in my head.
The female’s eyes hook onto him, and she straightens up, her brows arching in surprise. “You too?” she asks, her eyes casting over him. “Damn, I haven’t met another one of us for a long time. Not many of us stimulants around. What are you?”
“Confidence,” he answers.
She hums. “I’m calm.”
“Yeah, I guessed that,” he says dryly. “Pull back your power.”
She grins and looks around at all of us. “Why should I? They like it. It’s so much nicer to be so relaxed, isn’t it?” she asks Toby.
He nods at her with a lazy smile on his face.
She chuckles. “See?”
“Stop now,” Heath orders, and damn, he sounds pissed.
“Chill out, man. There’s nothing to worry about,” I tell him.
For some reason, this makes the female laugh, while he grows even angrier, his eyes never leaving the female. “I’m not going to ask again,” he says darkly.
She sighs. “Fine. Don’t get your panties wadded up.”
In a blink, all of that enveloping calm is abruptly wrenched away. I falter a bit on my feet as worries rush back into me. What the hell?
Alpha gets a wicked scowl on his face. “What the fuck was that?” Hugo demands.
“She’s a stimulant, like me,” Heathcliff explains. “She was using her power on you.”
“I’m Zen,” she says, as if she doesn’t give a fuck that she just used her powers on us.
Igor rounds on Adele. “You picked up a stimulant? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Wait a minute,” Stinger interrupts. “Are you wearing a prison uniform?” he asks her.
Everyone’s eyes seem to sweep over her gray uniform and inmate numbers at the same time.
Zen shrugs. “Yeah. Haven’t had time to change yet. Adele here picked me up not too long ago.”
Igor looks like he’s ready to have a conniption fit. “Goddammit, Adele, you picked up a fucking runaway convict?” he bellows at her.
The conjurer’s cloud goes gray and starts to sprinkle a little, but she just ignores it, swiping droplets away from her forehead. “Oh, don’t worry. She told me she’s innocent.”
Igor pinches the bridge of his nose and mutters a slew of words laced with curses. “This is not fucking happening.”
“Adele…” Hugo growls.
She winces. “Okay, alright. Hindsight, I probably should’ve dropped her off before I came here. But it was on the way, you know? And your messages sounded so urgent.”
“Hellhound’s balls,” Hugo curses. “Just...can you get the collars off?”
She nods quickly. “Absolutely. It’ll be done lickety-split.”
“Then let’s do that so you can be on your way,” he replies. “Your...guest needs to stay on the bus. And if she uses her power on any of my pack again, we’re going to have a problem.”
Zen holds her hands up with a smirk and then starts backing away toward the bus door. “Don’t mind me,” she tells him before looking over at Heathcliff. “You take care, Confidence.”
He nods tersely, but Jetta scowls like she’s considering stepping in front of Heath so that the female can’t look at him.
Zen gives a sardonic salute and then stomps up the stairs to the bus, disappearing from view.
“I don’t like this,” Igor growls.
“Oh, stop worrying,” Adele tells him. “Besides, this’ll be quick, and then I’ll be out of your hair.”
Her eyes snag on Igor’s bald, shiny head. “Well...not your hair, but you know what I mean,” she says with a smirk.
Igor mutters under his breath again.
“This way,” Hugo tells her. “You can do it in the enforcer building.”
With a nod, Adele walks with him toward the pack’s gate.
“Come on,” I say, nudging Jetta forward.
Together, the three of us head for the enforcer building. It’s adjacent to the guard tower, and it’s a decently-sized space where we usually hold our meetings and do shift changes. Hugo brings Adele to the meeting room filled with fold-up chairs.
“This will do,” Adele says before sitting down and sliding over two more chairs facing hers. Her cloud starts to droop over her forehead a little, but the conjurer just swats it away again. “Have a seat,” she says brightly, patting her hands on the chairs in front of her.
Jetta gives me and Heath a look. She won’t let it show, but I know she’s nervous. Heath is too. “It’s finally happening,” Heath murmurs to her.
She swallows hard. “Yeah…”
“It’ll be fine. This will work,” I assure her before patting her lightly on the ass as she starts moving forward.
Jetta and Heath both take their seats, and Adele nods. “I’m just going to get a better feel for the magic. Is that okay?”
“Yeah,” Jetta answers.
The conjurer lifts her hands