“Want to help me protect some people who need our intervention? Here, turn around in my lap and keep me company. Spending time with you will be the best motivation I could find right now to hurry up and finish.” He helps me turn in his lap, and then rolls us under his desk as he gets back to work.
I cautiously lean against his chest, placing my head on one of his shoulders to avoid blocking his view of the screens. I watch as his long fingers fly over the keys and then I try to figure out what he’s doing on the screens. I can’t make sense of exactly what it is he’s doing. I know it was mentioned that he was going to remove the video of the bear shifting, but I have no idea how he plans to do it.
I’ve been around humans when I was in my soul form who accidentally posted things, or someone did it for them maliciously, and it was impossible to get it removed. It seemed to me that once something is on the internet, it’s there forever.
“I bet this all looks confusing,” Alex says in my ear with a calm, focused tone. “Over here, I’m running a search to find all of the locations where the video is posted. On this screen, I’m running traces to find where those videos were uploaded from, and from there, I’m tracking down every device that individual has so I can wipe every copy of the video.
“For any of the individuals that I find a video where they recorded it themselves, I download a tracker to monitor their conversations. This way I can stay ahead of any situations where they try to go after the individuals and attack them.
“I also have searches going on over here to find any discussion boards where the video is being talked about. Finally, on this screen, I’m writing some codes to make sure there isn’t any way for the video or topic to be brought up again. If someone tries, my code will find them and download a virus on their device, causing it to crash.”
With each mention of the issues he’s working on, he points to one of the screens in front of us. I’m in awe with all of his knowledge on how to get it all done and his multitasking skills. It’s not often you see a man who can do that many things at once.
Not having experienced the advancements of technology, I wonder if you can infuse magic into your intentions when using it. If he’s able to do that, I’m not surprised with his ability to keep our people from showing up on the internet, and keeping us hidden from the world.
“We can’t stop any of the individuals from talking about it in person, but I hope all of these precautions will help keep our people safe... well, I consider them our people. And so do my friends, but there are others who don’t.” He glances at me like he said something he wasn’t supposed to.
Under his breath, he whispers a “fuck it” and takes a deep breath before continuing on. “In this video, there’s a woman who shifts into a bear.” He brings up a window where the video starts to play for me. I watch as her instant shift takes place on the screen in front of me. One second she’s standing there in front of her child, the next she’s in bear form standing on two hind legs, expelling a powerful roar in a man’s face who’s standing in front of her. It’s clear something happened before the video began recording to cause her to shift like she did.
He’s watching me for my reaction the entire time I’m focused on watching the video. When I calmly turn to him at the end of the video, his eyes pop out a bit as he tries to hide his surprise at my lack of a response. Our eyes lock on each other as he continues his explanation.
“Have you ever seen any movies or read any books that talked about shifters?” His arms tense around me as he asks me the question. I’m the Queen of his people, of course I know what shifters are, but I’ll give him a pass since he doesn’t know that. I just give a noncommittal shrug of the shoulders and nod my head as an answer.
“What if I told you shifters are real? The books and movies get most of the details wrong, but the general idea behind shifters is actually true.” Again his gaze is searching over my face, looking for a reaction, bracing for me to freak out over his revelation. His eyes narrow in distrust as my reaction doesn’t line up with his expectations.Sorry to disappoint you there, buddy.
He seems to have an internal debate with himself and decides to continue on with his explanation. “For as long as we can remember, our people have only been able to shift into wolves. Over the past several decades, there have been other types of shifters popping up. There are some high-ranking people who believe those who shift into other animals are an abomination and need to be put down. Those people feel that the magic allowing us to shift has been twisted into something evil in these individuals.
“The guys and I believe that these individuals are just an extension of our people, and should be protected and taught how to keep themselves hidden. We try to keep as many of them protected as we can, but when the higher-ups on the council and the pack Alphas find out about the new shifters, we’re sent to bring them in through official channels.
“It makes it a lot harder for us to try to protect these new shifters, but we do the best we can. Marcus’ uncle, Silas, is in charge of that division, and anytime we try to find out what happens to the individuals we bring him, he orders us to stay focused on our own tasks. That he’ll let us know if he needs any help with reintegrating those individuals.
“Shoot, I’m really not supposed to be telling you all of this. The guys and I agreed to wait. Well, it was my idea at first, but I figure we’ve said enough in front of you by accident for you to be at the very least suspicious and most likely think we’re crazy. And I find it impossible to bring myself to lie to you. Think you could maybe protect me from the other guys when they find out I blabbed my mouth?” He shoots me pleading eyes after his nervous rambling comes to an end. I crack a smile, trying to decide if he’s being serious.
“No really, Princess! You won’t mind if I hold you in front of me, will you?” He scoops me up in his arms and holds me in front of him as he stands. “If I hold you out in front of me like this, they won’t be willing to go after me and risk getting you in the crossfire. I’ll have to make sure they don’t sneak up on me either!” He swings me around like he’s trying to keep me between his imaginary friends in the room. I laugh as he plays out the scenario of me protecting him.
By the time he’s finished, my cheeks are sore from laughing so hard, and my stomach muscles feel like I’ve been working out. He places me back in his lap as he takes his place again on the rolling chair in front of the desk. “I’ll take that as your agreement! So glad we’ve formed this partnership. Now we need to complete our mission at hand!”
He turns back to the screens in front of him, and I watch as his expression changes from the joyous laughter to a serious, focused intensity. It comes over his face almost like blinds covering a window. His fingers fly over the keyboard as he continues what he was doing before getting distracted by me.
This version of Alex seems so different from all of the times I’ve been around him. From the moment he found me in the bunker, he was clinging to me. I suppose they all were, but Alex and Marcus were the worst. Now, Alex seems to be more relaxed with me, and is willing to let things be more natural between us.
I can’t remember a time where I’ve laughed so much with someone over something so stupid. Alex has a lightness to his personality, an ability to find a moment to distract everyone when things become heavy. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to realize what he does for those around him.
It seems like the distraction of him working was the perfect time for us to make an actual connection. This is obviously what Klaus had planned. He knew I would never give Alex a chance while he was acting so desperately to gain my attention all the time. Well, that, and the fact I still haven’t gotten over him kissing me while he thought I was in a coma.
It was a sweet moment though, if it wasn’t something that happened to me. Confessing your love for someone when you think you’re about to die. Admittedly, the contact of our lips touching did give me enough of a magic boost to be able to save both of us. Maybe I should forgive and give him a chance to start over.
He must have finished scrubbing the video from the internet and all of the phones and whatever else it was he had been working on, because he pushes us away from the desk and stands, throwing me on his bed. I bounce a few times after landing, and laugh as he lands on the bed next to me.
“Shhh, Princess! If they think we’re still working, then maybe we can sneak in watching a movie together. They won’t know if they don’t catch us,” he says with a wag of his eyebrows. Just as he says this, the door to his room barges open and Marcus walks in.
Chapter 7
Marcus
Present
From the moment we all parted ways to get ready for our most recent assignment, I’ve been working on travel routes, safe-house locations close to our possible travel routes, and researching the individuals we are tasked with gathering. With all the plans figured out on my end, the last thing needing to be completed is Alex’s task of scrubbing the internet of the video.
