Max was right. Getting the ability to [Bargain] did get Merrick so much work delegated to him. He was overwhelmed with it at first, but as the days passed and he came into his own, it became less overwhelming and more routine.

It was three weeks since the Conclave meeting. Things had slowly chugged along. Progressed.

He didn't hate it as much as he thought he would, being the one in charge-- at least on paper and only in the City demesne. It was like being a real beta but on a larger scale, and instead of dealing with temperamental and posturing shifters, he was herding clueless humans into a toothless and clawless pack.

That will change, though, once Max has time to implement The Plan™️ to its fullest.

His first order of business was hiring a team of humans to run interference for him. He just took a page out of Max's book-- that was how Merrick ended up in his situation after all, so if it was good enough for Max, it was good enough for him-- and delegated everything he could get away with delegating, and handled the issues that they couldn't. His first [Bargain] was with vetting and then tying down all the humans in the neighborhood who possessed the most competency in a fae contract that made it so they couldn't betray the Court, couldn't steal, lie, or cheat others who lived and worked there, and would work hard to make the place better. In exchange, their pay was high, their families and children were well taken care of, and they had the bragging rights to say they were on a Board of Directors, if not the power that they would have gotten had it been true. There were ten of them.

A few on his team had quickly realized that something new had taken control of the neighborhood, and humans being humans with the pattern recognition of the scrabbling mass that created Central City, they assumed he was the exiled eldest son of a powerful foreign family who was proving his worth to be welcomed back into the fold. Or, when the humans noticed that construction was quicker, cleaner, and hinted at magic, they assumed he either was or had a hiding mage on the payroll. Or that he was some gang leader who had weird and naively altruistic ideas about how gangs are run. Or he was some foreign prince dabbling in sure-to-fail colonization.

The rumors were pretty out there. They all had a sprinkling of truth in them, so he didn't shut them down. He also didn't encourage questions.

His team of underlings made it so he could be the face of Max's court. Anyone outside of the mound who wanted a meeting, needed to ask questions, or had complaints about unshared but obvious prosperity were directed to his office, across from his large desk, and were allowed to have a slice of his time, by appointment only, and then were ushered out of the door the minute they got it all out and were dismissable.

He found those were his favorite appointments.

The appointments that weren't dismissable were a headache for him. Much like he was experiencing now. He had put this particular one off for as long as he could get away with.

It was late afternoon. He was almost done for the day. He just had to finish this one thing before he got to retreat to Hometree and the rest of the court. Retreat to his pack.

She walked into his office and imperiously sat in the chair as if she were doing him a favor by being there. "Thank you for taking the time to see me, Merrick. I thought Max would be here as well?"

So that's the play here, then. Okay.

The Pack Council had sent a "motherly" shifter to talk to him. She was a little past middle-aged and had a round body that told the tale of a woman who had borne many young, enjoyed dessert, and had probably torn the throat out of many who thought they could command her, and bent at the first sign that they could. She was dominant enough to run roughshod over many, but not so dominant that it was an insult to send her to another powerful shifter's home. A perfect balance of pissiness, power, and politics.

Merrick disliked her on principle. He knew she was here to gain concessions from his court by asking for shit or demanding shit, and she reminded him of one of his old pack betas that would tell Em that mating young was fate's gift to a soulless mutt like her, and always gave a gimlet eye to Thomas and his bird, hinting he was abnormal for a kid his age.

The Council had read him all wrong if they thought he'd be disarmed and predisposed to be 'friendlier' with a woman like this. He knew that the friendliness was a facade to a grasping asshole wrapped in faux mom vibes.

"King Max doesn't tend to meet with the public unless they need war declared on them." Merrick had a pleasant but not friendly smile.

"Oh. Well, that's fine. I was sent to talk to you, anyway." She smoothed out her skirt as she gave him what she probably thought was a nurturing smile. It didn't strike him as motherly or nurturing at all, because his mother had worked too many hours to look so well-rested and never had a spare calorie to pack around her middle like this woman. All of her spare calories went to Thom, Em, and him.

