by Paige Tyler
“STAT has officially asked for our help on this one,” Mason said.
“Unfortunately, San Antonio PD has some murders that look like ritual sacrifices that STAT wants me to take a look, and Zane is coming along for backup,” Alyssa said. “Which means you’ll be on your own for this.”
Trey could understand why Zane would be her first and only choice for backup. If you were heading into a freaky, unknown situation, it never hurt to have a werewolf around to help. If that werewolf was your soul mate, even better.
“You sure you don’t need a little more help?” Connor asked. “One of the other guys or I could go with you.”
Kat didn’t seem to think much of that idea if the way she jumped off the pile of bricks and sank her claws into the leg of Connor’s uniform pants was any indication. The glint in her green eyes suggested she’d shred him to pieces if he even considered going with Alyssa and Zane.
Muttering something under his breath, Connor scooped Kat up with one hand and stuck her in the SWAT SUV, where she sat on the dash, staring at him with a pissed-off look that only a cat could come up with.
There is something seriously wrong with that cat.
That thought earned Trey a long-distance glare from Kat…like she’d actually heard him thinking it.
“Thanks for the offer,” Alyssa said. “But I think it’ll go better with just the two of us. We’ll draw less attention that way. Besides, there’s a good chance this is nothing but a bunch of college students playing with some old books they dug up somewhere. If it turns into anything more, we’ll call you guys.”
They talked for a while longer about what kind of supernatural creature might be involved in murders that would leave a desiccated corpse until an unmarked SUV that belonged to STAT showed up. A moment later, a man and woman got out to collect the body, as well as take pictures and samples from the surrounding area.
“All my files from the previous murders are waiting for you at the SWAT compound,” Alyssa said before she and Zane headed for their car. “You’ll have access to STAT intel support and our medical examiners. If you need anything else, just ask and they’ll get it for you.”
“What about the Butcher investigation?” Trey asked Mason as his pack mate and fiancée drove off.
“I’m hoping you can work both cases,” the deputy chief said. “Gage told me that you have an inside track with the medical examiner assigned to the Butcher task force. If she’s willing to float you a few leads now and then, you should be able to sniff around and find something they might not recognize.”
Trey scowled at Connor, having no doubt he was the pack mate who’d ratted him out to their SWAT commander/pack alpha, Gage Dixon. That was the only way the boss could have learned about the “inside track” he had with Samantha. The grin Connor gave him confirmed he was to blame.
Mason left a little while later, telling them he expected frequent updates. “And try not to do anything that attracts Chief Leclair’s attention. She’s already suspicious of your team.”
Trey watched the deputy chief drive away, wondering how the hell the man expected them to track down what was possibly two supernatural killers when they knew next to nothing about these creatures. This was so far outside the SWAT job description it wasn’t even funny.
“Okay, now that Mason’s gone, tell us what happened with Samantha,” Connor said, looking at him expectantly. “Did you finally ask her out or what?”
Connor and his other pack mates had been riding him nonstop about whether he’d asked her since they’d left the forensic institute yesterday. They all assumed he had, since he’d been grinning like an idiot when he came outside. After the way they’d ribbed him for the past two years, he figured he earned the right to mess with them.
“You know, it’s okay if she turned you down,” Hale said. “Rejection stings like a son of a bitch, especially when you’re really into the person, but it happens to everyone. I’ve been there, so trust me, I know how you feel.”
Trey snorted. “While I’d love to stand around this landfill and talk about it, in the interest of full disclosure, Samantha didn’t turn me down. We’re going out to dinner tonight.”
Connor did a double take. “Damn. You actually asked her out?”
“What, I thought you were all about me going out with her?” Trey frowned. “In fact, you were the one pushing for me to do it the other morning. Over a dead body, no less.”
Hale laughed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but we had a pool going at the compound over how long it would take before you two actually went out. Connor is pissed because he bet it’d be at least another two weeks.”
Trey looked at Connor, not bothering to hide his disappointment. “Really? Two weeks?”
“Sorry.” Connor shrugged. “But damn, dude. You’ve been dragging this out for months. At two weeks, I was actually one of the optimistic ones. Not as optimistic as Gage, who pegged you for this weekend. But at least I wasn’t as bad as Trevor. He put twenty dollars on you never asking her out at all. He insisted you’d never get off your butt and do it and that Samantha would have to make the first move.”
Trey didn’t say anything. Because the truth was, he’d been shocked as hell when Samantha asked him out. He’d always thought he’d be doing the asking. The only reason he’d waited so long was because he genuinely had been worried she’d turn him down. He wasn’t afraid of going up against bad guys with machine guns half as much as he was afraid of being rejected by the woman he’d been head over heels for, for going on two years.
“Wait a second,” Connor said, looking at him sharply. “You did ask her out, right? Not the other way around.”
Trey grinned as he opened the door of his pickup. “Actually, she asked me. Though technically, she collected on one of the favors I owe her by having me ask her to dinner, so I’m not sure how you guys are going to work that out.”
