by Erin R Flynn
“Thanks,” he panted, leaning against the wall heavily.
We let the elevator go and I shared with a few more of my ancients, showing the perks as well before I swallowed down the rest. I was about to push the button again when their nostrils all flared and I froze.
“It’s not your cycle,” Carter whispered, his eyes full of desire as he leaned into me.
I blinked at him slowly. “You know my cycle? Seriously, dude, you might be taking that watching my every move a bit too far.”
Sander snickered. “I think most men involved with a woman pay attention to that just to know when to duck. Or so I hear from humans.”
“Sharks, you’re all sharks.” I shot Sander an evil look. “Baby shark, do do—”
He moved in the blink of an eye and covered my mouth with his hand, kissing my hair. “Please, please, no more baby shark. I know Topher loves it but for the love of the gods, just no more. Our ears are going to bleed and—how can you handle that thing? I’m sorry, I won’t tease.”
I chuckled behind his hand and nipped it until he moved away. I shrugged. “I knew the German children’s song and that was how the boys found it and that YouTube page right when it came out last month. I sing it to him in German too when you guys get overloaded and he loves it.”
“Can you answer my concern?” Carter worried, sighing when I shot him an annoyed look. “Sera, we—you—please?”
Yeah, they went through hell with my recovery. “I’m on the new stuff from the doc now. He said I’ll have some random spotting for a three or four months, okay? Just chill. I’ll use the bathroom before we leave and check.”
“Wait,” Orson called out as his phone beeped in warning. Soon other of our phones were going off, confusing our guests, and we pulled them out. “Front desk. Christos hit the warning.”
“Fuck,” I growled, worried and pissed because it was the last thing we needed right then. I went right for the TV in the lounge, quickly pulling up the correct surveillance.
“That’s him?” Enzo checked as Andrew Murray came into view standing at the front desk.
“Yes.”
“Bold.”
“Always,” I bitched, as I turned up the volume for all to hear.
“How can I help you, Mr. Murray?” Christos greeted politely.
Good, that meant he was watching the monitors and hit the alerts the moment he saw Andrew approaching. I almost smirked when Andrew flinched at being recognized, but I was too worried what he was up to and what game he was playing.
“Hi, Sera invited me to drop by and check out the place since I’m moving to Chicago and in the market,” Andrew answered easily.
Christos slapped on a professional smile but his eyes danced with amusement, the angles we had showing both of them perfectly. He nodded and reached down the desk and handed Andrew a brochure that was one of the old ones that had been the sales pitch for people interested in units before I bought the building.
“Buildings like these have those sorts of amenities but unfortunately, this building is for pack only so you’re more than welcome to ‘check out’ the exterior all you’d like, Mr. Murray, but you have a residence here is impossible. Sorry.”
“Oh, I thought there was an exception for FBI close to Sera as Brian Havers wasn’t pack and lived here.”
“Well, your assumptions are your own but the interworkings of the packs or our Alpha’s personal relationships aren’t your business. You’d know that if you were actually close to her. Have a nice day, Mr. Murray.”
The look on Andrew’s face was amusing as Christos even took his seat again and went back to watching the monitors, completely dismissing the human. I knew he wouldn’t leave it at that.
“How’s the status of your immigration? That’s a thick accent you have there. It would be nice for you to have the right kind of friends who could help when you’re a young guy in a foreign country.”
Christos slowly looked at him and choked back a laugh. “As the wolf who saved Brian Havers’s life, I think I’m not worried in the slightest as he’s now of my bloodline. And I’m over a hundred, kid. My citizen papers are already finalized and I’m a Beta of this pack. Any other leverage you want to try and think of to gain access to this place when we both know you were lying to me?”
“I wasn’t—I didn’t—you misunderstood—”
“Sure, sure, of course I did,” Christos placated. “More likely you did, as our Alpha has a very charming sarcastic side. I’m sure she told you that you could have an apartment after she has a kale craving or something and you missed that last part. But our Alpha gives us very specific orders and we don’t break them for any reason. So have fun trying.”
Andrew opened his mouth a few times but then closed it before going for the door, shaking his head and leaving.
“Something was off with that,” I muttered.
“This is the adversary you were so worried about?” Enzo hedged, clearly not wanting to insult me but his tone making it clear my judgment might be compromised.
“No, Sera’s right,” Carter agreed.
“Christos could tell he was lying,” I said. “We couldn’t because it was cold out, freezing, but also we were around humans who can’t tell and…”
“His reactions were still muted. Confident but he was shocked how quickly Christos was shutting him down. He’s smart enough to know what to expect with supes. Something is missing from this puzzle.” He turned and hit the button on the elevator.
I shut off the TV and set down the remote, meeting him on the first elevator we loaded up, knowing we’d need a few cars to take down.
“You saw?” Christos confirmed when we reached the lobby.
“Yes, you did well,” I praised. “You didn’t poke him but made it clear that we weren’t idiots.”
“Something felt off,” he admitted. “A man who does his homework enough to know about your ring, Brian living here before, and more I’ve been told doesn’t make such a mistake that I would know he was lying to me.”
