Page 21 of Escalating Alpha (Seraphine Thomas #18)

I flinched when Tiago stepped off the jet… And I wasn’t the only one. He was not who was supposed to be coming and handling the ancient coven—getting us all on the same page and helping to protect Sera. No, he was the eldest “child” of the head of the council.

That was still alive at least.

He was too dangerous for Chicago, and I didn’t like him being near Sera.

And that wasn’t my jealousy and worry that I could lose her talking.

Not when the others reacted the same way.

Luckily, Sera was late in arriving, so I was able to pull him off to the side… Not that it mattered since we would all hear it anyways.

“What fucking bullshit is this?” I seethed.

“Don’t make accusations that you can’t handle the fallout of, Carter,” Tiago said calmly as he moved his hand to my chest and gently pushed me back. “I asked for this. This isn’t a move from the head of the council. I did it.” He sighed when all of us gave him a look that we weren’t buying it.

No one maneuvered the head of the council. No one. Everyone was afraid of him. He was the oldest living vampire on record and crazy powerful.

Terrifyingly powerful.

He scrubbed his hand over his face and I felt some sort of electrical interference. Most would think like a bubble put over us and they wouldn’t be wrong, but that was more magic. This was power.

His power. The power of his bloodline.

“I asked because—I’m not looking to take your place. The deal is—”

“You want out,” Orson whispered, not hiding his shock well.

Yeah, I felt the same.

“The right hand of god doesn’t want out,” Emilio drawled.

“He does when he wants to fucking live,” Tiago bit out. “You have all heard the whispers about what Gaige does when his children get too powerful. I am not his first like he or people lie. He’s over fifteen thousand years old and that’s only what he admits to. It’s more. I’m seven thousand. You really think he didn’t sire anyone for over eight thousand years?”

“He kills them when they become a threat,” I muttered. “We all know that.”

“Yeah, and I knew that when he turned me. He’s actually fair and warns people. I thought thousands of years as the right hand of god was amazing—much better than my pitiful mortal human life.”

“Except no one wants to die,” Emilio sighed.

“Except I never got to live ,” Tiago corrected. “I have served and been a faithful dog. Seven thousand years being his dog. He is not Apollo or even Enzo where they allow freedoms or vacations. I made a deal with the devil and have served him, not lived .”

That was fair and I’d felt the same, but Apollo was far from the devil. The head of the council… Calling him a devil wasn’t harsh enough.

“What does he really want out of this? If he’s never let anyone go before, you can’t think he really will.”

“He might me because I truly do not want power. I want away from the council and to have peace. He’s known this. The others wanted to have a seat at the table. I want to not even been the same fucking room as the table.”

That seemed like a hard pill to swallow, but—I really didn’t trust people.

“That didn’t answer what he wants out of this,” Emilio pushed.

“Not to hurt your mistress,” Tiago promised. “He doesn’t want this for himself. God already has everything.”

“Enough dancing,” I snapped. “What does he want?”

“He wants the blood production ramped up. The council is finally paying attention to how hard it is for vampires to get blood and how often it’s tampered with when they pay out the ass. He wants to know more about how she’s pulling it off in the hopes other strong packs could implement it in other countries that are struggling but would have protections.”

“It’s hard to buy any of this when he was so against the idea of a coven of ancients,” Orson pushed. “He hates it and wants it gone and—”

“Not anymore,” Tiago said firmly. He sighed when it was clear that none of us were buying that. “He didn’t live this long being stupid. Over half the council are huge supporters of the ancient coven and having a safe place for their children to retire. Gaige simply couldn’t understand how others wouldn’t want power. He is a man who—power is life.

“So to him everyone would want that seat at the table. Except it’s been years and no moves have been made. They had to pressure Goran into taking the job, and he only did after they promised they would make the position truly useful and start helping. He wasn’t going to jump into it to be their rat and make covens suffer.

“We all know he didn’t want to climb ranks. But it’s also Brutus—he’s thriving in peace. His books bring joy to the world and the real truth of history. The humans have a new view of vampires and ancients with his works. Gaige finally understands that it’s a disservice to humanity to cull us or assume we all want his job.

“Does he trust this? No, but that’s why he sent me. I won’t lie to him. Not that he has to force me, I won’t do it. I never have and I never will because I am not, nor will I ever be, a threat to him. I think he finally believes I want Brutus’s life after serving thousands of years as the right hand of god. He can comprehend it.”

“So you’re still a spy,” I growled.

“I’m not here to spy, but I won’t lie when asked,” he corrected.

