Recovering the Siren

by Erin R Flynn

  “No getting naked with all the humans here,” I reminded everyone. “That’s why I said to bring swimsuits!”

  “Fine, mostly naked,” he grumbled.

  “You just saw me fully naked yesterday when we went for the full moon run,” I reminded him.

  “Shit, can I get an invite to that?” one of the human FBI guys asked his friend.

  “Sure, Chief Havers gives them out,” I called over, busting them.

  “Does someone else in my office want to try for you?” Brian drawled. “I get asked all the time if we’re like, a real thing or if it’s a rumor.”

  “Depends if you’re going to help me here or at least share a snow cone with me,” I teased him, smiling when he rolled his eyes. I pointed over past a catering tent and huge grills and smokers going that were trailer sized to the carnival food. There was an ice cream vendor, snow cones, cotton candy, funnel cakes, and more. I was pretty sure there were adult slushies somewhere too. “Hagan, I’ll do something dirty with you behind a tree if—”

  “Yeah, I’m heading for the slushies,” he muttered, knowing where my mind went.

  I wasn’t the only one who found that amusing. “I really am starving.”

  “I’m not sure you got enough food,” Simone drawled, gesturing to the three caterers set up with separate buffets.

  “Have you met the shifters in Chicago?” I drawled as Hagan set me on my feet. I was a bit wobbly, so he held onto me until I got my footing. “Add all the surrounding areas, the vampires, and I know the FBI offices stuff it away, plus families—I think we’ll be ordering pizzas in the next couple of hours.”

  “How much did this cost?” Hagan asked quietly, taking in the huge spread, not just food but fun and entertainment.

  “An obscene amount,” I said under my breath. “Like obscene, but I can’t think of a better way to spend it.” I nodded to boys doing battle with Dain, Alok, Tasar, and Luca. They were losing miserably, but everyone was laughing like I’d not seen in a long time.

  One of the spreads was sandwiches, one BBQ everything nummy, and the last regular burgers and whatnot. Each had either fruit platters, chips, or all the sides, and together it was like the hugest potluck picnic of fun, but we hadn’t had to do any of it. Which was the best kind of fun in my world.

  And cakes were being delivered later. Yum.

  “Were you like hungry when you ordered?” Brian asked me as he looked over it all.

  “Is there a time I’m not hungry?” I threw right back as I went for more water balloons. I joined in with the boys and nailed Dain in the shoulder. He gave me a look that promised retribution, but then Jonik came to help us too and we started turning the tide. Eugene went to help Dain’s side, and little by little we started getting more and more joining in. The best was when I went to duck behind Noah and he got nailed like a dozen times.

  “Really?” he drawled, looking down at me.

  I shrugged, soaking wet by that time and unable to not smile.

  People kept coming, and I didn’t know what was going on until I saw the Havers clan, including Grammy Havers. I walked right up to Brian who was talking with some of his people and interrupted, nodding to his family.

  Corbin snorted. “He said you were acting cagey and working on something you wouldn’t talk to him about. He had me pull your phone records, and I looked up the numbers.” He shrugged. “We knew and invited our families like for real.”

  Brian winced when I gave him a shocked look. “It was just going to be the ones you knew, but you know how people talk. No one invited like cousins and stuff, but yeah, most of us who don’t have kids invited our parents and siblings.”

  “Who tend to have kids and families,” I drawled. “Bri, this is pack lands. Humans aren’t normally welcome, and this was a big deal to let you guys here. Most don’t let any but wolves on their lands. That’s how the pack was when we took over.”

  “Crap, sorry, it just sort of happened,” he worried. “In my defense, I wasn’t the one with the big mouth.”

  Several of his guys looked incredibly guilty, and I sighed. “Fine, but you’re guarding the bunnies and going with to get more food. I’ve gotta talk to the caterers and see if they’ll cook more if we get more.” I held up my hand when someone went to argue. “The lot is completely full, and they’re parking on the grass now.” I locked eyes with Brian. “You need to move vehicles to block that back section.”

