Page 142 of Golden Eagle

Alexei, Sasha noted right off, wasn’t happy to see him. His lip curled a brief moment before he smoothed his expression and said, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“Val’s my friend,” he said, fighting for a bit of that haughty coolness; he thought he failed, for sure. “Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“Because Nikita doesn’t want you to be,” Alexei said, like that was a given.

It was. But.

“I can make my own decisions,” Sasha said, feeling petulant as a child.

Alexei’s snort said he found that doubtful.

“Good morning,” Dante said pleasantly.

“Good morning,” Sasha returned, tone wooden.

It was awkward, and the worst part was, it shouldn’t have been. Something had changed with Alexei. He’d always come across as young – not in years, but in experience. Carefree, heedless, the picture of youthful nobility. The son of a rich man who’d never wanted for anything, an aura he’d carried into this century despite the atrocities committed against his family. It was his shield, Sasha had always thought, the same way Nikita clothed himself in anger.

But with that youthfulness had come uncertainness, too. Alexei was quick to defer to true leadership. He whined and wheedled, but he never challenged Nikita outright.

He was insouciant, now. Removed and actively cutting.

“Good morning,” Val’s bright, accented voice called, and dispelled the tension. He approached from across the street, his arm linked with Mia’s. His mate wore a smooth, difficult to read expression, but Sasha caught the acrid whiff of nerves.

As unexpected as Val’s arrival had been, him showing up with a mate had been an even greater shock. Who was she? Where had she come from? How had Val met her while he was locked up in a cell two floors beneath the ground? A few possibilities sprang to mind – that he’d met her while dream-walking, obviously – and some of them pointed toward the Institute in a way that left Sasha uneasy.

But he smiled at them both, genuinely glad to see Val. “Good morning.”

“Hello,” Alexei greeted coolly. He pulled off haughty well – he’d been born to it, after all – but he looked better when he was smiling and mischievous.

Dante’s face had gone blank with awe. He looked unsteady on his feet, Sasha thought.

Alexei leaned in, elbowed him in the ribs, and whispered something low and stern to him.

“Good morning, your grace,” Dante said, ducking his head in a hint of the bow he obviously wanted to deliver.

Val chuckled. “Shall we go in?”

~*~

Will and Much were staying at the Waldorf, because, apparently, these days, Robin Hood didn’t just rob from the rich, but enjoying being rich himself, and setting his people up in style when they traveled.

Jamie felt ten kinds of grubby walking into the lobby; carefully avoided his rumpled reflection in the elevator.

When he knocked on the right door, Will opened it with an easy, expectant smile. His text reply earlier had been bare bones, so Jamie hadn’t known what to expect; some of his worry eased as the wolf waved him in with a warm greeting and offered to take his jacket.

Much lay sprawled on his stomach on one of the two beds, gaze fixed on a laptop screen, mindlessly eating Cheetos from a massive family sized bag.

“We’re going through the security footage we retrieved last night,” Will explained as he hung Jamie’s coat up in the room’s small closet and slid the door shut. “Nothing of any note so far. But it takes time to comb through it all.”

“I figured,” Jamie said. He wandered deeper into the room, noting that only Will’s bed looked rumpled and slept-in; that the nightstand on Much’s side was cluttered with paper cups and a few energy drink cans. The TV was on, a cooking show with the sound muted; Ina Garten tossed pomegranate seeds into a salad while Much wiped his orange-dusted fingers on the white coverlet.

Jamie winced. “Did he sleep?”

Will sighed. “No. I’ve threatened to replace his Monster with vodka if he doesn’t take a break soon.”

Much never glanced away from his computer, but he slowly lifted an orange middle finger in their direction.

Will chuckled. “Here, come sit down. He won’t be much company for a while. Do you want anything to drink?”

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