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MEREDITH RETURNED WITH refreshments a short while later. She wheeled in a trolley with both coffee and tea as well as a variety of snacks.
“You’re an angel,” Kala beamed at her and received an uncertain look. Kala’s sudden mood swings were hard for even us to keep up with at times.
Meredith placed the food and beverages on the coffee table in front of Mark. “Thank you,” he said gratefully as she poured him tea. She didn’t bother to pour anything for the rest of us. She’d decided he was the only one worthy of her personal attention.
“Do you think your wee doggie might be hungry?” Meredith said to me when she’d finished serving Mark.
Sensing she was talking about him, Zeus lifted his head and licked his chops. “He’s always hungry,” I said wryly. While I might not be worthy of her, Zeus apparently was.
Reaching into her pocket, Meredith pulled out a dog biscuit in the shape of a bone. “Do you want this, darling lad?” Her brogue was hard for me to understand, but Zeus knew exactly what she was asking. He scrambled to his feet and rushed over to her. “Oh, no,” she admonished him. She held up her finger before he could snatch the biscuit from her. “You have to ask me nicely.”
Look cute for her, I instructed him. Knowing the fastest way to a human’s heart, he lay down and rolled over onto his back. He stared up at her soulfully with his legs in the air.
She caved in with a giggle and handed over the treat. He rolled over and took it gently rather than snatching it out of her hand. “You’re as clever as you are handsome,” she said and petted him. “Try not to slobber on the carpet too much.”
“I’ll pay for any damage that he causes,” I told her.
She waved the offer away. “We’re well used to pets in this hotel, madam. It’s all part of the service.”
“Madam,” Kala snickered when she left the room. “Does that make you feel as old as it sounds?”
“Yes,” I replied honestly. “I didn’t expect anyone to call me that until I’d at least reached your age.”
“Nice one,” Flynn complimented me.
Scowling, Kala snatched up a cookie and hurled it at me in retaliation. Reece snatched it out of the air without even looking and stuffed it into his mouth. “Thanks,” he said when he chewed it down and swallowed it.
Mark manfully managed to ignore us as he concentrated on reading. He took notes as he made his way through the information. Just as he’d predicted, it was going to take him a while to get through it all.
“I’m bored,” Kala declared after an hour of watching TV. She’d held out longer than I’d thought she would. “Let’s go for a walk, Lexi. With you along, we’re bound to run into a murderer, or a rapist who needs killing. It’ll be more fun than sitting around here watching Mark ruin his eyesight trying to read on that tiny screen.” If we’d been in one of our compounds, he would have sent the information to the monitors rather than using his tablet.
“Why don’t you all go?” Mark suggested without taking his eyes off the screen.
“Sick of us already, boss?” Flynn asked good-naturedly.
Mark looked up from the report. “Let’s just say I could use a couple of hours of peace and quiet.”
“You heard the man,” Kala said and heaved herself to her feet. “Let’s put our bags in our rooms and find something interesting to do.”
“Try to stay out of trouble,” I said to Mark when I reached the door.
“Yes, Mom,” he replied solemnly.
Once again, I was sharing a room with Reece. Fortunately, we’d been given a room on the level above the others. That had to be Mark’s idea, Reece thought to me.
That was nice of him. Our boss was always thinking of us.
He probably just doesn’t want to listen to Kala whining about us having sex.
You’re probably right, I conceded.
“We’ll meet in the lobby in ten minutes,” Kala said when she and Flynn stepped out of the elevator and into the hall. “Don’t stop for a quickie and keep us waiting.” The doors slid shut before I could retaliate to her snide comment.
Our room was at the far end of the hallway. Reece used his keycard and stood aside to let me enter first. I put my hand over my heart and heaved a sigh at his sign of chivalry. “After you, madam,” he said with a grin.
“Ugh. Now I feel old again.” I stalked past him, but my bad mood was fleeting. The room was tastefully decorated, but the bed instantly caught my attention. King-sized, it took pride of place in the center of the room.
Reece stepped up behind me and put his hands on my waist. “I can’t wait to get you naked and between the sheets,” he whispered in my ear.
“You’re going to have to make it up to me for the madam comment,” I warned him.