Fuck, I hate shifter politics. "Oh?"

The woman smiled. "Yes. The Dominant, in his wisdom, has decided you are to be his heir and I was sent to command you back into the fold. He demands that you leave your mate and submit yourself to him so that he may groom you in his image."

Merrick snorted and maintained a bland smile. "And how did he see this playing out?"

"He thought you, or your fairy, would kill me mercilessly and it would be standing to demand restitution. In the form of you turning yourself over to him so that he may groom you as heir." Her eyes did a calculating roll as if to say 'But we know better, don't we, dearie?'

Merrick folded his hands on his desk. "That's a dumb plan."

"Yes, I know." Her arms rested on the armrests and she folded one thick leg over the other.

He maintained his smile. He only lost this duel if he let the smile fall. "I could just kick you out. He didn't think this through, did he?"

"He assumed, with you being what you are, that just the thought of leaving your mate would incense you into acts of violence and then he could reap the benefits." She was doing her best to be condescending while also acting like she was letting him in on a secret of what everyone else was expecting.

This bitch probably volunteered because she thinks more of her acting skills than what they are. Mid-pack betas play this game all the time. 'See, we are on the same side. All those others are against us, so you should play into my hands so that we can stop them from bitching/being stupid/ being mad. We can de-escalate and then wash our hands of it. After all, what can we do in the face of the authority of a bigger alpha?'

He knew how to play this. Fuck the bigger alpha. "Nah. I don't think there's a power in this world big enough to make Max give me up. Or one that would force me to leave."

She recalculated and then nodded. "Going by your old pack's description of your wolf, it seems you are a devourer?"

"Yeah."

"And you haven't gone insane yet." She tilted her head in question and her eyes narrowed.

He shrugged. "Not to my knowledge."

"How did you get past the curse?"

He chuffed in humor and gave her a look like she was the idiot. "It wasn't a curse. I just needed to eat a lot-- and I am not exaggerating here-- a lot of magic. It sorted itself out." He waved a hand in dismissal.

She nodded like he answered a great question. "And your fairy is the one who gave you all the magic to eat?"

He gave her another look like she might be stupid. "Yeah. I would stop with the slurs if I were you, though."

"So, she saved you and gave your siblings safety after your experiences with a broken pack. That's powerful." Her eyes grew far away and she seemed as if she were thinking out loud. "I wonder. Are you two in love, or is it a mating of convenience? We could find you someone to mate that would be... more suitable... if you liked."

Merrick internally guffawed but remained impassive. "Do you ask everyone who is newly mated that question, or is it just me? Because it seems to be a bit rude, doesn't it?"

The woman gave him a flat look and shrugged. "I asked what I asked because it is a common question in the Pack Council."

Merrick's pleasant expression didn't change, but the air in the office gained a tinge of anger for anyone who could smell it. "Now, I'm tempted to call this meeting to a close if you're just here to insult and enrage. I guess I won't because I don't want to have more explanation meetings with a pack hierarchy that I left. I don't owe you an answer. I don't owe that old bastard to be his heir. I don't owe any of you anything. If anything, you owe me for doing you the favor of not eating my way up the hierarchy. Because I was tempted. Still am a little bit, to be honest. Every time I see one of you, the temptation grows by fractions."

Merrick's calm facade had only cracked a little. He resumed his bland smile, got up, walked around to her side of the desk, and leaned to half-sit on the desktop to subtly lean over her. "I don't want to have to talk to you, but if I don't, I can see you fuckers causing problems for me and my mate politically." He grinned. "She won't care. She talks about killing everyone on the planet often, and sometimes, I agree with her. Today isn't one of those days. Yet. So I'm gonna do you a solid and attempt to keep everyone in this whole shitty world alive, even though we both know that not all of you bastards deserve it."

