Page 4 of Escalating Alpha (Seraphine Thomas #18)

My Sunday started with a conference call involving too many parties. Mauro wasn’t done with his full audit—and certainly not of my other packs, but he’d gotten into enough of it that we were at the recommendations part and ready to start fixing issues before anything broke.

“You need more Betas—you all know that and have told me as well,” he started with a bang. “Each Beta has said the same and none from being lazy. Chicago and the suburbs are just too big, and all six are needed here constantly full-time which means you can’t send any to help your other packs or any others. That’s not acceptable.”

“Agreed. How many do you think?” I asked, ready to take notes well.

“Four, but I think you should plan for six by the new year dominance fights,” he answered.

“Roll out two at a time as interim Betas and make it clear the positions will be fought for like normal?” I checked, glad when he thought that was a good idea. “I want the load taken off the current Betas because—the problem is they are in a bit of a trap if we expand.”

“Agreed,” Mauro said firmly. “They don’t have time to train and keep up their level. Some are ready to come in and use that to take them down and their now very lucrative spots. That’s dangerous. I’m not chastising how you’ve handled things. Any of this. I haven’t found anything you and yours have done wrong . I want to help you do it better.”

My lips twitched as I made more notes. “For someone who was supposedly such an abrasive asshole and hard to work with, you’re better than most of the ‘nice’ guys I have to put up with all of the time.” I was going to say more, but I frowned when there was a knock at the door. “What’s up?”

One of the ancients ducked his head in. “You all have your phones on ‘do not disturb,’ but Deputy Director Perez is here with his hat in his hands—his words. He says he wants to submit a resume for your restructuring and begs you hear him out.”

“I knew I would somehow be the lead-in for his wife’s dream job. That…” I swallowed a growl. “How did he even know about—”

“Me,” Dain admitted quietly. “I said in passing that I was relieved the fairy trainers were wrapping up at Quantico so we could focus on the pack and supes instead of the FBI and be split. That I was worried about what Mauro was going to tell us today.”

“Let him up,” I told the ancient, nodding when he sighed. What could I really do? I couldn’t deny my boss’s boss.

Mauro went over a few more things about the pack infrastructure and how it was running now. Things that were going well and what he wanted to see from the Betas—information he needed to facilitate things in the future.

Which was helpful for my other Alphas on the call so they knew what was coming when he audited those packs.

The ancient let in Perez and I waved him to sit but pointed to everything set up and nodded when his eyes went wide. We were on international calls with Greece, Iran, and Bolivia for this.

Plus, Laila who was in charge of all fae.

“Now, you currently have need for fifty-four jobs,” he said, getting to the main part and why others were on.

“That many?” I whispered, feeling guilty. “And people have been covering that much?”

He snorted. “They’ve been glad for the overtime and double time you offer on holidays. I heard more than one person praise you because they could pay off credit cards and more. No one is upset. Some are worried they won’t have access to overtime still and others are worried about a few months down the road because they can’t keep going as they have been.”

“So you pulled the emergency brake at the right time, Daughter, and that is to be praised,” Alena said firmly. “Too many of us are too full of pride and wouldn’t have. Or think we can handle the world. You once again have impressed many of us to see the warning signs and ask for seasoned help.”

“Thanks, Mom.” I gave her a genuine smile before looking back at Mauro. “There’s more to this if you said ‘needed’ like that.”

“Yes.” It was in his eyes to hold onto my hat basically. “Without expanding facilities or buying anything else, my rough estimate is you have over seven hundred jobs at your fingertips.”

“How is that even possible?” Freddie asked, looking at Mauro like he’d grown another head.

But I already knew the answer. “Utilizing people and the facilities better. We’re not remotely using the bottling facility to its full potential. We’re doing four days a week at half days or whatever. It’s not really expanding to hire more drivers or medical personnel to take blood.”

“Correct, and you have fairies making deliveries, and you could get a hell of a lot more flowers if they handled more in the greenhouses and hired more delivery drivers,” he added. “You could have more servers at Siren’s Kiss and do catering—there’s a lot. The clothing line could be better utilized with what you have and not expanded.”

“It’s still a lot, so I need a list of priorities or—I also don’t want to be insensitive and stick a fairy in the greenhouse when they want to deliver instead.” I chuckled when several people shot me dry looks. “I said if they want, not that I thought anyone wanted to deliver anything in Chicago traffic.”

