[Rock]I had an early evening meeting on Friday. It was a fairly important meeting. One of my most important clients was amping up for some renovations to a couple of his businesses during the coming winter and I heard some rumors about a new acquisition of his. It was rare to have projects like this pop up in our off-season, but when he did renovations, he preferred them to be evening and night work in the winter. Since the area is zoned commercial, we had to finish by midnight. It was plenty of time. Carmen and Gemma mentioned going paperless a few more times. They were really starting to pressure me, but I thought it was cute. Gemma wanted to take care of Carmen and Carmen wanted to be able to do more work. I would gladly look at what they had once it was more than a suggestion, and I knew it would be. It wasn’t that I didn’t want it. I wasn’t a huge fan of change, but I would accept any change that made Carmen’s life better. It was entirely that I wanted them to feel like they accomplished something and created a change. I couldn’t give in as soon as my mate batted her beautiful eyes at me. For today, I needed to go over the work we’d done for the Thompsons, collect my check, and mark them as ‘do not work’ in my files. Goddess only knows what Mrs. Thompson was thinking, but I wasn’t going to risk my little mate’s heart by putting myself in that position again. There was no reason to tell them until they tried to hire me again. I didn’t want my anger to get the better of me and make me do something I regretted. This was business. That was all. I didn’t return to w0rk for the day with the guys but went to another site instead. Hopefully, that would give the woman time to cool down. I would go in the afternoon to accept the final payment and give them all of their warranty information. After I was done with them, I would take Carmen to dinner and we would go to the evening meeting together. This weekend would be the first full weekend I got Carmen all to myself. I wanted to get all this work over with. -Around five in the afternoon, I went to the Thompson house with Tripp. He was in charge of that job, so I would have him sign off that it was complete as well. I looked over everything closely, making sure the quality of the work was up to our usual standard. My guys knew what I expected and they never let me down. This was a good business for a fae to have. Everything was clearly laid out in the contract and it relied on honest, hard work. “What do you think, boss?” Tripp asked as we wrapped up my inspection. “Looks good. They’ll have a city inspector back out here in a week or so to sign off on it, but I don’t foresee anything we’ll have to fix. You guys did some solid work,” I replied. He looked proud of himself, and he should be. I trusted him to run this site for the first time and he did solid work that was clearly high quality. This would mean more jobs he ran and a pay increase to go with the new job duties. We went to where the owners were waiting for us. The Thompsons were in their forties, but she had at least one surgery and did a bunch of other things to make herself look younger. Sometimes it looked like her face forgot how to work. That was a big part of why I wasn’t interested at all. She wasn’t happy and did unnatural things to change what made her unhappy. Carmen would never be like that. She would accept her body’s changes. She barely wore makeup, which I think got her a lot more respect from the fae who worked with us. And, Carmen was honest in everything she said and did, even if she was a little tricky sometimes. “The inspector shouldn’t have any issues. It looks like my guys got everything exactly the way your designer wanted,” I told them as Tripp and I walked into the living room. “Fantastic. Thank you for another job well done. Here you go,” Mr. Thompson said, handing over an envelope. That was strange, normally he just handed me a check. I opened the envelope, much to his dismay, and looked briefly at it before glaring at him. He shorted us by five thousand. “What the hell is this about, Don?” I asked. “You ѕexually harassed my wife and made her uncomfortable in her own home. I wanted to call the cops, but she insisted that we should work it out this way. You don’t do it again, and we can forget this ever happened,” he replied with a small smirk. Tripp sucked a breath in between his teeth. I looked over at the woman and she wasn’t even trying to hide her smile. This was something they both must have planned. He didn’t look upset and both of them seemed pretty damned proud of themselves. There was nothing in the contract we agreed on that said coming on to the wife would result in partial non-payment. He was an oath-breaker. We had a deal and he changed the terms to benefit himself. He didn’t realize he was dealing with fae. The new laws and regulations in the world made it difficult to sabotage our own work. We would have to fix anything that wasn’t right. I handed Tripp my things and pulled out my phone. I sent off a quick message to the other supernatural builders in the area. We had our own little club where we traded information and networked. It also meant we shared things like this. The bulk of the builders and construction companies were run by supernaturals. Roofers, pavers, and landscapers were usually also supernatural. I made sure this went out to every supernatural-run business in the area. Even if it had nothing to do with construction, no fae business would work with them. Some of the best hairstylists in town were fae. Some of the best stores were run by fae. They made an enemy of all of us when they cheated my guys and me. I’d pull the money out of my own accounts to ensure all of my guys were paid what they deserved. “There’s no point in trying to defend myself. You have already decided what is and isn’t true. I’ll accept this, but this is the last project my company does for you. It’s truly a shame that you’ve let ten years of working together end on a lie,” I told him, shaking my head. “You can work for us again, just don’t try to get me to sleep with you again,” Mrs. Thompson said.Tripp snorted. “Like he would give up his fiancée for that.” “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Mr. Thompson growled. “His fiancée is a sweet little thing