Page 22 of My Pleasure

“The Witches’ Council presented the story that Caiden acted with undue force, killing the enforcers to get to Genevieve,” Elder Marshall explained. “The story was twisted in such a way that people are losing faith in not only the Elder Council, but also the unit warriors themselves.”

Kiera turned to Meryn. “Okay, lay it on me. What does that have to do with the Academy?”

Anne groaned.

Meryn grinned. “Because, we, well I, think they have been hiding evil deed type shit for decades. I think they’re the ones making the necklaces out of newborn babies to hide the ferals.”

Kiera felt her blood rushing in her ears.

“She’s gonna go down,” Meryn observed.

“Dammit, Meryn,” Anne exclaimed.

Kiera felt cool hands on her forehead. “Concentrate on my voice. Take a deep breath,” Anne ordered.

Kiera focused on the woman’s soothing presence. “Don’t be mad at her, I asked for it.”

“She did that on purpose.”

“That’s almost the worst of it. Once she’s upright, everything else should numb her,” Meryn said.

Kiera looked up and saw that she was in her mate’s arms. “Hi.”

He smiled weakly, looking sick. “Hi.”

Fingers snapped in front of her face.

Kiera turned her head.

Anne smiled at her. “Coming back to us?”

“Unfortunately,” Kiera admitted and patted Hunter’s arms until he helped her sit upright.

She turned back to Meryn. “So, this Kari person?”

“I’ll do you one better. Give me your email and I’ll send you our info packet.”

Kiera scowled at the small woman. “You could have lead with that.”

Meryn shrugged. “Then you would passed out when you read it. This was faster.”

Kiera gave Meryn her email and a few seconds later she had a notification on her phone that she received the packet. Hunter picked her up and placed her in his lap as she began to read.

At first, she thought he was being overprotective, but halfway through she was grateful he was holding her up. She looked over at Meryn. “You were right, I probably would have passed out reading this.”

Meryn nodded. “I forget sometimes, since I was a part of the events as they were happening, that compiled up like that, it must seem impossibly crazy.”

Kiera set her phone down. “I can’t believe the Academy would do something like that. Most are older witches who teach and love what they do, I can’t see them having any hand in this.”

“I don’t know how, but they are tied to this,” Meryn insisted.

Kiera shook her head. “I never thought I’d miss Angus Cottonwood, but he never would have let things get this far with the Witches’ Council.”

Caiden snapped his fingers. “She’s right. The Witches’ Council has been power hungry for decades. But, it accelerated greatly after Angus retired.”

“He retired?” Meryn asked.

Caiden smiled. “He was wily, but a good man. I actually worked well with him keeping things running smoothly in the city. He respected the unit warriors and very much operated under the motto, ‘better with, than against’. He handed over his position to Karl about thirty years ago, to live with his daughter in Florida.”