Allure of the Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 2) (24 page)

Apparently I was getting good at being authoritative while dressing.

“We had nothing to do with it,” Engle blurted out, his heart racing. “We didn’t. I swear. I thought you knew that and that’s why you shut down the investigation. That Chief Havers kept trying to get me to talk like it was a fishing expedition on the mob case, but we don’t know
anything
about mob ties. Those wolves with Bernard
weren’t
pack
. I can show you records and prove it.”

I blinked at him a moment, wondering why now he was suddenly being so helpful. Then I saw it in his eyes. He was
scared
. I’d admitted to speaking with the Shifter Council. “That would be helpful, Alpha, and take the heat off the pack. We all want that if they had nothing to do with the weapons and illegal activities. Let the regular FBI office focus somewhere else.”

“I’ll have them faxed over to your office immediately,” he assured me, bobbing his head as he rubbed his arms.

“On the other matter, I can’t make them come home,” I muttered as I slid on my holster, guns tightly snapped in. “They got married and mated young. They want some time to themselves to think. Trial separation or whatever. Let them
have it
or they could start trouble we don’t need. I’m doing the best I can, okay?” My phone rang and I swore under my breath as I picked it up and answered the call, gesturing for them to hang on.

Which did
not
make Engle happy from the look on his face.

“Thomas.”

“Chief, I’ve been calling and calling you,” Harris greeted.

“I went for a run,” I explained. “What’s up?”

“We’ve got another body. Turns out there was a victim in Gary, Indiana’s morgue. They didn’t know what to do with it until our report hit their blotter. They’re having it transported over. What do you want me to do?”

“Have our guys run the full autopsy and analysis as the last one, see if it’s our same killer,” I said, keeping my instructions vague. “I’m coming back to the office now. I want them to send over what they do have, including pictures. That will give us enough to get started.”

“Got it, Chief.”

I hung up the call and slid my phone in my pocket. “I have to go. If you fax me those records, I will
personally
look them over this weekend and hopefully be able to get Chief Havers and the regular FBI off the pack’s ass. That’s as much as I can promise.”

“Fine, we will see you at the pack gathering Sunday then?” Engle asked.

“Of course, Alpha. I should have an update for you then and maybe word about your mates and whether they’ve agreed to a visitation.” They all nodded but then I moved in closer to Engle. “I’m on the pack’s side but don’t
ever
try to intimidate me again in my role as FBI or I will lock you up so fast your head will spin, Alpha or not.”

“Understood, Seraphine.” He ground his teeth as he moved back along with his Betas. I got in my car and drove away from the pack lands.

God, I hated all this bullshit. Why couldn’t I have been turned into a fairy who were solitary and none of this political crap? Though a fairy could only be born as one.

Or be turned into a wolf in a city where they had a healthy functioning pack instead of a crazed psycho as an Alpha?

“Because that would have made your life too easy,” I bitched as I drove to the office. By the time I got there, I was also
starving
, I mean, I was ready to start gnawing on my hand kind of hungry.

Which was made abundantly clear as I walked into the main area of cubicles to get the latest from my team and my stomach growled loudly enough that several people turned and looked at me.

“I’ve been busy,” I drawled when Harris and Cooper burst out laughing.

Harris handed me a few PowerBars from his suit jacket pocket. “Keep extras with you close to the full moon. You’ll need them.”

“Thanks.” Then I groaned when Cooper did one better, reaching over, and grabbed a few slices of pizza from their leftover lunch. I, in turn, tossed him my keys. “Just for that, you’re driving.”

“Where are we going?” he hedged, glancing from his hand to me.

“Your first trip to Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office,” I chuckled. “If Gary’s sending the body, it goes there.” I flinched and looked to Remington before nodding he follow me off to the side.

“Sorry, Chief,” he muttered.

“No worries.” I shrugged and took a chomp of the pizza. “We’re all going to have issues and need to cover for each other. During the full moon, you’ll have to pick up the slack for those of us who go furry.” He nodded and seemed to lose some of the tension from his shoulders. “But, Miles, before I clear you as field-ready I need to see what it is you do. I have to know what I’m risking or allowing around everyone else when I’m responsible for their safety.”

His eyes shone with heat and I just about expected the steam next. “That’s not—”

“I’m asking it of
everyone
,” I assured him. He took in a few breaths and nodded. “I’ve seen Shaw, Davis, Cooper, Harris, and I’m going to grill Jennings a bit even if he’s staying in-house most times. If everyone’s getting field-rated, they need to be ready for the field, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Mentioning our resident techie made me think of something. “Jennings, you got one of those toys hooked up to the feeds Chief Havers sent over?”

“You mean the shoulder cams with the live feeds?” Jennings asked with a smirk. He seemed to find true amusement and it really tickled his fancy that none of us ever called his equipment by the real names and already he was having to figure out what we meant by
that thing
or
toy
or even Monroe’s old school
doodad
. Hey, worked for me. If he was happy, I didn’t have to learn all the techie names.

“Yeah, those.” I waited until he nodded. “You get them hooked up and ready to use?”

He snorted. “Of course. Charged and everything. The second they were delivered, I unwrapped my new babies and put them all together. They’re beautiful, Chief. Great side bet on Monroe’s part.”

I hadn’t been too happy that my
boss
had been making side bets with the brass he’d invited that I’d win in the first five minutes, but since I
technically
had, drawing blood from Noah, it had
really
paid off. I mean, we had made a haul.

