The VIP Safety Pass

Chapter 3 The Illusions of Power

Hours later, I was reviewing plans for the Guild's northern expansion when Caleb forced his way through the mate bond.

The pressure struck my shields in repeated bursts. His medical reading showed a rising pulse and the first drop in Alpha stability.

*Serena, where the hell are you? Lily needs the snow fox coat from the hotel boutique. Wire one hundred thousand dollars to the account. Now.*

I answered on the satellite phone instead. “No.”

*What do you mean, no? The card was declined in front of everyone. Stop this tantrum and fix it!*

“That sounds like your problem.”

*This isn't a game. I can't sleep without the calming incense, and you aren't here to light it. You've made your point. Fix the card and get back here.*

He had finally noticed one of the jobs I did for him every night.

I measured his Moonsilver before dawn, checked his collar sensor at breakfast, balanced the pack accounts by noon, and lit the incense after dinner.

Caleb had called those things a mate's duty. Today, he called because one of them had stopped.

“The incense is in your travel case,” I said. “Beside the empty Moonsilver vial. You can light it yourself.”

The mate link went quiet.

Then he pushed back harder. *This is about respect. A mate should know her place. You're embarrassing me, the pack, and the Blackwood name.*

I checked the hotel's security feed. Jean-Luc was already waiting in the lobby.

“Your Alpha power comes from my laboratory and my bank account,” I told Caleb. “You can't afford the clasp on Lily's sapphire necklace. Forget the hundred-thousand-dollar coat.”

The security feed showed Lily near the boutique entrance, holding a white fur coat against herself. Martha watched Caleb instead of the mirror.

For several seconds, the bond carried only his rough breathing.

He had no answer for the laboratory records, the account statements, or the empty Moonsilver vial in his travel case.

*You're jealous. When I get home, a few nights in the pack holding cell will cure this insubordination.*

He cut the link.

On my tablet, the elevator doors opened. Caleb walked into the lobby with Lily on his arm, still believing the Imperial Suite belonged to him.

Martha and Chloe followed with boutique bags they had charged before the account freeze. Jean-Luc straightened his cuffs and stepped forward.