Chapter 12

Angela

Angela stood overlooking the grounds of Camp David from the Aspen cabin. She had hoped the fresh air would stimulate her brain and inspire her to devise a spectacular plan for an impossible task. They'd been there for hours, and she had no idea how to tackle it.

Benji had been reluctant to stay with his grandparents. Angela wrestled with the decision, torn between her desire to keep him close and her need to ensure his safety, a need that seemed increasingly difficult to fulfill. Anything could happen anywhere, and she despised that.

She glanced over her shoulder when she felt someone walk into the room. Mariah joined her at the big window.

"It's really beautiful here," Mariah said.

Angela smiled. "Mmm, yes, it is. This is only my second time coming here."

"Really?"

Angela clicked her tongue. "There never seems to be time to do anything but work."

"A lot of the other presidents have done business up here."

"Sometimes I wonder how they did it?"

Mariah turned her focus to Angela. "Did what?"

Angela turned away and stepped down into the living room. "This job. How can one person be expected to do all of this all the time?"

Doyle walked into the room and sat on a couch. Angela sat on the opposite end of the same couch.

"Have you seen how this job aged the other guys? I mean, it's obvious how hard this job is." He tilted his head and gazed on top of Angela's head. "It looks like you have a few more white hairs than you did last time I saw you, Doll."

Angela was already tired of Doyle. He was a flirt, had no concept of personal space, and asked inappropriate questions. Her biggest annoyance was he wasn't Blake. She missed him more than she wanted to admit. Penny had tried calling him back before they left, but the call went straight to voicemail.

"Do you ever think before you speak?" Mariah asked Doyle.

He shrugged and sneered a little. "I find it best to be honest at all times. It saves me from having to remember lies."

Mariah sat in a side chair. "There's a difference between being honest and being an ass."

Doyle gave her a half smile. "Is there a difference? Most people don't want to hear the truth. Tell the truth, you're an ass. Don't tell the truth, you're an ass. Can't win for losing."

Robert came into the room and handed Mariah and Angela a cocktail glass.

Angela smiled at him, took a drink, and enjoyed the amber liquid burn of a good whiskey. "Tennessee whiskey?"

Robert nodded and sat on the arm of Mariah's chair. "Of course."

Mariah smiled at her husband. "You are incredible." She took a drink and asked Angela, "Are you sure you don't want us to stay in one of the smaller cabins? I've always enjoyed Red Oak."

Angela shook her head. "No, I'd like all of us to be together."

"I'm pretty sure that goes against protocol," Mariah said.

Angela rolled her eyes. "Alistair was the only one who believed in following protocol. That man lived and breathed protocol."

Mariah set her glass on a side table. "At the expense of being rude, I wanted to tell you that letting him go was a great decision."

Angela set her glass down, crossed one leg over the other, and ran a finger down her nose. The headache that started the day before hadn't improved since they arrived. "I hope so. I'm sure he's knee-deep in Senator Chadwick's election plans."

"Senator Chadwick?" Robert asked. "I didn't know he was running."

"He hasn't officially announced it yet, but Alistair made sure I knew before he left." Angela snapped her fingers. "I'm not sure I got his resignation yet."

"You can't officially place Penny without it," Mariah said.

"Speaking of Penny, do you think she was a good choice?" Angela said.

"To replace Alistair?" Mariah said.

Angela nodded.

"Well, it's a bold choice. There hasn't been a woman in that position before, and she's young, like very young," Mariah said.

"It was Blake's suggestion." Angela regretted admitting that the moment she said it.

"Blake?" Mariah's tone was terse.

She thought of a way to smooth over Mariah's concerns, but did it matter if Mariah was unhappy that she talked to Blake? Mariah wasn't the president. She chose to ignore the tone.

"Penny is more than qualified and has connections all over Washington. So far, I've been thrilled with my choice."

"She hasn't had the job for twenty-four hours yet. How do you know she can do the job?"

Angela did not appreciate Mariah's questioning. "I'm trusting my gut on this one. It was a good choice."

"Will Penny be joining us?" Mariah asked.

"She will be up here tomorrow. I needed her to oversee my routine change and redirect public scrutiny."

Mariah laughed. "There will always be scrutiny." She picked up her whiskey glass and held it in the air. "Here's to breaking the glass ceiling."

Angela lifted her glass. "I will always support that."

"I'm all for more women being in charge," Doyle said. "I remember being with a set of tree nymph twins once, and I had no problem with them taking control."

