Allure of the Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 2) (37 page)

“I’ve learned I can break your mating when this is over, before we send him away, Gayle,” I offered gently. “Would you want that?”

“Yes, yes I would,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “Please free me of him.” She let out a wordless sob as she started to collapse. I caught her in time and wrapped my arms around her, glancing at Hagan. “You’ve been deputized already. Go with someone who knows Tony Harper’s scent and pick him up. Agent Davis has a potion thing that can knock a wolf out temporarily.”

“Yes, Chief.” He gave me a firm nod and headed back into the offices.

“What do you need from us, Chief Thomas?” Havers called out from across the lobby.

I thought about that one a minute before figuring that out. “The badges and sirens to accompany my people but I do
not
want your guys engaging. I don’t want them hurt or the wolves shot. These aren’t murder suspects so have them wait in the vehicles.”

“We can do that.” He whipped out his phone and walked outside.

I headed into the offices with Gayle and got her situated at one of the desks with Shaw who took her statement, making sure to list as many witnesses as she could. That would be the key to this. We needed witnesses on tape for the council because we weren’t all going to take a field trip to the Shifter Council headquarters to have trials.

The next problem came in several forms… First, we had more wolves wanting to submit reports than people to
take
them. And I was out of badges and deputized help since Havers couldn’t require anyone to take this kind of assignment. Monroe and I stared at each other a moment before an idea hit me.

I pulled out my phone and smiled as I connected the call. “Instructor Curtis, how would you like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your trainees to learn how working
with
the local paranormal leadership to bring in a suspect can work?”

“You have my undivided attention, Thomas,” he muttered, and I could practically smell his curiosity from all the way in Virginia. I filled him in on the situation, and he jumped at the chance, saying he would figure out a way to get as many able bodies there as he could.

It left me feeling pretty damn hopeful we could handle this mess. Now,
why
was it quite such a mess? There were only eighteen people in the inner circle, and I had assumed a few extra assholes to handle.

Yeah, not so much. There were over three hundred and fifty wolves in the Chicago pack.
That
was why it needed such a large leadership. At least that included kids as well.

Still, that was a lot of people and a lot of potential crimes to report.

My little ray of sunshine left when Monroe handed me the phone with a frown. “They’re demanding to speak to you.”

“Who?” I asked, taking his cell from you.

“The Shifter Council representative. I called to update them, and they’re
irate
.”

“I’m not happy they’re interrupting this chaos,” I muttered as I put the phone to my ear. “Chief Thomas.”

“Yes, Alpha, we were informed you don’t have the numbers we requested for how many wolves were being sent to us for sentencing today. Not the best move as a new Alpha.”

“I’m sorry you’re not pleased, but I wasn’t made aware I had an unattainable deadline to clean up such a mess that wasn’t of my making,” I chuckled, ignoring the way Monroe’s face went pale. “From what I hear of the order you keep and the high standards your organization holds itself to, I assumed you would have wanted this whole situation handled so it was tied up neatly with an ironclad case given the depths it reached.”

“You aren’t wrong,” the woman hedged.

“Good. So let’s start this again. Who am I speaking with?”

“Councilwoman Diandra Haton.”

“Councilwoman, nice to finally talk with someone from the council. So let me lay out the plan for you—”

“The plan was already decided, Alpha.”

“Except I’m not turning over the accused to you
as
Alpha,” I argued, biting back my annoyance. “I didn’t witness any of the crimes. As I said, we want this to be an ironclad resolution to the situation, not a cluster fuck that could have another front page splash of nationwide headlines.” I went into the same explanation I’d given my people and the wolves.

She didn’t say anything a few moments, and I started tapping my foot, the line of people waiting to talk to me about how to handle something growing.

“This is not how we normally do things,
Chief
Thomas.”

“I understand that, but progress is made by doing things better than the last guy, and I think we
both
agree that we should do things better than Engle did. Other areas also don’t have the specialized law enforcement in place to make this happen. Let’s show them the reasons they
should
. I have the FBI on board for that.”

“You do?” she blanched.

“You have my word. Trainees and instructors are coming in to aid us and learn how working together with the preternatural community can make their jobs easier,
safer
. I want to show them and give them the experience they need so that anytime they see a wolf or cat or vampire they don’t immediately think pulling their weapon is necessary, and that is our ultimate goal—isn’t it, Councilwoman?”

The pause was much shorter this time. “All right, Chief Thomas, we’ll do it your way
this
time. What do you need from us?”

“Information on transport. How is it done best? Do we bring them to you? How many at a time? Stuff like that so I can work out the logistics on my end.”

“We will send our teams to your location for pickup and transport. Driving is best because too much can happen on a plane,” she explained, the attitude gone from her tone. “Five prisoners is the max per team and it’s a two-day drive at least from our facility in the Mojave Desert where they will be going. We have two teams on standby waiting to ship out.”

“Send the first,” I sighed, glancing around the room at the chaos. “I’ll have at least five cases completely built by then.”

“How many are you expecting to send in total, Chief Thomas?” she hedged.

“To be honest? I have no idea. Could be upwards of twenty. Could be just five, but I doubt that. It’s too soon to tell. I didn’t have all the information but the move had to be made. The rest we’ll figure out as we go along if the council will help me show that doing things
right
is better than just a large cleanup where innocents get caught up in the crossfire.”

