by Paige Tyler
“So, now you don’t think the wolf shifter and his buddies left town?” Travis asked.
Eden shrugged one shoulder, almost as if she was embarrassed to say more. “I’m not sure. Sometimes I get these sensations—my kitty alarms, I call them—and right now they’re telling me whatever is going on with Tim and those guys isn’t over. I’m worried they might try something at the wedding.” She’d pushed up on her elbow to look at him. “I know it probably sounds crazy, but I’ve relied on my feline instincts for a long time and they’ve never let me down.”
Travis didn’t know anything about feline instincts, but he knew a hell of a lot about going with your gut. If Eden thought the wolf shifter and his buddies might try to crash the wedding, that was good enough for him.
“Think you can get some backup here from the DCO?” he’d suggested. “If nothing else, they can help keep an eye on Emily.”
He didn’t expect anything to happen at the wedding. Even that wolf shifter wouldn’t be crazy enough to try anything in front of so many people.
Eden nodded, grabbing her phone and calling her friend Kendra way too early for a Saturday morning. Kendra didn’t seem to mind, saying she’d send a few agents down there ASAP.
Travis scanned the guests, looking for their DCO backup, but didn’t see anyone who stood out. Maybe they hadn’t gotten there yet. On the other hand, they could simply be that good at blending in.
Realizing the chairs were quickly filling with guests, Travis glanced at his watch. The ceremony was supposed to start in a few minutes and none of the wedding party had shown up yet, except for Eden. She’d gone into one of the back rooms to help her sister get ready the moment they got there. That was three hours ago. How long could it take to get someone into a wedding dress?
“You must be Travis Dempsey,” a male voice said from behind him.
Travis turned to see Eden’s parents standing there. He hadn’t officially met them the other night, but now he saw that Eden’s mother was an older version of her daughter with the same blue eyes, dark hair, and friendly smile. While her father wasn’t in uniform, he had the look of someone who’d been in the military.
“I’m Emma, Eden’s mother,” the woman said, holding out her hand. “And this is her father, Ken. We couldn’t be more thrilled to meet you, especially since we never got a chance to personally thank you for being in that alley behind the restaurant the other night.”
Travis chuckled, shaking Emma’s hand first, then Ken’s. “I can’t take much credit. Eden did the heavy lifting. I just took up the slack.”
“That’s not what Eden told us. She said you saved her life.” Emma smiled. “I can’t thank you enough. We’ll be forever in your debt.”
The way Ken Bristow regarded him made Travis think he wasn’t nearly as impressed. “She also mentioned you’re in the military. Which branch of service?”
“Army Special Forces,” Travis said.
Ken’s gray eyes narrowed. “Army, huh? No wonder she didn’t tell me which branch. Anything else I should know about you?”
Eden hadn’t been joking when she said her dad was Navy to the core. If Ken weren’t her father, Travis might have been tempted to have some fun with that.
“Dear, stop badgering poor Travis right now,” Emma said sternly. When Ken opened his mouth, she added, “Be nice, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Ken muttered something under his breath and strode off, leaving Travis standing there with Eden’s mother.
“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Emma said. “Ken thinks the sun rises and sets on the Navy and forgets you don’t need saltwater running through your veins like him to make you every bit a military hero.” She smiled. “The girls are on their way, so everything is about to get started, but I do hope we have a chance to talk more at the reception.”
Travis returned her smile. “I’d like that.”
He wondered if he should offer to show Emma to her seat up front since none of Brandon’s groomsmen seemed to be around, but Eden’s mother was already walking down the aisle. Travis grabbed a chair in the very back on the end of the row. He never liked having people behind him.
Up front, Brandon and several other men in Navy dress whites took their places on the raised dais, along with the priest. It took Travis a minute to figure out what was wrong with the setup until he realized Tim wasn’t there. And Brandon was looking mighty nervous about that fact.