Angela scoffed. "I can't believe Tristan thought you would be a good replacement for Blake."

"So, I'm replacing your main squeeze, am I?" Doyle said.

"I'm not even justifying that with a response," Angela said.

"What can't you believe I did?" Tristan walked into the room.

Doyle said, "You asked me to guard the President in your brother's absence."

Tristan closed his eyes and dropped his head back. "Did I make a mistake?"

"Nah. I'm the best there is, and you know it," Doyle said.

Tristan sat on a barstool at the bar. "I just got off the phone with Ambassador Baptiste."

Angela said, "Oh, she hasn't left yet?"

"Well," Tristan said, "she was on her way, but her sister is missing."

Angela uncrossed her leg. "Oh, no. Please tell me there's no connection."

"I'm not sure. According to Giselle, her sister is a bit of a free spirit. She's pretty sure Jada is at a music festival or camping," Tristan said.

"Does she need any help searching for her?" Angela asked.

"Well," Tristan paused. "I thought about returning for a few days to see what I can do."

"You would leave here? Leave us?" Angela's anxiety skyrocketed.

Tristan nodded to Doyle. "Doyle's here, and I handpicked every guard that's here right now. Giselle tracked her sister to Arkansas, and then nothing. It's like she disappeared."

"Arkansas?" Angela asked.

What is happening in that dang state?

Tristan continued. "Senator Van Houten is waiting for me back in DC, and she offered to help however she could."

Angela stood, set down her glass, and walked over to the window. Three deer grazed at the far end of the lawn. One lifted her head. Angela could have sworn the deer met and held Angela's gaze. Were deer shifters a thing?

She turned her back to the window and asked no one in particular, "Do you trust Beatrice Van Houten?"

"What do you mean?" Mariah said.

Angela walked to the bar and stood next to Tristan. "Do you trust her?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Mariah said. "She's a Republican. We're Democrats. How much do the two parties trust each other?"

"It's not just a normal party-against-party thing. There's just something about her that seems off."

Mariah walked over and put her arm over Angela's shoulders, quickly hugging her. "You've been through a lot. Is it possible that you are leery about everyone?" She returned to the chair, squeezed Robert's knee, and let her hand rest there.

A slight pang tugged on Angela's heart. Was Blake walking into a bigger mess than they realized?

"I suppose," she said.

"You know," Doyle started. "I once met a set of twin horse shifters in Arkansas. They were beauties. I wanted to?—"

"Shut up," everyone said in unison.

He got off the couch and walked to a fireplace, holding his hands toward the fire. "What? I've traveled a lot."

Tristan turned to Angela. "He is the best choice for your bodyguard, but I'm sorry I can't get him to shut up. I could try to find someone to cast a spell if you get tired of listening to his stories."

Angela shook her head and sighed. "It's okay." She pointed to Doyle. "Can you be decent if we go out or anyone but us comes here to visit?"

Doyle used a finger to cross his heart. "I know how to behave."

Angela turned back to Tristan. "Do you trust Beatrice?"

"She hasn't given me any reason not to trust her, but I'll see if I sense anything. I'm worried about Giselle, though, or I wouldn't think about going back."

Angela sat on a stool. "What's going on between you and the Ambassador?" She needed something to distract her, and with Tristan's eyes growing bigger each time he mentioned her name, she knew there was a story there.

He straightened his back, and he grew serious. There was definitely a story there. She liked making him feel uncomfortable for once. It would pay him back for the time he walked in on her and Blake at the family homestead.

"Giselle and I have worked together before. She is a hard worker and the absolute right person for the ambassadorship."

"Relax, Tristan. You don't have to convince me. I chose her for the job because I believed she could do the job."

He cleared his throat, mumbled something she didn't understand, and set his phone on the bar. She needed to file this discovery in her brain for later.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a screensaver flashing across Tristan's phone. It was the time and the date. November twentieth. She let her hand fall to the bar. "Oh, my goodness."

"What's wrong?" Mariah asked.

"It's almost Christmas, and I haven't started shopping. I didn't even notice if the White House had decorations."

"Don't worry about that," Robert said. "It's not even Thanksgiving yet. You have plenty of time to shop, and a plan is in place for the Christmas decorating."

She covered her face with her hand and then looked at everyone. "I have to pardon that stupid turkey. Whoever came up with that tradition should be shot and served on a platter."

"That's a relatively new tradition, Angela," Mariah said. "You don't have to do it."

