He sighed. “You could say we have a big problem.”
“What?”
“You’ve been outed.”
Her stomach rolled. “Outed how?” she asked, but she already knew the answer.
“It has circulated around the lair that you can wield psychic hellfire.”
She closed her eyes, dread filling her from head to toe. “How?” Her eyes snapped open. “How the hell could this have happened?”
“Dwain’s mother received a text message from him earlier saying he wanted to come back to Vegas but couldn’t while everyone was hunting him like a dog. He said he needed to wait until the real culprit was found. He added, ‘Don’t go feeling too sorry for Raini. I’ll bet she never told you that she can wield psychic hellfire.’”
Her demon hissed out a breath. “Motherfucker.”
“Yeah. She mentioned the text to her mate, who mentioned it to someone else—none of whom really believed it could be true. But then some others received similar text messages. Demi’s best friend, Risa. A mate of one of your exes. A guy you had a one-nighter with who wasn’t happy when you didn’t want more.”
Raini folded her arms. “So, basically, these messages were sent to people who’d have no problem spreading shit about me.”
He nodded. “Dwain’s mom is arguing that the sender wasn’t truly him because the messages were sent via a spoofing site— he’d have no need to use one. She’s right that anyone could have entered Dwain’s cell phone number into the ‘sender’ box on the website.”
Raini let her head flop forward. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
“I think you succeeded in baiting whoever has beef with you. But I think going after Urban Ink wasn’t enough for them. Like you said, they wanted you to be unhappy. Well … ”
Lifting her head, she bit her lip. “What now?”
“Jolene’s going to hold a meeting for the entire lair outside our community center. It starts in twenty minutes. You don’t need to be there but—”
“I’ll go. If I hide, it makes me look like I think I have a need to feel guilty. I’ve done nothing wrong. Okay, yes, I lied to them by omission. But surely they’ll get why.”
“I think they’ll get why. I’m just not so sure they’ll care. Doyle left so many scars on the lair.”
“I know.” She raked a hand through her hair. “I guess it’s safe to say that my plot totally backfired.”
“They were escalating little by little all along, so they probably would have done this eventually even if you hadn’t provoked them.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Man, Maddox is gonna be pissed. You going to tell him yet?”
“Not until after the meeting. He’s pretty protective. He’d insist on being there, and Jolene wouldn’t allow that, so … ”
“All right. Let’s get to the community center. Grams is already there.” Ciaran teleported them to the staff room, where Jolene, Beck, and Martina waited—all looking various degrees of furious. They softened on seeing Raini.
Martina pulled her into a hug. “I get why you didn’t tell me or Beck about your ability, but we wouldn’t have held it against you, honey.”
“No, we wouldn’t have,” added Beck, giving Raini a gentle smile.
“Thanks,” said Raini. “Let’s hope that most of the lair feels the same as you two do.”
Jolene crossed to her. “I’d be lying if I told you that some haven’t gotten themselves all worked up. Try not to take anything they say to heart. They’re shocked more than anything else.”
The door opened. Evangeline and Lachlan entered, looking ready to burn shit down. In his case, that was probably literal. They both hugged Raini and assured her that all would work out fine. She wished she could believe them.
“You three are welcome to stand with me while I speak to the lair,” Jolene said to them. “But Raini, it would be best if you leave the talking to us. Not because you don’t deserve to speak for yourself, but because I won’t let anyone use this as an opportunity to argue with you and cause a scene. You have no reason to explain or justify anything. You’ve done nothing wrong. I won’t let you be treated as if you’re on trial.”
Raini nodded, because she’d never intended to explain herself anyway. As Jolene said, she had no need to. “All right.”
Soon enough, it was time for the meeting to begin. Jolene stood at the northern end of the huge outdoor basketball court, flanked by two of her sentinels. Raini and her parents stood at Orrin’s side while Beck and Ciaran stood near Mitch.
Most of their lair were gathered there. Many appeared shocked, others appeared outraged, and a whole lot seemed afraid. Still, some offered Raini small, supportive smiles. There were actually a few who looked bored … or maybe stoned—she couldn’t quite tell from this distance.
Once the crowd quieted, Jolene began, “As I’m sure you’re all aware, a number of our lair received text messages via a spoofing site. Those messages all claimed that Raini Campbell could wield psychic hellfire. I’m sure you all have several questions— one being, is it true? Yes, it is true. Raini can do so.”