Abusing the Alpha (Seraphine Thomas Book 4)

by Erin R Flynn

  “I have more,” I confessed, searching Simone’s face. She waved me to continue, seeming to mull it over. “There’s no daiquiri bar in Chicago. I think the club should have one, the fairy nectar, and other premade drinks from fancy dispensers. Maybe super awesome coolers like Vlad’s club where they’re humidifiers or whatever, but those would hold beer bottles and pop for designated drivers.”

  “So less bartenders?” Simone asked, worrying her lip.

  “Maybe? I just know no matter how great the service or superfast employees like Tristan are, people still wait for drinks. Take out the crazy with a million bottles of this or that, which they can get at other clubs, and have premixed punches and whatnot. Not everything has to be fruity, and even in the winter if the club’s hot and bodies are grinding, fun icy drinks will always be drank. Lots of shot men and women to do body shots off of, but those premixed too.”

  “You have that look like you’ve got more,” Reagan accused when I went quiet.

  “Yeah, I think we should do some of the carnival type stuff too. Instead of bar foods or even pretzel bowls, have a nut roaster that could do all types of different flavors. One person handles that all night, and when a batch is ready, split it between small bowls. Deliver them with some flirt while checking everyone is making decisions they want to, and flavored popcorn to tables so it’s not just shared bowls on a bar but on a table or single serving size bags.”

  “You just want that for yourself all the time,” Hagan chuckled, and I shrugged.

  There was no point in denying it. “Yeah, but it would also be killer for free stuff like that instead of normal or boring. And we do the siren feeding stuff like we talked about. Maybe get some other baby sirens from Alena, but I think it shouldn’t be a DJ type club. We have those in Chicago.

  “Have the hosts and hostesses do burlesque shows after dinner. I don’t know lip singing versus not, but we have awesome flexible people and I bet dancers from what I’ve seen. Customers can dance while they perform or maybe in between getting to dance with people so talented.”

  “Anything else?” Simone asked quietly, and I frowned. She shook her head and waved me on. “What else you got, Sera?”

  “You’re mad.”

  “Yes, but not for the reason you think, so please just tell me.”

  “The third floor is different, huge hot tub pools like the shifter pool at the Tropicana, but not outdoors and more intimate. Maybe special passes only or parties? I don’t know, but all the pools here for nightlife rock and do well. Fine, you wouldn’t want to pool it in winter at Chicago, but when freezing outside, I would love to go to a place that had that relaxed, spa pool atmosphere with fruity drinks and naughty fun.

  “Maybe a few naughty and one just relaxing? One couples, one male, and one female? I just think it would be cool with windows to see the skyline but fix it so no one could take pictures in. That’s where my mind went during the tour. I didn’t really think I was chipping in with all this part, but yeah, I went to like Sera’s dream club and super cool place.”

  “It is an amazing idea,” Laila complimented.

  “It is. Way better than mine was, and you’re right, I am a business owner,” Simone muttered, fluffing her hair that didn’t need it. “Mine was a den like they have here but with shifter club flare humans could get in on. Yours is so, so much better.”

  “Sorry?”

  “No, don’t be sorry,” she chuckled, coming over and giving me a hug. “I’m just worried that maybe I’m not cut out for clubs after all? Maybe Vlad was right and I’m out of my element.”

  “I don’t think so. We said club and dungeon where I and other sirens could feed and send passion through the place. I was the one who went off on the selfish tangents and mostly because I didn’t think it feasible or up to me.”

  She kissed each of my cheeks before snagging my drink with an evil smile. “Well, you were obviously the right person to go into business with, as I was so busy scouting locations before we left to see what could work with what we might like, I didn’t think of dreaming so big. I love it. There’s so much fun we can have with it, from visiting chefs, to a store to sell what the hosts and hostesses wear and the fairy fabric wraps, to all sorts of choreographers coming up with shows.”

