by Erin R Flynn
“Oh no, it has a cold pool,” I purred even as I took off my vest and the sweatshirt, switching to the FBI women’s T-shirt he’d gotten from somewhere. I put back on my vest and checked my harness and weapons.
“I do not want to see a bunch of shriveled mob dicks,” someone bitched from behind us.
I snorted. “Go undercover as a call girl, host, or at a massage parlor. I’ve had more shriveled dicks near me than I ever wanted and all the booze in this city couldn’t erase.” I counted it down, and we went in with weapons out and holding the warrant. “No one move. This is the FBI serving several warrants.”
I kept going past reception and didn’t even flinch as I walked right past the “Men Only” sign before hitting the biggest sauna, opening the door. I ducked in and ducked right back out, swearing up a storm.
Brian couldn’t resist and looked for himself. “Oh my eyes.”
“What’s going on in there?” Dubois asked, him and Apollo right with us suddenly, which surprised me.
“Apparently being gay is okay if you’re here and not in Russia with the mafia,” I drawled. “There’s a large, hairy male orgy going on in there. No tiny towels.” I swallowed a giggle as I looked at Brian.
“How progressive of them,” he muttered, several of us having a hard time not laughing. It was laugh or run screaming from the crazy sometimes.
“What is the meaning of this?” one of the steam room guys demanded in broken English as he opened the door. “This is private.” He switched to Russian when I held up the warrant. “You better leave, little bitch, or you will be dead with several bullets in your head.”
I smiled at him, letting power flash in my eyes. “I’ve already been shot in the neck today and healed just fine. You however are in deep shit. You were providing illegal weapons to dirty wolves and fucking with endangered shifters. You’re going right to the Shifter Council, and they’ll show you exactly where you rank on the food chain.”
“Shit, she’s even sexier when she speaks Russian,” someone groaned behind us.
“You should hear her Japanese,” Brian muttered.
I shot him a look that it wasn’t the time to talk about that even as I was glad to know that. I focused back on the Russian. “You have the choice to behave and we will let you get your clothes, or you do the perp walk in your towel. Your choice.”
“You will burn for this. I don’t care what you are. I have powerful friends.”
“So does she,” Apollo seethed, his fangs coming out as his eyes flashed power. Dubois followed suit, and even I wanted to back away from them and they were on my side.
At the moment at least.
Needless to say, the humans played nice and allowed themselves to be escorted to their lockers and got dressed. My ancients took the job of bagging everything as I moved on to get everyone out of the pool and anywhere else they were. It was a long list of people we needed after all.
“I’ve got four names to add,” Eugene told me when we started sorting them all after we cleared the rest of the building. “I called Haton to tell her how many we found, and she hurried to get us other names from the interrogations.”
“Okay then,” I chuckled, letting him handle that part. I made a different call to Detective Pratt, and he ended up calling some cars from patrol he knew to help transport. Hell, he sounded fucking giddy we were cleaning out the bath house.
I didn’t blame him. Russian mafia weren’t good guys.
Which was made abundantly apparent by what we found.
“Seraphine, you will want to see this,” Dubois called over, waving me to join him.
I swallowed loudly and went over there, noting he’d punched through a fake wall and yanked it open. Inside was a treasure trove of weapons and very bad things.
“Keep looking,” he suggested.
I ducked inside, and there was a whole shelf of money but another one of canned goods. I sniffed the air and moved closer. “Drugs. They’re hiding drugs in Russian canned goods shipments.”
“I would gather,” he agreed. “I touched nothing but opening the wall.”
“Good, thanks, that’s a huge haul they have to process.” I sighed as I moved out of the hidden room. “We better get a raise, for real.”
“Yes, we were not thrilled with the tiny salaries your government provided when we were assured this was an elite task force and they would be respected,” he informed me.