“He’s right,” Enzo agreed, understanding what we were seeing now.
We were quiet several moments, lost in our thoughts as the others caught up. It was Carter who broke the silence. “Didn’t you think he might be a supe and that was what made him point the finger at you to get some instructor at Quantico to think you were clairvoyant?”
“Yes.”
“He smelled human,” Christos muttered. “There are ways to hide it, but it takes a lot to fool a born wolf when I trying to make sure.”
“A psychic or gifted human doesn’t smell different to us,” I reminded him.
“True,” he accepted.
“What else do you have here?” Carter asked as he moved around the desk. “Didn’t Nina put in extra protections? Queen Laila blessed something, right?”
“Queen Laila did a protection blessing on the entry of here, the club, greenhouses, and other places last time she visited that would flash if any entered with the desire of death,” Christos explained. “If any enter with the intent to kill us, not just hate or wish us harm, but take action.”
“And that warning didn’t go off?” I checked, relieved at least when he nodded. “What did Nina give?”
“Anti-magic protections,” Christos answered, rolling over in his chair and picking up something hidden from the corner of the desk. He held up a carved box that was locked with a wax seal and I’d seen enough of Nina’s work to know that a grenade couldn’t open that fucker up.
“That’s what he has,” I whispered, shock racing through me down to my toes. “He’s got some sort of charm or magic something. I always thought—people just believe his bullshit. He’d piss off instructors by insulting the Navy by knocking my training level and then days later they’d be singing his praises and totally on his side, lecturing me I was too sensitive and starting drama. I never understood it.”
“That explains why he was so sure he could pull his normal shit on Christos,” Carter muttered, studying the bo
x. “He was shocked it wasn’t working and Christos shut him down, whereas he rolled with whatever looks or punches he got at the scene.”
“Why didn’t we feel it?” Emilio asked before glancing at me. “Why didn’t you?”
“I could see in his head, I always could,” I muttered. “I would think that would negate would ever effect it would have. But now… You’re ancient. You’re probably more powerful than whatever witch he got that from.” I rubbed my hand over my chest, years and years of shit easing inside of me. “It wasn’t in my head. He really was doing something and fucking—it wasn’t me.”
“We need—” Carter started to say but I stopped him by pulling on his jacket and yanking him down to me. I kissed him with all I had and he wrapped his arms around me.
“That thing you’ve wanted?” I purred against his lips.
“Yeah?”
“That thing you’ve been dying for—begging for?”
“Yeah,” he groaned.
“You get it when this case is over. All night. And an IOU for another night when you want it and it fits my schedule.”
“Fuck, Sera,” he hissed, his fangs coming out as he nuzzled my neck. “Really?”
“Yeah, this has haunted me for years, Carter. I didn’t think about what was at the desk. This just gave us a huge upper hand and battle plan before he gets his hooks into our people. Shit, two IOUs. Good job. We need more charms from Nina and a plan how to turn this on him.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“I bet you will,” I chuckled, giving him a quick kiss before pulling away. “Nicely done, Christos. Start warning people. We need them to know if he’s already been talking to people if we have to walk things back or any damage control. I know he was shut down at the club—”
“Nina gifted one there,” Christos said. “She was afraid of someone starting problems with all the guests and attention there too. That’s why it didn’t work probably or maybe who was at the door that night was stronger but yeah, I’ll warn the Betas and get the phone chain going.”
“Good. Now we’ve got a leg up on these fuckers.”
“Sounds like fun,” Enzo chuckled. “On with the tour.”
I saw the hunt but also intrigue in his eyes. Right, he’d be around to see what this thing was that Carter so wanted. Oh boy. I had a feeling it might be more than that. He was getting a full tour of everything we had and that was something we hadn’t even showed Apollo.
“A bus?” Enzo muttered quietly as we stepped outside. “You rented one?”
“We own a few,” I answered. I shrugged when I felt the confusion. “We had the safe housing here and the jobs in the suburbs. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Chicago traffic is a joke and caravanning it back and forth every day seemed stupid. Plus a risk when there were threats when I was gone.”
“Plus, they’re fun to drive,” Nikos said after he opened the door for us. “I was wondering if you guys were coming out or not.”
“Emilio can fill you in. At least no one’s standing the ride. I heard we were packing it pretty full for a while there.”
Nikos shrugged. “People rotated. It wasn’t a big deal.” We all loaded up and the goof got on the intercom as he pulled away from the curb. “Good morning, I’m Nikos, your driver and tour guide today. We’ll be starting at the pack lands and continuing on for a full tour from what I’m told.”
“All right, enough tour guide, we need to talk,” Carter cut in when Nikos started pointing out shit to amuse people and cut through the tension.
“Before we do, we wonder if we get to live in that nice building right downtown like your other ancients if we pass this job,” one of Enzo’s guys said in broken English with an even thicker French accent.
I shared a look with Orson and Emilio since we were all sitting across from each other at the front of the bus, Carter and Enzo on either side of me. “That sort of defeats the purpose of having more of you guys. We need more of you to cover our expanding.”
