We did, and found Kam watching wide-eyed as two painfully attractive alphas dismantled every electronic device in his room.
“We’ve turned up two so far,” said the one called Alex. Her voice was low and smoky, with a Quebecois accent.
“There was one in the phone handset, and one in an electrical outlet,” Flynn added.
Beckett gave them a curt nod. “Well done. These two are going to have to change rooms, and we’ll definitely need eyes on the hallway tonight. We’ll take guard duty in shifts.”
Still somewhat in shock that anyone would go to the effort and risk of breaking into our rooms and planting listening devices, I didn’t protest when Beckett asked us to stay here in Kam’s room with his alphas while he went down to the lobby to sort out new accommodations for us. He pocketed the three devices the others had uncovered, presumably to use as leverage in case the hotel manager balked.
“Just don’t talk about anything you wouldn’t want to be overheard,” he said dryly.
Jax snorted in poorly veiled amusement.
Except for that single noise of dry humor, the alpha security guards were the picture of stoic professionalism after their team leader left. Kam stood awkwardly next to the TV, arms crossed, trying not to look anywhere that might get him into trouble. I crossed the room and sat in the desk chair, wishing I could toe off my heels without it coming across as too familiar. The idea of being barefoot beneath the alphas’ impassive eyes twisted something deep inside me—not entirely unpleasantly.
I quashed the sensation ruthlessly.
The silence was becoming unbearable when Beckett finally returned with a harried-looking hotel employee in tow.
“I’m so terribly sorry about this, Madam Ambassador,” the man said in heavily accented English. “I can only apologize on the hotel’s behalf. We will, of course, make available all security camera footage from the hallways during the time in question.”
“Thank you,” I said coolly, rising to my aching feet. “For now, though, what we really need are new rooms. Preferably oneswithoutsecret listening devices installed.”
The man winced. “Yes. About that...”
I raised an eyebrow.
He cleared his throat. “You must understand, with the summit...”
“They’re booked solid,” Beckett said.
“We do have a double available, thanks to a last-minute cancellation,” the hotel employee added quickly, a hopeful tone entering his voice. “I understand it is not ideal, but there are two queen-sized beds, and the view from that side of the building is lovely...”
Beckett gave me a questioning look, since chivalry dictated that a beta woman would be the one to decide whether she wanted to share a room with a beta man who wasn’t either a relative or her husband.
I had to swallow back the groan of relief that threatened to escape, burying it beneath a cool facade of indifference. “I imagine we can make it work for one night. Kameron? Are you all right with that?”
“As long as you don’t snore, I’ll make due,” he quipped. “But you should be aware that I hog the bathroom.”
The employee nodded enthusiastically, with the air of a man who knew he’d dodged a professional bullet. “Excellent. I’ll have someone sent up to move your luggage right away.”
I exchanged a final glance with Kam, and went to pack up my toiletries. Twenty minutes later we were installed in a different but equally awful room, designed by someone who apparently thought glass was a reasonable substitute for a wall.
Though the bathroom was quite nice, at least.
Beckett insisted on a sweep of this room as well, but it came up clean. When we were settled, he reminded us that someone would have eyes on the room throughout the night, and that the motorcade would be leaving at seven the next morning. As soon as the security team left, taking their distracting scents of musk, cypress, and sandalwood with them, I slumped onto one of the beds and flopped backward onto the mattress, toeing off my heels, my arms spread wide. Kam perched on the edge next to me.
“I’m still shaking,” he said, quietly enough not to reach alpha ears in the hallway outside.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“We must be insane.”
I nodded, not lifting my head. “Yeah.”
Silence stretched between us, comfortable in its familiarity.
“The rooms in this place are terrible,” Kam said at length.