“Then you’re useless because we can’t show you everything,” I snapped. I held up my hand when he opened his mouth. “Don’t. Don’t give me that bullshit that it shouldn’t matter if she has nothing to hide. He’s not showing his bank accounts and passwords to the council either because that’s how people get taken over.

“You could see everything to facilitate the world’s easiest invasion where people waltz right in knowing everything from guard rotations to camera locations to every password to take over the systems. And you would tell Gaige. That’s too dangerous for you to be here and…” I swallowed a sigh when I felt Sera arrive.

Mostly because she was too kind and would give this guy a chance.

“What is the problem here?” she asked as she walked towards us, taking everything in. “If people are upset because I wasn’t waiting with my tail wagging for this delayed arrival then I’m going to be annoyed. Rightfully annoyed.”

It was hard not to snort. How did this woman seriously think she was unlovable? She was amazing and easy to love.

Even those of us who were so broken and didn’t have the emotional ability to love.

“I am not the child they expected, Mistress,” Tiago said as he bowed to her. “My name is Tiago.”

“Nice to meet you, but I’m going with ‘Master’ because most in the US think it’s a unisex term and I get slut-shamed at every turn. Please explain it to the others and do your best to adjust going forward.” She glanced past him to the dozens of ancients and sighed. “Okay, so let’s get this show on the road and have the big meeting. It will be super fun.”

“Are you okay?” Sander asked as he moved closer.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “The Navy wants to move on this idea of an ancient team. The help you guys gave them only solidified it, and the Secretary of the Navy wants me to put my name to the ones who will be on the team since so many are against it. But the only ones I would put my name to is you guys and I fucking need you.”

“The best thing to do then would be to—” Tiago started to say.

“Why are you talking?” she asked him, giving him a look like he’d grown another head.

He frowned. “I was brought in to take over the ancient coven and manage—”

“No, no, you’re not taking over dick,” she chuckled darkly. “ Leading it under me is very, very, very different than taking over. That makes me the boss and you my manager no matter how old you are or if you have a penis. And I’m not signing off on this until I see if you have a brain, and so far I’m not. Seeing it, that is.”

It was hard not to laugh. It was so Sera but also at the expressions of the other ancients around us who couldn’t believe such a young shifter would speak to Tiago that way.

Or any shifter even.

“I apologize to have upset you and yes, I understand it would still be under your umbrella,” Tiago hedged. “I was informed to take things off your plate, and that means stepping up and handling issues. That’s what I meant.”

She sighed so heavily it could have been heard around Chicago. “Yeah, that’s great in theory. That means you have to actually be competent to handle the situations.”

“I’m unclear as to what I did so wrong that you are having this harsh of an opinion of me,” he said, starting to get angry.

Big mistake with Sera. She smirked at him, clearly pushing his buttons intentionally. “You were about to tell me what to do to ‘fix’ the situation. A situation you’re coming in on in the last quarter of and don’t know the fucking details. Did you suddenly become an expert on the United States Navy? No.

“So you were about to tell me who was in the Navy and has repeatedly worked with them since as FBI how to handle this.” She gestured to all the ancients around her. “Great way to start off. Really, undermining me like I’m incompetent and you have all the answers—stellar start. How about you mansplain my job to me next?”

She turned around and mumbled about tiny penises and idiots as she headed for the vehicles.

I wasn’t the only one who moved in front of Tiago in warning to behave. I just went a step further. “She’s right. You totally just undermined her acting like you were called in to clean up a mess which is how things are or this coven. We’ve been doing great. This is what the council wants and she’s allowing it. It’s not needed.”

“Or it will be to take in double the ancients we already have—I think more,” Orson corrected. “But you are not even knowledgeable on US politics or the several rounds of talks that’s happened. You shouldn’t be giving her the answers on anything. Listen and learn.”

He glanced down at our hands and adjusted his neck. “You just did the same thing by behaving this way.”

I snorted. “Yeah, you’re too used to being the right hand of god. Goran and I were never the boss like you’re used to the boss being. This is why I didn’t want you of all the children, and if you try to pull rank on us who Sera adores, you’ll be on that plane faster than you can blink.”

“And broken down to bite-sized pieces just for fun,” Sander added but removed his hand. “You’re not here to manage us. You’re here to help her. Change your perspective on this and you might have a chance to get what you want. I’m saying that because you helped me once. Hear me that it’s coming from a good place and listen.”

I frowned as Sander turned and walked away, removing my hand from Tiago as well. When had he helped Sander?

It wasn’t my business and I wasn’t going to ask, but I did have something to add. “We’re not setting you up to fail. That hurts Sera. So listen.”

