by Terry Spear
Anna closed her gaping mouth. Even when he was young and terrified of facing his own mortality, he’d been honorable.
“Even today, the sound of a bear roaring in the wilderness gives me flashbacks about that horrific incident. After that, I resolved to be as tough as I could. Take no prisoners. Kill before being killed. Law of the jungle. I never wanted to have to rely on anyone else to get me anywhere safely.” He took a deep breath and exhaled it. “I had convinced my friend to join me on the hike. I was responsible.”
“You were just a kid, Bjornolf,” she said. “We all make mistakes. But the bear killed your friend. It could have been you.”
“Yeah.” He sounded like he still felt he was at fault. “These kids are with their parents. In this case, the mother and father are responsible for putting the children in harm’s way. Who the hell does that to their kids?”
Anna nodded, unsure what to say. Sometimes lending a sympathetic ear was enough.
Yet, she wanted to hug the young boy in Bjornolf who had suffered such a traumatic experience. And immediately thought how dangerous that would be.
She slipped out of her shirt and spread it next to her boots. He stood and unbuckled his belt while she watched. She couldn’t have taken her eyes off him at that moment for anything.
He unbuttoned his pants. She rose to her feet and unbuckled her belt, unfastened her pants, and slid them down her legs. The pants were caked with mud, stiff from the knees down, and it felt good to get out of them. If she had the time, she’d wash them in the morning.
Wearing only a pair of black boxers, Bjornolf lay down on her spread-out sleeping bag, his arms behind his head, his eyes on hers. He looked sexy, his tan muscled legs spread out, his chest lightly dusted in dark hair, his pecs remarkably toned as if he got a regular workout.
Which made her think of women and Bjornolf getting a really good workout that way.
Anna definitely didn’t want to ponder that further.
She climbed onto the hammock, wearing a clingy olive-green tank top over her bra that showed a little skin between the top and her low-cut matching bikini panties. As Bjornolf’s gaze lingered on the skimpiness of her undergarments, a heated blush crept up her chest and neck and stretched down her torso.
Sure, the other guys looked when she stripped partway to climb into her sleeping bag—they were hot-blooded men of the wolf variety, after all—but she didn’t think they appeared quite as predatory as Bjornolf did when he swallowed her up with his gaze. She’d noticed that the other men looked her way but then looked away again.
The hammock swung back and forth for a moment before it settled down. She sniffed at the canvas and smelled a feline scent. Jaguar?
“They kind of grow on you, don’t they? The team, I mean,” she asked softly so as not to wake the sleeping family.
“Kinda,” Bjornolf admitted.
For a man who was as tough as a tortoise shell and as reclusive as a jaguar, he had to have had a hard time admitting that, but he seemed to trust her at least that much.
“They’re growing on me, too,” she said.
They were silent for a long time, then he said, “That bruiser who buried you weighed a ton.”
She smiled. “Yeah, but when you took the other one out and he landed on top of me, I felt like I was buried beneath tons of rubble.”
“Sorry. He was supposed to drop the other way.”
She chuckled, then stretched out on the hammock again and closed her eyes. She was getting sleepy.
She heard a howl from the jungle and an answering howl back. Paul and Allan. They must have shifted into wolves to provide security while on guard duty.
An hour later, she heard whispered words between William and his brother, Jeff, inside the hut. Her ears perked up and she listened hard.
“It wasn’t supposed to go down this way,” Jeff whispered.
“Someone got their noses into the business instead of leaving well enough alone,” Wentworth said.
“Now what happens?” Jeff asked, his voice hushed but angry.
“I don’t know. Hell, it’s not my fault that these people killed our kidnappers.”
Chapter 3
Anna’s back stiffened. Why would the SEAL team be at fault for killing the kidnappers in an effort to free the family?
Her thoughts shifted in another direction, more sinister in nature. What if saving them hadn’t been part of the agenda? What if Wentworth and his brother had arranged the whole thing?
She leaned over the hammock to peer at Bjornolf. In the sweltering night, he looked hot and sexy resting on his back as he spread out on her sleeping bag. His eyes were closed, but the way he was breathing, she could tell that he was wide awake.
Good. She liked having verification when she believed some skullduggery was in progress.
“We’ll have to come up with another plan,” Wentworth whispered to his brother.
“You’ll still have to pay the guys,” Jeff said.
“Cost of doing business.”
“What about that other situation?” Jeff asked.
“I left a trail straight to his door. He’ll take care of it if he wants to survive.”
“Except we won’t be there to help him this time,” Jeff said, his voice still hushed.
“Perfect for us.”
When they didn’t say anything further, Anna assumed they must have fallen asleep. She soon followed them, drifting off to nothingness.
Bjornolf knew he had to speak privately to Hunter about what the brothers had revealed. Once they were all on the trail again, it would be harder to get the word to Hunter without the family overhearing. Bjornolf threw on a fresh set of clothes and left the hut.
