“That trouble is dead and ash,” Midas promised. “She made certain of it.”
“Good for her.” Ford passed him two bags and kept the rest. “Taking a page out of Hadley’s book.”
That Ford held Hadley up as the standard for empowered women reminded Midas why Ford was his best friend.
“How did the fitting go?” Ford shoveled fries in his mouth. “Hadley banned me from attendance.”
Midas bit into a burger, grease dripping over his chin. He wiped it off with an already soggy napkin. “Thank God.”
“Hey, now.” Ford acted hurt. “I wanted to be there for moral support. That’s what friends do.”
“You wanted to sneak a picture to post in the pack’s group chat.”
Ford choked, part laughter and part agreement, and his eyes ran with tears. “Spock.”
Midas let him laugh. Ford was his best man. With Hadley as Captain James T. Kirk, that meant Ford drew Bones, aka Leonard McCoy.
Hadley had been saving up “I’m not a doctor, I’m a…” one-liners to pelt him with during his fitting.
Midas couldn’t wait for Ford’s turn in the hot seat. Too bad he didn’t get itchy ears too.
“How will you feel when pictures of Lisbeth in her Uhura uniform go viral?”
That shut Ford up quick, and a growl slipped free. “Those dresses are indecent.”
The hemline made Midas glad his mate would be in a full-length gown for the ceremony. He doubted Hadley would appreciate it if he mauled the first person to notice her legs, and those communications officer dresses bared a lot of thigh.
Lettuce stuck to Ford’s lip when he asked, “What’s next on the agenda?”
The obstacle course had to be cleaned up, but plenty of packmates had already volunteered to help with that. But, if Hadley didn’t need him, he and Ford would probably go handle it themselves.
Per his mother’s unofficial orders, Midas was at Hadley’s disposal until Neely was found.
“Good question.” Midas polished off his food. “Let me check with Hadley first.”
“Whitaker,” she answered in a distracted voice. “How can I help you?”
“That’s exactly what I was wondering.”
“Oh.” She grunted with impressive range. “Midas.” Her exhale blasted the receiver. “Hey.”
Raised voices around her fell silent while she caught her breath.
“I didn’t check the caller ID,” she explained. “My phone’s been ringing off the hook for hours.”
“Are you okay?” He strained to hear more of the background conversation. “Are you lifting something?”
“A new monitor.” She huffed, still winded. “Goddess, that weighed a frakking ton.”
“Did Bishop need a new monitor?” Midas had his doubts. “Or was he sleep shopping again?”
“Believe it or not,” Bishop answered without shame over his eavesdropping, “equipment does burn out over time, especially monitors that run twenty-four-seven.”
“While he finishes up—” Hadley cut into his tirade about how nothing lasted anymore, “—I’ll head into the kitchen, and we can talk.”
One of Midas’s favorite things about their relationship was how their bond deepened over time. She could tell when he called just because, or when he was on business, or when he needed to hear her voice. It was a gift, to know someone and be known by someone on that level.
“Ford and I are finishing up lunch. If you don’t need us, we’re heading to clean up the obstacle course.”
A door opened and shut, probably the microwave, then curses rang out as she sipped a scalding drink.
“I can spare you guys for a bit,” she teased. “That was on my to-do list, so thank you.”
Seconds passed while she blew on her drink, but he read into her silence and knew she was stalling.
“Cruz blames me for Neely’s kidnapping.” She pushed out the admission in a ragged voice. “The vampire who took Neely left a message for me. He told Cruz I ought to reconsider my career choices.”
“This isn’t your fault.” Midas wished he could tell her so face-to-face. “You know that, right?”
“My brain and my heart are locked in an eternal struggle on the topic.”
“You’ve encountered no opposition to your instatement as potentate up until now.”
“Until the obstacle course, no. Then Sue came to town. She might be the domino that topples the rest.”
The sequence of events bothered him more as he lined them up in a row. “Do we have eyes on her?”
