Stronger Together chapter 188

The next morning was pretty relaxed. Cinder and I spent all night in  bed, Raven and Barb got back later and joined in but I eventually fell  asleep at about four in the morning. I woke up the smell of breakfast  cooking, sausage by the smell of it. Probably eggs too, and I glanced  over to see Raven was already out of bed. She couldn't have woken up  that much earlier than I did though, because she was making breakfast  and the clock said it was two thirty.

The  house seemed pretty empty when I came out of my room, presumably  everyone was off doing their own thing. Everyone had gotten oddly busy  lately, or maybe they'd always been busy and my constant need to remain  productive had just made it seem like they weren't by comparison. I  followed the smell out into the kitchen, and sure enough Raven was  cooking, she had on an apron and a pair of thin black panties that her  mouthwatering ass basically swallowed and my throat got a bit dry as I  stared at her.

She  didn't even bother to turn around, letting out a musical chuckle "You  keep hitting me with all that lust and we're going to find out how much  weight that table can take. Considering Michael made it and Kara would  kill us if she had explain we broke it during sex I'd say that's a bad  idea." I laughed and came up behind her, pulling her against me and  burying my face in her hair. It wasn't even sexual exactly, she was  right, now wasn't the time, but just feeling her against me was  soothing. I inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell of pomegranate and  vanilla from her shampoo.

But  eventually I pulled back, letting her get back to cooking, though I  couldn't resist a quick slap to one of her ass cheeks, and I may or may  not have left my hand there for a squeeze or two. She laughed and shooed  me away and I stepped back, hands in the air "Sorry, I know you're  right, not the time. You're just a hard woman to resist." She shot me a  smile over her shoulder. "So did you get Munin settled? Or was that just  an excuse to give me and Cinder some time together?" It seemed a bit  coincidental they both happened to disappear last night.

That  musical chuckle rang out again as she finished making the eggs and made  a pair of plates for us."Well she seemed so happy after your date, Barb  and I thought you could use some time together. Seems like it was  pretty good for you both. I can feel the contentment radiating off her  in her sleep from here." She set my plate down and raked her eyes over  me "And you seem much more relaxed that usual. It's good to see you  taking some down time. Is that going to continue today? Or was yesterday  a fluke."

She  raised a perfect eyebrow at me and I chuckled, shaking my head. "No,  today is a day off too. I was thinking of heading down to visit Dalton  actually, I thought you might join me if you aren't busy. I figured we  could catch him up on the happenings with the wolves and invite him to  my induction shindig. He'll be all over a chance to network with people  at that level, and it's always nice to have a favor in reserve from your  friendly neighborhood smuggler." Dalton was also the closest thing to a  male friend I had that was my own age. Henry and Harry were both older  by a few decades.

Raven  gave a quiet hmm of approval, and from the contented smile on her face I  knew she was looking forward to spending the day with me too. She  hadn't actually answered my question about Munin but Odin's birdie was a  big girl, we didn't need to babysit her. We just sat and ate and  enjoyed each others company. Cinder and Barb would be asleep for a  while, they had been awake and talking when I fell asleep. Raven had  too, but she needed less sleep than the rest of us to begin with.

I  finished eating first and headed back to take a shower, and Raven  hopped in after I was done. By the time I finished getting ready she was  out and it only took a few minutes for her to throw something on.  Unlike most women Raven didn't need makeup or beauty regimens. Her skin  was naturally perfect, her hair was straight and fine as silk and she  only had to run a brush through it, and aside from brushing her teeth  the only thing she really had to do to get ready was to pick an outfit  and put it on, and she looked good in anything.

Aside  from actually using Cinder was mostly the same given her maiden status,  and Barb pretty much constantly seethed with jealousy at how effortless  getting ready was for them. Of course I ended up waiting anyway,  because I'd showered first and I couldn't drive. But still, it only took  us about an hour to make it to Dalton's manor. We had a standing invite  after the poker game fiasco and I knew he'd planned to hole up until  the wolf mess was over, so we knew exactly where to find him.

Surprisingly  Dalton and Brynn were outside waiting for us. They must had the road up  under surveillance or something, which wasn't a bad idea now that I  thought about it. The gate opened for us automatically and when we  pulled into the space in front of the manor and climbed out they were  already there. Dalton looked surprised to see me but still happy enough  "Hey kid, nice of you to visit, haven't seen you in a while. Heard about  your dust up with the terrible twosome. Impressive stuff."

