by Erin R Flynn
“Please say I can be your moon mate, Sera,” he panted after he pulled out of me, turning me on my side. He brushed his lips over mine. “Please, please say I can be your moon mate.”
“Yeah, I can suffer through that again,” I chuckled quietly as I cuddled up to him. “We can’t have sex again when I wake, but you definitely did me until I need to pass out.”
“Sleep, I will tend to you,” he promised, kissing me again. “And know you have forever changed me. Never did I think sex could be like that.”
I nodded, but part of me wanted to sigh. How did women get such the bad rap of not being able to separate sex from emotions? In my experience it was the guys. Sure, I liked Jonik. I really liked having sex with him, but that was it. I wasn’t forever changed even if it was some of the best sex of my life.
Right? That didn’t really ever happen.
7
The next morning I woke plastered to Brian with Jonik wrapped around me from behind. It took me a moment, but then I felt the ring on my finger, understanding someone had put it on me. I saw Brian was already awake, smiling at me.
“Well, this is new.”
“Good new?” he checked, leaning in when I nodded. He brushed his lips over mine. “I love that I got to sleep the night next to you, and I don’t even care that the fairy joined us.”
“It might mess up how I was thinking of giving you a real good morning.”
“I have no issues simply watching,” Jonik mumbled against my hair. “I’m as much a voyeur as your human. It’s part of being fae.”
“That’s good, but it’s a bit hard to do much of anything when you’re wrapped around me like a barnacle.”
“Am I at least a hot barnacle?” he grumbled as he let me go.
I snickered as I slid my leg over Brian and straddled him. “Hi. Morning.”
“Oh, you’re new to this,” he teased me, smiling brightly when I nodded. “So how did you want to say good morning?” His eyes filled with heat as I slid my hand under his boxer briefs. “Yeah, I love sleeping over.” He rolled us and moved his hand in my shorts, teasing me too. “Does last night count as a date and now we’re at sleepovers and second base?”
“I don’t think me having sex with two other men is a date.”
“What was it like?” he asked in between kisses.
I didn’t even bother to pretend I didn’t know what he meant. “You know when we’re totally in sync and moving together and it ramps it up and you can’t tell where I start or you finish?” I waited until he nodded. “It’s like that but on crack. It kept getting kicked up and just snowballing, and honestly it was overwhelming. In a good way, but not in a way I could do all the time.”
“Could you do this all the time?” he whispered as he pushed his fingers inside of me.
“Yes, I should always have gentle and hot TLC in the morning,” I moaned, arching my back for him. He buried his face in my breasts, and we came at the same time, panting and giving each other that sated, sleepy look like we were thinking of more but knew we had to get going. “Shower?”
“Yes please,” he chuckled. “Twist my arm and force me to see you naked and wet and moaning from the hot water.”
“Be nice or I’ll cut my hair.”
“Don’t you dare,” several deep voices called out from the other room.
Brian burst out laughing at whatever was on my face. “We stayed at the coven, but no one was easing down just yet. Axel, Eugene, Carter, and a few others slept in the living area of this suite, bringing in cots to make it work. Everyone else is in other guest rooms around us.”
I nodded that I heard him. “For the record, having hair like this is a huge pain in the ass. Especially in winter when I can’t just let it air dry or it freezes.”
“I’ll blow dry it,” Carter promised.
Goof.
We ended up not having time to do much but shower, and Carter made quick work of my hair while I stuffed breakfast in my mouth that someone brought up for us. I got dressed for work, giving Jonik a quick look when we were ready to head out.
“You guys need to change to blend.”
“I will let the others know they cannot wear court clothes,” he agreed, taking out his phone.
We met up in the foyer, and I accepted several files from Dubois’s guys. After a quick read through, I put one on top. “We’ll start with the Triad. Meet us there at noon, and know you cannot kill humans on this hunt. Scare the shit out of them, have fun, but no killing. We need the information the shifter council interrogators will get out of them.”
A few shrugged, but Dubois replied. “We can hunt on the other end if we feel there will be a threat to any of ours after this.”
“You do what you want in China or whatever else I won’t know about,” I accepted, shaking my head.
We divided up to handle our different roles, and twenty minutes later we were pulling up at the main FBI office. I was going to let Brian handle this part, but he said he would take over after we got Galvin involved, but until then, we had the directive from Monroe as he was section chief, but he was my boss so it made sense I was lead.
Okay then.
I went in first, badge showing, vest on, and directive in hand. “I need to speak with the head of security. This building is in lock down for an internal sweep. That means phones and internet cut and cell jammers on now.”
“Do it,” the one guy said after looking it over. He gave me a worried look. “How bad?”
“Bad, but it might not be as many as we’re currently worried about. Lock down the building.”
“You got it, Chief,” he said before heading to the doors. Yes, it was a fire hazard to lock everyone in a huge building, but we’d deal with that if there was a fire, and honestly, we knew not to jump on that as someone could set a fire to get out of the building. Which was also why our first job was to get everyone together and eyes on them.
“Each of you go with one of the human security and someone from Brian’s team and clear each floor,” I ordered. “People go in the conference room so no one’s starting fires or pulling alarms to get out of here. You confiscate phones and any other electronics. We’re heading to the big boss.”
