My private dining room wasn’t to be, though, and I wasn’t even halfway done with my food when chattering voices began to drift in through the open door, and a parade of beings began to drift in, each of them carrying their own plate. At the head of the line was Colby and he dropped one large hand on my shoulder, squeezing lightly.
“Nice work out there,” he commented softly. “You saved Tiko’s life.”
Glancing up in surprise, Colby winked at me, his familiar blue eyes bright. “I don’t know who else knows,” he murmured, “but I’ll keep your secret.”
I nodded as I processed his words.WasI trying to keep my shifter a secret? I hadn’t actually set out to do that, I just, well, hadn’t really had a reason to announce myself. And it was probably just as well since several others that I recognized either by scent or sight followed suit on their way in the door, patting my shoulder or speaking to me in quiet tones as they passed by, making it clear that my secret identity wasn’t exactly much of a secret.
The group spread out around the table until all of the seats were taken except the one on my left. When Chuck entered the room with his own plate, he did a doubletake when he saw me there. I dropped my gaze, studying my food as I redoubled my efforts to shovel it in my mouth and vacate my spot as quickly as possible.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” Chuck asked politely as he crossed behind me, careful not to brush against me as he pulled the chair out.
“Of course not,” I mumbled through a mouthful of deviled-egg potato salad. “I’m almost done, anyway.” Finishing the last few bites in record time, I shoved my chair back from the table and stood, grabbing my unopened water bottle and dishes and fled the room. Dropping the dishes in the waiting bin in the dining room, I blew out a breath and headed back to take the shower that I’d skipped in favor of food.
Clean and dry, I stood naked and stared at the clothes in my open suitcase, not sure what to put on. The food I’d eaten way too quickly sat like lead in my stomach as I considered another night spent in Chuck’s bed. He couldn’t even stand the thought of interacting with me on a personal level, so surely he wasn’t interested in an intimate one, right?
Accepting that I’d already hurt him once by assuming that he wouldn’t care if I left, I forced myself to put on my big boy pants -literally, as I pulled jeans and a t-shirt on in case Chuck confirmed my suspicion that he would rather I slept elsewhere- set my packed suitcase neatly by the door, and sat down on the sofa to send him a text message.
ChapterTwenty-Four
Chuck
I couldn’t say I was really surprised when Jules nearly swallowed his food whole to get away from me, but I was disappointed. And yes, I do recognize the ridiculousness of that given that he had tried to speak with me a couple hours earlier and I’d been the one to run away.
I focused on my food, barely even hearing the chatter going on around me until I heard someone sayJulianin a conversation off to my right. Looking up, I scanned the room, thinking that maybe he had returned but there was no sign of him.
“What about Julian?” I demanded, glaring in the general direction that the conversation had come from.
Several of the werewolves looked over at me in surprise and Kade snorted a laugh.
“We were just making conversation,” he said calmly. “Why?”
“I don’t really think it’s appropriate to be talking about him behind his back, that’s all,” I snapped.
“Riiight,” Kade smirked, offering me a jaunty salute. “No more invoking the majestic Omega’s name, we hear you!”
Stifling a growl, I went back to eating, but the food tasted more like sawdust than anything it resembled. When my plate was halfway empty, I shoved it aside and looked around to gauge where everyone else was with their meal. Conveniently, most of the plates were empty.
Clearing my throat, I waited for the conversations around me to fade away before addressing the group.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of the assistance you’ve provided in dealing with this crisis so far,” I began. “That said, I would appreciate it if someone filled me in on the plan to deal with the expected attack in the morning.”
Instead of a rush to share, Sylas and Colby exchanged a speaking glance and then turned to Pete, who shook his head. As one, they all turned to Sonny, who grimaced and leaned forward in his seat.
“Chuck,” he said my name gently, leaving me with the distinct impression that I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear. “You know that everyone of us holds you in the highest regard, right?”
I felt my brows begin to creep up but I nodded. “And?”
“And you have experts in many different fields right here,” Sonny continued. “Colby is the best strategist I’ve seen in a long damn time. Ditto for Pete in logistics and Kade in execution,” he said, nodding to each as he named them. “Would you agree with that?”
“Of course,” I assured him, confused about where this was heading. “And you’re not mentioning yourself as an expert in law enforcement,” I pointed out, “but how does that answer my question?”
“Plausible deniability,” Sylas interjected calmly. “Some of the actions that we are going to engage in could cause difficulties for you if we’re caught.”
When I narrowed my eyes at Sonny, he laughed and shook his head. “Get that thought out of your head,” he chuckled. “You know I’m not sanctioning anything illegal. That said, someone needs to be here with the students in the event that they have to be evacuated and we think that should be you.”
“You do, huh?” I huffed. As annoying as it was to be left out of the planning when the cost of failure was literally the fruit of my life’s work, I still had to acknowledge that they were probably right. “And when it’s over?”
“When it’s over, we’ll tell you everything,” Colby assured me. “I promise you that we have a nearly airtight plan. If all goes well, it should gently encourage those Hunters to leave you alone going forward, but you’ll have to trust us.”
