9. Marilee
Marilee
Well that was a fun way to spend my morning. Not. I’d been expecting a dull day of following Hazel around Seattle’s tourist attractions. Instead I was fighting off goons who thought she was someone else.
Or who knew her real identity…
There was more to my little diplomat than she let on. I saw the way she froze for a half second when that first guy called her Moira.
“Start at the beginning,” Lois demanded as we settled into one of the conference rooms at the Sapphic Security offices.
Around the table, several teammates sat at attention, ready to help. I loved that about my team.
“We were with a group of conference attendees taking a bus tour of the local sites,” I began. “We ended up at Pike Place Market, and these thugs attacked us while we were watching the guys who throw the fish.”
“I love those guys,” my teammate Allie said. “It’s unbelievable the way they hold onto the fish.”
Lois glared at her before asking me, “Random attack?”
I shook my head, then looked over at Hazel. “I don’t think so.”
“What do you mean you don’t think so? Christ on a cracker, you’re giving me a friggin’ migraine over here. What’s going on?”
“They seemed to think Hazel was someone else…,” I started.
Hazel put her hand on my arm, and her touch made zings of electricity travel up my arm. Inside me, my inner animals settled, both of them.
“Hazel Bryant isn’t my real name,” she began.
“I knew it!” Wanda said triumphantly. “Your background is way too clean.”
“You were running checks on me?” Hazel asked, seeming irritated.
“We do that on all clients and their known associates,” my coworker told her. “Standard procedure.”
“Go on,” I urged Hazel. “Tell us what’s really going on so we can help you.”
She looked around, her gaze lingering on Lois and then me before returning to Lois.
“I have privilege here, right?”
For the first time since I picked her up yesterday, Hazel seemed a little uncertain.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Like when you talk to your attorney and they can’t disclose anything without your permission.”
“There’s no privilege here,” Lois told her. “We’re not the friggin’ witness protection program you know. But we would only disclose information if it was absolutely necessary, like to comply with a subpoena or to save a child. Otherwise we treat client matters with great confidentiality.”
My mate nodded, looked around the table again, then brought two fingers to her temple, rubbing on it.
“My real name is Moira O’Brian,” she said slowly. “My parents Colm and Elizabeth O’Brian have been running a well-known criminal enterprise since… well, way before I was born.”
“The O’Brians?” Wanda started frantically tapping on her laptop, then quickly looked back at Hazel. “Your parents are Irish mafia?”
Hazel shrugged. “They’re one of many crime families who’ve been operating out of Ireland, the U.S., and Canada for years. They specialize in rare items, antiques and old books and high-end jewelry, that kind of thing.”
When no one asked any questions, Hazel continued. “I was trained from birth to be a criminal, how to steal and run a scam. I was raised to take over for my parents in their old age, me and my brother. But then Liam…”
Her voice cracked and she took a shuddering breath.
“My brother died eight years ago, back when I was a senior in college. I don’t know the real story.
My parents claimed it was a hit from a rival family, him being in the wrong place at the right time, but word on the street was that he was trying to run a deal for my parents and he got made.
Liam didn’t have the same instincts as my parents, he was too trusting.
Whatever happened, someone took him out.
Gunned him down on the street and left him there. He was only eighteen.”
Deep inside me both my wolf and my vamp were begging me to comfort her, although I wasn’t sure how much I could do, especially with my boss at the table. Subtly I moved my leg closer, pressing my knee against her thigh in silent support.
We were all quiet for a couple of minutes, other than Wanda, who continued to tap away on her laptop. No doubt she was running a deep background check on Hazel’s family now.
“What happened after your brother passed?” Lois asked in the gentle tone she normally reserved for her mate.
“I graduated college a few months later, and the night I graduated, my parents informed me that I was now working full-time for the family. That wasn’t a surprise, I’d known that was coming.
But they also said they were arranging for me to marry the oldest son of another family, so we could join forces with them and take over the entire eastern part of the United States. ”
Hazel paused, slowly breathing in a long breath. She was good at hiding her emotions, not that it was surprising given the family she’d grown up with. If it wasn’t for the sensitivity of our tenuous mate bond, I’d never be able to tell how much it was taking for her to tell the story.
“I acted like I was going along with it for the next couple of years, but behind the scenes I planned carefully,” she continued.
“I worked hard to de-digitize everything that tied me to my identity. I opened up an offshore account and transferred all my funds there where no one could trace them, including a trust my grandparents left for me that I got control of when I turned twenty-one. Then I gathered up as much money and easy to sell items as I could from my parents’ house, taking it all with me. ”
“You stole money from your parents?” Wanda asked, her tone surprised.
I frowned, but she ignored me, her attention still on that damned laptop. Hazel’s spine stiffened but her face remained impassive.
“Yes. I did what I had to do so I could save myself. I didn’t want to be a criminal or be sold in marriage to some loser.”
“How did you get away?” Lois asked, a thread of impatience in her tone now.
My boss did not like long, drawn-out stories. She told me once that she never watched a movie that was longer than ninety minutes because she got too bored sitting still for so long.
“I waited until they were both out of town for a few days on a job, then I bought a used Toyota Corolla with cash and headed towards Canada.”