The old wolf had questions in her eyes, and he did nothing to answer them. Because fuck this bitch.

He put both arms on the desk and leaned over a little bit more. "But if you continue to go out of your way to piss me off, I could always call in a favor from the Beast and have them put buying sanctions on the Pack Council and all of their member's large purchases of handguns, aphrodisiacs, and sleeping poisons, and leak the shopping lists out to the public and make sure it gets displayed in the worst light possible." One of his eyebrows raised. "I wonder what y'all are doing with those?" Merrick 'hmm'ed and nodded. "I'm not surprised, though, that the corruption of Valleyview's pack is entrenched up to the top of the council itself. Guns and poisons are expected from shit packs doing shit things. But I ask myself if the people getting dosed with the aphrodisiacs know they are being dosed at all, or if it's something horrifyingly sinister yet expected from all you rapists?"

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"It's not." She shifted her body and her eyebrows furrowed. She curled her body inward a little like he had struck a glancing blow. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to supply a list of who is buying what?"

He straightened a little. "Haha, no. As I said, I don't owe you fuckers anything. You can all burn in a hell of your choice and I will only sell the matches to whatever demon is sparking the blaze."

Her facade of motherly intentions broke and her eyes became panicky and calculating. "But anything you sell could be used against you, too."

His smile finally was something other than bland. It became cruel and hard. "You must think we are a Court of Fools if we would sell anything that could be used against us." He stood straight and slowly returned to his chair. He sat in his chair and looked her in the eye and hers fell to the floor. "Ask yourself this: the College just mildly insulted me-- and it wasn't even that bad. I had forgotten it even happened. Max declared a shadow war and is going to destroy the whole of it as an institution and lead a revolt against the very fabric of magic teaching and its role in our society. Now, what do you think she would do if you actually managed to steal me?" He looked the old bitch up and down and let her know that his dismissal of her was a dismissal of every fucking shifter in the world and their governing authority. "Now that we have the fact that I hold all the cards and yours is a shit hand, let's get to what you want, what I want, and then you can get the fuck out of this room because you are stinking up my office with lies, fear, and greed."

***

"How was the meeting, Puppy? As stupid and pointless as you feared it'd be?"

Max was sitting in the green space across the street from the anchor to Hometree. It was where Thom and Em had cornered her all those months ago and all of their lives changed. He noticed she liked to meditate and think here and daydream plans for The Plan™️. She also made small changes to their exterior demesne from here; subtle changes that could be explained away to the humans-turned-fae. Her brown hair was caught in a playful breeze and the sun hit her cheeks just right to make her look ethereal.

It was good that she wore the junkie glamour when they first crossed paths, he thought, because he probably would have fucked it all up if he knew what she really looked like.

"It went well, I think, after the Council's rep realized that my dick was bigger and my threats were better. The majority of it was just a dominance battle. Stupid shifter bullshit." He sat down next to her in the dewy grass and looked across the duck pond with her. His hand grabbed hers to hold. "They did end up giving us a town to rule, though. Apparently, Valleyview still has vacancies in the town council, so it looks like I'm headed back there to rule over all the people who did my family wrong."

Max snickered. "Oh? They didn't think that one through. Why would we raise a hand to help anyone who turned a blind eye to the children of the mound's suffering?"

"They want us to fuck it up so they have standing to ask you for concessions. They wanna trap me as the Dominant Heir." He grinned at her and continued, "They don't realize that I wouldn't mind it so much. I'd be able to kill everyone who ever did what was done to us. I'd eat the shifter population in half. A morally gray Dominant who has a magical mate and is richer than sin isn't going to end up like they think it is. Maybe they'll realize that the biggest asshole shouldn't be the one who is in charge?"

Max picked up some grass and released it into the wind. Their neighborhood was already less polluted than the rest of the city and the grass was healthy and vibrant. The air tasted better than it did weeks ago. The sun was less patinaed. None of the humans said anything, but it was noticeable to those with eyes to see. "Is this what you want?"

