Page 15 of Fight Fire With Fire
“But youwerehere, he listened, and all he’s done so far is lock us in a suite together,” she reminded me.
Blake’s eyes were tortured as he shook his head. “Your consort is right to be livid with me, Ember. I should never have sent you to The Abyss without properly preparing you first. If anything had happened to you, I never would have been able to forgive myself.”
Hearing the man own up to his mistake without any excuses cooled my temper, but only by a little. “Now’s your chance to try to make some of it up to her. Talk to Deville and make him see reason. As much as I’ve loved having this time with my mate, I’m pissed that we can’t walk out of here together until he says she can leave.”
“It’s not as though I’ve been in any rush to get out of here.” Ember bumped her shoulder against my arm and grinned up at me.
I pulled her against my side and brushed my lips against her temple. “Only because I’ve kept you distracted from the sword of Damocles that’s still hanging over your head.”
The pink blush that filled her cheeks was cute as fuck. After all the things I’d done to her curvy body in the short time we’d had together so far, I found it incredible that she could still be shy with me. Although this time, it probably had more to do with the fact that we weren’t alone.
“As amusing as I find this conversation, we should get down to business,” Adan announced, drawing our attention to him. “Like I said yesterday, I cannot allow Ember’s rule break to pass without some kind of punishment.”
“Over my dead body,” I muttered, glaring at the demon.
“Since it was my fault, I’m the one who should suffer,” Blake insisted.
Seth slammed his hands down on the table. “What’s it going to take to make this right, Deville?”
“A fifteen percent increase in the fees the councils pay for me to host their combined meeting.”
“Done,” Blake and Seth agreed in unison.
I was glad neither of them balked at the added expense, but I would have happily paid the difference if that was what it had taken.
Adan’s focus shifted to Ember. “And you are banned from the premises for a decade.”
She heaved a deep sigh of relief. “Okay.”
Adan jerked his chin toward me. “You are as well.”
The deal seemed too simple to me. I would have agreed to just about anything to spare my fated mate, and the demon knew it. “Fine by me.”
In my haste to protect Ember, I’d missed the catch. But the wolf shifter who led our council had not. Seth’s inner beast flashed in his eyes as he growled, “The head of the council enforcers will not be allowed to attend the next ten combined council meetings?”
“There has to be some bite to my punishment, or it won’t be a deterrent.” Adan shrugged. “Supernatural beings respect power plays. They’ll be satisfied with my decision, and the little witch can escape unscathed. The choice is yours, Seth.”
“No, it’s mine.” I pulled Ember against my side. “And it’s an easy one. Being an enforcer isn’t half as important to me as my mate’s safety. I’ll step down. Damien can recommend a dragon from another hold to take his place instead.”
“Or I can act in your stead during the combined council meetings,” Jared suggested.
“Either way, whatever we decide is none of your damn business, Deville.” Seth’s chair flew back as he stood. “The deal has been struck. You’ll get your fifteen percent, and a decade will pass before Ember or Dawson step foot in The Abyss again.”
We followed him out of the room, and nothing else was said until we’d marched through the lobby, out the doors, and were about fifty feet away from the sprawling stone building. Seth was the one who broke the silence. “I need time to decide if accepting your resignation is the right thing to do. Jared and I will be in touch.”
The wolf shifters didn’t give me a chance to respond, turning on their heels in unison and sprinting in the direction of the portal at the edge of Adan’s property.
Blake pointed toward a black SUV. “I wasn’t sure what your plans would be. I brought a vehicle in case you wanted a ride back to the compound.”
“Oh.” Ember pressed her fingers against her lips as she stared up at me with wide eyes. “I hadn’t thought about what we’d do or where we’d go once Adan said we could leave.”
I wanted to be able to tell her that I would be okay with living in Bradenton, but Blake had destroyed any trust I might have had in him before we’d even met. I wasn’t sure my dragon could handle making our home on land that was his. My inner beast would never feel safe there, and I would spend the rest of my life in a constant state of vigilance. And when we had children, it would only get worse.
“It’s only fair that I pay a price for my mistake, too.” Blake’s eyes were sad as he stared at my mate. “Your place is with Dawson now. I’ll have your personal things boxed up and sent to your home.”
As much as I hated his reason for agreeing that my mate belonged with me, I couldn’t disagree with the outcome.
10
