Invading Alpha

by Erin R Flynn

  “What’s going on?” Sands asked.

  “Something is coming,” I muttered, glancing at Carter who nodded. “Humans hang back a minute.” I actually wished we had the fairies with us, as they were kick ass and fast, which was needed given we were in a busy neighborhood with a lot of collateral damage and innocents. “What the fuck is this?”

  “A trap,” Emilio warned. “You’re feeling the enemy gather to get us.”

  “We can’t call in officers or they’ll just be in danger too,” I muttered, not sure what else to do but face the music. We were all wearing vests since that was my rule for this trip and everyone understood we were in that kind of trouble and to listen to me on that.

  “We’ll take point,” Carter said, and I nodded. They were just so fucking fast and good at using it whereas even if I could keep up with them, I didn’t have centuries of being used to that.

  He and Emilio blew out the door, and I heard shots fired, one landing in the wood above the door. So they’d seen enough in the windows to know we’d basically taken up the whole shop. They’d have to be insane to go up against that much law enforcement, right?

  Two more of the ancients went before Sander and another ancient next. There was more gun fire, so several more went as I did with the non-human team from DC. I heard a bullet whiz by me as I dove for cover behind some parked cars. I’d gotten enough of a glance coming out of the shop to know there was a reason for that feeling. There were at least twenty guys that I’d seen down the one side across the street in position behind vehicles and were armed.

  What the fuck?

  I dropped to the ground and wiggled my way between the curb so I could see at street level. I brought up my gun and aimed at the feet I could easily see with my wolf vision. I shot a few ankles and wasn’t shocked when I heard some serious cries of pain. They seemed to get what I was doing after the third one and either hid behind wheels or dropped down too.

  Which was my cue to get behind a wheel.

  I went up top and managed to get a few through the windows. So clearly these weren’t high grade assassins if they didn’t even know not to hide in full view of clear windows as glass didn’t stop bullets. I wasn’t the only one landing hits and taking them down though as all of our side was spread out among the cars as well.

  Something changed, and I realized I felt the malice behind us as well, glancing over my shoulder in horror.

  “Carter!” I bellowed above the gun fire and raced back into the restaurant. I had just enough time to aim at the guy coming out from the kitchen and shoot him in the head before one of the employees pulled out a shotgun from behind the counter. Terror filled me when I saw who he aimed at, diving to block Brian as I swung my arm around to shoot the guy.

  We fired at the same time from less than ten feet away from each other.

  Fortunately for everyone there, the shotgun wasn’t filled with buck shot or pellets that could nail a lot of people standing together.

  Unfortunately for me, they were armor piercing rounds.

  Brian and I fell back together from the force of the shotgun, but I immediately tried to get away from him.

  “Stay still, goddamnit,” he snapped.

  “Shifter,” I choked out. “Infect you.”

  “Shut up, idiot,” he growled.

  Luckily Sands was there too, and I gave him a pleading look as everyone else focused on clearing the restaurant. “Havers, let the vampire help her.”

  “No!”

  “Please,” I wheezed, pushing him away as more blood appeared and Carter ripped off my vest. “Can’t infect you.”

  “Sera, I don’t fucking care,” he choked out, grabbing napkins and pushing against my wounds.

  “But she does,” Carter snapped, shoving him away. “Emilio, give her energy.”

  A mouth mashed down to mine as Carter dug into my stomach for the bullets. I screamed even as I fed, my hands changing to claws at the pain.

  I heard several people shouting, mostly “what the fuck” given what we were doing, but a few others were calling clear or status on outside.

  “She’s going to be fine,” Carter told them as Emilio pulled away. He smiled down at me. “You’re fine. I got both bullets. They were armor piercing, but you were on an angle, so one actually caught you in the stomach under the vest, and the other felt worse than it was given it was in your chest. It did crack your rib, I’d guess, so give yourself a few minutes to heal.”

  “You’re the hottest doc I’ve ever had,” I teased him. “Outside?”

  “All clear.” He frowned though. “Who picked the restaurant?”