He took a minute to answer. "Our mate group has a King, a Herald, and now the Dominant Heir. You said you didn't want to rule the world way back when, but it seems you are going to, anyway. Not because you took it over. Because we are giving it to you." He shrugged and dismissed her concerns. "It would make things easier for you and The Plan™️ in the long run."

Max tiredly nodded. "Am I gonna have to do anything? I don't need more work, you know. I'm barely keeping up with Miles's schedule now."

"Nah. Just come with me to set the anchor and I can handle it from there."

Max sighed. "Okay. I guess I can do that. Hey-- has the aquatic kingdom made an appointment yet?"

"They asked for one during the highest tide of the year, which falls a month from now on a Tuesday. I'm having the office at the docks revamped so that everyone will be comfortable. Did you want to come?"

She sighed again. "Yeah, I guess I should."

They were enjoying the last minutes they could before they went into Hometree to meet with the rest of their court members and had a group meditation session. It was almost his favorite time of day.

There was an explosion in the distance.

MOUND LOCKDOWN INITIATED: ALL COURT MEMBERS RECALLED TO HOMETREE: DEFENSE PROTOCOL INITIATED: SPINNING PARTICLE CANNONS: PROTOCOL 'DOCUMENT AND CONTAIN' LIVE: WEAPONRY LIVE TO FIRE IN 60 SECONDS: EXTERIOR ANCHORS MONITORED: ORBITAL CAPABILITIES PINGED: TARGETING INITIATED: WAITING FOR INPUT

Merrick had a sudden onset feeling of something being incredibly wrong. His insides were wrenched and set on fire. His mouth filled quickly with watery bile. He gagged.

WRONG. SOMETHING IS WRONG.

Max stiffened and leaned over. Puked on the ground. She went pale. She gasped through bloodless lips, "Is this it, then?" She looked up at the green clouds and asked the sky.

His brain was giving him information he didn't know how it got. Like secrets were collected from a limb he didn't realize he had. "I think it's Green? What the fuck?" His body hurt. It felt like his newly discovered arm was decaying. "I think he's in the basement! I can taste his blood on the ground. What the hells happened?"

He was panting and stumbled to his feet. He helped Max to hers. They ran/stumbled to the Hometree anchor, ran/stumbled through, and headed to the anchor to the basement. Ran/stumbled through that one and she took flight while he ripped through his clothes to shift and run to the tower.

Minutes or seconds later, they found Green on the ground at the foot of his betrothal anchor with Aldred leaning over him. "We were talking and he just started running this way, then started convulsing and fell like this, I swear! Can you save him? He's not waking up! He's bleeding from everywhere!"

Max fell to the ground on his knees as his blue-winged healer, picked Green up to hold his head steady, and he and a now naked and human-shaped Merrick both inundated the butterfly king with healing spells. Merrick pulled curatives and healing potions from his storage and dumped them liberally all over Green and down his throat. Aldred hovered over them all, hands wringing and face panicked.

Blue wings spread wide and Max muttered curses and softly begged Green to wake up, all while holding him to a hard chest and wiping his mouth clean of blood and healing potions that had leaked out. It took too long for Green to sputter, and his unfocused eyes opened along with his bloody mouth, and a scream like his soul was being ripped from him poured out of him along with his blood. His veins were pronounced and his eyes were leaking blood, now, too.

Max: Status?

Miles: It wasn't an attack on us. It looks like Greenleaf Law has been bombed. The entire building and the surrounding block are reduced to rubble and are on fire. I'm deploying Hugo and Ines to patrol the City demesne and keeping the cannons hot. Should we activate Project Hybrid?

Max: Not yet. It would be premature. I still need time with them. Do it only if our kept humans start rioting or if there's a large egress of an anchor. Keep me posted.

Miles: Do you need me down there or can I remain on overwatch?

Max: Overwatch if you think we need it. I know we are safer with you doing what you think is best.