  “Hey, I’m just glad you’re not thinking I was a stupid choice and I get my idea of heaven,” I admitted with a chuckle. We tried more daiquiri flavors, and Laila saw so much opportunity to lock me in about selling the Tropicana to her that she didn’t hold back offering everything from the mix recipes, to samples of our wrap ideas she could have ready by tomorrow, to flying out her choreographers that she had for her burlesque show at the Flamingo.

  It was then Gearmo finally got the look of defeat on his face instead of annoyance. I pulled him off to the side and decided to bite the bullet.

  “What was the favor you wanted?”

  He let out a heavy sigh as he smoothed out his greased hair. “My son was accepted to the University of Chicago.” I saw Hagan and Reagan both flinch out of the corner of my eye. “Yeah, you’re new, so you won’t get it, but your Betas already know.”

  I waved them over, biting back a laugh. “What’s wrong with letting his son in my town? Be blunt. I’m exhausted, and I don’t feel like dancing.”

  “It’s a good way for an Alpha family to branch out and find new cities to take over,” Hagan said firmly, somewhat accusingly.

  “Jimmy doesn’t want any part of pack hierarchy,” Gearmo assured us. “He’s not an enforcer. My son, gods, I love him, I do, but he’s a dork. He’s a super smart, super geek that has more chance of taking over Apple than he does a pack ever. University of Chicago has been his dream since he saw the place years ago. When he heard you took over since Engle said no way, he begged me to fly out and ask, and I’m not sure he’s ever begged me for much.”

  “I’d like to talk to him, but yeah, I really don’t see the problem.”

  “He’s sixteen,” Gearmo confessed, wincing when Hagan and Reagan growled. “Yeah, I want to send a couple of enforcers to guard my child who’s underage and so smart he got into college before his first shift.”

  “You weren’t kidding it was a big favor that would make up for the bathroom,” I grumbled, rubbing my temples.

  “I know, and I’m willing to pay whatever you want to make this happen and make sure he’s safe.”

  I realized something and started cussing under my breath, shocking all three of them. “Gearmo, you have mob ties. How fast do you think my checking in on your offspring could bite me in the career ass?”

  He started cussing too. “Okay, fine, how do I help that? I really am out, and there’s not much of a mob here anymore. They’re a dying breed.”

  “I need time to think on this, but for starters. I would talk to the local FBI office and integrate with our database like I did with Mr. Sosa.” He didn’t seem to like the idea but didn’t say no either. “Probably something to help on my side too like free three day weekend vouchers for any of your places for both offices as a bit of goodwill since it would make my life easier anyways. Remind them you own an awesome place like the Bellagio, not old mob joints like movies show kind of thing.”

  “And you’ll say yes then?” he checked, and I sighed.

  “Maybe? Bringing enforcers into my turf is a big ask, Gearmo, and you know it. It’s bad enough he’s a kid and would have to be under my protection too, and he’s an Alpha’s kid, so wow, won’t he be a target when far from home. Which I get is why you want the enforcers, but that’s also maybe bringing trouble to my city for four years of college.”

  “Week long vouchers?” he asked, shrugging when I chuckled. Yeah, that wouldn’t really make it better.

  “Lady Seraphine, forgive my interruption, but there has been progress with the investigation you uncovered,” Dain said smoothly from my right. “If I may suggest this complicated situation Alpha Stud’s offspring brings be put on hold for the evening and even until maybe your wise mother j
oins us, as then it would be a productive discussion between parents?”

  “Murder always takes precedence,” I stated, not really agreeing but not disagreeing either, as I knew there was more to the matter. And I was also trying to swallow back my shock at his sudden appearance, but I was too tired to notice much of anything. “Gearmo, we’ll talk before I leave, and there might be a way to do this. I don’t know, but Dain’s right, and it is complicated. I have to handle the case first.”

  “I’ll leave you to it and head back to my turf since I’m sure you have to wrap up with the fairies.” He looked less than thrilled about that, but now that he’d laid out what he wanted and it was such a huge favor, he’d be stupid to do anything but be super nice to me.

  “What’s happened?” I asked Dain once Stud and his people were long gone. He gave me a smirk, and I shook my head. “That’s how you all get around lying. You have no idea, do you?”

