The ballroom was filled with the sound of clapping.
“A huge thank you to all for all that you have done for this campaign, we truly would not have gotten this far without your generous contributions. Now, I promised my family I wouldn’t do too much electioneering in my speech but…”
I zoned out after that, my eyes tracing the crowd despite there being really no need to. Every inch of this place was watched by the Secret Service. Hell, I was pretty sure they were also posted up on most surrounding rooftops as well because POTUS was here.
Instead, I focused on Lennon who looked as bored as I was feeling. She was poking at the salmon on her plate, her expression neutral but her gray eyes dull, like she wished she was anywhere but here.
Then they shifted to mine, like she could feel me staring at her, and she smiled her first real smile of the night.
My chest warmed.
“Hey, stop with the dopey look,” Dallas growled, elbowing me in the side. “Vice President Holloway is looking at you.”
I jumped, glancing over to the older man who was staring at me with his gray eyes that were nearly identical to his granddaughter’s, seeming to measure me up as he glanced at Lennon and then back at me.
“Now eat! Enjoy the food and the ridiculously priced wine. We will reconvene on the rooftop in an hour for the last part of our evening,” President Holloway said, her gaze sweeping over the entire crowd like a queen presiding over her court, before sitting down to her own meal.
Vice President Holloway did the same, but I did catch him whispering something to his wife who shot a surreptitious glance my way before shaking her head.
“What part of keeping this a secret do you not get?” Dallas said, his voice almost a whisper as we stood shoulder to shoulder. “You’re literally eye-fucking each other.”
“Language,” Maverick warned from Dallas’s other side, though he didn’t even look our way, his eyes doing their usual scan of the crowd before he pushed away from the wall. “I’m going to go check in with the agents on the roof. Dallas you’re with me, Brooks you and Zeke stay on her.”
Brooks nodded once. The alpha had been uncharacteristically silent when it came to his brother tonight and I was itching to ask him about it, so I waited until the other two disappeared through the doors before slanting a glance over at him.
“What’s going on between you and Dallas?”
The man snorted, shaking his head with disgust. “He’s a stubborn ass, that’s what’s going on.”
I snorted at that. “Yeah and water is wet, B, but that’s not really anything new. It’s never made you ignore each other like this.”
Brooks’ expression was pinched and he just shrugged. “We’ve never disagreed so hardcore like this before either. Dallas has always looked out for me when he thinks I’m making the wrong decision, but it’s not usually a decision he also wants to make and is in complete denial about.”
There had never been a time in the near-decade that we’d worked together that our team had been so out of sync.
Though, I guessed it had something to do with the rough transition from ‘team’ to ‘pack.’
That would continue to be tough if Dallas wasn’t on board.
“So, what do we do?” I asked, movement at the head table catching my eye. Lennon was getting up, her face suddenly flushed pink.
I pushed away from the wall before Brooks could answer and hurried down the little pathway that had been created on the side of the ballroom for the various security agents of the guests to use, Brooks hot on my heels.
“I can go to the bathroom on my own,” Lennon told me bluntly when we made it to her before she could even reach the doors. Her complexion was completely flushed, like she was running some kind of fever.
Alarm bells started to go off somewhere in the back of my mind.
“Not how that works,” Brooks told her brightly as he held it open for her and gestured for her to pass through.
Before I stepped after her, I felt a heavy gaze on the back of my head. Turning, I found the eyes of Bunny Holloway locked onto mine.
She nodded in acknowledgement before going back to her dinner.
Strange, I thought as I hurried to follow Lennon through the lobby that was almost entirely empty save for the occasional employee or Secret Service agent.
The restrooms were located behind the check-in desk down a long, winding hallway and by the time we made it there Lennon had started to sway on her feet.
“Whoa,” I said as her knees buckled and I caught her, dropping to the ground with her as I held her burning hot body to mine. “What’s happening? Are you all right?”
