Chapter 8

Blake

Blake stood on Angela's balcony, watching the city wake up. He was leaving later in the morning, but every fiber in his body told him not to. It was a nagging sensation he couldn't shake off. Something would happen to Angela, and he wouldn't be there to take care of her. He also knew she was right. With him around, she would never be able to do her job.

She spent hours the night before sharing her plans for creating laws that would protect supernaturals. He had always believed that supernaturals didn't need humans to protect them. They were supposed to be superior to humans. And now, for the first time, he doubted that belief. His stomach clenched when he thought of the hunters' smug smiles as they stood over the dead shifters.

Lincoln later told him they knew who the hunters were, but they were so protected and hidden from the public that they would never get to them. It was impossible to persecute them without admitting supernaturals existed. Maybe Angela was right, and it was time to exist with humans openly.

He closed his eyes and inhaled her scent when she came up behind him and slipped her arms around him.

"Why aren't you asleep," he asked her.

"I could ask you the same thing." She held him tighter. "How long have you been awake?"

He put his hands over hers. "I'm not sure I ever went to sleep."

"I have another hour before I need to get ready for work. I thought about going for a run, but I could stay here with you."

He moved her hands off him and turned around to face her. "I don't want to keep you from something you love."

"I love you more than running."

"Say it again." He hugged her close to him.

"Say what?"

"Tell me you love me."

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

"I will never get tired of hearing that."

Angela turned her head up to see him. "Sometimes I forget you're a dragon."

"What do you mean?"

"You are too sentimental, too much of a softy to be a dragon."

"Don't let my big heart fool you. I will fight a thousand armies to keep you safe."

She leaned her head back and laughed. "Let's hope it's not that many."

He pulled her close to him. "Are you sure you don't want to go for a run?"

Angela pinched his butt. "I can think of another exercise that is more fun."

He didn't bother asking her again or arguing. He bent down and scooped up her legs, carried her inside, and placed her on the bed. He settled in next to her and ran and hand up the slit in her nightgown. He cupped her mound and was surprised at how hot and ready she already was.

It was a gift to have a woman always ready for him and giving herself freely. He had been with so many women since Lorelei died that he couldn't remember all of them. Angela was nothing like those women.

He made tiny circles around her clit, enjoying the need he saw in her eyes. "You like this, don't you?"

She nodded.

"Tell me what you like."

"I like you touching me. I like your finger on my clit, teasing me."

"Why, Madam President. I never knew you could say words like that."

"Do you mean words like clit?"

"By the love of the Goddess, hearing you say that is so fucking hot."

"What if I said pussy or cock?"

His heart beat loud in his ears, and his cock was hard and ready. "Woman, you are driving me mad."

He rubbed faster and watched in delight as she arched her back. A wave of pleasure washed over her, and her hips bucked against his hand. He didn't stop, though. He pushed two fingers deep inside her, extending the orgasm two more times.

"If you liked those other things I said, how would you like it if I said-" Angela smiled. "- fuck me, Blake. Fuck me now."

It took two seconds to strip out of his pajamas and bury his shaft inside her wet pussy. She moaned and pressed her hands into his back.

"Oh, yes. Fuck me, Blake."

He grunted as he went deeper and faster. Her walls clenched around him, and she gasped.

"Oh, yes, yes."

His body tensed, and he reached his climax sooner than he wanted to, but she was just too damn hot. It couldn't have been helped.

He lowered his body to rest on her while he caught his breath. "How am I going to leave you? Leave this?"

Angela held him tight. "You aren't leaving me for good. We both know this is the right thing to do. We can do more good apart than together right now." She took his face into her hands. "You have to promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"Be safe and come home to me."

"You are my mate. Wherever you are, will be home to me, and I will always find you."

A single tear slid down her cheek. He slid to the side and wiped it away. "Hey, you don't need to worry about me. I'll be okay. You promised to take care of yourself. Be safe, and if anything doesn't feel right, don't do it."

"I promise."

"Angela, I'm dead serious about this. You are my mate, and I do not want to live in this world without you." He lowered his head to nuzzle her neck and pulled her close. They stayed in each other's arms until the alarm went off.

"I don't want to get up," she said. "Maybe hit snooze once or twice."

He inhaled deeply, committing her scent to memory. "We need to get up. If I remember correctly, all of this was your idea."

"But maybe no one will notice we're missing."

He kissed her nose. "I love you, Angela Bishop."

"I love you, Blake Sullivan."

"Are you ready?" Blake asked Nikki.

She nodded and then turned her head to the side.

"What's wrong?"

"It was harder to say goodbye to the kid than I thought it would be."

"He's a good kid, comes from a good family."

Lincoln joined them. "Getting to the Little Rock Air Force Base will take over fifteen hours. We'll meet the rest of my team in the morning for any updates, and then we'll take you to the spot where the spell seems to be the least potent."

Lincoln pressed a button on a key fob, and a jacked-up Toyota Forerunner beeped. "We can take turns driving. I don't mind driving most of the way, though. I'm just not sure I want to drive the entire way."

