Authors: Jordan Moore
"So why are you telling me this instead of having Karina or Talen?"
Jasmine got up from the sofa and poured herself another cup of coffee. "I told you earlier that I am of Romanov blood, but I'm not a lycanthrope. You don't understand lycanthrope relationships yet, but to put it simply I'm lucky to be alive.
In most Families I would never have survived. If it hadn't been for Karina, I still would have been an outcast, probably cleaning the toilets at some Family outpost in Canada or something."
Ethan looked at Jasmine as she drank her coffee, and listened to the sound of her voice. "You love her, don't you?"
Jasmine gave him a bashful look, then nodded. "We grew up together, as close as sisters actually. Our fathers expected us to both be high ranking members of the Romanov Main House. When it became clear I wasn't a true lycanthrope, she stepped in with her Father, who was Hunt Leader at the time. She told him that if he casted me out, she would reject her future as the Shield, and even if need be abandon her Family name.
It swayed him enough. He assigned me under her. We've been very close ever since. She depends on me, and in return, she protects me. Because of her, I have seniority within the Lower House."
Ethan set his coffee cup down and came over to hug Jasmine, giving what sparse comfort he could. He decided to change the subject. "So explain to me what Shield and Hunt Leader are. And what is this Main House/Lower House stuff?"
Jasmine gathered herself before continuing. "Every Family can set up their internal politics as they see fit. In the Romanov, it's an alteration of the laws that ruled many areas of Ancient Greece, with an Upper House that is full lycanthropes, and a Lower House that are assistants. The lower house consists of human spouses of Upper House members, recruits who have not been gifted lycanthrope status yet.... and me.
The Hunt Leader is a variation of the kings of a Greek city-state, who held much of the power in their hands. However, a lot of these city-states wouldn't fully trust their king, and had a check on his power, another power who could veto certain decisions. In the Romanov, that is the Shield. Talen is the Hunt Leader. His job is to try and grow the family, to increase our wealth, power, and of course membership. In almost every day to day decision in the Family, he is the undisputed final voice.
Meanwhile, Karina is the Shield. The Shield is responsible for defense of the family, for protecting what the Hunt Leader goes out to get. Karina can overrule Talen in very specific scenarios, one of which is in defense against a direct attack on Family members or assets. Which is what brought me here tonight to you.
While Talen wanted to give you your space to come to your own decision, when Karina learned that you had been seen in the company of Devin Grimes, she overrode his decision unilaterally and sent me as her agent."
"Why you?" Ethan asked, curious.
"Remember that tonight is still a full moon," Jasmine answered. "It's why Devin made sure to be inside your apartment by sundown, and I see that you have no windows that would be able to see the moonlight right now. Every lycanthrope will uncontrollably change under the light of the full moon itself. By the time I came over, Karina would have already been in full changed form, which is not safe to ride the subway. I don't change, so there was no risk to me."
"But weren't you in danger?"
Jasmine shrugged. "Doubtful. Grimes knew who had sent me. He knew that if I had been injured or killed, the full power of the Romanov clan would have descended upon him, all his underworld connections be damned. He's not stupid, he wouldn't have risked open warfare just to spit in Karina's face. Besides, to him I'm just a freak, a useless genetic anomaly that has no value. In his eyes, I'm not worth a war."
Ethan took Jasmine by the shoulder, and touched her forehead to his. "I think you're worth a war," he said softly.
"Thank you, Ethan."
The next morning, Talen stepped off the elevator to his office to be greeted by the most welcome sight he had seen in what seemed like forever.
Ethan was sitting at his desk, a cup of coffee ready and waiting for him, a soft smile on his face. "Good morning, Talen. Your coffee is ready, and your schedule for today is sitting on your desk already."
Talen stood there for a moment, stunned. Finally, his brain found its connection with his mouth again, and he could speak once more. "Ethan.... part of me was sure you'd never come back after the past two days."
Ethan stood up from his desk, bringing the cup of coffee over to him. He smiled at Talen, waiting for him to take the first sip before answering.
"Especially because of the last two days, I decided to stay. Can we talk for a moment in your office, along with Jasmine and Karina?"
