by Sonja Bair
Chapter 24
Later, as Alrik ushered me into the restaurant I had picked for dinner, I spotted a smile creeping over his face. Given the long-distance look in his eyes, I figured he was mentally reviewing the day.
“You enjoyed helping the werewolves today, didn’t you?” I asked.
He didn’t reply at first. I watched his inner debate on whether to admit to such a plebeian response, but in the end he acknowledged his enjoyment with a brief nod.
“It’s a benefit to the entire community of supernaturals if there is interspecies cooperation.”
“Ahh, come on. Admit it. It was fun to be the man with the plan.”
He sighed impatiently but looked down at me with a slight twinkle in his eye. “Perhaps.” I had planned on confessing to him about the binder and grilling him for information, but he was much in too good and rare a mood to spoil. It could wait for a bit.
As we followed the hostess to the table, I bumped into his shoulder companionably. “You did great today. You were an honor to the Alva and I was definitely proud of you.”
“My job doesn’t allow me to be the good guy very often.”
“Oh come on. You always come in charging in like a knight in a white hat when I get myself into scrapes.”
“You mixed your quotes, Freya. English is my second language and I know that’s knight on a white horse.”
“Actually,” I paused, taking advantage of sitting down and arranging myself to bluster up some ridiculous reason for my misspeak, “Ever since Viktor said that you catch more flies with carrots than sticks, I’ve decided to mix up my sayings. It provides a much richer mental imagery and decreases the cliché of using old quotes that no one processes or even hears anymore.”
Alrik laughed. “I call bullshit on that.”
I plucked the napkin from the table, snapped it out straight, and smoothed it onto my lap. “Laugh if you will, but I’m restoring meaning to the spoken language. When the Pulitzer Prize knocks on my lap, I’ll be the one chuckling all the way to the bank.”
“You certainly do challenge the status quo. You got me to admit emotion two days in a row. Perhaps you are changing the world one grumpy Swede at a time.”
“Sunny California makes it hard to be grumpy for very long.”
“So do you plan to stay in California long term?”
“Yup. I love it here. How about you—for a born and bred Scandinavian, you’re spending a lot of time in the US.”
“You keep getting into a lot of trouble.”
“Fine, blame it on me. But I know the real reason.”
Alrik cocked an eyebrow up. “And the real reason is…”
“Sno-cones. There’s plenty of snow, but no sno-cones in Sweden.” I was making up nonsense—I had no idea if Alrik liked Sno-cones.
“Particularly raspberry sno-cones. I love the natural bright blue color they come in.”
I nearly dropped out of my chair. Alrik had played along with my ridiculousness; he never did that. I glanced up at him, but his face was composed and emotionless as he watched the server approach our table and fill our water glasses.
“Can I tell you the specials of the day?” she asked us in a bored, flat tone as she finished pouring. She put down the water pitcher and glanced up, looking at us for the first time. She half-heartedly glanced at me and then turned to Alrik. But she offered no half-hearted glance in his direction—her gaze started at his face, drifted down to his wide shoulders, lingered at his broad chest, then oh-so-slowly came back to his face. “And tell me what can I do for you,” she sighed in his direction.
“You could start with those specials,” I said, annoyed at her reaction.
“Specials. Yes, our specials. Specials for our special customers.” She never looked in my direction.
Sitting back, I watched with a broad smirk, looking forward to Alrik’s amusing way of completely ignoring the many women fawning over him, much to their displeasure.
“I would love to hear the specials.” Alrik looked up, caught her eye, raised an eyebrow, and turned his rare, but killer, thousand-watt smile on the waitress.
My mouth dropped, and so did the server’s. She didn’t say anything for a moment, and then audibly fumbled, trying to remember the specials. Eventually, she squeaked slightly and recited them, never looking away from Alrik.
“Thanks, Audrey. Those specials sound… delicious. Give me a minute to think about what you said.”
“Anything you want,” she whispered and grudgingly backed away from our table. Never once had she looked at me.
Alrik took a sip of water and calmly looked off into the distance.
“Really?” I asked finally.
“What?” Innocence permeated his voice.
“I think you are going to get a side of panties with those… specials.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Oh come on. Why did you lead poor Audrey on like that?”
“Who said I wasn’t serious about flirting? Maybe I’ll ask her out.”
My mouth dropped open. Was he really serious? What in the world?
“Does that bother you, Freya?”
I stumbled for a response.
“Because that’s how I feel when I watch you with David. You are leading him on with false hopes. The poor man is suffering delusions that there will be some sort of romantic relationship with you. If you keep stringing him along, the consequences will get worse and worse. If you think Audrey was a poor choice for me, you should know that David is an even worse choice for you.”
His words cut deep. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I hate crying in public, so I used my anger at his words to push the tears away. Bitter words were about to spill out, but he interrupted me.
