Making Demons Purr (Flushed and Fevered Book 2) (19 page)

Thorn gave her a devilish smile. “This just gives us more time to think up something super sexy to do to you. No problem.”

Carver nodded and signaled for the bill. Once it was all paid for, they took her home and walked her to the door where she gave each of them a good-night kiss. Then she went inside. The Lunar Lust had behaved itself tonight, and she only hoped it would stay that way.

She was thankful that they understood and hadn’t pressured her. Their support meant a lot to her. She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe they were right and the leap would be better off with her as the leader.

Chapter Thirteen

Sera entered Bridget’s office. “Boss, you busy?” She rubbed her hands together. If anyone could give her good advice it would be Bridget.

Bridget had a large tome open and seemed to be studying it. She glanced up. “Since when have you started calling me boss? What’s wrong? Is it Francine? You know I’d hex her for you—damn the consequences.” Bridget’s dark brown eyes glittered with an intensity that took Sera’s breath away.

“You really hate my mother, don’t you?” Sera slid into a guest’s chair.

“Doesn’t everyone? Even your own leap dislikes her, and they have to be led by her.”

Sera blinked. “How long has this been going on?”

“Let’s just say they were hoping after your father died that you would take the reins. I didn’t say anything because your mother made it clear that it wasn’t part of the deal. And she was right. The laws between familiar and witch say clearly I can’t interfere in leap or pack or pride business without permission from you or your mother.”

Sera let that news sink in. “And what if I wanted to challenge my mother?”

Bridget leaned back. “Why? I need to know why you want this and why now. You’ve shown no interest in leap politics before, let alone going after the leadership role. Is because of the Demonic Duo? Are you that serious about pursuing a relationship with them?”

“I want to be with Carver and Thorn, yes, but also there’s my sister, Vivi. My mother is trying to do to her what she tried to do to me when I was coming of age. Only it’s worse for her because she’s not even pure-blooded.”

“How so? Your leap doesn’t have a problem with her.”

Sera blew out a breath and slouched into the seat. “It’s one thing to be critiqued for your weight or who you date, but to constantly be told in a million ways that you’re inferior?”

“So you’re doing this for her? Bad idea. If she can’t fight her own battles how’s she supposed to survive a challenge from someone who’s serious about leading?”

Sera slumped in her seat. Bridget made good points.

“Look, I’m not trying to bring you down. If you’re serious, I’ll stand by you. If you’re not I can’t help you. Leap politics is serious business. If you truly want to lead then you can’t work here anymore.”

Sera flinched. She loved her job even more than she loved the leap. She knew Bridget was right, but it hurt to hear it. “Then what do I do about my mother?”

“I know she’s a Class-A bitch, but if you take her out and don’t want to lead would that be fair to your leap? No. So why not call for a competency vote and then let the chips fall where they may? If your leap chooses to stand up to her and declare her incompetent, then let the battle royale begin. Personally I think Dina may want the job. She’s the most vocal about your mother’s—shall we say—
ineptitude
when it comes to leap politics.”

“Dina Kristia?” Sera let that notion roll through her mind. Dina was the woman Arthur had wanted all along. She wasn’t sure how she felt about letting her lead the leap. “OK, I should go talk to her.”

Bridget nodded and leaned forward before waving her off. “Good idea. Now go on, I have to figure out how to hex a hobgoblin without it ricocheting back at me. Stupid thick hides.”

When lunch rolled around, Sera headed toward the boutique district of Evenfall and entered Kristia Couture. Dina wasn’t hard to spot. She stood at the cash register, talking to some customers. Her tall, elegant figure was encased in a red Dior suit jacket and skirt, with Valentino heels. Dina glanced toward her, nodded, and the group around the counter dispersed.

“Seraphena, how lovely to see you. I thought this day would come. Please, let’s go to my office.” She lifted the divider, and Sera followed her into the side of the shop where inventory and shop decisions were made.

The office was neat and tidy with a few high-fashion pictures on the wall. As soon as they were alone, Dina went on the defensive: “First off, I never let the worm near me. He made a few passes but that rat bastard kept coming after me. If you came here to accuse me of stealing your man you better be prepared to fight.” Dina brandished her fingernails, which had partially changed into the claws of her black panther counterpart.

