by Debra Dunbar
“Yield?” He asked, his arms caging mine in, his breath against my face. Fucker was so close I couldn’t do much more than bite him. Or kiss him.
I did the latter, gripping his shirt at the waist with my hands to make sure he didn’t squirm away. I could feel a very satisfying sense of shock and surprise, but instead of pulling backward or even breaking our kiss, he deepened it, his tongue tasting and exploring. He pressed himself against me and I felt breathless—both from his kiss and the weight of him. I was far from a virgin, but the force of this man, the raw power that poured from his skin like a fire against my own was intoxicating. I felt myself mold to him, unable to do more. Every inch of him was pressed to me, immobilizing me against the wall. I couldn’t even get in a hip grind if I tried.
Finally, he broke our kiss, his lips so close they were still almost touching mine.
“Yield?” I asked him, my voice husky and low. Right. I was absolutely helpless, unable to move. Clearly he had the upper hand. For now.
He chuckled, leaning in for another kiss—this one soft and lingering. “Mills, I’m pretty sure I yielded the first day you walked into my office.”
Then he pulled away, striding across the room to pick up my clothing and toss it toward me. “Get dressed. Get some sleep. I need you to come to a meeting after lunch tomorrow—a continuation of this special project. Make sure you’re well rested.”
That was it? No screwing on the floor? Or sex against the wall? Hopefully this was going somewhere or I’d be spending my first paycheck on a good vibrator. Or heading into town to pick up some human for a quick fling.
I was frustrated, but I was also humming with a very unfamiliar excitement. I didn’t want a vibrator or hard-and-fast sex with a human, I wanted Jake. And as I slid on my pants, I realized something else.
I was fitting in. I might still be a square peg in a round hole, but I was starting to find a place in this pack. I had a friend, even if she was a sixteen-year-old girl. I had an Alpha that could kick my ass, and seemed happy to do so on a daily basis. I had an Alpha who believed me, who valued the weird psychotic skills I brought to the table. And I got the feeling that if Jake valued me, it would only be a matter of time until the rest of the pack did as well.
They might not completely trust me. They might still be a bit afraid of me. But at least they’d value me. Finally, after all these decades, had I found a pack to belong to? Had I found an Alpha that my beast respected?
Had I found a man that I could possibly come to love?
Chapter 12
I woke up in the morning staring at the pile at the end of my bed. I wasn’t the only one. Presents. Just like Christmas morning, except without the bows and wrapping paper. Mir stirred in her bed, her eyes foggy with sleep until she saw the stash. Then she bolted upright and stared just like the rest of us.
Well, it wasn’t like I expected these things to explode so I eased out of bed and went over to the pile to sort through it. Three pairs of workout pants and tops. Two pairs heavy-duty tan work pants. A cell phone, activated and loaded with numbers that I assumed were for my pack members. And best of all, a coffee maker and two bags of dark-roast coffee grounds.
I had no doubt who they’d come from, because the whole lot smelled like Jake. I did wonder how the heck he’d managed to sneak in the dorm room like a werewolf Santa Claus, deliver these gifts, and leave without anyone noticing.
“Something you wanna tell us, Mills?” Muffin Top asked with a grin.
“Nope,” I replied.
“Jake never gives presents,” Boobs announced. “Well, except for the year-end gifts that everyone gets.”
“Did you have sex with him?” Fox Face asked. “How many blow jobs did you have to give him?”
Muscles snorted. “Like any of us would need to be bribed to give Jake blow jobs. Heck, I’d probably pay him for the privilege.”
“And for a bunch of stuff I could get free at the compound store, if I ever had five minutes to go there and get them?” I scoffed. “I don’t think any of this warrants even one blow job.”
“Cell phones, coffee makers, and coffee aren’t free at the compound store,” Mir pointed out, scooting to the end of her bed to pick up the cell phone. “And Jake put his phone number in your favorites. That’s so romantic.”
I snatched the phone out of her hands. “I’ve got some special assignment things I’m doing. There was an issue the other day where I didn’t have a phone to report in on something. I’m sure this will all come out of my paycheck.”
No one looked convinced at my words.
“Seriously,” I told them. “It’s not like he gave me a flowers and edible underwear or anything. This is all work stuff. Totally non-romantic.”
“Seems pretty romantic for Jake,” Muscles chimed in.
“Think you’re still gonna owe him at least one blow job,” Fox Face added.
