Allure of the Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 2) (36 page)

He shook his head, and I was pretty sure it was more to get his cheetah to recede. “Doesn’t matter. You’ve covered for us, we’ve got your back. I’m just trying to explain it now.”

“Fair enough. What can I do to help?”

“I don’t know. Let me fill you in so I can let my cheetah out?”

I frowned. This wasn’t a time for me to have him out for eight hours. I felt my siren finally stir after her hiatus and needing to recharge.
Let me help. I’m more than sex and pleasing or torturing. We’re more powerful now since you pushed our boundaries, growing our strength as when you let our wolf run free.
I didn’t know what that meant but I was learning to trust her and gave her the mental go ahead.

And then just about fainted when her answer was to give Harris a
kiss
. Granted it was a chaste one, but still, I kissed my subordinate. Then power flared up between us, strong enough that I shivered and Harris whimpered, going slack against the door. I actually moved my hands under his arms to catch him in time before he dropped to the floor.

I tasted all of his aggression and frustration he’d been feeling over the past few days in that kiss, taking it on myself and off him. Somehow, in some
way
my siren swallowed it down and changed it into energy that felt a little like touching a frayed wire or shock from a bad electrical socket. Either way, I jolted back from Harris, panting as he gasped and braced himself against the door.

“Fuck, Chief, I didn’t know you could do that.” His eyes were bugged out as his chest heaved. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a chi talent?”

I leaned a hand against the wall, shaking off the charge and trying to get my bearings again. Fuck, that was a trip. “A what?”

“A chi talent. I don’t know the technical name of it or whatever, but chi is like life force or aura and it translates to
breath
or something. A chi talent literally means that with your breath can change a life force or aura. You just took my anger and turned it into energy of another kind. When did you know you could do that?”

“About thirty second ago. My siren told me we had some new tricks.” I shrugged and stood back up, stretching out. “So it worked? You’re good now?”

“Yeah, I feel cool as a cucumber.” He smiled brightly at me, looking again like the Harris I knew so well… But then his face fell, and he stepped closer, grabbing my arm. “Sera, this is one of those things you can’t tell people you’re able to do.”

“Why? Why more secrets and problems?” I sighed, already on too much overload.

“Because you just used it for good, taking anger out of me during the lunar cycle and keeping me from shifting, using it as energy for yourself.” His eyes went dark, and I felt a pit form in my stomach. “That’s not all it can be used for. Simone’s told me stories about a wood elf she once had to track down that used it to take happiness from people and turn it into grief so bad they went insane. It can be used as a weapon and anything that can be turned around like that—”

“Someone will want for themselves or to control,” I finished, nodding. “Either FBI or government would love it and love to experiment on it or paranormal leaders would want it in their arsenal.”

“Yeah. Groups would invade Chicago just for that, pretending you weren’t a valid Alpha because of your role in the FBI or
some
bullshit just to get you under their thumb.”

“Oh goodie. I love great news.” I held up my hand when he opened his mouth, not able to handle any more of this for now. “I get it. Thank you for immediately warning me, but we’ve got a shitload of mess right here to work through. I heard you and I will take this seriously, but let’s put that on the back burner, okay?”

“Yeah, shitload of mess is a good way to put it.” He winced as he let go of my arm and practically
raced
down the stairs to the building’s basement. Well
great
. That just made me feel so much better about whatever was happening. I hurried after him, guilt eating me that my own issues had made things so much worse for my people

Harris held the door open for me, and I realized I’d never even been down there before. The basement was just an unused concrete office underground room that spanned the entire floor plan from what I could see.

And today it was being
used
all right.

“Fucking stick him already!” Monroe roared as he tried to keep his chokehold around one of the Betas who’d
willingly
yielded to me. I glanced at Harris with wide eyes before dropping my bag and racing over there. As I approached I saw Davis and Cooper trying to tackle the wolf with injector needles.

“Jonathan, stop struggling,” I ordered. Immediately the man complied and Monroe actually went tumbling off the wolf’s back because he was overcompensating.

“Fuck, that hurt,” Monroe bitched, rubbing the back of his head from the floor as he looked up at me. “Nice to see you too, Sera.”

I leaned over and offered him a hand up, glancing between the four of them as he got back to his feet. “What’s going on? Why are we down here? What shot are you giving them? Why are you—”

“Did you
not
hear a word I said to you yesterday?” Monroe growled, letting go of my hand and brushing off his pants. I shook my head and he sighed. “Your
influence
on them wore off shortly after we got them all back here. It’s not like we have holding cells here like a regular precinct and tranqing them is out.”

“Because they don’t work on shifters,” I muttered, remembering that from somewhere.

“Yeah, for about thirty seconds only,” Cooper snorted. “All paranormal systems see that kind of foreign substance as an injury and heal it.”

“So what are we trying to inject into the Beta who willingly yielded to me yesterday?”

“We didn’t
know
he was one of the ones who willingly yielded,” Davis defended, capping her injector gun. “They all were saying that, and we didn’t have you here to tell us otherwise. So I whipped a potion up to knock them out but it only works for about eight hours, and good guys or not, they flipped shits at the idea of being down here, knocked out during the full moon, and with no clue about their mates or families with whatever chaos is left in the pack.”

“Fuck, fuck,
fuck
,” I muttered, walking away as my eyes burned. “I didn’t know. I didn’t understand. I figured you guys were processing them all, sending the good guys home to handle whatever and doing whatever with the bad ones. I don’t even know what
whatever
was. I shouldn’t have taken over. This is why I needed a moment to breathe.”

