Chapter 22

Rose

"You look amazing," Amber says for at least the third time. "I can't wait for Mav to take you somewhere really fancy that you have to get a formal for. That would be really fun."

"If we do, you and Cade will have to go with us; so we can both dress up."

Her eyes light up. "Yes! That would be so fun." She looks so excited, I make a mental note to ask Cade if we can do that soon. "Are you ready?"

I look in the mirror one last time. I have to admit—I look good. I look professional. The heels add a few good inches, and I feel powerful. "Yes. Thank you for all your help."

She hugs me. "Thanks for letting me. See you on the other side."

I head to the meeting room to get mic'd up. Upon entering the conference room, I hear a low whistle, and my face heats. "Wow Healer, you clean up well!" Jacob says. My face burns, and I turn my face away from him and just happen to lock eyes with Maverick. He scowls at me, and I bite my lip. Then I decide I'm not going to let myself respond like that. I lift my chin. I want to be the old me, not the scared of her own shadow me. I walk confidently over to Cade, glad that wearing heels is kind of like riding a bike. It just comes back to me naturally.

"What do I need to do?" I ask him.

"Stu, it's go time."

I spend the next thirty minutes getting hooked up and tested. I feel like an undercover agent. I'm wearing a pair of dark glasses that record picture and audio when I tap a tiny button on the side. I have a tiny earbud in my ear that you can't see when I pull my hair over my ear. That's so I can hear the team talking to me. Finally, they deem me ready to go. "What about the officer?" I ask.

"Mike?" Cade asks. "He'll meet us at the restaurant."

"Couldn't he just be my co-worker or something? Why does he need to be my husband?"

"We put a fake company in your name. It wouldn't be odd for your husband to attend a meeting with you. I think it will be smoother and easier to fake your way through."

I nod. "Okay."

Cade bends over Stu for a moment before standing up. "Okay, let's go."

Amber intercepts me and gives me a hug. "Thank you for doing this. Don't worry; Cade will keep you safe. And Mav," she whispers.

I follow the group of shifters out to the cars. "Healer, you're with me," Mav says as he strides towards one of the vehicles, and I follow him. Cade, Stu, and Eli climb in another car. Van opens the door to the backseat of our car and slides in.

It's a silent ride into the city, and I do my best to keep my nerves at bay. But the closer we get to the city, the more nervous I get. Maverick glances over at me twice but doesn't say anything; I have no doubt he can hear my racing heart. We pull onto a side street and park behind Cade's car, and I climb out of the car and straighten my outfit. Van walks over to the other car and slides in the backseat, and I try not to fidget with my hands. Mav comes over and leans against the car beside me. "If you get worried at any point or fear for your safety, just stand up from the table. I'll get you out." He doesn't look at me as he says the words but rather, looks straight ahead. "For what it's worth, I didn't want you to do this." I bite my lip, unsure what to say.

"Maverick," a man's voice says behind me. I turn and see a tall good-looking guy with a serious expression on his face.

Maverick steps forward and puts out his hand. "Mike."

Mike turns to me. "Rose?"

"Yes."

His face doesn't change. "You ready for this?"

"I'm trying to be."

"Hey, Mike," Cade says, coming over to us. "Thank you for being willing to do this." He hands him a small earpiece, and Mike immediately puts it in his ear.

"Of course." They shake hands. "You have everything set? I'd like to get in there early."

"Let me just get a signal from Stu, and we'll send you in." Cade walks back to the car.

Mike turns to me. "I take my roles seriously; I work undercover a lot. Whatever happens in there, just remember it's all for show. And don't forget, my name is Rick for this."

I swallow and nod, wondering just what exactly I got into here. Before I can ask him to clarify, Cade walks back over. "Rose, try your glasses for me."

"Oh, yeah." I put on the glasses and push the button. I don't have any indication that it's working.

"It works," a voice says in my ear, and I jump.

"Probably better work on that," Mike says as he steps up next to me.

"I know. Sorry."

"Rose, turn around," I hear in my ear. I'm beginning to recognize Stu's voice. "Turn all the way around giving me a 360—Slowly." I slow my movements. "There you go. Perfect. We're just bringing everything into focus. It looks good. Go ahead and speak for a moment."

"Uh, hi this is Rose."

"Perfect," he says in my ear. "Mike?"

"This is Mike."

"Got it. You both are good. Let's get this show on the road," Stu says with an eagerness I'm not sure I match.

"Rose." I turn to see Cade headed my way. "You'll be perfectly safe. Mike's carrying; he won't let anything happen to you. If this all turns sideways, just get out. Okay?" I nod and take a breath. "Are you sure you're up to this?"

I straighten and don my most professional look. "I've got this: I'll be fine. I want to do this. It's personal." I've healed so many shifters from the Orlando pack; it's time to end this.