I couldn’t help but smile with uncharacteristic happiness as I put on my new workout clothing and brewed up my coffee. It was early, and I was still tired even though I’d skipped dinner and gone straight to bed. All the physical activity had worn me out, and I’d nearly fallen asleep doing sweeps around the compound with Robin trying to pick up the scent, or rather the lack of scent, from the hunters.
They’d come disturbingly close to the houses and dorms. It made my beast bristle to realize that right under the sensitive noses of my pack-mates, these guys had snuck near enough that they could have shot and killed quite a few of us before we were able to take cover and defend ourselves. She was on high alert, demanding that I walk the perimeter several times a day just to make sure they weren’t coming back.
Physical exhaustion was one thing, but being in a constant state of awareness, tense and ready for any attack drained me even more. I was the only one who could sense these guys. I was the only one who could sound the early warning if we were about to be attacked. Me. The safety of this pack depended on me. And that was the most terrifying thing of all.
Chapter 13
I hadn’t been told where in the vast house the meeting was being held, so once more I used my nose, working through a whole host of unfamiliar scents to isolate both Jake and his second and follow them to the rear of the building. I thought I was on time, but when I entered, I realized I was probably the last to arrive. Jake was seated at the head of a huge table, Jamie to his right. To his left was a skinny redheaded woman that I’d not met yet. Next to her was a bear shifter—a really hot grizzly guy. My beast perked up because he was sexy as all get out, a grizzly, which was pretty rare in the lower forty-eight, and there was something weird about him. He smelled one hundred percent like a grizzly shifter, but there was something my beast sensed that made her drool a little.
Well, she was out of luck because it was completely obvious the bear was screwing Skinny Redhead.
Next to Jamie was my pilot from the other day, Dustin. And next to him was a woman who I assumed was an elf from her pointy ears and white gossamer-fine hair. As much as my beast wanted to rub herself all over the bear, she was scared of the elf-woman. Scared. My beast wasn’t scared of anyone, not even Jake who she had a sort of wary respect for, but she was close to terrified of this elf.
I sat next to the bear, which put me across from the elf. I wasn’t happy about being that close to her, but at least she was in front of me where I could keep an eye on her. My beast would have ripped out of my skin if I’d had this pointy-eared woman at my back, so this was the best compromise I could come up with.
“Tupper Mills,” Jake announced. Then he introduced the others. Skinny redhead was the second from the Juneau Pack, and the bear was her mate. The terrifying elf-woman was that sidhe who’d done the divination the other night, and from the careful language Jake used I gathered she was an advisor to the pack, as well as a guest member, and a few formalities away from being Dustin’s mate.
That made my eyes bug out. Dustin, the cool, chill, friendly, gets-along-with-everyone pilot was the almost-mate of t
his ethereal creature that I was pretty sure could kill me with a snap of her elegant fingers. I’d thankfully never met an angel before in my life, but I honestly thought she was probably just as intimidating as one of them would be.
They all stared at me awkwardly. The grizzly’s eyes swept over me, then narrowed, but he didn’t say anything.
The sidhe did. “She’s not a shifter.”
Even more awkward.
“She’s the newest member of our pack,” Dustin told her gently.
Gwylla, the sidhe, looked over at Jake for a moment, a strange look of comprehension descending on her face. “Oh. Because, Jake…I completely understand.”
Well then, she was the only one. Jake smelled like a shifter, no matter what his parentage. No one else in my entire life had ever told me there was anything amiss with my scent aside from Jake the other night. Unless I purposely changed it, that was. Right now I smelled like a werewolf. At least I thought I smelled like a werewolf.
“Sabrina, can you begin by briefing us?” Jake said to the skinny redhead, not acknowledging what Gwylla understood or inquiring into what she thought I was.
The Juneau Pack second slid a tablet into the center of the table with a map on it. “Karl and I confirmed that the spot Gwylla identified is where the hunting company has their weapons stockpile.”
“All we need now is the go-ahead to take them out,” the bear said.
Jake’s blue eyes met mine. “That’s why Tupper is here.”
Here, at this meeting, or here in the pack. I felt cold at the thought. Had Jake taken me in because he thought I might be worth saving, or had me taken me in because I could be of use to him and the pack? My mind detoured into cynic territory. I was a killer. Murdering humans in a spectacularly bloody fashion while destroying an arsenal of weapons wouldn’t be a moral problem for my beast. And when all was said and done, the Alpha could act shocked and dismayed that such brutal justice had been delivered. I’d be put down, as I was no doubt going to be anyway, and my killings along with my death would serve a purpose. I’d deliver the justice they wanted, and they could make me the scapegoat, claim I was rogue and excuse my behavior with apologies to the local law enforcement, stating that I’d been put down. How useful my death would be.
