Alien in the House

even had a new pair of shoes, and Jeff had another trench and fedora.
    Jeff started to get undressed. I helped him. Not to go for Sexy Time—we had a ton of people waiting for us and were about to be late to a huge political event—but because I wanted to be really, seriously, completely sure he wasn’t badly hurt.
    “I’m fine, baby,” he said softly as I dumped the trench, suit jacket, shirt, and tie onto the floor. “My head and chest both hurt a little, but it’s fading.”
    Ran my hands softly over the bruise. “This shot would have killed you, Jeff. It was perfectly aimed to hit your hearts, both of them.”
    Jeff took my hands in one of his and pulled me closer with the other. “I don’t care about this appointment, Kitty, so if you need to take time to relax, then I’ll be happy to explain that we were late because my wife was shaken after someone tried to assassinate me and if they don’t like it, they can appoint someone else to this position.”
    Leaned my head on his chest, but not on the bruised part. “James was right. There’s still all these other things going on and we have to pay attention to them, too.”
    Jeff was quiet a moment. “You don’t think this had anything to do with the murders Vance is worried about?”
    “I think it might, but I think it’s also got the potential to be Raul.”
    “Raul could be here for a job, not just a vendetta.”
    “True enough.” Slid my hands out of his and around his back so I could hold him tightly.
    Jeff hugged me back. “Kitty, we’ve had close calls before.”
    “I thought you were dead. Really and truly dead. The shot was so accurate. Bruno knocked you away and everything, but you were still hit.”
    “Yeah.” Jeff sounded thoughtful.
    “What?”
    “Well, you said it yourself earlier—if the bird hadn’t knocked me out of the way, the bullet would have gone into my head. Instead it went to the one place where, based on random occurrences, I had something in my pocket that deflected the bullet.”
    “You think Bruno knew?”
    “I think the bird was invisible to us almost the entire day. He’d never have been allowed in the restaurant, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there.”
    “I’ll ask him when he gets back.”
    “He’s not back?”
    “He went after the shooter.”
    “Hope he’s careful. I don’t want to end up having to avenge a Peregrine, and I know you, so I know if someone hurts one of your pets you’re going to want to avenge them.”
    “Yeah, but Bruno can probably take care of himself.” I hoped. Sent what I hoped was a message that Bruno shouldn’t take any risks.
    Jeff rocked me for a little bit. “If you’re okay to go, we do need to get dressed and back with the others, baby.”
    Heaved another sigh. “You’re right.”
    Jeff grinned as we pulled apart. “Love to hear you say that. So, onto our latest situation. What are we going to do with Renata’s kids?”
    “We’re going to do exactly what she expects—bring them into things and force them to learn how situations, wartime and diplomatic situations in particular, don’t always go according to plan.”
    “You think that’s Renata’s goal?”
    “Yeah, I do. Clearly there’s trouble in the Alpha Centauri system. They can’t reach us, figure, rightly, that we’re in trouble, too. So they sent the only help they could—the kind that doesn’t attract a lot of undue attention.”
    “Two warrior princesses being sent to Earth wouldn’t attract attention?”
    “No, not if their cover was that they were coming to ensure that no one on Earth got pissed off because no one from the Alpha Centauri system bothered to attend Jamie’s birthday party.”
    “Oh, yes,” Jeff said, sarcasm knob firmly at eleven. “They’ll fit right in for that. Maybe Pierre can find them a couple of Disney Princess gowns. By the way, want to give me the excuse for why the birds and Poofs didn’t do anything when those two slammed all of us against the walls?” Jeff asked as we finished getting undressed and redressed.
    “You weren’t in actual danger. They must have slammed carefully, nothing looked messed up.”
    “Yeah, that’s only because Pierre had managed to scream out that the décor was for Jamie while he was flying through the air.”
    “Whatever, it worked and everyone’s fine. And that force field of theirs is going to come in handy.”
    “I’m having a vision of the future. You’re going to take them with us to the Capitol