"Why aren't we flying?" Blake asked.

Lincoln chuckled. "I just got this, and it's not broken in yet. If you wanted to shift and fly us there, you could."

This is going to be a long ride.

Blake rolled his eyes. Wolves had a unique brand of humor.

"Shotgun," Nikki called, reaching for the door handle.

"Shotgun. Are you twelve? I should ride shotgun as your superior."

Nikki smirked. "Then you should have called it."

"Fine, whatever." Blake opened the driver's side backdoor. He balled up his jacket and rested against the window. "Wake me if anything comes up."

"Will do," Lincoln said.

"When do we stop for food?" Nikki asked.

Blake had forgotten breakfast but hadn't been hungry until Nikki mentioned food. Now, he was crabby, tired, and hungry. This was going to be a long trip.

When Blake opened his eyes, the sun hung low in the sky and shone directly into them. He stretched and scrubbed a hand over his face. He glanced around him. It took a heartbeat to register where he was. It was a half-full parking lot. The diner in front of him had a broken neon sign: Dixie's Diner. The letter D was the only part of the sign with any light. Lincoln and Nikki must have gone inside and not bothered to wake him.

Fuckers.

A bell chimed when he pushed open the diner door. Lincoln and Nikki were sitting in a back booth.

"Thanks for waking me."

Nikki slid over and made room for him to sit.

"You were snoring," Lincoln said. "I know better than to mess with sleeping dragons."

The server came over and took Blake's drink order.

"Where are we?" Blake asked.

"We're still in Virginia," Lincoln said, nodding to Nikki. "I got tired of listening to someone's stomach growl."

Nikki took a drink of her soda. "I can't help if I didn't have time to eat before we left." She turned her head to Blake. "You and your brother kinda sprung this on me at the last minute."

The server brought Blake a cup of coffee and took his food order.

"I'm sorry if we took you away from a busy social life," Blake said.

"I don't have a social life. It's not like there's a lot of time off from what we do," she said.

Lincoln said, "You came in at a good time. I had just asked Nikki if she was really the last alicorn.

"Huh, I'm curious about that too," Blake said.

Nikki turned her head between them and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "I'm not sure how that's relevant to what we're doing."

"I like to know who I'm working with," Lincoln said.

"Well, I don't know anything about you or your team. That didn't stop me from coming," she said.

"Knowing Tristan, you didn't have a choice," Lincoln said.

Nikki pointed a fork at Lincoln while she talked. "True. I mean, he is the director and all."

"I don't know anything about your team," Blake said.

"And yet, you came too. Tristan must be a hell of an influencer," Lincoln said.

Blake sat back against the bench. "I came for my reasons, not because of my brother."

Lincoln chuckled. "Hey, relax. I'm not trying to piss you off. I didn't think I'd get any help with this. So, I'm grateful for whatever I can get."

"Why did you need help in the first place?" Blake asked.

Lincoln lifted his head and scanned the diner. "I'm not sure this is the safest place to discuss everything. Let's say that we believe some very powerful people are behind this, and if we're going to end it for good, we need to ensure everything is done the right way."

Blake harrumphed. "How powerful are we talking?"

"If we aren't careful," Lincoln paused. "Well, let's just say we have to be careful."

"Can you at least tell us more about your team," Nikki said.

"There are five of us. I recruited each of them based on what I thought would work. We started working with the U.S. Marshals but moved to Homeland Security about three years ago. It makes it easier to work with Interpol."

"That kind of switch doesn't happen often," Nikki said.

"We quickly realized there was a bigger need for what we do. It just made more sense to transfer."

Blake said, "What do you do, exactly?"

"We take care of catching supernatural criminals. We get in and handle it before the human world becomes wiser." Lincoln pushed back his now empty plate. "Every team member had a past they needed to walk away from. Now, they don't exist, making it easy to remain invisible and erase identities."

"What do you mean they don't exist?" Nikki said.

"Just that. In exchange for working with me, past deeds were wiped away."

"Past deeds?" Blake asked.

Lincoln cocked up an eyebrow. "Yeah, past deeds."

Blake took the hint. Lincoln wasn't open to telling them everything. That was fine, but he needed to know more about people who were supposed to have his back in a fight.

"What can you tell us?" he asked.

"Well, like I said, there are five of us. By chance, each of us has a presidential name. There's me, Madison, Reagan, Ford, and Washington."

Nikki pushed back her now-empty plate. "Well, I'm going to fit in."

Lincoln titled his head. "How so? We're all wolf shifters."

Nikki put her hand on her heart. "My last name is Carter."

Lincoln chuckled. "No shit."

Blake searched for his server. It didn't take that long to make a hamburger and fries. He noticed a family sitting on the other side of the restaurant. There was a woman, a man, and two children. He assumed it was a mother, a father, and their children. They were very still and staring at him. It made him uncomfortable.

"How long did it take you two to get your food?" He turned his focus back to Lincoln.