“You’ll see the other building and it’s just as nice but it’s not downtown,” Orson explained. “It’s in the suburbs where we need people to be to protect those living there.”
“That’s not to say we couldn’t work something out,” Carter added. “Orson was talking about moving to that building since he’s our pilot anyways and it’s closer to the airport. We’re working with special ops teams for the FBI so we do want some split between the two buildings.”
“Yeah, but I’d be cool trading off,” Emilio offered easily with a shrug. “We’re used to it being council guards and changing conditions. We have other friends who’ve hinted they’d be up for making this their coven if there was room and a chance for them.”
The guy nodded. “Yes, of course. We worried…” He glanced at a few of his team.
“We might be shipped off to smaller areas,” one said.
I snorted. “No offense, but we have enough problems in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with them accepting the supes already there. The last thing we need is to send bunch of ancients there to freak the fuck out of the sheltered and closed-minded idiots we’re fighting against too often. Right now the threat is here but Melicent won’t be Alpha for me in New York and Newark forever.”
“That’s not to say there won’t be assignments there to help out or lend a hand, but I think the longest any of us have gone is a few weeks,” Carter added.
“And they were pretty fun assignments,” Sander chuckled darkly. He smiled at the others and their questioning gazes. “We basically went to make sure the local covens didn’t try shit or any wandering shifters try to take over what they saw as prime targets.”
“Don’t tell me,” I cut in, setting my tablet on my lap and pretending like covering my ears would keep me from hearing what he’d say. “You weren’t FBI technically yet or on leave while I was gone. I don’t want to know but I know some of it was crossing lines I can’t know about.”
“Yes, which is why any of that would fall to the non-FBI part of the coven,” Carter told them. “And there’s fun helping Noah’s security company. Remus and Jake are good for such young vampires. They’ve been having fun with the new wolves Sera allowed that were military special ops as humans. Their work is thrilling.”
Wow, he knew what bait to use to lure in ancient vamps because he had their complete attention the rest of the ride to the pack’s lands talking about all the groups being rescued and pulled out of hot zones. It made sense that after living thousands of years being glorified bodyguards weren’t enough for them anymore.
I could see that but then again, I longed for quieter days.
Then again, I’d probably be jonesing for action a year after taking a calmer job.
“No offense to your tour, but I don’t quite understand why we’re starting here,” Enzo said as the bus stopped outside the new Alpha house. “The pack has lands. Yes, it’s protected by layers but even I know you invited the Chicago office here and the FBI knows about this place and the non-profit it hides behind.”
“Yes, but what most don’t know is what we turned the Alpha house into,” I said as I stepped off the bus.
“What?” he asked as he joined me.
“A safe house.” I held up a finger to hold off until the others joined us. “We’re the first certified shifter-run safe house for newly infected shifters. It’s not a government facility where they throw strays into a concrete basement with bars if they weren’t scooped up by a pack or group and hidden.”
“It’s a big deal,” Sander told them when they gave us confused looks. “It’s a pilot program and Sera had to do battle to make this happen. Like go to the mat with the help of the mayor and get the president to finally sign off on it. The supe laws are federal and what she’s trying to do is to make the change be that someone federal from the FBI supe branch has to sign off on the safety of a new shifter.”
“Who does it now?” Enzo asked.
“Any local law enforcement or asshole at the county level who got the
funding to open those ‘safe houses,’” I said, not hiding my mocking at the term. “There are some for vamps as well but you guys are better at finding your fledglings since it’s not just a scratch that changes them. There are places that require they go there but no one to enforce it. That could change.”
“So you’re trying to get out in front of that and make a plausible checks and balances system that makes sense instead of one that can lead to pushing shifters or vampires to go feral so young,” he muttered, giving me an impressed look. “You are right to worry this would be a target.”
“Yes, especially since I’m not sure they know about it or this is part of the secrets they want to find out.” I glanced at the group. “Time to start making lists and impress me, guys. We need to beef up security here and fast. There’s no way to put up a fence or close off all the pack’s lands and not send up a huge sign we’re hiding something here but we need to do something and yesterday.”
“One of us should stay here for sure,” I heard someone say and I couldn’t have agreed with them more.
Mostly because self-preservation was Andrew Murray’s greatest asset and even he wasn’t stupid enough to not be scared of an ancient vampire if he was trespassing. Fuck a duck I hoped that was still the case at least.
15
After the Alpha house and pack lands, I focused back on my reports and work while we moved on with the tour. We headed by the greenhouses and wholesale flower company I co-owned with Laila, the new apartment building I owned, and then the blood-bottling plant… None of which I could still believe was mine.
Any of it. People thought I was flippant with my wealth but honestly it still hadn’t sunk in that I was in the top of the top one percent. I didn’t know if it would ever really penetrate my brain the way it would most people.
Then again, maybe I needed as many years having the money as I’d had nothing and charity in the foster system. It wasn’t a priority for me with the piles of my other issues. Phobie didn’t seem to be concerned either now that I’d gotten over my dirty feeling of using the money considering how I’d acquired it.