  “I don’t—” Corbin started to ask, but Brian cut in.

  “It’s the pack graveyard,” he explained, wincing again when he saw how close cars were getting. “Shit, yeah, I wouldn’t blame them for freaking if people parked there.”

  “Yeah, especially because Hagan and Reagan’s parents are buried there,” I said quietly.

  I was less annoyed when they hurried to move their vehicles over there even if further out of the way to block anyone from parking there. I mean, they made a wall no one could even pull around and not hit a tree. Good. Idiots.

  “Leo, I need you,” I called over the crowd after checking with Barbara that the grills were hired for so many hours so they would keep cooking.

  “I’ll go with, but I want some naughty fun behind a tree too,” Eugene told me as he caught up to me. I nodded and went over to the Haverses when they waved to me.

  “Cool it with the naked or naughty stuff with the FBI around,” Dain warned Eugene. “You saw some full moon fun while they were all in New York and they were a tight group, but the regular offices aren’t like that. They talk and a lot. When the FBI or Haverses are around, we all chill and she acts like Brian’s. She’ll do the same for me when we’re around fairies or whatever. It’s smarter, easier on her.”

  Yeah, it was, and I appreciated them thinking of that.

  “You needed me?” Leo asked as he hurried over. He quickly greeted the Haverses as well and gave me a curious look.

  “Apparently Brian’s office extended the surprise invitation because they figured it out. I don’t have enough food,” I explained. “You have your debit card on you?”

  “Locked in the trunk with my wallet and phone,” he answered.

  “Good, go get it, and I’ve got lots of help going with you. Stick by Eugene, okay? Clean out Costco of steaks, brats, burgers, and buns. Chicken. They can grill up chicken, but we might need rubs and stuff. Whatever you can get fast and in bulk.”

  “I’ll handle it,” he promised.

  “He’s just a boy, and he has your debit card to your huge accounts?” Grammy Havers asked, giving me a look that she didn’t approve.

  “I was in NROTC and going through OCS the summer I graduated by his age, emancipated and handling everything,” I defended. “He’s nineteen and manages a lot for our family while getting caught up on everything that wasn’t provided for him that should have been. Hell, he’s the adult of us most of the time. He handles getting everything the boys need, and I include the adult boys of our house.”

  “Good for him,” she praised, giving me a smile. “Now, how are you? You look much better than when we saw you in the hospital and you were all loopy.”

  “I don’t even remember seeing you,” I admitted. “Sorry, I would have thanked you for visiting.”

  “You’ve had lots else going on, Sera,” Mrs. Havers forgave. “So you threw a summer party?”

  “Well, it was supposed to also be a joint birthday party since I missed Ben, Leo, Tommy, and Brian’s birthdays, but now I might strangle your son instead.”

  “I’m heading out with the shopping trip,” Brian announced as he came over.

  “No, I sent Leo and Eugene with your guys. You have to stay here and play parent with me,” I argued. “It’s your damn office misbehaving already.”

  “Sorry,” he sighed, giving me a hug. He called over to Leo to go ahead and came back for a kiss. “Sorry, I didn’t think it would spin out like this.”

  “You are such a handful,” I sighed, rolling my eyes when he kissed my hair. “Let’s eat. I’m hungr
y.”

  “Aren’t you always?” Grammy Havers teased me. She looked past me, and her eyes flashed shock. “Oh my, who is the handsome man with the lilac eyes who is watching this with such interest?”

  I didn’t even have to look. “Jonik. He’s a friend of Dain’s who flew in to be my trainer and work with me on getting better. He has a PhD in sports medicine.”

  “I wouldn’t think paranormals who heal so easily would focus on that?” Mr. Havers asked as he handed out plates and we started loading up.

  “They have trouble after their wings grow in and balancing with them and using them. Plus, the magic they have is physically taxing,” I explained, having learned a lot about it as well. “It’s really fascinating. I knew shifters have problems when they’re younger before they even shift, as adolescence is hard on everyone, but born shifters tend to be bigger, so it’s growing faster, but learning about the fae side was really cool.”

