Consumed » Kai Parker

Sixty Four

Kai's POV

"Repairs to the compound are complete, the survivors of Joshua's outsider army have been banished from our territory, Alistair's body was consecrated and honored ceremonially, Joshua's was disposed of, and now..."

Smirking slightly, I let my eyes trail over each face mutely occupying the long, rectangular table at this particularly busy counsel meeting. "Hm, there's an especially huge elephant in the room that I haven't addressed yet. Why don't we do that right now?"

Like a rippling domino effect across the room, my words set off the simultaneous sight of shifting bodies, averted eye contact, and conspiratorial whispers to colleagues.

Isaiah whistles lowly. "They're like children getting scolded by the teacher. Quick, ask them to hand in the homework that they all definitely forgot to do."

I side-eye him slowly. "I invited you, Thing Two, and Quinn in here to observe and advise. Not make jokes."

Alex joins him in scoffing, while their female companion grins. "I'm just Quinn? Cool."

"Not that I haven't been getting a kick out of watching you chew out old Geminis, but why did you really bring us in here? We haven't been doing much advising, so much as sitting back and letting you call Cyrus an old coot." Alex lowers his voice to pose the question. Isaiah and Quinn nod, intently waiting for the same information.

"All will be revealed in due time, young grasshoppers," I reply vaguely, chuckling at their answering expressions of exasperation. "Relax. I'm getting to it."

Mutually sighing, they fall silent, indirectly agreeing to let me keep running the show for now.

I turn back to the rest of Geminis, placing my hands on the back of the chair I'm standing in front of. Figured this wasn't a sitting occasion; I wanted to make sure I have a perfect view of every face in this room when I do what I'm about to do. What's needed doing since the moment I was initiated as coven leader.

"I think Joshua managing to get as far as he did before we," I gesture to myself and the trio standing on one side of me, "stepped in has only made it glaringly obvious that this isn't working anymore. You're all supposed to be advisors that know when fuckery is afoot and do something helpful about it. Instead, you tossed me and this entire coven under the bus to a man that lost his mind by hating me a long time ago. So, yeah, I'm fed up, if you couldn't tell. Enough is enough."

Smiling calmly, I lock my eyes on Cyrus and Demetri, who are, understandably, the most discomfited of their peers.

"You two..." I cluck my tongue, shaking my head slowly. "How do you justify getting to stay seated high and mighty over a coven that you nearly helped tear to shreds? Now, I know plain, hard logic might be lacking in your age-whittled brains, but you at least get how that's a little audacious, right?"

"We have expressed our apologies," Cyrus speaks, in a tone that's strained. "You're different now, Malachai, I'm sure you can find it in yourself to show some understanding."

Restraining the bubbling desire to guffaw, I tilt my head toward Demetri, who has started to urgently add to his comrade's embarrassing display of backtracking. "Yes, you, of all people, know what it means to change. Joshua came to us with a plan that seemed noble on the surface, we thought we were doing what was best. Now, we choose to follow you."

I rub my hand over the bottom of my jaw, stretching it out in an effort to control the shit-eating grin forming there.

"Heartwarming sentiments, both of you. So, you done?"