Some Were In Time

by Robyn Peterman

  "What the hell? There's too much traffic to make it there in eight minutes. This is ridiculous."

  She was pissed.

  "Nope, not ridiculous at all. You're correct about the traffic. I'd suggest running. If you sprint you can make it. If you need a hit I'd suggest a flask. A bottle would be messy if you dropped it on your run. No flunkies or we disappear."

  "I should fire your ass," she muttered angrily.

  "Is that a threat or a promise?" I shot back.

  "Neither," she snapped. "If you weren't so damned valuable I wouldn't put up with this shit."

  "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," I cooed.

  I could hear her breathing and I felt her blood pressure rise through the phone. I knew I was treading on thin ice if I wanted to actually keep my job, but being a WTF agent had become extremely unappealing in the last month. Defending my life on a semi-daily basis was not what I had signed up for. My dream had been to defend my entire race… not just myself.

  "Does the Dragon know she'll be drinking the formula?" I asked.

  Angela's ginormous pause answered the question. "Not exactly," she hedged.

  "Well, I'd suggest you get the fire breather up to speed on your run. She doesn't drink—we have nothing to say or do with her… or you," I said tightly.

  Hank tensed beside me. I knew he wanted to rip the phone from my hand and let Angela have it. Out of respect for me he stayed still.

  "You really want to leave her defenseless?" she asked with disgust.

  "After my week—yes. Yes, I do."

  "What the hell does that mean?" she demanded, completely exasperated.

  "If you don't already know, I might let you in on it when I see you," I informed her cryptically. "You have eight minutes. Starting now."

  As I hung up the phone I heard her screaming a string of obscenities that made me cringe. To say she was pissed was an understatement, but I didn't care. I wasn't sure who the bad guy was anymore and I was taking no chances.

  "I think that went well," I said to Hank with an evil grin.

  "The half-bald Wolf ass comment was inspired," he said, congratulating me.

  "Yep, I thought it was a nice touch," I agreed with a real smile. "Dima doesn't know about the solution."

  "I gathered as much," he replied as he ran his hands through his hair. "She won’t want to drink it."

  "Do you know her?" I asked. I didn't like the idea he had possibly interacted with the Dragon.

  "I've met her."

  "And?"

  "And she's a Dragon."

  "Pretty?" I inquired casually as my pea green jealous side roared to the surface.

  "Aren't they all?" he said.

  "You could say she was fugly and smelled bad," I said as my eyes narrowed.

  "If I lie and she shows up looking like she does, you'll want to castrate me and wonder what else I'm being untruthful about. Correct?"

  "Um… maybe," I mumbled. God, sometimes it annoyed me that he knew me so well.

  "She's gorgeous and she leaves me cold. There is no one in this world for me except you. We clear on that?" he asked with a raised brow and a hint of a smile on his lips.

  "Yes," I said sheepishly. I had a possessive streak a mile long, but Hank's was worse.

  "Six more minutes till the second call," he said with a feral grin.

  "Are you enjoying this?" I asked as I punched his arm.

  "Aren't you?" he countered.

  I paused and considered my answer. I didn't want to enjoy it, but if I were being truthful… I was. The adrenaline pumping through my blood made me feel alive. The threat of danger appealed to my inner wolf and the desire to win consumed me. It alarmed me how I felt most alive in a battle or in Hank's arms. However, denying what I was could be deadly. I was a predator and I had enemies. It would be helpful to know a concrete list of who my enemies actually were, but living on the edge was invigorating… and possibly stupid in a deadly way.

  "I do enjoy it," I admitted. "Will we ever be able to live a normal life?"

  "Normal is a relative word," Hank said. "One person's normal is another person's hell."

  "That didn't actually answer my question."

  "Point," he conceded with a slight shrug. "But our normal or abnormal will always be fine as long as we're together."

  "Okay, so I'm guessing no white picket fence with two point five children and a minivan," I said sadly.

  "I was thinking more like six children," he replied with a sexy smirk.

  "Clearly you've been smoking crack," I shot back with a laugh and an eye roll. There was no way I planned to blow out six pups.

  "Nope—just wishful thinking. I want little girls who look just like you."

  My heart melted and I wanted to get started on baby making immediately. However, the public zoo was not the most romantic or legal place to start a family. We weren't even married yet.

  "Enough of the family planning," I admonished him sternly with a barely concealed smile. "I can't be thinking about you naked while I'm at work. Is Junior on his way up?"

  "I really don't like Junior and naked being used in the same sentence by you," Hank snapped.

  "Oh. My. God. First of all, they were two separate sentences and the thought of Junior naked is so wrong it's laughable."

  His jealous streak was so hot…

  "Oh. Well, alright then. He's going to the house to wait for us. I left him a note about what was going down today."