Angela let out a sarcastic laugh. "Right, because my rating is already so high. I'm sure I wouldn't lose any points if I broke with tradition this year."

Tristan said, "Thanksgiving is a week away. I will be back here in a couple of days, and we'll go back, take care of the turkey, and come back here if we want."

"Penny could probably take care of it, and we could do it here," Mariah said.

Angela got off the stool and walked over to the fireplace, warming her back against the fire. "I'll figure that out later. There's something more important that we need to talk about." I took in a big breath, held it, and in one big push, said, "I want to introduce legislation that will protect supernaturals and make it a hate crime to hurt them needlessly."

Mariah and Robert looked at each other. Tristan's face blanked.

Doyle said, "Hell yeah."

Angela was determined, so she continued. "If all the human world knows supernaturals exist, they may be safer."

"Do you think humans will ever feel safe around monsters?" Mariah asked.

Angela returned to the couch, finishing her drink as she sat. "See, that's just it. They aren't monsters. You know that, and I know that, but the world doesn't. It's logical that they would fear what they don't know."

After a minute, which seemed to stretch into an hour, Angela asked everyone, "What do you think?"

Mariah stood up from the chair. "I think you're crazy."

Angela looked at Tristan. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Some humans know we exist, but it's easier to protect humans if they don't."

"How so?" Angela asked.

"It's easier to fight a war on one front, not two. If we have to fight humans and protect them, it would just be too much," Tristan said.

Angela clenched her hands. "Violence against supernaturals already exists. So how is that working for you?"

"It will get much worse."

"If we get legislation passed, there would be penalties. It might make some think twice."

Tristan shook his head. "Where are you going to find a representative to sponsor the bill?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought that far."

Mariah said, "Angela, I have stood behind you since the beginning. We never expected to get as far as we did. But here we are—the first two women to ever hold these positions. Have you decided if you're going to run again?"

"No."

"If you don't, I'm going to." Mariah glanced at Robert, and he nodded. "We've talked about it, and it's the right thing to do. If I back you in this, I may just as well kiss away my political career."

It took Angela a few heartbeats to gather her thoughts and form an answer. She knew Mariah was right. This was the kind of idea that ruined political careers. If she decided to run again, it might make more sense to wait until she was elected. But this was also the right thing to do. She was never more convinced of that than she was at that moment.

She walked over to Mariah and took the woman's hands. "If I don't choose to run, I will be the first one to vote for you. I will campaign for you more than anyone else. But this is the right thing to do. I feel like this is one of those line-in-the-sand moments."

Doyle took a step closer to the two women. "If my opinion means anything, I think it's the right thing to do, and you should also run for re-election."

Angela rolled her eyes. "I might regret asking you, but why do you think that." Before he could answer, she held up her hand and stopped him. "If your answer starts with ‘I once knew a set of twins,' I don't want to hear it."

Doyle scoffed. "I don't search out twins. They find me." He held up his hand to stop Angela from interrupting him. "I don't follow human politics because they bore me. But I remember your first set of debates. It was the first time I was interested. And it had nothing to do with how hot you looked in that red power suit."

Tristan said, "Stop being disgusting. It's getting too hard to defend you, Doyle."

Doyle held out his hands to the side and shrugged. "What? You know I'm right." He stopped Angela with his hand again. "I did listen to what you said. I also noticed that you never once raised your voice. Your opponent got so flustered he kept repeating himself. You weren't nasty at all. I think your idea is good, and you should figure out how to do it." He paused, glanced at the ceiling, and then back to Angela. "Would that mean we'd have to pay taxes?"

"Is that what bothers you?" Angela asked.

"If you want to run for re-election, are you prepared to do the work to get the bill passed and the work to get re-elected?" Mariah asked.

Angela walked back to the window. The deer weren't as visible in the setting sun, but she could still see their shapes. The same deer stared back at her.

After telling Blake the stories about her grandmother, he convinced her she was probably a kitchen witch. Did her grandmother know what she was? Everyone in the family just called her "connected" or, worse, "special." If she were still alive and something horrible happened to her and Angela didn't try to stop it, she'd never forgive herself.

She turned back to the room. "I'm going for a walk. I need to think."

"Okay," Doyle said.

Angela shook her head as she put on a jacket. "Oh no, you're not."

Doyle said, "I wasn't asking for permission. Where you go, I go. That's what I'm being paid for."

Angela sent Tristan a pleading look. "Can't you come with me?"

Tristan said, "I could. But Doyle is your guard."