Climbing into the truck, he started the engine and put the vehicle in gear, chuckling as Trevor insisted he should win the bet. Trey was tempted to hang around and see if his teammates won that argument but decided against it. If he stayed, they’d only end up ripping on him for not asking Samantha out in the first place.
Chapter 4
“So, does Trey know you’ve been stalking him?” Crystal asked as she watched Samantha try on yet another dress.
Samantha ignored her friend for the moment as she studied her reflection in the full-length mirror on the inside of the closet door, checking out the little black dress she was wearing. After going through nearly half her clothes, she’d ended up going back to her trusted LBD, throwing on a silver chain necklace and oversized matching hoop earrings. It was the perfect blend of casual and elegant for a first date, and she probably should have simply picked it to begin with, but her head was spinning a bit.
“I have not been stalking him,” Samantha insisted, most of her attention now focused on which shoes to wear. She was leaning toward the black sandals with the kitten heels, but she wanted to see if there was anything else that might work.
“Oh, right,” Crystal murmured, pulling out a pair of black wedges with silver accents and handing them to her. “You’ve been investigating him. Following him around, taking pictures of him and his SWAT teammates, and snooping through his trash. Sounds more like stalking to me.”
The urge to stick her tongue out at Crystal was hard to resist, but she did, because she was an adult. And sticking your tongue out at people—even if they deserved it—wasn’t a very adult thing to do.
“I have been investigating him,” she said firmly, deciding to go with Crystal’s choice of shoes, then turning to check her makeup one more time in the mirror. “And don’t act like you don’t know why. Not after everything Trey and his teammates have been involved in.”
Crystal shook her head in exasperation. “The coyote thing again?”
“It’s more than tha
t and you know it.” Samantha caught her friend’s eye in the mirror. “The list of unexplainable crap SWAT has been involved in boggles the mind. There was that crime boss who got all clawed up at the airport, then those Albanian mobsters who said some kind of creatures attacked them. And don’t even get me started on that naked SWAT cop in the middle of a blood-spattered crime scene. Or that blood sample I thought was his. I still haven’t figured out what happened to it.”
Crystal rolled her eyes. “You mean the sample that came back contaminated with animal DNA?”
Samantha had been sure she’d get something useful from the sample she’d collected at the black market organ-harvesting operation, but the lab she’d sent it to claimed it was contaminated and had destroyed it. Crystal had ribbed her for months about it.
“Yes, that one,” Samantha replied, ignoring the smirk on her friend’s face. “Toss in the wolves people claim to have seen running around crime scenes where SWAT just so happens to also be, the city’s former chief of police trying to assassinate them, and mysterious federal agents scooping up suspects after SWAT has arrested them, and you can’t tell me all that doesn’t make you the least bit curious.”
Crystal’s dark gaze was assessing. “Sure, I’m curious. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to play games with a guy I’m interested in on the off chance I might learn a few secrets. I don’t mess with other people that way.”
The accusation hit a little too close to home and Samantha saw herself blush in the mirror. Her conscience had already spent the past few days berating the hell out of her for what she was doing. “It’s not like that. I’m not playing games with Trey.”
“Really?” Crystal asked, her expression downright dubious. “Here’s a simple question then: Is this thing tonight a date or part of your investigation?”
Samantha fussed with the big, bouncy curls she’d put in the ends of her long, blond hair. “Can’t it be both?” she asked after delaying as long as she could.
“No, it can’t.” Crystal sighed. “Look, if you’re going out with Trey Duncan because he’s a sexy guy and you have the hots for him, that’s one thing. But if you’re going to dinner with him tonight because you think it’ll help you dig up all his secrets, that’s another. They’re mutually exclusive and it’s screwed up. Not to mention something the friend I thought I knew would ever do.”
The air left her lungs all at once, and before she knew it, Samantha found herself sitting on the edge of her bed, Crystal down on her knees in front of her, asking if she was okay.
“Yeah.” Samantha nodded even as she struggled to get over her minor panic attack. “It’s just that…I don’t have a clue what the hell I’m doing. Sometimes, I am so attracted to Trey that it’s hard to breathe when he’s around. But at the same time, I know he and the other members of his SWAT team are hiding something huge. I don’t what or how coyotes and wolves play into all of it, but I know it’s something big. And you know I don’t deal well with secrets. So I’m stuck between wanting this thing with Trey to work out and wanting to figure out what they’re hiding.”
Crystal shook her head in exasperation. “And you’re not worried that going for the latter will destroy any chance of the former?”
Samantha shrugged. “I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.”
Frowning, Crystal opened her mouth to say something, but the ringing of the doorbell interrupted her. A glance at the clock showed that it was seven o’clock. Trey was right on time.
With a sigh, her friend stood, pulling Samantha up with her. “Well, I think you’re crazy. If I had someone like Trey interested in me, I’d do everything I could to make sure he stayed that way. But if this is how you want to do things, I guess I’ll just wish you luck. And hope you don’t end up regretting this plan.”
“I hope I don’t, either,” Samantha said.
* * *
“Wait a second. What do you mean, it was destroyed?” Samantha asked as the hostess at the grill and bar showed them to their booth. “Why would someone destroy your truck?”
