by Erin R Flynn
I still ate the dessert, of course. I also found out Brian was there because the preliminary report on the bomb had come in from CPD bomb squad. I sighed as I read it over. No prints. Nothing hard to get in triggers or wires to trace. The sample of C-4 was being sent to trace with the right people but that would take a while so nothing at the moment.
Oh, and absolutely no useable camera angles or footage. The best was a block away and showed a blob wearing all black carrying the box.
Awesome, we had shit. Less than shit even.
At least the desserts were amazing. Jacqueline had done variations on the youtiao, which was a Chinese donut, and had done them éclair, cream puff, and other cool styles. The delicious kind of styles. Shit, I loved donuts.
Yeah, yeah, insert law enforcement donut jokes here. Idiots.
“I don’t know you,” Brian said to Enzo, seeing Eric.
“He’s a friend of mine to help with a certain new situation,” Carter said. “We might be calling in more backup but that’s about all I’ll tell you given you will feel the need to tell people and that will blow the element of surprise.”
“Don’t poke him with humans and cameras around, please,” I muttered when Brian started shaking like he might shift. “Brian, take some deep breaths and pace a bit.” I was about to snap at him when he didn’t but then I saw someone was walking down the aisle carrying something. He did after they passed and I let out my own slow breath.
Wow, I really had been hurt bad that he didn’t trust me if I assumed he wasn’t going to listen to me on something so small. Wonderful.
“Oswalt did you a solid,” Brian told me as he kept pacing. “I’ve not talked to him but someone else gave me a heads-up. He reported to the chief of police that some FBI guy was giving you shit and distracting you while spilling secrets. He asked if IA was giving you crap or something because it was really unprofessional and had a lot of people talking.”
“I so love that man,” I chuckled. “I need to get him a better Christmas present. Hell, I want to meet his wife. A woman who handles what he does and he’s ridiculously devoted to is someone I should be friends with.”
“The chief of police passed it on to the mayor and the mayor actually called into the FBI and bitched about some idiot starting problems on a bomb site when there’s enough crazy going on with my departing the regular FBI. He said it was the smoothest situation like that in the history of Chicago crazy because of how you handled it and the last thing any of us needed was people trying to undermine you.”
“Well, that makes up for having to put up with his wife at events,” I admitted. He’d promised to talk to her that I wasn’t the reason for Galvin’s divorce but at a fundraiser last month she’d been very frosty to me instead of hesitant. “And what was the response he got?”
“Nothing yet from what I know,” Brian said. “It’s the weekend though. I’m told the message got passed up to Galvin and the director so we’ll see. I don’t know what kind of message either but the mayor is protective of you.”
I opened my mouth but then closed it, shooting Dain a guilty glance. His eyes went wide and I cursed under my breath.
“What are you plotting, my love?” he purred.
“Nothing, just some thoughts and maybe I mentioned an idea. Nothing more. We have enough on our plates.”
“You want him to be mayor, don’t you?” Carter asked.
“No, maybe one day,” I sighed. “I don’t know. I think it’s important that more supes run for office. There are only a handful. That has to change.”
“What was the ‘idea’ you specifically mentioned?” Dain asked.
“That I’d back the mayor in his 2015 race that he won if he was open to the discussion of backing a supe candidate in the next election in 2019.”
“And he said?”
“Yes, because he’s hoping for a senate race in 2020 and hopes I will back him there. I didn’t promise to because the ones we have are pretty pro-supe and sometimes I think the mayor only is because it means money for the city.”
“You are not alone in that feeling,” Dain muttered, sighing heavily and pinching the bridge of his nose. “You are such a troublemaker, Sera.”
I blinked at him in shock. “That’s the first time you’ve said that about me. I think I might actually be worried I am now.”
He gave me a look he didn’t know what to do with me.
I almost couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t ever admit the idea of being involved with the mayor made me want to vomit, but he would be perfect for the job. He’d do it better than anyone else and had the resume to make it truly work and well. Especially now with adding the FBI training to his resume.
And I loved my city. I also thought he’d like it so I’d suck it up.
But we also had over three years until then and a lot of problems already on our plates. Fuck a duck.
13
I had just settled into the hot tub after doing the siren show for my date with Simone when Phobie came into the room with her as well. I sighed, glancing between them and wanting to duck under the water to hide. Instead I tossed back my drink. “That bad, huh?”
“No, not at all, but I’m about to cross over the line of a therapist so this is off the record,” Phobie answered as she got undressed.
Simone quickly stripped as well and got in the water. “And you listen to us so right now you need to hear what we have to say and have the faith you need in yourself.”
“Huh?”
Phobie chuckled, accepting a drink from the tray I’d brought in, assuming Simone and I would need several. “You’re down on yourself because you lost your shit. You’re so damn hard on yourself and you broke. To you, strong women don’t do that. That’s bullshit, Sera, and we’ve gone over that. What you’re not seeing is the progress.”
“Okay,” I hedged, trying to get what she meant but missing it. “You’re being pushy instead of letting me come to my own conclusions on everything.”
