AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Charlie is here, and the first thing I do is apologize.
“What? You have nothing to apologize for,” she says, pulling out her phone. She shows me photos she took of the moment the cops arrived and everything that unfolded after. “I’m sending them to the local paper tonight.”
Izzy hands me a mojito, and the moment the liquid touches my tongue, I realize how thirsty I am and swallow it in one gulp. They take the empty glass from my hand and refill it, and I continue to drink in an effort to numb the embarrassment.
“What will that accomplish?” I ask, pessimism clouding my thoughts.
“Public outrage is the best kind of pressure to put on crooked cops,” she says, shaking her head. “I don’t know if it’ll fix the issues with the library, but it can’t hurt.”
“Then what?” Izzy asks. “You think this town’s most respected police officer is going to get fired for spewing homophobia?”
Charlie purses her lips. “Not likely, but maybe he’ll get suspended or assigned to a pile of paperwork that keeps him off our streets.”
“Is that the best-case scenario here?” Kyan asks, his tone haughty. “What is the point of a law if it isn’t even upheld by those in power?”
Izzy and Charlie exchange a glance before they both burst out laughing.
“Are you new here?” Charlie asks.
Kyan scoffs as he empties a bottle of light beer.
“What can be done to change this?” Zev asks, his gaze intense as it remains locked on Charlie.
“Well,” Charlie says with a sigh, “we need a more powerful ally.”
Zev scratches his chin. “What does that mean?” He looks at each of us, fear in his eyes. “If we cannot make a more powerful ally, we are at the mercy of Officer Burton. He’ll do whatever he wants to us and likely get away with it.”
“What are we supposed to do?” Kyan asks. “Leave town? Move again?”
“No,” Axil replies immediately, wrapping Vanessa in a possessive embrace. “We have lived here for sixteen years. This is just as much our town as it is his.”
“Who is above Officer Burton?” Izzy asks. “The mayor?”
Charlie pulls out her phone and starts typing. “Um, yeah, and the current mayor’s term ends next year.”
There it is. The solution to our problems is right in front of us. I can see it as clear as day. “It is settled,” I say, getting to my feet. “I shall run for mayor of Sudbury.”
CHAPTER 16
MYLO
“You are not running for mayor,” Luka says, his arms crossed and his expression stony as he shakes his head. “Absolutely not.”
He drove up for the night so that Harper and Ryan can do Vanessa’s sonogram, and they brought their sons, Hudson and Cooper, with them. They have set up a makeshift medical suite in one of Vanessa’s spare bedrooms, which is where the sonogram took place, and ultimately where she will deliver her and Axil’s child. The sonogram went well, or as well as a sonogram of a half-alien fetus can go. Ryan was unable to tell the sex of the child, but the heartbeat was strong and the fetus appeared healthy.
Vanessa has been staring dreamily at the sonogram photo for the last hour and isn’t paying any attention to our conversation. I don’t blame her. Axil informed Luka of my plans as soon as the sonogram was complete, and as predicted, Luka does not approve.
“Do you have any idea how quickly that level of exposure could destroy us?” he asks.
Harper and Ryan are busy putting their medical tools away while the boys snack on the chips and salsa Vanessa set out for them.
I understand where Luka is coming from, but we are out of options. “In order to fight Burton, we need power. Right now, we have none. Having one of us in a political role gives us power, and clearly, I am the best candidate for the job.”
“I don’t agree,” Kyan says. “I look much more presidential than you do.”
Luka huffs a breath, already out of patience. “No one is running for president, and no one is running for mayor.”
“Mom, can I be president one day?” Cooper asks, his brown eyes an exact copy of Harper’s in their size and color.
