Going Under (20 page)

Chapter 21

SHE
had a crying headache. Served her right for sniveling all over Gage’s shirt for what
seemed like hours.

At the same time, she felt . . . lighter.

By the time she’d finished getting dressed, Gage came out of the bathroom looking
gorgeous and wet and she checked her watch, bummed that she didn’t have a good fifteen
extra minutes to get some of that.

“Just give me three minutes.”

“It’s all right. We’re just having breakfast in my mother’s room. Unless . . . well,
unless you’d like to come and get to know them.”

He pulled his boxers on and she frowned.

“If you’re sure. Since it’s here in the building and we’ve got the whole thing locked
down you’re fine to go down there on your own. Stop looking at me like that or you’re
going to be really late for breakfast and you’ll have to redo that pretty makeup.”

Well, at least he didn’t want to run out the door at the sight of her after she’d
flipped out the night before. That was a plus.

He got into jeans and stalked over as she stood, rooted to the spot like prey. Banding
her waist with one arm, he hauled her close. “You know what it does to me when you
blush.” He kissed the corner of her mouth and she took a deep breath to get as much
of him into her system as she could.

“How about you come down in like fifteen minutes? The coffee will be ready and we’ll
have time to talk about you. I may actually objectify you, so if I’m red-faced when
you arrive, you’ll know why.”

He laughed, kissing her again. “Fine. I’ll see you in fifteen minutes.”

She hugged him tight. “Thank you,” she managed to say, eyes closed.

“For what, beautiful?” His hands slid up and down her back, soothing.

“For being there. Last night I mean.”

He set her back a little so he could look into her face. “You have nothing to thank
me for. That’s what . . . friends are for.”

Friends
. He was so dumb. Friends was what he was with Lark. He didn’t have sex with Lark.
He didn’t make her tea after she cried all over him and then make love to her until
she was so tired and pleasure fuzzy it was all she could do to fall into a deep sleep.

She doubted quite surely that Gage would consider it friendly if Tosh had done all
the things Gage had done the night before.

But knowing he was being a dumb boy instead of actually pushing her away amused her.
And maybe gave her a challenge.

She sniffed, smiling. “Sure. Friends.”

He ducked his head and stepped back. “I’ll finish getting dressed and check in with
Faine. See you in a bit.”

“All right.” She grabbed her bag and headed to the door, but before she could open
it to leave, she found herself spun and backed against it, his body pressed to hers.

“You forgot to kiss me good-bye,” he murmured before he bent and began to kiss the
sense right out of her. Taking over in the way he tended to do, sending her hormones
into a tizzy as all his sex chemicals buzzed through her system.

He broke the kiss with that smile of his. Knowing exactly what he was doing to her.
The rogue.

“I’m going to have to reapply my lipstick now.” She licked her lips to taste him once
more.

“Good.” He opened the door and looked out into the hallway, satisfied everything was
safe. “See you in a few minutes.”

* * *

MOLLY
looked up when Meriel tapped on her door. “Hi there. Do you have a few?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. I just got off the phone with Senator Sato’s assistant.
We’re set to testify in front of the new committee next Tuesday.”

“Good. That was fast.” Meriel hesitated at the door and then motioned Molly out with
a jerk of her chin. “I need coffee.”

“You’re singing my song.”

“I hear rumors of donuts in the kitchen along with the coffee. You haven’t had the
joy that is Top Pot yet, have you?”

“No.” They meandered down the hall. “But Gage has been singing their praises. He just
took me to Red Mill last week. I can’t even believe I’ve been missing that since I
moved here. Of course it’s probably for the best, as I’d probably never do anything
but eat onion rings and drink milkshakes instead of doing my job. I can’t believe
how many great places to eat highly caloric foods the man knows about. Not that you’d
know it to look at him.”

“Did your mom and Rosa get back to Chicago safely?”

Her mother had put in a bid on a place and had ended up signing a contract two days
later. Rosa decided to rent for a while, until her place in Chicago sold. Anthony
Junior still lived and worked there anyway so it was complicated, though he too wanted
to get away from his past and be in a place where he felt more welcomed.