“Yes, I’m leaving my therapist hat for another day and being more life coach so you see where you’re currently standing, as the situation is severe and fluid,” she explained. She shrugged when I gave her a shocked look. “Sera, you’re also my Alpha and you’re doing much, much better with this than I know you’ll give yourself credit for.
“Yes, you broke. Yes, you cried—which is normal and healthy to process our feelings. But you did it for one fucking night. One day at most. You were here today at the tasting right back to being Alpha. You’ve already called in for help. You immediately recognized this was more than you could handle and instead of always being an island, called for help. You didn’t shut everyone out.”
It hit me like a ton of bricks and something good broke through all the pain and fear. “I’ve made progress.”
They both nodded, smiling widely. Simone reached over and rubbed my arm. “Your foundations held. Last year you had no foundations and everything shattered. You took the time and now you have them. Yes, you broke but you have a child now. I would have even with mine if it was the first threat with a baby to protect. That’s normal. That was the extreme here.”
“But the work paid off. You have the foundations and supports in place,” Phobie added. “It worked. All that effort and time we’ve put in and you stood the hits. Yeah, you let yourself fall on your ass in private for one night but then got back on your feet and started pulling resources and the plan. You did it. Your shields held and all of it and we’re proud of you.”
I was too. I think relief filled every cell of my body. I did deserve that break and I was ahead of when I’d taken other hits. This was a validly scary threat but I wasn’t down as long as I had been before. “Okay. Yeah, okay, we can do this.”
“Of course we can. You called in someone cloaking so much that they’re fucking scary so they’re a damn good threat as well,” Simone said easily. She shrugged when I gave her a shocked look. “I have my guess but I don’t want to know. I’m strong enough to sense when people
cloak now, having learned to feel when you do it. The leaders are taking the threat seriously and we’ll back you however we can.”
Phobie sighed when I nodded. “Good. This was the first part. Next, Brian. Normally I’d give you the time to find your answers and where you—”
“You want me to end it,” I rasped, knowing how Simone felt about betrayal. My eyes misted as I looked away from them.
“No, not at all,” Simone said gently.
“What?” I gasped.
She sighed. “Sera, this isn’t Tristan making… Forget the past. This—it’s totally different and even if he walked away from you before when you became a wolf that man has climbed mountains to prove you are all he wants. When you were gone…” She swallowed loudly and looked at Phobie.
“I wish a man loved me half as much as Brian loves you,” Phobie admitted before taking a long sip of her drink. “Many of us are jealous. Forget about the optics or what you think others will judge you. What do you want? Do you want him?”
“Yes,” I immediately blurted. Simone took my empty glass and I thanked her as she handed me a filled whiskey. “I’ve always wanted him. I think I’ve loved him since way before I should or knew how to. He puts up with so much and he’s done so much, I know this. But it’s not just me anymore and if he does this stupid shit and it can risk everyone else… Can I be so selfish?”
“Yes, because we’re going to jump in and get him to where he needs to be,” Phobie promised. “He needs a crash course. I hate giving ultimatums and requirements for relationships, you know this, but as you said, it’s not just the two of you on the line. You are the Queen of the Midwest whether you like the title or not, and now is not the time for you to take another hit. We need this.”
“Tell me,” I demanded, excited for the hope someone had a plan.
A plan that could make things work out and I could put Brian’s ring back on my finger. I wanted him forever. I thought I would die when I saw him shot and dying. I knew I wanted him; it was why I couldn’t demand he leave even when I was hurting.
That was love.
I listened to what they had to say, nodding along and only sipping my drink so my head was clear to handle what I needed to. I had a few questions, but it seemed so simple and clear that I wanted to break down sobbing that I knew what to do. I shocked them by kissing each of them full on the lips before standing and getting out of the hot tub.
I opened the door and stuck my head out, knowing Carter was there, but ignoring how his eyes raked over my naked body. “See who is available for a meeting. I want Brian, Dain, Noah, and the twins. I will speak with Axel and Eugene privately another time.”
“And me? Goran?” he hedged.
“Of course you, and I thought Goran was out of town.”
“No, he came back when he got word of Brian and now what else is going on. He’s making sure he’s here for the time being.”
“Ask him to come if he can. My apartment.”
“Understood.”
I redressed and handled a few things at the club, including accepting a sizeable amount of the non-spicy leftovers. We headed back to my apartment and I made sure Enzo was tucked in my room cloaked before the others started arriving. I shared my haul but held up my hand to Brian when it was clear he wanted to speak privately.
“Thank you for coming so quickly and dropping everything,” I said to all of them. “We’re in a bit of a crisis mode and I’ve called in outside help as the problem is smart and will have done his homework.”
“Meaning he’ll know the players and assume we’re all being watched,” Goran surmised, nodding his head when I did. “Got it.”
I met Brian’s worried gaze. “Apparently I didn’t make myself clear how you hurt me professionally by not consulting me about my replacement as SAiC of my old team when you were my division chief as most would. Let me be clear now that it did. This did.”