Finding Hunter stretched out on a hammock nearby, Bjornolf explained what he overheard. “All I know is that you had to rescue this family, and from the research I did, I learned that William Wentworth is a multimillionaire with more than a dozen businesses. Some have to do with pharmaceuticals and trying to discover new medicines from plants in the Amazon. He also has other more diversified businesses, including computer technology. What I don’t understand is why they were here in the first place. Dragging two little kids and a wife on a trip to the jungle this close to Christmas?”
“According to family friends, they came here on a special tour—to get a look at the jungle that has made so much money for them. What we were told was that the adventure went bad when their tour guides were murdered and the family was taken hostage. Their lawyer received a ransom message and he was concerned that if he paid the money to the kidnappers, they’d take the payment and kill Wentworth and his family. The lawyer relayed the information to my source, who got in touch with us, knowing we could handle the mission.
“We all believed he brought the family here to prove he wasn’t just a desk jockey. That he could handle the Amazon jungle as well as he did a corporate jungle, but then he found himself way out of his element here. What you overheard blows that theory all to hell. What I’m not clear on is how you came to be here.” Hunter waited for Bjornolf to respond.
“Truth is, it needs to remain a highly kept secret,” Bjornolf said seriously, though he was having the damnedest time keeping a straight face.
Hunter shook his head. “Meara sent you.”
Bjornolf smiled a little. “Yeah, she emphasized that both you and Finn were needed home for Christmas. Good thing I don’t have a sister. Or a mate.”
“Speaking of that…”
Bjornolf wondered where this little talk was going.
“Listen, Bjornolf, I know you don’t do team projects any longer. I know about your team being killed on a mission and you being the lone survivor. I know what that kind of thing can do to a guy, so don’t think I’m unsympathetic. But I could really use your help for a job. Right after we arrived
in Bogota, I got a call from Tessa. She said Nathan—you remember the teen you brought home after he’d run away?” Hunter asked.
“Yeah, sure. Good kid. Troubled.”
“Yeah, well he’s working at a Christmas tree farm and smelled a couple of dead wolf bodies. Tessa has our police officers looking into it, but they haven’t found any bodies, and we have more of a problem than that.”
Bjornolf wondered why Hunter would ask him to work a job instead of going to his own team members. “What is it?”
“Actually, I need a couple to handle this,” Hunter said.
“A… couple,” Bjornolf said slowly. It didn’t sound like Hunter meant a couple of men.
“Yeah, like you and Anna. You both know each other already to an extent, and I need a highly trained team that can handle a situation that might get ugly real fast.”
“A situation?”
“Tessa said the police officers are certain that two of our wolf kind were murdered at the Christmas tree farm.”
“Hell. Why do you need a couple?”
“We need you to take Nathan in for a bit, serve as his guardians, while you search for clues about the murders. It would be a good cover and would help to safeguard him. We’ll provide one of our beach homes for you to use as you and Anna play the role of being newlyweds. Tessa is having the boy stay with one of the cop families in our pack in the meantime. But Nathan wanted you and Anna to watch out for him. Of course, I told him I hadn’t seen you since the last trouble we had there. So I explained I’d tried to pair up either Allan or Paul with Anna.”
Bjornolf wasn’t sure what he was getting into. “Have you spoken to Anna about the mission?”
“No. I asked Paul or Allan if they wanted to work with her on the assignment, but they both had other contracts after this mission. I’m sure if I told them I had no one else to serve as her partner, one of them would have stepped up. But before I tell Anna, I want to ensure I have someone lined up to watch her back.”
“Watching over the boy?” Bjornolf was surprised. Somehow he didn’t see her stepping in to take care of a teenage boy.
“No. Trying to solve the murder mystery.”
Bjornolf nodded.
“I wasn’t about to assign her the job unless I could find a man I trusted to keep her safe. Then here you are all of a sudden. The two of you could be perfect for the job. Especially since you know Nathan already. And he asked for you specifically. Paul and Allan have never met the boy. If you don’t have any other plans for Christmas and you don’t mind working with Anna—I know she has no plans for the holidays—it could work. Or I’ll ask the other guys again and see if one of them can break his contract.”
“I’ll do it.” Bjornolf couldn’t believe he’d just accepted a mission to work with Anna as a team. He wondered how she’d view it.
“Good,” Hunter said. “As to our current mission, the team intends to get this family safely to the American embassy in Bogota. Whatever other agenda is playing behind the scenes is not our business. Although I fully intend to have my source and others check into the matter to learn what the truth is. I don’t like being played for a fool. And I sure as hell don’t appreciate getting my team shot at when a mission isn’t necessary. For now, we’ll conduct the undertaking as we’d first intended. The family needed rescuing. Eliminate the threat. Get the family to safety unharmed.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“All right.” Hunter settled back in his hammock. “Got to get some rest.”
“Night.” Bjornolf headed back to the hut and climbed the ladder. All he could think of was serving in wedded bliss with Anna—in a pretend role. During Christmas? That should be interesting. He hadn’t done Christmas in eons. Having Nathan around would keep the business more professional, but hell, maybe Anna and Bjornolf could get in a few sparring sessions—just to keep in shape when they had some spare time. When he retired to her sleeping bag and took in her sexy fragrance, all he could think of was “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” with Anna in his bed.