“Bishop has been watching her like a hawk since he read her petition for inclusion.”
“Good.”
“Better safe than sorry is the official OPA motto.”
Midas suspected their motto was actually better to one-click than regret what might have been…
…charged to your credit card.
More voices, her teammates, yelled in the background while Bishop cursed a blue streak.
Ears burning, Midas pieced together what he overheard. “Have you watched the footage from Marx’s?”
“We’re setting up to do that now. Reece’s monitor has been acting wonky, and of course it chose tonight, right now, to die. We should be ready in the next few minutes. Want me to send you a copy?”
“Yes.” Midas leaned against the door. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and recognize the vampires responsible.”
“Here’s hoping,” she agreed. “We need this solved fast.”
“Will you pull in the Atlanta Alliance to help?”
“There’s a vampire on the board who might prove helpful, the Clan Morton ambassador, but…”
“You don’t trust him.” Midas read between the lines. “Or you don’t trust him with this information.”
Clan Morton hadn’t given Hadley as much trouble as Clan Jefferies or Clan Van de Berg, but trouble was relative when it came to vampires who ran their clans like mafia dons.
“The three vampire clans most eager to join the AA are using their ambassadors as puppets, which is the exact thing we didn’t want. The ambassadors take anything I give them back to their masters, and their masters choose whether to help or hinder. There’s no vote, no discussion, no representation.”
“The masters have appointed proxies rather than true ambassadors.”
“Until we establish trust between the clans, let alone the factions, we can’t afford to be seen as showing favoritism. We’ll have to put faith in them going forward in order for the AA to work, but I can’t gamble with Neely’s life. There’s too much at stake, and yes, that was a vampire joke. Feel free to laugh.”
A chuckle slipped free of him before he caught it, which would only encourage her.
“You can always withdraw your invitation if the clans spend more time backbiting than governing.”
“I want the AA to stand on its own. That will never happen if I rush in every time there’s a squabble. I’m going to leave it up to the others to decide if the vampires are a worthy addition or merely a distraction from the issues at hand.”
“The others will follow your lead,” he realized. “You don’t want to influence them against the vampires.”
Whatever their reason for joining, she believed they ought to have a voice, and she wanted them heard.
“Nailed it in one.” She blew out a long breath. “Linus makes this look easy.”
“He also transforms into the next best thing to a Grim Reaper and claims heads to calm his nerves.”
“There is that.” She snickered. “He makes that look easy too.”
But it weighed on him, Midas knew. Linus did what he had to do, but that didn’t make it simple for him. He was a gentleman and an academic. His role as potentate surprised anyone who hadn’t watched him fight, who had never seen the dark side of his nature that had made him a kindred spirit to Hadley.
“Dawn is an hour away.” He put no emphasis on the statement. “Will I see you at home?”
The fitting had eaten up the start
of their night and investigating Neely’s kidnapping consumed the rest.
A scuffle broke out on her end, but it didn’t sound serious.
“Yeah,” Bishop, who had stolen her phone, answered for her. “You will.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” she yelled from several feet away. “I’m the boss of you.”
“You’re going home,” he ordered her, “and you’re going to bed.”
“You can send me to my room, but you can’t make me go to sleep.” She hesitated. “Actually, you can’t even send me to my room. I’m an adult. And whatever your kinks, you’re not my daddy.”
“We’re going to watch the video,” Bishop addressed Midas again. “Then I’m sticking her in a Swyft.”
“Thanks.” Midas and Bishop didn’t often see eye to eye, but they both loved Hadley, and they each worried for her and what these latest developments meant so close to her trial. “I appreciate it.”
Bishop ended the call, and Midas pocketed his phone.
“Time to go.” He glanced over at Ford. “Let’s hit the obstacle course quick.” He set a timer on his phone. “Hadley will be home in an hour, and I need to get things ready.”
