Smiley (New Species #13)(49)

“I need to take Beth. She’s my best friend. She’d never forgive me otherwise. Who is your best friend?”
“I have a few.”
“Invite them.”
“What about your siblings and parents?”
She shook her head. “No way.”
“You don’t want your family there?” It concerned him. “Will they be upset if you marry me?”
“Not you specifically but I’d rather send them a video afterward. My brother is being a butt. My sister already tried to take over my wedding once. She and Mom were yelling at each other when we went to pick out my dress. Beth got into it with them when we were picking out bridesmaid dresses. They wanted to put her in purple. She hates that color. You have no idea how stressful and awful a big wedding can be. Everyone wants to put in their two cents and they fight. A wedding should be about the bride and groom committing to each other. Everyone seems to forget that.”
He arched his eyebrows. “It sounds stressful.”
“We won’t have that.” Vanni smiled. “We’ll keep it simple. You, me, Beth, your friends and a minister. That’s all we need.”“That will make you happy?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll be my mate?” He wanted to make sure before he allowed too much excitement to hit.
“Yes.” Her features grew animated. “This is crazy, isn’t it?”
“No. This is wonderful and perfect. You’re perfect.” He slid his hand into her hair and cupped the back of her head gently, pulling her forward.
He loved to kiss Vanni. Her lips were soft and she opened up to him. He could easily get addicted to her taste and wanted to. He felt a little guilty for not telling her it was possible she might already be carrying his child. He wanted to give them a little more time together before he shared that information. She wanted babies. That was the biggest hurdle down. She wanted them with him.
The doorbell rang. Smiley regretfully dragged his mouth from hers. He wanted to take her into the bedroom and make love to her. He groaned. “I need to get that or they will come inside.”
“Okay.” She smiled at him, her cheeks flushed and rosy.
“You’re so beautiful.” He would never stop telling her that. He lifted her off his lap and stood, having to adjust his stiff dick. It wasn’t comfortable crossing the room with a hard-on. He unlocked the door and jerked it open just enough to peer out, shielding his lower half from whoever had bad timing.
Jericho sighed when he saw him. “Sorry. We need to speak.”
“Not now.”
The male crossed his arms over his chest. “Now.”
Smiley lowered his voice. “She just agreed to be my mate. Go away.”
“You said you’d wait awhile before signing papers,” the male grumbled.
“If they asked me to sign them. I want to do it. She’s mine. We are going to elope.”
“What the hell is that?”
“Get married.”
Jericho opened his mouth then closed it. He shifted his stance. “We know who sold the drug to the Woods Church. There’s going to be a meeting about it in Security. I thought you’d want to be there.”
“Who was it?”
“Does the name Dean Polanitis ring any bells?”
“I could never forget that bastard. He ran Drackwood Research.”
“His people turned on him during interrogation at Fuller.”
“Do we know how much of the drug he sold?”
Jericho hissed. “A few hundred doses at least.”
“Shit!”
“We have to recover all of it. We’ll have to worry every time we leave the NSO otherwise. They could dose us or the females near us. Our enemies could also sell it or hire a chemist to figure out how to make more to put into the mainstream human population. Imagine that horror. The human males without honor could use it against their counterparts.” 
Smiley was aware of Vanni walking up behind him. His erection wasn’t an issue anymore. He opened the door wider and made space for her to stand next to him, putting his arm around her. “Did you hear all of that?” One look at her face assured him of the answer. Her features appeared grim.
“I heard. You should go to this meeting. Jericho is right. You have to find that drug and destroy it.”
“We have a wedding to attend.”
She peered up at him. “It can wait. This can’t. What if they drug someone else?” She clutched his shirt. “I don’t want anyone to suffer the way we did. It’s the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”
He knew she was right. “They don’t need me. You’re my priority.”
“You have no idea how much that means to me but this is important too.”
“She’s right,” Jericho announced.
“Fine.” Smiley rubbed her back. “I’ll return soon.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
He lowered his head and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll hurry.”
Chapter Nineteen

Security was a hive of activity when Smiley and Jericho arrived. The human task force was assembled and entered ahead of them. There was also a familiar vehicle parked nearby, a transport van from Fuller Prison. Smiley frowned.
“They brought a few of the prisoners here. Darkness and I want a shot at them,” Jericho informed him.
“We need Gregory Woods and the male who works for him, the one who Tasered my Vanni.”
“We’ll get them,” Jericho assured him. He jerked open the door and they entered the building. Loud voices led them to the main operations center. It was standing room only.
Justice climbed up on a chair and snarled, commanding silence and everyone’s attention. He paused until he had everyone’s attention before he spoke.
“We leaked the video of the bartender to the press. It hit every broadcast about twenty minutes ago. We need everyone here because shit is hitting the fan faster than we believed it would.”
Smiley clenched his fists. He didn’t like hearing that. He preferred operations that ran smoothly. Justice seemed angry and frustrated, never a good sign.
“Trey Roberts!”
A male standing in the corner responded, “Here.”
Justice pinned him with a stare. “You are in charge of the two teams tracking Gregory and Carl Woods. Report.”
“Gregory is freaking out. He screwed up by using one of the phones we cloned instead of a new disposable one to call our pilot. He ordered him to prepare the plane and to be on standby. He also called his attorney. He’s going to make a run for it.”
“His son?”
Trey nodded. “Carl Woods is packing right now. He’s at his home. We’ll grab them after they land. You wanted records of him flying away from the airport for the authorities. Our pilot will fly low under the radar to make tracking the small plane difficult. We cleared a remote road near Reservation for him to land. Crews are still there in preparation of giving him some light if it happens after dark. The pilot is planning on telling his passengers they are having engine trouble and need to make an emergency landing. New Species will be waiting to take them into custody.”
“Good.” Justice turned, pointing at Tim. “Report.”
“We have small teams at each residence and at the church with a few of your canine males to help them execute a search. They are on standby to toss each location. Say the word and they go in.”Justice nodded. “I think Gregory will want to travel with the drug so we’ll wait until they are in custody. I don’t want to invade human places unless we need to. It could draw too much attention. We want to appear as if we had nothing to do with their disappearance, if possible.” Justice swept his gaze around the room. “We’re on high alert. Is that clear? The church may stage a distraction to keep us busy. We have no idea of their exact numbers since he televises his show. Keep in close contact with your teams. Move out!”
The room cleared of all nonessential officers. Justice jumped down and approached Darkness. He stopped in front of him.
“We have four prisoners from Fuller. I want to know everything they know about this drug and how much of it was sold. I want verification of the numbers we were told. I hate surprises. Make certain there was only one purchaser. We need to make sure we go after every dose.”
Darkness nodded. “Whatever it takes.”
Justice turned toward Jericho and Smiley. “Thank you for coming. Help Darkness. Don’t kill them but I want answers. Medical is on standby if they are needed.”
“Understood.” Jericho cracked his knuckles. “Intimidate first then break bones if that doesn’t work.”
“Whatever it takes,” Justice repeated Darkness’ words. “I’ll be here. We’re keeping in constant contact with Reservation. They are on high alert too. Gregory Woods has a lot of supporters. They aren’t going to be happy that their leader is about to flee the country. They’ll blame us.” A cold smile curved his lips. “They would be correct, for once.” He spun away, moving toward the males and females monitoring the cameras.
Jericho jerked his head, motioning for them to move out, and Smiley followed Darkness. They entered the back part of the building where the interrogation rooms were. A male was assigned to each door. The mood was forbidding. Darkness turned. “I’ll take room one. You two team up for room two.”
“I can handle a prisoner myself.” Smiley held Darkness’ gaze. “I won’t lose my temper.”