Max held Green until his screams died down. He lapsed into unconsciousness. They were both covered with bright red blood that slowed and eventually stopped flowing.

Their shining, calm, and romantic demesne that was hidden from the world was now filled with the smells of abject terror, blood, horror, and panic.

The three that could tried to hold the one that needed it to life with their bare hands.

After an unknowable amount of time, the massive amounts of healing spells were finally working. Merrick could tell that it was a godly amount of mana being spent to keep Green alive. It had to have taken hours to stabilize him. The three of them sat on the ground and waited to see if he would make it, and then continued to sit on the ground in vigil for his consciousness to return.

When he woke, Green limply wept in Max's arms. They all patted to soothe him. They all waited with bated breath to see if he was okay. They had grown fond of the bug, in his anger and frustrations. He was a fixture for them. One anchor of this mess they all had together. They did not want him gone.

Eventually, he stopped sobbing in pain and grief and whisper-spoke what happened. "My anchor has been destroyed?" His eyes searched the sky with questions as he took an inventory of what his magic was telling him. "My courts are only moored now to your demesne. I don't know if I have enough of me to keep everyone alive." He gasped and half-sobbed again, looking fragile and vulnerable in Max's arms, "I was trying so hard to save them, but they might just die with me instead."

Max held the king carefully. He channeled raw mana directly into Green and into the anchor that tied the two of their courts together."Do you know who could have done this?"

Green stuttered a response as if he were inventorying a body that wasn't his anymore. His voice was raspy and thick. "It was the monkeys. The humans." He spit blood to the side but it just dribbled down his chin and onto Max. He remained in Max's blue-tinted arms, lying half-sprawled on the ground. "They've been hovering across the street from my anchor for a few days and I dismissed it. Sometimes people like to sit there and glare at us. I guess I didn't realize a group of them was ambushing my anchor with a bomb until it was too late."

Max was still flooding the bug man with raw mana, hoping it was helping. Merrick did the same and hoped it helped, too, although his mana wasn't nearly as thick as Max's. "Do you know if everyone got inside before it blew? Did you lose anyone?"

Green blinked hard and held his eyes closed for a minute. "I don't know. I don't even know how my court survived. It shouldn't be attached to the world anymore. And I should be dead."

Max grunted. "We are all actively trying to keep that from happening, even the princess over there. I think we can keep you alive until we can get your court re-moored. Would it help if you had another anchor? I can give you a building in my City demesne. You can reset an anchor there and have a shining new law office. Would that stabilize it, or does it need to be outside of my influence?"

Green was limp in Max's arms but was smiling softly. "Most things that you've done have never been done before, cousin. I don't know what will happen now. We could try a new anchor in your outer demesne, or you could overpower me and put an anchor in my court to take my throne. We would be irrevocably married in truth. It would change things." He looked at Max with glassy eyes. "It would turn certain possibilities from probabilities into certainties."

Max groaned in exasperation. "Can we try my idea first, at least?"

Merrick sighed. Of course, the Butterfly King is going to use this as an opportunity to get ahead of the vampire, even as he's bloody, half-dead, and spent on the ground. He almost died and they still see aquiring us as a competition. And the bug doesn't even see me in this equation. It's why Max has been holding back from him and they are the only ones who don't realize it. The vampire does factor me in-- that's why he romances me just as hard as Max-- and that's why Max is more swayed to him.

He rolled his eyes. Everyone in this polycule is emotionally dense. As the youngest, I really shouldn't be the most emotionally mature. He thought for a moment. Or the sanest, either.

"After we get you stabilized, no matter how, we need to find out exactly which humans did this and how we are going to kill them all." The giant blue-tinted healer muttered. "I'm asking myself if it has anything to do with the snake-stealing cabal we were researching. Why is it that every time I take time to base build, the world has to intrude and make me want to end it? Is it a flag?"

The three not-blue men all groaned. Even the half-dead man.