Page 10

The next day around noon, Faith moved purposefully through the hotel’s lobby, scanning the entrance and the reception area for any problems.

Luckily, everything was running smoothly, despite Saturday being their busiest day. The whirlwind of checkouts had ended an hour ago, and it would be two more hours before the first guests arrived for an early check-in.

She sent a smile over to the lone guest service agent behind the front desk, then entered the back office behind the reception area.

Ben was on the phone, probably handling reservations, and Sabina—their conference services manager and Faith’s best friend—was leaning against one of the desks, studying a conference schedule. Three other employees huddled together in the middle of the large room.

Was there a problem with Delphi, their software system, again?

Faith walked over, her steps silent on the plush carpet, and craned her neck to see the screen.

But the front desk staff wasn’t looking at the computer. They were bending their heads over someone’s phone.

“Twisted double life revealed,” one of the interns read aloud, her voice pitched to a dramatic tone. “Peter MacAllister’s daughter caught on a romantic sunset cruise with a shifter!”

Oh. Faith’s steps faltered. She had known a paparazzo had been following them around the previous night, even though he’d been discreet. But somehow, she hadn’t been prepared to handle the gossip it would cause at her workplace.

Sabina joined their gossiping colleagues and let out a huff. “Come on. What do you expect? It’s a gossip website! You can’t take them seriously. Just because Faith was sitting next to someone on a cruise ship’s observation deck doesn’t mean they’re dating!”

Faith was grateful that Sabina was defending her, but guilt knotted her stomach because this time, the gossip website hadn’t fabricated the story. She was dating Tala.

Well, kind of. Unfortunately, she couldn’t reveal the full truth to any of her colleagues.

The intern scrolled down. “Maybe not, but check out this pic.”

Faith fake-coughed before they could study the second photo.

The group froze, then scattered like a flock of pigeons until only Sabina remained.

Sabina grinned and shook her head. “I can’t believe they fell for that silly article. People really need to use their brain, not just believe every conspiracy theory they read online.”

Faith looked away. If she and Tala continued their charade, the hotel rumor mill would spin out of control, and she didn’t want to drag her friend into this web of deception. She had to say something. “Do you have a minute?”

“Sure,” Sabina said. “But if this is about the glitch with the AV setup in ballroom two—”

“It’s not.” Faith dragged her out of the room, down the hallway, and to her own office. She firmly closed the door behind them, which she rarely did.

Sabina raised her brows. “What’s going on?”

Faith sank onto the two-seater sofa and pulled Sabina down with her. “Um, that gossip article…”

“Don’t worry.” Sabina patted her knee. “No one but the intern believed it.”

“I…” Faith couldn’t hold her gaze.

Sabina’s fingers on her knee stilled. “It’s true?” she asked in a near whisper. “You’re dating a shifter?”

Should she tell her the truth? Sabina deserved it. She had been there for Faith during her coming-out and her divorce. But she wasn’t just Faith’s best friend and her daughter’s godmother. She was also her father’s employee, and he had repeatedly told Faith how important it was to keep the circle of people who knew the truth as small as possible.

So Faith nodded without looking at her. “Her name is Tala.”

“Hey.” Sabina grasped both of her shoulders and pulled Faith around until she was facing her. “You could have told me.”

“I know.”

“Then why didn’t you? You know I’ve got nothing against shape-shifters.”

Faith looked up into her friend’s kind dark eyes. “It’s still very new, and I don’t know where it’s going and…” She waved her hand in a vague circle. “It’s complicated.”

Sabina chuckled huskily. “You can say that again! Does your father know?”

While Faith couldn’t tell her the truth, she wanted to stay as close to it as possible, so she said, “He knows.”

“Oh boy. Let me guess… The way he reacted when he found out you’re bi seemed like a big celebration in comparison?”

“Something like that,” Faith mumbled.

Right on cue, her father’s unmistakable baritone filtered through the door.

Sabina stiffened. “He probably saw the gossip article too. Do you need me to run interference?”

Gratefully, Faith squeezed her hand. “No, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” Sabina searched her face. “I don’t want him to disinherit you or something. You know I’m counting on you being my boss one day so I can slack off at work without consequences.”

Faith laughed. “That’s your grand master plan?”

“Yep. Casual Fridays, paid nap breaks, free hotel stays for employees…”

A knock came at the door.

They looked at each other.

