by Erin R Flynn
Instantly he was back, nodding and standing. He took a few deep breaths before taking my hand. “Okay, down the rabbit hole we go.”
Someone snorted, and I narrowed my eyes in the direction of where it came from. “Don’t judge. I passed out when I realized what I got too. It wasn’t the best of circumstances after all. We’re normal people, and our first answer is to do good with the money and help people, and he’s not even a paranormal. He’s in this fight with us because he believes in protecting and helping citizens no matter what they are.”
Brian kissed my hair when it sounded like I might ramp up some more. “What are these eleven facilities going to be?”
“Four will be converted into fish farms and additions added for a second floor of greenhouses,” Laila explained, her people pulling up something else on the tablets. “Those are last month’s numbers for the fish farm Seraphine invested in and rescued a family of elves. When they become citizens, they will buy the farm from her, and her club gets a reduced cost to buy their wares.”
“How huge is this farm?” the mayor asked, his eyes going wide. “These are insane numbers. Are they selling them all?”
“A fraction of the farm has not been set up yet, and yes, they do sell it all,” Laila answered. “We do not publicize all our gifts, and it is why this meeting is face-to-face so we know people won’t be posting to the internet or talking to bad people who might want to start forcing the fae to use their magic.” She waited until the humans nodded or whatever else she was studying them for. “Elves are good with animals, fairies plants.”
Several people snorted, that being the understatement of the year. Hell, I was one of them. “Good with” didn’t even start to cover it.
“And as we are selling out of the fairy nectar we are making before we can even put it on shelves of places that want to distribute it, we need another facility,” Laila added. “New York has a serious pollution problem, and as I believe most saw of my press conference, we have the ability to help.”
“The New York pack is mostly construction, right?” Brian asked, frowning. “Out of work construction guys and foremen? They had a company or do, but no one hires them because they’re wolves?”
“Yes, exactly,” Laila said, nodding. She smiled when he flinched, catching on. “Yes, Seraphine and I—with the help of her sister, Princess Melicent as she is taking control for now—are going into business to make recycled construction materials.”
“Since the press conference, our queen has constantly received calls from many companies willing to share their process or whatever she wants if she were to visit and help their communities as well,” one of her aides explained. “She has graciously accepted and already has spoken with a company in Africa that has the backing of the government to help their landfill problems if they pass legislation to classify fae as citizens like humans.”
“What does the company make?” the mayor asked.
“Paving stones made from plastic bags,” Laila answered. “And New York cannot currently recycle them. You pay someone to come take them, if my information is correct.”
“That is true,” the mayor confirmed. “It’s a huge hassle and costly as they jam up the sorting machines.”
“Ah, but we could prevent that if you allow some of my people access to the facility,” she told him. “We could pull them out before truckloads go into the system. We could pull them out of landfills if you allow it and I know my people are safe. We also are going to make other plastic products like chairs and tables.”
“Why would you need that?” someone on the mayor’s staff asked.
She gave him a look like he was daft. “I own a few hotels and casinos in Vegas, and they have pools that need outdoor furniture.” She didn’t wait for his reaction, focused back on the mayor to clearly say she was only talking to him. “Hopefully that could lead into building low income housing with recycled plastic as they’ve started doing in Colombia. But I’ve also had offers from glass counter, sink, and tile companies.”
“And what do you want from us?” the mayor muttered, glancing back at the numbers.
“We will be bringing in more refugees and getting the federal visas, but we would like the assurances as we have in Chicago,” she answered. “That city workers will behave and the police are committed to protecting us as they would humans. The pack will work construction but also protection, along with any shifters who need jobs, but we need to know if several of mine go to pull waste out of the East River, the city supports that.”
“Your Majesty, if you can help make New York cleaner for my kids and all the people who live here, I will assign protection details,” the chief of police promised. “Hell, off duty officers would volunteer to help if we can clean up the city. There’s only so much garbage we can ship out, and the water isn’t even safe to be in.”
She waited until the mayor nodded as well. “That’s wonderful to hear. Someone suggested at my press conference that we weigh how much I pulled out of the waters in Texas. So we did and all the other ports as well. At Seraphine’s suggestion along with her business partner Alpha Simone, we started a foundation that has the tally and also where people can donate towards the cost of transportation.
“That money would not go towards this endeavor unless it’s for materials we cannot use and would recycle. Any help with that though would be welcome. We can focus and say pull out only tires or whatever, but keep in mind, I am queen, so others cannot do what I did. Not to say that my people are weak, as they are not, but I am queen for a reason.”
“So if there is not an elf family to buy the farm this time, how are you structuring all of this?” Apollo asked as we went into the first place and there was a flurry of activity going on.
“Alena handled the purchase of the facilities that Seraphine owns but with the company we own together,” Laila explained. “And I will purchase the equipment.” She blinked at me and then burst out laughing. “You really do just sign whatever Dain or Simone tells you to, don’t you?”