that’s half your wife’s age. Why would he want a fake-faced hag when he has a hot little piece at home? You can’t tell me that a werewolf in her twenties doesn’t give him enough ѕex. And there’s nothing a human can do that a werewolf can’t do ten times better.” I turned to him and punched his shoulder. Not hard, but hard enough to shut him up. They didn’t deserve any information. “A werewolf? Seriously? I thought you were a reasonable man, but getting engaged to a werewolf…. That’s practically bestiality.” Mr. Thompson sneered. “Tripp, go to the truck. I don’t need your… help.” “Sorry, boss,” Tripp replied and left.He really didn’t know when to shut up sometimes. Just because there was that fight with hunters didn’t mean there weren’t more in the area. Goddess knew there were enough humans who thought like these ones. “Look, you scammed me and I’m not going to fight it. You’re lucky. You have no proof of what you’re accusing me of and I have a contract. I could easily win this in court along with lawyer’s fees and court costs. It would cost you a lot more than what you’re saving here.“My company will never work for you again. That comment has made you an enemy to all supernaturals. You’d be surprised how widespread we are. I’ve already made sure all of the other builders, pavers, roofers, and landscapers won’t work with you. As an oath-breaker, your name will spread along with the story of what you’ve done and other supernaturals will stop doing business with you. “I truly hope this was worth it. Because you will be ruined within the next year and will have to sell this house. I have no idea what you thought would happen here, but I can guarantee it was nothing like what will happen. Have a good evening,” I said and turned to the door. “We’re not afraid of you. No one is going to want to lose out on money for the pride of some stranger.” He scoffed. “We could have worked something out. But you’re going to pout like a child and tell your friends not to play with me?” Don laughed. “You’re the one who’ll suffer for this, not us. No one is going to want to hire you or work with you after this.” I raised an eyebrow. “You expect they’re going to want to work for and with someone who would make false claims about attempted ѕexual assault? I can take this loss, you can’t. Losing money is different from losing respect and honor.” With that, I left. I didn’t want to listen to the human prattle on about whatever would make him feel better about acting dishonorably. Before I left the property, I used a finger and my earth magic to dig the sigils for an oath-breaker and an enemy of the fae into the ground. I could feel the beneficial magic start to flee. Small fae creatures left the home. It was devoid of luck, not good or bad. All the creatures who would have protected the home left to find a new home. They wouldn’t wake the owners if something happened or save what the humans valued most. Soon, dark spirits and creatures would take the place of the light ones. The things our little counterparts protected against would find a house and owners who were ripe for whatever tortures they dreamed up.  This wasn’t something I did often, but I had no choice. If I let the insult stand, I wouldn’t be respected in the community. And they insulted my true mate. Carmen could turn into a wolf, but that didn’t mean I did things with her wolf half. I knew Blanche understood. I gave her everything I could, but I couldn’t give her what another werewolf would be able to give her. I hadn’t felt inadequate until that thought sprang up on me. All my life I hadn’t been troll enough, but now I wasn’t supernatural enough. I had no other form to share with my mate. I gripped the steering wheel tightly as I drove us back to the office. “I’m sorry, boss. I wanted to defend her but I overshared. Carmen’s a good person and she loves you. You’re different with her around and I think you're better,” Tripp said. “Yeah.” “I know you didn’t do anything with that fake human. I don’t know a single fae who would have anything to do with her. Especially not with a natural beauty like Carmen waiting for them. How did they think that would even work? There was no proof. It doesn’t make sense,” he continued. “Humans never make sense when it comes to money and power. They worked with me for ten years, but they wanted more than to work with me. I’m guessing they would have tried for even more if I had indulged with her. Maybe they were planning to end our relationship if it didn’t work out…. I have no clue.” I sighed. “It’ll be okay, boss. Everyone knows about them, or will know about them. Humans don’t even realize how bad it can be to piss us off. They used to know not to fuсk with the fae, but no one’s careful about that now. They’ll fuсking learn.”I nodded. “That they will, Tripp.” We drove back to the office in relative silence while Tripp messaged every fae he knew with what happened. It was what we did, and even though it was embarrassing, I’d do the same thing. This would reach outside the city and those two wouldn’t be able to go anywhere without attracting the ire of the fae.When we arrived at the office, I went to Carmen as quickly as I could. I wanted my mate to help calm me down. Carmen turned toward me as soon as I walked in. “Gemma, that’s it for today. Go home,” she said, cutting herself off from whatever they were discussing. Gemma looked shocked for a moment, then grabbed her things, said goodbye, and left. I didn’t know if Carmen linked her or if she knew from Carmen’s tone, but she moved as if she knew. I closed the door behind her. When I turned back to Carmen, she was already heading toward me. I reached out for her. Carmen got ahold of my hand and pulled me to the couch. She sat me down, then straddled my lap and hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her little body and held her. My anger at those humans, my frustration with their actions, and my confusion at their motives started drifting away. Carmen was all that mattered. She kissed my cheeks and kept me close. “I’m here,” she whispered to me. She never asked what happened or what I needed. Carmen just knew I needed her. This was what the mate bond was about. This was the connection all supernaturals craved. Comfort without question. Love when it was needed.