  “It was,” Brian agreed. “I was talking about it with Tasar and Alok, and people look down at fairies for being tricksters or all glamour, but they really have their act together. One of every family learns that area, and they divide and conquer so the family is well rounded. It’s really cool.”

  “Their families are like pack and don’t get spread all out. It’s more like how it used to be where there was the main family and cousins were in charge of this and that of the estates,” I told the Haverses. “It sounds outdated, but it’s incredibly smart because being one of us isn’t safe and more humans knew than was ever in history. Alok has told me stories about locking down his family’s castle in Europe when people came for them.”

  “I would love to hear stories like that,” Grammy Havers admitted. “I’ve always found history fascinating.”

  “Your arthritis is still acting up, right?” I checked with her. I waited until she nodded. “Jonik, can you sit with Grammy Havers and see if there’s something you can do to help?”

  “Sera, he’s all the way…” Mrs. Havers trailed off when Jonik came over and dipped his head to them. “I cannot get used to the hearing difference.”

  “I’m over six hundred years old, so I’m well tuned to hear my own name,” Jonik explained. “It’s hard for those younger like Sera, as groups are a bit too loud for their heightened hearing.”

  He might have said more, but a little girl squealed behind us. I turned to see her jumping all around Axel.

  “Are you really a tiger? I love tigers. Will you show me the kitty? Please? I want to see the kitty!” she rambled, no more than seven and bouncing with excitement.

  And she started a movement, several more young kids coming over and begging to see the tiger. Axel looked to me for help, which was just silly of him.

  “I sent Leo for steaks so we can feed you some raw. That would make your tiger happy on the full moon, right?”

  “That and someone just pulled in a deer,” a guy with Brian’s office told me, nodding to the panther in animal form dragging over a deer, several others with rabbits in their mouths.

  I dropped my plate on the table and darted over there. “What is the rule about hunting rabbits when my rabbits are around?” They winced, and I called out to check the boys were okay.

  “You hunt rabbits when the pack’s rabbits are around and Alpha Sera thumps you,” Ashley called over.

  “Right, and what’s the rule if prey is with us?” I asked the panthers. “No hunting at all.” I brought my fist down on each of their heads as hard as I could. “You all just got clean up duty. No more hunting.” I waited until they nodded before heading back to get my food, rubbing my chest as I tried to calm back down.

  “They all know the boys,” Brian reminded me.

  “Yeah, well, we know things don’t always go to plan,” I drawled, gesturing to the tons of extra people we hadn’t planned for. “We don’t even have enough tables and chairs.”

  “We were told to bring blankets and whatever,” Mrs. Havers assured me, nodding to where lots were sitting on picnic blankets. “We thought it was going to be more like a paranormal football game and people were bringing grills. We didn’t know you were being all fancy.”

  “It’s fine,” I sighed. “I just don’t normally plan the parties so I get nervous. And we can’t play football with you guys around.”

  “Right, someone could get hurt,” Jimmy, Brian’s younger brother, muttered. I was dying to ask what had happened with his engagement, but since she wasn’t with him, I assumed it was still off.

  “No, we wouldn’t play with humans so no one got hurt, but you wouldn’t be able to watch,” I answered.

  “They’re too fast,” Brian explained when they were confused. “I’ve been here on the full moon, and all you see is a blur as they race full out. It’s—you wouldn’t catch what was going on.”

  Jimmy looked like he wanted to argue that, but then looked over my shoulder and his mouth fell open. I glanced over there and saw some of Ashley and her friends race over to the inflatable slides and glide along the water until they reached the pool part.

  “And they’re just the kids,” I told Jimmy. “They’re born shifters so they’re stronger, but yeah, those are the kids.”

  Axel got out of shifting for the moment once the parents rounded up their kids and promised he would later if they ate a full lunch with vegetables. He looked like a fish out of water dealing with kids, but he wasn’t bad at it, which was sort of endearing.

  We ended up sitting in the shade on the blankets Mrs. Havers brought, the boys joining us as well. Grammy Havers made a comment about how well behaved they were and she’d never met teenage boys who ate so many vegetables.