“I’m sure I can think of some way to apologize.” With that, he spun me around, crushed me against him and kissed me.
Zeus whined a while later, breaking us from our happy daze. He told me he needed to go to the bathroom again. I checked my watch and yelped when I saw we only had a minute left to meet the others. “Come on,” I urged Reece. “If we’re late, Kala will think we had a quickie after all and we’ll never hear the end of it.”
I hastily tossed my backpack full of clothes into the closet, but I was more careful with the backpack that contained my sniper rifle. I didn’t want to leave it behind, but I doubted I’d need the rifle in the heart of the city.
Shaking his head at my panic, Reece loped across the room after me when I rushed for the door. The elevator would take too long, so I scooped Zeus up and raced down the stairs. I put him down when I reached the ground floor and we jogged across the lobby to where Kala and Flynn were waiting.
Tapping her watch, Kala smirked at us when we joined them. “You only had five seconds to spare. That was cutting it close.” Her smirk widened when she took in my slightly messy hair from having Reece’s hands tangled in it. “I guess I don’t need to ask what kept you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied as I ran my fingers through my hair to put it back in order.
“Uh huh,” she said and rolled her eyes. “That’s totally believable.”
“The receptionist told us there’s a dog park a couple of blocks away,” Flynn said, rescuing me from having to come up with a response for her sarcasm. He handed me some plastic bags.
“What are they for?” I asked.
“Poop,” Kala said succinctly, then grinned. “It’s illegal to leave dog poop lying around.”
“Eww,” I complained. “Nobody told me I’d have to pick up poop.”
“That’s the price you have to pay for having a dog,” she said with false regret.
Please tell me you don’t need to poop, I thought to Zeus. He avoided my eyes and grinned ashamedly. He didn’t like the idea of me having to clean up after him any more than I did. “Let’s get this over with,” I said both out loud and mentally.
We walked the two blocks to a park that was teeming with dogs of all descriptions. So much had happened lately that it was easy to lose track of time. Clearly, it must be the weekend.
Sensing that a pair of alpha wolves had entered the area, every canine in the park turned to look at Reece and me. Pretend we aren’t here, I told them. They returned to what they were doing before their masters became suspicious of their strange behavior.
Zeus informed me that he couldn’t go if we were all watching him, so Reece and I turned our backs. Kala snickered, but did the same. Flynn shook his head in amusement as he turned around as well. We stood in a row with our backs to Zeus as he went about his business.
“He’s a shy one, huh?” a woman stopped to ask. She was in her fifties and wore a hot pink sweat suit. She was walking a tiny white fluff ball. The fluff ball looked up at us with huge brown eyes that hovered on the edge of worship. He loved his master, but he’d have gladly joined us if we’d wanted him to. With that knowledge, I realized that all of the dogs felt the same way. Every one of them would have pledged their loyalty to Reece and me in a heartbeat.
“He is,” I said to the woman absently.
“He’s young,” she advised me. “He’ll grow out of it.” Clucking at her fluff ball, she resumed her walk.
“What’s going on?” Flynn asked when she was out of earshot. “I can feel something strange happening.”
Kala crossed her arms and rubbed them as if trying to smooth out goosebumps. “I feel it, too.”
“They know we’re alphas,” Reece explained. “They want to leave their masters and come with us.”
“Come with you where?” Flynn asked.
“Wherever we need them to go,” I replied, feeling as if I was in a daze. I linked my hand with Reece and our power swelled. All across the city, dogs stopped what they were doing and went still. Our wolves rose and we trembled on the edge of transforming. My wolf threw her head back and howled in my mind. Every canine in the city responded by howling out loud.
Even Zeus was caught up in the moment. He howled in joy at the knowledge that we were part of a pack that stretched further than my mind could imagine. Reece’s wolf howled as well, joining his song to mine.
It wasn’t just dogs who heard our combined call. All across the country, werewolves shuddered when they felt our power. They knew that we weren’t just alphas. We were something more. They felt both awe and dread when they sensed that something momentous was coming.
Just as quickly as it had come, our power faded and the moment passed. The howls cut off as if a switch had been flipped.