“It’s fine,” Faith said again. Then she called, “Come on in.”

As the door swung open, Sabina rose and smoothed down her pantsuit with both hands. “Hi, Mr.MacAllister. Good to see you. I was just about to check on ballroom two.” Without staying around to chat, as she normally did, she slipped past him, and the door clicked shut.

Faith’s father glanced over his shoulder. “What was that?”

“She read a gossip article about yesterday’s date.” Faith scratched a speck of Play-Doh from one of Chloe’s visits off the couch. “The entire front desk staff did.”

Her father crossed the room and sat next to her. “We knew this would get complicated.”

Did we? Faith had to admit she hadn’t thought this through. She had said yes because he had asked her to, but she hadn’t considered all the consequences for her own life. “I hope it was worth it. Did the bug transmit any interesting conversations?”

He grimaced. “If you find endless discussions about grocery lists interesting…”

“What?” Faith really couldn’t see Tala having boring conversations. Their fake date the day before had been many things, but boring hadn’t been one of them.

“Apparently, she gave the flowers to her elderly human neighbors.”

Faith slumped against the back of the sofa and rubbed her forehead. “So it was all for nothing.”

Her father reached over and patted her shoulder. “Don’t say it like that. You found out a lot of details that might be helpful down the road.”

Faith snorted. “Which details? That Wrasa eat a lot, don’t like loud music, and are good cuddlers?”

He stared at her.

Ugh. Faith had shared everything about her date as soon as she had returned from it. Well, almost everything. She had left out the little tidbit about Wrasa being good cuddlers…and for some reason she didn’t fully understand, she also hadn’t mentioned chocolate being poisonous to them. Maybe because she didn’t want to prove Tala right by immediately reporting that fact to her dad and HASS.

Her father scratched his beard. “I don’t want to know how you found out that piece of information, do I?”

“It was completely innocent,” Faith said, but her cheeks warmed.

“I know. Noah and Violet would have stepped in if the shifter had crossed a line.”

Faith turned on the couch to face him. “Noah and Violet? You mean, they were there? On the ship?”

Her father nodded. “I sent them to keep an eye on the shifter. Make sure you’re safe.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was better that way,” he answered. “If you didn’t know, you couldn’t accidentally give it away by looking around for them.”

His logic was sound, but still… Faith wasn’t sure she liked having two members of HASS follow her without her knowledge. “But what if Tala noticed? Maybe that was the reason she was so reluctant to reveal any information about the shifters.” Faith paused. Damn. She had slipped back into the old habit of calling the Wrasa that because her father kept using the term.

“Hmm. We’ll have to think of something for the next date.”

Next date… Faith swallowed. “So we’ll keep going?”

“Of course,” her father said fiercely. “If she was that secretive, they’re hiding something. You need to gain her trust and find out what.”

Faith sighed. It seemed she would have to figure out how to bug a smoked ham after all.

~ ~ ~

Tala stared at the faces of the nine councilors on the Zoom call. “Could you repeat that, sir? I think the connection cut out.”

“No, it didn’t.” Jeff Madsen snarled. “You heard me just fine, and you’ll follow orders.”

Tala struggled against the urge to smash the lid of her laptop shut and end the call. “I’m a highly decorated Saru. A member of one of the most powerful Syak families in the country. A respected alpha. I don’t do TikTok.”

“You’re doing it now,” Madsen said. “We can’t rely on human tabloids and their unpredictable reporting, if you can even call it that. We need to control the narrative, and in this day and age, the best way to do that is through social media.”

Dammit. He was probably right, but that didn’t mean Tala had to like it.

“We’ll send you a social media consultant from our PR unit to help you,” Madsen said.

A fellow Saru to witness her humiliation? No, thank you. “I don’t think that’s necessary, sir. I’m sure we can manage a few social media posts.” Madsen didn’t look convinced, so she quickly added, “This isn’t about creating highly polished posts; it’s about coming across as authentic, right?”

Even through the screen, Madsen’s gaze seemed to drill into her. “Right. But you’d better not mess this up. I’m expecting to see at least three different disgustingly cute couples’ activity reels from you before the end of next week!”

He ended the call without waiting for a reply. Not that Tala could have answered with anything but “yes, sir.”

She let out a sound that was half growl, half groan. “But I’m not doing any dance challenges,” she said to the now-empty screen, then smashed her laptop closed.