by Erin R Flynn
Or supposedly died out.
I swallowed loudly. “Any chance that’s just a fun coincidence you were named that way?”
“No.”
“So you’re the last of two of the biggest Russian royal bloodlines?”
“Yes.”
“Holy. Fuck. Me,” I whispered, not thinking there was a better time to say anything but that. “No wonder the council was so pissed you went from their dutiful team leader to my team.”
He chuckled darkly. “Yes, once they realized I wouldn’t be a pawn for their camp to be an alliance for them. I was always clear I would be no one’s pawn but I believed in absolute power corrupting. Except when I started to see more and more of the council’s corruption from your side. Granted, your government is more than corrupt itself but you fight that too. My side is with you even if I’m not in your bed.”
“And if you are?” I teased as I squirmed on his lap. “Shit, why do I extra want to kneel before you? It so turns me on for some reason I never thought it would that you’ve been chasing me when you’re actually like royalty. I’ve never been into—”
“Your wolf would, Princess,” he murmured, his eyes flashing with his wolf’s. “I was meant to be king and you a princess as the third daughter of the Dorcuses. You’ve built a base of power here and Queen of the Midwest and you might be a Democrat and all about your republic, but a wolf and her pack is not a democracy. You are boss. You want a king to rule at your side and you now know I am one.”
“I wanted you before that.”
“Which is why I only told you now.” He moved his lips to mine. “Why I knelt before my queen before I ever told you. Here’s a secret most never knew. My father was not king but king consort. Wolves are a matriarch society, Sera. My mother was the real power. I always knew I would be king but my mate would be the power. So Brian might be your husband and FBI man and US government person, but I want to be king to your queen and the one who stands next to you to the world.”
Shit, my wolf and siren wanted that too. “I can’t commit to that but I’m not against it.”
“I know. I know both and it thrills me.”
“I don’t understand what I’m feeling,” I admitted.
“Your wolf is maturing into who she was meant to be,” he murmured. “So is mine as I found my queen instead of fighting it. But this is our secret. People would fight this and it is not for tomorrow. Maybe years in the future. I tell you so you know why your wolf reacts to me as she does—why mine reacts the same to you. This is a mating bond like Alena and Zeno. That’s what our wolves have always felt.”
It hit me hard. “That’s why my wolf likes some aggressive shifters. That’s confused others.”
He nodded. “You’re a queen, not just an Alpha. Melicent might be next in line but you were meant to be a queen as well. Some can sense it and that’s why they want to control you. Eva can and that’s why she is making sure you’re groomed so well. You will be more powerful than Melicent. That’s fine, she has Greece, but you—there is no limit for you, my queen.”
“Who else knows?” I whispered.
“I would guess Laila. Dain might suspect your role in the future is more than you could ever guess but he wouldn’t know all of this. Most don’t know my true lineage just that I’m the last Vasiliev.”
“You’re so much trouble,” I sighed.
“It makes us a great pair,” he chuckled, but then frowned. “Are you going after that Alpha in Russia? Tell me you are?” He smiled when I nodded. “I want to help.”
“Why?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “I would kill him just for insulting you and you ask that?”
“Yeah, because something else is going on here.”
“His family was part of those who betrayed mine,” he grumbled, sitting back in the tub, sadness in his eyes. “The truth must have been lost as he would have gone for your throat if he thought us truly mated. I had no idea you were going to see him or I would have told you all this first.”
“Yeah, that would have been useful,” I drawled.
“I had harsh words for Haton,” he said with a huff. “They knew this and the wolf elder about pissed himself over the phone when I spoke to him. He better get his shit together and fast or I will shred him.”
“Get. In. Line.”
He nodded. “But that idiot Oleg also works with the government that betrayed them. I cannot fathom how or what he does—”
“They’re all on the outs with their wolves,” I told him, nodding when he frowned. I told him the full story including the beer guts and he just shook his head. Then I filled him in on what else we were up to.
“Smart. I wish I could get into Russia to help but I am still the top of every hit list and always will be. They won’t simply kill me but capture me.”
“Why? What do you know?”
He smirked at me. “Lots, including where vast, vast wealth and fortunes are hidden below our castles and buried in vaults.” He shrugged when I gave him a shocked look. “They might know sort of where they are but they cannot get in. None but a dire wolf could. The traps might be outdated by today’s standards but they were ingenious back then and they would lose it all to try and they know that.”
“Oh boy, we should have known all of that before going to Russia.”
“Yes, but I didn’t know and…” He shook his head.
Yeah, what else was there to say. He wasn’t read in on operational stuff and Galvin and the FBI shouldn’t know his full history like that. We still couldn’t have known the Russian government would have lost their minds and gone after Brian of all people.
What a fucking mess. There would be a lot of problems with the situation for years to come. The Russian government was denying everything and blaming us for framing them. Greece was pissed as Brian was protected by them. Iran the same. Russia hated Iran because supes ran it.
Just all around there were fucking messes.
