by Erin R Flynn
I sighed. “I’m not upset. Just sort of not sure what to say or do. I believe we’ve discussed I am relationally challenged, right?”
“Yes, but you’re still worth it. I’ll be there soon and we can walk around and check out some of the fun before the big wigs arrive. Corbin’s worked the booth several times and can help.”
“Thanks, yeah, we—Axel came over and chased off a hawk because I didn’t get he was making the shit jokes of—”
“Female Body Inspectors, yeah, we get the same shit. I should have warned you. I didn’t think they would be so childish with the Alpha running the thing.”
“Fine, it’s all your fault,” I chuckled, my tone lighter when I knew it wasn’t just me when I was doing it.
“Always. Be there soon.”
“Thanks.”
“What’s he going to do?” Axel asked after I hung up.
“You’ll see,” I answered, not wanting to spoil it. I went over to Simone when she flagged me and we had a few last minute details to supervise about how we were handling the alcohol and blood at the rooftop garden now that it was the day of. I agreed with how she was handling it, thanking the guys who were helping deliver everything sent ahead of our guests and bringing it to the right booth.
Jonathan and Jake were actually in charge of that so we didn’t have a True Blood situation where paranormal hate groups sent bombs to some huge multi-state event. I hadn’t watched the show, but most of us wondered how that had worked out when vamps and shifters were always smelling too much and yet didn’t smell bombs.
Whatever, security was always important, and I agreed with how they handled it.
I felt the air and mood change around us, glancing up to see Brian and one of his teams jogging up the stairs. I swallowed a sigh at how hot he looked. He was in tach gear, FBI vest, which for some reason just made his chest seem even more toned and built, hat backwards with the sunglasses and just… He was most women’s sexy, sexy dream.
“Shit, I get how you fell for him,” Simone murmured. “I could totally see falling for the guy.”
“Uh-huh,” several of the hosts we had helping us agreed.
Yeah, a lot of women fell for Brian, and he looked damn good when in charge and ready for action. Even with my issues of being restrained, I had a moment to wish he would slap cuffs on me.
He glanced around and found me, taking off his sunglasses and smiling, melting me just that much more.
“Why did you call him?” Simone asked under her breath.
“Notice the change in people,” I explained. “Even those who were rolling their eyes at the idea of our FBI booth just had to admit the team decked out is cool and saw how all the women reacted. You don’t think the military plays up that they get girls easier with the uniform? They do. It’s part of the recruiting line. All the Betas and whoever got a dose of realizing they’re not such hot shit as the humans are cooler.”
“Nice,” she chuckled, shaking her head.
“It’s a standard play if we’re getting dissed at a job fair. I’ve just never been involved before.” I headed to meet Brian, smiling at him. “Thanks. You got here faster than I’d thought.”
He gave me a surprised look but then nodded. “You weren’t ever on protection details being undercover. We support CPD when big wigs come into town. We were already here checking on the personnel.”
“Damn, I like the idea of you getting geared up just for me,” I admitted, shrugging when he shot me another look. “You just turned on almost everyone woman here, Bri. You always do.” I rolled my eyes when he opened his mouth. “Yes, you’re forgiven. Let’s go help my booth that was getting mocked and I was too dumb to know.”
“Earnest. You’re an earnest person who wouldn’t think to bully people like that,” he defended.
“You think that one up on the way here?”
“Yes,” he admitted, knowing I’d bust him if he fibbed. It was sweet, and I told him as much.
“I really never would have thought you would get so turned on by that,” Axel whispered, not hiding his shock well.
“It doesn’t work for everyone,” I warned, shrugging. “But yes, I like a man who knows what’s what and can get shit done. The balance is finding one who doesn’t want to push me down to do it or can handle a woman who gets shit done standing next to him.”
Brian snickered. “You always got the shit done and faster than anyone even when you were the one undercover. People would think I boasted about my awesome newbie until they met you, and then they just try to steal you.”
“You never told me that,” I muttered, giving him a confused look.
He smirked at me, getting good at that “wolfish” grin. “Because I was never going to let you go. You wanted Chicago, and I wanted you in Chicago and near me.”
Apparently I was going to be flushed most of the day. Corbin promised to take over and teach them how to shoo away the dicks while keeping interest as long as I found some new food to stock my house with.
“Spoiled. You’re all getting so spoiled,” I drawled, smiling when he did. I knew it was a much better gig than watching outside, as it was August in Chicago and that was not when you wanted that sort of detail.
The AC in McCormick Place was so much nicer.
“Do you have some way of recruiting when you walk around?” Axel asked Brian, always diligent which I liked.
“Yup, come with us and I’ll show you,” he promised, checking his rifle that was slung over his shoulder. I hadn’t thought they’d come armed, but it made sense given what else was going on. He moved his hand so it brushed mine. “Have you checked anything out yet?”
“No, had a crime scene to start the day and got here not long before you.”
He nodded he heard me and would ask later when we didn’t have all the ears.
“Alpha, can I join you?” Ashley asked quietly, glancing at everyone. “Hagan and Reagan wanted to make sure that any of us joined you to write down what you were interested in for our pack or what you like.”
