by C. E. Black
Shifted Perceptions
C.E. Black
Shifted Perceptions
C.E. Black
Copyright © 2014 C.E. Black
Amazon Edition
ISBN: 9781311046055
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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations are entirely coincidental.
This book contains content that is not suitable for young readers 18 and under.
Editing: Butterfly Dreams Proofing and Editing
Copy Editing: Tammy Lindey
Cover Photos:
123rf Photo ID 5836387 Tatjana Strelkova
© Carleen Sweeney,m.p.r. | Dreamstime
Cover Design:
C.E. Black
If there’s one thing Terry (aka Foxy) hates most, it’s a traitor.
After Paul betrayed his team, he was given a second chance, though not everyone forgave the sexy jaguar shifter. In Foxy’s mind, once a traitor, always a traitor, and she refuses to work him. Even if he is too desirable for his own good.
When Foxy and Paul are thrown together on a mission, butting heads is an understatement. The struggle for dominance brings tension to every encounter between these two. Paul seems determined to keep Foxy safe and she’s determined to keep her distance. But with every burning glance he shoots her way, and every husky word he utters, she wonders if he’s more determined to drive her crazy with lust than anything else. Her only resolution is to keep her cool, though that’s easier said than done, even with her firm determination to never sleep with a traitor.
Going undercover isn’t Foxy’s specialty, but when Teij says jump, she doesn’t even question how high. Infiltrating this group of drug smugglers and finding out who’s really running the show is only part of the job. Her first priority is finding her captured teammate, and when she meets Stone, leader of this small organization, things begin to heat up unexpectedly. Foxy knows how to use the attraction to her advantage. Using her feminine wiles in these situations is expected. It’s what the Alpha Division does – Get close, get what you came for, and get out. Only, things aren’t going as planned.
The secrets are piling up and time is running short, but Foxy’s real problem is keeping her focus. Between Paul and Stone, she’s having a hard time keeping her head - and her clothes - on straight.
*Warning: This book contains strong sexual content, violence and adult language. Not suitable for readers under the age of 18.
Chapter 1
Terry
That was it – I was fed up with his bullshit!
In one quick turn, my foot connected with his jaw, sending him flat on his back. That same foot pressed against his throat, firmly pushing him into the wet grass beneath, before he had time to react.
Looking down at his arrogant face, I expected to see rage at being taken down so easily by a woman. I was even hopeful to maybe find chagrin at his actions, but that wasn’t what greeted me.
His dark eyes purposefully ran up and down my naked body, causing an inconceivable shiver to run down my spine. Had to be from disgust, I told myself. There was no way I could be attracted to such a man like Paul. He was a traitor, no matter what my boss, Teij, had said. I didn’t trust him and I never would. No matter how hot the temperature got when he turned those dark, intense eyes my way.
Paul’s smug smile broadened, and I shivered once again, though, I sneered back at him, making sure to add a snarl for good measure. The feeling was definitely disgust.
“Eyes above the chin,” I growled.
Those dark, expressionless eyes connected with mine. “If you wanted me to stop looking at you,” he said, his voice hoarse from the pressure of my foot against his windpipe, “then this wasn’t the way to go about it. The view is –”
“Don’t even finish that sentence. You’re suppose to have my back. That doesn’t mean you get to stare at my ass the whole time.”
“And you hate it, don’t you?”
“Damn right, I do! I won’t repeat myself again. Keep your eyes above my chin. As a shifter, you should understand this.”
“No. You hate that Teij put us together. You hate that I have your back, that I was put in charge of keeping you safe.”
My eyes narrowed. It wasn’t a secret that I didn’t like to work with Paul. Hell, I hated being in the same room with him. “That isn’t what this is about, and you damn well know it.”
From the first time I shifted in front of Paul, he had a problem keeping his eyes to himself. Everyone else on the team knew the drill. It was simple respect, not that hard to understand. As shifters, we were pretty comfortable with our nakedness. Our clothes didn’t magically appear or disappear when we shifted, and so we all had to get used to being around each other’s nude form.
As the only woman on the team, I knew it would be difficult for the men, but they also knew they’d be choking on their balls if they got out of line. Only Paul had the audacity to ignore the silently agreed upon rule.
We continued to stare each other down. Paul never made a move to get up, which surprised me. He wasn’t exactly weak. He could probably take me down pretty easily if he wanted to, but instead, he lay there completely still, waiting on me to let him up.
The man confused the hell out of me. One minute he’s a complete asshole, eyeing me like a piece of meat, and then the next, he takes his punishments as if he were actually humble.
Or maybe he was mocking me, I thought. That was a definite possibility. Paul’s quiet stare had a way of expressing his thoughts without even speaking. Many times, I could have sworn he was laughing at me, like there was some secret joke I wasn’t privy to.
A flutter of wings behind me let me know another team member had joined us. I stayed stiff, my gaze unwavering, as I stared at Paul. Neither of us looked at Hawk, as he approached.