The woman gave them a curious glance before telling them to enjoy their dinner, then leaving them to look over the menus. North of the city center in the Greenville area, the restaurant had lots of exposed wood and bare light bulbs strung along the ceiling in a way that surprisingly worked with the decor. Samantha had never eaten there, but Trey assured her they had the best burgers and cheese fries in town. If the aromas coming from the kitchen were any indication, he was right.
Admittedly, Samantha had been amazed at how relaxed she’d been on the drive across town. After her conversation with Crystal, she’d expected to be a little tense, but within minutes of getting into his new silver Jeep Gladiator and discovering they both loved that wonderful new-car smell, it felt like they’d known each other for years. Trey had totally floored her when he said he bought the pickup because his 1990 Ford Bronco had been destroyed. Samantha knew SWAT got involved in crazy stuff, but that was a story she simply had to hear.
“You remember when those guys attacked Diego in the parking lot outside the SWAT compound back in June?” Trey asked, glancing at the menu. “The ones we thought were high on delirium?”
Samantha remembered it very well. She’d gotten there less than thirty minutes after the shootout to find four dead assailants, their bodies still warm. There’d been a lot of confusion at the time about what had happened, but she definitely remembered it had seemed like a war zone to her inexperienced eyes. In fact, one of the vehicles in the parking lot had been ripped to shreds from all the gunfire.
“Crap.” She gasped, suddenly realizing the implications. “That shot-up vehicle in the lot was yours?”
Trey nodded sadly. “Yup. Diego swore he didn’t pick my vehicle to hide behind on purpose, but I think he’s being less than honest since he’s been hounding me forever to get a new truck. Regardless, he did, and it was totally destroyed. Every window was broken, all the tires were flat, and the engine block got turned into swiss cheese. My insurance payoff barely covered the cost of towing it to the junkyard. But on the bright side, it finally got me off my butt and into a vehicle made in this century.”
Samantha couldn’t help laughing. How anyone could find a silver lining in having their car shot up was beyond her, but the fact that Trey could was another indication of how amazing he was. Even if he failed to mention at least one of those men who’d attacked Diego Martinez back in June had somehow ended up with their throats torn out by some kind of claws.
“Since you’ve eaten here before, what do you recommend?” she asked, turning her attention to the menu.
“You can’t go wrong with anything they serve. It’s all basic comfort food that tastes like it’s homemade,” he said with a smile Samantha decided she was becoming dangerously addicted to. “We definitely have to get the cheddar fries to start with because it would be criminal not to. After that, I usually go for one of their cheeseburgers, but their chicken strips and chili dogs are good, too. Sometimes I can’t decide, so I end up just getting all three.”
Samantha stared at him, sure he was kidding. But from the sincere expression on his face, it seemed he wasn’t. “Mind giving me your secret? If I ate that much, I would be in serious trouble.”
The smile on his face slipped for a second as he glanced down at the menu in his hands. “I’ve always had a fast metabolism.”
Trey might have been wearing an untucked button-down, but Samantha had seen him in his tight uniform T-shirt more than once, so she had a pretty good idea of the kind of shape he was in, and it sure as hell had nothing to do with a fast metabolism. “Okay. I’ll share some of your cheddar fries, but I think I’ll limit myself to one entrée.”
When their server came over to take their order, Samantha got the classic burger with cheese and a side of guacamole along with an iced tea. She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing as Trey ordered the chili cheddar burg
er with double beef patties and a full-sized bowl of chili on the side. And if that wasn’t enough, he also got a large order of cheddar fries with a double serving of bacon.
“Fast metabolism, huh?” she teased after the server left.
He shrugged, his gaze locked on hers, the warmth in his eyes enough to make it feel like someone had turned up the temperature. “I’m lucky that way, I guess.”
Resisting the urge to fan herself with her hand, she picked up the iced tea the server brought and took a sip. “How’d you find this place? I’ve driven past it at least a dozen times and never seen it.”
Trey sipped his beer before answering. “SWAT got called out to a barricaded suspect near here a few years ago. We ended up spending over twelve hours waiting for our negotiator to talk the guy out of the house and this was the first restaurant we saw after packing up. We all fell in love with the burgers—and the prices. We stop by to eat anytime there’s a call in this part of town.”
She pictured all of those big cops in here, eating their weight in burgers and hot dogs. “I get the feeling you and your teammates spend a lot of time together outside of work.”
His mouth edged up. “Yeah. Our team is like a big family. We get together at least once or twice a week in addition to the weekends. And even when we’re not getting together as a pack, smaller groups of us hang out together all the time.”
Samantha stared at him, wondering if she’d heard right. She opened her mouth to ask but was interrupted by the server showing up with a ridiculous plate of fries buried in melted cheese and crumbled bacon. Her mouth watered at the sight and she eagerly reached for a fry, moaning as the combination of cheddar, fried potato, and crispy bacon hit her tongue.
She was helping herself to another when she remembered what she’d been going to say before. “When you were talking about your teammates, you called them a pack.”
Trey paused, a handful of cheesy fries halfway to his mouth. “I did?” he asked, the words coming out light and casual.
