Allure of the Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 2) (21 page)

“That is a very good question,” I agreed, rubbing my arm before turning to Harris. “Agent Harris? What
is
the purpose of that?”

“You don’t know, Chief Thomas?” they called out.

“Forty-two days,” I drawled. “Did you learn everything you needed to know about being human in forty-two days?”

“Fair enough.”

“Harris?” I pushed, ready to be out of the spotlight and done with this.

“Chief, that was one of those things you
weren’t
supposed to tell people you could do yet,” Harris sighed, folding his arms behind his back and rocking on his heels.

“Shit,” I hissed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I rubbed my other arm. “Can someone get me a list already? I would have thought that would be a thing to tell me before guest
lecturing
in front of the FBI?”

“Wait, why would you
hide
that from the FBI?” an instructor accused me.

I spun and narrowed my eyes at the guy. “Do you tell all your secrets to all your colleagues? I’m getting
very
personal here.” I gestured to the
towel
to make my point. “I wouldn’t have hid the hypothetical or why something could be done, just that
I
could when it’s not anyone’s business. We see people killed for money, revenge,
power
—you don’t think that can transfer over to this kind of power?”

“Fair enough,” Curtis cut in. “
No one
will share what Chief Thomas just said. She’s here to educate us at great personal cost. We’re FBI, we keep our mouths
shut
and protect our own.”

“Agreed, but can you tell us why, Chief Thomas?” that male instructor called out.

“I have a feeling it’s something only an Alpha wolf can do, and I’m
not
the Alpha of Chicago and that will cause
lots
of problems back home,” I answered, glancing at my team—all of whom were nodding. “Shit. I hate it when I’m right sometimes. It’s like a direct challenge or makes me someone he’d want to take out
before
I could challenge his leadership. Okay, no telling anyone that again. Moving on. Why is it useful, Agent Harris?”

“Think of it like your mom cuffing you upside the head when you’re misbehaving,” he answered after a moment. “It’s a way for an Alpha to keep people in line if there’s a fight or something going on. Not everyone can shift like Chief Thomas. For most of us, it’s jarring. Also, it helps for those who are new to have their Alpha
guide
them through their changes. That’s why it’s important for law enforcement to be on good terms with their local paranormal leaders. They will help if there’s a problem with one of their own.”

“Wait, you’re saying an Alpha will jump in on an investigation, like into a wolf, and help
us
bring them in?” someone asked.

Harris nodded as he stepped closer into the center of the lecture area. “Yes, our council mandates it.”

“There’s a council?”

Harris spent the next five minutes brushing over the councils and the pecking order. “We have more and
stricter
rules we have to live by as preternatural beings. And if we break them, there’s not always jail time and how it’s handled is completely legal because it’s seen as more putting down a rabid or uncontrolled animal. One of us on the loose, not in our right minds, or going off half-cocked could take out a lot of people before we were stopped. There’s no room for error or second chances most times.”

“Can you show us how you make someone change, Chief Thomas?” Curtis asked me. “If it doesn’t hurt Agent Harris, I think it would be beneficial for everyone to see just how vital including the local Alphas could be.”

“I can try,” I hedged, glancing at Monroe, sighing when he nodded. “Okay. I’ve only done it once and it was an accident so give me a minute. There’s no instruction manual here.” I gave Harris a sad smile, and he shrugged at me good-naturedly, taking off his suit jacket, smirking when there were a few soft catcalls.

“Is there anything anyone wants to ask Agent Harris before he volunteers for this,” Chief Monroe called out. “He’s not like Thomas here. Once he shifts, he’s in that form for the next six to eight hours until he’s exhausted and basically passes out.”

Mike paused in taking off his tie and glanced around the room.

“How were you turned? Are you a wolf too?”

“No, I’m a cheetah,” he answered and then cleared his throat. “Chief Monroe knows this but my other colleagues don’t. While Chief Thomas is a cautionary tale of making sure you check all your sources and have the facts, I’m a different type of living caution.” He yanked off his tie and moved fully to the middle of the lecture area by me. “I was asked to come because I was on Instructor Curtis’s list of hopeful species, but before I even knew that, I was going to ask Chief Thomas if I could because my story will hit you guys harder and is why I will support cross-training the regular branches of law enforcement about preternatural beings until the day I die.”

It took me a moment to realize he was focused on the trainees and no one else. I thought back to his file, and while I didn’t know too many specifics, he had been young.

“I was just out of the Indianapolis Police Academy, my first
day
on the job,” Harris explained, chuckling at that last part. He moved over to the desk and sat up on it as he unbuttoned his shirt. “Fuck, I’d been on shift maybe an hour and a
half
. New partner, all bright and shiny, ready to fight crime, take down crooks, and clean up the city I loved—learn the ropes. So first action, kid’s
flying
down some street, blowing lights and the works. My training officer tells me to hit the lights and we roll. Pull the kid over and he lets me take the lead.

“I get up to the window, do the typical thing, so focused on remembering the correct dialogue and how to say everything I don’t notice the kid is practically having a seizure. Kid can’t be more than sixteen, no, almost seventeen. I look at my partner and yell for him to call an ambulance as I open the door.” Mike sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “I won’t ever forget the fear on that kid’s face. He was
terrified
. He kept yelling at me,
‘Back away. It’s early. I have to get home. Back away!’
But I didn’t.