Angela scrunched her face like she smelled the world's most rotten egg. "But he's, he's-" she threw up her hands, "-well, I don't know what he is."

"Wow, I feel the love," Doyle said, walking toward the door. He opened it and bowed at the waist. "After you, Madam President."

Angela huffed like a toddler, picked up her coat from the bar, and walked through the door. They walked in silence for almost five minutes.

"I'm getting the sense that you don't like me," Doyle said.

"Gee, you think? I have no idea what gave you that idea."

Doyle didn't respond and kept walking. He soon started whistling.

Angela stormed past him, speed-walking. The faster she walked, the quicker he walked. She started panting, and her chest tightened. When stars appeared in her vision, she couldn't go anymore.This was stupid. She could run miles without any trouble.

"I need to stop." She stopped, used a tree to keep from passing out, and bent over. Everything in her stomach made a quick exit.

When she finished, Doyle took her arm and helped her walk to a big rock.

She pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes to force the tears to stop, but they spilled down her cheeks.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I should be better at this," she said.

He sat next to her. "Better at what? Dealing with a shit ton of stress?"

When she couldn't form a response, she just nodded her head.

"Well, right now, you're having a panic attack. You reek of adrenaline."

Angela lifted her arm and smelled her armpit, embarrassed that she had an odor.

"It's not that kind of smell." He got off the rock and stood in front of her. "Look, don't get mad over what I'm about to say. There's a reason men are the only ones who have been the president."

She jumped up and rabbit-punched him in the nose. Angela prepared to do it again. It actually helped her feel better.

Doyle stumbled back, holding his nose. "What the hell? I told you not to get mad." He held out his hand to stop her. "Give me a chance to explain what I mean."

She stepped back and shook out her hand. "That hurt."

"Yes, it did."

She balled her hand and pulled it back. "You better explain quickly, or I'll hit you again."

"My guess is women haven't tried for this job because they are so busy doing everything else. Women, especially mothers, have more responsibilities than men, a lot more. I'm not sure I've met any man who can take on as much as mothers. Women are just built better."

She relaxed her shoulders, stepped back, and sat on the rock again. Her hand was throbbing. She opened it and closed it a couple of times.

"You've had to deal with a lot of shit in a short time. Give yourself some credit for not losing your mind." He sat next to her. "You know I met your husband once."

Angela was shocked. "Really? You met Ollie?"

"Yeah. He was young and with the Peace Corps, I think."

"Did he know what you were?"

Doyle shook his head. "No."

"That's how we met, you know? We were both in the Peace Corps." She leaned her head back and focused on the stars. Without realizing it, she said, "I still miss him." Her hand flew to her mouth as if to prevent any more words like that from coming out.

"I've never had a mate, so I don't know what to say. I don't know Blake well, but he seems like a decent dragon. I know he loves you."

Angela lowered her hand. "So, he tells me. I'm not sure I understand what that means. I'm not sure I understand how a dragon can mate with a human."

"When a shifter mates, it's such an intense emotion that it controls their every waking thought. Everything they do is centered on making their mate's life better."

"That's what scares me. He wants to do everything, but I don't know if I can do that for him in return."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not sure there's room for him and my other commitments."

"Has anyone ever asked you what it is that you want?" Doyle pointed to the sky.

Angela watched a star fall. "That's supposed to be good luck. You should make a wish."

"I don't need to wish for luck. I make my luck."

"That must be nice. I'm not sure I believe in luck anymore."

Doyle stood up and faced her. "Do you have any idea the impact you've had on this world? You are the fucking first woman president. I have no doubt that little girls all over are pretending to be you."

Angela didn't know what to say to that.

"You didn't answer my question. Has anyone ever asked you what you want?"

Angela whispered, "Blake has been the only one to ask me that."

"That should speak louder than words ever could."

Angela got off the rock, walked a few steps away, and then came back. "Do you think we should tell humans about supernaturals?"

"It doesn't matter what I think. You're the one making the laws. What do you think?"

"I think it makes sense. The time is right."

"Then that's your answer."

Angela turned toward the cabin, walking back.

"Would you wait for me?" Doyle said.

She turned her head over her shoulder. "Oh, and I've made a decision."

Doyle had no trouble catching up to her and following in step. "And what decision is that?"

She stopped. "Not only am I running for re-election, but I'm winning a second term." She paused. "Maybe."

"I have no doubt you will."

As they got to the cabin, Angela said to herself, "I'm glad one of us doesn't have any doubts."