Wanda

It was good to see the Belarusians again. We’d first run into them when Angie was protecting her mate from the Russians. The bears had shown up next to Suzie’s bakery, allegedly opening up a restaurant. We’d all been suspicious until we’d learned that they were anti-Russia and also contractors for the American CIA.

Once they’d help kill the mercenaries sent to grab Suzie, they’d become fast friends with Suzie and Angie, and by extension, the rest of us. They still did some jobs for the CIA and every once in a while, contracted with us as well. All of the women at Sapphic Security loved the bears. They were always down to be a date at a wedding or help you move something heavy.

I gave the guys a tour of the property, Tasha trailing behind us. I’d spent enough time with her now that I could pick her scent out of a crowd, which means I pretty much always knew where she was.

The bears and Tasha were fast friends even though, like me, they had no idea who she was. It was all I could do not to crack up as Tasha struggled to explain why she was famous.

“We don’t know too many American music people,” Alexei explained. “Only Elvis.”

“Elvis is dead,” Tasha reminded him.

“Or so they say,” was the cryptic answer.

Tasha and I shared a look. They were former CIA, I guess they’d know better than us.

“Oh, we also know Michael Jackson,” Yuri said.

“Also dead.”

I assumed that was true since there was no other commentary on that one.

“Ooh, and Taylor Swift,” Boris added.

“She’s still alive,” Tasha confirmed. “I was at a party with her a few months ago.”

Boris stopped dead in his tracks, his round face visibly excited. “You know Taylor?” he asked.

“Yes,” Tasha said. “Not particularly well, but enough that we’d say hi if we ran into each other at a restaurant or something.”

Boris was vibrating with excitement now. “Does she have a mate?”

Tasha frowned. “You mean, like a boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“I think she’s dating a football player now,” Tasha told him. “But they’re not married or anything, at least as far as I know.

Yuri looked sad as his gaze swung towards his brother. “We will never find our mates and now Taylor is unavailable.”

I patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, buddy, you’ve got everyone at Sapphic Security on the lookout for mates for you guys. If they’re out there, we’ll find them.”

Boris pulled me into a side hug. “You are all very nice, even if, how do you say it? You don’t play a team.”

“Play for your team,” I corrected. “Some of my coworkers are bisexual, but I think they are all spoken for.”

“Ah too bad.”

It really was too bad the bears were all single. They would make some female very happy someday. Or maybe a male.

After giving the guys the lay of the land, we headed inside to strategize. It took every ounce of willpower I had to keep myself from daydreaming about what had happened in the dining room earlier. Seeing Tasha spread out on the table, her sweet pussy dripping with arousal just for me, it had practically undone me. I was shocked that I’d had the strength to stop when I did.

But I was here to do a job, I reminded myself. I needed to focus on catching Tasha’s stalker.

I opened my laptop and hooked it to a mini projector so I could share my screen with the guys. One by one I went through the employees in Tasha’s inner circle, including Chloe, her driver Nate, her chef Monica, and the guys who typically were on her outside security detail. After that we reviewed people who were adjacent to Tasha but without as much access, including her stylist, publicist, and personal trainer.

“None of these jump out at me,” I told them. “I’m hoping one of you sees something that I’m missing.”

“I have no idea these music people have so much staff,” Yuri said, his English not quite perfect.

“Well, I guess Tasha is one of the biggest musicians in the world. I imagine the others have fewer staff.”

“You guess?” Tasha’s teasing voice came from behind me, and I cursed myself for being too distracted to sense her approach. I was really off my game today.

As Tasha walked by to sit in an open seat, she brushed her hand against my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was accidental or if she was trying to tease me the way I’d teased her, but either way, it made a little zing shoot through my body.

“Are you guys about done? I’m starving!” Tasha said melodramatically as she flopped herself into a chair. “Someone interrupted my lunch.”

She gave me a significant look and the Belarusians swung their eyes between us, no doubt trying to figure out the undertones.

“Do you like tacos?” Yuri asked.

Tasha laughed. “Of course, but we’re in the middle of nowhere. We’d have to drive at least forty-five minutes to find tacos.”

“Do not worry, tiny little human, we have brought the ingredients to make a taco bar,” Yuri told her, looking pleased with himself. “We have also brought many honey cupcakes from Suzie’s bakery.”

At Tasha’s blank look Yuri added, “Suzi is our friend. She has a bakery down the street from our restaurant and she is mate with Angie.”

Tasha looked at me. “The same Angie that was at my house yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

“Suzie is a vampire?” Tasha asked.

“No,” I said shortly. Thinking about people who were with their fated mate was making me cranky right now.

“She’s a shifter then?”

I sighed. “No, she’s a human.”

Tasha looked thoughtful but didn’t say anything else, making me wonder what was going on in that beautiful head of hers. I hoped it was something about her realizing that humans could be mates with vamps.

I had some other work to do, so I settled in front of my laptop while Tasha and the bears made dinner. The four of them were talking and laughing in the kitchen like old friends, and I couldn’t help but smile at how well they were getting along. Tasha could be a bit standoffish, but the bears tended to befriend everyone they came in contact with. Other than the ones they killed, that was.

At some point my mate put on some of the rock music she liked, and I could hear her and the bears singing along to some screeching musician. With a sigh, I took my laptop to my bedroom where it was quieter. It was hard enough to focus already.

An hour later Tasha knocked on my door.

“Dinner is ready,” she said, sticking her head in the door without waiting for me to tell her to come in. Then again, it was her house.

“Great, thanks.”

“Also, I warmed up some blood for you to have as an appetizer.”

I looked up in surprise. After being around each other so much the last few weeks we’d become familiar with each other’s routines. Technically I only needed one dose of blood a day to stay healthy, but I felt stronger if I had two. I usually had one in the morning with my coffee, and one with dinner.

I was touched that Tasha had gone to the trouble of preparing my blood, especially because most humans and even most shifters got grossed out by it.

“Thank you,” I said.

She gave me an impish grin as she handed me the cup. “I added a stalk of celery and a lemon wedge, like a proper Bloody Mary.”

I couldn’t help but smile back. “Sounds delicious.”

When I got to the dining room, I discovered that the bears and Tasha had indeed created a taco bar. The island that separated the kitchen from the dining room was loaded down with bowls holding every taco fixing imaginable. Every square inch of the marble surface was covered with hard and soft shell tortillas, ground beef, pork, chicken, salsa, guacamole, black beans, rice, and every kind of vegetable imaginable.

We each made our own combination, then sat at the table to eat, chatting easily as we devoured our food. Everything was delicious and I ate more than I had in a long time.

“What happens next?” Tasha asked after dinner, looking around at the detritus of dinner.

Between the five of us we’d eaten every scrap of the food they’d prepared for dinner. Other than a stray shred of cheese in one bowl, the bears had practically licked everything clean. Not that Tasha and I hadn’t had our share.

“Next we will play cards and relax,” Boris said with surprising firmness. “Is not good to worry all the time, or only to work. Tonight, we will have fun. Tomorrow, we will work.”