  “They’re rabbit shifters,” I explained with a wink. “The veggie thing is true. They also have to limit how much red meat they eat, as well as bunnies in the wild don’t chomp on cows.”

  “Certain fruits too,” Tommy added. “We were using some of the wrong fruits in our smoothies and we got… Some stomach issues.”

  “Good save,” I praised, giving him a wink. Lunch wasn’t the time to talk about bowl movements. “And I saw the flowers that were planted around the graveyard. Was that you guys?”

  “Yeah, we told Jesse that maybe we should brighten up the area since we heard Tristan say Riley liked flowers and pretty bushes,” Cory said quietly.

  “Yeah, he did,” I confirmed, giving them a sad smile. “He would have loved the greenhouses and all the flowers we donate to the hospitals in his name. He said he couldn’t do anything about the food, but there was no reason he couldn’t pick up another bunch for the nurse’s station when he got some for our house. I know things went really bad in the end, but that was who he was at his core.”

  “That’s what others in the pack said, and he did a lot to protect people and fight against Engle,” Cory promised, the boys only knowing the bad side of Riley and our issues. “Alvin was the one who came up with the idea and asked the fairies to help us do it.”

  I swallowed loudly but smiled at Alvin as I praised him. He was the one who had the most darkness in him, having lived on the streets and doing lots he wouldn’t talk about to survive. We worried about him and Leo the most, as they’d suffered the longest and worst. “We should do the same where Gary’s buried.”

  “We did,” Alvin muttered, his tone saying he didn’t want to talk about it. Gary was the rabbit who had been murdered when he had been working as a prostitute. Alvin had identified him before I’d found them, but the police had still had his body as an unsolved case with no family to claim him.

  So we had. We’d bought a nice plot and had a small service for him after the boys had gotten better and I’d worked the case with CPD to find the guy. He was convicted for several murders and was serving several life sentences. I’d pushed for more and to go to the council since he’d murdered an endangered species shifter, but he hadn’t known and he wasn’t trying to murder the people but went too far with what they didn’t want.

  But at least the boys got some closure, an
d even if the trial had been hard, handling all of that had been, it was better they got that. I was glad they were still visiting Gary now and again even when I was gone. I’d have to thank the twins for that.

  “What do you mean you posted this party?” a guy asked, his tone agitated. Someone had started talking, and I held up my hand to hold them off while I listened, not able to spot who was speaking.

  “Yeah, I tweeted it out and posted the location,” a woman replied. “What’s your issue? You said the director guy is doing some rich bitch and that’s how he got the Ferrari. Let’s have some fun and she can pay for it. I told people to bring more booze though.”

  “Un-fucking-real,” I seethed, getting to my feet. I glanced around and locked eyes with a newb from Brian’s office. “You work the fucking FBI, kid, not some bank where no one cares if you share the info. There are agents’ families here that could have to arrest people one day, but now they’ve met their kids and know where we hang out. So seriously, maybe don’t invite your latest ditz you’re banging who doesn’t get it.”

  “Bitch, who the fuck do you think—”

  I snarled at her, my eyes flaring power. “I’m the ‘rich bitch’ Chief Havers is ‘doing,’ and I’m also Alpha of the pack whose lands you’re standing on, idiot. This isn’t a public park.”

  “And she’s also my boss,” the guy snapped. “She’s a division chief too. Delete those tweets and tell people they can’t come.”

  “No way,” she argued, frowning. “I’m not getting humiliated like that.”

  “Fine, then call the police,” I told the guy. “She’s the one who put the posts up about a private party and said anyone can come. She’s liable for disturbing the peace and maybe inciting a riot when they drive all the way here and we won’t let them on. Plus, any underage drinking and—”

  “Fine, fine, I’ll call it off,” she bitched, giving him a look. “Let’s go.”

  “Oh no, you’ll be here to make sure these people turn around and go,” I purred. “You’re still liable if there’s a problem. Free speech is great, but you’re on the hook for what you say and the dominoes falling.”