“Got it,” Carter said as more building security gathered. He was partnering people up as Brian and I headed to the elevator.
“You do not leave my side until they’ve handled enough so you get guards again,” I told Brian. He didn’t even argue with me this time, getting brought up to speed on how bad some of the people in the building were.
The pack actually had turned out to be a smaller percentage of baddies than Chicago had been. However, they were really, super, and ultra dirty. There wasn’t a spread, but it was deep, so that was a fun change.
No, not at all.
People had already figured out something was going on by the time we got off the elevator at the right floor. Brian had been there before, so he told me the way and I locked eyes with the division chief I recognized from when he’d been to Chicago.
“You do not have the authority to do shit here, Thomas,” he sneered at me.
“Well, I have a section chief that says otherwise when the dirt of your office leaks into ours,” I drawled. “And everyone can fight it out later, as Monroe should be telling Galvin right now what’s going on. But for now, oh yeah, we’re locking the building down, and as division chief, it is your duty to order them to stand down and cooperate.” I watched his jaw move as he ground his teeth.
“Stand down and cooperate,” he called out to everyone. “Leave your electronics at your desk and head to the conference room.”
“We’ve got the first floor and stairwells secured,” I added, making it clear there was no escape. People behaved, most looking afraid, but there were two that not only weren’t scared, but had a smugness about them I didn’t like. I walked over to one and grabbed his arm.
“Don’t touch me, you freak,” he bitched, trying to pull away.
Yeah, that just made me want to touch him mor
e.
“Hold him,” I told Brian, putting my hands on the guy’s face. Then I went to the second guy and did the same. I was about to send out that pulse I knew paranormals would feel like when I was in Memphis, but Carter, Emilio, and Orson came racing from the stairwell, having felt my upset. “Orson, I need you to pilot the chopper. Carter, do not leave Brian’s side, and Emilio, get me a few ancients up to the roof to help me.”
“Sera, what’s going on?” Brian demanded, grabbing my arm.
“They’re going after Galvin,” I answered as I accepted restraints from Carter and tied the two agents to chairs. “That was the plan for when I came because they knew I was coming, just not when.” He opened his mouth, and I knew what he was thinking. “His security is dirty, Bri. One of the foxes didn’t show for a play time, and this guy is supposed to call in before noon with what happened or they assume I’m here and go for Galvin and his family.”
“Because he’s the one who could call this off,” the other division chief hissed. “One of them a pilot? I’ll get you keys.”
“You’re not dirty,” I blurted, my eyes going wide.
“No, not dirty,” he grumbled, leading the way. “Neglectful and looking forward to retiring.”
He showed us where the keys were and to which bird, Orson snagging them and racing up to the roof to get the chopper started. Three more ancients met us up there, and we got going the second the chopper was ready.
But I wasn’t sure we were going to be enough. We didn’t know how much dirt this had either. After a moment’s hesitation, I texted one of the SAiCs from the non-human DC office and told them Galvin was in danger and we needed to know where he was but not to spook his security.
Orson pushed the chopper to the max because I knew it should have taken longer, but it also wasn’t long enough in some ways as we were about to hop into the shit… After coming from shit we didn’t even get to finish.
Fuck all the ducks.
I was out of the chopper right after it landed, knowing the way this time. I texted we were there and got the confirmation Galvin was in his office but his security was close. That was fine, I knew their faces.
A few people tried to stop us, but I held up my badge and they let me through. We ran down to the right floor, and the moment we got close, three guys jumped to their feet and I didn’t even have to point them out then. They didn’t even get a chance to blink before the ancients were on them. Orson was still with the chopper, so that left me to barge into Galvin’s office.
“Sir, sorry to interrupt but your family’s in danger,” I blurted. “Three of your security were dirty, and the plan was to keep us from the regular in New York was to force you to call us off.” I didn’t even acknowledge the others there or wait for his response, going for the nearest security guy and draping my influence on him. “What was the plan?”
“Galvin’s wife is sure you’re having an affair,” he answered, his eyes glazed over and unfocused with the amount of power I started with. Whoops, forgot he was human. “She’s been telling all her friends that and several people have overheard she hopes you don’t make it the next bust you’re on. We get Galvin to call everyone off raiding New York, the wife got jealous and shot the family before getting you.”
“Yeah, solid plan,” I drawled, rolling my eyes. “That wouldn’t have stopped anything and made hellfire rain down on you idiots. And I’m not sleeping with Galvin! I’ve got enough men knocking at my door without going after a married man. Idiots.” I pulled the guy’s cuffs off his hip and locked him up with them. “Let’s go save the witch running her mouth about me next.”
“Fun times,” the ancient chuckled.
Riiiight.
It turned out they already had eyes on Galvin’s house, so after a bit of back and forth, the ancients were going to dress like his security detail while I snuck in through the garage as I’d snuck out of Mario’s house. The non-human team was going to sweep the area and find the eyes on the house.
We handed over the dirty security detail and headed out. I wasn’t surprised when the first thing out of Galvin’s mouth was an update on New York.
“Monroe signed off on a directive like that?” he checked.
