"I'll transfer your Pack membership back here as soon as Kellee is gone." I was almost out the door when Winkler said those words to my back. Stiffening, I turned to face him. "Don't bother, Winkler." I whirled and walked out the door.
I was worried my eyes might have been the red that comes when a vampire is angered, so I slipped inside the women's restroom down the hall before going back inside the ballroom. I had to wait nearly ten minutes for things to return to normal before heading back to work. It's not easy concentrating on your job when somebody slaps you in the face.
"Lissa, not all werewolves are like that," Weldon came over to stand beside me.
"Like what?" I didn't look at him; I kept scanning the crowd instead.
"Like Kellee," he said.
"Or Winkler," I added. "How's your grandson?"
Weldon pulled out a photograph and showed me how cute he was. There would never be any babies for me. The man who claimed he wasn't my father had damaged my body badly enough to see to that years ago, and vampires couldn't have babies either. I was happy for Weldon and sad for myself. Kellee had been across the room, gushing with somebody but she was in front of us, now. She might have said something but Weldon put his arm around me, causing her eyes to widen a little so she took off across the room. Her tail would have been tucked between her legs, I think, if she'd been wolf at the time.
"Spoiled bitch," Weldon muttered.
"I hope the kids turn out all right," I said. Weldon snorted.
"What did Winkler want?" Tony asked on the drive to our hotel afterward.
"He was transferring my membership from the Dallas Pack," I said, looking out the heavily tinted windows of the limo. Tony had ties to werewolves; his mother was a werewolf. He knew what that meant better than I did.
"Fucker," Tony growled. "The only time a female werewolf is transferred if it doesn't involve marriage is when the wolf has become a problem somehow for the Packmaster. It's a blemish on their record," he said.
"Thomas Williams Jr. said he was happy to get me," I muttered. "Weldon set it up."
"Then Weldon will take care of it," Tony said. "Was this Winkler's idea?"
"He says Kellee forced the issue."
"Same thing. It happens sometimes if the Alpha female thinks another female in the Pack is getting too much of the Packmaster's attention."
"It wasn't because I wanted or asked for it," I snapped, struggling to keep my anger from resurfacing. "How often do you see your brother?" I asked, changing the subject.
"For the holidays, usually, unless there's something I can't get out of. Lissy, we're flying to Chicago tomorrow to pick up security on a Senator."
"Joy," I said, slumping in my seat a little.
"Lissy, this hasn't been a bed of roses for you, I know. And if I'd known Winkler was going to drop this bomb on you, I wouldn't have made you come. You look tired, baby." He tried to pull me against him. That wasn't the half of it. Right then, I felt weary. It was times like this when I wondered why Merrill had bothered to pull me off the roof to begin with. I could be far away now, in the afterlife if there was one. I wondered briefly if there was a patron saint for vampires. Or a guardian angel, maybe. If so, mine was getting a workout.
* * *
Senator Blaine Duff, from Oklahoma. That's who we'd been assigned to guard in Chicago. Honestly, I didn't think of him as conservative or liberal. I thought of him as batshit crazy. I'd voted against him (again) in the last election. Election time was here once more and he was making the rounds. I stared at Tony as if he were insane when he informed me that we were providing security for Senator Duff.
"Tony, that guy would like to see all the g*ys, progressives and atheists tortured and executed," I flung out an arm in disbelief. "And you're sticking me in the middle of his security detail? You want me to die if he finds out what I am?" I'd raised my voice and now Bill was pounding on the door.
Tony was a little angry himself and stalked over to fling the connecting door between our rooms open. "What?" he growled at Bill.
"Boss, things are getting a little loud in here," Bill was doing his best to be tactful.
"Fine," I muttered. I was done ranting anyway.
"Lissa, this is someone from your home state," Tony frowned at me. "And he's getting death threats."
"Honey, he's the reason I thought about moving away from Oklahoma," I grumbled. "Don't talk to me about how the state votes when he runs," I added. "My vote has been wasted for a long time now. And since I can't vote any longer, well, he'll be in office until he dies."
"Who says you can't vote?" Tony sat down on the edge of my bed.
"Tony, what the hell are you thinking? I'm dead, remember?"
"You don't look dead to me." That was from Bill and it shocked me a little.
"Our illustrious senator will think that if he finds out," I rubbed my forehead and sat down next to Tony on the bed. "As well as thinking I'm a minion from the lower levels of hell."
"You're not a minion from the lower levels of hell?" Tony teased.
"I may be a minion, but my digs are on the upper level now," I snipped. Tony laughed.
"Baby, you need to stop worrying about this and just do the job. That's all this is, okay?" Tony put an arm around me. "I may not agree with his politics either, but we have a job to do."
"And we're supposed to be professional about it." I hmmph'd a little.
"We have to be."
I didn't say anything on the way to the elevator and less, even, on our way to the back door of the hotel where the Senator and Co. were waiting. He was standing beside the usual dark car with tinted bulletproof glass, talking with two security guards. We were going to a stumping speech and fundraising dinner for a fellow political candidate; anyway that's what I was hearing.
The dinner went without a hitch—nobody planted bombs or sent in vampires. The speech was all about taking back the country. The last time I checked we were all Americans, so I didn't know from whom they planned to take it. We were loading into the cars after a lot of hand shaking and backslapping when the Senator motioned for Tony to come over and talk to him. Tony went and then came back after a minute or two of intense conversation. It was really noisy where we were; a busy street was nearby and honestly, I didn't want to hear anything Senator Duff said anyway. I should have paid attention.
"He wants you in the car with him," Tony said when he got back. There was the bomb that hadn't come earlier.