5. Teresa

Teresa

“ I t was beautiful wedding, no?”

I looked up as my friend Boris sat next to me, his Belarusian accent still strong even after several years living in the United States. Boris was a huge, hulking man, probably because he was also a bear. He and his two bear shifter brothers ran a restaurant here in Seattle, but they also freelanced in private security. We’d worked together on several cases now and had also become good friends.

Today was Martha and Emily’s wedding and everyone from Sapphic Security was here, as well as Boris and his brothers. In front of us the newlyweds were dancing to a slow song, surrounded by other couples. They stared into each other’s eyes, looking deliriously happy.

“Yeah, it was a nice wedding.”

I sounded glum, and Boris picked up on it right away. When you spent countless hours on a stakeout with someone, you got to know them pretty well.

“What is this sadness?”

I sighed. “Nothing, I guess I’m just feeling like…”

“Like all of our friends have found our mates but we have not?” Boris filled in the blank.

“Exactly. And none of them even started off wanting mates.”

“I understand, my brothers and I feel the same. We thought when we move to U.S. of A. we find perfect women for us, but so far no luck.” He wrapped one beefy arm around my shoulder, nearly knocking me off my chair. “Is too bad you are liesbijanka .”

I rested my head on his shoulder. “Believe me Boris, if I liked dick I’d snatch you up so fast, fated mate or not.”

We watched the dancers in silence for a few moments until a waiter wandered by. I waved him down and grabbed two glasses of the signature cocktail. I wasn’t sure what was in it, but it was going down easily enough that I had a little bit of a buzz going despite my supernatural metabolism.

I held up my glass and tapped it against Boris’s. “To finding our mates.”

“To finding our mates,” he repeated.

“Taylor!”

I jumped as I heard my boss Lois practically yell out my name behind me. She clomped around to face me, clearly uncomfortable in the silky suit her mate had likely forced her to wear. Lois’s typical uniform was camouflage cargo pants, a tank top, and combat boots, no matter what the season. When Martha announced in our staff meeting that she and Emily were getting married, the first thing Lois had said was, “I suppose I need to dress up for this thing?”

“Hey Lois, are you enjoying the wedding?”

It was hard to tell. My boss wore a scowl as her default expression, except when she was talking to her mate Monique. Then her face softened and sometimes she almost looked like she was trying to smile, although her facial muscles didn’t seem to move in that direction.

“I was enjoying dancing with my mate until I got a call from headquarters sending us a new client. Good news. You’re needed on a personal protection case.”

I smothered a sigh. Ninety-nine percent of the time personal protection mean standing around while rich assholes did things they thought were important. Some of our clients had been more entertaining, mega superstar singer Tasha Blue came to mind there, but that was definitely the exception to the rule.

“I’ll need to see you in the office tomorrow at ten hundred hours,” Lois continued. “They’re emailing over some information for us.”

“Is the client in Seattle?” I asked, hoping that I wasn’t going to be dispatched to a job in New York City where our headquarters was. I hated huge cities, that’s why Seattle suited me just fine.

“Affirmative.”

“Then why did the call come through headquarters?” I asked.

Sapphic Security was one of the top security companies in the world. The company was founded by an ex-military shifter couple who were tired of dealing with prejudice against women in security work, particularly lesbians. You didn’t need to be queer or a supe to work at the company, but most of us were. I joined Sapphic Security after I was honorably discharged from the military. Like most vampires, I worked in the Seattle office. The rainy weather we had most of the year here suited me.

“The client’s lawyer knows someone at the NYC office,” Lois explained. “They didn’t even know we had a Seattle location.”

Lois’s face softened as her mate called to her. “Lois honey, enough work.”

My boss sent her mate a look filled with so much love it made my heart pinch.

“I’m coming sweetie.” Her voice hardened to its normal gruff tone as she turned back to me. “Ten hundred hours. Don’t be late, I hate working on weekends.”