With the footage hot in her hands, she wouldn’t be happy watching once with her team then crawling into bed for a full day’s sleep. That was why, when Reece shot him a link to the clip, he ignored it. When Hadley got home, he planned on watching it with her on the big TV in the living room. That way, he might distract her long enough to get food down her before exhaustion collapsed her on the couch.
Before Hadley, he thought his role as beta of the pack was difficult. Now he knew better.
And with a bone-deep certainty, he knew he never wanted to be alpha if he could help it.
Four
The video played on a loop in my memory on the ride home, and I let my head fall back against the seat. I stared at the roof, which was marked with a big orange stain in the shape of a cow with three legs, and decided I had to buy a car one day. Convenience was nice and all, but if the Swyft bills didn’t kill me, the cooties might.
“You all right back there, ma’am?”
“Long day at work.” I forced myself upright. “How’s your night going?”
“I can’t complain.” He smiled at me in the rearview mirror. “You’re the potentate, right?”
“I’m his apprentice—” I tugged my tour guide persona in place, smile included, “—until after the trial.”
“I forgot that was coming up,” he admitted, sheepish. “I don’t much follow politics.”
“I try not to, but politics seem to follow me.”
The Faraday loomed outside my window, and I poured myself onto the sidewalk in a puddle.
“You look like crap,” Hank called from his spot by the front door. “You gonna make it in on your own?”
“Yeah.” I thanked my driver and set out for the entrance. “I have hours to go before I sleep.”
“Figured.” His jaw slid back and forth. “I heard what happened to the obstacle course.”
Since the pack had loaned me the property and volunteered free labor to assemble the course, I wasn’t surprised to discover Hank had heard about it. The whole pack would be gossiping about it.
“That’s the least of my problems.” I walked through the door he held open. “See you tomorrow.”
The ride to the top floor left me dragging, but I pulled myself together before the car slowed to a stop.
The elevator doors slid apart to reveal Midas waiting for me on the threshold to our apartment, and my heart squeezed. The scent of takeout cranked the rumble in my stomach to a roar. He heard and smiled.
I was spoiled. And loved. But mostly spoiled.
I truly didn’t deserve Midas.
“Hank called, didn’t he?” I faked a grumble. “Why can’t gwyllgi keep their noses in their own business?”
Rather than answer, Midas crossed to me. His arms came around me in a cage that supported rather than restrained, and I leaned into him. Breathing him in, I decided I could stand here for the rest of my life and be okay with giving up the potentate gig if he kept holding me.
“Cue the footage.” He tipped my head back and brushed his lips over mine. “The TV’s ready.”
“You know me so well.” I rolled onto my tiptoes and kissed him back. “What’s that I smell?”
“Grilled chicken, lamb, and falafel gyros with hummus, baba ganoush, and pita chips.”
“You’re an angel sent from heaven.” I inhaled the rich spices. “Admit it.”
“I’m no angel.” He nipped my jaw. “I only want my mate to stay in fighting shape for what’s ahead.”
The reminder killed my appetite, but he was right. I hadn’t eaten today that I could recall. I skipped the obstacle course, obviously. I hadn’t run either. It was crunch time, but I wasn’t sure that mattered now.
While Midas fixed us plates, I grabbed a quick shower that barely wet my hair. Eager to watch the video, I sped through my bedtime routine and emerged in a cloud of steam dressed in my favorite stolen shirt. He glanced up when I sashayed past, and crimson sparked in his eyes. I wasn’t wearing underwear, and he knew it. I never did when I modeled this Midas-sized tent.
But he let the moment go and set our food on the coffee table so we could watch the big screen together.
The phone and TV were used to playing nice, so it only took seconds to get the footage rolling.
The blogger started out reviewing the food at the restaurant, probably out of boredom. Or maybe to irk his parents, who hadn’t spoken a word to him up to that point. I fast forwarded to where he started racing his escargot across his plate. Screams from outside launched him out of his chair, phone in hand.
