Jude immediately shook his head when he heard Ava’s declaration.
"No. You can’t do that. No. Not that." Jude got up. "You are not going to work with me."
Jude added, "And No! Both of you are not going to act like we are friends. Because we’re not! Nope! You are not going to — Goddess! Why is this happening to me?"
"You are going to work with her," Matthew said. "We are not asking a question, Caro."
"You — You brat! How could you want me to work with her?" Jude said. "You don’t know anything, do you?"
"You — You—" Jude pointed at Matthew, then towards Ava. "You had a partner before, right? You were assigned with her after graduation. She was meant to — be your partner. A shifter."
Ava rolled her eyes in response. Here we go again.
"Jude... you really believe in rumors?" Ava asked.
"Those rumors aren’t just rumors, right Ava?"
"It wasn’t me. Now, why would I kill a woman I barely knew?"
"Exactly! You barely knew her. You didn’t like her. It was easy for you to kill her!"
"That’s bullshit," Ava said. "I don’t like you, but you’re still alive, aren’t you?"
"Oh, please Ava, don’t make this about me. This is about that girl."
"I am telling you. I didn’t kill her."
"Well... I don’t believe you. You are a sociopath, and you love killing people."
"I am taking that as a compliment."
"That — " Jude held a finger towards Ava. "That is not a fucking compliment! For Goddess’ sake!"
"Let’s stop the melodramatics, shall we?" Matthew calmly chimed in. "You won’t win and you know that."
"There is another reason I won’t work with her."
"And that is?" Ava asked.
"You are... unbaptized."
Ava lifted an eyebrow.
"And if you don’t know this already, Ivy is baptized. She belonged to a coven. They can sense an unbaptized witch, Ava. They could sense you even if you change your face. Even if you change your body."
"I will take care of that," Matthew answered.
"What does that mean?"
"I have ways to mask her smell."
"Wait... did the Lycans discover a way to... infiltrate— "
"Jude, please stop embarrassing Trillium," Ava pursed her lips. "This does not suit you."
"I— Can you really blame me?"Jude let out a loud sigh. "Ivy is not like you. It would be very hard to pretend to be her."
"I can handle that."
"Look... why don’t you just tell me what you want to know? I can get it for you."
"I don’t trust you."
"I thought we were done with that part?"
Ava only smiled in response. How could she trust someone who had been keeping a lot of secrets from her?
"Is — Is Ivy still alive?" Jude asked.
"Do you ever hear anything we say Jude? We already told you—" Ava said before getting interrupted
"Not for long. I mean... if you keep on refusing to work for us, then you will find her tomorrow at her place. Dead." Matthew answered. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"This is... blackmail."
"Goodness... This is just me using all the resources I could get," Ava said. "It’s called leverage."
Jude stared at her in disbelief. "Resources and leverage. How convenient!"
In response, Ava shrugged. Then all of a sudden she beamed at him.
Instead, it was Matthew who answered him. "You were the one who approached her first Caro, stop pretending you didn’t want this. She already thought Trillium betrayed her and you just had to show up at her brother’s house and give her that address."
Jude let out another sigh. His shoulders slumped. He looked just like he had just lost a fight.
"You — you two... I have never met a pair more infuriating." Jude said.
"We will take that as a yes?" Ava asked.
"Do I really have a choice?"
"No." Matthew grinned. "No, you don’t."
"Fucking... Lycans."
Jude went back to his seat.
"I assume you already knew my schedule for the next coming days?"
"Hunting," Ava said.
"WE..." Jude pointed at himself and then towards Ava. "We are not hunting. I am the head... I don’t hunt. Officers and agents do that. I knew you wouldn’t know the difference."
"So we don’t kill people. That’s fine."
"Can you stop talking about killing someone? This is different from your previous job. You are not supposed to talk to other people. You are just supposed to act as my assistant. Look... do I need to give you some sort of job description? Do you know how to use scheduling applications? How about excel sheets? Do you know how to make those reports?"
Ava blinked at him. Reports? What reports?
"Nope," she answered. "But I know how to kill people? That should help, right?"
Jude nodded. "I knew you are trouble. I shouldn’t have — tsk. I am going to assume that you already have access to Ivy’s computers. So, I will send everything that you need tomorrow. My schedule starts at seven. I work out for an hour and I am out exactly at eight-thirty. By then, I will have my coffee. It’s black with two teaspoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of milk. Lunch is at one. Dinner at seven."
"What about breakfast?"
"I don’t do breakfast," Jude said. "I fast."
Ava looked at him in disbelief. To be honest, this is the first time that she had met a shifter that... Fasted.
Was it possible that this was the reason why Jude was weaker than the other werelions that she had met in the past?
"Right. Fasting sounds interesting." Ava said. "I got that."
"The tablet that Ivy owned. Check that one for my schedule tomorrow. I mean later. And I am really exhausted right now. So... I would have to ask you to leave." Jude turned his attention to Matthew. "That includes you... your majesty."
.....
MATTHEW GRAYDON
"Why did you ask her to leave?" Jude asked the moment Ava disappeared. "Do you even know that teleporting over and over is very taxing?"
"A conversation is needed between the two of us," Matthew answered. The obvious changes in Matthew’s reaction made Jude frown.
"When Ava’s not here... you morph into something she wouldn’t recognize."
"I adjust." Matthew’s lips thinned. "And I would prefer some vodka at this hour of the night."
Jude harrumphed. Then he got up and got Matthew a glass of vodka.
"What do you want?"
"I will be quick. She will come back in five minutes."
"What is it?"
"I want two things. First, I want you to keep Ava safe."
"She can keep herself safe."
"Second, don’t fall for her. Don’t look at her with affection. Don’t even dare to think about her." Matthew smiled. "Do we have a deal?"
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