“Yes. That would be good.”

He followed, the heat of him at her back.

“I’ll listen to your update but only if you have a cup of tea with me and maybe some toast or something. Helena, you look beat.” Molly came into the common room looking moderately relaxed.

“Sit. I’ll get the water on.” Gage gave them both a look that dared them to argue, so Helena nodded her thanks and sat across from Molly.

“Says the woman with two casts.”

“Gage scowls at me until I rest. Aside from re-knitting broken bones, I’m doing all right. I even got eight hours’ sleep for three nights in a row this week. And don’t tell anyone, but I napped twice.”

“Because she was nearly asleep on her feet,” Gage called out from where he set the kettle on the stove.

She winked at Molly, who rolled her eyes, but looked back to Gage with affection all over her features.

“So fill me in.”

“Went to Sato’s place earlier.” Helena tucked her feet beneath herself as she leaned back into the couch cushions. “We’ve got a basic schedule for tomorrow and the day after. You’ve got a series of hearings and meetings. The wolves sent their people over to sniff the rooms and they’ll be in place tomorrow as well.”

Gage looked to Faine, who shrugged. “These have been trained by National. Bomb sniffers, that sort of thing. I trust them.”

Helena barely resisted the urge to snap her fingers. She got it, they were all experts and Faine had worked with Gage more than Gage had worked with her. But.

“In the future, I’d appreciate it if you spent even a minute amount of time pretending you take my word for things. Or do me the respect of being more aboveboard in asking someone else’s opinion. This is either my team or you can run it yourself.”

Gage started as everyone grew very quiet. Then he blushed.

“You’re right. I meant no disrespect, but I can see how it came off that way.”

Molly smoothly intervened. “I think the water is about to boil.”

Faine stood. “I’ll get it. Rain—that’s Helena’s mother—sent a dozen kinds of tea for us.”

“Oh, your mother’s tea is delicious.” Molly’s pleasure was genuine. “She sent some up care of Lark for me while I was healing.”

“She likes to take care of people. I’ll let her know your reaction; it’ll totally make her day. And it’ll give me another reason to call and check in. My dad, well, he’s the hunter. She’s the nurturer. She just hangs on and claps when we win things and tries to get us to hug it out instead of punching each other when we have conflict.”

Gage laughed. “I think our mothers would get along great.”

“When this mess dies down, they want to have a big party for Simon and Lark, you’ll meet them then. Having met your mother a time or two, Gage, I’m sure they’ll hit it off.”

Faine came back with tea and he simply stared at her until she took a sip.

“I had the schedule sent to Rita.” Rita was Molly’s assistant. Molly was a control freak, like they all were to some extent. She liked to know things in advance and any changes to her schedule were to be made with her knowledge or she got pissed. Helena totally understood that and tried to work within those guidelines.

“First thing you’ve got is a meet with Sato, Carroll and Sperry. It’s at nine thirty. Then a closed-door meeting where they want to talk with us about this new FBI task force they’ve created recently.”

Molly snorted. “The one you said you hung up on earlier today?”

Helena blew out a breath. “Yes. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have.”

“No, you totally should have.” Gage sipped his tea. “From what you said, it’s lucky you didn’t tell him off first.”

“I understand. Totally. You’re frustrated. We’re all frustrated, and letting Fenton go was offensive beyond bearing. They need to understand that we’re not going to take this stuff quietly. I’m not mad. It was just by way of reference.” Molly reached over and patted Helena’s arm.

“I don’t even know how you stay so calm.”

“I think your mom puts drugs in the tea.”

Helena barked a laugh. “I wouldn’t put it past her. So anyway, I’ve got clearance for all the members of our team and their guard. Because I’m on Sato, I’ll be able to use some of their back hallways and that sort of thing.”

“I’m worried about Tosh.” Molly’s brow furrowed. “He’s human. He’s got no natural defenses.”

“He’s no slouch, Moll. He was in the navy. He’s a JAG. He knows how to defend himself. I went through his home and his office—back before the bombing, I mean—and gave him a list of improvements I thought he could make, and when I was at his house earlier tonight, he’d made them. All of them. And his personal guard includes a former Ranger and former marine.”

“Well, it’s his own people trying to harm him.” Gage lifted a shoulder.

Helena got it. Tosh liked Molly. Respected her and felt protective of her. A man like Gage would be jealous of that. Sato was spectacularly handsome and charismatic too. That would rankle.

“Look, Tosh is a good man. He’s risking himself not for points or votes, but because this is the right thing to do. And it’s made him a target. I’m happy to be on his team. I met some of Sperry’s team tonight too.” One of them couldn’t tear her eyes away from Faine and an unreasonable desire to jab her pen in the female shifter’s eyes had washed through Helena. “They’re all highly trained. They did listen to me about having bomb-sniffing dogs used before all your public hearings here in Sacramento and also in DC.”

Molly nodded, making notes with her good hand. “When is the next hearing on 877?” House Bill 877 was a far-reaching anti-Other bill that would, among other things, chip all nonhumans with GPS trackers, put them in relocation camps and divest them of property and their jobs. There was a Senate companion bill that wasn’t quite as bad, but still gouged a hole in their civil liberties and essentially made them noncitizens without any basic rights.

“Thursday. I’ll have Evan get with Mia’s people on getting you all flown out.” Mia was the pilot, a shifter, who’d been helping out. “I tried to convince Sato to fly with us, but he’s insisting on commercial air travel so I’ll accompany him back to DC Wednesday evening.”

“As will I.”

Faine hadn’t insisted. He’d simply not taken any other idea seriously. He would be at her side. It was his job and that was that. It had been . . . reassuring. Just knowing she had someone at her back had made the situation slightly less unbearable.

“I don’t like it. You’re not safe.” Gage brushed a thumb through his beard.

“No. I’m not. But that’s the point of a guard, Gage. You know it. He’s even less safe. I was able to convince him to go first class at least. We’ll take up the whole section, which I like.”

“You can’t take a weapon through security.”

“As I’m a senator’s guard, I can. But it’s not worth all the hassle, and you know there will be hassle because I’m a witch. But I’ve got Faine. He’s a weapon. And my magick.” The funny thing about magick was that it was a hell of a lot stronger when a witch flew. Something about the atmosphere being thinner. She didn’t know all the whys of it, just that while she was on that plane she didn’t need a handgun. She’d be stronger than anyone else on board.

“I’ll speak with him about flying on one of our planes from now on when I see him.” Molly looked at her notes a moment.

“He’s not going to agree. It will look bad, like he’s in our pay or something. He’s got enough to deal with.”

“You seem to know him pretty well.” Gage lifted a brow.

“He likes her.” Faine lifted his own in Gage’s direction and the two shared a look.

“He’s a man with principles. It’s logical. Also, it’s sort of my job to know people.”

Molly snorted. “It seems that many men are not entirely reasonable when it comes to Toshio Sato.”

“Why? Because he’s hot, intelligent and powerful?” Helena laughed and Molly joined in.