“I handled it like a seizure. The kid shifted right there, and when he did, I got clawed up, nothing like Chief Thomas, just a few scratches on the arm. But my partner freaked out, shot the kid. Killed him, right there in front of me.” Mike swallowed loudly and looked away. “I changed the next full moon, and as Chief Thomas said, those infected have a starting point of the person who infected us. That was the kid’s
first
change. He’d been infected a few years ago but was too young to shift.”

“What would have been the right way to handle that situation?” Jerome Curtis asked and I was kind of curious too. I wasn’t sure what I would have done. “With all you know now, how would you advise handling that?”

Harris snorted bitterly. “I’ve come up with about a hundred different answers for that. Anything that didn’t get the kid killed. But my answer is I would have stuffed him in the backseat of his car. There’s more room, it’s contained, not a city street block in Indianapolis. I would have shoved him in there, closed all the doors, grabbed his cell phone and called every number in it until I found someone from his pack or Alpha.”

“Not his parents?” Curtis hedged.

“No, he wasn’t born one. My parents aren’t cheetahs.” He stared out at the group and took a moment. “Not knowing how to handle that situation, not being
trained
to do the right thing, got an innocent kid killed that day and made me live a year of fucking
hell
on earth. He was
mid
first shift when he clawed me. That made his power next to none. I spent
months
in a shifter safe house trying to learn any kind of control. The outrage from an innocent cheetah kid dying meant no one from the preternatural community wanted to help me.

“
I
wanted to die. The shifts were so painful I would beg them to kill me,” he admitted, wiping his eyes roughly. “Any little thing would set off my cheetah and then I’d
panic
I’d shift again and spiral out until I actually did. It was horrible. I can’t even wish that kind of pain and torture on the worst criminals we have locked up in prison.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair again. “But you figure it out. I learned how to control it eventually. I moved to Chicago, the flack in Indianapolis too much for me to handle.

“And since I lost my job because of what had happened, there was nothing left for me there. I found help in that preternatural community, and I can change without pain now. I might never be an Alpha like Chief Thomas, and I’m okay with that. But I’m also no longer the weakest cat in town. I’ll grow, learn, adapt more and more the stronger and older I get. Everyone should be trained with the basics and know how to call for help.” He cleared his throat and glanced at me. “Okay, you ready to do this?”

“Now I’m freaked out I’m going to hurt you,” I admitted, frowning. “I didn’t know the change could be painful. I’ve only been sore after like working out for too long.”

“Because you’re
special
, Chief,” he teased as he took off his shirt. He flexed a bit when there were a few whistles. Next came the shoes and pants—he left on his boxers.

I took a few cleansing breaths and focused on my wolf, basically waving her over mentally. We aligned and she knew what I wanted. Harris yowled as his eyes changed to kitty ones, and he moved closer, baring his neck to me. I leaned in and kissed it, upping my power as I noticed Barnes and Monroe talking in the corner of the lecture hall.

Oh good, this gave them cover for the other part of our fun for the day.

Harris dropped to his knees, breathing heavily as he rubbed his cheek against the towel. “Sera, let go. You’re only doing halfway and you’re not forcing me, just smacking me around.”

“Shit, sorry,” I muttered. That was right, last time I had been using my siren too. I cranked it up, focusing on Harris, and in seconds, he changed right there, shaking his head and stumbling back from me. It was obviously disjointing because he couldn’t seem to find his feet and fell to the floor.

But that wasn’t the only surprise. One of the trainees was suddenly in front of me, shoving me against the desk with his throat bared to me.

“Alpha,” he purred softly.

Immediately
I started to pull it back even as I leaned in and kissed his neck, muttering under my breath so no one could see or hear me. “We’ll cover for you, but you and I are going to have a conversation later, trainee. A
long
one.”

“Yes, Chief Thomas,” he panted, his eyes changing back. Thank
god
he hadn’t been facing the cameras.

I stepped from around him, and he leaned over on the desk. I patted his back and stared out at the stunned faces. “As I said, there’s no instruction manual here. Sometimes it can affect humans too. It’s rare, but it happens.”

“How? Why would that hit Horton?” someone called out.

I shrugged. “Why do some people hear dog whistles? Why can some feel when the TV is on in the other room and others are oblivious? It’s the same thing. He felt the waves and his senses reacted, not having a clue as to why he just bared his neck and came at me.” No one seemed to buy that at
all
. Smart people. I racked my brain for something better. “We’re here today to show how little is truly known about all of this. Horton here could have had a grandpa who was cursed by a witch that his family would flip out around Alpha power.”

“Yeah, actually, there are several lineage curses that could be tailored like that, Chief,” Davis agreed then she chuckled. “Or your wolf was misbehaving. She might have been aiming for the one who made the comment earlier and Horton got it instead.”

“She does like to misbehave,” I drawled. I glanced up at Curtis and winced. “I did warn you I’ve not practiced this.”

“You did.” He shook his head and focused on the trainee still leaned over the desk, panting. “You good, Horton?”

He turned around and nodded. “Yes, sir. Just need a drink of water.”

“Chief, can you take over? I want to watch him in case I need to undo something,” I tried. “And I really want my clothes.” There were lots of
awwws
from the male trainees. I turned to them and let power flash in my eyes, my siren and I aligning.

“Sera,
no
!” Monroe yelled and was suddenly in front of me.

“I was just going to give them a brush like I did at the bar,” I muttered under my breath, immediately shutting it down. “It gives Horton a better cover story.”

He gave the barest of nods and stepped away, taking Horton with him.

“What was
that
about?” Curtis hedged.

“A change in plans to show how humans can react to certain things,” I explained with an evil grin. “Chief Monroe thought I was playing a different trick that’s not so nice.”