And then all was pandemonium.
Guns were fired. Men were screaming. Chaos was cackling like a fiend.
Nix kept Cooper and Ivan—their two vulnerable humans—behind him once the guns started going off, and the rest of their supernatural companions worked to corral the men. Those Nix had already identified as traitors were disarmed and held by Wolfe and Eric, with Alexei sternly informing Wolfe to “keep your fangs to yourself for five fucking minutes.”
Nix had a hard time containing his smile.
Who knew Mafia meetings could be such fun?
The rest took time.
An annoying amount of it, in Nix’s opinion, as Ivan worked to convince the rest of the men that they truly could leave if they wished it.
“Only those who’ve already acted against us—those who already conspired to take my brother’s life,” he said, in a pointed reminder, “have been punished. The rest of you may leave, or you may stay. I simply ask that if you go, you remember what might happen should you try to turn against us.”
With three demons and four vampires standing in front of them, it seemed unlikely anyone in the building would forget.
In a surprise to absolutely no one, not a single man was willing to say he wished to go. It was Nix who had to work through them one by one, to suss out who was afraid because they’d seen a vampire rip out someone’s throat, and who was afraid because they wished to leave and worried their throat was next.
In the end, the numbers came down to this: they had four rats besides the two already gone, and ten more men who wished to leave, or who Nix had decided would be more trouble than they were worth if they stayed.
Those who left were allowed to keep their memories intact. The rest of the men in Ivan’s organization who were staying were subjected to vampire compulsion, courtesy of Wolfe, Eric, andAlexei. They would remember the violence, that those men who’d betrayed the family had been dealt with, but they wouldn’t remember the monsters.
That had been Ivan’s suggestion, and their supernaturals had agreed. In Ivan’s words, “I’d rather the rumors swirling around us come from the outside. Those within won’t be able to confirm or deny. It will keep things vague and threatening, and no one’s identity will be at risk.”
It was surprisingly thoughtful of him. Nix was proud.
When they’d separated the wheat from the chaff, and adjusted those memories in need of adjusting, Ivan had more work to do. He held a more…generic meeting, one in which he explained in further detail what he expected from his men, the changes that would be taking place within the business.
As delightful as his first speech had been, it hadn’t exactly been a plan of action.
It seemed a little strange to Nix to be holding a real business meeting with two corpses and quite a few bloodstains on the carpet right next to them, but he supposed Mafia members were used to such things. Kai, meanwhile, had taken Sascha to the kitchens so he wouldn’t be subjected to any more blood sightings when he woke up.
When the meeting was finally over, and the loyal men had gone back to wherever they’d come from, Ivan glared at the stains in irritation. “We’ll have to buy the restaurant off them now. We’ve ruined the carpets. It goes against our agreement.”
“You wanted bloodthirsty creatures to instill fear in the hearts of men, did you not?” Wolfe asked, clearly unapologetic. “Just remember you owe myself and my mate a favor, to be determined at my discretion.” Then he grabbed Eric’s hand and took him away.
Apparently they had a dinner reservation.
That left the traitors to be dealt with.
Nix watched, unmoved, as Jace and Tag took them out back to be executed. Chaos bounded after them, having agreed to incinerate the bodies with his powers afterward. Less work for the cleanup crew.
Alexei and Jay made their way to the kitchens, Alexei murmuring that he wanted to be present when Sascha woke.
Nix wrapped his arms around Ivan’s neck, pleased to be alone, if only for a moment. “Did it all go as you hoped, darling?”
Ivan lowered his forehead to Nix’s shoulder, letting out a sigh. “It was a fucking mess,” he mumbled. “But I guess that’s about what I expected.”
“Mm.” Nix tugged his head up gently by his hair, meeting his icy blue eyes. “And now I get what you promised me,” he reminded. He wasn’t going to let a few deaths and bloodstains distract his human from what was important.
“A bond,” Ivan agreed. But his gaze flicked to the door to the kitchens.
Nix sighed. “I suppose you want to speak to your brother first.”
Ivan arched a brow. “You say that as if you’re not dying for me to do so.”
Nix was, in a way, although not in the same way he was dying for a bond. He was aware Ivan had a certain fear that Alexei would disappear before they had a chance to really speak. That Ivan wanted to speak to him at all showed how much he’d grown.