“My vamps tend to love it especially because mostly the flowers get delivered early,” Noah said. “And I have the whole new group who will be moving here needing jobs. I don’t…”

I reached over and rubbed his arm. Yeah, he was just as stressed as I was. We had just gotten his vampires out of those dorms and were going to bring in refugees and prey shifters.

Instead, he was getting a hundred and fifteen vamps from Lansing, Michigan and they weren’t really his decision. We were worried about that even if I’d put my foot down with the council that it was a 90-day trial.

They could kiss my fine ass if they didn’t like it.

“The good news is you have over a thousand units for housing with the new buildings you have,” he told me, nodding when I couldn’t hide my shock. “I’ve audited it all with Simone and—it’s just under a thousand. They hid a lot of their occupancy rates and more. And you have more coming available. Fairies and refugees who are now citizens are buying their own homes.”

I nodded my head as I jotted it all down. “Suggestions?”

“Curious how you would want to handle it first,” he admitted.

I snorted but then realized he was serious. “You won’t like it.”

His lips twitched. “Try me.”

I met his gaze and saw he might seriously be my cousin for real or at least soul friend—whatever the right term was. He liked to start shit in the right way and kick shit at the stupid he came across.

“I’d use you as a threat,” I admitted. “The problem with bringing in more shifters that aren’t prey is they all want to challenge me or think I’m weak because I’m not a raging bitch who beats them all up. They were all angels in Greece around Alena and I don’t have the time for that shit. But you promised to stay at least a couple years.”

“I did,” he said with a shit-eating grin before turning to Eva. “I believe you owe me a good deal of money, Mother.”

I glanced over at Eva’s shocked face. “You bet on this?”

“I never thought you’d—you do so much independently, and relying on an older male to be your… I couldn’t see you doing it,” she admitted, tripping over her words a bit she was so stunned.

I understood her disconnect. “I’m not asking him to go fight my battles or throw his weight around in DC because they’re mean to me. This is a Dorcus fight because they try to come screw with me because I’m the third and adopted daughter. They want to put a collar on me like the council wanted. All that crap.” I pointed to Mauro.

“They won’t risk fucking with Alena’s baby brother is what she’s saying. Not unless they have a death wish. People know this as law and won’t ever doubt it like they might convince themselves it’s different for Sera,” Mauro finished.

“Exactly.” I was glad we were on the same page for that. I was glad when we had a plan for how to facilitate the next steps. Yes, it was expanding but the right way… And not really.

Sort of.

“We need some cross-training,” Mauro said as he went to the next item. “Iran and Bolivia both want to get a blood bottling and fairy nectar plant online. They want the setup you do but larger scale. So it works to have them train here, and that gives you more people for a while. The problem is the US government is—”

“La, la, la, la,” I sang loudly as I covered my ears, glad when I saw Brian doing the same. “We can’t be involved or know how you do this part.” I waited until Mauro made the gesture to zip his lips. “I can’t. Don’t make me lie or do something—I’d have to report if someone was here with a work visa from Iran and they’d want to use that.”

“Or maybe not, but don’t put her in that position after how the president behaved,” Brian added. “The same with Bolivia.”

President Nuri’s aide who was on the call asked what we meant, and I clarified our president was the problem and technically I wasn’t allowed to talk about it.

“Your president knows,” Eva told the aide.

Perez shot me a worried look, clearly not looped in. It wasn’t worth getting his blood pressure up. We had enough to handle.

“While we’re not expanding, I do want a list of ideas for priorities—directions people want to go in so we’re all on the same page,” I told everyone. “Part of my being overwhelmed is people pulling me aside and giving me a list and it’s always a different list than everyone else’s. And then people decide other things without me and it’s done.”

Mauro snorted, knowing one of those “others” I meant was absolutely his sister. “Queen Laila, I did want to ask one thing before I start peeling back layers on those projects—is there any other fae alcohol? The nectar is divine, and I’ve always been a huge fan, but I always wondered why it was never expanded. Wines. Ales. A pricey scotch would be very marketable.”

The look of elegant surprise on Laila’s face was actually adorable. She quickly schooled it and said she would have to get back to him, but it was definitely something to look into.

