Aunt Mimi and she’s spit-balling with Lucinda Walsh and some other SCC elder witches. We’re hoping to hear back soon.”
“Thank you,” Carrie says. “Let’s go.” She grabs her mate’s hand and pulls him out of the solarium.
“Right, so, all this should be between Bailey and Jase.” Grey speaks up. “I don’t think any of us should be involved. I get that the coven might have had to make some moves to get them into the same space for Fate’s sake, and I’m not experienced enough yet to understand why the choices that were made were made. Obviously, the Starling issue is a whole other set of nuances that have to be dealt with and if the council needs to get involved from a security perspective, I vote we absolutely should ensurethey face consequences. Besides that, I think we should be out of their relationship.”
“I stand by my decision,” Danica says. “Jessie is on Bailey’s side, too. I plan to discuss further sanction options with my sisters.”
“Nobody should ever get between an alpha and his mate,” Rye says.
“Obviously, the coven doesn’t agree with this pack rule,” Erica states.
Rye’s eyebrows fly up. “Well, you’re not just in the coven, little witch; you’re also part of the pack. And as your mate, I’m telling you I don’t want you getting in the way of one of our alphas claiming his mate, especially not one of the council. That’s not just affecting Jase, it’s also affecting Linc and Joel.”
“You’re worrying about how all this impacts Jason, Lincoln, and Joel, but what about Bailey?” Ronnie asks.
Erica adds, “Exactly. You can tell me what you want and what you don’t want, Mister Wolf, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to change how me and my coven decide to help Bailey.”
“Help Bailey?” I inquire. “Are you seriously telling me you’re happy to be in cahoots on this, Erica? You do realize part of this shit was down to your meddling the night of your birthday, right? One of the reasons Bailey’s pissy is because of my reaction to the textyousent. The text you sent and apologized for.”
“Pissy,” Bailey scoffs, giving me a look of disgust.
I’m doing myself no favors here.
“I do remember all that, Jase,” Erica says. “And I also know Bailey’s pain goes way beyond the night of my birthday.”
Bailey speaks up. “Thank you, Young cousins. I support it being a lot longer than three days. How about forever?”
“You’d condemn me like that?” I ask, hoping my heart is on my sleeve right now. Because as pissed as I am and as much as my urges are dictating my actions right now, her reaction is pretty fucking harsh.
She continues. “Five minutes ago, I was just some pest to you, someone you could barely take the time to take a phone call from, even when I told you it was really important. And now because I suddenly smell different to you, you’re all fired up to connect us until the day we die? No!”
I pull in a breath and let it out slowly. “If nobody’s gonna budge on the three days, not much I can do. Though I will say I won’t fucking forget it.” My eyes pan across each of the Young sisters before they land on my mate. “Three days while we work it out, then, baby… you’re mine.”
Her face goes red. Grey shifts uncomfortably, and Danica sits up straighter and says, “I propose a meeting with the coven and Bailey before the seventy-two hours is up. Then we go from there.”
“Agreed,” Erica states.
“Agreed,” Ronnie echoes.
“Same,” Vivi says.
Danica turns to Grey. “That’s four votes. Grey, and we already decided you wouldn’t vote on day-to-day coven matters, what with your life and responsibilities here. We’d ask you to recuse yourself from the vote since this is a clear conflict of interest, but it doesn’t matter. We have a majority without your vote or Jessie’s, and I already have Jessie’s proxy. She votes with the rest of us.”
Grey’s jaw tightens and he shoots me a look of apology.
“So,” Danica goes on, pulling my focus her way. “We’ll reconvene before the deadline. We’ll stay in town?”
“Sounds good to me,” Vivica replies. “We’ll stay local as we work to help with the Cicely and Jared situation along with Graydon and Carrie’s problem, so we’ll be in the apartment in Drowsy Hollow while we work on everything. That said, let’s move onto the next order of business, shall we? Unless there’s anything further from Jase or Bailey?”
I’m pissed. Beyond pissed.
I look at Grey. “You’ve got my proxy on the Jared thing. On everything. I’m not…” I wave a hand beside my head, unable to verbalize. Because I want to smash something.
Grey nods and looks at his sister. “You’re going to Jase’s then?”