“Why Canada?” I asked.
“I was born there. I was six weeks premature, and my parents were both in Canada at the time, working some job I’m sure.
Since I was born on Canadian soil, I automatically have dual citizenship.
I’d already gotten a Canadian passport, so I headed to Quebec, where I changed my name and started my new life. I’ve been hiding out ever since.”
Just then Martha knocked on the door. Like me, my coworker was half shifter and half vamp.
Unlike me, her inner being had melded into something unique that incorporated both creatures.
I’d never seen her in her shifted state, but apparently it was so horrifying that her mate passed out the first time she saw Martha shift.
“Lois, I have an update on the guys we picked up.”
When she paused Lois gestured at her impatiently. “Well? Do you want us to give you a golden invitation to share or are you going to tell us what’s going on?”
Martha winced before she caught herself. It was hard not to be intimidated by Lois, especially when she was in her alpha wolf mode – which was basically always.
“Those two guys are freelancers. They work for the highest bidder, and right now the highest bidder is the Rossi family. They’re Italian mafia who have put a hefty price tag on Hazel’s head. Their orders are to bring her in alive.”
“For what purpose?” I asked, even though I had a bad feeling I knew the answer.
“The O’Brians are rumored to have double crossed the Italians on some big deal that they partnered on.”
“There’s no honor among thieves,” Hazel muttered.
“They plan to use Hazel for leverage to get their stolen goods back from the O’Brians.”
“We’ve got another problem,” Wanda called from the other end of the table.
We all turned to look at her.
“Word is out on the dark web about the retrieval efforts. Colm O’Brian is offering to double the price for anyone who brings Hazel to him first. Every mercenary bounty hunter in the country is gunning for Hazel now.”
My mate dropped her head to the table and tapped her forehead against the surface a few times.
“I’m never going to get away from them,” she said softly. “I might as well turn myself in and let them kill me now.”
“That’s one option,” Wanda said wryly.
Hazel inhaled sharply, and I sensed a flash of fear and helplessness wash over her.
I heard a howling noise the instant before I fell off my chair. My entire body felt like it was on fire. Instinctively I rolled to my hands and knees, gasping in pain. It felt like my skin was tearing off and my bones were breaking. What was happening?
Hazel gasped in shock, jumping away from me like she was afraid.
I looked down to see my hands turning into paws, covered with thick fur and ending with sharp claws. My face seemed to expand, and I could suddenly smell everything in the building, and everything outside too.
Holy shit. For the first time in my life, I was turning into a wolf. I didn’t even know that was possible.
I can’t believe you let that creature take control, my vamp grumbled in irritation.
Must protect mate, the wolf said, her entire focus on Hazel.
Why she came out now and not earlier when we were actually in danger, I had no idea.
Because she’s a simple creature, my vamp snapped.
My wolf moved in front of my mate, separating her from my coworkers and staring them all down.
“For the love of all that’s holy, stand the fuck down,” Lois growled, her voice deeper than I’d ever heard it.
She gave me what I can only describe as aggressive eye contact, and I felt my wolf growing calmer, tilting her head to the side to show her submission.
Stupid dog’s afraid of your boss, my vamp sneered, clearly disgusted.
Lois growled again, and both of my inner beings shut up.
I leaned against Hazel’s leg, thrilled when she slid her fingers in my fur and started to stroke my head, right between my ears. It felt great.
“Bella, go find Marilee some clothes, she’s going to need them when she shifts back to her human form,” she pointed at my coworker, then turned to me. “Come on Martin, I’ll help you figure out how to shift back in the gym. Wanda will take care of Hazel while we’re gone.”
She patted her thick thigh like she was calling a pet dog, and of course my wolf wanted to obey. She might have just woken up, but clearly she recognized an alpha wolf when she saw one.
I sent a warning look in Wanda’s direction, silently ordering her to take good care of my mate, then followed Lois out of the conference room.
It only took a couple of tries before my boss was able to coach me back into my human form.
It was the kind of thing shifters learned when they were toddlers, but since my wolf hadn’t made itself known before now, I’d never gotten the shifting lessons that everyone else did.
It was definitely different from shifting into my vamp, which happened in stages and didn’t involve a full body.
I had to say, despite her natural impatience, Lois was very supportive in helping me shift back to human.
At some point Bella brought in some clothes for me since mine had gotten shredded when I shifted in the conference room.
I grabbed them and quickly got dressed. Supernatural beings weren’t modest like the humans, and for the most part nudity didn’t bother us at all, but I really didn’t want to have a serious conversation with my boss when I was naked.
“When did your wolf wake up?” Lois asked with the weary air of someone who already knew the answer but was hoping I’d say something else.
“At the airport. When I saw Hazel for the first time.”
Lois was already shaking her head.
“Why does this keep happening to me?” Lois yelled, a vein protruding from her forehead the way it always did when she was particularly angry. “Every time I send one of you idiots out on a solo job you pick up a damned mate. That’s it, you’re off the case.”
I stood up as tall as I could and looked her in the eye, ignoring every instinct that told me to look away.
“I’m her mate, Lois. And I’m going to protect her.”
My boss sighed. “Somehow I knew you were going to say that.”