  “No, but there is undoubtedly progress with your team and the competent elders interviewing the queen’s cousin.”

  It took me a moment to get over my shock, as that was a pretty big loophole around fairies not being able to lie. “Why interrupt me?”

  “Because I can feel your exhaustion and weariness, Lady Seraphine. So could he, and while I do believe Stud’s concern is for his child’s happiness and education, not anything nefarious, over a few minutes you and your Betas have unraveled several potential pitfalls. There are possibly several more, and his pushing could make you miss them.”

  I searched his eyes for several moments. “Why do you care so much about that? I can see you do.”

  He opened his mouth but then closed it before guiding me over to Laila and asking for a private moment. We went into a side room for the casino, and I saw it connected to the maze of hallways that got employees all around between the different areas and necessities. My eyes went wide as Dain went down on one knee before me.

  “Seraphine Thomas, Alpha of Chicago and honorable officer of the law, I swear my allegiance to you with my queen’s blessing. All I am, all my knowledge, all my experience is yours in how you best need my service and if be, my life.”

  “Why would you do this, Dain?” Laila whispered, not hiding her shock well. I didn’t really understand it, but I got whatever was going on was big.

  “Because I believe with every fiber of my being that the alliance with Lady Seraphine will not only aid you, My Queen, but all fae. She not only saved you from the threat of your cousin, but the vultures that could have descended on you after she easily defeated your glamor earlier today, most not thinking you are more than your glamor. While they are wrong, attacks against you are still attacks and dangerous.”

  “Why have you never given me counsel before today? Why interject yourself now and swear allegiance to her to help protect me?” Her voice had taken an edge, not hysterical but unnerved.

  Dain slowly raised his head, and I saw the pain in his eyes. “You were never going to trust or listen to me after I served your uncle, Your Majesty. Not after all I’ve seen that was done to you and didn’t stop it. And for that, I am sorry. My loyalty was always to serve our ruler even if I hated him. You could never know that was truly my feelings, and I was nothing but a reminder of the horrors you endured.”

  “I know how that goes,” I muttered, rubbing my sore arm, thinking about my five ancient vampires that I had trouble even looking at sometimes because of what they saw me go through.

  Dain gave a nod he heard me and understood, but kept Laila’s gaze. “I will serve her faithfully, her become my queen, but always will I be also loyal to my monarch, knowing you are what is best for your people. Her wisdom, her kind heart, and her changing so much is the future we need.”

  “You have seen it?” she asked, and I swallowed a gasp when I realized she implied a vision.

  “No,” he answered, shaking his head. “I do not have the sight. It is a feeling that I cannot explain. From the moment I saw her, it wasn’t only her beauty that made me stare, but as if I knew she was the piece to make the puzzle fit and aid you, our people, and all paranormals.”

  “You make me sound like a savior,” I chuckled nervously.

  He looked at me then with kind, experienced eyes. “One person can do much, Lady Seraphine. They can do good or bad, and most times it is one who starts the movement of change. I see it in you, and I wish to aid you in that fight.”

  “I grant my blessing. May you serve her as you would me if I had not let my pain and humiliation you witnessed cloud my opinion of you,” Laila whispered before I could say anything. She leaned over and kissed his hair. “I am sorry, Dain. You deserve better than how you have been treated by your family, my uncle, and myself.”

  She turned and went out the door again, obviously upset. I wasn’t sure what it all meant, but Dain seemed thrilled.

  “You need rest and sustenance,” he said as he stood and swooped me up into his arms. “And to stop walking around in these heels with a sore leg, arm, and neck.”

  “I can just take off the damn heels,” I argued, pushing at his arm so he dropped me and I slid to my feet. “Thank you, but please remember my position before toting me around in public.”

  “Of course,” he agreed, opening the door and checking around the area before letting me exit back on the main floor.

  “Queen Laila said to call her when we know what comes next,” Hagan informed me as I rejoined the group. “She said goodnight kinda fast.”