***
Anna slept until she heard Bjornolf’s approach. The blue-gray light of day hadn’t yet appeared, but the birds were beginning to call to each other high in the canopy. Bugs—from the buzz of mosquitoes to the chirping of crickets—added to the raucous noise.
“Time to go,” he said quietly, his voice rough with tension. His gaze focused on hers at first, then drifted over her scantily attired body.
“What… wait, what happened?” She frowned, feeling disoriented about the time. “I was supposed to have guard duty at some point. And I should have had some outdoor time.”
“You had indoor duty, watching these folks. Hunter wanted you to be here for the woman or kids if they needed you. That was the most important job you could have.”
She snorted. “I slept, you mean.” She couldn’t believe she’d slept soundly through the night.
He smiled gently. She didn’t remember him ever really grinning or laughing out loud. He was more subtle, cool under pressure, all mission-oriented. He was also damned hot, with his chest bare and still only wearing boxers. She thought about spending the night with him and what a real treat it would be to wake up with him first thing in the morning.
After climbing off the hammock, she crossed the small porch and peered through the screened door to the hut. William Wentworth’s brother was still asleep. She yanked fresh camo pants, another olive-green tank top, and a camo shirt out of her backpack, and then began to dress. She noticed that the muddy clothes she’d removed last night were hanging off a bamboo rod, the articles washed and still damp.
She frowned at Bjornolf. “Who…?” She waved her hand at her clothes. She couldn’t imagine Bjornolf had washed them. Nor any of the other men, for that matter.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted, looking like he was fighting a smile.
She envisioned him scrubbing the mud off her pants in the dark next to a stream and couldn’t believe it.
“Thanks.” She looked back at her clothes. What he’d done had been nothing short of heroic and thoughtful. “You took an awful risk. A croc could have gotten you,” she scolded.
“I killed him. Well, technically it was a caiman, a smaller crocodilian.”
She frowned at him, then seeing he was totally serious, she shook her head, trying not to chuckle. This was a side of him that was appealing and so unexpected.
She finished buttoning her shirt, needing to be fully clothed before she got too close to Bjornolf’s half-naked body, and whispered, “Did you hear the brothers talking last night?”
Bjornolf looked into her upturned face, his own expression dark, and nodded. “I spoke to Hunter about it already.”
“What did he say?”
“You know him. He has to ponder it for a while. He let the others know. We’re all mulling it over, coming up with different scenarios.”
“Blackmail?” she whispered.
“Possibly.” Bjornolf glanced at the hut. “We have to get them on their way.” He dressed, then walked toward the screen door. “I’ll wake and feed the family. You go do whatever it is you have to do, and we’ll all be ready to leave in a little bit.”
“All right.” She sat down on the floor and quickly pulled on her boots.
When Bjornolf rapped on the door to the hut, Wentworth answered in a tired voice, “Yeah?”
“Rise and shine, folks. Time to eat a bite and get on the road.”
Bjornolf walked inside the hut, speaking quietly to the dad, telling him about the next phase of the journey.
“What do you mean I need to give up my cell phone?” William asked, highly agitated.
“The men who took you hostage might be able to track you using the signal from your cell.”
“Can’t get a signal out here.”
“Jus
t hand them over.” Bjornolf was no longer playing Mister Nice Guy. In truth, they had to make sure the brothers didn’t use them to contact someone to institute a new plan as soon as they did get a signal. “All of them.”
“I don’t have one,” Jimmy said, his voice small.
“That’s okay, Jimmy,” Bjornolf said.
Anna didn’t envy Bjornolf the job. She climbed down the ladder and found Allan standing partially hidden by the floor of the hut that served as a roof on stilts. He was chewing on a piece of meat and smiling at her.
He always looked cute, his cheeks dimpled, his eyes full of mirth. “Have a good sleep?”
“You should have woken me up for guard duty,” she said, annoyed.
“Hunter’s orders. You had babysitting duty along with Bjornolf.” At the last comment, his eyes narrowed a little as he looked up at the hut.
She snorted. But she wasn’t about to tell Allan that she had slept through the night. She also couldn’t believe Bjornolf had actually washed his clothes and hers, too. She’d have to do something good in turn for him.
Then she saw the black caiman stretched out over a fire. The reptile had to be at least thirteen feet in length! A little caiman? She looked up at the hut. That’s what he’d killed just to wash her clothes?
***
A few minutes later, the family descended the steps to the forest floor. Bjornolf carried the girl down, and Paul, the boy. Anna came out of the jungle to join the group, giving Bjornolf a look.
He wasn’t sure what was up until she said, “Little caiman?”
Loving that the she-wolf was in awe of his hunter prowess, he just smiled back at her, which earned him a shake of her head.
After roasting and eating the caiman that Bjornolf had slaughtered by the stream, they were on their way. As soon as they headed out, Jimmy asked the question no one wanted to answer. Not: When will we get home? Or: How long will this take?
“Are we gonna be home in time for Christmas and see Santa coming down the chimney? We have to leave milk and cookies out for Santa,” the boy continued.