“Thank you for telling me, trusting me,” I said when we were both getting too melancholy. “Thank you.” I kissed him, wanting to change the mood and comfort him. “Take me to bed, Eugene.”
“Call me my real name? Just this once?” he whispered, a begging tone that I liked.
I did one better, switching to Russian. “Evgeni, I want to kneel before you and love on you in the way you long for as only your Alpha will give you before we please each other as our wolves need. As I need for you as your woman to take care of me as my man.”
“Fuck, Sera, I will not last long if you speak to me like that.”
I sort of figured that.
That was sort of the plan.
And it worked. He hit the drain and stood with me, whisking us to my room and lowering me to the floor. The hope and hunger in his eyes was all I needed as I took him in my mouth. When I moved his hands into my hair he lost it, praising me in Russian as I moaned at the taste of him.
“I will not hold back anymore, Seraphine,” he warned me, his eyes saying he didn’t mean only about sex. He was planning to court me fully and fuck stepping on toes or who was there first. Brian had ruffled his fur with his plans and setting up the future that didn’t include him and Eugene wasn’t having any of that. “You will be my queen and with all the consorts you want. Name us all mates but you will be my queen.”
Fuck that was hot. I didn’t like it when guys got possessive or aggressive with me… In general. But something about Eugene and Axel—my wolf loved it sometimes. Even as a human woman now and again I had a kink with Brian being my boss.
If I was honest with myself even Ari the elephant team lead my wolf wanted for the same reason. My wolf would willingly submit now and again to certain strong, aggressive shifters if they would fully submit and acknowledge me. I didn’t fully get it but I liked it.
I liked it a lot. And I wanted more of it.
Eugene smirked at me as I sucked him harder and deeper. “My queen likes that, does she? Oh yeah, I never thought I’d want a queen or to be kin
g to stand behind a queen but you changed my mind. Now you know your real place and future. When we are ready we will be what so many need and save more than you can imagine. I swear it to you. I will make it my part of my vows when you make me yours.
“Never will it be about power or greed, but protection and doing what is right. We will fight the corruption and evil and I will protect my queen who will reward me as only you can. Only you could bring me to my knees and make me succumb to my destiny, Seraphine. You know what your name means, yes?”
I stopped what I was doing, slowly nodding. I hated the meaning as my parents had always called me a problem, never an angel.
“Good. You will be the avenging angel to burn those who hurt the ones we help. That’s what your name means, ‘burning ones.’ That’s who you are. You are the force that brings the fires of heaven and hell and justice when others cannot. And we will serve you without question. Serve you and love you always. Is that what you want, my queen?”
Shit, I so did. My wolf and siren did, but even the part that was me wanted love always after a lifetime being tossed aside and denied love. And I believed Eugene’s every word that he’d love me forever if he gave me his heart fully. He was intense like that and never went back. He was a lot like Reagan in that way. No matter how much Reagan had fucked up… His heart was mine forever.
And I wanted it. I wanted that. I wanted that love forever.
I wanted to be their queen.
Maybe I finally understood that it wasn’t about power but something bigger and that was what Alena and Eva had been trying to teach me. Hell, maybe I wouldn’t really understand it for a while longer but at least it didn’t seem quite so foreign.
He finished and the second I swallowed it all, he tossed me on the bed and took care of me. We were both dying to cross that line but we’d both promised Axel that we wouldn’t progress until Axel and I had. It seemed stupid now but Axel had his issues too and given how I’d met him first and he’d been so gentle with mine, it was only fair.
Still, we had a hell of a time behaving and a lot of fun with all the ways to explore foreplay. Eugene didn’t seem to have any complaints when we finally fell asleep curled around each other.
I know I sure as fuck didn’t.
18
“We’ve got another suspected bomb, wrapped like a present,” Shaw told me the next morning moments after I’d gotten out of the shower and answered my phone.
“Where?” I asked, rushing to my closet to get ready.
“DCFS headquarters downtown in the Loop,” she said gently.
I froze, swallowing loudly and trying to squash down my reaction to that place. I hated that building and all the traumas I’d experienced there being handed over to one family or brought back like I was defective before being stuck at another group home. “CPD already clearing a perimeter?”
“Yes, what else you need?”
“I want our trainees bused over there as they won’t get a better live exercise than this to see how we handle it,” I answered. “Alert the ancients and anyone who can help. That’s a fucked place of way too many people to evacuate in the dead of winter and too much snow. I need trains and buses stopped like last time.”
“All over it, Chief,” she promised.
“You always are, Shaw. Thanks.”
I hurried to get ready, Eugene giving me a worried look. They all knew my issues with DCFS anything but also now Murray would abso-fucking-lutely show up just to try and rub it in.
“Wear Brian’s ring on a necklace,” he said gently. “I know you’re not wearing it until he completes this consort training and penance but keep it visible. Murray can’t tell if you’re lying and fuck everyone else. Say it’s tradition until he gets certain blessings. It’s not a lie.”
“Thanks, that helps,” I sighed, leaning in and giving him a kiss.
