Jenner snorted. “And tip the scales of power, no doubt.”
That’s what Mikhail and Ronan were afraid of. “They’ll have to be vetted. Their allegiances made.” A price would have to be paid for Mikhail’s blood and it wasn’t simply their souls. “We can’t have vampires running amok all over the city. Boundaries will have to be drawn. Some will probably be asked to move further from the city.” It would be possible once their numbers increased and they could share in their combined power. “Gods, we’re building a society from the ground up. I have no fucking idea where to start.”
Jenner leaned forward in his chair, his dark eyes fixed on Ronan. “Start with me. And go from there.”
“That’s the plan,” Ronan said on an exhausted sigh. “All I want to know from you, Jenner, is are you sure you’re ready?”
“Fuck yeah, I’m ready.” The male rolled his massive shoulders and cracked his neck from side to side. “I’ve been ready for decades.”
So many of them had. Mikhail had been the bane of their existence for so long. The last of the Ancient Ones and not powerful enough to raise his people to glory. But since he’d taken Claire’s blood things were moving quickly. Almost too quickly. Details had to be worked out, alliances broken and made. An army amassed in the span of days when it should take weeks—months—to see it done. And the politics of it all made Ronan’s head spin. In his line of work, when there was a problem he took care of it. You’ve got a sex tape that needs squashing? No problem. Girlfriend’s pregnant by your co-star? No one will ever find out. Your coke dealer is threatening to out you in Star magazine? Not with the right incentive not to. But this … Ronan raked his fingers through his hair. If they didn’t get Mikhail’s future kingdom in order, fast, they’d be an easy mark for the Sortiari. And that couldn’t happen.#p#分页标题#e#
The bureaucracy of building a kingdom and protecting its king did little for Ronan’s patience, and likewise, he was expected to have it all worked out before Mikhail would even consider turning him. There was nothing more important to Mikhail than securing their safety, but that security balanced on a razor’s edge. It wouldn’t take much to tip the balance and ruin everything they sought to build.
Siobhan was just the female to do the tipping.
“If a tentative peace can’t be reached between Siobhan and Mikhail, there’s no point in any of this, you know.”
Aside from being a big, scary motherfucker, Jenner was also quite brilliant. He might have talked like an extra from Sons of Anarchy, but his mind was quicker than those of most of the Nobel Prize winners put together. Another reason Ronan had picked him to be the second dhampir for Mikhail to turn.
“Do you think she’ll declare war?” The question was rhetorical. Of course she would. The female craved blood and carnage the way others craved chocolate.
“She’ll make her demands—and expect them to be met without question,” Jenner remarked. “And when Mikhail tells her to fuck off, she’ll draw first blood. Of that I have no doubt.”
Nor did Ronan. “What do you think she’ll demand? I mean, besides an oath from Mikhail not to turn a single member of her coven.”
“Maybe a throne of her very own?” Jenner gave a rueful laugh. “The possibilities are endless.”
Exhaustion weighed heavily on Ronan as he slumped back in the plush leather armchair in his office. The skyscraper looked out over downtown Los Angeles, but he couldn’t be bothered to appreciate the view or anything else right now. He doubted that continuing to fuck her senseless would do much to distract Siobhan from her ambitions. Rather, he suspected that she’d use her arrangement with him as a tool against Mikhail to plant a seed of doubt in the male’s mind as to Ronan’s loyalty. And trying to convince her that swearing allegiance to Mikhail was in her best interest was proving to be a daunting task, to say the least.
“An accord must be reached, no matter how tenuous.” Even veiled peace was better than outright aggression. At any rate, it would buy Ronan some much-needed time. “It’s achieving it that’s the problem.”
“Agreed.” Jenner’s voice scraped over Ronan’s ears like sandpaper. “What we need is a distraction.”
“How do you distract a female with a one-track mind?” She’d been relentless over the past week, demanding Ronan’s presence in her bed nightly. Which made it nearly impossible to focus his attention on reaching out to Mikhail’s allies as his king had requested.