Beta by SM Reine Read Free Book Online Page B

deep breaths, counted to ten.
    She was only supposed to call the werewolf Alpha when something urgent was happening, not because she was angry about the law. Deirdre was always angry about the law. Nothing urgent there.
    “Brianna,” Deirdre said. “Did you get me a time?”
    “Yes. You can meet her today, actually. She’s in town. Do you have a pen?”
    Her heart skipped a beat. “Sure.” She didn’t actually plan on writing the address down. She’d have to memorize it.
    Rylie read off an address, and then said, “I’ll tell her that you’re coming at twelve thirty. Should give you guys plenty of time to talk before Brianna heads out of town for the night.”
    Deirdre almost thanked her, but she sealed her lips against it.
    She had given up so much for Rylie. Deirdre was the one who should be on the receiving end of the gratitude.
    “Do you know what Stark’s doing with the convicts?” Rylie asked. “He took a lot more people than this Vidya.”
    “For now? Mostly he’s letting them stink up our hideout. I don’t know what happens next. I’d guess that they’re an army, but I’m just guessing. He’s not telling me anything.”
    “If he does attempt to use them as an army, I have new enchantments and new guards,” Rylie said. “I’ll be prepared for him next time.”
    “Safe in your ivory tower,” Deirdre said. “Unlike me. Unlike Gage.”
    “God, Deirdre,” Rylie said. Her heartbreak poured out in those two words, and Deirdre immediately felt guilty for saying it.
    “Sorry,” she muttered. The phone call needed to end. They weren’t going to be able to talk about anything constructive at that point, not once Gage’s name came up. “I’ll talk to you later.”
    Deirdre hung up.
    She pulled the SIM card out of the phone and broke it before tossing everything into the trash.

    When Deirdre returned to No Capes, it looked even more dismal than usual. Niamh had been spending more time at the asylum and less at her comic book store/apartment, and it showed. The front window was so dirty from passing cars spraying mud on it that no light could enter. The sign on the door was permanently turned to “closed.” The air smelled musty, like nothing lived there except a lot of old comic books.
    Niamh was fixated on her video editing program when Deirdre entered, bell over the door jingling.
    “Lock it behind you, Dee,” she said without looking up.
    Deirdre did. The deadbolt settled into place with a heavy click . “Isn’t your basement supposed to be accessible to Stark’s people and the sidhe at all times?”
    “Usually,” Niamh said, “but they can knock. Pull up a chair. I want you to watch what I’ve got so far.”
    Deirdre couldn’t “pull up a chair.” There was no room between Niamh’s shelves for chairs. She settled onto one end of the busted green couch by the cash register.
    Niamh turned her laptop around so Deirdre could see it and then hit play.
    The green screen behind Stark had been replaced with an American flag. Not the new one with the crescent moon, but the old one with fifty stars and thirteen stripes.
    Colette had done a good job on Stark’s makeup. She’d emphasized his features and gotten rid of the shine. She might have even managed to do it without getting her nose broken by Stark.
    “Your Alpha continues to deceive you,” he said. “Rylie Gresham pretends that she cares about all shifters.”
    The video cut to a scene from one of Rylie’s recent speeches. She was shown in harsh grayscale, and the effect made her look much more menacing than she usually would.
    “But she doesn’t. For the last ten years, the Office of Preternatural Affairs has been expanding its illegal prisons and detaining gaeans for minor offenses without due process.”
    “ Due process ,” Niamh mimicked in a deep voice.
    Deirdre shot a sideways look at her. There was no sign of injury on her face now. “You okay?”
    “Just keep watching.”
    She watched.
    The video kept going,