Sera shook her head. “I didn’t come here to fight. I came here to ask you if you cared about the leap.”

Dina blinked and stood stock-still. Shock filled her green eyes. “Are you serious?” Her hands came down to her sides. “Is this a joke?”

“No. It’s not. I’m dead serious. Do you care about the leap? Enough to lead it?” Sera held her breath. She was taking a gamble. If word got back to her mother before she finished here there would be real trouble.

“What?” Dina came toward her, her strides even, her footsteps firm and filled with purpose. Her face displayed an emotion that Sera couldn’t even begin to name. “You’re the daughter of our leader and you want to overthrow her? You better sit down and tell me
exactly
what’s going on.” She gestured to the couch.

Sera sat down while Dina remained standing. “It’s come to my attention from a trusted source that my mother may not be running things in a way that’s helping the leap and that you’ve been vocal about your displeasure. Can you give me a clue as to what’s going on? Until now I’ve deliberately stayed away from politics, for the sake of my own sanity.”

Dina paced for a bit, not saying a word. “OK.” She sank down into a chair across from Sera. “How much do you know?”

“Nothing. I just have a feeling. And the way my mother’s been acting around my sister…”

Dina nodded. “Vivi is part of the problem.” She held up a hand to stave off anything Sera would say. “Vivi isn’t a pureblood, but it’s like your mother is trying to force her to become one. She’s even got someone paired up for her from the Dupree house. Vivi is miserable, but it’s other things. The business side of the leap is suffering, not to mention the breeding opportunities. We’re two steps away from becoming
Deliverance
.”

Sera grimaced. “That’s disgusting and I don’t think—”

“Trust me, it’s true. She refuses to allow outside marriages, and if you do marry someone who’s not a pure-blooded panther she exiles you from the pack and takes your lands and holdings.”

Sera recoiled. “We’re not in ye olde days.”

“No, we’re not, but that’s the way she wants things. She doesn’t even respond to the leap quorum anymore. Francine makes all the rules, and we’re supposed to follow them. She’s desperate to make matches for you and Vivi to enhance your house’s wealth and status. The alliances between you and Arthur, and between Vivi and Maxim, would have given her powerful allies to call on if she were ever challenged. And believe me, that was becoming a distinct possibility.”

Sera thought this over. So she wasn’t the only one considering a power change. “If I were to call for a battle royale to challenge my mother, would it turn into a bloodbath?”

“Why would you do that? I mean really? You’re in the seat of power and could take over from her one day.” Suspicion filled Dina’s features.

“Because I don’t want to rule one day. I love my life as it is.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she knew them to be true. “I want to be with Carver and Thorn, and I want Vivi to be with whomever she wants. Call me selfish, but for me it’s about my personal happiness.”

Dina nodded. “At least you’re honest. And I can understand that. Ever since your mother took over my family has been struggling. This place”—she gestured around the office—“barely makes it. Your mother won’t allow outside investors, so I have to buy everything here myself. It’s hard to break even. And don’t get me started on cronyism. Della DuCane as treasurer? You tell me she doesn’t dip into the till and I’ll call you a liar.”

Sera shut her eyes. It was worse than she thought. “I’ve heard enough. Let me mull things over.”

Dina nodded. “You wanted honesty. I’ll see you around.”

Sera rose and left the shop. She spent the rest of the afternoon visiting places owned by black panther shifters and heard the same story again and again. There had been fundraisers for charities with totals that never seemed to add up, luxury vehicles for Francine’s friends, couture clothing and trips to exotic holiday destinations, all while the leap lacked the funds to even keep up the Kit Daycare Center. It was all too much.

Without thinking, Sera wandered over to The Java Demon and took her normal booth. Carver slid in across from her, grabbed her hand and held it. “What’s wrong?”

“My mother. The leap.” She let out a sigh. “I won’t be standing for leader of my leap. I love my life too much to give that up to politics and infighting. I have no interest in the minutiae of what it takes to be leader. I’m going to call for a battle royale. It will be messy and leave us weak, but we need a better leader than my mother.”

Thorn came over and placed a hand on Sera’s shoulder. He gave it a squeeze. “Whatever you want, we stand by you.”

