Allure of the Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 2) (38 page)

“Might be something you’d want to work through?” I finished for her, leaving any judgment out of my voice. I hadn’t been there, and I’d only seen
part
of how horrible Engle could be. For all I knew, Nestor smacking her now and again saved Joan from countless beatings or rapes. It didn’t make it right, but it made it the lesser of two evils.

No, life wasn’t black and white, but it also wasn’t my decision to make.

“Yes, as long as he realizes I won’t just go right back home and no one
else
files any other charges against him. If he truly wasn’t a bully and did it to protect me, then no one else will be saying he hurt them.”

I could understand that. I actually agreed with her.

21

Vlad came through on the rooms for our people coming in. He gave them a couple of
floors
at Timequake—the most luxurious hotel in Chicagoland. I mean, it made the Hilton or Hyatt look like a rent-by-the-hour kinda place. If a person didn’t pull up to Timequake in their Aston Martin or Bentley… They might as well keep driving.

Unless their chauffer drove them, of course.

“I helped make this mess, of course I will gladly show your guests aiding in the clean-up of it Chicago’s finest hospitality,” Vlad assured me when he showed up in
person
after Monroe called him.

“You really are a Vonnegut fan, aren’t you?” I asked instead of lingering on his guilt. He did deserve it but everyone fucked up and I wasn’t going throw shit on him. He’d done just about everything he could short of taking over the wolves himself to fix the situation.

And realistically that would have started more crap than it resolved.

“I am,” he chuckled, a soft smile crossing his lips. “I’m a fan of anyone bold enough to be different in a world that likes people to swim with the current, do what is expected. Kurt Vonnegut was a brilliant man who let his mind be twisted at times. I appreciate that.” Then his eyes filled with mischief. “It was
his
idea that I call myself Vlad if paranormals ever went public, a gesture of
flare
if you will, of what’s expected of vampires while I swim against the current from the legends.”

I gaped at him. “Vlad’s not your real name?”

“No, my darling Seraphine,” he chuckled as he smoothed out his shirt. “It’s a little ostentatious for my true birth and I’m not even Transylvanian, though I am Russian and very old. I thought the idea crazy, but I did it to honor my friend because who can’t use a little crazy fun now and again? It keeps the children under me well-behaved, wondering if I
truly
am Vlad the Impaler to fear.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

“Of that I have no doubt.” He excused himself when the lunch he’d ordered for everyone was delivered and that was a pleasant surprise as well. I shook my head, chuckling to myself. Vlad was never boring, that was for sure.

I wondered if he’d ever trust me enough to tell me his real name. Then again, some mysteries were better left as secrets. I’d be disappointed if it was something like
Sam
after all the wonder.

Moments after lunch arrived, so did scores of people from Quantico. Perfect timing, because we had enough food to feed an army being set up outside in the tents Vlad’s people had brought to facilitate all the interviews. Our offices weren’t big enough to handle all of this chaos.

Monroe greeted them first, and I was just about to do the same when my phone rang. I winced when I saw it was Hagan, worried there was a problem picking up Tony Harper.

“Did you get him?”

“Yeah, he wasn’t a problem at
all
,” Hagan chuckled. “What a poser, but we picked up the scent of a shark shifter. Weren’t you looking for one?”

“Yes, where are you?” I demanded, grabbing paper and pen from my desk. I jotted it down and stuffed it in my pocket. “Is Tony knocked out?”

“Sleeping like a baby.”

“Send the team back with him, track the shark. I’m on my way to you with help. For now we just want to question her, so don’t engage, Hagan. This needs to be official.”

“I understand, Sera.”

I hung up the phone and flagged Harris, pointing for him to meet me over by Monroe. We hustled over there, and I broke into his conversation with Jerome Curtis. “Sorry, but, Chief, we just got a lead on our murder suspect. Hagan picked up the scent when he apprehended Tony Harper. They’re bringing Harper in, and I sent Hagan to follow the trail but not engage. We’re going after her.” I glanced at Curtis. “Thank you for coming all this way, and I’m sorry I won’t be here to brief you better but murder trumps training.”

“Murder does trump training,” he agreed. “Is this something we can help you with?”

“I couldn’t guarantee the safety of your people on this one,” I hedged, glancing at Monroe who gave the barest shake of his head I didn’t think a human like Curtis would be able to see. “Let’s keep this to bringing in more controlled suspects with the help of local leadership as we planned. For now, we could use a shit load of help taking reports and witness statements.”

“Lucky for you, we just went over that Friday and were about to show our new trainees how to do that this week,” Curtis chuckled. “You just gave us all live examples instead of the dummy forms and role playing.”

“
Glad
to help.” I turned to Harris. “Get Cooper to switch with Davis. I want her for this, since we think the shark is a she. Might help bring her in easier depending on what’s going on”

“Not your fairy?” Curtis asked with a raised eyebrow. “What she could do was impressive. I would have thought she would be your first choice.”

“Maybe once we’re sure she’d hit the suspect and not
us
if she needs to fire a weapon,” Harris muttered before running off.

“Her aim’s not
that bad
,” I called after him, rolling my eyes. I glanced back at Monroe and Curtis and gave a slight nod, letting them know without saying it that,
yeah
, that was the reason. “Plus fairy powers are like anything else, they need to be drilled down. Shaw’s used to playing here and there. Not too many life and death situations. Until I know she can handle the pressure of fieldwork, I don’t want to risk it. She could freeze the wrong person in the heat of things.”

“Good call, Thomas,” Curtis praised and then rolled his eyes, looking past me. He moved by me, barking out orders at some people. He really was the right guy to keep trainees in line. I, personally, would pull my hair out if I had that job day in and day out.