“We weren’t either, but it was progress,” I muttered. “Most didn’t think it would fly. The government’s pretty broke though, so that’s a factor. But we did get the protection, which was more important. We fought for that, and they’re going to donate the paychecks to prove it’s not about the money and people can’t even live off of that.”
“Smart.”
“I have my moments, but that was Carter and Orson that came from Sander’s smartass comment.” I shrugged. “We don’t do what we do for the money.”
“No, most do it for the power and authority.”
“No, most don’t,” I assured him, wanting away from him again. He let me go, and I was glad I could send the crime scene guys over to handle it.
“Galvin is landing now with another three crime scene teams to help us out,” Brian informed me. “And he will get with Detective Pratt and whatever NYPD brass that’s itching to probably try and take this all over. This is a huge fucking haul, Sera.”
I snorted. “You didn’t even see what’s in that hidden room. There’s a huge shelf full of canned goods they were shipping the drugs in. It smelled like ecstasy.” I was going to say more, but I smelled something odd and headed towards the back of the building where the kitchen was. I hadn’t caught it at first, as I’d thought it was the food.
No, it was prey. I was smelling a prey animal.
I found a panel off the kitchen that was another hidden door. I ripped it off and pulled my gun when I found stairs. Brian handed me a flashlight, and I turned it on and carefully climbed up, sending out my power and finding fourteen of something. I really didn’t know what.
Brian sighed when we were up in the storage area above the kitchen. “There’s nothing here.”
“Yeah there is,” I muttered, nodding to where my flashlight was aimed.
“They’re just pigeons. Weird looking pigeons, but they probably got in here to find somewhere warm.”
“Bri, look at the sleeping bags and supplies,” I argued, squatting down and slowly moving closer. “They’re shifters. They’re not just pigeons.” I studied them and lowered the flashlight so it wasn’t in their faces. “Shift back. I’m with the FBI, and we arrested all the people here.” Nothing happened, and I realized what might be wrong, switching to Russian. “I am with the American authorities. I am also Alpha. Shift back and I can help you.”
One by one, the birds shifted, the one closest to me a young woman no more than twenty. She nervously glanced behind me at Brian.
“He works with me. He’s okay, I promise. He’s my lover. He likes shifters.” I waited until she nodded, relaxing a bit. “Can you tell me how you got here?”
“A man promised us safety,” she whispered, her throat sounding dry and weak. “He would get us out of Russia where it is not safe. We come to America and we work in restaurant, be safe. It was a lie. He sold some of us to men who want prey. He has buyers for some of us. Others he will auction.”
“Not going to happen,” I promised. “Which man?” I nodded when I got several images from them since they were so agitated. “Do you have clothes to dress? I will go get more and more help. You are safe now. You have my word.”
“She is woman who saved rabbits,” someone whispered. “She saves prey.”
“I save as many as I can,” I assured them. I hurried out of there, hoping to catch the guy, and luckily he was just about to be loaded into the back of a squad car. I grabbed him away from the cop and threw him into the vehicle, snarling in his face. “Who did you sell the birds to?” His eyes went comically wide. “Yeah, I found t
hem, asshole. You’re in a whole world of trouble now for selling shifters.”
“Where? I didn’t see any,” Eugene muttered, covering my hand with his. I got it. I needed to back down because we had eyes.
“There was a hidden door on the back of the kitchen that led up to a hidden room. They’re some type of prey birds I’ve never seen.” I draped my influence over the guy. “Who did you sell them to?”
“The cartel guys who buy the guns and pills from us,” he answered, his eye glazed over from my power. “They’re gone. We shipped ten out to South America. We sold a few others to some vamps who like prey blood. They’re coming to pick them up this week. A whole new crop is coming in too. They’re too scared and docile to fight. They were locked up in the room and would have just died now that you’re dragging us off.”
“No, no you will,” I taunted, shoving him into the back of the vehicle. “Eugene, make sure Haton knows he gets interrogated right away.” I looked at the cop who didn’t seem to know what to do with any of this. “You guys have a paranormal hospital, right?”