Within ten minutes, all four of them were once again gathered in Talen's office, the door locked.
Karina was in her normal position, sitting on Talen's desk, while Talen sat in his office chair, leaving Ethan to sit in the chair opposite the two of them. Jasmine stood next to Talen's desk, at Karina's side.
"First off, thank you for coming up here Karina. I know you don't like interruptions to your schedule."
"After what Jasmine reported to me and Talen last night, I'd say this takes priority. Judge Baker is going to have to wait, or else be happy with Josh Blankenship doing the arguments today," Karina said, somewhat crossly.
She had been scheduled for arguments in a motion to dismiss a case Morgan was bringing against a Chinese telecom company for unethical business practices.
"In any case, thank you. As you know, for the past weeks I have unknowingly been seeing the Leader of the Grimes Family, Devin Grimes. Talen, please understand that until the other day I did not know of your interest in me, although I suspected, and for most of the time Devin was more of a friend than a romantic interest to me. Also please understand that regardless of what he told Jasmine, I did not sleep with him."
"Ethan, who you sleep with is none of my business," Talen said gently, a bit sadly even. "You have always been free to make your own decisions."
Inside Ethan's head, part of him wanted to scream at Talen, telling him that he wanted him to be angry, to be possessive of him, to be willing to tear apart the entire desk in his frustration.
Ethan held his tongue, and continued. "As such, I have made a decision. I want to stay by your side, and I want to stay as your assistant. However, I would like some help."
"How so?" Talen asked, his expression brightening. "I will do what I can."
"The first thing I need is a new apartment," Ethan said. "Devin knows where I live, and if what Jasmine says is correct, he has enough connections to strike at me even if he's nowhere near me. I would like to use Morgan property temporarily until we can get my things moved to a new place."
"Done," Karina said, intervening before Talen could respond. "You're part of the Lower House, and are under the Shield's protection. I'll get people there today, and you'll be able to choose an apartment soon. Until then, you can use this building. I'll find you a place to sleep, eat, shower, whatever you need. It may not be comfortable, but I bet we can find a sofa softer than the one Jasmine tells me you've been sleeping on."
Ethan laughed. "Yeah, that sofa probably needs to go. Now, on to the second thing. Talen, if I'm to be your assistant, I need to be all the way in. No more secrets, no more separations between the CEO of Morgan Investments and Hunt Leader of the Romanov Family. If you can't agree to that, then I need to be assigned somewhere else."
"I can agree to that," Talen said, his smile broadening. "Over the next few days, I'll make sure you are fully brought up on everything I am involved in. No more secrets."
"Good. Because I swear, if I catch you hiding one more thing from me, I don't care if Karina is sitting on your desk or not, I'm going to find the nearest sterling silver letter opener and jam it straight up your butt."
Talen sat back, somewhat stunned, as Karina laughed. "You just gained a few notches in my book," Karina replied, before looking back over her shoulder at Talen. "What? You're the one who hired Ethan, and then decided to have feelings for him."
"That's the last thing," Ethan said, looking levelly at Talen. "I just got fooled by one lycanthrope, Talen. I said I didn't sleep with Devin, and I didn't. But if Jasmine had rung my doorbell about twenty minutes later than she did, I don't know what would have happened. Part of me is interested in you. But I'm going to put a stop to all of it for the time being. No romance, no talk of interests, nothing. If I need a partner for my bed, I'll have the same partner I had for most of my college days, my palm and his five friends."
"He means he'll take care of his own needs," Jasmine informed the two siblings, who were perplexed by Ethan's euphemism. Talen blushed, while Karina just nodded her head in understanding.
"That's about it then. Talen, Karina, is there anything else I need to do? Or that you need from me? Because if my memory is correct, Talen has a business meeting in twenty minutes with the potential investors from Sweden."
***
Just as the sun was setting the next evening, Ethan pulled his hooded shirt up over his head more as he walked through Central Park.
It was past the full moon, so Karina was with him, shadowing at a distance of about ten meters for protection as Ethan made his way towards Jim's hotdog stand.