Lincoln lifted his head and scanned the diner. "Not as long as it seems to be taking for yours." His gaze settled on the same family Blake noticed. He furrowed his brow but seemed to dismiss it.

"You noticed them, too," Nikki said.

"How long have they been watching us?" Blake asked her.

"Since you walked in, the man and the woman have been talking in hushed tones about something they found on their phones," Nikki said.

The server brought Blake's food. "Sorry about the delay. We are just swamped."

Over half the tables were empty.

"Swamped, huh?" Blake handed his plate back to the server. "Would you mind packing this to go? It took so long to get my food. I don't have time to eat it here."

"And can you bring us the check?" Lincoln added.

The server frowned, snatched Blake's plate, and added a sarcastic, "Sure."

"Well, someone's not very happy," Nikki said.

Lincoln said, "Pshhh. Don't worry about it. Would you be happy working in a place like this? I'd be surprised if there were more than five thousand people in this town. This place gets most of its traffic from travelers stopping for a bathroom break or because the parents are tired of listening to their kids complain about being hungry."

Blake heard a quiet click and turned to see the family from the booth, quickly hiding a phone.

What the hell?

Nikki followed his gaze. "I think someone has a fan club."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Blake asked.

"They weren't interested in us until you sat down, and they just took your picture," she said.

Their server stopped to talk to the family. They turned their heads and gawked at Blake.

"This is bullshit." Blake started to get out of the booth, moving one leg out from under the table.

Lincoln held out his hand. "The last thing we need is to make a scene. I don't know what's going on, but sit down."

Blake glared at Lincoln's hand and then made eye contact. "You do not tell me what to do."

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't bother telling you anything. But we don't have time for any incident that might happen if you lose your temper."

"Who says I'm going to lose my temper?"

"If you're anything like Tristan, it's a given," Lincoln said.

Blake moved his leg back. "I'm nothing like my brother. Say anything like that again, and you will regret it."

Lincoln mockingly asked Nikki, "How do you say I have a temper without saying I have a temper?" He chuckled.

Blake's dragon grew increasingly aware of their surroundings. More people were talking in hushed voices and watching them. Two women pointed at them.

Lincoln must have noticed, too, because he said, "I think leaving would be a good idea." He threw three twenty-dollar bills on the table. "I'll stop and get you food from a gas station."

Blake finished his coffee and agreed.

They slid out of the booth and made their way to the door.

When they were on the road, "I'm not sure what that was all about."

Nikki scrolled through her phone. "Um, I think it was about this." She handed the phone to Blake.

At first, he didn't understand the picture he saw. It was blurry and taken from far away. He held the phone to Nikki. "What am I looking at?"

She jutted out her chin to point to the phone. "Keep scrolling."

He did and dropped the phone like it was hot. He picked it up and stared at the second photo on the page. His chest squeezed, and hot anger burned through him. This shouldn't have been a possibility, but there it was for everyone to see.

"When was this posted?"

Nikki took back her phone and pointed to a time stamp. "About an hour ago."

Lincoln eased onto the interstate. "What is it?"

Nikki held out the phone, and he glanced at it. "Holy shit. How did they get that?"

Blake ran a hand through his hair. "It was from this morning."

"I thought that kind of thing was illegal," Nikki said. "I mean, isn't there a safe space around the White House?"

"There is, but that was taken from far away," Blake said.

"That had to be what everyone saw," Lincoln said.

A tense silence fell over the truck.

Blake held out this hand. "Let me have your phone."

Nikki handed it to him.

"I don't think it's a good idea to call her," Lincoln said.

Blake said in a low, deliberate voice, "I didn't ask for your opinion."

Lincoln held up a hand. "I'm just saying. DC must be going nuts."

Nikki hesitated. Blake clenched and opened his hand. "Let me use your phone."

She slowly handed it to her.

"Does the president even have a cell phone?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm not calling Angela." Blake dialed a number and waited for an answer.

"Penny Lewis speaking," the voice on the other end of the call said.

"Penny, it's Blake. Has she seen them?"

The extended pause was the only answer he needed.

"Is she okay?" Blake asked.

"Give me a minute," Penny whispered. Blake heard a muffled conversation on the other end. "I just stepped out of the room. I'm not sure I should say anything, Mr. Sullivan, but I've never seen her this upset."

"Damn it." He held the phone away from his mouth and calmed his anger enough to refrain from yelling. "What's going on? What can you tell me? Are you with her now? Can she talk?"

"It's terrible, Mr. Sullivan. Benji got in a fight at school. She pushed him to talk about it, and he showed her the pictures."

"Fuck, Benji has seen them?" He raked a hand through his hair. "You have to let me talk to her."

"I'm sorry, but I can't right now. There are a lot of people in her office talking, and she's yelling at all of them."

Blake heard more muffled talking.

"I need to go, Mr. Sullivan." Penny disconnected the call before he could say anything.

Before returning the phone to Nikki, he stared at their picture again. Standing on the balcony with her this morning had been such a wonderful moment. And now, it would ruin her career, but worse, it would destroy her.