Something flickered in Jake’s light eyes. “You’re here because you’re smart, Tupper. You’re new to the pack and to Alaska and you’ll provide fresh eyes and insight into things that the rest of us might overlook. Plus you have a talent—one that you’ve proven to me. We need you.”
I wasn’t sure that I believed him. I was a tool. Just when I’d thought maybe I’d found a pack I might be able to fit into, friends, a way to keep my beast on her leash, a job I kinda enjoyed, I walk into this meeting and realize that was all a fantasy. I’d never fit in. At least this way my death would have some sort of purpose. A martyr was better than just some crazy experiment gone wrong that needed to be killed and wiped from the history books.
“Anyway,” Sabrina said, her gaze darting back and forth between me and my Alpha. “The bullets are being warehoused here.” She pointed to a spot on the map, then spread her fingers to zoom in to a concrete building that looked like it had been a gas station at one time, out in the middle of the woods on a rural paved road. “There is security around the building, as well as a guard. There are also magical wards and traps which made it impossible for us to determine the exact nature and quantity of what’s inside.”
Maybe we could just nuke the whole thing. Fly over it in Dustin’s plane and drop one big-ass bomb on it all.
“We need to get in, destroy the ammunition or steal it so we can destroy it elsewhere. And to do that, we need a plan,” Sabrina added.
I immediately thought of my nuke-it-from-above idea. I hoped they weren’t relying on me for a feasible plan, because I hadn’t had a feasible plan in my life—not even concerning what was for dinner or what to do on the weekend.
“Gwylla can’t do this for us,” Dustin said. “All it takes is one bullet, one knife, or a toaster to the head, and she’s seriously injured or dead. I don’t want her to take that risk unless it’s absolutely a last resort.”
“I’ll go,” the bear volunteered. “I’m pretty sure bullets won’t affect me the same way they do other shifters. I’ll just need an idea of what I might be up against magic-wise and some suggestions on how to counter those spells.”
“I’ll go as well,” the skinny redhead chimed in.
“No, you will not,” the bear replied.
There was a staring contest between them, a struggle for dominance that had me sweating. The rest of the table remained silent, so I did, letting this bear and his mate battle it out.
Finally, he brushed the hair back from her face with his hand, and tucked it behind her ear. “Can’t lose you, Brina. You got shot once already. I can’t go through that again. Please let me handle this one without you.”
Her eyes softened and she turned her face into his palm. I resisted the urge to gag, secretly wanting to kill the pair of them. I’d never inspired that sort of worry, ever—not even the wolves who’d been tasked with raising me. Never had there been someone who told me something was too dangerous, that they couldn’t risk losing me. Between Dustin expressing that for the sidhe, and this bear with his mate, I was having a serious case of envy.
“I don’t want you to go by yourself,” the skinny redhead told the bear, her voice soft.
Gag. Ick. Yuck. Puke.
“Then I’ll take her.” The bear jutting a thumb over in my direction. I looked behind me, just to make sure he wasn’t pointing at someone else.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you,” he grumbled.
Jake nodded. “Good. This needs to happen soon. Mills, you’re relieved of your other job for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours with the possibility for extension. I’ll set up an expense account for you to use while you’re off the compound. Let Miranda in accounting know if you need anything specific. Karl, make a list of weapons, equipment, or other things and we’ll provide them.”
I clamped my jaw tight and schooled my expression into one of bland indifference. I was expendable. Gwylla couldn’t go because a valuable pack resource couldn’t be at risk. Sabrina couldn’t go because her mate loved her and didn’t want her to be hurt again. But no one loved me. I was expendable. No one cared if I lived or died. I had been about to propose dropping a nuke on the place, and now I realized that that’s exactly what they were going to do. I was the nuke. Why they were bothering to send Karl was beyond me. Probably to keep me in line and make sure I didn’t kill half the state in the process of taking this facility out.
And if I died, oh well. One less thing for Jake to have to take care of. It wasn’t like anyone would miss me. Mir’s mother would most likely have a party and dance on my grave.
Sabrina pulled up a satellite view of the building on her tablet and began making little red X’s on it with a stylus. “There’s a guard, most likely armed with a fully automatic weapon positioned here. He circles the building every half hour, but he’s got to be bored sitting out there in the middle of nowhere.”
“Don’t underestimate his ability to be alert and ready,” