by Erin R Flynn
Yes, I led a very different kind of life than I once had, but I no longer wanted to trade back. I wanted to move forward, heal, and make it all work.
“Brian, if you get hard while I’m sitting here, I won’t be able to focus and will have to move,” I drawled, elbowing him as I sat between his legs and tried to ignore it against my back instead of pushing under me.
“I love you too,” he breathed in my ear, making me shiver. Well, at least he was happy to hear I felt that way about him.
Still confused the shit out of me, if I was honest.
“So, Virg, what does your pack have besides a candy company that’s hurting big time since it was found out the owners are wolves?”
“You’ve had too much on your plate this week if that is how you start this conversation, Milady,” Dain interjected in a tight voice before they answered. “She doesn’t mean it as pointed as it came out, nor is she picking on your pack, as she just opened this magnificent club.”
I frowned, glancing between them. “No, that’s not what I meant at all. I’m not a businesswoman. I’m FBI. I was undercover FBI mostly. What was so bad about what I said?”
“It was a bit pointed as to what they might really be able to bring to the table of your alliance,” Brian explained.
“You speak Sera so well,” I teased him. I took in Virg’s frown and studying me. “Sorry, when you talked about making the chocolate lips for us, you were touching me. You were so excited that I got all kinds of images from you.”
“Right, you were a clairvoyant before a siren.” He let out a heavy sigh and dunked under the water before coming back up. “We’re hurting a lot, which was part of why I wanted to take this chance at a friendship with Chicago.”
I waved him to explain, but Ross took over. “There are several churches and anti-paranormal groups in the South that have the sole purpose of outing paranormals, especially shifters, and shutting down business, driving away income—anything they can do really to make it clear we don’t deserve the same rights or anything as humans. Most are pissed we own Vegas or Hollywood and can’t fight there.”
“So they take it out wherever they can. That’s illegal,” Brian surmised.
“The Miami office is getting trained after LA, and we can’t get teams in the other offices until the training center is fully built and people hired. What we got for that budget is sort of a joke. It’s better, especially after the help we gave in Vegas to close so many of the normal FBI branch stuff, but it’s not enough for a team at every field office.”
“I know, but I do know a few guys at the Memphis office that even I was kidding I would call them earlier. If there’s seriously this kind of problem there, I’m sure between Monroe and I, we could at least get one of your teams’ permission to help out a bit. Maybe they can help that office like you guys did Vegas, but Vegas was being bad, so they got spanked. Everything I hear about Memphis is aboveboard.”
“That might work. I’ll talk to Monroe this week after the opening.” I let out a heavy sigh. “Dear god, the amount of everything that’s now on the calendar for next week makes me want to cry. Why did I ever think being part owner in a nightclub was a good idea?”
“Don’t get mopey on your big night,” he chastised, hugging me tighter. “Drink your drink and solve all the problems that aren’t yours.”
“Brat.” Still, I did what he said before glancing at Virgil. “So you guys have a candy shop? Factory?”
“Factory with store front plus another store across town. We are like your Long Grove Confectionary.”
“Oh, oh, I love Long Grove Confectionary,” I groaned, frowning as I realized I’d not gotten dessert since I’d had to hurry and catch up to everyone else and their meals.
“Milady, I can see if there’s any extra trifles or desserts from dinner if you wish,” Luca offered.
I slowly turned and glanced at him over my shoulder. “You guys are a bit too good at reading my mind. Seriously.”
He smiled at the perceived praise. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes.” Everyone chuckled at that, but I looked back to Virg. “What else?” He frowned, and I waved him to go ahead. “I promise there’s a method to my madness, but please, please someone just go easy on me and lay it all out. I do better if people do, and I’m nicer.”
“Well, I do like you nicer,” he chuckled. “There’s a cotton farm that suddenly suppliers aren’t buying from. There’s a tobacco farm that no one bought crops from this year, which really they took as a sign to get out of tobacco like they wanted to, but still, they need income. There’s an organic cattle ranch that lots of the pack work at that’s now getting less orders and talk of ‘routine’ inspections to keep the organic status or shut down.”
“Fuck, they’re really sticking it to you guys,” I muttered, shaking my head. “No one dares be that blatant up here, and not just because we’re cracking down on it. It’s just—”
“Chicagoans tend not to give a shit about much besides if people are assholes,” Brian filled in, and I nodded. Sounded about right. “I can practically smell the smoke coming out of your ears. What are you thinking?”
“That as much as I love all of our alliances with Laila, I think I should give this one to Alpha Stud,” I admitted, rubbing my tired shoulder. I let out a groan when Brian took it as a hint and rubbed them both. “Shit, I’ll sit in the hot tub with you naked any day if I get this treatment. I can’t even remember the last time someone rubbed my shoulders.”
“I remember the last time you let me. You stopped in the office to fill us in on what you found out and set up that final bust where you got hurt.”
“Water, bridge, Bri.” I turned enough to kiss him before meeting Dain’s curious gaze. “I know I just said I’d talk to Stud, but this is out of my wheelhouse, and you know everything.” He snorted at the compliment, which made me smile. “What does Laila leave on the hotel pillows? Is it still mints? Chocolates?”