“Yeah, we got one. These shifters need help? I can call it in they’re coming.”
“Please do. Fourteen of them.” I grabbed some extra FBI jackets and my sweatshirt I’d left by the SUV since what I’d seen in the room hadn’t been much. Apollo did one better and found a bunch of the fancy bath robes the place had. I headed back up there and handed out the robes to those who would need it. “We’re going to take you to the hospital to get help.”
“Can we go to where the rabbits are?” one blurted. “Can we be in that safe pack?”
I nodded. “Yes, it is my pack. I adopted the rabbits. If you want to come to Chicago, we can do that. We can find you jobs in the greenhouses or something you want to do if you don’t want to stay in New York.”
“We would like to leave this place and never come back,” the first one told me, tears in her eyes. I knew she meant the building, but yeah, staying in the city they had been told would help them but had made things worse wasn’t easy.
“I will find the others. I know where they were taken, and we’ll go after them.”
I had a feeling they were more than friends when two broke down crying in relief. I figured family or maybe they were a pack or whatever. It led me to ask what kind of shifter they were.
Gulls. They were a type of Siberian gull also known as Ross’s gulls, which was a weird name. They said Siberian gulls though, so that was what they were. They looked like pretty doves or yeah, weird pigeons like Brian had said.
Several were too weak to even walk, so Brian and I helped get them out, and others brought them to the SUVs after I promised I knew the men and they would help. I cleared my throat when one kissed Brian’s cheek in thanks, and she apologized.
Brian gave me a look like he wanted to poke at me a bit for that. Hey, I had told them I was Alpha and he was mine. No kissing then.
A bunch of the fairies went with, as they could speak globally and would be able to translate. I was relieved because there was still more to do and I couldn’t put it all on hold to help the gulls.
And there were gulls. I was still processing that one.
“I hear you’ve been busy,” Simone greeted when I called her.
“Oh yeah, as I just found fourteen Siberian gull shifters that were being sold and some were already sold that we’re going to go after. They want to move to the pack where the prey rabbits were kept safe. After they’re done at the hospital, can I fly them to Chicago? It’s understandable, but they’re very skittish around men. I had to promise I knew all the ones around us and they were here to help.”
“Yeah, we’ll keep them safe, Sera,” she promised. “Fuck, is the world just so horrible?”
“It’s not just us, Simone,” I assured her, both of us talking of paranormals, not women. “Believe me. We find them doing the same to humans all the time.”
“That doesn’t help me feel better,” she grumbled.
I couldn’t even blame her.
Teams went out to gather the rest on the list, and Axel didn’t seem all that concerned if any of their friends got caught in the roundup as well since they’d probably get added later when we knew more. I told him not to abuse the warrant or they wouldn’t be so loose next time.
We were about to leave so we were out of the way of the crime scene teams and head back to the office for the next round of fun when Eugene guided me away from the vehicles. I let him lead me across the street and down the block, giving him a funny look when he opened the door to a shop for me.
Until the enchanting smell hit me. A bakery. Right, he had said there was one he knew around here that was awesome.
And he didn’t disappoint.
“I’ve had dreams like this,” I whimpered as I walked towards the counter and took in everything. “I dream of awesome and fun cakes that look like this. Normally they’re held by naked, hot guys, but whatever.”
“You have dreams like that?” Eugene asked.
I snorted. “No, but I will now because that’s a good dream to have.” I swallowed a chuckle when the woman behind the counter nodded. “Okay, so I’ll have one of everything and whatever the rest of my party wants.”
“Sera,” Brian groaned.
“Good point.” I waved to both display cases. “So I’ll just take all of this.”
“Sera, cut it out,” Brian chastised, sounding like he was trying not to laugh.
I glanced at him over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “Right, so how many crime scene teams do we have working? Oh, and the NYPD teams. Your teams. My teams from other offices. Now we’ve got more DC teams. Melicent and her people.”