  "You wrote out our plans out and left them lying on a table?" I was shocked.

  "It's all in code. No one can read it except Junior and myself," he said, calming me. "If I don't contact him in a half hour he'll come after us."

  Hank's brilliance constantly amazed me. "Can I learn the code?" I asked.

  "It'll cost you," he said with a suggestive grin.

  "Will I enjoy the terms?"

  "I believe you'll find the conditions to your liking."

  "Deal," I said as I checked my watch. "Three minutes."

  "You want the second phone call?" he asked.

  "Yes. Yes, I do."

  We stared at the phone and waited.

  "Do you think you can raise the bar on half-bald Wolf ass?"

  I paused for a brief moment and decided to take the dare. "Yes. Yes, I believe I can."

  "Go for it," Hank said with a grin that made me laugh. "Thirty seconds."

  I dialed and bit back my grin. My sexy man could even make impending bloodshed and possible death fun. He was a total keeper.

  "Asscrackada, did you make it?" I bellowed into the phone.

  "Yes," she huffed like she was about to drop. "Where the hell are you and what the hell did you just call me?"

  "I called you Angela."

  "No, you didn't," she wheezed. "It sounded like asscaca."

  "Sweet fecal hell," I laughed. "You need your ears checked, Anaconda."

  "Whatever. Where are you?" she demanded.

  "We're not there, Angina," I told her evenly. "There's been a slight change in venue. You have exactly seven minutes to get to the Lincoln Park Zoo and go to the Red Wolf cages."

  "You've got to be shitting me," she coughed out.

  "Um, nope. Not shitting you at all, Ammonia."

  "What in god's name did you just call me?" she shouted as I tried not to laugh.

  I did feel a little bad about making her run. She was wildly out of shape for a Werewolf. Most of me liked her the way one likes a cranky teacher who has to put up with you because she has no choice.

  "I called you by your name… Alfalfa."

  "That is not my… "

  "You have seven minutes." I cut her tirade off. "Starting now."

  I tossed the phone to Hank, who was laughing.

  "God, my world would suck without you in it."

  "I rose to the challenge and then some," I said proudly. "Alfalfa was my crowning moment."

  "I'm partial to Asscrackada," he said.

  "Happy to oblige."

  "W
hen they get here we pat them down and put the solution in Dima's mouth. Then we let them talk their way into a hole… or not," he said as he checked his weapons.

  "I'll pat down Dima," I said, not making eye contact. There was no way I wanted to watch him put his hands on her if she was as hot as I imagined.

  "Fine by me," he agreed, clearly understanding and politely ignoring my jealousy.

  "They have three minutes to reach the wolves and then I'd say approximately two to the monkeys and then two to the reptiles," I said as the tension and excitement in my body coiled tightly.

  "Seven minutes till show time," Hank whispered.

  "Do you think Angela is playing us?" I asked.

  "Don't know, but we'll find out soon enough."

  I prayed to all the angels and saints and threw in Dolce and Gabbana in honor of Hank's mom. If Angela wasn't involved with the ambush, she sure as hell was going to help us find out who was.

  Chapter 15

  We stood as they approached. Dima was every bit as stunning as I'd assumed and Angela looked like she'd been hit by a truck. The Dragon had long flaming red hair and a body to die for. Her boobs looked fake to me, but Were bodies rejected plastic surgery so the monsters had to be real. I hated her on sight. Not because she was a Dragon and had ginormous perky knockers… because she was ogling Hank like he was dessert. Setting her straight would be fun and hopefully a little bloody.

  The coast was clear and I scented no other Weres in the area. That relieved me more than I wanted to admit. The thought that Angela had betrayed me didn't sit well at all. Hopefully the Dragon would drink and the meeting would be filled with facts instead of death and fire. However, if she touched Hank she'd lose a hand.

  As we stepped away from the bushes Angela's eyes narrowed to slits. It took all I had not to burst out laughing. She hadn't been exaggerating when she said she'd pulled half of her hair out. I felt bad for a moment, but her nervous tics were not my problem. However, I was delighted to realize the burner phone had photograph ability. This would come in handy if I stayed on with the WTF. I captured a fond and unattractive memory of my boss as we stopped and stood about six feet from them.

  "I'd say it's nice to see you again, but it's not," I said calmly. "Has the Dragon agreed to drink?"

  "The Dragon has a name," Dima countered smoothly as she glanced at me briefly before her eyes landed back on Hank and stayed there.

  She was very short-sighted not to talk to the woman. Just like a typical car salesman—she thought the man was in charge. She had another thing coming.

  "The Dragon drinks now or the meeting is over," I said tightly.