“Of course they did. Sure,” I agreed, giving her a wink. Jessica had helped with checking that booths had what they needed from electricity to whatever, so I knew Freddie and Ashley were tapped in on what was all there. Honestly, there was no chance I would have kept up with it along with who was there and all I still had with work. We started off to the side, making it like we weren’t vying for attention though we knew we had it.
I stopped at an organic jerky vendor, liking how it was the company stuff but then also which pack, pride, coven, or group. That was smart and helpful. I tried the hamburger flavor, and my eyes went wide.
“Wow, that’s really good. Normally jerky is super salty to me, but this is great,” I praised, smiling at the people running the booth. “Is it normal storage?”
“Yes, Alpha,” a female bear answered, dipping her head to me in acknowledgement. “We have cow, elk, bison, and deer ranging from spicy to savory sweet. We’re a newer start up as the market for organic and not all the extra preservatives seems to win over on whether we’re human or not.”
“This is really good,” Brian agreed after trying a bite. “You’re always trying to get more protein on the go.”
“Yeah, and the twins too as they try to watch how much red meat they have in front of the boys.” I looked over the bear and decided to take a shot it would get back to her Alpha. “Horton’s doing well. I know we’ve had some issues with bears, but our local bears weren’t the problem, and Curtis said Horton squashed a lot of rumors that bear shifters were more animals than people.” I nodded when I saw the anger in her eyes. “Some people are dumb.”
“I didn’t know the FBI let in bears,” she admitted. “We thought it was only wolves or vamps because you can control them in your pack or coven.”
“They’re not under me like that,” I promised her, guessing that was one of the rumors. “They’re not in the normal hierarchy or it could be a conflict. Horton’s still part of his sloth, but he’s work
ing here and is included with Chicago shifters. He’s a great addition as a polar bear. You guys are known for your patience.” I glanced at Ashley, not wanting to make it all a recruiting moment. “List this for the twins, either for gifts or a meeting.”
“Thank you, Alpha,” the bear said, smiling widely like she was going to get a pat on the back.
“It’s a great product,” Axel praised as well before we moved on. He waited until we were covered by the crowd more. “You’ve got a lot of misinformation out there as those who work for the council do. We get a lot of our personnel from Alpha families who don’t want to fight for the spots or just want out of the area, the shit that comes with being an Alpha family.”
“So you know how to recruit,” I replied, nodding. “One heart and mind at a time.”
Next was a booth of volcanic mountain water with all the extras and supposedly so pure. It seemed a bit of a sucker sell like how Ice Mountain water wasn’t actually bottled melted ice from mountains. It was spring water from Michigan mostly, but there were lots of exposes on most bottle water companies not being quite what they marketed.
But the water was good. Not for that high price, but not everywhere had Chicago’s high quality water.
“It tastes like water a hundred years ago,” Axel muttered, looking at the display bottle. “Interesting.”
Maybe it wasn’t a sucker sell after all. It was hard to tell with some of the “new and improved” stuff. It was one or the other. It was either new or it was improved. Something couldn’t be both.
I stopped at the next booth and tried a shot of the strawberry banana milk, which was non-dairy, and as someone who had been lactose intolerant before becoming a wolf, I always tried out any dairy free anything. I moaned at the taste and checked out the bottle. “I want this in my life.” I ignored Brian and Axel’s amused reactions and focused on the deer shifter. “It has to be refrigerated, right?”
“Yes, Alpha,” she answered. “Are you a coffee drinker? We’re offering coffee smoothies made with the chocolate banana drink.”
“I am a coffee drinker, normally espresso drinks, but I love iced coffee.”
She nodded, looking amused as she quickly made a small drink for us to split while I nodded for Ashley to try whatever she wanted as well. She gave me a shocked look when she tried the strawberry flavor. See, I knew what was good.
I thanked the woman when she gave us samples, taking a sip. “Correction, I need this in my life.”
“Need it?” Brian teased me.
“Try it,” I pushed, smirking when he did and liked it. “Think of adding peanut butter or caramel to that and tell me you don’t need that in your life as well.”
“I do,” Axel muttered. “I love banana mocha protein shakes. This is awesome.”
“Any of the products we like that could use either elf or fairy help, make note of and give it to Tasar so he can make sure Queen Laila meets with them,” I told Ashley on the side, glad when she got what was going on. She was really a sharp kid who cared about the community for being as young as she was. Most were talking about winter formal or whatever, but here she was completely dedicated to this conference.
The next booth was a wolf pack from Kentucky who raised bees and had all kinds of organic bee everything from honey to candles to soaps.
“Alpha Sera, thanks so much for inviting us,” one of the Betas greeted me. “My Alpha sends his regrets he couldn’t attend himself, but his mate is due any day now.”
“I understand, and it was last minute,” I assured him. “Congratulations for your pack. I hope she and the baby are well. Thanks for putting together such a great booth.”
He gave me a hesitant look. “We would welcome any chance to sell our goods. I know you work closely with others who sell bath products, but my Alpha said if you are ever in the market for another provider of raw materials, we would welcome the chance.”
