Free Demigod Down by Kim Schubert Page B

my chair,
shocked.
    “He sure can pick ‘em,” Grant muttered behind
us.
    Running a hand over my face, I groaned.
“Logan, what’s the budget?” I asked, having a terrible feeling.
    “Thirty thousand,” he responded flatly.
    I almost commented about how stupidly
expensive that was, but I kept my peace. It was not my business.
Wait - I guess actually it was now. Fuck.
    “I have a terrible idea. How about I am your
wedding planner?” I finished, muttering under my breath, “Because
obviously I don’t have enough to do or enough aggravation.”
    Ali coughed, covering up a laugh.
    “Are all parties in agreement to that
decision?” Grams asked, looking pointedly at Lorraine.
    Logan crossed his thick arms over his chest,
watching his fiancé with a raised eyebrow. Lorraine opened her
mouth and I was certain it was to contest my idea, when another
idea crossed her face and she smiled instead. “Of course.”
    I was so in trouble.
    “Wonderful,” Grams said, moving on, “Now for
the final item of the border issue.”
    I sighed, leaning back, questioning my
sanity.
    Jeff and Kent cleared their throats. “That
would be us.”
    I rubbed my temples, so painfully over this
arbitration and looking forward to going back to life as usual when
I could just kill my problems away.
    “What appears to be the problem?” Grams said,
still sporting a brilliant smile.
    Silence greeted her question and I
groaned.
    “What did you do now Logan?” I asked, bashing
my forehead against the table. How many more times do I have to
clean up after him?
    “Ask Darren,” He said, spitting poison. “I
wasn’t involved in this decision.”
    “Whoa, did Lorraine teach you that?” I asked,
shocked at the hostility and anger coming from him.
    Logan adjusted his seat, red creeping up his
neck.
    “We went to the pack looking for
clarification on our borders, not because we are angry dogs pissing
on each other’s trees, but because we have a bald eagle rescue
group coming in and we need to figure out whose land is whose so we
can keep an eye on them,” Kent explained, sharing a look with Jeff.
In typical shifter fashion, they were both built like line backers
with tanned golden skin. Kent had a mop of unruly curly dark blond
hair, while Jeff had dark brown hair cut close to his scalp.
    “Simple enough,” I answered with a sigh.
    “Per pack protocol, I informed them they were
to fight to the death to claim the others property,” Lorraine said,
sitting up adding her two cents.
    I made a choking noise as I pointed at her.
“So just to clarify, you have issues with us eliminating an
unbalanced shifter, but you wanted to send two packs into war over
bald eagle mating grounds?” I asked, my voice pitching up in
disbelief.
    “You have got to stop engaging her,” Grams
whispered to me.
    “Please continue Kent, Jeff,” Grams
continued, smiling kindly.
    Jeff leaned forward. He said, “Neither of us
wanted a war, so we called Darren.”
    “We discussed where their clans are living,
roaming and divided up the land in question so that both parties
would bear the responsibility of the eagles.” Darren answered
succinctly.
    Tapping my fingers against the table, I
waited for them to continue. “Sounds like a far better plan than
war,” I said blandly.
    “I didn’t agree to it.” Logan stated. “Darren
is not able to make those decisions under clan law.”
    “There has been some confusion regarding pack
leadership since the incident with Steven,” Kass supplied. Steven,
also known as the puppet master had a high ranking position within
the Shifter Nation before he decided to begin eliminating
humans.
    “Not my problem,” I answered quickly.
    “Unfortunately it is,” Grams said softly.
“What we rule here will be seen as our support of leadership.”
    I groaned, rubbing my temples. “Fucking
hell.”
    “But I have a solution,” Kass said
softly.
    “Yes?” I said quickly. Anything to get done
with this shit.
    “The clans have