  “Sera did,” Brian answered for me. “She was looking up other places to hit while in New York and checked they could take so many.”

  Carter rolled his eyes. “Well, at least we got out all the rats then.” He waved me quiet when I opened my mouth. “You picked the only Ukrainian place that actually gets along with the Russian mob guys and are represented by the same law firm as the cartel. Seriously, is your luck so bad?”

  “Normally,” I grumbled. “Well, at least they didn’t have to go looking for us.”

  Carter’s lips twitched. “Not funny.”

  “If no one on our side is hurt, it’s funny.”

  “You got shot, Sera,” Brian yelled from where Sands was holding him back. “Again.”

  Which we both knew really meant “I got shot saving his life again.” I smiled up at him. “Does that mean I get to try the Korean shaved ice place? I saw online that they have a huge melon one that is actually served in half of a watermelon. Does wanting a sixteen dollar dessert make me too expensive of a date?”

  His eyes filled with tears. “I thought you were dead, babe. I was sure you were dead. Please, please don’t do that to me.”

  “Bri, you would have been if I hadn’t,” I reminded him. To hit me where it did, the guy had been aiming for his lower torso, knowing we were wearing vests and assuming at that close of range he could still kill Brian with that much internal bleeding. Brian looked ready to break down, so I glanced at Sands. “You guys need to go be boss.”

  He nodded, knowing I wanted Brian away from watching me heal, my blood all over the floor.

  “Get a mop so no one tries to get samples of her or whatever,” Carter told Emilio at a level the humans couldn’t hear.

  “Give me a minute,” he muttered. “She took a lot and fast. I was down on the tank after last night, and we haven’t fed.”

  “Sorry.” I sighed. “For once I wasn’t. Godsdamnit.” Carter gave me a funny look. “What?”

  “That’s the first time you’ve said ‘gods’ instead of ‘goddamnit.’”

  He was right. I gave a slight shrug. “You guys all say ‘gods’ and I just get used to it. I think I’m either atheist or agnostic, so I don’t really care.” I thought about it a bit more as I healed. “I believe in the church of karma or whatever. You make sure to do more good than bad, do the good when you can or karma gets you. Granted, it seems to get some harder than others, but yeah, I think that’s what I believe.”

  Carter helped me up when Emilio came over with a mop and bucket.

  “Hey, you can’t clean up evidence,” one of the regular FBI guys called over.

  “It’s protocol to clean up any infectious blood right away,” I corrected. “Someone trips in the crazy and lands in shifter blood with a cut on their hand and they’ve got it or even worse, their body rejects it. Some don’t survive the change.”

  “Right, sorry, didn’t think of that,” he admitted, shaking his head. “Sorry, Chief.”

  “No problem. We normally at least get a few pictures first, which was where you probably went, but there’s too much confusion.” I thought that was better than admitting we were worried someone would try and scoop some of my blood up or whatever, but yeah, better if it was just cleaned up.

  Carter got me into the back and helped me clean up before taking off his shirt and giving me the undershirt for a loaner.

>   “What can I do?” Brian asked as he joined us.

  I glanced at Carter and sighed, deciding to tell him the truth. “I fed a bit too much from Emilio, and they recharge off blood. He needs some.”

  “He can take a pint from me. Whatever,” Brian said, acting like it was no big deal. He rolled his eyes when Carter and I gave him a shocked look. “Sera, he just helped you after you saved my life. Yeah, I’ll donate the fucking blood. It’s not like he’s looking at me like I’m a snack.”

  “I’m still newer to this part, but I’ve seen some humans have really odd reactions to it or others assuming it’s like an offer of sex too,” I defended.

  “Some people have really odd reactions to everything,” he reminded me. “Anyone else need blood?”

  “All of us,” Carter admitted. “The coven had next to none, and we didn’t think we’d have to worry about that. We were going to ask the wolves, but we keep adding to the agenda and not getting to see them. Sera’s blood is like a drug. All the sirens are, so the Greek wolves are out.”

