Page 29 of Assisting the Alpha
“Of course. Kit tends to deal with office mail, mostly to digitise as much as possible, so just give them a heads-up.”
“Will do.” Ayo hesitates before putting his mug down. He comes over to me and hugs me tight. “Thank you for last night.”
I barely have time to wrap an arm around him before he pulls away, grabs his half-drunk mug and suitcase, and rushes off.
I point a stern finger at Raj. “Not a word.”
As soon as I pull up to the kerb outside our office building, Raj gets out of my SUV and holds the door open for Ayo to take his place in the passenger seat. I spy Skye perched on top of a nearby three-storey building, keeping watch over the sorcerer while he waited, hopefully without his knowledge.
“Ready,” Ayo says as soon as he gets his seat belt fastened. “So, what was the big emergency that Yasmine couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”
Raj and I have just come back from an impromptu meeting with the mayor and the BSG officials. The timing was shit, because now we have to rush to make the meeting Ayo managed to set up with Teo Alejo, head of the cat shifter prowl.
Normally I wouldn’t rush for anyone not paying me, especially not another leader I haven’t even met, but it’s taken Ayo days to convince Teo to meet with us, and I got the distinct impression that if we cancelled this we wouldn’t get a second opportunity.
“It wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait.” I get us on the road and weaving between traffic faster than I should. “One of the BSG people wanted to clarify a few points in our bid, and Yasmine wanted an update on the investigation.”
Ayo scowls. It’s cute as fuck. “That really could have waited. I don’t know why they were so insistent it had to be this afternoon.”
“I’m used to it from the military. The higher-ups want updates on their timetable, not yours. It was likely a test to see how responsive and forthcoming we’d be if we win the bid.”
Ayo’s mouth forms a little ‘oh.’
It takes longer than I’d like to reach the heart of the Alejo Prowl’s territory south of the neutral zone. It’s easy to tell when we’re close because some of the people on the streets start staring as we drive by.
“Maybe I should’ve brought Raj for this.” We’ve not had much cause to be in the prowl’s territory before, but every time we have, I’ve brought one of the cat shifters on the team. I figured bringing Ayo today would negate the need, but maybe that was an error in judgement.
“Because he’s a tiger?”
I nod.
Ayo huffs. “Wouldn’t matter. They’re like this with all outsiders. That said, you being a wolf might make things worse. Hmm. I’m not sure how to get around that.”
“Just be your usual charming self. How well do you know this Teo?”
“The usual amount, I guess. When I was a kid, my parents used to come for meetings with his dad, who was head of the Alejo Prowl at the time, and his uncle, who was second-in-command. His mum was always somewhere else with his sister, so Teo got stuck babysitting me since he was a teen and a lot older. I’m pretty sure he hated me until I started demanding we play video games. Once he was allowed to kick my ass at that, he started viewing me as his annoying kid brother.”
Why am I not surprised that the head of the prowl, a group of cat shifters who seem to have a long arrest record—according to the data the mayor’s office provided us with—used to babysit Ayo?
“Is there anyone who hasn’t adopted you?” I demand.
Ayo laughs. “There are plenty. Just so you know, Teo left for about ten years and only came back and took over from his uncle about eighteen months ago.”
“Where’s the uncle now?”
“Oh, he disappeared the day Teo came back.” Ayo gets this adorable frown on his face. “Teo never did tell me what actually happened, just that the prowl needed him to take over, so he did.”
Yes, I’m sure that’sexactlyhow things went down. The uncle ‘disappeared.’ Challenges to the death are permitted under BSG law in very specific circumstances, but it wouldn’t surprise me if most shifter groups tended not to report those challenges to the government.
It is interesting that Teo didn’t tell Ayo exactly what happened. Does he not trust him because of the coven and thetask force? Or is he protecting him from the knowledge of what kind of person Teo actually is?
We arrive at the address Ayo programmed into the satnav and I pull into a mostly full car park outside an Edwardian building, the Hotel Felino.
“The Alejo Prowl headquarters are in a hotel?” I say.
“Nah, this is for you. The prowl own it and have private meeting spaces here they sometimes use. Most prowl business is done elsewhere.” Ayo gets out of the car when I do.
“You’re not going to tell me where?” I ask as I round the front of the car.