“What's going on?” Hawk asked. He stood beside me, looking back and forth between Paul and me.
“Yeah, I just was teaching Paul here about a little thing called respect.”
“Aw, man! Dude, you know the rules.”
“I can’t help it. Have you looked at her lately,” he said in all seriousness.
“Well... Yeah... of course, but you have to be subtle about it, alright?
“Excuse me?” My head whipped around to glare at Hawk.
Hawk shrugged, “I’m a guy, shoot me.”
“I just might,” I said through clenched teeth.
His hands came up in surrender, as he backed up a step. “Okay, okay. Point taken. Now let the guy up so he can breath, will ya? We have a mission to finish.”
He was right, we did have work to do and that was the only reason I was letting Paul up so easily. I lifted my foot and took a step back. Paul continued to stare at my face, as Hawk offered him a hand up.
“You got off lucky, man,” Hawk told him. “I’ve seen her do worse.”
Paul took Hawk’s outstretched hand and stood up swiftly. Shaking the dirt out of his dark, almost black hair, he rotated his neck and winced. A small smile crept across my lips at the sight. It was nice to know I could take a man his size down, and he tota
lly deserved it.
Catching my smug grin, Paul glared at me. “I believe you,” he said to Hawk, before turning his back and walking away.
Chapter 2
“What in the hell happened?” Teij bellowed, as he paced back and forth in front of us.
The dark smooth skin of his shaved head picked up the glare of the overhead fluorescent lights, and for some odd reason, I couldn’t look away. Maybe it was because I refused to look down, or at my fellow teammates, as though I were a child getting chastised. Though that was exactly how I felt at the moment, and it was my fault.
“He wasn’t there,” I answered.
Teij stopped his pacing and looked at me, his golden eyes narrowed. I wanted to flinch away from their intensity, but that would show weakness. And I was anything but weak.
“He wasn’t there?” Teij asked, his voice so calm, my heart began to pound. “Explain what happened, Terry. You were point man for this one, so go on. Tell me. What. Went. Wrong.”
Shit! I did my best to keep a blank face, but if he was using my real name over the dreadful nickname the guys gave me, I knew he was pissed. And rightly so. We totally fucked this one up.
“His scent still lingered at the rendezvous point, but so did about five other men. Three shifters, two humans.”
“Did you follow?”
“Of course, but they got away in a car before we even reached them.”
“How is that possible? Where were your heads at that you let your own man be taken down?” Teij growled as he began to pace again.
Movement to my right let me know Paul was about to say something. Hell if I’d let him take the blame. This was my damn fault and I was sure as hell not going to pussy out and let someone else take the fall. Least of all Paul.
“Sir,” Paul began, but I spoke up over him.
“We were late, Sir.”
Teij froze in his place and slowly turned to glare at me. I did flinch this time and he moved quickly, his face so close to mine, our noses touched. He smelled good, like coconut, but that didn’t keep the trepidation from tensing my muscles. I’ve seen Teij pissed, but this went beyond what I’d ever witnessed before.
“You were late?” His breath mingled with mine, as he spoke coolly. Too cool.
“Yes,” I replied, trying to keep my own voice from shaking.
“And tell me, Terry, how is it you were late. You left for your mission in plenty of time. What happened out there? Were you attacked? Did someone spot you?” He growled and from the look in his eyes, I could tell he already knew the answer. He just wanted it said aloud.
I saw Hawk and Paul subtly shift beside me, but neither spoke up. As they shouldn’t. This one was all on me. “No, Sir. I was the reason we were late. Paul and I had a disagreement.”
Teij raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond.
“I caught him looking at my nude form and took him down.”
“Damn it, Terry!” Teij roared in my face before turning, placing his back to me.
I felt my shoulders sag, though not from relief that he was out of my face, but from the massive guilt that punched me in the gut. I was the reason one of our men was in trouble. If I had just ignored Paul... But the man drove me to extremes, and ignoring him just wasn’t possible.
Teij continued to pace, as he growled under his breath. I didn’t dare glance at Hawk or Paul, though I could feel their eyes on me. Shit, this was bad!
Teij stopped suddenly again, his dark eyes meeting mine, as his full lips pressed into a tight line. I stood still, tense, waiting for my punishment. Would he kick my ass? Lock me up? Or worse, kick me off the team?
“You lost our inside man,” he stated, and I couldn’t argue with him, so I stayed silent. “So you will get him back. You’re going in, Terry. Undercover.”
“Teij,” Paul interrupted, preparing to argue, I was sure. The ass. But he was cut off by the full force of Teij’s glare.
“Not only did you compromise the mission, you lost our man. Russel spent two months inside that gang, getting closer to our goal, and you fucked that up. Worse, you put his life in danger. You’re going in, no ifs, ands or buts. I don’t want to hear a single complaint. Do you hear me?”