“Alpha, what can I do to help?” Jonathan asked quietly. “I’m not against helping, but no one had answers and you weren’t here. I thought they were going to drug us and lock us down here with Engle’s lackeys and I yielded to you right away. They’ll rip those of us to shreds so they have a better chance of taking you out, then make up whatever story they can to the council about what happened.”

I glanced at Monroe. “The official report’s already been filed with the Shifter Council. They know Engle’s dead and you’re the new Alpha. They’re waiting for word about how many we’re sending in for their prisons.”

“How do we know who we send and what falls under
just obeying orders
?” That seemed to be the biggest hurdle.

I was
shocked
at who it was that answered me.

“I’m so tired of people using that bullshit line as their reasoning for getting away with crimes,” Jonathan snarled, fisting his hands as he adjusted his neck to keep his wolf contained. “I’ve seen the weakest of the pack say
no
and take the beatings that come with disobeying the Alpha. That kid who’s under your projection—Jesse. He’s taken a crap load of them for not infecting women. I’ve taken my own share as well. I will end up in hell for not stopping the inductions and some of the other things I’ve
witnessed
.

“Trying to stop it would have meant my death and probably my mate’s. I’m sorry for what those girls went through—I truly am. But
participating
wasn’t something anyone had to do. That was a goddamn choice. I watched Nestor Martin step aside many times when he was single. The only one he was involved in was Joan’s and even then he disobeyed Engle and claimed Joan
before
her induction to save her that humiliation and rape of the inner circle. I cannot put into words the beating he took for that, but he did it because he loves her.”

There was a long pause while we let that all soak in.

“There’s your answer, Sera,” Monroe answered gently. “I’m sorry, but this one falls on you as Alpha and as your case. We’ll help as we can, but the final call goes to you.”

“No, not this time,” I whispered, shaking my head as I stared down at my feet. “This isn’t a wolf thing, this is justice, and Jonathan just gave me the way to take off the council restraints.” I glanced up and focused on the man. “Thank you. You just made this a lot easier for me.”

“I did?” he hedged, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, you
really
did,” I chuckled, running my fingers through my hair. “I only need to know what happens if someone breaks a mating. Is it like a divorce?”

“No, it’s more complicated,” he murmured, studying me closely. “And only an Alpha can do it. You’d have to break the tie between the two wolves. You force them both to shift and then bite them where they were originally bitten. It’s painful and not fun after, healing human slow, and sort of like a detox from meth, but it can be done.”

I sucked in a harsh breath before bobbing my head. “At least it can be done.” I turned to Davis and gestured to the injector. “Stay down here with Jonathan and, for a bit longer, inject anyone who starts to wake up.”

“Okay, but what are you going to do? Who are you sending to the council’s prison?”

“No one,” I answered, smiling when all their eyes went wide. “I’m going to do my job and let people file their own complaints. Jonathan’s right. If people were forced to mate against their will or raped, that’s a crime. A report needs to be filed, and after we have what we need, including witness statements, we’ll send it all with the accused to the council to sort out.”

“That’s a lot of paperwork, Chief,” Cooper sighed.

I snapped my head in his direction and narrowed my eyes. “Everyone bitches that paranormals don’t get a fair shake in the eyes of the law. I’m offering to give them one and you’re saying we shouldn’t because of the
paperwork
? I am not judge and jury, I sure as fuck won’t be executioner. We want them to start playing by the rules of American citizens and stop with all the clandestine extra shit, then we need to
start giving them
the same rights and treatment of them.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” he agreed as he held out his hands in front of him. “I’m sorry. I’ve been up and doing this for almost two days straight. I’m exhausted and bitchy.”

“Fair enough. Then let’s get this going and some people cleared who can help and you can get the well-deserved sleep you need.”

And that was what we did. I pulled the twins and the six Greek wolves out of the conference room, telling them the plan after I found out they were there, then I headed back to the lobby, pleasantly surprised everyone was calm and hanging out.

“Our witch has been keeping the eighteen sedated until we could sort everything out and come up with a better plan than shipping anyone suspected of anything off to the council to figure out what to do with.” I’d seen the anger in lots of faces when I’d said the first part, so I’d made sure to add that
last
part. I wasn’t that surprised when the anger melted away and it was replaced with fear at the idea of good people being sent to a council prison.

“What’s the plan now, Chief Thomas?” a voice called out in back. I searched through everyone and saw it was Gayle Harper. I swallowed my shock but then realized Havers would have thought to make the call and have the five wolves in protective custody brought to our offices. Sure enough he was standing behind them along with a bunch of his people. “Who are you sending to the council?”

I took a deep breath, not sure how this would go over. “
I’m
not sending anyone. You are. These crimes were done against you, citizens of this country and the state of Illinois. As you’re all werewolves it falls to my jurisdiction. Engle is no longer a threat to your safety for speaking freely, and I sure as hell won’t stand in your way. So if you want
justice
for what’s been done to you, please step forward, and we’ll take your statement, open an official investigation, get witness statements, and
those
people will be sent to the council for sentencing.”

The room was so quiet a fly farting could have been heard by those of us with elevated hearing. Not a cough or shuffle or
anything
… I’d shocked them all to silence.

Gayle moved through the crowd about ten feet until she was right in front of me. “My name is Gayle Harper, and I’d like to report a crime, Chief Thomas. Tony Harper raped me, forced me to mate and sign a marriage certificate, and has beat and raped me on countless occasions since.”