“This is Tommy Larkin, and I’m at Marx’s on the Corner.” He panted as he ran to the window overlooking the street. “A black SUV jumped the curb, running into the line of people waiting to get a table.” He zoomed in. “Two guys are getting out, both dressed in black. Damn. This is real. This is happening.” He kept his hand steady, but excitement peppered his words. “They just grabbed some guy and stuck him in the SUV. Shit. They’re beating his boyfriend up, and like no one is stopping them. They’re just standing there.” He kept recording as he ran out the door and yelled, “What the hell, man?”
The vampire who’d beaten Cruz pointed a warning finger at Tommy then hopped in the SUV.
“Did you guys see that?” The kid swallowed audibly then turned the camera toward himself. “Fuck.”
When he turned the camera back around, the crowd had unfrozen. A dozen or more patrons swarmed Cruz, and every person in the shot had their phone in hand. I hoped they were calling 911, but they might have been filming clips for social media. Like Tommy.
“We’ve got a clear shot of Pointer,” I murmured. “We ought to be able to ID him.”
“The guy who took Neely kept his head down. He was smart about it.”
I jumped at the sound of Midas’s voice behind me. I hadn’t noticed when I stood and crossed to the TV. I hadn’t registered bringing my food with me, but the plate in my hands was empty. I passed it to Midas, and he fought off a smile at having tricked me into caring for myself. He was sneaky like that.
“Where did I put my phone?” I turned a circle. “I want to watch it again.”
“One more time, then you’re going to bed.”
Bristling at his tone, I felt my hackles rising to do a gwyllgi proud. “I can’t—”
“—run yourself into the ground?” He tilted his head. “You’re no good to Neely if you’re too tired to think.”
He set the plate on his empty one then brought me my phone.
“I have to find him, Midas. I have to, or Grier will hate me forever. Then Linus will hate me out of solidarity. Cruz already hates pretty much everyone, but losing Linus? What will I do?”
“Linus won’t hate you.” Midas rubbed my back. “He’s your friend, independent of Grier.”
“Couples don’t
work like that.” I shook my head. “You know they don’t.”
“You’re working yourself up over nothing.” He cupped my face. “Grier won’t hate you either.”
As Amelie, I had betrayed her trust over and over. I didn’t want to go there as Hadley.
“Besides, you’re doing this for Neely. He’s your friend, and you care about him.”
A tiny voice that sounded too much like Mother whispered in my head I was in this for myself now too.
If I didn’t find Neely before the gauntlet, I had a tough call to make, one that would change the course of both our lives.
Neely or Atlanta. Atlanta or Neely.
Either choice cost the other everything.
I had to get to the bottom of this before the kidnappers forced the decision on me.
“I need to replay this.” I got it back to the start. “Are you staying or going on?”
“I can’t trust you to come to bed, so I’ll stay here.”
With his warm presence at my back, I began the video again, fingers crossed for an epiphany.
This time, I watched from the second the blogger arrived at the restaurant to be sure I missed nothing.
“Wait.” Midas took my phone halfway through. “I need to hear that again.”
“His thoughts on terrapin soup?”
“No.” He rewound it to seconds before the soup course. “This.”
Holding my breath, I strained my ears but heard nothing aside from the buzz of a crowded restaurant.
“Their reservation is at ten,” Midas repeated softly. “Cruz Torres is always punctual.”
Unable to stop myself, I clutched at his arm like I might squeeze more information out of him.
“Text the driver as soon as you spot them.” Midas cocked his head. “We have seconds to make this happen.”
I hung on his every word as the blogger began another monologue I tuned out in favor of Midas.
“Keep watch from the podium.” Midas tilted his head. “Don’t leave your post.”
We stood there a few more minutes before he paused the recording.
“Two employees were in on it,” he confirmed what I had been thinking. “Both male.”
The Epilogues: Part I: Badge of Honor (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 6) Page 4