I resisted telling her that I wasn’t a fan of it either. I didn’t stay at the wedding much longer. If I was taking a client on a Sunday, I figured I should be well rested. I’d been in this business long enough to know it was best to be prepared for anything.

When I got into the office the next morning it was eerily quiet. Normally we kept a skeleton crew going on the weekend, but with most of the team attending the wedding, there were only two people in the office when I came in, and they both appeared to be hung over.

I knocked on my boss’s office door, unsurprised to find her back in her usual attire. Judging by the shadows under her eyes, she and Monique must have stayed at the wedding much later than I had.

“Good morning, boss,” I greeted her. “I brought you a cappuccino.”

Lois’s eyes widened and her lips quirked as if they were trying their best to smile. Her love of coffee was legendary, and I figured I might as well take this opportunity to suck up a little.

“Thanks,” she said gruffly, closing her eyes briefly as she swallowed down some of her cappuccino.

I sat across from her, crossing one leg over the other as I sipped my own coffee. There was no sense trying to rush Lois. She’d tell me what was going on when she was good and ready.

“So this new client they sent us from HQ is kind of a big deal here in Seattle,” she started.

“Aren’t all of our clients a big deal?” I interrupted. We provided security service for rock stars, politicians, CEOs, movie stars, and their loved ones.

“Have you heard of Flora Meyer?” Lois asked.

I shook my head. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“She’s the new CEO of Meyer Beauty, and our new client.”

At my blank look she explained, “Meyer Beauty is one of the world’s largest and most successful beauty companies. They’ve been around for over a hundred years. After almost going out of business during the Great Recession in two thousand eight, they reinvented themselves with all natural products. They were one of the first major beauty companies to denounce animal testing and unnecessary chemicals. Or at least that’s what my mate told me.”

While Lois was super butch, her mate Monique was the opposite. She always looked feminine and perfectly put together, wearing the latest fashion. I wasn’t surprised that Monique was up on the latest beauty news.

Monique was kind of a silent partner here. She didn’t work in the security business, but she’d invested a good amount of her family’s money to create a branch of the company here in Seattle, likely because she was from this city and she wanted her mate to have a job here. Lois had been working at the New York office when they first met.

“So why does Make-Up Lady need a bodyguard?” I asked.

“Her parents died about a year ago in a car crash under what a lot of people think are very suspicious circumstances,” Lois explained. “Flora was their only daughter and sole heir to the company. Her parents were fanatical about her safety after an attempted kidnapping when she was a toddler, but unfortunately they weren’t as careful about their own security. Or someone slipped past their protection. Either way, the cops claim it was just an accident. Those lazy fuckers didn’t want to have to get off their asses and properly investigate, I’m sure.”

My boss was not a big fan of the cops. Honestly none of us were. We had too many clients who were put in danger because of disinterested law enforcement. Of course the cops didn’t like the work we did either.

“If she has security, why does she need us?”

“Her attorney thinks whoever came for the parents will be after her next and with good reason,” Lois explained. “She’s gotten some threats, and the other day someone cut her brake lines. I’m guessing her security team is not exactly stellar.”

“What’s the motive to kill her?” I asked.

“Probably the usual. Money. Someone wants control of the company and its assets,” Lois said. “There’s an entire cast of characters who stand to make a claim if Flora Meyer bites it.”

My boss was nothing if not sensitive.

“Who’s coming with me?” I asked.

“We don’t want to alert current security that we’ve got another set of eyes on her, just in case they’re involved,” Lois said. “You’re going in alone. You can be her new personal trainer.”

“How am I supposed to protect her at work if I’m a trainer?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to be her assistant or something?”

Lois shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Whatever you do, don’t pretend to be her girlfriend.”

“Why? Is she straight?”

“I have no idea. All I know is every time one of you idiots pretends to date a client you wind up falling in love with them. Let’s try to keep this one professional, okay Taylor? I’m running a security company here, not a goddamned matchmaking service.”