They’d spent nearly a week in Seattle and had returned home the day before. Molly
missed them both already.

“Yeah. My mom will be back with my grandparents in a few weeks. Hopefully Rosa will
be back around then as well with Anthony, her son.”

She poured coffee into mugs while Meriel grabbed donuts for each of them and they
settled at a little table near the windows.

“Please let me know if there’s anything Owen can do to help. It’s got to be hard trying
to help them when you’re working so much.”

“Sure. Because your schedule is so light and all.”

Meriel laughed. “Well, but I’m in charge so I can delegate that stuff to people who
can help her. I just wanted to check in with you. It’s been a few months now since
you’ve been here. Are things okay?”

She snorted and managed to get half the donut in her mouth around a moan of delight.

“Things are what they are.” She shrugged. “This new Senate committee is totally divided
already and it’s only been in place two weeks. Tosh has been a great champion of our
cause and I had a great conversation today with Senator Sperry too.”

“Sperry is the shifter, right?”

Molly nodded. “Yes, that’s her. There are others in the House. Other
Others
I mean. Carroll is one, he’s from Georgia. But some of them haven’t revealed it yet.
It’s only a matter of time so he’s trying to help them make that move now before it’s
out of their hands. PURITY is sniffing around trying to find anything they can.”

“I hate them. I hate them and Carlo Powers and Senator Hayes too. That smug asshole.”

“Guy was just some jerk from poodlebutt nowhere and now he’s got all this power because
he’s been courting all the crazies from PURITY and Humans First. He’s got himself
a bully pulpit and he means to use it. He’s dangerous, Meriel. More dangerous than
Powers ever could be.”

“I’m pretty sick of hearing how dangerous people are.” Meriel rubbed the bridge of
her nose and Molly knew she needed to share something, but let her do it on her own
schedule.

“Yes, well, me too.”

“So you and Gage.” Meriel quirked up a grin.

Molly grinned back. “Yes?”

“He talks about you constantly. He used to duck the subject when it came up. You know,
are you and Molly together?
Now he just smiles. He’s less . . . intense. You’re good for him.”

“He’s a good man. I enjoy him.” Molly shrugged. “He’s meddlesome and grumpy too. Luckily
for him, he’s handsome so he gets away with it.”

Meriel patted her hand. “Oh gurl, I hear you. I’ve got one of those myself. He really
likes you, by the way. Dominic I mean. I think it helps that you’re an outsider of
a sort as well. It’s a perspective the clan needs to hear more of.”

“Ah, that’s what it is. Just tell me.”

“You’re good at this.”

Molly grabbed another donut. “It’s really just about watching other people and listening
to what they say as well as what they don’t say.”

“Pfft. You’re good at this,” Meriel repeated. “You know how to read people. And you’re
right. There’s a group—a small one mind you—who have come to me with concerns. Up
front, before I say anything else I want to say I support you totally. I think you
do your job excellently. I think you’re the best thing to happen to Owen in a very
long time. But this group is concerned you’re too pro-human. At the expense of Others.”

“In the old days. Back before the Magister came and took so much from me. I was a
lot nicer. I could have sat here eating these magic donuts and drinking coffee and
told you that of course people have concerns and I would be happy to discuss those
concerns with them to come to a better understanding.”

Molly sat back. “But now I’m not so nice. Not so understanding. Mainly because I work
about fifteen hours every day and I travel every single week to speak to hostile audiences
of people who want to harm me and mine. So what I’m going to say right now is that
if this group has an issue they’d better bring it straight on and have something more
than hurt fee-fees because I have a job to do and that is to keep us all from tipping
into a war neither side really wants. I spent a lot of time with Others of all kinds.
Listening, watching, learning. I have nothing to say to people who run behind my back
to you when they could just as easily come to me to give me their concerns. Like grown-ups.
I don’t have time to play all this telephone game nonsense. So if you have a specific
problem let’s get it dealt with so I can be on my way.”

Meriel raised her brow but Molly didn’t waver.

“They’d like to have one of their representatives on your team.”

