One In A Billion

Why would he have not allowed Dani and Marshal to leave?
Cory looked at Erik, “Why would you not allow them to leave if that is what they wanted to do? I told you about them. You knew who they were by name?”
“Yes, but you didn’t tell me they knew of our kind, Cory. I couldn’t just let them walk out the door.” Erik insisted.
Okay, that was understandable. Cantal thought to himself.
Cory tilted his head to the side, pursing his lips, then rolled his eyes, “Erik, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know. Besides, even with them knowledgeable about your kind they still came out of some sense of honor. That alone should have told you they had no ill intent.”
“Not necessarily. They are street rats. They could have come here looking to blackmail you and Jotham. They had to know you came from money after everything you did for them.” Erik replied.
Cantal damn near leaped across the room to beat the shit out of Erik, enforcer or not. No one had the right to insult his mate’s honor! Before Cantal could say anything, Marshal completely went insane.
“Why you sleezy, fang baring, bully butt head. Fuck you!” Marshal snarled as he jumped from his chair.
“Marsh, calm down.” Dani said pulling Marshal back.
Marshal turned to Dani, tears in his eyes, “No! No damn it! I won’t calm the fuck down! We came here to do the right thing and we may be street rats, but that…” Marshal turned pointing his finger and shaking it around towards Erik, “that prick has no right to look down on us as if we were a dead slug on the bottom of his shoe!”
“Now hold on a minute.” Erik tried to interrupt.
Marshal wasn’t even listening to Erik because eh continued to wiggling his finger at Erik, as his voice became louder with each word. “That moronic hemoglobin lacking snot shit is comparing us to thieves, murders…fucking criminals and damn it we did nothing to deserve it. I want to go now! I want to…” Marshal’s voice broke, “I just want to go somewhere.”
Marshal plopped in his seat and Dani got up and knelt in front of him, “It’s okay, Marshal. We’ll give Cory the ticket and go.”
“I don’t want anything from them, Dani. I swear I won’t complain of the cold anymore. I would rather be on the streets selling my ass then take anything from anyone that looks at us like we are worthless criminals. We’ve done nothing wrong.” Marshal said breaking down in tears.
Oh hell no! His mate was not giving his ass to anyone but him gods damn it! If he had done this in the past, Cantal would never hold it against the man after all, they needed to survive, but that ended for them both the second Cantal walked outside and scented his amante.
“Oh my god look what you’ve done, Erik.” Billy said his voice cracking with unshed tears.
“What did I do?” Erik asked in shock.
Dani turned angrily towards Erik, “We might be street rats, but before that we were orphans. We didn’t ask to have our parents die. We didn’t ask to be put into a failing system so over run and not enough case workers to cover everything or a computer system so outdated it forgets about the ones that are aging out. We were tossed out on our asses with nothing but our pride and honor. We had nothing! No family. No money. No friends to help us. All we had were each other our dignity and honor…period. We never begged for money. We never sold our asses to get money. We went out every day trying to find someone willing to hire two guys with no high school diploma, address, or phone number. Trust me it isn’t fucking easy, but we did this every day knowing that even when we were turned down we had those three things and in just a few short minutes, you just ripped two of what we had out. So yes Erik, you did do something. Pride and honor might not seem like much to you but when you have nothing else but each other left it’s damn next to everything.”
“It wasn’t my intention, but I do have to look out for my Rei and our people. It’s my job as the second in command to ensure that any threat is monitored and taken care of if necessary. Look at it from my point of view. Two men that live on the streets shows up on our doorstep for no reason we know of looking for the consort of our coven and our leader. Then I overhear you talking and know that you are aware of who and what we are. There are many reasons you could have come to us. Blackmail…murder…anything.”
“You could have talked to us like you would anyone else. We came here knowing who you were and trust me we thought about leaving long before we even walked through the gate.” Dani argued.
“Dani and Marshal are not now nor have they ever been a threat to anyone here.” Cory insisted walking to Marshal and placing a gentle hand on the man’s shoulder.
“You don’t know that, Cory and it is my job to make sure that all potential threats are looked into and therefore, anyone that poses that threat to our people will be kept close until the danger to our people can be determined. Like it or not…it…is…what…I…do!” Erik insisted.
“Dani is my amante. He is no threat.” Cantal stated firmly.