Gage shook Faine’s hand and clasped his forearm before sliding into the car next to Molly. “Faine will ride with you. I’ll be in the car just ahead.” She closed the door and moved to the car in front, leading them all from the airfield and back to the Gennessee building.
She knew Faine frowned, but he was too disciplined to question her orders in front of anyone. She had her reasons.
It was after one in the morning so the traffic was light. They’d driven by a few protests earlier on their way over to Sato’s place, but now things were quiet. She was glad to see, though, that despite the lateness of the hour, her staff at the garage they used to park their vehicles in was on the ball, using all the checks she’d put into place.
Once inside she showed Molly and Gage their room, got the rest of the group settled and told Molly she’d meet with her in fifteen minutes to brief her on the day’s events.
As she figured, Faine caught up with her in the hall outside her room. “I’m your guard. I can’t do that from another car.”
“I can’t do my job effectively if all my best weapons aren’t spread around. If my car had been attacked, you’d have been able to deal with it immediately. You wouldn’t have been in the car that was hit. If your car had been, I could have dealt with it and you’d have been there to aid Molly and Gage.”
He paused, thinking, and finally nodded. “I understand your reasoning. But I do not like being separated from you when there are dangerous situations.”
She knew what he meant, of course. But the possessive edge in his words sent a thrill through her.
Dangerous.
Dangerous and stupid to let herself get any measure of woo-woo over this male. He was too much, like all alpha males were. Too much to handle. Too intense. Too everything.
But she tingled nonetheless.
“Okay then. I’m going downstairs to talk with Molly and Gage. Are you coming?”
“Yes. That would be good.”
He followed, the heat of him at her back.
“I’ll listen to your update but only if you have a cup of tea with me and maybe some toast or something. Helena, you look beat.” Molly came into the common room looking moderately relaxed.
“Sit. I’ll get the water on.” Gage gave them both a look that dared them to argue, so Helena nodded her thanks and sat across from Molly.
“Says the woman with two casts.”
“Gage scowls at me until I rest. Aside from re-knitting broken bones, I’m doing all right. I even got eight hours’ sleep for three nights in a row this week. And don’t tell anyone, but I napped twice.”
“Because she was nearly asleep on her feet,” Gage called out from where he set the kettle on the stove.
She winked at Molly, who rolled her eyes, but looked back to Gage with affection all over her features.
“So fill me in.”
“Went to Sato’s place earlier.” Helena tucked her feet beneath herself as she leaned back into the couch cushions. “We’ve got a basic schedule for tomorrow and the day after. You’ve got a series of hearings and meetings. The wolves sent their people over to sniff the rooms and they’ll be in place tomorrow as well.”
Gage looked to Faine, who shrugged. “These have been trained by National. Bomb sniffers, that sort of thing. I trust them.”
Helena barely resisted the urge to snap her fingers. She got it, they were all experts and Faine had worked with Gage more than Gage had worked with her. But.
“In the future, I’d appreciate it if you spent even a minute amount of time pretending you take my word for things. Or do me the respect of being more aboveboard in asking someone else’s opinion. This is either my team or you can run it yourself.”
Gage started as everyone grew very quiet. Then he blushed.
“You’re right. I meant no disrespect, but I can see how it came off that way.”
Molly smoothly intervened. “I think the water is about to boil.”
Faine stood. “I’ll get it. Rain—that’s Helena’s mother—sent a dozen kinds of tea for us.”
“Oh, your mother’s tea is delicious.” Molly’s pleasure was genuine. “She sent some up care of Lark for me while I was healing.”
“She likes to take care of people. I’ll let her know your reaction; it’ll totally make her day. And it’ll give me another reason to call and check in. My dad, well, he’s the hunter. She’s the nurturer. She just hangs on and claps when we win things and tries to get us to hug it out instead of punching each other when we have conflict.”
Gage laughed. “I think our mothers would get along great.”
“When this mess dies down, they want to have a big party for Simon and Lark, you’ll meet them then. Having met your mother a time or two, Gage, I’m sure they’ll hit it off.”
Faine came back with tea and he simply stared at her until she took a sip.
“I had the schedule sent to Rita.” Rita was Molly’s assistant. Molly was a control freak, like they all were to some extent. She liked to know things in advance and any changes to her schedule were to be made with her knowledge or she got pissed. Helena totally understood that and tried to work within those guidelines.
“First thing you’ve got is a meet with Sato, Carroll and Sperry. It’s at nine thirty. Then a closed-door meeting where they want to talk with us about this new FBI task force they’ve created recently.”
Molly snorted. “The one you said you hung up on earlier today?”
Helena blew out a breath. “Yes. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have.”
“No, you totally should have.” Gage sipped his tea. “From what you said, it’s lucky you didn’t tell him off first.”
“I understand. Totally. You’re frustrated. We’re all frustrated, and letting Fenton go was offensive beyond bearing. They need to understand that we’re not going to take this stuff quietly. I’m not mad. It was just by way of reference.” Molly reached over and patted Helena’s arm.
“I don’t even know how you stay so calm.”
“I think your mom puts drugs in the tea.”
Helena barked a laugh. “I wouldn’t put it past her. So anyway, I’ve got clearance for all the members of our team and their guard. Because I’m on Sato, I’ll be able to use some of their back hallways and that sort of thing.”
“I’m worried about Tosh.” Molly’s brow furrowed. “He’s human. He’s got no natural defenses.”
“He’s no slouch, Moll. He was in the navy. He’s a JAG. He knows how to defend himself. I went through his home and his office—back before the bombing, I mean—and gave him a list of improvements I thought he could make, and when I was at his house earlier tonight, he’d made them. All of them. And his personal guard includes a former Ranger and former marine.”
“Well, it’s his own people trying to harm him.” Gage lifted a shoulder.
Helena got it. Tosh liked Molly. Respected her and felt protective of her. A man like Gage would be jealous of that. Sato was spectacularly handsome and charismatic too. That would rankle.
“Look, Tosh is a good man. He’s risking himself not for points or votes, but because this is the right thing to do. And it’s made him a target. I’m happy to be on his team. I met some of Sperry’s team tonight too.” One of them couldn’t tear her eyes away from Faine and an unreasonable desire to jab her pen in the female shifter’s eyes had washed through Helena. “They’re all highly trained. They did listen to me about having bomb-sniffing dogs used before all your public hearings here in Sacramento and also in DC.”
Molly nodded, making notes with her good hand. “When is the next hearing on 877?” House Bill 877 was a far-reaching anti-Other bill that would, among other things, chip all nonhumans with GPS trackers, put them in relocation camps and divest them of property and their jobs. There was a Senate companion bill that wasn’t quite as bad, but still gouged a hole in their civil liberties and essentially made them noncitizens without any basic rights.