I nodded. “Ashley, let Nina and Laila know that this pack would like to set a meeting with them, as I know they’re looking to expand. The fairies are talking about working with conservationists to release bees into the wild as well, and I think a pack whose income is in bee keeping and products would be able to help.”
“Yes, thank you, Alpha,” he agreed, dipping his head. “And thank you again for inviting us.”
“I’m going to be sending a representative from my office to talk to all the packs we don’t know, and please tell them if there are any problems in the area. We’re getting more non-human teams in other FBI offices so paranormals have a place to turn to and get help from.”
“We would very much appreciate that,” he admitted, and I had guessed that from the nerves coming off of him. Someone was messing with the wolves in Kentucky. “Wolves can apply for your division as well, yes?”
“Any paranormal as long as they have no criminal record. Valid one. We found some who had bogus warrants against them for crimes that never happened and we handled it.”
“We have some of that in our area,” he told me. “Tickets and fines piling up for wolves who don’t have cars or driving without a license for some of the kids who have never driven anywhere. We could tell if they were lying, and they’re not.”
“What kind of assholes mess with kids like that?” Brian asked, looking horrified.
“They’re probably pissed their children have to go to school with them, as the area doesn’t have enough money to have a paranormal only school,” I guessed, having seen it several times already. I smiled at the Beta when he nodded. “We can help. Make sure you give whatever specifics that you can and we’ll get into it.”
“Thank you, Alpha.” He looked lighter as we moved on, younger even. Stress and worries could do that to a person.
I knew it well.
We moved on, and I noted how Brian talked to some of the smaller or quieter guys over the ones full of bluster and pride. They were all strong as wolves, but focusing on them would pump them up while making the guys full of bluster wonder why they hadn’t gotten attention and a desire to prove they’re good enough. A bit of reverse psychology worked wonders because if Brian had gone right up to them they’d be dicks and brush him off.
Funny how they thought they were hot shit, but most would fall for such a simple farce.
We only made it down one row, but there were some veggie chips that were pretty good and most tasted like ick to me unless they were just as bad as potato chips. I wasn’t a salt girl, more sweet for sure. There was a dark chocolate everything booth, but I only like milk chocolate, but Axel politely sampled for me, plus, we were in so tight with Virgil’s pack and chocolate it felt almost like cheating to try it.
There were a few booths that hadn’t arrived yet, and I felt like leaving a note that they’d missed their chance to get in front of me for being brats and probably with some fashionably late bull I hated. I couldn’t always be on time because of work and other stuff going on, but if I could, I got my ass to places when I was asked to be there. I hated when people came late so they weren’t first to a party or whatever.
Weren’t there more important things in life than games like that? Who cared in five years who was there first or so cool they had to be late?
“Yeah, you’re forgiven,” I told Brian when we got into view of our booth and there were six people filling out applications or seriously talking to our people with interest. A few seemed to have someone in mind, but they weren’t with them as they’d brought a small party, not the whole group to the event.
There was no way we could fit them all if they had.
13
Most everyone was set up by lunch, which was when we’d said they had to be if they were doing Wednesday as we had big wigs scheduled for then. They all seemed to arrive at once, and I was honestly at a loss as to who I should greet first.
Plus, it was the first time the president was meeting Queen Laila or President Nuri or any of them meeting each other. So the fact that their parties had all pulled up one after another was sort
of amusing, but given how Chicago’s traffic worked, it was just a miracle someone wasn’t delayed.
Brian had been tickled that I’d made him come with me since he was there because he’d met the president before and I was honestly a huge fan. And given I’d only talked to him on the phone when everything had gone down with Iran and I hadn’t been that polite, I was obviously nervous.
Or that call where I’d threatened Germany.
I locked eyes with Jason who was still at one of the vehicles talking with someone, and seeing him in his uniform still affected me no matter how upset I ever was with him. The damn man wore a uniform perfectly and he friggin’ knew it.
The president was going to reach me first, and I saw Deputy Director Galvin with him since part of what we were going to show him was the new training facility. I heard the rifle and acted on instinct, grabbing Brian along with Galvin and the president, ignoring their security, and tucking them against the corner of the building that was blocked from where the shot had come from.
Seconds later Secret Service was on us, clearly not keeping up with how fast I moved, but adjusting to protect the president.
“Laila?” I called over.
“We are fine, Princess,” someone called back.
“Bijan?”
“I am uninjured, but it was for me,” he answered, meaning one of his people was hit.
I focused on where the shot had come from and was about to take off when a strong arm caught me as I slipped out of the Secret Service pile. I blinked up at Axel when he growled at me.
“You do not run towards a shooter. We protect you, Sera,” he reminded me. “I dive to cover you, and you’re gone. Carter took off with a few of his to handle the shooter.”
“And I’m a bit amused by your priorities, Thomas,” Galvin drawled.
I winced, knowing exactly what he meant, shrugging when I looked over at them. “It was instinct, sir. I don’t get much time to think moving so much faster than you guys can.”
“I’m never going to hear the end of this,” Brian chuckled, not even trying to bother to get out of the protected group when there was still a shooter.