“I hear you,” he muttered, stepping away so the other hands fell.

I caught up to Sera in time to hear her finish telling Sander the rest of what was really going on. They basically wanted us to enlist and go through boot camp like normal humans and belong to the Navy.

Yeah, that was never going to happen. We’d been the right hands and tactical teams of some of the most powerful men on the planet that went way beyond where countries and borders mattered.

And they thought we’d ever become grunts again?

No.

“If I may?” I hedged, glad when she was receptive to listening to me. Hesitant, but at least everything wasn’t so horrible after our last talk. Eva and Maya clearing me had really helped, so I was glad she’d given me a way to try.

“I’ll take educated suggestions,” she muttered, getting another dig in on Tiago when he was in earshot.

“Seeing is believing. You know this better than anyone and have shown many groups that many times. I’m still on leave, so send me for a week to their training to let them see how ridiculous it would be to waste our time. And theirs . Trainers don’t like wasting their time either. They’re the best to bring people to the next level. We’re past that level.”

“It’s smart,” Emilio agreed. “And Carter’s been the face of APOT. He did a great job liaising before Havers took over.”

“Agreed,” Sera said firmly but then gave me a worried look. “Can you manage though? I mean—wasn’t some specialist supposed to work with you because of the thing?”

“That is part of the change,” Tiago interjected. “I’m that specialist.”

“Since when?” Orson drawled, not hiding how annoyed he was.

“He has a bond with a shifter,” I muttered, nodding that it was true. Most didn’t know it, but Apollo had told me.

“Three actually which isn’t supposed to be possible, and I would ask you not to let that become common knowledge,” Tiago clarified but kept Sera’s eyes. “You understand how being different makes you a threat. I want peace.”

She nodded, her kindness shining through. “We keep shit quiet in Chicago or I beat people up. That will include you. My husband has magical gags for all of you.” She gestured between the group. “I don’t know what’s really going on with the switch, but I trust my people and they’re on edge. We were going to do this anyways.

“I know the council is up to something with this and has their own goals. I’m fine with them trying to come up with ways to help more vampires, but they don’t get to know my Netflix password or look through my lingerie. Accept that or fuck off. I honestly don’t care either way, but check over Carter first or I’ll shoot you.”

I was a bit shocked she was being so harsh, but luckily we all were and Tiago caught on to that.

“I understand and would be just as upset if the situation was reversed. I’m also not a fan that no one was warned and I am being slipped in like this instead of—I understand.”

Yeah, he did. We were tools instead of people to the council. Way too often.

It was probably weird to most that all the ancients of the area were gathered for a meeting in the ballroom of TimeQuake. But it was a smart move because Noah was there standing at Sera’s side and making it clear where he stood no matter who might say what.

Those who had guard shifts were there via the video chat. Or like Brutus who didn’t do well with crowds and had the exception. Sera was also allowing ancients who were considering joining the coven… Which meant some of the council were watching. She knew that.

She wasn’t stupid.

Sera just didn’t care. She didn’t have anything to hide.

“Everyone on that should be?” she checked with Lewis, nodding when he did. “Good, thank you for being prompt and I’ll try not to make this take too long. First of all, I cannot say this firmly enough, but Noah is Master of Chicago. He is not a puppet. He is not a figurehead for the humans. He is the boss. It’s not up for debate.

“We’re not looking for a change. Any of you even think of shaking it up or touching him and you’re dead. Very dead. Dead, and I will kick all the other ancients out of Chicago.” She gave everyone a minute with that. “The ancients who currently live and are a part of my coven know this and like it . None of them want to be master of a city or the boss.

“If you have that inkling or desire, best of luck to you, there is the door. If you think you might want it in the future, that’s a conversation to have, but it will not be here you have a leadership role. Ever. So if you would like this to be your home for the next five or ten years while you reevaluate your life post-council, welcome.

“Follow our rules and refer to everything I’ve already said and we’ll get along fine. But the leadership of Chicago is set. If you have any questions on how violent I get on this topic or think I’m all bluster, please speak to Absolon over there. He can tell you what happened when he had bad thoughts and how painful it was to regrow the finger I made him bite off.”

The amount of shock and worry that filled the room so fast was almost amusing. I was damn sure that Igwe told them all it was bullshit, but it would be helpful that they believed it.

“Now, I know what has been told to you about this new leadership of the coven and what happens going forward, but I find that funny since—did any of you hear it from me? No, no you did not. And it’s the coven under me. So, as this has never been done before and I’m the only one stupid enough to do it to save your stupid asses, I will do it the way I feel best.