I shrugged, understanding what she was busting me on. “I didn’t know we had an official company. I just knew we bought the greenhouses together.” I sighed, letting down my hair and then putting it back up in a bun. “I didn’t ever really think if we were half and half or whatever. My wolves got jobs and it’s doing well. Beyond that… I know Noe’s happy because we hired some of his hawks.”
“Our jobs aren’t exactly nine to five, and we have free evenings, Queen Laila,” Brian reminded her. “And honestly, her job is harder than mine, as she handles all non-human FBI for the entire Midwest. There might be less non-humans than humans, but that is a huge area to cover.”
“Yes, I understand as I’m queen of an entire race,” she tossed right back, not seeming upset but that she genuinely understood how hard it was. “I was laughing more that the always suspicious and careful FBI division chief I know just signed whatever.”
“That’s my personal life,” I reminded her. “Besides, Dain can’t betray me. Simone would never as she needs me and loves me. Others… Alena would eat them. You’d make people serve you at court. There are scary punishments awaiting if people try anything, and most of them need this to work. We had people not admitting to overtime at the club because they wanted to make sure we would stay open.”
“What did you do?” the mayor asked me.
“Simone called an employee meeting and made them ’fess up so we could pay them,” I answered with a shrug. “That club makes gobs of money. The food is amazing, the entertainment is crazy awesome and—we’re going to stay open. We’ve already made back the startup costs. The Sunday brunches are booked six months out. They don’t need to hide when they work overtime. If nothing else, it tells us if Simone needs to hire more help.”
“It does make very good money, which you should be proud of since it was all your vision,” Laila complimented. “It’s also why I believe your mother added some revision to the second one where the first floor is a full store of the
clothing line and other signature items, including the fairy nectar and chocolates from Virgil’s pack.”
“I didn’t have much time to look it over,” I admitted. “I was sort of taking over the pack and handling the Alpha.”
“Handle how?” the police chief demanded, his eyes full of anger. “Is he dead? I thought that was just a bullshit rumor.”
“He’s very dead,” I assured him, raising an eyebrow at him. “Your people should read the updates we send out about the extra laws paranormals have to live with. The fight for Alpha is to the death and it’s legal. The stakes have to be that high or every joker would come and challenge us for the pack and all we have because they get all we have.”
“Someone could come take all you have just by killing you?” he asked, his expression switching to horror.
“No, there are rules,” I assured him. “You have to be a member of the pack and fight your way up and then take over in the death match. Alpha Mario cheated and sent a hitter after me, basically negating the normal rules by an act of aggression against my pack. If they fail at a cheat takeover, all bets are off, but yeah, I still had to kill him. I had to kill the Alpha of the Chicago pack. I killed the Alpha of Milwaukee when he tried to invade.”
“It’s the same for vampires,” Apollo interjected. “It’s not as structured for wolves, normally someone simply gets backers on their side and pulls a Brutus on Caesar, but well, same principle that you better have your house in order and good protection.”
I nodded. “It’s also why there are such strong laws against harming shifter children. Someone could try for the kids I adopted and use them against me. They have tried. They get dead instead. These were the rules put in place, so we got an extra set of rules to behave as well, except we haven’t been protected, which is why there’s tons of crap at the higher level that we’ve been doing all this extra and cops were mounting shifter heads in Memphis.”
The police chief’s face instantly softened. “Yeah, I saw some of the pictures. I can’t even imagine. It made me sick.”
I glanced away. “The pictures were nothing compared to the reality. The smell alone haunts me. That whole trophy barn haunts me. That’s why I took over New York and risk getting shot some more to clean up both sides. I cannot walk into a place of such horrors ever again.”
But I did walk away from that conversation, done with it and talking about what I’d seen in Memphis. I had enough nightmares without bringing them up to chat about. Instead, I went over to some munchkin wolves sweeping up a corner of the warehouse.
“Are you guys working hard?” I asked.
They both turned and bared their throats to me. “Yes, Alpha.”
I leaned down and kissed their necks. “Good. Did you have fun staying at the hotel?”
“The beds were smelly,” the older one complained, a boy no more than ten. “Alpha Melicent says we can go home tonight and it’s safe.”
“Yeah, we’ll make sure it’s safe,” I promised, ruffling his hair. “At least you got a couple of days off of school, right?” I frowned when they shared a confused look. “What?”
He fidgeted with the broom and stared at the floor. “Mom homeschools us because we were bullied all the time. The other kids would throw stuff at us and try and get us to shift even if we’re too young. The teachers just laughed, and the principal said it wasn’t his fault he had to have us in school.”
“Un-fucking-real,” I seethed, swallowing down my anger when they both gave me scared looks. “I’m not mad at you guys. Thank you for telling me.” I kissed both of their heads and went over to Melicent. “You heard?”
“Yes, but only that some of the parents found it better to homeschool the kids, not specifics yet.” She held up a hand to hold off whatever I was going to say. “I will handle it. We have many teachers, as we have our own schools in Greece. Maybe one would like to come stay in America for a while and we can have one floor of classrooms in this new apartment building. Open one of these charter schools for them.”
