Wyatt
After their conversation, Wyatt made a call to the office to tell them he was taking a few personal days off from work. He hadneverasked for time off before, so he hadn’t expected it to be a problem and his supervisory special agent quickly confirmed that it was fine. In fact, he’d said that Wyatt could take as much time off as he needed. Daniel had tried to find out if anything was wrong, but Wyatt had always been a private person and found it difficult letting anyone in. The thought of someone else poking around his private business, especially when it was so closely entwined with the past he’d spent a long time escaping, was enough to set him on edge, so he’d just said that everything was fine and that he’d be back in work by Friday. Daniel tried to push, but Wyatt shut him down, repeated that he’d be back on Friday, and ended the call.
He stared at the phone in his hands for a long moment. He hadn’t meant to be so cagey with his boss. Daniel was a decent guy—he was a big part of the reason the SWAT team even existed, and the fact Wyatt had a spot on it—and he’d been nothing but good to Wyatt and the team. But that didn’t entitle him to some sort of glimpse into Wyatt’s personal life. And the more people knew, the more they seemed to feel entitled to interfere.
He’d told the same thing to the shrink that had profiled him right before he was assigned as the team’s leader, and she’d told him it was a defense mechanism, and an unhealthy one at that, designed to stop himself getting too close to people and ultimately getting hurt when it all went to shit. Only the way she’d said it, she made it sound like a bad thing. Still, here he was, team leader of the city’s only SWAT team, so it seemed like everything was working out just fine as far as he was concerned.
“Everything okay?” Amelia asked when Wyatt strolled back out of his office.
He nodded. “Yeah, he said it wasn’t a problem.”
“That’s good. So, where do you work?”
“I’m an FBI agent. I head a SWAT team.”
Amelia stared at him, surprise written all over her face. “No kidding?Really?”
“Yeah.” He blinked away his surprise at her surprise—was he really that unlikely a cop? Figuring it was best not to examine that too closely, he turned the conversation back on her. “What about you? Where do you work?”
“Oh, I um, I don’t have a job right now. I mean, I did, I worked in a restaurant, but they let me go yesterday.”
Wyatt frowned. “Yesterday?”
She nodded then grinned sheepishly. “I’d had a bad day and I’d been planning on taking it out on those two idiots who took me down that alleyway. I was looking forward to kicking their asses. That’s why I got so annoyed with you for stepping in to help.”
Wyatt grinned. “Ah, I see.” His expression cleared. “Why did you get let go?”
Amelia sighed. “My boss got antsy about me not having any papers.” She shrugged. “It’s not the first time. It always happens eventually.”
“You don’t have any papers?” Wyatt asked, the back of his neck tingling. He didn’t likeanythreat to his mate, even administrative ones. “How long have you been in the country?”
“A year.”
His eyes widened. “Ayear? How have you managed until now?”
Wyatt couldn’t imagine being an illegal immigrant in this day and age. Things had been easy fifty years ago when he had first come to America, because a lot of employers had paid cash and were willing to take on casual workers. Those days were well and truly over. Those employers were still out there if a person was motivated enough to find them, but there were too many unscrupulous people about who were all too willing to take advantage of anyone who wasn’t fortunate enough to have been born in the country or who hadn’t obtained the right to work there.
We will provide for mate,his dragon intoned firmly in his skull.
We most definitely willnot, he sent back. There was no way he could risk being close to Amelia. Even inviting her to stay had been reckless. Besides, she struck him as a proud woman, like most dragons. She wasn’t going to be accepting charity. She might, however, accept a leg up.
“Let me speak to my employers,” he said. “We can get you sorted out with a birth certificate, a passport, and a social security number.”
Her eyes widened. “You can do that?”
“Yeah, I mean, they wouldn’t do it foranyillegal in the country, naturally, but shifters are, well, they’re special cases. There are a few species who keep to themselves. Some polar bears, for example, tend to live secluded in Alaska. There are a few who don’t have papers and we help them when we learn of them.”
Amelia shook her head. “I had no idea that was even possible.”
“How would you?” Wyatt said with a grin. “It’s not something the government can advertise.”
Amelia let out a melodic giggle and the sound hit Wyatt in the gut, making him suddenly speechless. It was a beautiful sound, but his joy in it was tainted by the stark reminder of what he would lose when they parted ways for good.
“That would be amazing,” she said. “Thank you so much. You don’t know how much that means to me.”
He shrugged. “You’re welcome. And I have a fair idea of what it means. I was an illegal in this country once, too.”
Even if they couldn’t be together, at least he could do something for Amelia that would make her life easier. The thought seemed to soothe his dragon, though it did nothing to ease the pain Wyatt already felt at the thought of losing her.
