"You're a good man, Darian. Take care of Sofi," Dusty ordered. He watched the change, irritated by the bizarre mood swings and cryptic ramblings that defined Darian's speech lately. "And follow the rules."
"I will. I'll make sure she rests and I'll go with her everywhere so nobody hurts her."
"Good man," he said again. "And if you need anything, come to me."
"I won't," Darian said. "I mean, I won't need anything, and if I do, I'll come to you. We don't have much time; we better go shopping for baby clothes."
Darian watched the confused Grey God leave, never imagining he'd deal daily with this type of drama in addition to managing the battles against the vamps in the western hemisphere. His second-in-command and executive officer, Sasha, was in Europe, along with everybody he'd been able to spare. It left him more hands-on with the western front than he'd been in hundreds of years. Once Damian came back, Dusty was going on his first vacation ever.
He glanced at his watch. He'd messed around with Jenn only a few hours earlier and already felt the need to unwind again. He rose and left Darian's room for the foyer, where Toni was waiting for him.
"Hey, boss!" Toni greeted him cheerfully. "We interrogated the kid we found in the Camaro the other night. He's kind of a spaz. I think he's on drugs."
"Was he initiated yet?" he asked.
"No, not yet. You want us to keep him or cut him loose?"
"Cut him loose with a GPS tag. We'll see where he goes. He have any good info?" Dusty asked.
"Good, no. Weird, yes. He seems to think Talon is the Black God."
"That idiot?"
"Apparently Talon's telling folks he's being crowned the next Black God," Toni said with a grin.
"Crowned? Don't think that's how it works. White Gods inherit their title, but Black Gods normally get hacked to pieces by their successors. I'm not old enough to know how," Dusty said, convinced Talon was psychotic in addition to sadistic. They strode into the sticky heat towards the gym between the house and the garage.
"Me neither. Czerno will eat him alive. Boss, I was gonna ask if you needed an XO while Sasha is out," Toni ventured.
"You want the job?"
"Definitely."
"It's yours," Dusty said, somewhat relieved to have a little more help. "Move your shit here. I need an hour in the gym then we'll go over the logistics issues you're inheriting."
"Groovy, boss." Toni saluted him with a smile and jogged to his car.
Dusty strode into the gym and peeled off his shirt. He'd gone a week with an hour of sleep. If Darian lost his focus and disappeared again, he suspected it'd be another week before he had a chance to sleep. If Talon was planning to challenge Czerno to a showdown here in Miami, Dusty would never get another wink of sleep again. His phone rang as he reached for a dumbbell.