“No. Next?”

“My mother would have loved you.” Meriel sipped her coffee. “I really miss her. She
would have handled this whole thing . . . better maybe. Different.”

“From what I understand about your mother, she handed the seat over to you because
she believed you were best to lead. And that the seat wouldn’t recognize anyone who
wasn’t. So, while I get second-guessing yourself—and please believe me, I really do—I
think you’re handling an incredibly difficult situation the absolute best way that’s
possible. But I still don’t need anyone in my way when I’m doing my job.”

Meriel’s laugh was rueful. “I already told them no, by the way. You don’t need a committee.
You have enough to deal with and you get your direction from me and the governance
council so that’s what needs to happen. I just wanted you to know. I’ve got your back.
Dom has your back. We believe in what you’re doing. They’re nothing.”

“But a distraction.” She arched a brow at Meriel.

“Yes. But they’re
my
distraction. It comes with the job. You should hear some of the things people come
to me with.” Meriel shook her head. “Anyway, you just keep doing what you’re doing.
You have your own distractions to deal with.”

Ha. That was true. “I had a two-hour long conference call with a bunch of Wardens
earlier. The wolves are really organized, which helps me with my job as they’ve essentially
let me be their surrogate at these legislative hearings.”

“But they’re also very . . .”

Molly laughed. “Yes. They like to know what’s happening. And I get it. It’s their
issue, they have their own people to inform and deal with. But I encouraged them to
send someone with me next week when we go to D.C. Since the National Pack is just
in Boston the trip won’t be so far. They’re going to send their number two, Jack Meyers.”

“I’ve seen him. Ridiculously gorgeous. He’ll look great on television.”

“Exactly. Nina said, and I’m going to quote her because she’s pretty freaking priceless,
Ovaries will be exploding all over the country when the cameras pan over to him
.”

“Truth.” Meriel paused a moment or two. “Are you doing all right? I find myself, even
though this has been sort of like the frog in the pot and I’m almost used to it, sort
of having mini-breakdowns. You didn’t grow up this way. This was thrust upon you and
you’ve been going at it full tilt since you got here. That’s a lot. And you’re here,
away from everyone you were close to. I just know it’s got to be hard not having anyone
to talk to.”

Molly had been seriously struggling with sharing. “I had a best friend. She was also
like my sister. We used to stay up late and talk endlessly about everything imaginable.
We went to college at the same time and rented an apartment. We lived in that same
apartment for six years until my firm took off and her relationship with her girlfriend
got serious enough that they moved in together. I spoke to her on the phone that last
day. She’d come to my apartment to borrow a sleeping bag, as they were headed off
camping. I was in between meetings so I had to hurry her. I told her I loved her and
that we’d catch up on the weekend. I never got to catch up. The Magister happened
that day. I never heard her voice again.”

Tears burned her eyes.

“Anyway, she’d have been so great to bounce stuff off. She had this way about her,
she got people on an instinctual level. She had more mercy and compassion than anyone
else I’ve ever met. Sometimes when I am just so disgusted and filled with resentment
I think about her, and how she’d have told me to not classify all humans or all Others
the same way. She was my reality check in a lot of ways. And I don’t have that anymore.
And I’m not sure I can stave off the bitterness.”

Meriel said nothing, just listened.

“I feel like I’ve been in a bad dream and I’ve sort of shut down. Just getting up
and working and going to sleep. I need to make friends here. New friends. People I
can talk to when I need the reality check. Dominic has been very kind to me. You have
as well. I appreciate it more than I can say. I’m not okay. Not really. But I’m less
not okay today than I was yesterday.”

Meriel nodded, tears in her eyes. “My mother was my reality check. Along with Nell.
I lost my mother the day of the Magister too. Nell has retreated from clan life because
she nearly lost her kid and her life and her husband—understandably—wants her as far
from it as possible to keep her safe. I have Dominic. And I have Lark and Gage too.
But it’s not quite the same as your best girlfriend.” She reached out to squeeze Molly’s
hand. “Wanna be my friend? We can work it through together.”