“Yeah, okay, cool,” I sighed, playing with my hair. I caught Laila watching us curiously and nodded towards her. “There might be some fae teachers that need a place too. That would help the kids get used to different species early instead of everyone separate and alone.”
“Yes, that will be wise,” Melicent agreed before checking on some of the other children. I watched as she laughed and teased them, feeling better seeing that. She’d be a good Alpha.
She’d be a great mother. I felt a pang at the thought and turned to find Brian staring at me like no one else was around or no one else in the world mattered, and it healed the hurt. He loved me anyways. It made me smile even as I flushed and headed over to him, deciding to tease him a bit.
“What do you think about having the first floor be a store of all things sweet and romantic?” I asked him in Japanese. “Lingerie and chocolates and fairy nectar, but we could branch out and have a flower shop there all the time. People making anniversary gifts and sweet presents for the people they loved.” Something hit me, and I smiled even wider as I grabbed his arms. “Not just chocolates, but we could do worldwide treats.
“Think of how cool that would be in multicultural places like Chicago and New York? We could have real mochi, which is the best, but it’s labor intensive with the mallets and whatnot. Have some of the wolves learn to make mochi when we send hosts to be trained?” I winked at him when his eyes filled with heat, not having a clue what I was saying. “Do you want to make me soft and mushy like mochi after you pound me hard?”
“Sera, even I know that last one was something naughty,” he chuckled, and we both flinched when several people snorted or made other noises.
“Oh crap,” I whispered, covering my face and half hiding against him as he burst out laughing. “Shut up.”
“What are we missing here?” one of the mayor’s aides asked.
“Fairies speak globally,” I answered. “It’s why I recommended to Chicago’s mayor that he hired one for his staff. We have a lot of important foreign visitors come to Chicago and even translators who know the language—they have different dialects just as we do in English. Plus, part of their basic education is cultural and that’s smart. Most FBI get law or political science degrees.
“That’s great, and I’m not knocking them, but learning languages isn’t just about the words. It’s the culture. More undercover ops get blown because someone didn’t understand the full scope of what they were diving into. Yes, it was obvious I wasn’t Japanese when I went undercover there, but that wasn’t the job. I had several Eastern European covers. I’ve gone under with the Russian mafia before and never got caught because I knew the culture.”
The mayor seemed to seriously consider that but had to go to another meeting, and Laila had gotten what she’d wanted out of it. So the police chief and other humans left besides Brian, and I was pretty sure we all breathed easier once they did.
“She’s as crude and unrefined as others have said,” one of the fairies that had come with Laila said quietly, knowing most of us would still hear.
I was on my last thread of patience, so I wasn’t shocked when I was suddenly holding the woman by her throat and slamming her against the wall. “No, we’re not playing these games. Last time someone started with the list of what I’m lacking, she tried to take over and had to be put to death.” I slammed her against the wall twice more, ignoring her cries of pain. “We have more important problems than if I don’t know which fucking spoon is the right one to use.
“Which I actually do, but it’s the same point. Humans were selling gull shifters like they were caged birds. Elves are being hunted in South America, and one was drained on YouTube last week before they pulled the video. We’ve got cartels to go after. There is too much wrong with the world for this bullshit and looking down at each other.” I slammed her again and let go, noting she slid to the floor looking up at me with wide eyes.
“And I warned the Zhorons that no matter your in
terest in their son, they will not try to interject themselves into what we’re trying to build here or use any of this to raise their standings,” Laila said firmly, giving the woman a hard look. “I am completely of the same opinion as Seraphine, and any who selfishly make this progress about them will spend a lengthy time at my court serving our people.”
I swallowed a flinch, realizing I’d just assaulted someone of Jonik’s family, probably his mom. The shocking thing was when he seemed to be trying not to smirk because someone called her on her shit instead of being angry at me.
“Do you need us here for whatever is next, Your Majesty?” I asked Laila, swallowing a sigh when she gave me a shocked look. I nodded to Brian. “People are waiting on us.” I shook my head when she raised an eyebrow like no kidding. “We have over a dozen families to speak with that filed missing persons reports.”
Understanding filled her eyes. “And they’re no longer missing, I assume.”
“No, no they are not,” I assured her, swallowing loudly. “We found them.”
As glad as I was that we were getting tons of information out of the council interrogations, informing the families was always one of the hardest parts of the job. Hell, I would rather get shot again.
Fuck a duck.
13
“Mrs. Lake?” I asked of the older woman who opened the door at the first address.
“Yes, I’m Mrs. Lake. What is this about?”
I swallowed loudly. “I’m with the FBI, ma’am. Can we come in and speak with you a moment? Is your husband available?”
“No,” she whimpered as she clutched the door. “You were supposed to bring her home, not tell us she was gone!”
I caught her before she collapsed and helped her inside, Brian closing the door behind us. A man about her age came hurrying faster than I would have thought the older man could move. He took his wife from me, tears filling his eyes as he put together what was going on. He led us into the living room and helped his wife sit down.
“Please, sit,” he offered. “Who are you?”