Chapter Five
Auralia
Auralia caught Creed’s eye and held it unblinking as she made her way over to the men.
Once there, she closed the circle, standing between the two, trapping Rou in the center.
“Nervous?” Creed asked.
Auralia lifted her brows high. “About?”
Gator posted his hands on his hips and turned to face Creed. “Are you asking for her hand in marriage ’cause that’s Mamma’s role.”
“You know already.” Auralia painted her tone with exacerbation.
Gator swung back with that same bemused look on his face that he’d come out of the woods wearing. “Of course I know. I saw the dance at my wedding.”
Auralia frowned. “I thought you only had eyes for D-Day that day.”
“For my baby sourette, I have eyes all the way around my head. And my antennae up, always.”
She gave Gator a shove, which was ridiculous because he was a boulder of solid muscle.
“You mad right now?” Gator asked.
“Yeah, I am. That was just damned anti-climactic. Days of hives and not even a soupcon of surprise on your part. Don’t you know how to feign surprise or excitement?”
“Auralia, I saw how you looked at each other at my wedding. I knew something had shifted. Creed wouldn’t be my lifelong friend if I didn’t know he was a good man. He came preapproved.”
“That’s a damned sexist thing to say,” she grumped. “I don’t need your approval.”
“You don’t, that’s for certain. It’s Creed that needs to go through me.” Gator stretched out a fist and tap-punched Creed’s shoulder.
She wrinkled her nose. “Still sexist, patriarchal bullshit.”
“Now, come on, Auralia,” Gator crossed his arms, rocking back on his heels, “that isn’t true. You want to play tit for tat with me? Remember back before I brought D-Day around? Remember Amy?”
Auralia wrinkled her nose. “How could I forget Amy?”
“She told me you had a set down with her and you told her point blank that she weren’t near good enough for me.”
“And what happened?” Auralia lifted her brows and jutted her chin forward, ready to defend her right to safeguard her brother.
“I let her vent, then I told Amy that you have Bayou blood, and you knew what you knew. Then I thanked her for sharing the conversation, thanked her for our time together, and I told her we were done.”
“As simple as that?” Auralia was stunned by this revelation. “I thought you told me it was because your teammate Lynx was kidnapped, and Amy didn’t like that you spent all your time trying to save her.”
“There was definitely that, for sure. I could put up with Amy’s grousing.
She could move on if she wanted, but I weren’t walking her to the door.
” He pointed a finger at Auralia. “You’re a journalist by nature.
If she got your blood to boiling enough that you stepped out of that role in defense of me and my future, you had my full attention.
And you didn’t tell me what you thought of her behind her back.
You told her what you thought of her to her face.
That’s conviction, not—” Gator held up a finger as his face stilled, obviously listening to someone in his ear.
Gator pressed his fingers against his sternum.
“Gator. Copy. Out.” When he let his hand drop, he focused back on Auralia.
“Seren, Creed, and me are on the clock here, and they’re telling me in my ear that the mayor just pulled around back.
We need to get a move on. Listen, are you and Doli wearing the bullet-resistant vests I sent over? ”
“You didn’t say why,” Auralia wanted the scoop both professionally and personally.
Gator tapped her back where he could feel the plates beneath Auralia’s jacket, “I appreciate you doing that. Doli, too?” He looked over at his commander, Striker, and called out, “We’re on the way!
” He turned to Creed and sent a silent message that fixed their features in what Auralia called a battle-ready state.
She’d seen it all over the world and in all manner of cultures. Something dangerous was in the wind.
Gator turned his gaze to Auralia. “Make sure, Doli, too. Y’all be good now. Safe. Today isn’t going to be a walk in the park. Antennae up and ready to get off your X and get gone.”
“Okay, oh Harbinger of Doom.” She grinned, but Auralia felt trepidation congeal in her stomach.
Since Creed was on duty, Auralia didn’t kiss him but squeezed his arm in parting and headed back to the spot where Doli was camped out.
As Auralia approached, Doli tipped her chin up and squinted her eyes. “You look a strange combination of bemused and, yeah, I don’t know, miffed comes to mind.”
