HOLY SHIT. Holy shit. Holy shit.
I just attacked humans. I have human blood in my mouth. I had to wipe it off the front of my chest. The scariest thing—or is it the sanest thing—I wasn’t the monster. I was me, just in wolf form. My head was clear. My instincts and reflexes were even faster than normal.
I attacked swiftly, immobilized the attacker, and reached Jasmine. I eliminated both threats, despite taking a bullet to the back. Then I had the wherewithal to go back and pick up the comms unit and my clothes with my cell phone, then steal this car and get back in communication with Jasmine.
Jasmine.
She’s probably freaking out. What will I tell her?I whip down the alleyway just as a bullet sounds. It hits my car.Damn, I’ve been detected. A blue Buick is right behind me, and—oh fuck— another car pulls up and blocks the other end of the alley.
I slam on the brakes when I see Jasmine. “Get in!IT’S LATE. I pace up and down the length of the cabin as Jasmine’s fingers fly on the keys. She’s hacking back into the LIL, searching for anything we can find on who’s behind American Trade Assets, the political action group that appeared on Director Scape’s bank deposits.My thoughts, normally so ordered and neat, are a jumbled mess. I’m sweating, practically feverish as if the moonlight is stronger than the sun, and it’s burning me through the thin curtain hung over the rustic cabin window.I need Jasmine so bad, I’m sick. Nausea quakes in my belly, my fingernails dig into my skin. Not even the desire to shift and run can tear me from her side even as it kills me to be close to her. The muscles in my arms and legs begin shaking. Okay. I need to get out of here.“I’m going for a run.”Jasmine’s fingers stop moving, and she turns. Whatever she sees in my face makes her draw back. She stand
I WAKE TO A CREAKING FLOORBOARD.Tom?Did he come back in? Of course, I locked the door, but Tom Dune could get past any lock if he wanted to. I didn’t think he would though.And yet, relief is not a strong enough word for how I feel at the idea he’s come back. It’s more like celebration. Like everything was off in the world, and now it’s right again.The doorknob to the bedroom turns slowly, and the hair stands up on my head.It’s not Tom.My instincts take over, and I throw myself over the side of the bed, rolling under it just as the door creaks and swings wide.Someone grunts and a body thuds to the floor.Somehow, I stifle my scream.The cabin shakes with gunfire in the living room. I crawl on my belly to retrieve the pistol on the night table. Based on the thuds and smacks of hand to hand combat, interspersed with gunfire from the front room, I think Tom’s here, silently fighting to protec
I CRANE my head to watch the lights of the cop cars recede behind us. Tom drives like a madman, guiding the bike down narrow trashcan-lined alleyways. We don’t stop until we’re on a street lined with respectable brick townhouses.“Think we lost them?”Tom shrugs. The wariness hasn’t left his shoulders. With everything that’s happened, I’m running out of shock, but the sight of him lifting the bike like it was a toy is forever burned into my brain.I guess these super spies eat their Wheaties.“Why are the cops looking for us?”“Someone put a bulletin out. I’m burned, you’re probably wanted as an accomplice.”I let my head sag against his shoulder. He reaches back and squeezes my knee.“Let’s get to the safehouse. Then we can work on clearing you and your father’s name.”And figure out who sent men to grab me. I can’t even deal wi
DUSK SETTLES by the time the car rolls down a long, dusty dirt road. The wheel hits a pothole, and I blink awake.“Almost home,” Tom murmurs, and I flash him a little grin. I’m wearing a “Virginia is for Lovers” shirt, courtesy of a tourist shop. I wriggle my toes in my new, sparkly flip-flops. Out of D.C. traffic, on a nice back road near the Maryland coastline, I feel like I’m on vacation.“If it wasn’t for all the shooting and dead people, this spy stuff would be kinda fun,” I tell him.He nods, the corners of his mouth turning up. I sense he’s been worried about my state of mind after the near-kidnapping, but once the adrenaline left my body, I dozed all the way from D.C. The little nap did me wonders.It’s crazy how much I trust Tom. I couldn’t have slept so easily next to anyone else in the world. I feel a little guilty, having the weight of my problems rest on his super spy sho
I PICKED up steaks at the grocery on the way in, and light the grill. I bought four, but I swear, I could eat ten. Jasmine’s going to be on to me when she sees me wolfing—heh—these down.Hell, I can’t believe she hasn’t put two and two together already. I guess werewolf is just so far out of people’s minds as a real possibility, they refuse to see what is.I’m speaking from experience, of course.I was so sure my father and Nash had been the subject of some government gene modification or enhancement project. I just never put the wolf thing together. Not even with the memory of my father’s death.Not until I saw it with my own eyes.I throw the steaks on the grill, along with corn on the cob still in the husk. Jasmine comes out and hands me a beer.“I didn’t get Flack. Just left a message. Bryce and Johnson are fine, just restless.”I clink the mouth of my beer bottle to he