“That has seemed to work out for us pretty well already. We have more applications to join Chicago—pack and covens—than we can keep up with. Chicago and how we do things here is the future. Accept that or leave.” She let out a slow breath and glanced at Noah for support. “Tiago will not be the master of the coven.

“That makes me uncomfortable when I don’t know him and it wasn’t even who I thought was being sent. It’s a temporary position anyways, and given the different groups, teams, and priorities , it doesn’t fit.” She met Tiago’s annoyed gaze. “Especially when there’s a bit too much ego that came here and was ready to tell me how to basically wipe my ass.”

Those of us who knew Sera well flinched. She’d seen something. She’d caught something that made her worried or was pulling this change.

Shit.

She looked away and focused on Helmer. “And given the help Helmer has been and immediately made a point to integrate with how we do things in Chicago, it seems to be a slap in the face to say he’s not enough. Especially given how many are from Igwe’s bloodline and respect him. I am still boss. I will always be boss.

“But there will be three Betas of this coven. Helmer, Tiago—” She let out a slow breath and met my gaze. “And Carter.” She swallowed loudly and looked back out at everyone. “He’s been cleared by Eva and Maya that he did nothing to betray us and we all should have realized something more was going on. We all need to communicate better and work together.

“Hopefully, now that we have more help—on both the pack and coven sides—we can do it better. From what I understand, he’s still on a bit of light duty while people make sure the tie to wolves has fully formed, but he won’t be bonded with any single wolf. And this gives him some room to stumble while learning this new—I don’t think it’s a power. Whatever.

“That should be more than acceptable if no one came here with the intentions of doing anything other than helping and making sure the situation is handled in a way that benefits everyone.” She gave Tiago a challenging look. “This wasn’t a mess I asked for nor started, and people thinking I’m a bleeding heart for helping Igwe’s ancients is dangerous.”

“I have no objections, Master,” Tiago said firmly. “You know your business better than anyone. I look forward to acting in whatever role you think best for me as long as it’s not picking up all of the dog shit in Chicago.”

She took the snark as intended. “No, I’m not petty, and you’ve done nothing to really piss me off, but you’ll do well here with that sarcasm and rolling with the changes.” She glanced at Noah and nodded for him to take over.

He outlined where the new ancients would be staying and made it clear it was temporary. I was glad that he took my advice to not trust them and stick them all together to be watched by others who would be listening. Also, they were going to be paired up with a vampire from his coven until they got the lay of the land—so to speak.

Chicago was vast, especially with the suburbs, and everything was different in America than we were used to. It was different to the laws of Europe where we’d lived, but we didn’t follow those rules all that often.

We had to here when our master worked for the federal government.

Sera reiterated a few things, touching upon a couple more once Noah was done. Then she brought me up again and said that if she heard of anyone giving me grief because I didn’t take over the coven as planned through no fault of my own, that person would pick up all the dog shit in Chicago and scrub every CTA vehicle with a toothbrush.

And then she might still kill them.

I really didn’t deserve her after what I’d done… But I was going to make sure that I did.

Everyone accepted the meeting, and they all seemed relieved that they were really there and ready to get settled. I helped with that for hours, Helmer checking with me that I was fine with the change. I promised him that I was and I appreciated him having my back when I needed it.

Then I sucked it up and checked on Tiago, asking if he needed anything or if he wanted to check out the grocery store so he could get basics or snacks for his team.

He studied me a moment and then nodded. “You’re almost done with the bond. It’s stalled out because you hit the brakes. I would suggest you spend each day with a different male wolf of this pack to finish it. I would think the Betas would appreciate your help or—stronger wolves will finish it fastest. But don’t double up or you risk another person-specific bond.”

“Thanks. Really,” I whispered, rubbing my chest as relief flooded me. I decided to be fair to him too. “Sera saw something. She caught something from you that worried her. That was the change. We didn’t even know she was going to do that.” I realized I needed to correct that. “I didn’t, and the others were surprised.”

He frowned. “I really am not here to take over. I don’t want that or…” He swore under his breath.

“What?”

He sighed. Heavily. “I was thinking the fact I was bonded to wolves would be of help and maybe ease the bridge of this transition. I don’t know exactly what image I had to coincide with that but—she probably thought—”

“She’s hot, and it all mingles up,” I grumbled.

He grabbed my arm when I turned away. “She is breathtaking , but hear me that I want peace. I wouldn’t touch her even for a fling or fun. Not with the attention and envy she has from the council. I don’t want to be even a fling to a daughter of the Dorcuses. I will sit with whoever you want me to so you hear the truth and believe me.”

