Angela

Saturday finally rolled around.

The wait had felt like an eternity, but with Cooper to keep her occupied, she’d managed to make it through. Still, she couldn’t wait to see Noah.

At least I don’t have to wait until he gets off work.

With Hector and Noah working together, both she and Rachel had decided to do a little something to surprise the both of them. It was now assembled and waiting in the trunk for their arrival at the embassy. She hoped Noah would appreciate it.

“Stop it,” Rachel commanded from the driver’s seat of her new vehicle.

“What?”

“Your foot. You’ve been tapping it nonstop for the past five minutes.”

She glanced down at the offending limb, noticing that it was indeed doing as accused. Sending a mental command to her brain she made it stop, though it took more effort than she’d expected. Her nerves were apparently on edge. Which was weird. She’d already been with Noah. He had literally been inside of her. What more was there to get nervous about after that, she wondered?

It was nervous excitement then, a product of the fact that she was coming to surprise him, and hoping that he would appreciate her efforts to make him happy.

“Sorry,” she said to Rachel, feeling more at ease now that she’d recognized her own emotions.

“It’s fine. I still get like that with Hector,” she said, a smile on her face.

“Really?”

“Every time I’m going to see him. The butterflies haven’t stopped,” she confirmed. “It’s really quite exciting, I have to admit.”

“Every time?” she pressed.

“Every. Single. Time. Even when he gets home from work, when I know he’ll be close if he got off on time, they start up.” The car came to a halt at a stoplight and Rachel turned to look at her. “He doesn’t admit it, but Hector gets them too. Or ask Kelly. She and Gray are like that too.”

Angela nodded. She wasn’t as close with Kelly as Rachel was, though even their friendship was based solely on the fact that Gray had come barging through Rachel’s door after he’d fought off an attempt to kidnap Kelly, his mate. But if Rachel said it was true with them as well, she wouldn’t doubt anyone.

The urge to bounce her foot grew stronger as they neared the embassy, so she tried to switch her brain’s train of thought to something else.

“So he bought you a car,” she said.

“Yeah,” Rachel said with a grin. “I’m totally spoiled. He’d always said he had money, but it would just take time for him to be able to access it here, but I guess I thought the house was enough.”

She snorted. “Spoiled is one way to put it. A beautiful brand-new home, and a new vehicle as well?”

Rachel’s grin threatened to split her face. “Yeah, I know. But you’re totally benefitting from this as well you know, so don’t act like you aren’t happy for me.”

Angela laughed. “True. But just wait until I’m pestering you to go for an unexpected afternoon grocery trip. You won’t be so quick to help me then.”

They shared a laugh as Rachel pulled them around the rear of the embassy so that she could park. “Okay, let’s do this. Monsters and then the goods.”

Children in strollers and bags loaded underneath, they proceeded up to the rear door. A pair of shifters were standing there and moved to block their way. Angela didn’t recognize either of them, and a quick glance at Rachel showed her to be feeling much the same.

“Hello, gentleman,” her friend said as they approached.

Angela was content to let Rachel do the talking. She knew her way around much better. Being mated to Hector meant she’d spent quite some time at the embassy itself. The fact that she didn’t seem to know these two shifters made Angela wonder if they were some of the other newcomers that had arrived with Noah. Could one of them be the spy perhaps?

“Afternoon,” one of them replied. “How can we help you?”

“Just here to see Hector,” Rachel replied, aiming to push her stroller past the two of them and inside, assuming that to be answer enough.

But neither shifter moved aside. To be fair, they didn’t try to intimidate the women either, they simply just refused to move. Rachel came to a halt.

“Excuse us,” she said politely.

“Can I get your names please?” the shifter who had spoken asked.

Angela fixed them with a glare. “No, you cannot. But if you keep trying to pester us like this, you can go get Andrew and explain to him why you’re keeping us here.”

“Apologies, ma’am,” the same shifter said. “We don’t mean to be rude. But we’re actually under orders to screen everyone coming through the rear.”

“My name is Rachel Tahler and I am mated to Hector Gorchan. We’re here to surprise him and his work partner with some food that’s better than the slop they have in the cafeteria. These are our children. Would you like to check them for weapons?”

Angela couldn’t keep the smile from her face, though she did try to ensure it wasn’t too acidic.

“Ah, no, ma’am,” the shifter said, looking at his partner, who simply shrugged. “That will be good enough. You can head on inside.”

“Thank you,” they both said, somewhat irritated, and pushed their strollers past the two shifters and into the embassy itself.

“What the hell was that all about?” Rachel asked as the doors closed behind them.

Angela glanced at her friend. “Remember what I told you? I’ll bet it has something to do with that.”

“Remember what?”

She rolled her eyes. “You have the memory of a goldfish. Remember what I said about Noah telling me that there was a spy among the guards now? That Cadian Intelligence was searching for people, shifters really, living here in secret?” Angela kept her voice guarded and ensured she didn’t reveal anything that might give away the fact that the two of them knew far more than they were letting on.

