Allure of the Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 2) (18 page)

Idiots.
Complete
idiots. What a stupid thing to fight about?

“And what a stupid thing to blurt out,” I sighed as I pulled up at Home Depot in Oak Brook. I knew what I wanted so I made fast work of getting the largest Master Forge electric smoker they carried—which luckily was in stock—and a selection of each type of wood chips. I was new to smoking meat, more of a griller, myself, but with all the food Tristan, Riley, and I ate, I thought it was time to branch out.

Plus my wolf just wanted meat constantly and there was only so many burgers or steaks I could make before I overdosed on them.

Next it was a
quick
trip to Costco, and I meant that with sarcasm because no one can just ever run in and out of that place. I was only going for meat and still I was in there a half hour, filling my entire cart.

And I do mean
full
. The checkout guys were looking at me funny as they loaded up bundle after bundle of ribs that came three racks to a package.
Huge
cuts of salmon that I bought eight of. Enough chicken to make a Perdue commercial. A cow’s worth of ground beef. And finally plenty of pork loin to load up my arms.

“Oh, seriously, I can’t be the weirdest cart you’ve seen come through here,” I quipped when they kept staring. They both shrugged, and I swiped my card, deciding to ignore them. Whatever, I needed meat.

I loaded it all into my trunk—the slow cooker in the backseat since there wasn’t a chance that might leak on anything—and headed home. I’d chilled out by then, not because I had really been pissed, more flustered. Which also meant I had a plan as to how to handle this, and since I didn’t need to pick up anything else to make what I wanted for dinner, I had my game face on and was raring to go.

They were all waiting for me as I walked through the door carrying the big box, the three of them wearing different surprised expressions that I came home with what I did. Good, I was hoping I could get in the first word due to their shock.

“There’s enough food to feed an army in the trunk. I’m cooking and none of you have experienced that, and I actually
can
grill amazingly which the odds are in my favor I can use a smoker well after reading a few blogs and picking recipes. So—” I glanced at Havers first. “I’m sure there was something you did best but you and I are barely on speaking terms again. Be grateful I’m even allowing you to stay for dinner.” Next was Noah. “Yes, you can try and outdo Tristan when you’re my moon mate but I stand by what I said.

“And I don’t want to hear about it again. It was bad form of me, but we should
all
know not to back Sera in a corner because she blurts stupid shit out like a twit when she feels uncomfortable.” Lastly was Tristan. “No more feeding the sexual animal’s hope or filling the room with hormones if you want to keep the focus on you when that’s where it started. Don’t be
stupid
. I was all about you today and what you did turned it into them and had me leaving the house.
We
will be having lots of sex later if we get back on track for work and the matter is dropped.”

He bobbed his head while I spoke and then there was a pause where no one said anything before he gestured to the box. “Want me to put it together while you get the meat started after they bring it in?”

“That would be lovely, thank you.” I smiled brightly at him as I handed the box over, sneaking in a quick kiss. Then I tossed Noah my car keys. “Lock it up when you’re done.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he chuckled, walking right out the front door.

“What’s on the menu?” Havers hedged as if not sure he was ready to sign up for a Sunday of helping
me
now that he knew sex was off the table.

“Burgers for lunch and I’m smoking salmon for dinner.”

“I do like salmon,” he muttered before following after Noah.

Well hot damn! That went better than I could have hoped for. A way to get a man to behave
truly
was by owning his stomach if you weren’t sleeping with him.

I called out to Tristan to fire up the grill and pulled out the ground beef we needed to make first. Then I flew around the kitchen, yanking down everything I would need for my special burgers and then the biggest bowl I had in the house. I stared at my normal-sized large salad bowl and started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Noah asked as he came in with his arms full of ribs.

“I just realized I’m really going to have to start thinking to
super-size
everything,” I answered, but then hurried to explain when I saw the smirk on his face. Yeah, of
course
he would think I meant him. “This was enough to mix burgers for
me,
but yeah, it’s never going to be just me anymore. I gotta always plan on bulk now.”

“Well, you’re learning,” Havers teased, nodding to the trays of salmon in his hands.

“We’ll see how long that actually lasts with two wolves and a vampire.” I shook my head and started mixing everything together before making patties on a huge platter. Once those were started on the grill, I washed my hands and directed traffic with all the meat.

“Good thing I got that extra freezer for the garage, huh?” Tristan gloated as he came back in the house with the empty box. “And you said we’d never use it.”

“You win. I was wrong. It was a good call.”

“I won’t even revel in my victory because you’re cooking.”

I rolled my eyes and handed out beers as we moved into the backyard. I glanced between them and finally asked what I was dying to know. “Okay, so what did
you guys
get done while I did all of this?”

“I talked to Riley when he was on break,” Tristan started off. “And that wolf we wanted to talk to—the guy’s name is Jesse Hall—Riley got him to say he’d stop over after Riley gets off shift.”

“Nice.”

“Tristan also filled us in on your conversation with Jerome Curtis,” Havers told me. “And Noah and I discussed a lot about Quantico training and what his resume allows him to teach.”

“Okay, I like you all again,” I chuckled, flipping the burgers one at a time while dancing a bit.

“Still hearing the music from last night?” Noah joked. I heard his beer swish from behind me and there was a pause. “I got the notification Tristan won and the picture of you two.”

“Wait, what did I miss?” Havers hedged. Tristan and Noah filled him in. It was actually
hysterical
when he glanced at me, probably looking as I did last night like—what am I missing?

