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Angela took the leash, bent close to the dog, and clipped it onto her collar. “I forget you can hear her thoughts.”
Blake shrugged. “Dogs are easy to understand once you learn how to listen. They are easier to read than people.”
She straightened and looked at him. It was hard to know if that remark had a hidden meaning. They had not spent any intimate time together since coming home, and it was too difficult to guarantee they wouldn’t be interrupted.
At least, that was the excuse she gave herself and him.
Since returning, Alistair had made it clear that a personal relationship with a dragon would not go over well with the American people. It didn’t matter that her body craved his touch and his kisses. Jumping’ June bugs, even the thought of his kisses left her weak. It had been difficult to send him away night after night, but it was even more complicated when he stopped asking to be with her. He’d also stopped touching her, and that hurt. It hurt a lot.
He claimed to understand, but his actions said something different. She wanted to smack him upside the head more than anything most days. He had been the first man she’d been with since Oliver died. That alone made things complicated, but given that she was the President of the United States, and everyone sat on judgment of her actions, it made it even more complex.
Blake turned his back to her and walked to a window, opening the curtain a little to see outside. “It looks like it might rain. Are you sure you want to run outside?”
“Yes. I need to be outside to remind myself what the real world is like. A little rain won’t hurt any of us.”
His chin jutted out to the window. “Do you think it’s more real out there than here?”
She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. He sounded grumpier than usual.
This is not going to work.
“Who is running with us?”
Blake held up his wrist and spoke into the radio integrated into his watch. Angela quickly learned that shifters do not return to human form with their clothes or anything else they have on their body. The first time Benji saw a naked guard on his detail shift, Angela ended that. They lost many communication devices before they created a spelled watch. When shifters wore it, they shifted back with their clothes and radios. At first, they shifted away from human sight, but that wasn’t always practical. Most of them complained about wearing the watch, but when Blake placed himself in charge of Angela’s protection detail, he never allowed anyone to protest, and if they did, he replaced them.
“Iris is getting the paper, and we must leave before it rains.”
A few voices answered back, but she didn’t recognize them.
Iris was her codename, and “getting the paper” was the code for the morning run. If she ran at night, they said “walking the dog.” It was a carryover from her old security detail.
Thinking of Sam Mosley and the old FBI agents who guarded her tugged at her heartstrings. She and Sam butted heads a lot. He thought she was too open to strangers. She told him if the American people voted her into office, she owed it to them to be friendly. Sam and several members of his team died when Marine One blew up. Angela should have died that night, too. The investigation was still ongoing. However, she and Blake believed it was a deliberate attack.
She made it a priority to meet with each of the families to share her condolences. Alistair had been very adamant about spending her time attending to more important matters. She disagreed with him and did what she wanted.
Nikki Carter joined Angela. “Good morning, Madam President. I have submitted my resignation for approval. This will likely be our last run, provided you are okay with me joining you.”
Angela reached out and touched the woman’s arm. “I’ve already told you I am not letting you resign.”
“With all due respect, Ma’am, your son was kidnapped while I was guarding him. That is unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.”
Benji learned to evade his guards and wandered away from them that day. Keyser, a demon, disguised himself as an old man who worked as a janitor in Benji’s school. He befriended the boy and used that relationship to lure Benji away and kidnap him for Xerxes. It was too late when Nikki realized he was missing.
At the time, Angela did not realize that Nikki was an alicorn shifter. Without her skills as a tracker and ability to fly, the FBI would not have found Keyser’s apartment. Unfortunately, it was too late, and he had already left, but Nikki trusted her instincts and knew something was wrong. She found a car bomb attached to Keyser’s truck and saved many people’s lives that day.
Angela wrapped her arms around Nikki’s neck and hugged her. The woman remained stiff but patted Angela’s back once. “I know you blame yourself, but kids have a way of doing things that make caring for them very hard. I will not let you leave.”
Nikki scrunched her face in confusion. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, nodding once.
Three more guards joined them, and Blake signaled they were ready.
The morning sky was still black, and Angela’s breath steamed in the cold.
Blake ran next to her. Even without speaking, she had no trouble sensing the strain between them. It would be much easier if she could stay mad at him, maybe even learn to dislike him. But even with their tension, he still treated her like a queen. He opened doors for her, always letting her walk in front of him, helped her with Benji, and listened to her talk about the job.
So many mixed signals.
It only took a few minutes for Angel’s muscles to relax as she ran at an easy pace. They ran through Lafayette Square to St. John’s Episcopal Church. Patty jerked on her leash as Angela stepped onto the church grounds. It didn’t make sense why her dog chose this spot to do her business, but she did every time.