Auralia thought that through, and Doli was off, but not that far off. Unsatisfied maybe?
If Gator knew since his wedding, then Mamma knew, too. Hell, everyone in the family probably knew, and they were quiet about it so “the young’uns could tell us in their own time.”
Yeah, she’d admit it. Auralia felt like this whole thing was high schoolish.
She hadn’t meant it to be. She simply wanted to give Creed and herself the space and time without expectations from the family; no snide “and now, when are you and Creed going to tie the knot” pressures would mean that she was exploring her feelings and their relationship without the sideline cheer squad.
They’d made a good decision. But the banality of their coming clean with the air of “We all know” was as irritating as getting rose hip seeds down the throat.
“Gator wants me to make sure you have the vest on,” Auralia said. “Don’t ask me why. I don’t think that even Gator knows.”
“Despite the attack on journalism from last time, what could go wrong today? Do you have any new crimes to accuse the guy of doing?”
“I’ve got nothing but curiosity. Morrison wasn’t originally slated to speak, but his name was suddenly added to the roster.
Color me suspicious. That’s why we’re here.
This is my story, and I don’t want anyone to scoop me.
” Auralia lifted her chin so that Doli would turn and see that Kamar Brown, along with his photojournalist from the International Associated Press, had arrived.
“Good to see you,” Auralia called out. “It feels like deja vu.”
“We figured you’d be here to listen to the Morrison lament and that you might have some pointed questions. The last mob action garnered us a lot of exposure. We thought this might be the ticket to another good ride.”
His wording seemed unfortunate, and the way Auralia received the words made Kamar stop and rethink, but he obviously didn’t see how exploiting a woman’s work and calling it a “good ride” might not be a good look.
“I see you’re not wearing combat helmets,” the videographer called over. “You’re brave as hell.”
Doli opened her jacket to reveal her bullet-resistant vest.
“Shit.” Kamar strode across the short gap between the crews to whisper, “Do you think it’s going to turn to live rounds?”
Auralia grinned. “I think I have a protective big brother who's here on work detail.”
“Iniquus? I saw they have a team out here. Who are they protecting?” Kamar asked, turning as the videographer joined them.
“Mohammed,” the guy said, moving his camera from right to left hand to free himself to shake hands with Doli and Auralia. “Glad to meet you. Heroes, both. Big fan of your work.”
“Thanks,” Auralia said. “Iniquus isn’t protecting anyone. They’re here to provide oversight on the property, is all.”
“That’s what your brother told you?”
“Nope. My brother doesn’t share Iniquus information with me.
But I can guess. Creed Duchamp has his K9 here, and her job is nose only.
If they thought they’d need to take down people brandishing guns, they’d have brought along a tactical K9 who would be overjoyed for the opportunity to bite a bad guy. ”
“No tactical dogs?” Mohammed looked relieved.
“Not this time,” Auralia pointed, “just that little black puppy heading toward the security gate. Looks like the crowd is starting to come in.”
“All right. Well, I’m setting up just over there.” Kamar pointed. “I don’t mean to crowd you. But you two were the money shot last time.”
Again, Doli and Auralia’s scowls at his word choice seemed to leave him perplexed.
“I need to be close enough just in case there’s a repeat performance,” he finished lamely.
As they walked away, Auralia pulled her buzzing phone from her pocket and opened her messages.
Creed: Gator and I both feel a buzz in the air. You?
Creed: I need you to be safe. Look at the topo. We’re in a bowl. Make a plan.
Creed: Get Doli on board. If you were after a story that would make a difference in protecting innocent lives, I’d never say this to you, but this is Asswipe Morrison. Figure out now what will signal you to get off the X.
Creed: Be prepared to lose the close-up on the story, but get something different from high ground.
Creed: You can’t report the story if you are the story.
“Who the hell is pinging you like that?” Doli asked.
Auralia handed Doli her phone as she lifted her voice to call out, “Hey, Kamar,” then flagged the other team back over because it felt like the ethical thing to do.