Page 48 of Broken Wolf

He swallowed and nodded. “She did it to herself. I’ve told her time and time again you’ve never so much as flirted with me. You’re one of the most professional agents I’ve ever met.” He snorted when several people gave him looks. “Men flirt with her. I’ve never heard anyone say she flirts. Sometimes she accepts. So what? You wouldn’t judge men for the same.”

“Please remember yourself, Director,” someone chastised him.

“No, you remember yourself,” he snapped. “You dragged me in here for this, and I made it clear that I was coming to make sure you treated one of my most decorated people with the respect she deserves, but this was all crap. And I agree with her. On all of it. This whole administration is anti-supe and you want her to smooth that over?

“You want to treat her like a whore to make that go away while allowing your wife and administration to call her that? One of my people? I didn’t know this was coming from the First Lady like this, but I have a serious problem that she’s making one of my people a target for religious zealots. Do you have any idea how many criminals Thomas has taken down? Real threats?”

I felt better when the new head of the CIA agreed even if we would never be friends. He said a lot of the translations we were giving to the FBI offices were being shared with them and getting a lot done. And it was a miracle that Iran hadn’t cut all communication with the crap the president’s people were saying publicly.

The arguing went on for about five minutes before the president lost patience and snapped for all of them to shut it. He cleared his throat and faced me with a tight smile.

“I apologize if this conversation insulted you or you felt it stepped over a line,” he said. “I assume it will stay between us.”

“As long as this isn’t affecting my job since it was clearly a conversation with Alpha Sera, Mr. President,” I replied, my tone amused. “Though I would think we shouldn’t have any more of those in the future. I believe we know where we both stand now, yes?”

“I believe we do, Ms. Thomas.” He disconnected the call.

“Petty little dickhead.” I smiled at Carter who was standing in the doorway of my apartment. “I promised I wouldn’t say anything. Did you?”

“I certainly did not,” Eva seethed, adjusting her neck. “I will be making a trip to DC while I am in this country.”

I swallowed a giddy chuckle and the need to do a happy dance. If there was someone that people didn’t want to piss off, it was Eva Fucking Dorcus.

Screw Revelations… The First Lady and Mrs. Galvin now had the most powerful supe in the world pissed at them.

And she was my grandmother. Nice.

13

The rest of my Sunday was great. We had a video call with Melicent and heard all about the first official supe outreach event that was in NYC yesterday. Eva had wanted to be there and show her support, but Melicent had told her that she would overshadow everything. I understood that.

But I also understood Eva’s hurt that her granddaughter cared more about that than wanting to share it with her. It was part of why I’d done a lot to distract her. I also reminded her that Melicent had been too sheltered and now some overcorrecting needed to be done.

I got the shock of my life when someone came flying into my office Monday just before lunch to show me something. I gave them a dry look about barging in like that and it better be important.

Yeah, it was… Hence the shock of my life.

It was Brian on the news making it clear in no uncertain terms that I didn’t have a habit of being involved with my bosses like the First Lady had accused, but that we were soulmates.

“Ohhhh, someone got him the clips of her luncheon speech and other speaking engagements,” I whispered as I watched it with wide eyes.

“My fiancée is one of the most loyal women I’ve ever met,” Brian stated firmly. “And clear as glass on her lines. I saw someone flirt with her once when she was right out of training and the first thing she did was check for a wedding ring. When she saw one, she warned him to stop as it made her uncomfortable that he couldn’t be loyal to his vows and would involve her.

“Anyone who actually knows Sera knows that about her. The First Lady has never met her and is dragging my fiancée’s name through the mud. Is that really how a woman in that position should behave? Is that where we are? I’m tired of this being brushed off as gossip or catty women’s gossip. It’s not. She called the woman I love the Whore of Babylon.

“That is so far over the line it’s disgusting. She called a highly decorated division chief of the FBI who saves lives daily ‘The Beast’ from Revelations and said she will bring about the apocalypse. She directly quoted teachings that make it clear the Whore of Babylon must be destroyed for the world to survive.

“That’s called a threat for those of you paying attention. The First Lady made a public threat against my fiancée, and that is not only unacceptable, but disgusting. Sera is former military, saves lives, a dedicated law enforcement agent, and so much more. You might not agree with her personal life—understand the way of shifters, but you have to see how wrong this is.

“How she doesn’t deserve this. I hope others see reason and that all of this has gone too far. Especially coming from a woman that I don’t see doing anything besides costing this country money spreading hate and dividing us. Sera wouldn’t push for this, but I will. She better get a damn good apology and retraction of what was said along with it stopping now.”

“Wow,” I whispered as the clip ended. “He went nuclear.”

“Better than flowers,” the guy chuckled as he took his tablet back, most knowing our relationship was having issues still.

Fair enough.

I winced when my phone rang and I saw it was Galvin. “I didn’t know, I swear.”

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