Suddenly, everyone ahead of him got to their feet and turned their attention toward the back. Travis did the same to see the four bridesmaids starting down the aisle, one after the other. As maid of honor, Eden was last, gracefully following the rest. She gave him a dazzling smile as she passed, and for a moment, his heart felt like it stopped. She was wearing the same pastel purple dress as the other women in the wedding party, but she looked a whole hell of a lot better in it. He had a hard time tearing his eyes away from her to look at the bride.
Emily and her father were already halfway down the aisle by the time Travis turned his attention in their direction. Emily had eyes only for her soon-to-be husband and didn’t even notice Tim still wasn’t there. The guests had noticed, though. From where he sat in the back row, Travis heard someone murmur the scariest line ever spoken at a wedding.
But the best man has the ring.
Up front, Eden gave Travis a what-the-hell look.
Travis was about to get up and look for the wayward best man when Tim jogged up to the dais from the side, straightening his uniform jacket and tie amid a few chuckles from the guests. They clearly didn’t notice the bruise already starting to darken the guy’s jawline.
Brandon gave his friend a curious look, but Tim just shrugged it off and motioned for the priest to get on with the ceremony. Even though he was trying to play it cool, it was obvious Tim was unsettled because he nervously scanned the area repeatedly.
Eden gave Travis another bewildered look as if asking whether he knew what the hell was going on. Travis would have thrown his hands up in the air in mutual confusion if his phone hadn’t buzzed right then. He dug it out of his inside jacket pocket and discovered it wasn’t his phone buzzing. It was Eden’s. She’d asked him to hold her cell, her gun, and a whole collection of makeup products he couldn’t imagine her ever needing.
He glanced at the name on the call screen—Kendra MacBride, Eden’s contact in the DCO. He was tempted to let the call go to voice mail but decided against it. He doubted Eden’s friend from the DCO would be calling to find out how beautiful the ceremony was. He thumbed the green button and got up to go stand away from the guests.
“Hey, Eden. I finally ID’ed those other three guys you and Travis fought in the alley and—”
“Hey, Kendra. It’s Travis,” he interrupted. “The wedding just started. I’m holding Eden’s phone.”
That silenced Kendra for a second. “Um, okay. Do you think there’s any way you can get a message to her? I think the best man is in some deep crap.”
Travis glanced at the dais to see Eden’s gaze locked on him, as if she could hear what Kendra was saying. Hell, maybe she could.
“Hold on a second, Kendra. I get the feeling Eden can hear both of us fine,” he said into the phone.
Up front, Eden gave him an almost imperceptible nod.
“Eden confirmed she can hear you, Kendra, so go ahead,” he said. “What do you have on these guys?”
“Sorry it took me so long to dig this up, but there’s a reason I couldn’t find out who those three guys are,” Kendra continued. “They’re freelance spies who work for various governments. They specialize in collecting classified information, usually of military significance. Right now, they’re working for the Chinese, and they’re after information on the Navy’s latest warship—the USS Freedom. Somehow, they seemed to have found a source of information in Brandon’s best man. As far as I can tell, Tim agreed to sell them the top secret data they’re after in return for erasing his gambling debt with Gus Spillane.”
/> “Shit,” Travis muttered.
Up on the dais, Eden skewered Tim with a glare.
“But if this is all about Tim being a mole for the Chinese, why the hell did that wolf shifter and his buddies beat him up?” Travis asked.
“That part I don’t know. The deal should have been done by now. I have no idea what’s holding it up.”
Travis eyed Tim. Had the guy had a change of heart and nixed the deal?
“Double shit,” he said. “Eden, I think Tim is trying to renegotiate the terms. He met them in the alley to make the drop, then decided he wanted more than just a clean slate with Spillane. He wanted to make some money, too. They beat him up because he wouldn’t turn over the stuff.”
Eden looked from Travis to Tim. The best man wasn’t even pretending to pay attention to the ceremony now. Instead, he was looking around nervously, as if he expected that asshole wolf shifter and his buddies to crash the wedding and finish what they’d started.
Kendra was saying something in his ear about backup, but Travis ignored her. He was too busy keeping an eye on Tim. From the look on the asshole’s face, there was a good chance trouble was about to start.