“Preaching to the choir,” I snickered, giving him a shrug. “But it was fun. No, I don’t get why it’s a big deal. Twentysomethings being stupid?”

“Not just
them
,” Tristan snorted, gesturing with his beer all around our neighborhood. “It’s everyone. We had a team of senior citizens trying to show they still had it.”

“It’s really more to do with humans trying to show they’re just as fast as us or can always beat us,” Noah explained and then shot Havers a shrug. “It’s true. Sorry, man.”

“No, it’s cool. Just stupid. I mean, the contest sounds fun if I was out on a bachelor party.” I nodded my head in agreement on that one. That was what I had originally thought myself. “But for it to be this big of a thing just makes me worry people don’t have their priorities in line worse than I’d thought.”

“Probably,” I drawled as I added cheese to the burgers. “Okay, so back to my happy place. What did you two come up with? What else do I need to get covered for training?”

Brian let out a loud breath and grabbed a list off the table they must have been working on. “Honestly, not much, Sera. With Jerome Curtis coming now, Noah, and the help you’ve got me agreed to that I’m qualified to teach—”

“Take your name back off that list,” I said evenly, glad he
was
human right then and he couldn’t hear my heart pick up. “You’re putting yourself out there enough, letting my people shadow yours. Curtis promised me other instructors would help and he would get them to. I want that promise if I’m flying people out there to lecture for the day with visual aids.”

“Visual aids?” Noah chuckled, and I looked over my shoulder at Tristan.

“Yeah, I don’t know what that means,” he hedged as he raised an eyebrow at me.

“They want us—me especially—to shift in all our forms so they can see it live in a controlled environment and not in the field the first time,” I explained evenly as I pulled the burgers off the grill. “Curtis wants us to make the case of why we’re not a hindrance but help, live and in color.”

“He knows how strong you are, doesn’t he?” Noah took the plate from me as I shut off the grill and leaned over to get the gas as well.

“Yeah, he knows. That’s why he wants me. I have all three forms and can partially shift—the party tricks.”

“And you’re okay with this?” Tristan growled, understanding sinking in. The three of us slowly turned and glanced at him and I did a double take when I saw his fangs out. “Being paraded around like a science project for them to study and discuss?”

“It’s not really like that,” I murmured as I moved towards him and rested my hands on his chest, making sure he was staring into my eyes to see I was being truthful. “It’s really
not
. But yeah, if it saves
one
paranormal from getting accidently shot or killed because someone was spooked when the
person
in front of them suddenly changes to a deadly weapon with claws. The moment the claws come out, it’s the same as if the person’s holding a gun and the police can shoot. If they don’t learn what we can do, they might shoot before they need to in fear to protect themselves when they didn’t need to.”

“Which is understandable,” Havers muttered, shrugging when we all looked at him. “Hey, someone raises a gun at me, I assume they’re
shooting
. Someone raises claws, I don’t think it’s to
high-five
, okay? I’m
for
educating and cross-training, that’s why I’m here, but yeah, if the threat is there, then it’s a valid shoot. Now shooting because they
shift
isn’t. I’ve seen shifters accidentally change and stay on the ground. That’s a nonaggressive signal. I’m cool with that. They come towards me, I’m firing.”

“Because they could get to you before you have time to figure out if it’s that high five or not,” I agreed with a sigh.

“Yeah, and then who’s ever behind me.”

It was fair and something everyone in law enforcement struggled with no matter what branch and not just about paranormals. I’d heard stories about a shooting where the situation was intense and people on our side thought someone was raising a gun to shoot and it turned out they
swore
they were tossing it away. Maybe they were right and fear made them think to
toss
it when they should have just
dropped
it.

But how would the police know that? If they took the chance to see which way that situation played out, holding their reactions in—they’d be getting the short version from
heaven
.

We grabbed what we needed, buns, condiments, and whatnot, and sat down at the dining room table. It was only
then
I remembered why I had been so excited Havers had showed up.

“God, I need less on my plate,” I muttered as I jumped up to get the file.

“Then what are you going to get?” Tristan asked as if I was being literal. I rolled my eyes at him as I came back from the living room and wiggled the file at him. “Ahhh, the
proverbial
plate.”

“Yes, that one.” I stuffed my face as I flipped through the lab results and autopsy reports. “Damn.”

“Yeah, sorry, I snuck a peek,” Havers muttered. “I was curious. I can’t get over there’s a great white shark shape-shifter. When I heard that through the grapevine, I just had to check and see what that was about.”

“Did you hear that from
my
people?” I hedged, not liking the possibilities of gossips on my team.

“No, your team is annoyingly tight-lipped,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “One of the unis overheard something and Frank knows him, got the call. These are awesome burgers by the way. I mean,
amazing.
” Everyone agreed and I preened a bit before getting back to the issue at hand.

“Glad that everyone still talks about the crazy cases,” I chuckled before closing the folder with a sigh. “No DNA on file. No prints since no hands. Not enough teeth for dentals. All we’ve got is male, approximate age from some features, and a few other things that will make this like a needle in a haystack.”

“What did you pick up at the scene?” Tristan asked.

“Nothing. Body was in the water too long, and it was right at the edge of pay-for-the-day launch and private docs
and
yacht club so there’s just too many variables, too many people.”

“Wait,
pick up
?” Havers hedged. “The crime scene guys got lots of stuff they’re checking for trace, prints, all of that. Those results aren’t in yet. I wouldn’t say
nothing
.” It was almost comical the way the three of us turned towards him as one. “What?”