  Hank stood quietly beside me with a vicious expression on his beautiful face. His eyes were on Angela and he ignored the Dragon completely.

  "You're in charge here," he said in my head. "Let the Dragon know you mean business or we'll have trouble."

  "Can I punch her in the head?" I asked.

  "Will that make you feel better?"

  "I think it would," I answered honestly.

  "Then by all means—punch away."

  "Drop all your weapons and slide them over. I want your phones too. Now," I demanded.

  "What are you doing?" Angela snapped. "We are not the bad guys."

  "That remains to be seen, boss lady," I replied coldly. "We've had a few little unexplainable issues on the way up and it's a bit difficult not to connect them back to you."

  "Care to explain?" Angela asked as she reluctantly removed her weapons and dropped them and her phone to the ground.

  "Not particularly," I said with a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "Suffice it to say we won and they lost."

  That wasn't exactly true since Granny's life still hung in the balance, but there was no way in hell I was turning over that piece of intel. The Council would destroy a Wolf-Vampyre hybrid faster than I could blink.

  "Who lost?" she bellowed. "What in god's name are you babbling about? Where the hell are Dwayne and Bobby Sue?"

  "Michigan," I said.

  "What the hell is in Michigan?" she demanded.

  Ignoring her, I focused on the Dragon, who was taking her sweet time unburdening herself of her firearms, knives, and whatever else she had hidden under her ridiculously tight pants and t-shirt. God, her boobs were distracting.

  "So… Wolf," she purred with distaste as a thin tendril of purple smoke wafted from her nose. "You're going to take my weapons and make me drink something to prohibit my shift?"

  "Yep. Them's the rules," I said, pulling out my best Southern accent with a vengeance.

  "Do you think I'm stupid?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

  Finally I had her full attention.

  "I have no idea if you're stupid and I don't actually care. What I do know is this—if you can shift I can't kill you if the need arises. If you stay human, I can rip your head off of your body with my bare hands. I've done it before and trust me, if you cross me… I will happily do it again."

  "That was you?" she asked as she paled and gaped at me. She shot a quick and angry look at Angela, who shrugged noncommittally.

  Clearly Angela hadn't kept the Dragon entirely up to speed. This was good to know.

  The Dragon was both impressed and appalled. Interestingly, she had completely forgotten Hank was anywhere in the vicinity. However, I was still going to punch her in the head.

  "You going to drink voluntarily or do we get to fight a little first?" I inquired casually.

  "Careful, Essie," Hank warned. "She can still shift."

  "She won't fight," I assured him. "She has an agenda. There's got to be something larger than money at stake for her to be doing this."

  "True," he agreed, "but she's still a Dragon."

  "Good point, well made. However, I will bet you three backrubs with oil and sex afterward that I'm right."

  "That's a win-win for me," he growled. "I shall take those odds and raise you twelve tacos post sex," he countered.

  "I can live with that," I said with glee. "I'm still going to punch her in the head."

  "I expect no less."

  "It's unfair and ludicrous to expect me to give into all your demands. You clearly have issues with Dragons. Am I to believe you will defend me if the need arises?" Dima hissed angrily.

  "Yep. You've got it right. You can earn back your weapons, but not drinking the solution is a deal breaker," I told her as I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

  "This is not smart," she muttered. "I could defend all of us."

  "Possibly," I agreed. "But you are a Dragon. You're also a double agent. I have no clue whose side you're actually on. Your words and promises mean less than nothing to me at the moment."

  "It'll be your funeral," Dima snapped as she slid her weapons over.

  "Speaking of my demise," I said as my gaze zeroed in on Angela. "Who else knows Dwayne and my granny are working with me?"

  "That sentence made no sense," Angela grumped as she kicked her phone and guns over.

  "Trust me," I shot back as I crunched her phone beneath my rockin' cool combat boot, much to her dismay. "It makes plenty of sense. Answer the question."

  "I know. You all know. And some of the Council knows," she told me.

  I was speechless. Why in the hell did anyone on the Council know? I could tell it took everything Hank had not to take three steps forward and end Angela's life.

  "Explain," I said tersely as I put a hand on Hank's arm.

  Dima watched the drama unfolding with curiosity.

  "It's protocol," Angela griped.

  "I need to kill her," Hank said with a coldness that made me shiver.

  "Nope. If she dies, I get the honors," I told him.

  "She put a target on our head. Is she stupid or just totally by the book?" he demanded.

  I couldn't answer that one.

  "Nothing about this mission is protocol," I hissed viciously as Angela took several tentative steps backwards. "You wanted us to find out if the Dragons were crossbree
ding and then ascertain if the Council was in cahoots with the Dragons. I fail to see how reporting the inner workings of the mission to the Council benefits anyone."