Bennett - Milly Taiden Page 0,51
daring him to say she wasn’t right. She was, and she knew it. Bennett placed a hand on her back, silently letting her know that he was there for her, that he was on her side. She was grateful for it, of course. It was so nice to have a man who let her fight her own battles, but was there if she needed him to be.
Nick studied her for a long moment. “You could have called me any number of times to tell me what was going on. I would have been on a plane in a second if I had known what was happening.”
“Maybe I should have. But by that time, I had a shifter backup,” she pointed her thumb to Ben. “And a shifter geek army at my disposal.” She nudged her head in the docs’ direction. “I had it covered.”
Nick pointed to the two remaining empty vials lying on the counter. “Oh?”
She blushed, but she didn’t back down. “You’re out of serum,” she said to Gray.
He shrugged. “Not even hardly. I have some more at another secure location. This is just what I’ve been working with lately. I would never keep all of my stashes in the same place.”
“That’s good to know,” Dakota sighed in relief.
“Well, sure. Because if there had been more serum here, she would have turned more of her friends.”
“Enough,” Bennett finally broke his silence. “I respect that you are an employer who has been very much kept out of the loop of an operation. But Dakota is a capable woman who had the situation in control. Not to mention, she wasn’t alone. The guys and I were all here to back her up.” He turned his head toward Gray. “You fucked me over, man. You should have told me there were people after your research.”
Gray had the good sense of looking apologetic. “I know. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to believe that they would screw me over. Not after last time. When Blake and I were attacked, we had all kinds of issues, and there was a huge revamp of the organization. Some people lost their jobs, others were arrested. I guess they might not have cleaned house as well as they thought. My contact had been pushy lately. She wanted me to deal with all of this shit before I went on my honeymoon. I thought she didn’t want me to change my mind while I was gone.”
“Call your contact,” Nick instructed. “Have her come here so that we can give her a piece of our minds.”
He meant a piece of his own mind, of course. Some alphas really weren’t her cup of tea when it came to exerting their male dominance. Her hand reached out, and she closed her fingers around Bennett’s in a silent thanks.
“Gotta say, Dakota. You remind me of my wife. She would have done the same. You know, beat out a small army to defend what was hers with only a few dudes for backup. You’re a badass. If Nick doesn’t hire you, I will definitely give you a job in private security. You’re all right.”
Nick groaned. “Of course you’re going to side with her. Now you’re going to make Shanti and Blake nag me until I give her a fair shot.”
“Don’t do me any favors,” Dakota said. “I can always open my own agency with Ben and the docs. They have all kinds of powerful contacts.”
The lion shifter blanched. “Why do I have to be surrounded by hardheaded females?”
“Don’t know,” Dakota answered. “Maybe you have a humble lesson to learn.”
“What she said,” Gray added with a smile.
And just like that, she was hired.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bennett
It felt amazing to be in his own house again. It had been a terribly long two days after the huge showdown at Gray’s place. Winchester had come with her guns and what was left of her department. She ordered Gray to give him the serum, and he did. The one that was the cure to the common cold and other minor illnesses. They hadn’t had time to develop much more, but that lunatic sure wouldn’t be getting the shifter serum.
Gray and Bennett had already had a call with the Department of Justice to have Winchester arrested. The attack on Gray’s home had been less than sanctioned.
But he didn’t want to think about all of that just then. He wanted to spend some quality time with his mate without having one of the docs, Gray or Nick underfoot.
“Can you believe we