Apparently  news of Fenrir's unfortunate demise hadn't reached whatever sources he  had yet, and I imagined the shock from that would be much bigger. I  couldn't wait to see his face when I told him. They invited us inside  and we headed to the dining room Dalton hung back to throw an arm around  my shoulder "Anyway kid, so tell me about the big showdown. I've gotten  some vague info but your throw down was a bit chaotic so I've been  hearing some conflicting information not to mention most of the fight  took place in a pocket universe from what I hear."

Despite  having just eaten breakfast we decided it would be rude to turn down  food, especially delicious cinnamon rolls cooked by one of Dalton's four  star chefs, so we ended up sitting down to eat with him and Brynn.  Luckily my body was a lean mean energy processing machine so I was able  to eat pretty much constantly and never gain weight. My godsteel weave  somehow converted excess calories into magical energy and stored it,  though the conversion rate was so abysmal it might as well not have.  Still, it was nice being the sole exception to the whole "everybody  poops" thing.

As  we wolfed down (and boy was that phrase never going to sound the same  to me) the delicious sticky treats, I filled Dalton and Brynn in on the  whole wolf mess. I told them the whole story about the twins, the story  about killing Chastel, which they hadn't even heard about, and finally  finished by filling them in on the fight with Fenrir. I told them what  he said and how Conner was safe and just in general got them both up to  speed. They both seemed fairly relieved not to have to worry about being  eaten by a giant man eating puppy when they went to the gym, but also  fairly shell shocked.

Dalton  was looking at me like I'd grown a second head. "Holy shit kid. You  killed Fenrir? The god wolf himself? And Odin is inducting you into  accords as a freeholding lord?" He shook his head in wonder "If someone  told me when you stumbled into my bar a year ago you would end up being  one of the most powerful people I'd ever heard of I would have had them  committed. Now look at you." He smirked at me smugly. "I guess I got  lucky making friends with you when you were still a nobody, now I can  ride your coattails to greatness."

I  burst out laughing "You don't want greatness Dalton, you just want the  most comfortable level of mediocrity possible. But you can ride my  coattails to that if you want. It's the least I can do for how much you  helped us out." Contrary to what many people, including myself when I  met him, assumed Dalton was not, in fact, a shark in deep water  preparing for his inevitable rise to power. Dalton had zero ambitions  except to be safe and comfortable, living in luxury and making friends  with powerful people.

Denying  that would have been pointless so he didn't bother, just shrugging.  "Fair enough, but as for the gala, obviously I'm interested. I could  make some serious contacts there. If you put me in touch with the host I  could even try to arrange some of our tech for the function. We could  make a pretty penny. I've always wanted to meet Lara Raith." There was a  thump and he winced, rubbing at his knee and glaring at Brynn before  adding "Or at least working with her, I wouldn't need to meet her in  person when I have Brynn to take my meetings for me."

I  managed to control my snicker at his about face with some difficulty  "Anyway man, what can you tell me about the accorded nations? I have my  own sources of course but I only know some of the signatories. I know  the Lachaise clan, Odin, Ferrovax, The Denarians, The Archive, Drakul,  The Svartalves, The White Council, The White Court, River's tribe, and  some semi immortal shape shifter guru from the Ukraine." That last one  was a direct quote from the books, the guy hadn't shown up in peace  talks and I had no clue who he was, I just really hoped he didn't shift  into a goddamn wolf.

He  chuckled at the list "Well Winter, obviously, since it's their show,  but The Fomor are signatories too. Other than them I think there are a  few freeholding lords that don't come out much. No one really important  except the big badass who rules the Jade Court. Qin Shi Huang is  basically Drakul with a worse temper. They famously hate each other  actually and I heard he only officially joined the accords after the  Black Court's public humiliation last year. I think he wanted an excuse  to shame Drakul in a way he couldn't respond to because right after he  joined he officially took Hana under his protection."

Knowing  that The Jade Court was now part of the accords was scary enough but  finding out the fucking first emperor was running the show was a huge  shock. It must have shown on my face because Dalton just nodded "Yeah it  was a real power move. Japan is technically Jade Court territory, but  they hunted the kitsune as fiercely as anyone. For him to offer  protection to Hana and join the accords essentially means he's slapping  Drakul right in the face and the old monster can't do anything about it.  The Accords doesn't allow war between member nations."

I  winced. Mostly because I remembered what Munin had said about the  conclave occasionally breaking into fights and disputes being addressed  as part of the meeting. Drakul was coming to Chicago and I had been not  only involved in crushing his plan to put out the sun, but I had  inadvertently helped one of his worst enemies publicly shame him and was  friends with the very being that was at the crux of that shame. I had  actually had a bit of hope when Munin told me I might not get dragged  into any nonsense, but somehow I knew this mess was going to bite me in  the ass. Fucking vampires.