“I’m sorry, Freya. Perhaps that wasn’t the best way to demonstrate what I’m seeing happen. But I need to do something to break through to you. Please, let’s leave San Luis Obispo for a while. Leave your job. Get away from the mess of werewolves. The pack will choose another Alpha. They will survive, but I’m not sure that you will. You are getting over your head with all these situations. I have loved you for too long to watch you suffer.”
Damn it. The tears started to fall anyway. For once, I didn’t have any witty comment to throw back at him. In fact, I didn’t have anything to say at all. I fiddled with the cloth napkin, gathering my scattered thoughts.
“If you need sunny, we can find someplace sunny,” he continued. “The Mediterranean, the South Pacific, the Caribbean. My work is portable, and you can get a teaching job anywhere. I know that interspecies cooperation is important to you, so get involved in the USN again. You can do more amazing international work through them—here, you are only helping a few specific people, but you can change the world with the USN. Or rejoin the Alva in Sweden. You never had the experience of being a permanent part of the Flock, and you are missing something. It’s your heritage. Come learn what it means to be Alva. I’ll buy you a sun lamp for the winter months.”
“But I love my job and the students—I can’t leave midyear. And my pack isn’t like the Flock.” I regained my voice. “The Alphas aren’t elected and the pack can’t survive without two Alphas.”
“If no other Alphas appear, then they can dissolve the pack and join another. And your skills are needed more in the supernatural realm than the classroom.”
“No, teaching the next generation is just as important, and I like SLO.”
“Maybe we can come back after a few years; there’s always a shortage of science teachers. Your school would undoubtably hire you back in an instant.But let’s take advantage of this opportunity to free yourself from your job and stressful position as Alpha. The world is a big place—let’s go see it together.”
The waitress interrupted us again. I noticed that her skirt was pulled slightly higher than before. “Complimentary appetizer, courtesy of the house.” She winked and put it down in front of Alrik.
“Thanks.�
�� Alrik’s voice was back to its normal, emotionless tenor and he didn’t look up at her. She stood motionless for a moment, her smile fading slowly, at his abrupt change in demeanor. After a few seconds, she wordlessly spun on her heel and walked away.
“Dude—that was rude.” I said. “You led her on and then tossed her aside when you proved your point to me. She has feelings.”
“I’ll leave a good tip. Think about what I proposed, Freya. Let’s go have adventures together in Micronesia. I can’t imagine what kind of adventures we could have in Micronesia, but you would undoubtedly find something. Take a couple days; talk to your sister and parents about my plan. But it’s a good thing. It’s the right thing.” He stopped, grabbed both of my hands, and gently squeezed.
“Fine. I promise to think about it,” I said softly.
“Alright. That’s all I’m asking for.”
Silence fell between us. I had promised to think about it, but I didn’t want to think about it right now. And where the mood had previously been too good to bring up Viktor’s binder, now it was too tense. I searched my brain for another topic. “Did you find anything on your search for who Nick Smith really is?”
“I called Detective McCleary. And between her databases and my network of resources, we couldn’t find anything on him.”
“That’s a shame.”
“It’s more than a shame—it’s a concern. No one has that kind of anonymity anymore. I can find Joe Average’s last library check-out and favorite restaurant in a matter of minutes, and that’s only a start. The fact that nothing is coming up on the guy is sending up all sorts of red flags.”
“Okay, what’s next?”
“I think if he shows up again, we follow him, find out where he’s staying, and keep an eye on him.”
“Is there any way that he could be a supernatural and we just don’t know his type yet?”
“Anything is possible, but none of the usual signs of supernatural are present.”
“Besides appearing mysteriously, putting you in an unnatural sleep, and knowing way too much about the supernatural community…”
“Any of those could be explained in some way other than supernatural.”
“They could, but I’m getting a strange vibe from him. I’m putting my money on some kind of supernatural. Or maybe something outside our normal definition of supernatural.”
“Perhaps. Tell me about your concert coming up.”
The abrupt change of subject threw me off balance.
One of the things keeping me sane was the thought of finishing out this month with our concert in the plaza. I had a limited part, since I was so new to the band, but having a small part in a gig sounded fantastic. While I filled him in on some of the songs we were doing, Alrik leaned forward and listened with his full concentration, asking all the right questions. I truly felt sorry for Audrey. Experiencing undivided attention from Alrik was intense and a bit of a rush—to go from full awareness to zero within minutes would be disconcerting, to say the least.
While we were eating dinner, Elin texted me that she was downtown, so I invited her to have dessert with us. The binder talk could be delayed a bit, I thought, though, if I were honest with myself, I just didn’t have the emotional bandwidth for another dark subject.