Jim was just closing up, his work done for the day, when Ethan walked up.
"What’s up, Jim?"
"How you doing, Ethan?" asked Jim, a huge smile spreading across his face. "I've been so worried about you, with what you told me last time, and then hearing that your apartment got cleared out and everything."
"Things are okay, Jim. It's complex, and I can't go into too many details, but I just wanted to let you know that I was okay. It might be a while before I can make it back down here to see you again. There's been some.... difficulties."
"Does it have anything to do with the pretty lady who's playin' bodyguard for you?" Jim asked, waving to Karina who waved back neutrally. "She looks like she could tear the phone book in half."
"She’s a friend, Jim, and she’s just here to make sure I'm safe," Ethan answered. "I just wanted you to know that I'm okay, and that I am going to come and visit you when I can. It may be a while, but I'll try."
"Thanks, Ethan. But don't you worry about me, you take care of yourself. Okay?"
Ethan hugged Jim, and smiled when he felt his arms hug gun back. "Thank you, Jim. You're the father I should have had," he whispered, kissing him on the cheek. "And I will come see you soon."
Jim blinked as Ethan turned to leave with Karina. Neither of them, nor Jim, noticed the skinny black kid in a Knicks jersey watching them.
When the two had left, he pulled out a disposable cell phone, dialing the only number in its memory.
"It's me. Yeah, just saw him. Naw, he was with that woman you told me to watch out for. He just got done talking to Jim the hotdog guy. I couldn't hear words, but he hugged him, and now he's cryin' and shit. You want me to follow them? No? Him? All right. Gotcha."
The young teen hung up the phone and slipped it back in his pocket. Getting up from the park bench he had been sitting on, he started to follow Jim, making sure not to lose his target.
Mr. Grimes had been very explicit about that point.
Ethan was settling himself into his bed for the night, thankful for the use of the staff lounge on the twentieth floor. He had to admit, the soft leather sofa, normally used by the traders who straddled the Asian financial markets to catch a few winks between the end of Tokyo trading and the opening of the Moscow markets, was much more comfortable than his old sofa.
On the other hand, he missed the lumps that he had become accustomed to.
For the past three weeks, work with Talen as his assistant had been better than ever. He had kept his part of the deal, sharing every detail of his work both as CEO of Morgan and as Hunt Leader of the Romanov clan.
He also never mentioned his feelings towards him, but he could still see in his eyes as they would work together late at night, or the time he took him to the 110th Street playground to do a session with the Gym Boys.
He never spoke of it himself, but he knew he was also feeling closer to him as well. He wasn't sure if he was ready to return his feelings, but he was much more inclined to think about it.
Unfortunately, finding a new apartment had been difficult. In addition to his busy work as Talen's assistant, none of the buildings he looked at seemed right for him.
There was always something missing, and usually they just seemed too empty. Thankfully, Jasmine had been his constant companion, eternally patient as they used their free days to look at a dozen different places.
Changing into his sleep t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, Ethan looked around the small room and chuckled. The truth was, he was happiest and most comfortable when he was close to Talen. Just as he felt his eyes grow heavy, his cell phone rang.
Suppressing a curse, Ethan sat up before snatching the phone off the small coffee table. Glancing at the caller ID, he groaned.
It was Devin.
"I don't want to talk to you, Grimes," he said into the phone, immediately hanging up before he could even say a word. He tossed the phone on the table, but before he could lay back down, the phone buzzed again, this time with a text message.
You may not want to talk but you need to look
, the message read.
Attached was a picture file. Ethan opened the attachment, gasping in fear as he saw Jim, tied up and gagged somewhere.
It looked like he had been roughed up as well. Before Ethan could reply, a new message buzzed in.
Meet me in Riverside Park by Grant's Tomb in one hour. If I see any other members of the Romanov, Jim dies.
Ethan sat there for a moment and then slipped off his sweatpants. Pulling on jeans and a light jacket, he thought for a moment about calling Karina or Jasmine about this, but then set his phone back down.
Jim was family. He couldn't risk their lives, or Jim's life, by mixing the two.
Ethan would just have to handle this himself.