He bobbed his head as I spoke before looking at the woman. “Yeah, we’ll take all of this. If you could mix and match the individual stuff in different boxes, that would be great.”
“See, just always agree with me,” I teased him, smiling at her. “We’re serious, really.”
“I think she’s a bit shocked at how many people walked in wearing FBI gear with vests and weapons,” Brian muttered as he hugged me from behind. “We’re not here for the bakery. It was a bust down the street.”
She just nodded and called in the back for help.
I moved away from him and snagged a huge éclair she’d just boxed up, giving an evil giggle as I did and taking a huge bite. I moaned and shivered it was so good. “This is fucking awesome.” I held it out to Brian, and he took a bite, giving me an amused look. He had a bit of cream on his lip when he moved away, and I leaned in and licked it off, pulling his head down for a kiss after getting a taste of him.
“This was not what I expected when I heard you went after the Russian mafia,” Galvin drawled from the door.
“It’s the full moon. It’s sort of a miracle I’m not eating him instead of an éclair and stealing a kiss, boss,” I reminded him, shrugging when Brian gave me a shocked look that I was being sassy with Galvin. I wasn’t happy about how his wife had treated me and the whole crazy there, him more focused on that fight than hi, I’d been shot.
“We just finished, the other teams rounding up who we missed, and we decided to stop in for some fuel and bribes,” Brian explained. “We found a lot more than expected, and it will take a lot of hours to handle it all.”
“Plus, Eugene was trying to get on my good side and make me less cranky by giving me sugar,” I admitted, taking another bite. “All my sweet and nice-filled blood is all over your living room floor. It’s being replaced with snarky and salty blood.”
Galvin’s eyes flashed surprise, but he nodded towards the door. “Can I have a word, Thomas?”
“Yes, sir.” I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet, handing it to Brian. “It’s the black card. Dain and Simone made me get a black card for some reason.”
“They have no limit, and it’s a status thing.”
I rolled my eyes. “I still have to pay the bill. That’s a weird status thing.” I went out the door when Galvin o
pened it for me and let him move us down the way a bit.
“You’re mad,” he surmised.
“No, just not happy and about a lot of things,” I admitted, rubbing my hands over my head. “We found fourteen super rare Siberian gull shifters they tricked by promising help. Oh, and they sold others to the cartel, and I just took over another fucking pack, and there’s dirt all over the New York office, and I was shot today and called a whore and worse by my boss’s boss’s wife, because that’s new, and Apollo brought a councilman…”
“What?” Galvin pushed when I trailed off.
“They can hear us,” I grumbled, realizing they were still at the bath house. “I can feel both of them.”
“What is wrong with the guy he brought?” he asked, switching to Farsi since we both knew it.
“The guy scares the living fuck out of me. He’s worse than that other councilman I had to deal with that IA wanted to know all about. He’s darker than Igor was, and I’m having some serious PTSD flashbacks because of him, so I know it’s good for the cause to get more of the council on our side as to how we’re doing things, but I hate him being around. I don’t even think you should be here near him.”
“Thank you, but I’ll be fine. I’m sure I’ve been around worse as humans aren’t any less monstrous at times. I also can’t stay very long this time. I’m going to smooth things over with NYPD and figure out who gets what credit, and then I’m back in DC to handle the mess there along with the dirty agents you and Havers are sending from the New York office.”
“Fun times,” I sighed, rubbing my neck. “Sorry about the NYPD mess. There was no good way to let anyone know anything. There’s still so, so much shit and dirt. And I’m not even talking the FBI or the wolves, which was how we did the first two raids today.”
“We’ll figure it out. We always do,” he comforted, reaching over and giving my shoulder a squeeze. “And thank you for saving my wife. I’m sorry she never said that, and I apologize for that. You didn’t deserve any of what she said. I’m not trying to excuse any of it, but she never—nothing she said was that harsh or extreme before. I’ve never seen her act like that. I think it was the situation way more than you.”
