Page 99 of All Saints Day
“Ah-ah-ah! I never said this. Now you are putting words in my mouth!” I protest, waiting until he lights the joint before I pinch it out of his fingers.
“I'd like to put something else in your mouth,” Caz purrs back coyly, leaning forward to press his lips to mine, breathing his smoke into my lungs as we share a breath.
“Glad to see that you haven't been too distressed by the events of the day,” I snort.
“Hey, I'm not the only one who looks good all cleaned up.” Caz grins, pecking another kiss onto my lips before he sits back and passes me the lit joint. “Plus, I've had the luxury of justgetting to watch you beautiful people be on camera all day.” He raises a brow before turning to look over his shoulder at Tin-tin and Frank, preparing to make their way in from the balcony, before he whispers conspiratorially, “between you and me, Louise and I had a little discussion about what comes next as soon as we're done with this dog and pony show. Soon enough, she and Q are going to be in heat again. The first time with all of us together as a full-fledged pack.”
Thinking about Frank's bonding during the heady celebrations following our very near death experience after our escape from the Alaska facility, is more than slightly distracting and I have to put down the memories to avoid getting too excited just as Louise and Dennis's conference is about to start.
“Maybe you should have opened with that when talking to Frank.” I let out a laugh. “He looks like he could use some happy thoughts right now,non?” I lift my chin toward Quentin, talking down Frank, who looks like he might just be too stressed and worried to watch the press conference live.
We both watch as he chews incessantly at the cuticles on his thumb.
“Yeah, maybe, but then again, that just might have set him off, running all the way up to the doors of the Whitehouse, fighting his way tooth and nail up to the stage so he could carry Louise and Dennis away over each shoulder like some kind of alpha caveman at the mere prospect of a little heat-fuckation,” Caz jokes and we both dissolve into hysterical laughter.
“What are you two laughing about? I don't see what's so funny,” Frank fumes, already in a gloomy mood as he and Quentin come in from the balcony.
“Fix your face, Frank. There's nothing to be so grim about. Just a few questions, a few flashes of the camera and our dear Denny and Loulu will be on their way home to us.”
“Home, huh?” Frank scoffs. “And after we leave this hotel, where is that, exactly?”
The four of us exchange a look.
“I haven't given it very much thought,” Quentin admits. “Things have been so...” he trails off.
“Yeah, It hasn't exactly been easy to envision our future up until very, very recently,” Caz picks up where Tin-tin left off.
“After we're done with the press conferences, there'll be plenty of time to figure out where exactly we land after all the dust has settled,” I echo the sentiment.
Before any of us can say another word, there's the loud squeal of feedback from the television as the Attorney General shifts in front of her microphone—the new head of the Department of Reproduction—Grant Barker, a man in his 50s with a low fade and geometric wire-frame glasses seated to the left of Louise and Dennis.
The four of us fall silent as the press conference begins.
Chapter 37
Dennis
Louise handled herself with incredible grace throughout the entirety of the television interview.
We were not allowed to give many specifics or any details at all regarding Louise's powers.
We were urged to be as open and truthful about the corruption within the government extending to the Windmill as we cared to be otherwise.
Louise confirmed that her parents had developed the Zeitnot prime in an effort to not only change designation, but to create a new designation entirely for the purposes of government defense.
She explained that once their work had been deemed too dangerous in the early 90s—after the testing that would see Louise both infected and cured by Zeitnot prime, her designation switching from omega to sigma in the process—the government abandoned the project while the Windmill continued to pursue her parent’s goal for many years to come.
I did my part to confirm that Compton, Lowry and the other bad apples within the organization were theexception and not the rule—that new anti-corruption practices would be developed and put in place.
The Attorney General informed the public that while I had been offered the opportunity to return to the Bureau after so nearly losing my life and the lives of my packmates, that I would be stepping down from my position within the BSU while still maintaining a relationship with the Department of Reproduction in a support capacity in regards to their research on the omicron designation and the Penny’s research into early designation testing along with indicators for fated mates, to ensure proper regulatory practices rose up around the new industries that would undoubtedly wish to serve a population eager to know early designation as well as the possibility of fated mates.
Louise similarly announced that she would be stepping down from her former position at the Bureau, but would continue to work in tandem with the Department of Reproduction as the official spokeswoman of the new omicron designation to help guide and inform the bedrock of new programs that must be developed to provide support, and resources to new individuals who may present with the new designation.
Of course, everyone was very anxious about the prospect of the omicron designation becoming more prevalent.
There was the matter of the Windmill strain of the Zeitnot virus not being 100% accounted for even after the destruction of the Alaska facility.
The scientists who had developed the virus for the Windmill were also still at large.
