“Are we done too?” Devany asked casually.
“Gotta hot date or something?” Holly asked. I think they tried to hook up once themselves and it didn’t work at all. Too different.
“I have to get a whole mess of errands done today,” he allowed.
“Oh, in order to go on a date later?” Holly pressed, a wicked grin forming on her face.
Something I had heard from another member of Team Demidova suddenly jelled in my head. “Lydia?” I asked.
He didn’t answer, at least out loud, but his spike in heart rate said all I needed to hear.
“She said she was dating a new wolf, but she didn’t tell me it was one of mine,” I said.
“It’s our first real date,” he said, one hand gripping the other. “We sorta hung out after a training session last week and decided to give it a try.”
“Oh, you go on your date,” I said with an evil grin. “No worries.”
“Shit, now I’m really worried,” he said.
“There’s no rule against you two dating, Bruce, but she should have said something,” I said, packing up my own gun gear. “It’s your business who you date, just as it’s hers, but anything that can affect my pack is mine.”
He nodded, still looking a little concerned, and headed out.
“Well, I’m off to my parents’ house in Jersey,” Holly said. “No dates for me, but hopefully I’ll get to see some old friends.” Then she too was gone.
“She’s… intense,” Kristin said, her voice quiet as she handed me her equipment to pack in my bag.
“She’s the girl that got bit in Vegas,” I said. “On her bachelorette party. The wedding didn’t happen.”
“Oh,” she said. “What a dick!”
“He handled it horribly, so yeah. But having a human for a mate can be very hard.”
“What about having a witch?”
“It can be a huge pain in the ass… and absolutely wonderful. I wouldn’t trade my witch for anything,” I said.
She smiled and looked down at her shooting glasses, then handed them to me when I reached out.
“What’s your plan for today?” I asked.
Being brought to New York City for training must have been exciting for her, but she was underage and didn’t know anyone. Her guest room here in the Tower was very nice, but she had to be lonely, bored, and maybe homesick.
“I was going to call home and then watch a movie,” she said with a firm smile.
“In the Big Apple? No way. Listen, I’m hungry and I know you are too because you’re a were. Let’s get something to eat and I can show you some of New York. There are a ton of amazing restaurants and museums and stuff,” I offered.
“Can you just go out in the city? I mean, you’re famous… won’t people and paparazzi be a problem?”
“It depends. Sometimes I go in disguise and use public transportation. Sometimes I hire a car,” I said.
“How can you disguise so people don’t know you?” she asked, looking me up and down.
“I did mention I have a witch, right?” I said with a grin.
Forty-five minutes later, we left the Tower through the front door and walked right past several waiting paparazzi without them giving us a second glance. Kristin held her breath, literally, while we moved down the block, finally letting it out when no one paid us any attention.
“How is that possible?” she asked.
“I told you inside,” I said, secretly enjoying how much my mate’s magic was blowing her mind. “These little photos clipped on our shirts are spelled to lend us the image of the person in the photo. It works best if you pick someone close to your own size and of the same sex.”
“But you look the same to me?”
“And you to me… that’s part of the spell. Our spell photos are linked. But anyone else will see you as Karen from customer service and me as Mrs. Whalen from finance.”
“But what about Karen and Mrs… ah, Whalley?”
“Whalen. If you’re asking if they’re okay with us borrowing their images, the answer is yes. We only take photos of willing employees. Some people don’t want to do it, but most of Demidova’s people think it’s pretty cool, and we don’t use them often. We only take a couple photos a month and destroy the ones we don’t use so there’s nothing hanging around. These were taken this morning. That’s so that they know when and where we’re impersonating them and also so the clothes match the day. If Karen went in today in jeans but left in a dress, one of our watchers might notice.”
“Really? They pay that close attention?” she asked.
“Reporters and photographers are just a few of our observers. Several federal agencies, more than a few foreign intelligence operatives, multiple corporate espionage agents, and a number of political operatives,” I said. “Which is why I bought both ladies lunch to be delivered to their departments.”
“So the watchers don’t see them leave the building a second time without first coming back?” she guessed.
“Exactly. Now let’s get something to eat… what are you hungry for? Or maybe I should ask, what do you want to try?”
“Wait… Declan is sleeping? How did the photos get spells on them?”
“Declan put the spell on a pen… a Sharpie that’s kept under lock and key. So I wrote the runes, according to his instructions, with a pen that contains a bit of his power.”
“Wow! That’s a valuable pen.”
“Which is why Omega guards it. Now… food?”
“Icelandic food is heavy on seafood. I’d really like to try something different… like Asian or Middle Eastern?”
“How about both? We’re werewolves… we’ll be hungry again before we make it back to the Tower.”
We stopped at a falafel place first, each of us scarfing down a half-dozen lamb kababs before heading to Chinatown. We picked up dumplings and noodles from two places before stopping
