by Erin R Flynn
“That would be more than fair for us to figure out numbers,” Alena agreed, and Laila ordered one of her people to do the same. She smiled at Stud. “Is there any other business you have with Sera or our family then?”
“I would like an alliance with your family,” he admitted, glancing between us.
“I believe that is a conversation I would be willing to have over dinner if you’re free,” Alena accepted after a moment. “I haven’t seen Vegas in many, many years, and who better to show me around while my daughter has some much needed fun?”
Oh boy. It took me everything I had to focus on my food as my mom made a date to have some fun with the greasy Alpha when there was no chance I’d ever touch him. Oh well, to each their own. Maybe it was the thrill of getting to say she’d had some fun with a mob boss, which they didn’t have in Greece?
“It would be my honor. I will have a dress sent to your room, as I’m sure you weren’t thinking of some fun when you packed for this meeting.”
“Very wise,” Alena purred.
Stud made his exit, his people following and leaving us alone. Alena opened her mouth, and I held up my hand, waving Noah over. I tapped my ear and gestured around. He nodded and went off to get our bug equipment. Hey, I’d already been listened in on once this trip.
That was once too many in my opinion.
Simone and Laila caught up Alena on the club ideas we’d discussed, Councilwoman Diandra seeming to find it all amusing as she and I ate. Noah came back and checked, giving us the thumbs up we were clear.
“Would you put it past him?” I asked the table when they all smirked at how I went that far.
“No, it seems very much in his nature,” Diandra agreed. “Now, you are officially accepting claim of the Tropicana and all of the owner’s assets? He’s been taken to our headquarters for complete interrogation and sentencing.”
“One less thing for me to do,” I chuckled, then frowned at my empty plate.
“Milady, I took the liberty of adding a bit of everything from the buffet that was brought out to your next plate,” Dain informed me as he set it down and took the other away.
“Damn, you’re good,” I praised, smiling widely.
“I also had another iced latte ordered to be brought here.”
“Thanks.” Wow, I was easy. More food and more coffee, and I was happy as could be. “All I need now is to feed some more from all the nightmares.” I winced at how loud I said that.
“What are you having nightmares over?” Alena asked, her tone worried.
“Not mine,” I sighed, rubbing my still tender arm. “My clairvoyant tendencies make it hard for me to sleep next to people. I sort of invade their dreams if I do.”
“The nightmares were ours,” Hagan explained. “I know mine were the attack that happened at the other pool.”
“Mine was after the councilman, how she looked when she came home,” Reagan admitted, rubbing his temples. “I see it too—”
“No one else needed to know that,” I seethed, swallowing down what else I wanted to say. People didn’t need to know the details of what nightmares I gave my Betas and the men in my bed. “Why don’t you both go get those souvenirs for the boys you didn’t get a chance to with all that came up? Leo, Ben, and Jared are safe here with us.”
“Of course,” Hagan agreed but then stopped. “Anything you’d want?”
“A stripper pole,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “I’m fine.” I went to say more, but I looked up when I felt his hand on my shoulder. He slanted his mouth over mine, and I kissed him back.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, leaning his forehead to mine. “This hasn’t been the relaxing, fun trip we planned. I’m sorry, Sera.”
I kissed him again. “Nothing to be sorry for. I’m just a bit cranky.”
“Feed,” he offered and then kissed me again. I did and felt worlds better. Reagan offered me the same, and I accepted.
“Can we get a Vegas puzzle?” Ben asked from the other table. “We could have the family or game room be all puzzles from trips.”
“That’s an awesome idea,” I agreed, smiling at him. “And get like a nice Vegas frame and we’ll take a picture to put in it.”
“Done,” Reagan assured me, giving me another kiss.
Right after they left and I chowed down my food, Monroe showed up with another man who was clearly police from the uniform. “Jesus, Thomas, what are you wearing?”
“Alena packed for me, and this was supposed to be a vacation with a quick lecture,” I reminded him, getting to my feet.