I nodded once, “Yes, sir.”
“Get out of my sight,” he growled. “I’ll have the info for you by tomorrow. Now, get out!”
He sure as hell didn’t have to tell me twice.
Chapter 3
Two months earlier...
“I was wrong.”
My ears perked up at the admission. Since when was Teij wrong?
The team had gathered around our table at headquarters. Maps laid out in front us, we were waiting to hear information on our mission, when Teij let out that confusing sentence.
I knew whatever was going down was serious, because he had called all of the Division in. Usually, only a select few were placed on missions at any given time. Not this time around. The place was filled with shifters of all kinds, making my nose twitch with the assorted scents. But I was used to it.
I glanced around the table. Everyone was focused on Teij. Leo, our lion, sat to my right. His short golden hair shone in the florescent light in the warehouse and his boy like features were hardened in concentration.
Next to him, Hawk had been tapping his pen, but stopped as Teij began to speak. His glasses were falling off, and I itched to push them up. What the hell was a hawk wearing glasses for anyway? That was ridiculous, on many levels. But when asked, he shrugged and said he looked good in them. Distinguished, he said. I snorted softly. Whatever.
Alex, Jordan, and Paul, the jaguar shifters, sat across the steel table from me, their eyes glued to Teij. Well, not Paul. He was staring at me, as usual. Did the man have nothing else to do but drive me insane? His lips lifted in a slight grin, or grimace, I couldn’t tell, and I shifted my eyes away from him, but not before I rolled them in annoyance.
Beside them were our wolves, Russel, also known as Red, and Roman. Russel was a red head, obviously, with freckles scattered across his light skin. His other form was a red wolf. Mine was a red fox. Let’s just say I’m glad he got that particular nickname. I’d take Foxy over Red any day.
Roman was a Gray wolf. His dark hair was cut short and wavy with a little bit of gray at his temples, though his face still looked young, only a few lines around his eyes. I always thought the combination was sexy.
Sōm, our leopard and our most silent team mate, looked bored as hell. But I knew he was focused. The Asian man had a way about him that intrigued me. At all times, he gave off this vibe that he was anything but interested in what was happening around him, and yet, he was aware of everything. It was like he could become invisible.
I never underestimated him and kept him in my sights at all times. Not because I didn’t trust him. No, I trusted him with my life. I was just smart enough to think before saying something I’d regret aloud. You never knew when Sōm would be around. I also knew he felt the same about me. I was a fox shifter after all. We were prone to mischief.
Bear shifted in is chair to my left and I glanced at him. He smiled, then turned his attention back to Teij. I liked Bear. He may have been the biggest guy on the team besides Teij, but he was also the sweetest. No matter how bad ass I tried to be or was, he always treated me like a lady, holding open doors and chairs. He even tried not to curse around me. It drove me nuts, but what could you do? It’s not like I’m going to chew the guy a new one for being nice. But for all his gentleness, I pitied anyone who came up against the big guy.
“I was wrong about mission Wild Hunt,” Teij said, catching my attention again. I couldn’t help but glance over at Alex and Jordan, but they gave nothing away as they stared intently at our boss.
“Alexander Wright Sr may have been distributing the drugs for the fighters and his guards, but that’s not the end of the story.”
“What are you saying?” Jordan asked, his voice so deep he was almost growling. I didn’t blame him. No one wanted to think back t
o that grueling mission, especially him and Alex.
Less than six months before, Jordan and Alex were part of the mission that took out both of their fathers. Not that those sadistic SOBs didn’t deserve it. They had distributed drugs to their own people and tossed them into what they called The Trench to fight for money. Shifter against shifter. It was appalling. Fighting was fine, but those men didn’t have a choice.
To add insult to injury, Alexander and Lee admitted to their sons that they killed their mothers. And they kidnapped Jordan and Alex’s fiancee, Samantha. That didn’t fly.
No, I corrected myself. They didn’t kidnap her, Paul had, I thought, with a sneer, as I did my best not to glare at him. I didn’t care that he turned good and helped save the day. Once a traitor, always a traitor in my book.
When all was said and done, we got home safely and had all thought it was good and over. One more bad memory to add to the hordes already taking up space in our minds. But nope, it seemed we were far from done with this mess.
“Dead shifters are popping up all over the U.S., and the lab confirmed they were all high on that same drug Alexander was using.”
“Cocaine,” Alex supplied, helpfully.
Teij shook his head and grimaced. “No, not cocaine. We thought it was strange that there had been no known effects of cocaine in shifters in the past. At least, not like the effects we witnessed a few months ago. I sent off the drugs and the lab has confirmed that it is in fact, not cocaine. Well, not like any cocaine we have ever seen. It’s been compounded with a few other substances. One being silver.”
“That makes no sense,” I spoke up. “We don’t have an affliction with silver, so that can’t be what’s been causing these reactions.”