“Gotta go, Kendra. Call you later.” Travis hung up and shoved the phone in his inside pocket. “Eden, I think the bad guys are here. That’s why he’s freaking out right now. Can you smell the shifter?”
Eden shook her head then looked at Tim again. Having her glare at him from the other side of the dais while Travis did the same from the back of the seating area must have been too much for the best man. Tim jumped off the dais and bolted.
Eden immediately kicked off her heels and took off after him. The guests let out a collective gasp, but the low murmur that began to build among them was drowned out by Emily’s shout that Tim still had the ring.
Then the shit officially hit the fan.
Travis pulled Eden’s 9mm out of his pocket and followed her and Tim. He wasn’t worried about Tim being a danger to Eden, but if he was right and the shifter was here, that could be a problem. Those guys had already shown a willingness to shoot and Travis was sure nothing had changed that.
He was still twenty feet behind Eden as he followed her around the country club’s main building and left the wedding ceremony behind. That was when Eden dropped all pretense of being a normal person and hit the afterburners. Even in a maid of honor’s fancy dress, she was pure greased lightning. She caught up to Tim in less than five seconds, giving him a violent shove as she raced past him, sending him tumbling and flipping across the ground.
Automatic weapon fire broke out somewhere off to the right, punctuated by the lighter popping sound of pistols going off. A blur raced past Travis, slamming into Eden and knocking her to the ground.
The wolf shifter was up and charging at Eden before she could even get to her feet.
Shit.
Out of the corner of his eye, Travis saw Tim scramble up and take off running again, but he ignored the idiot and focused on the only thing that mattered—getting the wolf shifter’s attention off Eden long enough for her to get up so she could defend herself.
Travis was still fifteen feet away and running fast, but that didn’t stop him from aiming his borrowed weapon and popping off three rounds at the wolf shifter. Travis hit the man in the torso at least once, possibly grazing him with another round along the back, but he wasn’t sure.
The asshole barely seemed to register the impact of the small 9mm bullets, but at least he turned to face Travis. The wolf shifter let out a roar, flashing his fangs and charging at him like he was deranged or on drugs—or both.
Travis slowed, ready to let the wolf shifter close in on him so he could put a half dozen rounds right through the center of his chest. Something told him the guy wouldn’t be howling then. But he never got the chance to see if he was right. Eden caught up with the guy from behind and threw herself onto his back.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Eden wasn’t heavy by any means, but her attack caught the wolf shifter unprepared and he went down hard. Eden tore into him, ripping big gashes in the man’s T-shirt and clawing at skin. The wolf shifter elbowed her in the stomach, sending her flying a good five feet through the air with an audible grunt of pain.
Travis’s heart just about stopped in his chest. Closing the distance between him and the wolf shifter, he brought his foot up and kicked the bastard in the face, whipping the man’s head back so hard he was sure he’d broken the guy’s neck. Unfortunately, he hadn’t.
The wolf shifter groaned, shaking his head as if trying to clear it. Travis transferred his 9mm to his left hand, then quickly stepped forward before the guy could get to his feet, intending to punch him.
But Eden got there first, tagging the wolf shifter in the jaw so hard Travis knew for damn sure something was broken. The wolf shifter went down in a heap and this time, he didn’t get up. Travis still went over to make sure the guy was out cold. That was when he found the .40 Sig the guy was wearing in a holster under his arm.
Travis glanced at Eden. “The guy had a weapon and still chose to fight us hand-to-hand instead of shoot us?”
Eden shrugged. “It’s a wolf shifter thing. They all tend to be a little hotheaded and too aggressive for their own good. They’d much rather rip your throat out than shoot you any day.”
“Good to know.” Travis reached out to brush her hair back from her face. “You okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
She smiled and shook her head. “I’m fine. What about you?”
“I’m good.”
That said, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to seeing her go hand-to-hand with a guy twice her size.
Travis looked around. He didn’t hear any more shooting. That was a good thing.