“Why am I here?” the commander—at least according to the brass on his collar—asked with an annoyed tone.
“We have information from a source that could be connected to some of your cases,” I informed him, raising an eyebrow. “You want it or not?”
His eyes flashed shock. “Yeah, we want that.”
“What did Hull tell you you were coming for?” I checked, bracing for impact.
“Nothing. I got a call from one of the other commanders that the visiting Feds demanded a meet and greet and to drag my ass to the damn pool at the Bellagio since I’m the newest of the district commanders.”
“Well, you’re about to be a popular one,” I snickered, waving at Harris when he looked up. He took off the ear buds and stood.
“You guys normally work at the pool?” the commander asked, glancing around.
“No, we’re killing like six birds with one stone,” I drawled, gesturing to the meeting as well. “I was supposed to come lecture on Thursday, and shit hit the fan.”
He snorted. “Doesn’t it always?”
“Unfortunately.” I looked at Harris when he joined us. “This is our Vegas PD contact, and Hull didn’t tell them what we wanted them for. Can you at least let him listen to the files you’ve flagged for them so he can get a better idea of why he should love us so much?”
“I think everyone loves you in that suit,” the commander muttered under his breath, everyone there able to still hear him as we weren’t human. I flushed, and his eyes went wide. “Sorry, right, you’re the non-human branch. My bad.”
“It’s fine, we’ve all leered at her already,” Harris chuckled, holding out the ear buds to him. “Let me play one I just listened to that I bet you guys want.”
I shook my head as they walked off, introducing Monroe to everyone, him and Alena already having met a few times and flown in together. Of course Monroe was caught up and, like always, even ahead of the game and on top of everything.
“Now, I called Deputy Director Galvin and floated a hypothetical by him about all of this,” Monroe started after getting settled with some food. “He wasn’t too receptive until I told him what I’ve also been working on for the next time I went to fight for a budget.” He glanced at me for a moment, and I saw the sort of sorry, we didn’t have a chance to go over this yet and we’re on the same team look.
“You’ve always got your hands in all the good pies,” I teased him, letting him know I was ready to be blindsided.
“There are ten states that have started Non-Human and Mystical type divisions in either their state police or city one that don’t have our offices in their state.”
“Shit,” I hissed, sitting back and tossing my fork down on my now empty plate.
“I would think more offices are a good thing,” Laila interjected hesitantly.
“Not like this because that means jurisdictional fights,” I explained as I shook out my quickly drying hair. “Damn, your sun is really hot here.” I barely got the words out of my mouth when I was in the shade. I looked around and saw Dain moving an umbrella over me. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure, Milady.” He fixed it to the right angle so I was covered. “Might I suggest some more fruit and protein to aid in your recovery?”
I nodded and glanced over at Laila. “Is he going to be like this when we get back home? I mean, does he plan to spoil me like this always?”
She simply chuckled, shaking her
head at my antics. “You were saying about jurisdictional problems? You mean as you had here with the regular FBI?”
“Yes, but worse,” I answered, getting back to it. “Cities or states can set their own regulations, and with paranormals not having much of a government voice, how fast do you believe they won’t be in our favor?”
“Your cynical nature serves you well,” Monroe drawled, pulling out some pages and sliding them over. “That’s what I’ve found in Texas for their new division they just got funding for.”
“That will be fun for Miami to deal with,” I drawled, picking up the papers. The first few regulations were fine, but the third I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “‘Any animal found that poses a threat on the citizens of the state, whether natural animals or unnatural ones, can be shot on sight.’ Are they fucking insane?”
“It’s Texas,” he reminded me, rolling his eyes. “The others aren’t all that better. Everything from pulling all witches in for questioning for no reason to vampires being checked for control by withholding blood for seventy-two hours to see how they’d react.”