TOM WATCHES me eat like it’s an erotic act. His gaze never leaves my lips as he shovels food past his own.Three steaks.I’m not kidding you. The guy ate three steaks. It’s incredible. He must have the highest metabolism in the history of the universe. Well, how else would hebe able to lift a Harley Davidson over a concrete divider?Spending this time with him is like getting wrangled into a thriller. I’m holding my breath, squeezing my eyes closed, but still enjoying the ride. Loving watching the strong, brave, and handsome hero defeat the bad guys. At least I hope that’s how this one ends.Tom certainly makes me believe everything will come out all right even though logic tells me differently. When I stop and think about how deep I’m into this thing—how meaningless my life may soon become… Well, I can’t think that way. It’s too morbid. Plus, Bryce and Johnson’s lives hang in the
PAIN RIPS THROUGH ME—A burning, gauging pain.He bit me.I don’t believe it, but Tom flies back and lands onto his ass on the floor, blood dripping from oversized canines.And his eyes.Ice. Blue.Just like the wolf in the stairwell. Like the wolf at the cabin.Cold gooseflesh runs across my arms. No. It can’t be.Werewolves don’t exist.But there’s no other explanation. Tom is a freaking werewolf!And he bit me—the man I would’ve sworn this morning would protect me from anything.“Get back!” I shout even though he’s already retreated. Hands shaking, I grab the Glock from my purse and cock it. Blood soaks my t-shirt around my right shoulder.Flashes of what I’ve already seen run through my mind. Tom’s need to go out alone for night runs. The wolf tearing at the door of the cabin. The wolf appearing in the stairwell while Tom went off comms. It all fi
OH LORD, what have I done to Jasmine? I wish to God she would’ve shot me.I don’t experience fear. I learned to shunt that into power long, long ago. ButI’m more afraid for Jasmine than I’ve ever been.I hurt her.I hurt my beloved.Jasmine.My mind replays what just happened. How deep the wounds were where they were located. How much blood left her.No, the wounds aren’t fatal. If they don’t get infected, she’ll heal up, even without immediate medical intervention.I stand on the porch and stare up at the moon.What have I done?The strange thing is, I have no urge to shift and run anymore. I’m calmer than I’ve been any night this week. More focused.I climb into the truck we stole to get here. I’ll spend the night here, watching over her. In the morning, I’ll make myself invisible and follow her out, wherever she goes. I can’t leave her
I thought when I bonded with Jasmine that we were complete, somehow, I had been wrong. I don’t know why we waited to introduce our wolfes, but somehow that had made a world of difference. I felt whole now, stronger somehow and closer to my mate than ever.We’d gotten back from a short mission where the only real excitement had been the cat Alex had rescued, and insisted on bringing back home. Who knew the big person had such a soft spot? He was now a proud, crazy, cat owner.On the drive back from the airfield he’d made us stop off at a pet store where he bought everything he could think of that the damn cat might need. I was convinced that he had lost his mind, and we were getting close to needing to do an intervention. He was the last single person on the team, and I feared that was weighing on him more than he let on.Then, when we got back to the Lodge, all hell broke loose. The second we stepped out of the vehicles we w
I’d had some weird dreams and didn’t know what to make of them. I awoke with a sense of doom lingering in the air.I rolled over in bed and hit a brick wall.“ Tom?” I asked. “You’re back?”He was already awake and staring at me with a look of utter confusion on his face. “Uh, okay. You don’t remember?”He looked truly horrified. I had to pee badly though, so I climbed over him then froze halfway.He had a heated look in his eyes, and it brought back vivid memories from my dream.His hands found my hips and I gasped. My hand flew to my mouth. “Did I seduce you in my sleep?” I blurted out.My cheeks were on fire with embarrassment as I recalled just how aggressive and turned on I’d been. It had felt like a dream. And then we’d talked, and I had gotten upset and rolled over and went to bed angry.I groaned and covered m
When Alex changed our plans and sent us on an emergency mission, I was not pleased. Jasmine had been gone when I went home to tell her. I was a little grateful for it. I hadn’t called her because of that. Instead, I’d left a stupid note. I did feel bad for that.I’d never had to worry about anyone else before. As a courtesy I would call Leslie to let her know when I got called out on a mission. Mostly that was just because I knew she’d give me shit if I didn’t. I hadn’t called her this time either.I had thought the mission was taking us back to Colorado bear country to extract Sonnet, but this one wasn’t about that. The team was being sent down to New Mexico to rendezvous with Echo team.Alex hadn’t come with us. He was acting a little stranger than usual and was determined to have a clean extraction. He was working closely with Jake and being hush-hush on why we were being delayed. The rest of
