“I can take you home before I head to Tempest if you want,” Jono said.
Patrick shook his head, stepping back a little. Wade had grabbed his carry-on and was already heading toward the exit on his own. “No, it’s fine. I’ve been gone for almost two weeks. I should show my face again. Let people know I’m back.”
“If you’re sure.”
“You can drop Wade off first if you want.”
“Nah, he said he was going to do homework at the Starbucks down the street.”
“You sure that’s a good idea? He might drink five lattes with extra espresso shots in each one and then be up for two days straight.”
Jono laughed, curling his arm around Patrick’s shoulder and pulling him close. He turned to press a kiss to the top of Patrick’s head, breathing in his scent that didn’t smell anything like pack, just him. Jono fixed that once they made it to the Mustang, taking a minute to press his scent into Patrick using both hands pressed to his neck. Jono distracted him from the scent-marking by kissing him and didn’t stop until Wade cleared his throat pointedly.
“There are cameras,” Wade said primly. “Don’t give the security guards a show.”
Patrick snorted. “Like Jono would ever do that. He’s not an exhibitionist.”
“He ran around the park in Chicago while naked. He does the same thing here.”
“Not with Patrick,” Jono said firmly. “Now get in the car.”
Wade scrambled into the back seat, and Patrick took the front passenger one. Jono got behind the steering wheel and started the engine. Getting out of the parking garage was slow, but they eventually got on the road.
“What happened to the invitation?” Jono asked once Patrick had set a silence ward into the Mustang’s frame.
Patrick stretched out his legs and reached over to rest his hand on Jono’s thigh. The touch made Jono smile, settling him in a way nothing else had since Patrick had been gone.
“It’s being held in the Repository under armed guards, spells, and wards. The PIA is taking lead on investigating chatter that might be related to it. The SOA will still be looking into domestic leads, but the general consensus is the auction will probably not happen on US soil.”
Jono frowned. “You really think the auction will be held out of the country?”
“I think anything is possible. Ethan got his mercenary bona fides in Europe after he fled the country when I was a kid. Westberg didn’t get all those artifacts in his mini-museum house from the States. He liked to travel. The SOA has a forensic accountant digging into his personal and business records right now, but that’s going to take a couple of months to sort out.”
“But he’s dead. Is the government still suing him?” Wade asked.
“We’re suing his estate and looking at other members of his family. He wasn’t the only one signing off on those pawnshop receipts. The Westbergs did a lot of business with Odin’s old alias.”
“What about the Dominion Sect?” Jono asked.
Patrick sighed, his fingers digging lightly into Jono’s thigh before relaxing. “They skipped town. Maybe even the country.”
The farther the distance between Patrick and his twin, the better, in Jono’s opinion.
“I’m okay with a holiday from their bollocks.”
“I think that’s all of us.” Patrick settled a little more in his seat, fiddling with one of the air vents. “Now we just have to deal with Estelle and Youssef’s bullshit.”
“They’ve stepped back a bit from testing our territory boundaries now that every time they do they get reminded the vampires are involved. It won’t keep them away forever though.”
“At least Lucien’s good for something. Guard dog is a good fit for him.”
Jono laughed. “Never let him hear you say that.”
“I’m notstupid.”
Conversation steered away from Patrick’s work to pack updates and the goings-on in New York while Patrick had been in Chicago. They hit rush hour on the drive into Manhattan, but Jono didn’t mind the traffic much, not with Patrick by his side.
By the time they reached the Alphabet City neighborhood Tempest was located in, the bar had been open for a good hour already. They dropped Wade off at the Starbucks a couple of blocks away before circling the surrounding blocks until they got lucky with a parking spot.