“Sera, I didn’t—”
“Stop,” I ordered, putting power in my voice, glad when he instantly did and even bared his throat to me. “We’re not on the clock and I’m Alpha here. I’m calmly laying out where we’re at—where I’m at and your options from there.” I waited until he nodded, lowering his head again to meet my gaze. “What you did cannot be done again. Do you understand me?
“You have a traditional human family. That’s great. This is your family now too.” I gestured around the table. “We’re pack. We’re family. Fine, there are things you won’t tell us about your parents or brother. That’s fine. You won’t tell them things about us just like the lines of work and personal. But the main problem—well, one of them—is you told your family about the promotion and decisions and not this one.”
“Smart,” Dain muttered, feeling what I did. “What she’s saying is if you wanted it to be a surprise, you could have talked to me as I’m FBI. You have Alena’s number. You had outlets you should have used to discuss the options and possible fallout. You’re smarter than you acted and she has a valid right to be hurt and disappointed in how you behaved, especially given you know how the boys’ club has hurt her.”
“Thank you,” I said to him, thinking he’d phrased that as well as Phobie did.
“You’re right,” Brian whispered, quickly wiping his eyes. “Does this mean there’s still a chance for us?”
I felt the tension in the room rise as that was the question everyone wanted an answer to as well. “Yes. I love you and I don’t want to lose you even if you’re a fucking moron sometimes.” I held up my hand again when he looked too relieved. “You did a lot of damage you don’t understand yet so this is not just done.”
“We did penance to earn our place back in her bed and at her side,” Hagan explained.
“Yes, but Simone also suggested a bit of rewriting of history as the story hasn’t been told yet really.” I swallowed a sigh when I felt how miffed they were at that. “He gets a very large—do you remember the hell he went through when I was gone, because I remember what he looked like when I was gone? He’s not getting a pass but things are different and your situation was different.”
“That’s fair,” Reagan accepted. “And he wasn’t a wolf at his Alpha’s side when his indiscretion happened. We were and it went on for a while.”
“Yes.” There wasn’t much else to say and we were past it so not the time to rehash it either. I met Brian’s hopeful gaze. “The twenty-fifth is the full moon and my thirtieth birthday. I would like to present you to the pack at a joint gathering as my official consort as Dain is.”
“Not your mate?” Noah asked, his tone shocked.
“No, I agree with Melicent that I not take an official mate until I’ve secured more on my own, as most will say it took a mate to make it happen.”
“And to get us to there?” Brian asked, understanding there were hoops coming up first.
“You’ll have that time off from work anyways,” I hedged, getting into the part where I wasn’t sure I had the balls to do this.
Dain covered his hand with mine. “She’s not ordering you as your Alpha. You asked what you could do to make this right. She’s offering you a path. If you take it, that’s up to you, but it’s not just you two anymore. The pack and community she leads is on the line. The community you are now a part of.”
“I understand. I’m open to it, I promise I am. If it shows you this was a mistake, an oversight, and not me thinking—you’re my partner, Sera. I love you. I fucked up. Let me help fix it and any face you might have lost,” he practically begged me.
“The director—and certainly Murray—were under the impression you weren’t going to tell me or consult with me on this,” I muttered, looking away from him. “However, I would think you didn’t just spill everything so there are some gaps to fill in and ways to save face.”
“He did not get any of that from me,” Brian cut in. “We didn’t talk about you or my relationship with you. He knew, of course he did, he joked about it being a big change for a woman, but I shut it down a
nd he didn’t bring it up again. It wasn’t over the line but I made it clear that wasn’t a conversation I had professionally and certainly not with subordinates as he hasn’t been promoted yet.”
“We should go over a full debrief of what you said and your interaction with him,” Carter muttered, jotting down some notes out of the corner of my eye.
“Fine, yes, whatever. Sera, please, I’m dying here. How can I start to fix this?”
Part of me wanted to be mean and make him squirm. My siren certainly wanted that, but she and my wolf also felt my fear, knowing there was danger stalking us too.
“Eva has publicly commented that Dain didn’t need to be educated on how to be a consort as Queen Laila taught him well,” I said, turning my hand over and squeezing Dain’s for support. “Melicent’s main consort, Bemus, knows the politics well and exactly how appearances are.”
“You want me to train with him?” Brian asked, his tone confused.
Dain squeezed my hand this time. “She’s suggesting a PR tour like it was planned before you became one of us but Russia pushed up the timetable. You were right that Sera wouldn’t have liked you asking her family for permission to ask to marry, but a smart man would have asked Melicent for advice. Certainly Bemus.”
“You don’t just need to learn how to be a wolf but how to stand at your Alpha’s side, as it’s rare and an honor for a wolf,” Reagan added. “It’s going to be complicated given you’re going to be her boss with the FBI.”
“Not really with the roles changing,” Brian muttered. “That was part of my worry and the discussions about how things would change with Monroe becoming equal to Galvin. There still won’t be a full hierarchy and we’ll use the regular FBI’s resources as we do now.”
“Sera, please,” Dain whispered, his voice pained.
I flinched, realizing my hand had shifted into a claw and I had dug them into his hand. “Sorry.” I let out a slow breath and changed my hand back, glad when I saw he was already healing. “I’m not ready for this part of the conversation, it seems.”