“You have your chance this time, but the council does not like to be made fools of, and we don’t forget the people who make such a mistake. We’ll send the first team.”

There was a loud
click
as the call disconnected, and I blinked at the cell. “Thanks. I don’t want to look like an ass either.”

“You’re so good at making friends,” Monroe muttered, taking his phone back.

“Oddly enough, normally for trying to do the right thing,” I bitched, turning to Shaw but then rolling my eyes when
my
phone rang next. “Thomas.”

“Chief Thomas, this is Deputy Director Galvin. What the
fuck
is this I hear about you closing down Quantico for some field op of yours that you want to take
trainees
on?”

I slowly looked at Monroe, wanting to melt into the carpet. I’d never spoken to the deputy director before and
this
was my intro? Oh
god
.

“Sir, that’s not exactly what’s going on, and I didn’t say to
close
Quantico, simply I had a live exercise that Instructor Curtis said he would want to see so I let him know about it.”

“Yeah, yeah, Curtis gave me the same bullshit too, Thomas. We split the divisions for a reason.”

“I understand that, sir, but until there are more MNSTR divisions throughout the country, there are huge areas with no kind of help for these situations. Something will need to be done about that. Either we can get granted the budget to do it, or the locals will and then there will be more turf crap and jurisdictional headaches.”

There was a slight pause on the phone, and I blinked at my boss when his jaw fell open.

“What?”
I mouthed.

“Thomas are you lobbying for Monroe’s job already because you were
just
promoted if memory serves? I know the man is pushing for it so he can head MNSTR and be me basically for that division, but I didn’t realize you two were already so aligned in the plan.”

Now it was
my
turn to act shocked… So much so I almost dropped the phone. “
What?
No, sir. I had no
idea
that was the plan. Chief Monroe left that out when he hinted I’d be good at his job. I’ll tell you what I told him, I like
this
job. I don’t want his job because I don’t do politics well.”

“I hate to say it, Thomas, but you
just
proved yourself wrong,” the deputy director chuckled. “Either way, Chicago doesn’t really need a section chief and division chief unless it becomes the MNSTR hub which I believe is what your boss is petitioning for.”

“He’s been a busy guy it seems,” I muttered, shooting Monroe a look that clearly said he had some explaining to do later. Not that I could really demand that of my
boss
but I would anyways.

Hell, he had crossed that line with me at times. Tit for tat.

I got my
second
miracle for the day and Deputy Director Galvin actually approved what Curtis and I wanted to do… As long as I agreed to hold a press conference and sing the praises of FBI handling of paranormal issues in the new world order. Hell, he even used the 747 the bureau had for overseas prisoner transport or whatever reason the bureau
had
a 747. Since the situation was immediate and severe, he told me to be ready for them in a few hours and his people would figure out where to stash them for the night.

“Tell him we’ve got that covered. Vlad owns Timequake,” Monroe interrupted.

“Why doesn’t anyone tell me shit like
that
?” I bitched as my eyes bulged out at him. “Screw everyone from Quantico,
I
want to stay there tonight!”

“Um, Thomas, care to share whatever’s going on there?” the deputy director drawled.

“Oh, sorry, sir. Chief Monroe was saying we have a hook-up for a hotel right by us.” I realized I had
no
idea how to frame this one so I took the easy way out. “I’ll let him explain. Nice talking with you, sir.” I just about
flung
the phone at Monroe… Who gave me a less than friendly look.

Hey, he could explain why we had a Master vampire helping us out with all of this because it was partially Vlad’s fault, but we weren’t
really
blaming him or arresting him, but we’d get a deal on rooms or something?

Yeah, I wasn’t
touching
that shit.

Besides, I realized
another
issue when I saw Joan Martin siting down to have her statement taken. I’d made a promise to Nestor, and I intended to keep it. I hurried over there and asked her to step outside with me, assuring Remington he could move on to who was next. Joan was less than thrilled but she did as I asked.

“So everyone gets to file reports but me because you need Nestor’s strength, is that it?” she accused when we were outside behind the building.

“What?
No
, Joan!” I gasped, spinning around to face her. “I swear that’s not it.” I held up my hands in surrender and quickly filled her in on what Nestor and Jonathan had told me, what I’d
witnessed
from Nestor myself. “I thought you should know that before you did something that can’t be undone like sending him to the
council
.”

“I can’t just forgive him—”

“I know,” I whispered gently as she moved her fist to her mouth and bit on her knuckles. I hugged her and let her cry some of her pain out. “I’m not saying forgive him and just forget it happened. I simply thought you should know
I
think there’s more to the story and he was trying to protect you, in a hell of his own too. There are other options besides just going back to the way things were and sending him off to prison.”

“Like
what
?” she asked, pulling away and wiping her eyes roughly. “Marriage counseling for werewolves?”

I shrugged. “Why not? You’re
people
too, Joan. There has to be something other packs or shifters do when a mating has problems. The question is—do you see anything with Nestor worth saving?”

She bit her lower lip and looked away before nodding. “Don’t think me weak, but yes, yes there is. I love him. I just couldn’t deal with the way he treated me around the pack or Engle anymore. He never raped me or beat me at home, he only ever hit me around
them,
and now that you’re putting it in context, it makes more sense. I’m not saying it was
right
, but doing that so they didn’t do something worse…”