Accidentally Wolf (17 page)

“
Okay, then let
’
s get you to bed,
”
replied Tristan as he stood with me
cradled
in his arms. He walked out of the bathroom and gently laid me down on the bed before crawling
under the covers
next to me.
As we lay there facing each other, he reached out and
held
me close to him
,
whispering softly in my ear,
“
It will get better, Sera, I promise.
”

I lean
ed back so I could look him in the eye.
“
I am sorry, Tristan. For hurting you and then freaking out on you
.
I swear I don
’
t normally freak out like that.
”

“
You
’
re allowed a pass given everything you
’
ve been through,
”
he whispered against my temple, pulling me closer to him
again
.
“
I promise not to tell anyone.
”

“
Thanks,
”
I replied, smiling against his chest. Normally it was hard for me to be close to people, but I realized just then, I wasn
’
t getting any images from Tristan
as I had with other men I’d allowed into
my
bed
.
That wasn
’
t a vampire thing, so I assumed it was a minion thing.
He was blissfully blank to me. Between that and how sweet he was being, I did something I never do. I let him comfort me
. For the first time in god only knows how long, I fell asleep in the arms of a man.

****

The next day Tristan drove me to work in my car and then headed to go talk to
Vlad
about keeping his job. We had planned on him checking out what type of car he wanted while I was at work
.
T
hen
,
when I was ready to go home, I
’
d call him for a ride.
Once he picked me up, we
’
d go to the dealership
to
get him a car of his own.

“
Chief we got a call,
”
Harris
informed me
,
knocking on my door about an hour after I had gotten to work.
“
There
’
s been a murder, suspected preternatural, probably shifter. How do you want us to handle it?
”

“
Grab the other Agents in Charge,
except Jennings
.
T
echies stay here
.
”
I
stood
and gather
ed
my things.
“
Get them the address and have them meet us there
.
I
’
m going to ride with you.
”

“
Alright, I
’
ll meet you out front in five
.
”
H
e
called out as he ran
off. This was the first time since I
’
d become Chief we
’
d been called out on anything. Time to show my team of
f
ive
how the real FBI worked.

After I was ready, I headed out to meet Harris.
We hopped in his car and headed out.

“
Everyone else should actually beat us there,
”
Harris explained as he drove.
“
How come you
’
re catching a ride with me, Chief?
”

“
My roommate has my car today,
”
I answered
,
praying he wouldn
’
t say anything else.
“
Who
’
s on the scene?
”

“
Local PD
.
”
He
look
ed
at me before turning back to the road.
“
I didn
’
t know you had a roommate.
”

“
Are you asking me a personal question, Harris?
”

“
No, Chief
.
”
H
e chuckled as we came to a stoplight.
“
Heaven forbid anyone asks you anything personal.
”

“
If only that were true
.
”
I snickered
as Harris rolled his eyes at me. Not in an insubordinate way, just letting me know he was laughing at m
y
being difficult. We rode the next ten minutes in comfortable silence before pulling up to the crime scene.
It wasn
’
t a long drive considering it was only in Elk Grove Village, one of the northwestern suburbs of Chicago.

I got out of the car and put my badge on the
lanyard
for easy identification.
The scene I walked into made me feel horrible for my team
.
I truly got insight as to how other law enforcement treated them.

“
I
’
m telling you we got the call to come look at the scene,
”
Cooper yelled at one of the Elk Grove policeman
standing outside the house we needed to enter
.
“
Even if we didn
’
t, we
’
re
the paranormal branch of the
FBI,
and
this is our jurisdiction.
”

“
And I
’
m telling you, I don
’
t give a shit,
”
the
older-looking
officer sneered back.
“
I
’
m not letting a bunch of shifters in my crime scene to cover up for their friends!
”

“
Special Agent in Charge Cooper isn
’
t a shifter
,
”
I said firmly as I stepped into the group.
“
Let
’
s all pretend we
’
re professionals here and take this argument inside
.
W
e have a crowd forming.
”
I gestured to the group of people behind us
who
watching us curiously.

“
You
’
re not going anywhere near my scene, miss
,
”
Off
ic
er Clark replied
.
I made note of his name
now that I was close enough to read his name tag.
“
Not until I get the word from my superiors.
”

“
The word,
”
I responded
as
sweetly as possible.

“
What? Are you trying to be funny?
”

“
Obviously not, Officer Clark
.
”
I stepp
ed
closer and lower
ed
my voice
.
“
I was trying to give you a subtle clue that I am your superior and what I say goes.
”

“
Bullshit
, Thomas
—
”
he started to say
,
looking at my ID, before I interrupted him.

“
You just looked at my ID, Clark, you know that
’
s Chief Thomas to you
.
”
I
got
in his face now.
“
Are you usually completely disrespectful of your
superiors
? Or am I just this lucky to be on the receiving side of your insubordination.
”

“
I don
’
t take orders from the monster squad,
”
Clark sneer
ed.

“
No, you don
’
t Clark,
”
I replied, watching him look satisfied with himself at my agreement.
“
However, you will treat me and my team with the respect we deserve. You know my rank beats yours by several pay grades,
and
so does my team
’
s. Act like it now or I
’
ll brin
g
your ass up on review so fast you won
’
t have time to blink. You might not take orders from me or my team, but I
’
m Division Chief of the FBI and god
-
dam
m
it you will respect that.

“
Now move out of my team
’
s way so they can do their job, or I
’
ll have you arrested for obstruction of a federal investigation. Yeah, it will be a lot of paperwork and quite the headache for me
, but it would be worth it to wipe that look off your face. No one disrespects my team. They may have the patience to argue with you,
”
I snarled
,
finishing up my rant.
“
I don
’
t nor should I have to. That
’
s why I
’
m a Chief of the FBI and you
’
re the local police.
”

“
Fine, you
’
ve made your point
.
”
Officer Clark
finally
back
ed
down after the tongue lashing I gave him in front of his peers.
“
The shifter still shouldn
’
t go in there. I don
’
t trust a
l
ycanthrope in the crime scene.
”

“
So you never go into any crime scenes or handle any crimes where humans are involved?
”
I asked.

“
Of course I do, Thomas… I mean
,
Chief,
”
he answered
,
correcting himself quickly, but looking confused
, his
graying, b
ushy
eyebrows furrowing
.

“
Well
,
then your theory is bullshit,
”
I explained.
“
You
r
theory is that
Special Agent Cooper shouldn
’
t go in there because he can
’
t be trusted with his own kind. Two problems with that
,
Clark
.
S
hifters don
’
t automatically let other shifters off the hook, as you don
’
t just let humans off. Two, Cooper isn
’
t the shifter of this team, I am. Are you saying I can
’
t be trusted to go in my own crime scene, Clark?
”

“
No, ma
’
am
.
”
All the color drained out of
Clark
’
s face
. It seemed to finally click how deep of a hole he was digging himself
in to
.

“
That
’
s what I thought. Now keep your men holding the perimeter, no unauthorized personnel,
”
I stated
,
starting to walk toward the house. Clark had to walk with me to hear my orders, which was part of my point.
“
Clear your men out of the actual scene so my team can get in there and do their jobs.
”

“
Yes, Chief
.
”
H
e stay
ed
at the door as I was about to walk inside.