  “It’s complicated,” I told him, not sure how to explain really what had happened. “I gotta call Alena and—”

  “Already done,” Reagan assured me. “I called her while Hagan called Chief Monroe. Both will be arriving early tomorrow to get to work on what you started with Queen Laila and the councilwoman. Dain’s right that Alena could help with Stud.”

  His words were coming out funny, as if he was slowing down like when someone was about to yawn… But not. I glanced around and realized it wasn’t only him. Everyone was slowing down.

  And then I felt something off. Levi Sosa’s words ran through my head. Unstable. Yes, that was what I felt. There was something unstable around us, and it was affecting everyone. Everyone but me from what I was seeing.

  What the fuck was going on now? And why did I always seem to get all the fun bullshit of Vegas all on my own? Sin city my ass.

  19

  “It’s true,” a voice choked out, and I spun around to see a man rubbing his hand over his chest. “It’s true. You’re too powerful to let my curse affect you.”

  “This is you?” I asked, gesturing to the now almost frozen people. “What are you doing to them?”

  “I have no idea,” he chuckled sadly. “I never did. Suddenly one day people started to act weird around me. A few decades after I became a vampire, I noticed this strange behavior, and as I got older, it continued, got worse as the range extended. I wanted help, but my master had died by then. I asked others, and they thought I was crazy or underfed and hallucinating. It got worse and quickly. Then I couldn’t talk to people. How would they speak with me?”

  “There has to be other powerful people it doesn’t work with,” I argued, completely freaked out at how the people I knew and loved were almost statues, moving like a slideshow instead of fast as a movie should play.

  “I have yet to find anyone. I have tried. Council and ancients with no luck. I came to Vegas in hopes the new fairy queen might be unaffected, hearing of her power, but she is as the others. I was about to leave when I heard of you, both wolf and siren, so powerful many fear you, and I had hope again.”

  “For what? I can’t help you with vampire powers,” I muttered, worried since I didn’t have a weapon and he had just said he was here for me.

  It wasn’t like I didn’t know he was the murderer with a stack of victim files back at the office.

  “No, I am beyond all help,” he chuckled darkly, shaking his head. “I know you hunt me for the deaths I have caused. I cannot help it. I never mean
to kill them. I take a drink, and with this curse of magic, this hellish power, it all comes out and nourishes me somehow. It’s starve or kill.”

  “Then starve,” I growled, hating how he could justify murder like that.

  “It would be my suicide.” He wiped his eyes and gave me a destroyed look. “God gave me this gift, but not the strength to commit myself to an eternity to hell.” He held out a large envelope to me. “My confession. A list of all the deaths I’ve caused and my crimes.”

  “Why give this to me?” I slowly moved towards him and took it.

  “End my suffering,” he choked out, rubbing his chest again. “I beg you, Chief Thomas. I know my punishment would be death. I beg you to give it to me. I confessed to it all. Forgive my confession and carry out my sentencing.”

  “I’m not a priest, and I’m certainly not an executioner,” I argued, shaking my head. This was all too bizarre to even process.

  Rage filled his eyes. “Do you know what it feels like to starve for a vampire? It feels as if your skin is being peeled off as they dry out. It is not something we can suffer through and keep our sanity. It’s why we go feral and could kill so many.”

  “Look, I don’t want you to starve,” I assured him. “There has to be a way. Fine, you have this crazy power, but stealing from a blood bank is way better than killing people.”

  “I have tried that!” he bellowed, his eyes wild. He’d come to be set free, and I wasn’t going to give him that.

  Yeah, because murder was always on my agenda for anyone who just walked up to me and asked to kill them. Sure.

  “Don’t you think I would have tried that? This power does something to the bags. Blood is life, and you see what I do to life,” he explained, gesturing to the almost frozen people around us. “I slow down time. My presence disturbs life as it was meant to be. I am an abomination of all life, humans and vampires.

  “I thought maybe God had a plan. Maybe I was meant to bring his justice until I could find someone to end my pain, and I have tried, but now you are here. You can do it! Set me free!”