Rolling his shoulders, Spencer got in the shower to quickly wash off any remaining blood before drying off and getting dressed. He got the coffeepot brewing and scrounged up a metal to-go coffee thermos from the cabinets. He had to settle for drinking his coffee black because he hadn’t had a chance to go grocery shopping yet. Coffee was coffee, and he called for a rideshare on his app before leaving the condo wearing Takoma’s wool coat and ignoring Fatima’s judgmental stare.
Fatima didn’t join him on the ride to the SOA field office, but she reappeared on the elevator ride up to the floor he was working out of. The receptionist smiled at him in greeting but offered Fatima an actual pastry. Fatima took it daintily and submitted to pets from the receptionist, who cooed at her.
“Spoiled brat,” Spencer muttered under his breath as they headed down the hallway toward Maricela’s office.
Fatima merely flirted her tail at him as she chomped on the pastry, swallowing it in bites and leaving a trail of crumbs behind her. Spencer led the way to Maricela’s office, smiling tiredly at Olivia once he arrived. Maricela’s executive assistant stared at him with wide eyes before shaking her head.
“Let me get you cleared to go in. Maricela said she wanted to speak with you when you arrived and to not make you wait,” Olivia said.
Spencer cooled his heels for close to a minute before Olivia waved him into Maricela’s office. He pushed open the door and wasn’t at all surprised to be met with a thunderous expression on Maricela’s face. Thankfully, her ire wasn’t directed at him.
“I’ve seen the pictures of the crash site. The hunters ran you off the road and shot up the rental,” Maricela said with an angry edge to her tone. “I understand from the reports you declined medical care?”
“Scrapes and sore muscles aren’t worth an ambulance ride to the emergency room,” he said as he took the seat she waved him to.
Maricela eyed him critically. “You’re moving well.”
“I travel with a med-kit.” It was the truth, even if he was lying about the healing process. “I’ll need to borrow a car from the local motor pool.”
“Olivia handled that this morning. She’ll give you the keys when you leave my office.” Maricela rested an elbow on her desk as she leaned forward, studying him. “You mentioned in your call that you were outside Seattle at the behest of the god pack alphas but didn’t go into detail.”
“I wasn’t really in a secure location to chat about confidential case information.” At her raised eyebrow, Spencer sighed. “Yeah, I know I’m here now. They’re worried about the packs under their protection. They wanted me to check on one outside the city who might have a possessed pack member. I was on my way there when we were attacked.”
“We?”
“Their dire came with me. The pack in question wasn’t going to approach me without a god pack member present to facilitate introductions.”
“I take it you didn’t make it to the pack.”
“No. I’ll need to go out there again at some point in the next day or so.”
“Perhaps you should take Ross with you when you go.”
Spencer’s knee-jerk reaction to that wasno, but he knew he couldn’t exactly get away with such a strong denial. “I think if I take anyone else with me, the meeting won’t happen, and I need to know if their pack member is possessed or not.”
Maricela frowned at him. “This needs to be a team effort, Bailey. Especially after last night. I want my people to have support.”
“I understand that, but the werecreature community will talk to me. I don’t think they will talk to anyone else.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because I know the alphas of the New York City god pack, and they’ve already vouched for me.” He held up a hand before Maricela could protest. “Patrick did it as a favor to me. It didn’t cost the SOA anything.”
“The SAIC will need to be updated that you reached out to him regardless. Patrick Collins is typically only brought on for high-level cases.”
“Which this one could conceivably be considered as such.” Maricela tipped her head in agreement, and Spencer pressed on. “I’ll keep working with the team on everything else, but leave the outreach to the werecreature community about this possible possession to me for now.”
“Will that include the case we’re taking over from the PCB?”
Spencer thought about what the hunters had shouted on the road, about how they’d anticipated his magic, even if they hadn’t anticipated him being a mage. “I think it’s best the Cascade Coven still believe my affiliation isn’t with the SOA for as long as possible.”
“So you want to perpetuate an affiliation with the local Night Court?”
“Someone aligned with the preternatural community in general,” Spencer hedged, not wanting to mention the presence of that other vampire in the woods. The last thing he wanted was for the government to be worried about warring Night Courts and turn their attention to Takoma. “The hunters knew I had magic. I didn’t use any at the gala or when the poltergeist led us to the property in Denny-Blaine. The only way Caitlin and her coven would know I can do magic is if the poltergeist informed them of our fight in the hotel.”
“You’re talking as if the poltergeist is sentient.”
“It’s something.”
