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“What happened?”
Queenie looked at her a few seconds, and then looked around the room. “Officially, only security is supposed to know the details, but I’m going to make an executive decision to tell you. When Gavin is down for the day, he trusts me to make certain decisions, and I just saw you weapon up and close the blinds before you even asked what the problem might be, so I don’t think you’re going to freak.”
Lauren opened the top drawer, pulled out her wrist sheaths, and fastened them while Queenie talked. She was looking down, but the hawk wasn’t, and she focused on Queenie’s face. She picked up concern edging into worry, but the wolf shifter seemed convinced their security would be sufficient.
“The fence keeps out large animals, other than the shifters who are allowed tochangeand run on the property. We still have squirrels and birds, but no foxes or deer.”
“Which tells me there’s a way for you to keep track of the smaller animals?”
Queenie nodded. “There were way more birds on the property at sunup than expected. We played a sound to make them leave, and most stayed. Seven went into a blind spot and never came out.”
“So it’s possible there are seven shifters somewhere on the property?”
“Yeah.”
Lauren settled her knives into the sheaths, went into her closet, and changed from business clothes into casual clothes — black leggings with a charcoal and black heathered t-shirt, with the custom boots she preferred to fight in.
“How tightly are we locked down?”
“No one in or out of any gate. All external doors are closed and locked, though we have no way of knowing if the shifters made it inside before we locked down. We’re assuming they’re inside, so all elevators are turned off and the stairwells are locked, so no one can move between floors. We have a trusted guard in your hallway as well as Gavin’s.
“Why this morning?”
Queenie crossed her arms. “Full moon, so none of the wolves are here. All the cats on the security teams left yesterday because of a disagreement between Gavin and Nick. A false alarm at one of the theaters this morning spread us even thinner. Ambrose is at his house because Gavin didn’t invite Ellania to stay here, and I assume Ambrose didn’t want her staying at his house alone.”
Lauren wanted to ask what had happened between Nick and Gavin, but that couldn’t be her focus while they were under attack. Shewouldtalk to Gavin about keeping secrets from her, but later.
“What are the usual security numbers, and how many are here now?”
“We usually have eighteen people here who can be called up if there’s a problem, but only six people on active duty. We only have the six security personnel on active duty right now, with zero extra people. Two are in the control room, watching the monitors, one here, two guarding the main vampire floor with one of them directly outside Gavin’s door, and me.”
“And now you have seven. Where can I best be utilized?”
Queenie walked into Lauren’s closet and came out with a lightweight jacket. “The outer layer is bulletproof, the inner layer is stab resistant, which will give you some protection from knives, claws, and fangs. In this case, bulletproof means it should keep a bullet from penetrating so long as you’re at least four feet away, but you’ll still have to deal with the impact, which will hurt like a motherfucker. You’ll be down and out of the fight, but hopefully alive, so try not to get shot. I have armor on under my clothes.” Queenie had a hat-shaped helmet looped on her belt, and she took it off and handed it over. “You need this more than me. I canchangeand heal. You can’t.”
Lauren knew arguing would only slow them down, so she put it on and secured it under her chin while she asked, “You’re a werewolf. Why are you here?”
“Ichangedand ran for an hour yesterday when Gavin first rose. I’m rarely gone while he’s down for the day.”
“Best guess of why they’re here?” Lauren asked.
“For you or the Master, if they’re here to rise politically, or some of the valuables if they’re looking to score monetarily. The cars, some paintings, a couple of relics.” She shrugged. “No one’s supposed to know the Shakespeare piece is here, and it isn’t our most expensive relic, anyway. At any rate, my orders are to protect people over valuables.”
Lauren had noted it was out of sight, but hadn’t mentioned it. She was more worried about Gavin. “And yet you only have one person on Gavin?”
“I’m down to six people. I put the person I trust most on him. Master will want me overseeing security and moving around.”
“But if multiple people convene on him, how is one shapeshifter supposed to fight them by himself?”
“They can’t get to that floor. The elevators and stairwells are locked.”
Lauren shook her head and headed out the door. “Get me down there and I’ll help him guard Gavin. Alternately, you can help him guard Gavin and I’ll go search for them and see if I can take them down. Either way, we need to check on him and then leave him with at least two guards, not one.”
“We’ll put you on Gavin, where it should be the safest, with layers of doors for them to get through.”
Lauren had gone down and back up via the stairwells from every direction because her mom had always made her look for all egresses wherever they stayed, so she could escape no matter what. It was almost a disappointment she’d never had to make a two-in-the-morning escape at any of the hotels she’d stayed in, but now, she was wishing they weren’t in the midst of an invasion.
“Are we using the stairwell to the right, or a different one?” she asked Queenie.