  Brian nodded and ducked back out into the restaurant. “The vampires who went out to keep us safe could use some blood. Anyone willing to donate?

  Someone snorted. “Yeah, I could give a pint of blood for not having to get shot today. That was awesome of them to immediately jump in because they can survive more. They really don’t think of us like ants like people say.”

  I smiled at Carter, which he returned, both of us knowing why. One person at a time. One heart and mind at a time to see we weren’t bad, we just had some bad apples like humans did.

  So the vamps got some needed blood, Brian making sure to give to Emilio since he’d helped me.

  “You can’t donate,” Sander told one of the DC team.

  “Why the hell not?” he demanded, sounding affronted. “I was trying to be nice, man.”

  Sander glanced at me, and I nodded for him to be honest. “You take blood pressure medicine. We can’t—it’s sort of like—”

  “You’d upset his stomach,” I offered when Sander started to get embarrassed. “A lot of medications when in the blood vampires have is like giving you a laxative. They generally don’t tell people that though because one, there’s no nice way to say it, and two, too many are trying to actively fuck with the blood supplies to hurt vampires.”

  “Wow, that’s just…” The guy trailed off, shaking his head. “Sorry, man, I didn’t know. That’s so trippy.”

  Sander snorted. “You should have been us when we were trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.” He shrugged when several people gave him confused looks. “We’ve lived for thousands of years. Modern medicine is just that—modern. It’s only been the past hundred or so years that all of this is found in human bodies. Before everything was herbal and natural. I’m glad it’s helped, but we were thrown for a serious loop or six.”

  “Whose phone is seriously going crazy?” someone asked, and people looked around.

  I reached for mine and winced. Right, it had been in my suit jacket pocket that had probably been ripped off when I’d gotten shot. Sure enough, it was on one of the tables in tatters, the ringing coming from it.

  “Sorry,” I muttered as I hurried over there. I winced again when I saw Dain’s number on the screen. I swiped to answer it but didn’t go one way or the other because I didn’t know if we were all clear everywhere. “Hey, I’m fine, sorry. We should have called sooner.”

  “You were not fine,” he whispered, sounding choked up. “What happened? And I accidently upset the Haverses with my reaction, as I’m guarding them.”

  I glanced over at Brian. “Call your family. Dain felt my getting shot, and they know we had problems.”

  “You were shot?” Dain yelled. “Again?”

  “Yes, it’s complicated, but I’m fine.” I sighed. “I need a new vest, and someone needs to tell Reagan’s contact that the vests do not fully stop armor piercing rounds.”

  “I will handle it.”

  “I can tell Reagan. I’m sorry you keep feeling all of this. I had no idea you would go through this when we, you know.”

  “Mixed company?” he checked.

  “Yeah, we were sort of ambushed because I picked the wrong fucking restaurant,” I grumbled. “I have no idea the status or updates. I got as far as cleaning up and a new shirt.”

  “Let me speak to her,” someone said in the background on Dain’s end.

  “Hang on,” Dain muttered, not sounding happy.

  “Sera, thank you for saving Brian,” Grammy Havers greeted.

  “Oh, um, yeah, I picked the restaurant,” I replied nervously.

  She chuckled. “Yes, so you automatically take any of the bullets fired. Idiot. You instinctively saved him because you love him. But so do we, so thank you.”

  “I’ll always protect him,” I promised. “As best as I can as long as he wants me around.” I realized how awkward it would be for them to be around Dain after we were now mated. “Sorry you maybe got pulled into all of this.”

  She snorted. “We’re fine. Your building is wonderful, and they keep trying to feed us. We’re fine in Brian’s huge apartment. His mother keeps cleaning everything.”

  “Yeah, I figured the boys have cleaned my apartment from top to bottom. They do that when worried,” I admitted. “Sorry if Dain was an odd choice. I didn’t think of that. I just know he’s one of the best and would keep you safe.”