“They’d react by ripping their throats out,” I growled, my wolf riding me hard on the horrible insult and dangerous shit they were pulling. “You’re going to have—”
“I know, Thomas, I know,” he said gently. “And I filled Galvin in on this. He promptly changed his tune on letting this hypothetical idea happen and getting these other ideas squashed, as the protection in place for all of us is at a federal level. Hopefully once we have the idea and we can let him know the full scope of what you’ve done in Vegas over only days, we can push for a team at every office.”
I nodded as the adults took over and started talking about the sale of the Tropicana and idea of how to make the new facility happen. I only partially listened, knowing Alena would do well by me as she always had from the moment we’d met really.
We had to make this idea work. Shooting shifters on sight in Texas and starving vampires wasn’t only stupid, it was dangerous for all humans, as once such bullshit started, there was nothing that would let paranormals know which were the good or bad humans… Which was seriously bad for all good humans.
21
“Milady, with your permission, the Qua Baths & Spa is ready to receive you, your lovers, your team, and Alpha Simone while providing a sampling from Bacchanal brought directly to you,” Dain told me as the meeting started to drag on.
I glanced over at Laila who was smiling like the cat that ate all the damn song birds. “I already said I’d be your friend, Your Majesty.”
“You did, but I would like you to know how good of friends the fae are to have,” she said with a wink.
“Go, go,” Alena chuckled when I shot her a longing look. “We will continue here, and I will watch the boys. I will stay a few days longer to work out much of this, as there is lobbying to do and publicity.”
“But you’re okay doing it, right?” I checked as I stood.
She smiled, and I saw her wolf in her eyes. “Oh yes, I do not get a chance to make these sorts of deals often, as our alliances and dealings are mostly set.”
But she likes it as she would a good hunt. Yeah, that much was clear in her eyes. Awesome because I so didn’t want any part of it.
We filled in the others and Noah who joined us, smiling brightly. Yeah, yeah, Hagan and Reagan were still shopping.
“Chief, you go on ahead with Noah since they can’t all give us massages at once, and we’ll start coming over once we wrap up what we’re working on,” Davis offered, giving me a smirk.
Brat.
I threw on my shirt and shorts, waved good-bye to the boys and let Noah drag me off as Dain led the way… And damn, was I ever glad I did.
Ten minutes later he was leading us into the most gorgeous spa I couldn’t ever even have imagined. I yanked off my clothes again and went to step under the shower to rinse off the pool water.
Instead, Noah moved up behind me and started taking off my suit. “It’s just us, Sera.”
Well, Dain was there too, but considering what he’d seen and experienced with me at court, it seemed a bit prudish to worry about his eyes now. Noah meant others as Laila had closed down the spa for just us, and I couldn’t even think about the headache that would have made.
“I did neglect you when others had fun,” I murmured, shivering as his hands moved along my body. “Thanks for that. I mean, not getting neglected but seeing I was hurt.”
“I pay attention.”
“You do.” I turned after he pushed down my bottoms, stepping out of them and moving towards the shower.
“You are so fucking beautiful sometimes I think you’re only in my imagination.”
“Stop,” I chuckled, shaking my head. Instead, he swooped me up into his arms and kissed me silly. But we didn’t go into the shower, instead he carried me into a cool pool. Like that was its actual function, to be cold and have minerals in it that rejuvenated or something.
Oh, I felt something all right when he dropped me into it. I gasped, pushing my hair back as I resurfaced, ready to beat him that was so mean. He lifted me out faster than I could keep up with so my ass was on the ledge of the pool and he was between my legs. I was still shivering from the cold of the pool when he made me get hot in the most intimate spots as his mouth got to work.
“Fuck, Noah, oh fuck,” I whimpered as he did delicious things to me. I arched my back as my toes curled it was so good, and when my neck tilted, I saw Dain wasn’t just in the room but he was intently watching.
While hard.
That wasn’t a bit awkward. But I forgot about it as I received my first orgasm.
And then another.
And then another.