Rachel looked unhappy. “Oh, right. Hector mentioned something similar, but truthfully I guess I didn’t give it much thought.”

Angela watched her friend’s eyes flick around as they walked very slowly down one of the back-hallways of the embassy, clearly deep in thought now. Rachel may not have applied herself to the problem beforehand, but now that it had reached out to affect her, she certainly would.

“Um, Ang,” Rachel said carefully. “This means they suspect us of something, doesn’t it?”

Leave it to Rachel. She might take her sweet time every now and then, but her mind was laser-sharp when she chose to focus it.

“Yes, most likely. But keep this in mind as well. Those two are newcomers, right?”

Rachel nodded. “Which means that one of them could likely be the spy, couldn’t they?”

“It’s almost certain, yes.”

Her friend’s stroller came to such an immediate halt that Angela almost collided with her friend. “Rach?”

Rachel turned to face her. “You said almost certain. That means you’re not one hundred percent. And there were three new guards that came to town, Ang. Those two…and Noah.”

Angela turned away. “It’s not him,” she said, refusing to look at her friend.

“You don’t believe that,” Rachel said softly. “Do you?”

“I…I want to,” she said fiercely. “Everything I can read about him tells me that he’s being genuine with me, that he isn’t a planted agent.”

“Ang, that’s exactly what an Intelligence agent would want you to think,” Rachel said forcefully.

“I know,” she moaned. “Trust me, I know. But Rachel, I need to give him the benefit of the doubt here. He’s earned it. Besides…there’s something special going on between us. I don’t know how to describe it but it’s strong. Different from anything that I’ve ever felt before.”

Rachel hissed. “Are you positive?”

“Yes, I am. It’s unusual, but appealing on more levels than I think I’m consciously aware of. Like a drug, but I can’t feel the full effects of it. I just know they’re there.”

“So what are you going to do?”

Angela wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. Not right then. It would be too noticeable when they finally met up with Noah and Hector, and she didn’t want them to ask questions about why she’d been bawling her eyes out so recently. That would force her to lie, and she wished to avoid doing that with Noah if at all possible. The truth was best, and that’s what she was going to go with.

“Keep on doing what I’m doing, I guess? I believe him, Rach, I truly do. But it’s logically impossible for me to completely believe him until the real spy is outed. There is always a chance it could be him, as much as I don’t believe it is.”

“You can’t tell him anything,” Rachel said sternly.

“I’m well aware of that,” she snapped, mildly insulted by her friend’s lack of faith in her. “I don’t want to keep secrets from him, but I’d much rather do that than risk…you know.”

Rachel nodded. “Sorry, that was rash of me.”

She waved a hand in dismissal. “I’m hungry. Can we find the boys yet?”

“What boys?” a male voice asked from ahead of them as it came around the corner. “Oh, hello, Rachel.”

“Hi, Andrew,” they replied together cheerfully. Andrew was awesome; they both liked and respected him.

“Hello ladies,” he said with a slight bow. “You’ve found me.”

“Too bad it’s not you we’re looking for,” Angela said dryly, nudging Rachel into movement. “We want our boys.”

“Everyone always says that to me,” he said with fake sadness.

“One day someone will look for you,” Rachel said with a firm pat on his shoulder. “One day. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’re on a somewhat time-sensitive mission here.”

“You certainly are,” the Cadian ambassador said as he fell in step next to them. “What brings you to the embassy today?”

“A surprise lunch. Sustenance for two of your guards, so that they can remain watchful and vigilant.”

“My guards,” he snorted. “More like military police. I don’t know why they insist on calling them that.”

“Because they make sure the office and title of the ambassador is safe, if not the overly confident and somewhat cocky person who happens to currently wear said title,” Angela shot back.

Andrew laughed. “Point for Miss Breeson.” He glanced at their little armada of strollers and bags attached to them. “Perhaps you would like to set up in the spare conference room? I’ll relieve the boys for a bit to allow them to properly join you, how’s that?”

The two women started to protest but the ambassador shook his head firmly. “Absolutely no arguing. I insist.” Then he leaned over and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “Besides, it’s an excuse to get me away from all that stupid paperwork.”

Angela, Andrew, and Rachel all laughed at that.

“Thank you,” she said to the ambassador as they sneaked into the spare conference room from the rear and began to unpack their goodie bags onto one of the folding tables set up around the room.

“You are most welcome. It is a sweet gesture, and requires very little on my part besides simply sitting on my ass and looking important, something I’m sure you’d be inclined to say that I’m already fantastic at.”

The two women looked at each other before turning innocent looks on Andrew. He laughed heartily and left the room, promising to send the two men in within a few minutes. Angela and Rachel raced to get everything unpacked and set up, along with reheated in the microwave so that it would be ready for them.

A voice sounded from the hall, one she recognized very well. “Why the hell would he send us here? And is Andrew really watching the front desk? What’s going on?”

“I have no idea,” Hector’s voice responded. “But let’s find out, shall we?”

The two men entered the room and came to a halt when they saw the women.