His eyes lit up with understanding as he made the connection. “I believe they are different Godiva chocolate bars along with other such treats and snacks in the gift shops and gift baskets for the high rollers.” He frowned. “You are right that it probably should be brought to Alpha Stud, as he is a wolf, but he is not swayed as you would be to simply support a wolf business. He would ask for something.”
I snorted this time. “Slip it in that Laila was interested in doing it at her casinos. That man is so damn competitive that it would be enough.” Incredibly underhanded too, but whatever. “Maybe ask what he pays for his organic beef?”
“You are a good friend to have,” Virg complimented, and I snorted again.
“I’ve not even scratched the surface.” I explained about the elf family I’d bought the farm for and what Laila had already set up with the greenhouse, indoor growing, and everything else. Luca came with some trifle, and Dain took over for me as I practically inhaled the dessert.
I handed back the glass and spoon to Luca, and suddenly I wasn’t sitting anymore but wrapped around Virg as he kissed me silly. “You really are a goddess, aren’t you?”
“Uh-huh, and she’s hungry,” I growled, mashing my mouth back down to his and feeding, realizing part of why my siren had been acting so badly was I kept only keeping the minimum energy she’d needed… Except I’d been starving her for months, so her stomach had kind of shrunk instead of where it had been after Vegas.
In other words, Dain was right and I needed more regularly or just more overall when I was all over the place.
I ended up giving Ross what he wanted, his need, the fucking energy he put into how much he wanted it overwhelming me. I tripped Virg to sit down on the edge, turning so I was on his lap with my back to his chest and gesturing for Ross to join us. He leaned in, and I pressed my lips against his ear. “Lick me now and take your chance.”
His eyes went wide as he realized I knew, and he didn’t even hesitate, licking us both as Virg pressed against me intimately.
I turned my h
ead and kissed Virg. “You’re a very loved Alpha as well, Virg.”
“I guess I am.”
“Okay, let’s not break Sera,” Brian said firmly when we finished, plucking me off Virg’s lap before anything else could happen.
I spun around on his lap, trapping him in that seat, rubbing my breasts all over him. “You don’t want to fuck us? You’re not dying to be with the one you love?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I want Sera. Not you. Not the siren. I never cared about you or her wolf. I want only Sera, and if that means I get you both as well, fine, but not like this. Not when you take over. Give her back to me, and I’ll have all the sex she wants, but she’s exhausted. You’re going to break her.”
“She starved us,” my siren bitched, making me realize I wasn’t in the driver’s seat anymore, glad Brian had at least figured that out. “She starved us, barely giving us anything and less than that with the pathetic sex she nor they wanted as they thought she loved another. She weakened us, drowning us in her human emotions and feelings.”
“It’s who she is, who you both are now as you’re part of her. You cannot change that or you will break her again, and that will hurt you too,” he argued, giving me a shake.
“She’ll starve us again. We have enough energy now with all the feedings, but she’ll stop. She’ll get upset and stop and starve us. No more. No more being weak. That’s how she gets hurt.”
“I won’t let that happen. I’ll—”
“Not give her the best sex of her life?” my siren taunted, and I winced internally, too tired to fight her for control. “She had the best sex of her life today, and it wasn’t with you. You love her so much, and she had such amazing sex with the fairy who loves her too and the new tripod elf that worships her. You aren’t who—”
“I’m glad she got to experience that,” he snapped, shocking even my siren into shutting up. “She’d never had sex outside of a bed when we met. Good. Let her experience it all as long as she wants to. Don’t force her. Don’t push her like you are because she shuts down. Give her back to me, and I swear it that I’ll talk with Alena. Dain will talk with Alena and Eva. Ask Eva to stay for a while along with that siren guru and cousin Alena brought.”
I felt my siren hesitate, and I took back control, groaning at how she fought me. “Damn, she’s gone bat shit crazy.”
“You starved her for months, and now that she’s had the energy she needs, the lust she needs as your wolf does too and food and wolf things, she’s panicked you might starve her again,” Dain interjected, kneeling behind Brian. “You made a deal, and yes, trauma made you break it, but she also needs more, which you didn’t understand during the original deal. You need to work out something new, something manageable for you both.
“Sit down with Alena as you did the first time, as she knows that worked for her. Do that, and you can work with your cousin and the therapist. Give her that after all you gave her today and let her settle. She’s exhausted too.”
I bobbed my head and argued it out with her. She nodded but then took back over, growling in Brian’s face.
“Fine, but if she does it again after you promised you would help her, be there for her when you failed her before, I will take over and not ever give her back to you and never let you touch her again. So keep your promise to us, as she might not punish you, but I will in the worst way. I will take her from you and let you suffer as others have her even right in front of you as when you walked in on her with Noah.”
“I won’t fail her again. Now give her back to me so she can rest.”
He will fail us, she purred in my head.
“No he won’t,” I muttered, slumping against Brian. “He didn’t fail us the first time. He came back and saved us. He saved us with Dain and Jason. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t handle it all. Don’t blame him or any of them.”
“Sera, Sera?” Brian whimpered, and I realized it wasn’t the first time he’d called my name, but to them I was just talking to myself like a loony.