After the fourth one I begged him to stop, not able to take any more.
“You are so damn good at that it’s like you’re the Olympian all others should strive to beat,” I panted as I stared up at the ceiling. I squirmed as he gave me one last long lick.
“It’s only that much fun because it’s with you,” he assured me as he leapt out of the pool and moved over me. His fangy smile sent a thrill through me because of where he liked to bite. “The noises you make, Sera, gods, I can’t even put into words how addictive you are when you squirm and moan from every touch.” I felt my cheeks heat, and I looked away. “Sinner and saint. The perfect combo.”
“You’ve said that before, and I still don’t get it,” I chuckled, rubbing my hands over my face. “How I can be saintly in any way or have any innocence left is just beyond me.”
“Sera, you’re how old? Twenty-eight?”
“Yeah.” I glanced at him, wondering where he was going with this.
“And you can still count the men you’ve been with on both hands? Don’t even have a top ten kinky list? I mean, come on, you’re totally innocent.”
I frowned. “Will any of you still like me when I’ve got a list or my siren’s added a dozen more men? That’s not all you like, right?”
“Of course not,” he chuckled, his tone deep and sexy. He leaned over and licked my nipple. “You will always gasp when I do that, and I love that. I love how just that when I do it right makes you gasp. I know that if I bite, you’ll beg me for more. It’s how much you love being with me that I won’t ever tire of.” He gave me another lick. “What do you love of me, Sera?”
“I never doubt you,” I admitted, feeling my cheeks flush again. “You never lie to me, never play games, and just lay it all out there. You’re so clear about not just your feelings but what you think, and I love that, especially coming into this world where there are so many damn games. I know you’re solid, always.”
“So you don’t just love me for my big cock?”
“Of course not,” I scoffed, almost offended he suggested that.
He gave me a sexy smile, and I realized he’d made a point somehow. “Good. Then you get how I could love more than your sinner and saint attitude. You’re more than that.”
�
��Well played,” I grumbled, even as I smiled at him. “You’re also trouble. But not like bad, but wild. I can trust your type of trouble, and normally I run from trouble because you can’t trust it. You give me the taste I’ve never had before.”
“That’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said about me,” he admitted, blinking at me a moment before mashing his mouth down to mine. We were done confessing feelings after that and had some fun instead.
Some wild, Noah-style fun that left me gasping for air and thoroughly sated.
I rinsed off under the shower, and Dain led in a lady who worked on me while another tended to Noah. I sighed as she used some sort of herbal body scrub that seemed to clear my nose of everything but didn’t overwhelm me. I knew I didn’t get allergies anymore as a wolf, but there was always that gunk feeling from travel and not being in your own humidity.
Yeah, not after that scrub. Hell, my whole body felt like mush. I could barely lift my arm to have all the food and water brought out and then Nina’s tea Dain kept giving me. I raised an eyebrow on the tea, and he only smiled.
“Your mother brought some extras, and I asked her for which you prefer as you are recovering.”
“You’re good at spoiling people,” I complimented. He said something that I swore sounded like “not normally,” but I wasn’t sure because I stepped into the shower to rinse off when I was told to. Next came a mud slathering, after which they then wrapped me in warm towels. That ended up being a bit much for my wolf who didn’t like confinement, but they said I got enough of the benefit after only ten minutes.
I was soaking in the warm mineral bath when I felt the twins arrive. Reagan came over to me first, kissing my shoulder as I half snoozed hanging on the ledge.
“Isn’t this place amazing?” I asked as I turned to see him.
“You’re amazing and sexy as hell,” he growled, lifting me by my legs and wrapping me around him. “I’m glad you’re getting to relax and get some stress relief.”
I gasped as he pushed inside me without warning, thinking it was a bit fast, especially in water that didn’t actually lubricate. I buried my face against his chest so he didn’t see my reaction or frown. I was relaxing just fine. And the stress relief was great, so I’m not sure why instant sex.