Alpha Lenis was still Alpha enough to bristle at that tone from a mere third-rank pack member.
Lexi decided to make her power known too, possibly because none of the attention was on her. “Oh, don’t bicker, it’s so unbecoming. You got your culprit, Agent. Isn’t that sufficient? She’s a greasy little thief and I’m well rid of her. I’m sure you can squeeze her tight enough to make her talk. Put her in one of my corsets. She’s only human, after all.”
“Mother!” said Kevin, shocked.
“Really, Mother,” added Colin. “We don’t talk about humans that way. As if they were disadvantaged.”
“You forget, babies. I lived as a human long enough to give birth to you two brats. I know what it’s like.” Lexi gestured at her team. “They are disadvantaged, poor things.” Turning once more to Agent Lenis, she added, “You should push her for all she’s worth. Or are you another one of those pro-human Alphas? Save the food source, save the planet! That kind of thing.”
“Mother! You can’t eat humans.” Kevin was shocked.
“Figure of speech, darling. Now, things seemed to be wrapping up here. And while this café of yours is quite precious, I think it’s time we left, don’t you?”
“We?” Judd looked down at Colin, as if he could explain anything his mother did or said. “I believe our contract has officially ended.”
But all Lexi’s attention was for her older son. “Kevin, baby, I thought we’d agreed. Europe, remember?”
Kevin only blinked at his mother.
She waved a perfectly manicured hand around. “Surely you don’t want to stay here? You’ve now shown me the best that Sausalito has to offer. And I’m forced to ask, why on earth would you bother to stay? Quite apart from everything else, the place is positively crawling with selkies. Such a stench. How can you stand it?”
“Mother! That was basically your fault! Well, yours and Risa’s,” Kevin was moved to object.
Colin couldn’t understand why his brother was bothering to argue.
“Really, darling, don’t be preposterous. I’ve nothing to do with selkies. The fact that one of them has fixated on me is not my problem.”
Colin looked at Agent Lenis. “The man in charge, Demetrius I think his name is, has a mad crush on our mother. He’ll definitely want to see her again. You might use her as bait next time, if you like.”
Colin caught Judd grinning at him, clearly pleased.
Agent Lenis looked intrigued. “Well, well, well, that is good information. Although selkie are always hard to pin a charge to, slippery buggers.” She side-eyed Lexi. “Alpha Mangnall, I think you and I are going to have to have a little talk.”
“Alpha Blanc, please,” snapped back Lexi. “And we certainly don’t need to talk. I did my part. Just as you asked.”
Colin was confused about something, and Judd’s supportive presence gave him enough courage to ask. “Why did you have Mother contact me first?”
Lexi answered him. Oh, so she remembers me now, does she? “Weakest link, darling. Agent Idiot over there was certain that the funny little barista was the one Risa was supposed to contact for the final handoff. They knew you frequented his café. Plus you saw the selkies first. I guess they thought you would be useful. Like I said, idiots.”
Judd growled at her. Actually growled! At an Alpha.
Colin nudged him. “It’s okay.”
Agent Lenis sighed. “We never, for a moment, thought she’d attempt the handoff personally. Apparently, neither did the Pinniped Syndicate, given they also approached Trick.”
Risa narrowed her eyes at all of them. But she wasn’t stupid enough to admit to anything or try to defend herself.
There was a kind of excited shouting and hollering outside.
Kevin gave Colin the nod and Colin bolted for the door.
Outside, Alec was bent over, helping Marvin flop across the riprap and up onto the sidewalk. The merman could shift into his tail fast once in contact with salt water, but it usually took him a bit longer get his legs back. In the evening sun, he looked like some magical painting, his huge turquoise and teal tail sparkling, the skin of his torso tinged bluish white. It was a popular misconception that merfolk only changed their bottom half – they shifted entirely just like any other triple helix supernatural creature. It’s just that their shifted top half still looked human, until you got them in the right light. Alec swooped up several of the discarded pinstriped jackets and used them to pat his mate dry. Gah! They’re so cute together.