I woke up all alone in a strange bed in a room I didn’t recognize at first. The only thing familiar at all to me was the intoxicating scent of my mate.“ Tom?” I called out but I could tell he wasn’t there. He’s left without even saying a word.I sat up with a huff.Feeling the call of nature, I jumped out of bed and ran for the bathroom. While there I went ahead and jumped in the shower trying to wash away some of the fears I had as the reality of my situation was starting to sink in.I’d mated a man I didn’t know. I’d sold my business and currently my only source of income. I’d uprooted my sisters and dragged them down this rabbit hole with me. I gulped. I lived with a very large pack of wolves. There had to be hundreds of them if not thousands.My head felt like it had been in a haze since the motherent Tom walked into my life.That veil was slowly lifti
The drive back to San Marco was just as stressful as the drive to Womack. Leslie still wanted to stop every hour to stretch and pee. I even tried banning liquids and that woman still had to pee. I suspected she was doing it just to drive me insane.With three cars our caravan ran at a slower pace than I normally would have driven by myself. We had five drivers to rotate between them, so it wasn’t too bad. Leslie had even taken turns riding in each vehicle.“I just want to get to know my new granddaughters is all,” she insisted.I loved that she was already accepting them into our little family pack. It meant a lot to me, but I suspected it meant a great deal to her too.It was late afternoon before Jasmine finally took a break from behind the wheel and road shotgun with me. I held her hand grateful for a few minutes alone with my mate. I’d missed her even if I did see her at every single stop Leslie insisted on.We were making good
We had no idea where we were going or what to expect. My car was largely packed with all of my stuff. We still had Sapphire’s car to fill with her stuff. Sage’s would have to be dispersed between the three vehicles. Not wanting to pay for a moving truck we all agreed to stop and buy air mattresses. We weren’t going to take any of the furniture or big stuff. Only necessities and important personal items.That proved easier said than done. While I had never really had much, Mother had spoiled the other girls with an over abundance of clothes, shoes, and well, stuff.“If I’m being honest, I don’t even like this stuff. Can I just pick out the things I actually want to wear and just start over buying what I need when I need it and can afford to do so?” Sapphire asked. “I mean look at these?”She pulled on an orange, yellow, and green dress that had the gypsy appeal our mother loved. She fancied herse
“ Tom,” I said as I answered the mobile.“Well at least you’re still alive. We just got back, and I figured I’d check in since I hadn’t heard anything. I’m assuming no news is good news?” Alex asked.“Yup. All good on this end. How was the mission?” “In and out, nothing exciting. Yours too?”I almost smiled. Mine was far from boring.“I identified our attacker.” For some reason I didn’t want to share the fact that she had been my mate, at least not yet.“So he’s been dealt with?”“She, actually.”“Oh really?” he asked, suddenly sounding interested. “Tell me.”“Shifter. She’s looking for her sister. I’m going to need to put an inquiry out on one Sonnet— hold on.” I covered the receiver with my hand even knowing Alex would st
I wasn’t opposed to going with Tom. Despite what he had tried to say, I knew what I had done when I tied myself to him. For me to believe otherwise would take time and examples. Layla had always warned me about it. “Don’t give away your soul and body to a man. Bonding it forever, Jasmine,” she would say.I had done it in a motherent of passion, but Tom appeared to be a good man and for some reason I had no regrets. Logically, I thought I should, but I didn’t.Tom motioned for Sapphire to come back over.“Check please,” he said.“No,” she said.“Look, I need to talk to your sister and not here in the open,” he said as if I weren’t sitting right there between them.“Did you realize you handed me over $800 yesterday?” Sapphire asked him.“I am and you aren’t giving it back.”“ Tom, that&
I awoke to an empty bed. I had reached for my mate with a huge smile on my face, but the bed was cold beside me.I was on full alert as I jumped up from bed and checked the bathroom for her. It was empty. I swept the room for any signs of Jasmine. The only thing I found to show that she had even been there at all, was one shoe peeking out from under the bed. Well, that and the mark she had left on my neck when we had sealed our bond.My heart ached and I was finding it hard to breathe.Had she regretted binding herself to me? Anger erupted within me. It was too late for regrets. What was done was done. As far as I knew, there was absolutely no way to undo a bond. She was stuck with me whether she liked it or not.Logically I knew my thoughts were merely a firewall protecting my heart. It was failing though. She had already breeched that too. I had to find her.I was trying to think through what I knew about my mate when there wa