Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 11-15 - Laurell K. Hamilton [1051]
“What was he decisive, ruthless, and swift about?” I asked.
“We needed extra muscle,” Graham said.
“You said that.”
Graham nodded.
“Just tell me. I won’t be mad.”
Wicked laughed, a loud bray of sound that was nothing like the perfect masculine chuckle he usually allowed himself. “Don’t promise until you know.”
“I’ll know if you tell me,” I said, and already there was a thread of anger in my tone. Damn it.
“Asher called Augustine in Chicago. He asked for soldiers,” Wicked said.
“He let Auggie send his werelions back into our territory,” I said.
Wicked and Truth nodded. Truth asked, “Do you understand what that means for St. Louis’s Rex and his pride?”
I lay in the bed and thought about it. I did know. “I sent Auggie’s lions back to Chicago in November because they would have taken over Joseph’s pride. He doesn’t have anyone strong enough to protect them from the brutes that Auggie has.”
“I’m not sure they’d like being called brutes,” Wicked said, “but it’s accurate.” He smiled, a most unpleasant smile that turned his handsome face to something else. Something more basic, less practiced, more real. Wicked and Truth had honor; you could bank on that honor, trust it. If they’d been one inch less honorable, they would have been totally untrustworthy, and too dangerous to keep.
“Have they moved on Joseph’s pride?” I asked.
“Not yet,” Graham said. “I think they’re waiting to talk to you first.”
“Me, not Jean-Claude,” I said.
“They talked to Jean-Claude. He’s removed his protection from the lions.”
“It’s all up to you, babe,” Wicked said.
“Micah is the head of the furry coalition,” I said.
“Micah kicked them out, unless you make him put them back in,” Graham said.
“When your Nimir-Raj found out what the St. Louis lions had done, he accused them of having broken the treaty with both the wolves and the leopards,” Truth said.
Wicked continued the story. “Since they broke the treaty, they are no longer allies of the coalition. So the coalition members don’t owe them anything.”
“So when Auggie’s lions attack, no one will come to their aid,” I said, my voice soft.
“Exactly,” Wicked said. He seemed pleased.
Graham said, “Joseph is outside, alone. He thinks you will be the weak link.”
I looked at Graham, because it was odd wording. “You think I should let Joseph and his people fry.”
“They betrayed us,” Graham said. I saw something in his face then, a hardness that I hadn’t noticed before. He could be a good bodyguard when he wasn’t trying to fuck something, but he wasn’t hard, or ruthless. Not until now.
I remembered what I’d said to Edward. I’d planned on taking revenge on the werelions. Edward was going to help me. But I’d met Joseph and his people, knew them. They were real, and they weren’t all a waste of time. Travis and Noel had helped feed me for months while I tried to find a more permanent lion. They were too weak to satisfy my lioness, but they were good kids.
“Do I send him away?” Graham asked, as if that was what he wanted to do.
I thought about it. It would be so easy to just refuse to see him. Then I could be ruthless and hard-hearted, and not have to look the man in the face who I was condemning to death. I might be able to keep Auggie’s lions from slaughtering all the pride, but one death would be an absolute must—Joseph’s.
“Send him in,” I said.
“You think that’s a good idea?” Wicked asked. He managed to keep his voice neutral.
“It’d be easier not to see him,” I said.
“Then why see him?” Wicked said.
“Because it would be easier.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It makes sense to me,” Truth said.
I looked up at the other vampire. We exchanged a long look. He understood why I had to turn Joseph away in person: because if I couldn’t look him in the eye and tell him the truth, then maybe it was the wrong thing to do. I had to see him, to know whether I could stand by and let nature take its course with the lions in our city. The lions weren’t my problem, damn it.