There would certainly be a market for it. We sold fairy nectar faster than we could make it. Everyone always wanted us to expand and not just in North America.

“This was a really great start, and I think we’re all in agreement with the proposed changes and items you found,” I said, focused on Mauro. “Obviously, Eva was correct and you’re the right person for the job. My pack and I cannot thank you enough for taking this task on and helping all of us. I’ve heard over and over again that it’s clear we’re in good hands.”

The shock on his face wasn’t amusing but hurt me. He was a man who hadn’t been appreciated enough in his life and that was upsetting because he was awesome.

And I knew that feeling too well. I hated when others suffered the same.

I might have said more, but my door flew open again. “What now?”

“There’s a serious problem, and Noe is about to have a heart attack he’s so worried you’re going to rip his throat out and kill one of his hawks,” Remus told me.

“What could they seriously have done for them to worry about me like that?” I whispered, my eyes hurting almost as they went so wide.

He glanced all around and sighed. “Someone has the photos from the Siren’s Kiss photoshoot. All of them.” He swallowed loudly. “Even the ones you were a part of for your Valentine’s Day thank-yous.”

I adjusted my neck as people around me cussed up a storm. “I warned him not to be stupid and put any of that on the cloud or—”

“He didn’t,” Remus said firmly, nodding when I stared him down. “He did some big celebrity wedding and—his studio was broken into. They took his servers.” He kept nodding when we all swore again. “He didn’t report it sooner because he promised you that he would delete them and thought they had been. Then one of his people said they didn’t think they were.”

“So there’s a chance we’re worried for nothing,” Eva muttered. “It’s horrible for the hawk and he needs better security but—”

“When are we ever that lucky that naked pictures of me won’t absolutely end up on the news?” I drawled.

“Naked?” Perez exclaimed. “Why the hell did you take naked pictures? Ever? ”

“Have you seen how beautiful my granddaughter is?” Eva asked like he was the crazy one. It was oddly funny in such a bad moment.

I waved everyone else off and what they might have said. “Wait, someone broke in to steal his servers for a celebrity wedding? That’s a bit much, right?”

“No, it—the wedding led to some other deal and—I don’t know fashion. But he did some huge shoot for some big label that has a problem with people stealing designs and all the copycats. They wanted someone smaller and unknown so there weren’t leaks—they think it was about that. The timing. The wedding was how he got noticed.”

“And if it’s people willing to go that far and that shady, they won’t skip selling naked photos of an FBI division chief,” I said with annoyance.

“I still can’t believe you took naked photos like that,” Perez muttered.

“Technically, I’m not, but I am,” I clarified. “I mean they…” I glanced at Simone. “I think they could be posted on Instagram?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t see all of them, but you didn’t show nip or clit. It was ass in a thong or side boob—it was tasteful in our lingerie. But we’re shifters. We don’t care.”

“I care,” I corrected. “But not as much anymore and I’ve done worse since.” I shrugged when Perez groaned. “You don’t want to hear about my sex life on video calls.”

“Let’s end the meeting and handle this next issue,” Eva said, reminding me about the meeting.

Yikes. Right.

“I have that meeting tomorrow, Daughter. I will inform you of the outcome immediately after,” Alena told me.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said before we hung up. That was my happy while everything else happened. I sighed once all the calls were hung up and decided to use that Perez was there. “Soooo… I don’t even know how the fuck to start to try and handle this. Call Galvin?”

He sighed and threw what he had in his hands on the table. “I’m going to sound like a perv, but I think I need—I’m not trying to see you naked, but I need like an idea here, Sera.”

I shrugged. That was fair.

Brian cleared his throat and pulled out his phone, giving me a look. He waited for me to nod before he unlocked his phone and loaded the photo, handing it over to Perez.

I wasn’t sure what I felt that he had it on his phone still. I mean it made sense, but… Everything was too confusing.

“You shouldn’t have this on your fucking phone we check and—idiot,” Perez grumbled before handing it back.

“Yeah, well, sometimes I need it to get through the day,” Brian grumbled right back, flinching when a few people snorted. He met my gaze and sighed. “I’m not objectifying you or—”

“It was the fun,” I whispered. “We had so much fun that day. From me receiving that bracelet which was my first jewelry from a lover to Virgil helping me flirt-text back to you to you coming for lunch—that day and all of it was so much fun and I had so much hope for us. Yeah, I get it.” I cleared my throat and looked away. “I’m glad you have something like that.”