  She was quiet a moment. “You are unconventional, and so is your relationship with our Brian, but he’s happy. If he wasn’t, I would have a problem with that, but you give him everything he wants, and if that changes, then it’s for you both to worry about then.”

  “That’s very… Progressive of you.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. Who said that? Oh god. I gave Brian a look, but he was busy on his own call.

  “Yes, well, I see how handsome the men you have are and honestly, if I could get away with having so many of them, I would have too.”

  I flicked off Carter as he burst out laughing across the room, having heard what she said. “Yeah, I’m not really sure why they put up with me. I really don’t get the appeal. I’m a pain in the ass three hundred and sixty days of the year at least, and I have the emotional range of a bobble head that just nods along not having a clue what’s going on.”

  “Well, there has to be more to you than that because Brian could never love someone who was gorgeous only.” She cleared her throat. “Are you okay? It still hurts, right?”

  Part of me wanted to lie, but I couldn’t. “Yeah, it still hurts as much as before. It just is… I just heal faster. I made sure someone dragged him away so he didn’t risk getting infected.”

  “He would never care about that.”

  “I would,” I whispered. “I know Alena, Zeno, and Eva have brought it up, and if he wants to one day, that’s his choice. I can’t be the one to do it. There’s so much extra to being one of us, and I could never have understood that until I was one. I can’t be the person to do it to someone. Maybe one day when it’s not such a crazy storm or like it saved Milo’s life because he had cancer. I just couldn’t ever infect Brian and do this to him.”

  “You are an amazing woman to have that at the front of your mind after being shot, Sera,” she praised. “I would think that is why you are so loved. You have a pure heart even after all you’ve been through, kiddo.”

  “Who are you talking to?” Brian asked me, done with his call. “Dain still?”

  “No, your gram forced him to give her the phone,” I told him honestly. “I barely got to speak with him.”

  “I’ll give him back,” Grammy Havers chuckled. “He’s here pacing and giving me looks like he’s trying to decide how rude he gets to be with me as he’s my elder, but I’m old.”

  “That’s fairly accurate,” Dain admitted, making me and Grammy Havers laugh. I said goodbye to her, and he got back on the line. “No more getting shot, Sera. Twice in one trip—it’s too much.”

  “I wil
l do my very best, but please remember I’m not reckless, okay? There was no reason to think one of the restaurant employees would pull out a fucking shotgun after we ate here and paid and in a room full of FBI because even if they got Brian, they’d be dead seconds later.”

  “What? That is insane. How would—why would—”

  “Yeah, exactly,” I drawled.

  “I know why,” Carter informed me quietly as he came over. “I called Apollo to give him an update and found out some information from the first interrogations. The hit on Havers is ten million, payable to the family of the person if they’re killed. So people would be more reckless if they thought their family could still get the money.”

  “That’s still insane,” Dain whispered. “How do you call off that kind of hit?”

  “I have no idea,” I admitted. “Can you ask Noah? And Milo. I know that was never their scene, but they might know how to get word out to someone who could spread it.”

  “Of course. Stay safe and come home to us.”

  “I’ll do my best, I promise.”

  “I love you.”

  “Me too.” I finished up the call and sighed.

  “What?” Carter asked.

  “I feel bad he keeps dealing with this,” I admitted. “Every time I’m hurt or upset, he feels it. That’s crazy given my job. I had no idea it would be like that. It’s seems so not worth it given he doesn’t get the rest of what people do when mated.”

  “Hey, he knew it would be like that,” Carter reminded me gently. “And he is not complaining about not getting that ‘rest’ of being mated. You were hurt. You were hurt bad by what that witch did and then by what he did. No one thinks you’re overreacting or being a bitch to him or any of them.”

  “I agree,” Brian added. “And most importantly, I know Dain does too. He’s admitted he feels horrible you didn’t understand that he was mating you. He got drunk one time I dropped off something for Alok that Curtis sent me, and Dain rambled for a while that he feels like he tricked you and then failed you. It’s a hard situation for everyone, Sera. And we all know you don’t do any of it lightly or to hurt us back.”