Page 50 of Santa's Wish
He waited until he'd locked us inside his apartment to share the news. "Next week, we'll make the announcement. The entire Financial Planning department is gone. They've been embezzling from the empress to fund far-right political agendas around the world."
"If there's one thing the empress hates, it's Nazis." I should have fought them myself during World War II, but I couldn't bring myself to return to Europe. Instead, I fought them in Madison Wisconsin, of all places, in 1970 to save the first Earth Day celebration.
"Colette's delivering the backup files to Harley tonight," Boz continued, unaware of my trip down memory lane.
"So soon?"
"Once I found the first evidence, I knew what to look for. We've uncovered several shell companies in Russia and some offshore bank accounts. They've been building a vacation home in Alaska, of all places." I setthe building temperature at seventy-two degrees, and still he shivered at the thought.
"I always thought it would be fun to visit Alaska during the winter. Long nights, little sun. The few people I know who have mastered staying awake into the morning hours did it up north."
"Do you want to stay awake during the day?" he asked.
"I would do it to be with you longer," I admitted.
He shrugged. "Colette wants to turn me this weekend, before we break the news to the rest of the firm. She's worried our enemies will either kill me or turn me themselves."
I tugged him to the couch, and he sat heavily, leaning into me.
"You can say no," I said. "We can go away together for a few months while things calm down."
He curled into my side and kissed my cheek before throwing his legs over my lap and cuddling even closer. "I would love to run away with you, but that's unrealistic. I'm no coward."
Once again, I wished I'd have bypassed the attacking vampire's throat and shoved my dagger through his heart. I would have eliminated the threat to Boz, even if that meant putting myself on Empress Marcella's radar again.
"Stay vigilant at work," I said. "Even during the day.These vampires could have humans or shifters working for them."
"Or they could wake earlier than Colette." He squirmed even closer to me, and all thoughts of other vampires, humans, and shifters faded into the distance. Boz was here and now, and he was all I wanted.
CHAPTER 15
BOZ
Memphis leanedover my cubicle wall and sniffed. "If I can smell your fear all the way from the door to your cube, the vamps will know something's wrong the minute they enter the building. We need to get you a charm or a scented candle or something."
I laughed. The wolf shifter had quickly become one of my favorite coworkers. I'd assumed he and Sekhmet were mated, but she was his little sister. Her husband, Ray, was a journalist for the northeastern supernatural communication network, and they were expecting their first baby any day now.
Memphis couldn't wait to be an uncle, and I didn't want to take that from him, or any of them, because of my fear. When he and Kristen asked me to take a field trip with them to the council building across the street, I gladly complied. I felt like a sitting duck at my desk.
Enid, the witch I'd met when I first started and had seen walking around the apartment building with Santa before Christmas, worked in a tiny office on the second floor. She waved in greeting and raised her eyebrows at me. "You and Santa, eh?"
It creeped me out, the way every other supernatural being in the city knew more about me than I knew about them. "Do I smell like him or something?"
She grinned. "Or something. Consider it good fortune to have a bond with a vampire as old and powerful as Santa."
"Powerful?" I asked.
"Sex appeal is its own power." Kristin nodded.
"He's kind of a big deal, beyond the club," Memphis said. "He's the reason my sister and I could stay in Boston. He donates money to every shifter halfway house and shelter in the city."
"He funds the witches' school, too," Enid said. "Imagine having a scholarship from St. Nicholas himself."
Nicholas. I'd asked Santa for his name, but he'd refused to give it to me. Part of me didn't care, but I had to admit, I wanted a deeper understanding of him. Was that even his given name, or another he'd chosen after becoming a vampire?
I returned my focus to the conversation. Enid asked for a drop of my blood to complete her binding spell,and she bound my fear to me with the scent of my blood.
"Won't that attract the vampires?" I asked.
