Page 18 of Frederick
It was going to be difficult to not fall for Frederick quickly. I had thought that it would be easy enough to keep things between us without involving emotions, but already he was proving himself to be a threat to my heart. I didn’t believe that he would intentionally hurt me. Nor did I think that would not reciprocate my feelings. I was just struggling to let myself go and fully trust him.
Frederick sat up and crossed his legs in front of him as I had done. When he reached out and laced his fingers with mine, I gave his hand a squeeze and looked directly at him.
“You are special, Dominic. I hope you realize that, and that I’m not just saying it because you’re my One.”
I nodded at him. It was difficult for me to except praise such as that. For so long, I hadn’t experienced it.
“Now, about that burger,” Frederick said. “Is there anything other than cheese that you want on it? And fries. What type of fries do you want? Do you like ketchup with them?”
“Yes, to the fries and ketchup. I don’t care what type, just as long as there are lots of them. As for the sandwich, I would like lettuce and tomato on it.”
“That is all quite doable,” Frederick said. He held out his hand and like the magic that I know he used, there was a plate on it with a thick cheeseburger and a pile of crispy, looking fries.”
I took the plates and after I settled it on my lap, I looked up to see that Frederick had similar looking plate and pile of food. “So tell me where it is that you fell in love with cheeseburgers,” I said as I picked up a cry and took a bite.
“Honestly, I can’t remember exactly where. The council has a full-service cafeteria that they have themed meals every day. As a backup, they always have cheeseburgers, hamburgers, and the like.”
“Do you eat at the council often?”
“Every day. I eat there most days for breakfast, and every day for lunch. There are times that if I’m working late, I will swing by and grab something for supper as well. If I am out on assignment, obviously I eat with the team and, we usually just get room service at the hotel unless we know where something is good exceptional.”
I picked up another French fry and ate it while nodding slowly and listening to him. “You are a warlock though.”
Frederick nodded. “I am. As are you.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “I only meant that you were a warlock and you can have whatever you want to eat no matter where you’re at.”
“Ah. Yes, that is true. That was actually quite handy when we were in South America. We were on assignment down there, and what was supposed to be four or five days at most ended up being two weeks. It was a difficult assignment, but successful. Well, as successful as things can be when you rescue, close to two dozen captive, paranormal.”
My heart aches at the thought of not only those that were held captive, but also for the enforcers who were the ones thatrescued them. It had to be difficult to see others subjected to such horrors.
“You and the council are doing a good thing, you know. Don’t think that what you’re doing isn’t having an impact on others. It is, and I hope you realize that.”
“I do. I sometimes wonder, though if it’s enough. When we were in South America, we had another shifter with us. He wasn’t an enforcer, and we happen to find him already there.”
I sat the fry down that I had been going to eat. “What happened?”
“He was searching for his brother. He had been missing for close to a year at that point and…” Frederick trailed off, somewhat lost and thought. “He had gotten a phone call from his brother and thought that he could just hop on a plane and go down and try to find him. Levi had been able to mention something about Cartagena, so Ledger thought he would go get his brother. We found Ledger in a sketchy cantina down there. He was really lucky that Sebastian happened to pick up on the fact that he didn’t really belong there and that he was being tailed by some not-so-nice guys.”
“Were you able to get him out? What about his brother? Did he ever find him?”
Frederick nodded. “Levi was actually one of those that we rescued in the jungle down there. And it turned out that Ledger is Damien’s mate,” Frederick looked at me. “Damien is one of the hellhounds that works with the council.”
I had never met a hellhound until Warwick. “So they had a happy ending. Or, at least a somewhat happy one?” I asked.
“Levi has struggled. He isn’t the same from what I’ve been told. But I don’t think anyone who lived in that type of situation for so long is ever who they were before it all happened. Damien has been a huge support to his mate, but I know that Levicompletely refusing to have any kind of contact with his brother, his hard on Ledger.”
I would imagine it would be. I didn’t have any siblings, so I couldn’t relate. But even the thought of having to go through what he obviously did, was terrifying.
“I’m sorry.” Frederick raised his head and gave me a confused look.
“Why?”
“That all has to be difficult. I can’t imagine what you enforcers had to go through when doing that assignment. Let alone what those poor captives were subjected to.”
“Council does their best to take care of not only those that we rescue, but the enforcers as well. After assignments like that, we are all required to have at least one session with one of the council psychiatrists. It has helped a lot.”
That was good to know. Personally, I had never visited a psychiatrist, but I certainly wasn’t against it if needed. “Do you have a lot of assignments such as that one?” I asked. I picked up my cheeseburger and took a bite while Frederick answered.