"I know you can do this."

His confident words give me courage. I turn around and see Maverick and Mike deep in discussion. I walk that way. "Ready, Wife?" Mike asks, still straight-faced.

I don't hesitate. "Yes."

"Let's go then." He offers me his arm, and I put mine through his. I don't look at Maverick as we walk past. "We've got about a block to walk before we'll cross through an alley so we can enter at the front entrance."

"Okay," I say on an exhale.

"Nervous?" he asks.

"Terrified. How about you? Are you nervous?"

"For this? Nah. This is child's play for me, compared to what I'm used to." I glance up at him. "I'm usually undercover trying to get drugs off the streets. My work includes infiltrating a lot of street gangs."

"Oh, wow. How does your wife feel about that?"

He smirks, the first sign of a smile I've seen since I met him. "Is that your way of trying to find out if I'm single?"

"What? Oh, my goodness. No. I just assumed you were married because you're so—"

"Goodlooking?" he chimes in.

"No. Well, I mean not that you're not good-looking because you are but that's not..." I blow out an exasperated breath and shake my head.

"How about we focus and save the flirting for later?" Stu asks in the earpiece.

"I'm not...I wasn't..." I blow out a breath of frustration. I'm terrible at this.

We turn a corner and walk down another sidewalk, and I try to find my equilibrium again. When we get close to the restaurant, Mike slows us down. "You ready to perform?"

"I think so."

"Good because it's about to get real."

With those ominous words, he releases my arm and puts his hand on my back and ushers me through the front door, laughing as he does it as if I just said something funny. His hand stays on my back as we walk over and tell the hostess our name. "Yes, your party is already seated. I'll take you to them."

I tense up, but Mike just smiles. "Thanks."

"Relax," he says softly as we walk through the restaurant.

I am aware that a few heads turn as we walk through the restaurant, and I'm not surprised. Mike makes sort of an impression. We follow the hostess to a back corner and approach a table with three men. My guard instantly shoots up, and I feel my heart rate start to speed up. The three men stand at our approach. They're all wearing business suits. Something about it makes me feel at ease. I've done this before, I remind myself. I've been to countless dinners, trying to woo potential investors. I can do this.

" Rose?" The first man asks.

"That's me." I offer a bright smile as I shake his hand. "And this is my—husband, Rick." Thankfully, there's only the slightest of pauses on my part.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tom," the first guy says. Mike and I shake hands with Tom, Paul, and Ryan and then sit at the table. I studied a brief profile on each of them this afternoon.

"This is a great restaurant. My wife and I just talked about coming here last week, didn't we Love?" Mike asks with a smile.

Something unlocks inside of me, I smile and nod, feeling at ease. "Yes. I'm glad it worked out for us to meet." I turn to the men "Speaking of meeting, Tom, you're the owner, correct?"

"I am," he says, sitting a little taller.

"Thank you so much for being willing to meet in person. I realize this is not the usual protocol, but we've had a few..." I look at Mike, like we're communicating. "Problems with the last company we worked with. And with us being such a large account, we figured it would be good to meet first in person so we could ask questions."

Tom leans forward. "We would love the opportunity to work with you. I think you will find our company is perfectly suited for your needs."

The waiter comes to our table, and our conversation pauses as we order drinks. "You're doing great," Stu's voice says in my ear. "When you get a chance, go ahead and hit the button on your glasses so we can get a visual." I reach up and run a hand through my hair and activate the camera on the glasses at the same time. Then I reach out and take a drink of my water. "Good. It's nice and clear. Slowly pan the group," he says in my ear. "Perfect. I got all the faces."

I take a steady breath and then jump in with the questions I was prepped for this afternoon. "How long has your company been in business?"

"Seven years," Ryan says.

"And how many employees do you have now?"

"We have thirty-three full-time employees." It's Tom that answers that one.

"That's great. It sounds like business is going really well for you. Do you have a lot of smaller businesses you service or mostly larger ones?" I ask. When our meals come, it gets easier to relax and work my way through the questions. Mike helps me out a time or two, but I feel really good about all the information we're getting.

"You're doing great," Stu says in my ear. "You're almost done."

Feeling confident, I take another bite of my food and answer a few questions about our business. I even managed to answer a few questions about how Mike and I met. I only have a few questions left, but they're the really important ones. I'm just getting ready to ask one when Ryan, the guy at the end looks toward the front door. He stares for a moment and then picks up his phone. I watch but continue pretending to listen to Mike as he answers a question about our business. But then Tom picks up his phone and after a moment puts it facedown next to his cup. The look he gives me is much different than how he's been the rest of the evening. The look chills me, and I feel my stomach tighten in response. I don't know what just happened, but I know somehow we've been discovered.