“Bri, you be boss with Dain on all of this stuff, okay? I think I need a nap.”
“Yeah, Sera, you take a nap,” he murmured, moving me so I was cradled on his lap. “The boys are safe, and so are your Betas. Everyone’s okay. No one’s blowing up the club or hurting anyone you love. You didn’t fail. We got the bad guys. We got Mrs. Lopez, and I got Frank plus the guy that leaked everything to him. I handled it. We handled it all, Sera.”
I felt silent tears escape my eyes, the stress of how far and wide the threat had been against me and mine crippling me in ways I hadn’t even understood when I was so beat up. Darkness swarmed over me, and I thought I heard myself tell Brian I really did love him, and then I was out.
21
The next morning I woke early, surrounded by the boys, all in a huge bed at our suite at Timequake. It took me a few moments to remember how I’d gotten here with all the crazy of the day before.
Fuck, it had been a lot of crazy.
I’d fallen asleep in my meeting in the hot tub with Alpha Virgil. I knew that. Then I had pieces, the exhaustion truly and completely setting in. Brian had actually talked to the other visiting wolf Alphas on my behalf to see if they were having the same problems Memphis was.
And they were. Sadly, they all were. And even worse, none of the three visiting areas were under my jurisdiction.
But then I remembered Alena saying it was enough and to take me to the hotel so I could be with the boys. I honestly was out before we got to my SUV, waking for a bit as Dain tucked me into bed.
“How long was I out?” I asked the man himself as he stood in the doorway. I realized that was what had woken me.
“Eight hours. It’s only six,” he quietly answered as he made his way to me, gesturing I get out of bed. “You can rest during the first part of your morning, but there are plans we need to get you to.”
“Dain, I’d really just like to—”
“Milady, please trust me on this,” he murmured. I met his gaze, and I saw the certainty in them. “I have spoken with Alena and Eva at length, and they assured me that this will help your siren. She was beat up too and needs what she wasn’t given. It’s imperative she be reminded a bit of the good before you sit down and renegotiate with her.”
I swallowed loudly but nodded. “Okay, I trust you.” I climbed over Jared, almost kicking Leo in the head in the process, but managed not to as I about fell out of bed. Dain caught me, and I thanked him. “What’s on the docket?”
“Spoiling you and her.” He shook his head when I went to ask more. “Don’t worry about bathing. Simply morning necessities and your teeth. The rest will be handled, and as much as I’d love to explain it all and the theory, it’s not possible with the time restraints.”
I gave another slow nod, seeing in his eyes it was more than that. Right, if he told me, my siren would also know what the plan was, and the plan seemed to be placating her, which didn’t work if she knew that.
I led a weird fucking life.
“The boys paid for a manicure and some grooming from one of Beth’s friends, as they’ve heard you say you envy how perfect Simone always looks,” he explained as he pulled into the parking garage at the club.
“They didn’t have to spend their money like that,” I argued.
“They love you, Milady. They appreciate all you do for them. Let them show you that. She was kind on price, as she’s new and looking to gain more customers, and she could get a lot from the hosts and dancers even, as they have to keep pretty too.”
“Fair enough,” I consented, then snorted. “I’ve only had manicures when undercover to sell the image.”
He merely shook his head as he parked and we got out. The nice lady was waiting, and I found out it was her idea to start so early, as she’d picked up some of the other hosts who wanted help as well, so she had a full morning booked.
Worked for me because I basically got to snooze while she did my nails. I couldn’t sleep during eyebrow waxing, but I d
id like having that done.
“We really should have you come two Saturday mornings or something and get the whole lot of us instead of us trying to make our own appointments,” I agreed when she finished and checking how good of a job she did.
“I would love that,” she told me, smiling brightly.
Dain walked into the locker room where she’d set up and waved me to join him. I thanked her again and slid my arm in his when he held it out for me. “I know this next part will be uncomfortable for you, but please, please trust me, okay? I wouldn’t ever let anyone hurt you or do anything you, Sera, couldn’t handle.”
“You’re worrying me,” I grumbled as we got onto the elevator and went to the basement. My anxiety went up as we entered one of the dungeons. I watched Dain suspiciously as he moved my arms over my head, leaning in as if he was going to kiss me.
Instead, he locked my wrists in the shackles I hadn’t noticed were hanging there. I growled and would have yanked on them, but his hands stopped me. “Milady, you are more than strong enough to get out of them. You are. You’re not really captive. Please, play the game. Let her play this game, as she will love it.”
I checked with her, and she was thrilled at the possibilities. I nodded and aligned with her, swallowing down the flinch when he put on a blindfold.
“Are you going to fuck us, fairy?” my siren taunted.
“No, no sex today,” he answered her. “And your attentions only come from aligning with Sera, not taking her over. All of her men agreed that it is she they want and you are a part of her, not a demon to possess her. No more shoving her in the corner, or we will take steps. There are worse things for a siren than being starved and bad sex.”
“You would threaten me?” she hissed.
“No, her mother and grandmother declared it so,” he explained, and she flinched. Yeah, Alena and Eva were way more powerful than us.