Elin appeared at our table, brightening the room considerably with talk of her upcoming show. I never knew there were so many details in putting together an exhibit. And besides the details of the actual show, her publicist had gone into overdrive and gotten some promises of both local and regional art reviews. I couldn’t wait to go and support her. The show was to be in this funky converted warehouse already adorned with similar art installations like this old convertible car turned into a large succulent planter. Her art would show well in this particular setting.
When she arrived, we promptly fell into one of our more annoying patterns of speech that we used since childhood.
“The director said that he wouldn’t allow any of the…”
“No, really? That’s ridiculous. Has he ever considered that his own place is…”
“I know. I told him that exact same thing, but he mumbled about a prior tenant being…”
“But you would never…”
“Stop, just stop.” Alrik pushed out his hands, one facing each of us. “Please allow one another to finish a sentence before starting another one. You two are giving me a headache.”
“Speaking of headaches, I got a…” Elin said with a gleam in her eye.
“Yeah, Mom called me too,” I interrupted. We grinned widely at each other, pleased to have responded to Alrik’s request in the only appropriate manner.
But this time, Alrik didn’t seem to be as bothered by the lack of a finished sentence since he dropped his hands and focused in on us. “What did she tell you about the Perth peace accord?” His tone was clipped and business-like.
“It seems to be going okay,” I answered, “but there were some sticky points. They worked all through the night and Mom said that it looked as if everything was going to fall apart early this morning, but the two sides came to a resolution right before breakfast. After signing a tentative agreement, they took a break until this afternoon.” I glanced at my watch. “But I haven’t heard from Mom since then, so I’m going to guess they aren’t finished yet.”
“You’ve had dealings with a couple of these groups before didn’t you, Freya?” Elin asked.
I thought back to the previous peace accord that I was part of. “Obviously, it didn’t last forever, though. Five years later, they are back at it again.”
“Jorge led that mission, didn’t he?” Alrik asked, but without waiting for confirmation, he continued. “He told me awhile back that going into it, he thought it was going to be a waste of a mission. There was no way the two sides would ever agree to anything. But then something changed during one break and instead of the verbal skirmish elevating into the physical battle that was brewing, the tone changed. People started to tell dirty jokes…” His voice trailed off and he raised an eyebrow at me.
Leaning back in my chair, I shook my head slowly and scowled. “I remember that some of those jokes were quite inappropriate. Unsuitable for such a formal USN meeting, if you ask me.” Of course I was the one who started with the dirty jokes, but seeing as Alrik knew that and was only trying to force a point, I played dumb. The desserts arrived before he could call me on my denial. I guessed that the waitress decided to give Alrik one more try since she leaned down much farther than necessary, putting her well-exposed cleavage in his direct line of sight. Elin watched the interaction with eyebrows raised and then turned to catch my eye. I smiled and shrugged; I understood the waitress’ motives. Besides easily being the most attractive man in the restaurant, competence and intelligence oozed from him. A woman could feel special and protected if he took an interest in her. Perhaps, in fact, I felt special and protected around him.
After the waitress left, with no reaction from Alrik besides a clipped “thanks,” he leaned forward and, without looking away from his apple pie a la mode, directed a question to Elin. “What do you think about your sister retreating from her USN work and allowing her talents to go to waste?”
“I’m not jumping into that thicket,” she replied with a shake of her head and broke the crust of the crème brulee delicately with her spoon.
“Actually, I do want your thoughts on it, Elin,” I replied, cracking the top of my own crème brulee with more force than strictly necessary. “I’m getting all sorts of guilt from Mr. You’re-Not-Living-Up-To-Your-Potential Fussy-Pants. Am I denying the world the benefit of my profound skills in diplomacy?”
“Oh, Freya, you’re the fussy pants right now. Either tell him that you aren’t interested or make a commitment.” By the offhand manner she used to answer me, I didn’t think she meant anything besides making a commitment to the USN, but the air grew dense for a minute as the double meaning behind her words hung heavy in the air. I hazarded a look at Alrik. His glacier blue sta
re froze me in my seat. But then the ice that formed around me started to melt and in its place, a hot ember flashed. Blood rushed to my cheeks.
“Tonight, I have asked Freya to consider taking her own safety into question and remove herself from the werewolf pack. She could then renew her commitment to the USN. I also offered to accompany her on an extended trip to anywhere she wanted, to physically remove her from San Luis and any repercussions of her involvement in the pack conflicts.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Elin shift uneasily in her seat. Although she may scold me like the big sister she was, I think she realized her previous comment renewed a touchy subject.
“What did you say to that, Freya?” she asked softly.
I looked down, breaking eye contact with Alrik and feeling like a coward. “I said I would think about it,” I mumbled.
She sighed gently and touched me on the shoulder. “Freya, maybe I should tell you what…”
But she was interrupted by a waiter, not our chest-baring Audrey, but a man with a disinterested look who nearly dropped a silver pedestal with a wine bucket full of ice next to our table. Nestled in the ice was a bottle of champagne.