“You don’t?” he worried.

“The bracelet,” I corrected. I shrugged when I felt the tension rising. I glanced down at my hands. “I’ll explain, but—I don’t want to say it’s a vulnerable moment, but I don’t want to get into it right now. So I’ll answer, but leave it alone.”

“That’s fair,” Brian said, seeming glad when the others agreed… Which was weird because all of the Betas were there and so many extras to hear this.

“Some of the reminders hurt. When the Netflix fun was never touched and—I threw it out. Not Noah’s box, but… Some of it felt like promises never followed through on again.”

I knew part of that was my being abducted and so much going to hell but that was some of it as well. I couldn’t get that time back.

Life was just too hard.

“I think we need to call Galvin and warn him,” Perez sighed. “Monroe needs to know too.”

I frowned. “I think he does. I can’t remember. Everyone here pretty much knew what I was doing—a lot of us did.”

He nodded and pulled out his phone.

“Why don’t you toss me over whatever proposal and resume you’re about to give me for your wife and ask for me to give her a job?” I said, trying to keep my voice even, but I couldn’t hide how tired I was.

“There was some explanation involved,” he grumbled as he slid the folder over to me and unlocked his phone. He seemed to text Galvin and wait for the call.

I already knew Tasha Perez was impressive, but seeing her full resume and work history made it hard not to whistle. She had an IVY league education and not because she came from rich parents. No, she came from a humble start, a single dad raising her with all he had.

She became a CPA focused on working with nonprofits to keep their doors open and get the most they could from the government. All of the governments—local, state, and federal. She went back to get her MBA in business focusing on PR and marketing because the image of the nonprofit could get them more donations than what they were fighting for.

Sad but true.

But—and I already knew this—she was so sick of DC that it all disgusted her. Most of the charities were completely political and dirty in ways she couldn’t stomach anymore.

And now she thought she’d found her new mission... Supes. Here. Chicago. Helping us with our nonprofits, but more than that, our image. Her proposal of why a human doing it was compelling and I completely agreed. It was knowing the right human to trust.

My thoughts were interrupted when Perez answered his phone. “Thanks for calling. We have a situation.”

“Put him on speaker and warn him that many are here,” Eva instructed. She shrugged when Perez shot her a look.

“It’s polite around supes since we can all hear him anyways and it’s about one of us,” I reminded Perez.

He nodded and did it.

“You guys have been glowing over there and that’s kept you safe with this shit with the president and more. If you tell me there’s going to be something blowing up—I’m really going to need to get my blood pressure checked,” Galvin grumbled, sounding beyond exhausted.

“We could get lucky and it could be nothing.”

“Thomas, you are amazing at your job, but one thing you are is never lucky.”

“Hey, that’s what I said!” I mocked, shrugging when everyone gave me a range of looks.

“Spit it out before I get an ulcer,” he grumbled. He tried to hide his cussing when we told him. “Thomas, the First Lady will have a field day with this. You will lose—I don’t even know what this will do to the court case you just filed against my ex-wife, and I need you to win so I get full custody of my kids.”

I shared a look with Eva and she nodded. “Scott, are you worried about the safety of your kids?”

“Physically? No, but I’m—my son has made a few comments about giving up hope. My daughter… I’m afraid she might already become my ex-wife and I missed the warning signs. I didn’t know she was this fucking nuts though. She just seemed too jealous and rigid. I didn’t…”

“Close your eyes and I will make sure things go well,” Eva promised. “From one parent to another who missed too much about their own children trying to protect too many people. I understand your pain and regret. More than you know. Close your eyes and let me help.”

Knowing she carried that pain and Galvin was now hurt, but seeing that she said it while keeping Mauro’s gaze was—there weren’t words for it. I saw some of his pain heal right there. Not a lot. It had been too many years, but I saw some of it heal.

“I’ll take it because I’m not being self-inflated when I say this country cannot take me stepping aside when I’m holding the dam together,” he muttered. “I always believe the position is bigger than one person, but—things are too far gone.”

I agreed with that. So did Brian. We needed Eva to handle this.

This one time we could cheat.

Gods forgive us when we swore to uphold the law, but it was to do the right thing by kids… And Eva hadn’t made that promise.