“I guess we should probably go after Tim, huh? If for no other reason than to get Emily’s ring back,” he said.
Eden didn’t answer. Instead, she lifted her nose higher in the air and gave a cute, little sniff. “No need. Something tells me he’s on his way back here now.”
He would have asked what she meant, but just then two men and a woman walked across the lawn with Tim. They’d cuffed Tim’s hands behind his back and the one man was holding him by the arm. Travis wasn’t sure what was going on until he recognized his old Special Forces buddy.
“Captain Donovan?” he asked.
Well, damn. It sure as hell was him.
“It’s just Landon, now,” the dark-haired man said. “Good seeing you again, Sergeant Dempsey.”
Travis chuckled as he shook his hand. “Good to see you, too.”
Landon nodded at the woman beside him. Tall and slender, she had long, dark hair. From the graceful way she moved, it was obvious she was a shifter like Eden. “This is my partner, Ivy Halliwell. Wish we could hang around, but we gotta get that guy” —he gestured to the wolf shifter still lying unconscious on the ground— “out of here before he wakes up. How about we trade prisoners and catch up later?”
“Yeah, sure,” Travis said. “Sounds good.”
Ivy handed Tim off to Eden while Landon walked over and yanked the big wolf shifter off the ground, slinging him over his shoulder.
Travis glanced at Eden as Ivy and Landon walked away with the wolf shifter. “Something tells me they’re not turning that guy over to the cops.”
The other man who’d come with Landon and Ivy answered. “Shifters and normal police procedures don’t mix, so we’ll handle him ourselves.”
Eden smiled. “Travis Dempsey, John Loughlin—my boss.”
John held out his hand. A fit man in his fifties, he had salt-and-pepper hair and a firm grip. “Nice to finally meet you.”
“You, too,” Travis said.
She glanced at the older man. “I guess Kendra told you everything, huh?”
John nodded. “Once the computers identified the wolf shifter, Kendra immediately filled me in. I was on a helicopter with Ivy and Landon within the hour.” He smiled. “Why don’t we take Tim back to the country c
lub? I’m sure the police are here by now. After your sister gets married, we can talk.”
The man glanced at Travis as he spoke, regarding him with an interest that made him wonder exactly what John wanted to talk about.
* * * * *
Emily had been thrilled to get her ring, and quickly got the wedding back on track, even without a best man. She’d even managed to convince the police to wait until the ceremony was over before letting anyone answer questions. This forceful side of Emily was new, but Eden thought it boded well for her success as a Navy spouse.
Shortly after the ceremony was over, Eden and Travis met with the cops to answer most of the major questions. The moment she and Travis explained Tim had been trying to sell classified Navy documents to spies, the police took Tim into custody figuring the feds, the NSA, and NCIS were going to be all over this.
At least Tim had the decency to make sure everyone knew Brandon wasn’t involved. It turned out Brandon had downplayed the attack in the alley because he thought it was related to Tim’s gambling problem and that the bad guys were there to collect on a debt. Brandon figured he could let his friend borrow the money to pay it off, then no one would ever have to know about it, meaning Tim would never have to lose his security clearance.
“He never realized how deep in debt I was,” Tim had told the cops. “Giving away a few Navy secrets seemed like the only way to get myself out of this. But when I realized how badly they wanted the information, I figured for sure they’d pay me for it. I was stupid, and it almost got Brandon killed in that alley.”
As for the wolf shifter’s two buddies, they were in the hospital under police guard. Landon and Ivy had left them alive, but not by much.
It wasn’t until after all the craziness was over and Eden had taken the requisite wedding pictures that John completely surprised her by asking Travis if he’d like to work for the DCO.
“I’m sure Eden has told you something about what we do, and I’ve been planning on adding a cyber-expert to Eden’s personal security team for some time,” John said. “As you can imagine, it can be difficult to find the right mix of technical and tactical abilities, but you seem to fit the bill. You obviously work well with shifters, which makes integrating you into the team easy. Think about it and let me know.”