And all of our new toys were on
their budgets
. Plus, they’d all doubled-down like morons when the fight had continued.

“Well, now you have a reason to use one,” I chuckled, toasting him with my pizza. “Set Remington up with a feed for our morgue trip and catch up.” I glanced at Remington who looked as if I’d just told him it was Christmas. “I’ll always do the best I can not to leave you behind and take considerations with our special provisions, but I have to
know
them.”

“Understood, Chief.”

I hoped he really did. I wasn’t picking on anyone, singling anyone out, or looking for reasons to bar someone from the field… I needed to know where they were at and their faults. Just as how I knew while Davis was getting better at pulling the trigger, she might be a problem when push came to shove in the field. A boss had to
know
these things or people died.

We ended up taking surface streets most of the way because jumping on 90 on a
Friday
afternoon was like certain death for travel times, plus we were awkwardly positioned from the medical examiner’s office so it just worked out better—by half the time actually according to Davis’s phone.

But that also gave me another idea.

I made a call while stuffing my face, smiling when it was immediately answered. “So who’s agreed to let my people shadow them?”

“No one yet,” Havers sighed. “I’m sorry, Sera, but it’s not been an easy sell.”

I swallowed back a growl. That hadn’t been the answer I’d expected. I’d thought
someone
would have agreed by now. “Funny, we were really well accepted at Quantico and asked to keep guest lecturing. We have instructors flying out to help us and everything.” I took another bite and let that one sink in, practically hearing the wheels of his brain turning. “Oh well. I was calling to invite whoever was willing to help
my
team out for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit in on something they could boast about on their resumes.”

“I offered to help,” he reminded me.

“That’s true. Fine, tell your people
you’re
invited to meet us at the morgue to witness firsthand what a great white shark shape-shifter does to its victims. Too bad they weren’t willing to help us out. I mean, with instructors coming out for
us,
I could have gotten some of them seats at our table if they wanted refreshers or new updates.”

“Smooth, Sera,” he chuckled. “Very smooth.”

I smirked as I stared at my empty plate. Damn. I wanted like four more slices. “Thank you. I hate brass politics but I know how to motivate a team. Especially the team that used to be
mine
.”

“I’ll meet you there with your new volunteers.”

“They better be well-behaved and respectful, Havers. They’re on our turf now.”

“Understood.”

We hung up and I wiped my hands on a napkin I found in my glove box.

“Have I told you lately how much I love you, Chief?” Harris purred as he leaned forward and kissed the back of my head. “You rock my professional world.”

“Glad you added
professional
,” I chuckled as I reached behind me and shoved him back in his seat. We had a good laugh at that, and I think it was what we needed, considering we were heading to see another dead body.

That wasn’t normally a morbid and gruesome setting or anything.

My phone rang a ways into the ride, and I quickly answered when I saw it was Noah, reminding myself to charge my cell soon because it was almost on
E
. Glancing at my dash, I rolled my eyes.
Like my car
. “Hey, what’s up? You get me more files?”

“Not yet,” he grumbled. “I actually have to go out of town. It seems Marlin got himself in a bit of trouble in the fucking
Congo,
and I’ve gotta go bail his ass out or there might not
be
any more files.”

“Any chance you mean the town in Brazil and not
Africa
?” I tried, glancing at Cooper who rolled his eyes. We were pulling into the parking lot and as much as I wanted to hear about this, we had a welcoming party so I was going to have to cut this short.

“No, Africa. The
idiot
. He found some rare African forest elephant shifter in hiding and decides
he’s
going to get her out of there. Now the locals are hunting them both, and he calls me on his sat phone, asking if I can
pick them up
.”

“Oh
fuck a duck
,” I groaned as I got out of the car. “Fuck, Noah. That’s not a good place to be pissing people off like that.”

“Is there
ever
a good place to be pissing people off like
that
?” he snickered.

He made a valid point. “Fair enough. You need help? I’ve still got a few contacts—”

“Naw, I got this. Special Forces
loves
me, remember? They beg me all the time to help them.” He let out a snort and I could just about picture his satisfied expression as if he were standing right in front of me. “They’re all about using assets even if it means hopping red tape. You FBI like to shoot yourselves in the foot that way.”

“Tell me about it.” I rolled my eyes, completely agreeing with him on that one. “All right, safe trip and—”

“Wait, I was calling to see if I could get a rain check on our moon mate date?” he mumbled in my ear. “I wouldn’t blow you off, you know that. This is serious.”

“Oh, sure, yeah.” I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose, stopping in my tracks. I had actually and completely forgotten.

There was a pause then slight annoyance in his next words. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

“No, but yes. There’s a lot going on, Noah. It’s more I double-booked with this pack shit. Yes, of course we can reschedule, but I might be booked the next couple of full moons. I found some Beta potentials and—it’s complicated.”

“We’ll figure it out. I’m just glad I’m not losing my spot for ditching you.”

It was my turn to snort. “This isn’t ditching me. Besides, I
get
work priorities and rescheduling. Call me if you need a bailout or get-out-of-jail-free card.”

“You are a handy friend to have,” he chuckled deeply.

“Good luck with Marlin and the African forest elephant shifter.”

I sighed as I hung up the phone, slipping it in my pocket before smoothing the pads of my opening and closing fingers over my forehead to try and release some of the tension there.