“Are you strong enough for a trip to the city?” Lonergan asked, looking over his shoulder at the gorilla shifter.
“Kevin?” Sailor said, stepping aside so the medic could join them in the living room.
“As amazing as it sounds, he’s fully recovered,” Kevin said. “I’m releasing him from my care, though I still think he should take it easy for a few more days before returning to full duty, just in case.”
“Now we just have to figure out who the intruder was.” Kodiak finally broke his silence.
“You might want to check with the governor’s security team. I think he might be one of them,” Lily said.
“I need to see the body,” Talia said looking from her Daddy to Kodiak. “I know them all, and they’ve all worked for the governor since he took office years ago. He didn’t like change in the men around him.”
The next morning, Sailor followed Lily into the offices of the Department of Special Investigations. He was about as comfortable as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, but he had to protect Lily from whatever might come at her.
After Talia had indeed identified the dead intruder as a member of her father’s security team, the entire population of Bratburg gathered in the dining hall and had a meeting. The Daddies grew growly as the Littles watched wide-eyed without saying a word.
Lily tearfully explained why she’d come to Bratburg, but that she’d not found any reason for the governor to close the place, and even if she had, she could not tell him because she loved the Institute and all the Littles, and could not imagine her newly chosen family being broken up.
After Lonergan said she’d been well punished for her deception, and Sailor stood up as her mate even though everyone already knew it, she was forgiven by the community. The Littles welcomed her into their group with hugs and a few tears of their own as they imagined what she’d been going through.
Then they began planning. Patrols would double while Kodiak, Lonergan, and Talia joined them in a trip to the capital. Kodiak and Harrigan, the helicopter pilot, would deliver the intruder’s body to a local funeral home while the two couples headed in different directions. Lonergan and Talia would visit the local television news station and newspaper while he and Lily went to her office and delivered the report she’d written the night before.
Walking down the hall into a large room filled with desks and chairs and people, Sailor tensed. Only Lily taking his hand kept him moving forward to her desk at the back of the room. He carried an empty box in his other hand.
She was nearly done packing her personal belongings into the box when a voice bellowed across the room, “Lily, is that really you?”
A man stepped out of his office and approached fast enough that Sailor’s protective instincts kicked in. He stepped in between them and gave a low-throated growl of warning.
Lily elbowing him in the back shocked him. Turning, he frowned at her. “What was that for?”
“He’s my boss, the one we need to talk to. Be nice,” Lily said as she rose from her rolling office chair and stepped in front of him. “Hi, Ian. Yes, it’s me. I’ve come to file my report and clear out my desk.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Clear out your desk? Let’s go into my office and talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. Here’s my report and the documentation to back it up. Bratburg is not abusing women, is not hurting anyone unless you think a consensual spanking is abuse. The women are happy and adored and they love the men who have claimed them. On the other hand, this assignment is a vindictive attempt on the governor to tear his daughter away from her mate and close down a facility that helps the women who are sent there. And yes, I’m clearing out my desk. My resignation is effective immediately.”
Sailor watched as she picked up her box and looked at him. “Come on, Sailor. I’m done here.”
He immediately took the box from her with a stern look. “You don’t carry boxes while I’m around.”
Before Ian could gather his wits to argue, Lily led the way back to the elevators. They were still waiting when Ian came charging after them.
“Lily, you can’t leave. I have another assignment for the Chameleon,” he said, sounding desperate.
Lily waited until the elevator doors opened before looking at him. “Find yourself another Chameleon. I’m done. Oh and tell the governor that the body of the security man he sent to kidnap his daughter has been delivered to Cotton and Burke’s funeral home. He had an unfortunate accident after trespassing on private property. All of that is included in the report on my desk. Goodbye, Ian. It’s been interesting working with you.”
Sailor shifted the box to hold it under one arm and wrapped the other around Lily to pull her into his body once the doors closed. “I’m so proud of you, little flower. Are you sure you want to return to Bratburg? It sounds like you’re an important person.”
Lily buried her face in his shirt and shook her head. “I was good at the job, but I’d much rather play with Talia, Irish, and the others and have you read me fairytales at Bratburg. If I getbored, maybe Lonergan and Kodiak will let me join the security team.”
“Over my dead body,” Sailor stated flatly. “If you really want to work, maybe you can help Chef in the kitchen, or Sullivan can find you a job helping take care of the animals.”
She dropped a kiss on his chest before looking up at him. “Okay, Papa. Playing with the animals would be a lot more fun than tromping through the woods. Let’s go to the apartment and pack quickly so we can go home.”
Taking a deep breath, he nodded. “That sounds like a very good plan. I love you, little flower. More than you’ll ever be able to understand.”
Lily smiled up at him with tears filling her eyes. “I love you, too, Papa. So, so very much.”
EPILOGUE