“Thanks. I have to go tell my mother. Wish me luck.”

Thorn bent down and kissed her cheek. Carver got up, leaned over the tabletop, and pressed his lips to hers. Her skin tingled where the men had touched her. She took that with her as she dropped by the office and told Bridget what she was about to do.

Bridget was in the lab working on a potion to repel gremlins. “If you need help, call Mysta and Lana for backup. I have to keep stirring this, and I can’t leave until it turns mud brown. Good luck.”

Sera thanked Bridget and called Mysta over. “I need you to act as backup for me. Lana, stay here and hold the fort. Don’t get into my chocolate stash. I’ll know.”

Lana grinned. “No you won’t. Good luck.”

Sera would have snapped at the pixie, but Mysta pulled her from the building. “No sense in arguing with her. You’ll lose. Now what’s going on?”

Sera gave her a rundown of what she’d learned and what she’d decided.

Mysta whistled. “You don’t want much do you? Are you sure you want to do this?”

They walked to her mother’s house. The closer they got to Gardenia Road, the calmer Sera became. It was as if the pressure she’d held in all of her life had been released.

She exhaled. It felt strange to not have the burden anymore. The idea that she could take over the leap had always been around the corner. Now it would be gone for good. A sense of sadness came over her, a strange melancholy that left her speechless. Tears slipped down her cheeks.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Mysta stopped and grabbed her shoulders. She turned Sera toward her. “What’s up?”

“It’s the end of a long period of my life. My mother has been grooming me to take over when she stepped down, but now…now…it’ll be over.” She felt like a teenager again, trying to come to terms with an idea that she knew wasn’t quite right. “My mother will be so disappointed.” The droplets increased. A dam had broken and she couldn’t stop the flood. She dropped to the ground. “I…I…won’t be her perfect daughter,” she managed to get out through hiccups and sobs.

Mysta brushed away the tears. “It’s OK, Sera. It’ll be OK.”

“I love her, even if she is a bitch. She’s my mom and…” The words trailed off. “What would my father say? I’m betraying the leap, aren’t I? Choosing you and Bridget and Lana and Carver and Thorn over my own kind. I’m…what kind of black panther am I to do this to my people? What if I’m making the wrong decisions? What if she gets hurt or killed or—”

Pain burst in Sera’s cheek and spread throughout the left side of her face.

Sera stood up so fast her head swam and her vision blurred for a second. Her panther rushed forward, bringing about a partial shift of her fingers and causing a ripple of fur to form along her arms. “Mysta. What the fuck? Why'd you slap me?”

“Whine, whine, whine. Stop it. Your mother is a heartless bitch who has been controlling you and Vivi for most of your lives. Yes, she’s a relative, but you know better. You’ve heard it from the bitch’s mouth. Dina has no reason to lie. She knows what would happen if word got back to your mother. And even if you do love her, do you want your people to suffer? You may not want to rule, but that doesn’t mean you have to betray them in order to be happy. It’s not as if you’re abandoning them. You can be part of the quorum if you want to, right?”

Sera held her face. The flesh was hot to touch. “Well…yes.”

“So shut up.” Mysta started walking again.

Sera rushed to catch up. “You know you’re a real bitch, right?”

“Yeah, but I care about you. Your mother doesn’t. I watched the damage she inflicted on you and said nothing. Now that you’re being proactive about your life and happiness I won’t let you run away from that; got it? You and Vivi deserve better. By the way, she’s crashing with me, not the dragon brothers. For some reason she’s avoiding them.”

“Lunar Lust,” Sera said, blushing. “Can’t you feel it?”

“Ah, yeah, um, snake shifters don’t really get that. Not as bad as you and the wolves and others do. We don’t want to fuck, anyway. We just want to be left alone.”

Sera frowned. “So then what happened with the fox?”

“Stuff. I don’t want to get into it. Anyway, here we are.” Her face was a mask. No emotion broke through the surface.

They made their way up the flagstone path. Sera admired her mother’s perfectly manicured garden. Not a thing was out of place and everything looked as though it belonged together. The whitewashed clapboard Victorian with the slate-gray porch was austere with only a swing chair and mailbox as decoration. Her mother was never really one to add personal touches to things.