“Sir, we didn’t come to you because we were worried about too many ears and how far the dirt was. Hi, they were on your security detail. So we were kind of right on this one. You knew we were eventually planning on this.”
“Not with the regular office,” he argued, scrubbing his hands over his face. “This is a fucking mess.”
I snorted. “You don’t know the half of it. I’ve taken over the pack, we invaded a coven, the fox leader was infecting hot women to whore them out to all kinds of big everyone. This is far from over. I had a date to go Triad hunting with two councilmen.” I nodded when he gave me a funny look. “Yup, Papadopoulos came and brought a friend that scares the living shit out of me. He’ll behave here, but I would prefer to never have met him.”
“That bad?” he worried.
“Yeah, that bad,” I muttered, shivering. “You can see the monster lurking in his eyes. He’s got it locked down tight, but it’s there. I got some images of his idea of a fun time, and it is not fun.”
“Carter was worried,” one of the ancients admitted. “You were seriously upset.”
“Yeah, he was thinking of bleeding me on the table while screwing me to death and bathing in my blood but stopping just short of death and doing it again, and again, and again until I finally just died. I was validly upset.”
“Fuck, that’s disgusting,” he hissed. “We drink blood because we have to. Some people are tasty and it’s awesome during sex just like biting or any other sex fun. That’s just… Yeah, that’s a monster and not because he’s a vampire.”
“I agree. I got the feeling he was a monster long before he was turned. I’ve marked every day of my calendar to avoid him.”
When we got close, I had to hide, kneeling on the floor between Sander’s legs. He was one of the more playful ancients, so I wasn’t surprised when he smirked at me.
“While you’re down there would you mind—”
“I knew you would go there,” I grumbled, leaning over and biting his thigh. “I’m telling Carter you misbehaved in front of FBI. You guys are supposed to be showing how professional you are and can get with the rules.”
“I just needed my shoe tied,” he fibbed.
The others snorted, Galvin included. Yeah, right, that was what Sander had been about to ask. My ass.
We pulled into the garage, and seconds after we got out, I felt the change in the air.
“Something’s wrong,” Sander confirmed. “They know. I feel the anger and panic.”
I didn’t stop to ask questions, racing to the door to the house and heading right for the humans. I found Mrs. Galvin in the living room and saw the dot on her chest appear. The shots fired as I dove for her, one hitting my vest.
And the other clipping my neck.
But at least she was safe, right? She screamed and pushed me away from her as others came racing into the room. I saw Sander flinch and knew he got hit, but then he flipped the couch over us to block us.
“Sera, feed, you’re bleeding out too fast,” he demanded before mashing his mouth to mine, his hand pressing down on my hand on my neck. I fed and fed big, glad he could handle it. I took a break, but he kept kissing me to push me.
“Why must I see this?” Mrs. Galvin bitched. “I don’t want this in my home!”
“He’s feeding her energy so she doesn’t die because she saved you,” someone snapped. “Switch with me. Sander, switch with me. We got the shooters.”
He moved away, and I waved off the next ancient, but he didn’t listen, kissing me until I fed and fed some more.
“I’m good,” I coughed. “It’s hard to take so much fast. Sander got shot.”
“Bullet’s already out, Sera,” Sander promised.
“Galvin? His kids?”
“All good,” Galvin called
from the kitchen. “Thanks, Thomas.”
“I want a raise,” I groaned as I pushed to sit up. “I keep getting shot, and Havers makes more than me.”
“You are such a pain in the…” He burst out laughing, mostly from stress, but I was glad to give him a reason.
“Someone call Dain. He had to have felt that,” I remembered, lying back down to let my body heal better.
“He’s already calling,” Sander grumbled. “She’s fine. She was shot, but she’s fine, healing. Yeah, yeah, hang on. Your husband wants to talk to you.”
“You’re married, and still you kiss other men, sleep with the list of them you have?” Mrs. Galvin demanded, giving me a look of horror.
“Actually it’s more than that as we can’t divorce except in death,” I told her as I sat up and took the phone. “And my business is not your business.”
“Marriage is sacred.”
I sneered at her. “I don’t cheat on him. He knows, and you really have no room to judge.”
“My marriage is sacred,” she snapped at me.
“Not what I meant, and not my business. I don’t judge. Try it. Those are the rules too. You’re so busy sitting here judging and lecturing me you have yet to thank me for saving your life. Yeah, you should be judging no one ever.”
“And you’re a whore who’s trying to steal my husband,” she snapped. “And I want you out of my house.”
“That’s enough!” Galvin cut in. “A lot of this started because you were running your mouth that I’m having an affair with her. They were going to use that to kill us all, as you keep saying you hope she doesn’t survive her next bust. And still she comes here to save my family’s lives, almost dying to do it. And this is how you treat her?”
“So you’re having fun,” Dain drawled when I got to my feet and put the phone to my ear.
“Yeah, barrels of laughs,” I grumbled as I headed out of the house, plopping down on the front porch. “We were handling the dirt in the regular New York office, and I picked up some smugness and checked it. Luckily they were morons who were thinking like I was human and they could just do some cover up no one would ever question.”