I glanced around the bustling office and bit back a chuckle before looking at Monroe again. “I don’t even feel bad for leaving you with this mess after learning what I did from Deputy Director Galvin.”

“We’ll discuss that later,” he sighed, scrubbing his hand over his hair. “That man likes to take things out of context. I said there needed to be
a someone
like him running a fully operational MNSTR FBI just as organized as the regular one with all the same resources, offices, and training if we were ever going to do any real good. I didn’t say it was
me,
though I’m not against the job. I’ve heard
you
agree with me.”

“I do but that’s another conversation for another day, boss.”

“Amen to that,” he grumbled, moving to the next traffic jam to direct.

Davis and Harris showed up then, and we headed out, weaving our way through the masses of people outside to get to my car. By the time we hit the expressway, I learned that Reagan had heard about Hagan’s situation and decided to change the “by the book” plan we had going for picking up the accused wolves.

Meaning, when he found Roe Smith moments after he’d talked to his twin, he’d knocked the man out with one punch, flagged a squad car that had been near the scene, flashed his temporary FBI credentials, and told the poor uniform that he’d better haul ass to our offices before the unconscious werewolf woke up pissed off in the back of his vehicle.

Needless to say the officer peeled out seconds later with lights on and sirens blaring.

Then Reagan moved out with his team towards Hagan’s position. Just as we finally made it all the way downtown, my phone chirped with an update that the scent was strongest all around Grant Park.

“Shit,” I hissed, cutting over lanes of traffic to make the LaSalle exit. I winced as I heard horns honking, sighing in relief when I didn’t hear anyone crash. Reaching for the radio Monroe had installed in my vehicle, I contacted CPD dispatch and gave them my badge number. “Suspect is wanted in the questioning of two murders, do
not
have your people approach, it is a preternatural case. I need all available units to clear Grant Park of all civilians and hold a perimeter for us.”

“Units are on their way, Chief Thomas. Shoot on sight?”

“
No
, we have people there,” I growled, my skin heating up that the response was immediately that. “We don’t even have a name of the suspect. Just clear the area as best you can and aid our personnel.” I tossed the radio towards Harris as I made a spectacularly illegal move at a light to get through an intersection when people weren’t stopping for me. “How the fuck does CPD deal with this shit all the time? Sirens and lights mean
stop
for us! What the fuck is wrong with people? I don’t have them on because I have a Taco Bell craving.”

“People are oblivious and some can just be assholes,” Davis chuckled from the backseat. We pulled up to Grant Park via Lake Shore Drive, blocking off part of the massive street minutes later, and jumped out after I threw the vehicle in park. I saw other squad cars following my lead and gesturing what perimeter to give us once I tracked the wolf scents had moved from the fountain and towards the lake.

I raced over to where I saw Reagan with the team that had accompanied him, shooting the man a dirty look. “We’re going to have a long talk about proper procedure later when you’re helping out the FBI, which
doesn’t
include knocking out suspects and scaring the shit out of unis. That’s a mess I’m going to have to clean up later.”

“And I’ll make up for it,” he muttered, bobbing his head in understanding. “But I couldn’t let my twin walk into this alone.” I followed his gaze and swallowed back my shock.

“Clear the area,” I called out to the CPD running over to us, gesturing with my arms to keep everyone behind us. We were at the lakefront trail and almost to Queen’s Landing, because this was going on by the water. Then I focused back on the smaller woman—way smaller than Davis—so she had to get taller when she shifted for that bite pattern to have worked, which actually made sense.

“He should die,” she screeched. “Just let me have this last one and it’s
over
!”

“Tell me why, sweet thang, and maybe I’ll help you eat him,” Hagan cooed, as he tried to keep her from moving any closer to the lake, waving random people in the crowded area to hurry away. I wanted to bang my head against something. Yeah, we needed to work on his procedural skills too. I gestured everyone else to hold back as I nodded for Davis, and we slowly approached, closing in on the twenty-five feet separating us from them.

“What’s your name?” I asked gently when we were about halfway there.

“Her name is India Summer, and she’s going bat-shit crazy,” the guy bitched. He had to be about six feet, and the much smaller woman had him bent over in a chokehold.

“My name’s not India Summer! I’m India Gupta!
I am not a porn star,” she bellowed, kneeing him in the back.

“Of course you—”
the guy started to argue.

“Shut up!”
Davis and I ordered together. She added something extra though, “You idiot.” I agreed, but the goal was to be a little bit more like Switzerland to defuse the situation.

“Okay, so you’re India Gupta. I’m Sera Thomas with the FBI, nice to meet you,” I coaxed, moving slightly closer as I watched her arm around his neck. She didn’t have any weapons, but as a shifter, it would take her less than a second to snap his neck like a twig. “Just tell me what’s going on. He thought you were someone else? This India Summer? What happened then?”

Her eyes filled with tears as she focused on me, losing a little bit of her wild-eyed frantic look—which was good. “I had just moved here for college, hadn’t even started yet. Full ride to the University of Chicago. I wanted to see Navy Pier. It was wonderful, everything I could have dreamed of. I was just about to leave when these three men called out
India, India, oh my god, it’s India!
I turned around and asked if I knew them and they said no, but they were my biggest fans. I didn’t understand, saying they had to have made a mistake.”

“They thought you were this India Summer,” Davis filled in, glancing at the idiot India was holding. “Did she say she wasn’t?”

“Well yeah, but stars always deny it,” he scoffed. “But it’s
her
. I mean, I’ve watched her films dozens of times and it’s her.”

“What happened next?” I asked India before the guy set her off again.