Kate Daniels 05.5 - Magic Gifts

punch him. I would punch him straight in the face, hard. "Fine. I'll need a lot of back-up for the Guild."
    Curran looked at Jim. "Make sure she has everything she needs."
    "Okay," Jim said. He picked up the pieces of his clipboard, pulled a piece of paper out and handed it to me with the pen. "Write it down."
    I did and gave it back to him.
    Jim read it. "I'll take care of it, Consort."
    "Thank you, alpha."
    If it had been raining, our voices would've frozen it into hail.
    "Is there anything else?" Jim asked Curran.
    "No."
    Jim nodded and left.
    "I hate you," I told Curran.
    He chuckled. "You'd hate me more if Jim quit. We'd have to find a replacement. I don't trust that many people. Just think how much more shit you'd have to put up with."
    "Don't," I warned him.
    "Mmmm, Kate, the Chief of Security. Sexy. Who better to guard my body then the woman who owns it?"
    "Curran, I will punch you."
    "Rough play." Curran pretended to shiver in excitement.
    I raised my fist and tapped his biceps lightly.
    "You knew it was inevitable," he said.
    I knew. The moment Jim sent me the file I had known exactly how it would end. But I put up a valiant fight. "Yes, but I don't have to like it. Can we eat now? I'm starving."
    "Oh so I am forgiven?" he asked.
    "Sure. The next time you decide to flex your claws and come up with a plan to invade a home of a high-ranking civil servant, I'll bark, 'Enough!' and expect to be obeyed, how about that?"
    "You told me no," he said.
    "And?"
    "And I didn't like it."
    "You can't assault the DA's house, you crazy bastard!"
    "And you can't check out of the Guild's mess. We both have to do things we don't want to do. I consider us even."
    I rolled my eyes and we went upstairs to our cold food.
    "I know what that ass is getting from me next Christmas," I said.
    "What?"
    "Clipboards. Lots and lots of clipboards."

Chapter Eight
     
    Before the Shift and the start of magic waves, a person's power could be readily judged by the kind of car they drove, by the clothes they wore, and the company they kept. In post-Shift Atlanta visual clues were still proved true in some cases, but not nearly often enough. A bum in tattered jeans and ragged cloak could walk out into the crowded street, raise his arms, and the sky would tear open and weep a rain of lightning and hail the size of coconuts, leveling everything in a three mile radius.
    That's why post-Shift Atlanta evolved a new concept: a show of power. It was a decisive, showy demonstration of abilities and power, designed to intimidate.
    When I woke up in the morning, a pair of grey jeans, grey T-shirt, and grey leather jacket waited for me, folded on top of a grey cloak edged with fur. Grey was the Pack color. I was going to put on a show for the Guild and this was my costume for it. I put the clothes on, added my boots, my saber in the back leather sheath, my throwing knives, and my wristguards filled with silver needles. I braided my hair away from my face and examined myself in the mirror. I was broadcasting badass loud and clear. Normally I stayed away from clothes like that. The less attention I drew when I worked, the better. Today was different.
    I marched into the bathroom, where Curran was brushing his teeth. His blond eyebrows crept up. "That's your Council meeting outfit from now on."
    I laughed. "Cloak or no cloak?"
    "Definitely cloak," he said.
    I tried the cloak on in front of the mirror.
    Curran came up behind me and nuzzled my neck.
    "Is that your gun or are you just happy to see me?"
    "Mmm, a challenge." He nipped the skin on the back of my neck, sending electric aftershocks down through me. Some men got excited by white lace and a translucent negligee. My love muffin got excited by a woman dressed to murder. There was probably something deeply twisted about that. Lucky for me, negligees were never my thing.
    He kissed me again. "You're finally getting the hang of this whole badass thing."
    "I was always badass."
    "No, you thought were badass and talked a lot of crap." He wrapped his arms around me.
    Aha. "Let me go."
    "You have time." He kissed my neck again. Every nerve in my body came to attention.
    "No, I don't. I have people waiting." I pulled free from him and kissed him back. He pulled me close, locking me in with his arms. Mmm, Curran. I really didn't want to leave.
    "Come on."
    "No. Have to go."
    "It won't take long."
    "Who would that be fun for, exactly? Your seducing techniques need work." I untangled myself and escaped, before he