“Nina,” I muttered. “I think you should have an honest conversation with Nina and let her use whatever magic. That would help Sera and this all be smoothed over as well.”

He accepted that and thanked me.

And after I took him and his team to the store, I went right to Sera to tell her. I texted first and asked if we could talk.

I found her in the party room staring out at the pool, sadness surrounding her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t protect you like I should have.”

“You’ve done a really great job. I never blamed you after you guys said you did the due diligence. I could have thought of it too,” she whispered. “I just… It’s so fucked that he would have killed Topher.” She sniffled loudly. “At least the money’s gone and we caught other hitters.” She scrubbed her hands over her face. “What did you need?”

Her.

She couldn’t hear that right now, so instead I told her about what happened and hoped she wasn’t upset that I overstepped involving Nina. But we had enough to be worried about, and while I didn’t trust Tiago being there, I could see him telling the truth. I didn’t know him to be a liar.

That also didn’t mean I trusted him.

She thanked me and said it was fine—the move she would have made even.

Hagan came up with food, Sera’s face lighting up when she saw it was from the sushi place she loved. Such a small thing and it made her day—meant so much to her. We were all fools for not doing it all of the time and taking better care of her.

There were several of us and this perfect woman still suffered. It drove me crazy sometimes.

“Sorry, I didn’t get extra since I thought it would just be us,” Hagan muttered as he shot me a look to piss off.

But I didn’t want to go. I wanted more time with Sera—I needed to figure out how to get back near her.

The answer hit me when she immediately inhaled an order of gyoza. She loved dumplings and had said more times than I could count that she missed authentic ones from when she lived there.

“I will be quick if you could just give me another minute,” I hedged.

“Of course,” Sera accepted. “Sorry, I’m starving.”

“It’s fine.” I gave Hagan an apologetic look and went to get them drinks at least. “Um, part of—I’m struggling that my friends didn’t notice what was going on.”

She froze in her next bite. “That bothered me too. They explained it wasn’t something they were used to.”

“I know. I wouldn’t have known the signs either,” I said with a sigh. “For as much as we’ve lived and been all around—we’re quite sheltered at times. But they noticed a change in me and didn’t give me the benefit of the doubt or… I’m struggling.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know that I’m the one who can help you though,” she whispered, sounding too sad like she’d failed at something.

“No, of course—well, yes, I was going to ask a favor.” I let out a huff that seemed to amuse them both. “They said I jumped right into everything when we arrived and have only focused on that since. They all explored and found their things—hobbies like we weren’t allowed before. Some of them thought that was where I was—that I was finally…”

“You explored your life but in a way they didn’t approve, not like Sander finding out he likes Disney puzzles as much as I do,” she whispered.

“Yes. Maybe? I don’t—I don’t want to accuse them of making up excuses for being bad friends but—I’m struggling.”

“But you realize they’re not wrong and you need to explore a bit and live your life, not just theirs or Sera’s,” Hagan offered, flinching when Sera poked him with her chopsticks. “I didn’t mean that as harsh as it sounded. You took everything super seriously and that meant protecting her. I… I’m still salty about all of this, but I wasn’t trying to salt your wound.”

Fair enough and I said as much.

“Yes, and you’re not wrong. Neither are they. Maybe.” I frowned as I realized that was how I really felt, not just an excuse to get closer to Sera. “Can I use your kitchen? Mine isn’t big enough for where my head is and I don’t have what I would need and I don’t want to buy a bunch of stuff if I won’t like it.

“And I thought about here, but then I’m going to—I don’t want it to be a thing and make a show. Or have literally too many cooks in the kitchen because they want to help.” I snorted. “Or Sander and Orson will start giving me lists of what to make next, and that would kill the fun out of maybe—I just really like the food, but some I miss and—”

“Yes, you can have your key back,” Sera said so quietly that I even barely heard her.

I flinched. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, I want to support you too.” She gave a half shrug, but I saw how hard it was for her.

I would make sure it was worth it. I would make the best authentic dumplings that would make her hungry and happy to come home instead of anxious there was always going to be a problem. All of it. Whatever she wanted. And we could cook together—anything.

I would do anything to make life better for Sera because I was in love with her. It was time to stop trying to deny it. This whole mess came about because I’d done just that and gotten scared of my deep feelings for her. I’d taken a step back to get some air and sort myself out and instead left the door open to be taken advantage of and hurt us both.

Not again. I was too old to be that stupid and ever make that mistake ever again.

And I was blessed to have found someone so wonderful to fall in love with. I really was. I just needed to make her see me as wonderful for her again.