“I’m coming with.” He shook his head when I went to argue. “If the trainees are coming, I should be there anyways.”
“Fine, but don’t eat Murray.”
“I won’t. I will make it clear it’s not just Brian he has to get out of your bed. And I’m more powerful than whatever witch he had give him that charm. That’s why whatever he was pulling didn’t work on any of the ancients.”
“That’s good to know. I didn’t even think of that when we visited Nina. Is Carter all over that?”
Eugene gave me a look that I shouldn’t even have had to ask. Yeah, of course Carter was. He took security and the safety of not just me, but the pack and all of us very, very seriously. He was the perfect person for the job.
Which was a relief and comfort all in one.
He ran down to his apartment to get a change of clothes and was ready by the time I reached the lobby, my protection detail there as well. Enzo and his team were there, which I might have objected to, but with a simple glance he made it clear they were coming to observe only. Yeah, they needed firsthand information and could pretend to be Noah’s vampires.
It wasn’t as if the humans could sense their age.
I knew the location and led the way, racing over there and scaring the shit out of the CPD when a huge group of us appeared at the barrier.
“Chief Thomas, they’re ready for you,” the patrolman greeted as he moved the wooden sawhorse for me, pointing where I needed to go.
“Thanks.”
“If you can keep this one from going off too, that’s more than enough thanks for all of us, Chief,” he muttered under his breath as we passed him.
Amen to that but I didn’t waste time to reply. I had no idea if I could or if we’d be lucky again. I didn’t do a damn thing last time, after all.
“Oswalt,” I greeted when I saw him at the command station getting set up.
He gave me a nod. “We jumped right into not a prank mode but if you could make the call officially, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’d love to spend first thing Monday morning before even coffee that way,” I told him, my voice dripping with sarcasm to the point several others chuckled.
“Coffee is coming and lots for everyone here,” Carter told me, already there and working with CPD.
“I like you best right now,” I teased as I headed to where Oswalt told me to go. I really didn’t need the guidance since I knew the main entrance well.
It haunted enough of my nightmares, after all.
Sure enough, we had another large box wrapped as a Christmas present. The size and shape were the same, at least a foot in height, length, and depth, but the shiny paper was a different pattern and large bow another color. I didn’t think that significant, but noted it and would include it in my report later just in case.
I moved closer and saw the tag on it.
To: The Department of Children and Family Services
From: Those you didn’t protect
And I smelled explosives. Fuck. Oh, Phobie was really going to earn her fee at our next session for sure. Part of me wanted the fucking building to come down, but I would never, not ever, risk the innocents who could get hurt.
I raced back to the command center and nodded. “There’s explosives in the box.”
“A threat against the Catholic Church and now DCFS,” Andrew Murray said from behind several people. “It’s almost as if you could be the prime suspect, Thomas.”
I turned and locked gazes with him. “Have you been officially promoted yet, Murray?”
He pressed his lip in a thin line. “No, why?”
“Then it’s Chief Thomas, and if you forget again I’ll write you up for insubordination. I won’t keep you from my crime scene but shut the fuck up and act with FBI professionalism this time and learn something.” I held up my hand to silence him. “That’s like saying you’re a suspect for getting here so fast and just stupid. Lots of people have gripes with the Catholic Church and DCFS.”
“And Sera has alibis for both bombs,” Eugene added dangerously.
“Plus, the footage we got might have been shit, but it was clearly a man w
ho left the bomb,” Oswalt added before looking at me. “What is with this guy? I already complained about him to my chain of command. Is he really who we’re stuck with to replace Havers? That’s going to be fun after years of a great relationship with that office.”
Everyone went dead quiet besides the background noise of sirens and radios squawking. Something hit me and I had only one real question.
How was Oswalt not affected by Murray if he had an influence charm from a witch?
“That’s the word,” I told Oswalt, studying him closely.
“You’re a rare breed, Lieutenant,” Enzo said, using his glamour of Eric, amusement in his voice. “You are the rare human null. Not only do you not sense magic or power like most humans, but none of it can touch you. Not any supernatural or paranormal power can be used on you.”
Oswalt glanced at him and gave a slow nod. “My mother said that once a witch tried to curse her but it wouldn’t work. I never knew if I believed it until those soaps Chief Thomas gave us and SWAT last Christmas worked for everyone but me. I’m not complaining, they smelled great, but I didn’t feel a damn thing like the others talked about.”
And that was why he was immune to Murray. It took everything I had not to look at Murray and smirk. Oh fuck that was good.
Carter caught my attention and opened his jacket to show me a charm. I had no idea what it was but I knew it was something to counteract Murray from the way his gaze cut to the human. Something to ask about later.
Right then we had a fucking bomb as our main focus, after all.
Yeah, no big deal.
“To answer you fully,” I said to Oswalt, deciding to get the official answer out of the way and showing that Brian’s engagement ring was around my neck. “We skipped some steps it seems. Brian mostly but I knew something was in the works and we’ve been pushing for more of a supe voice in the FBI. Progress was made and some thought that would be a fun surprise for me.”
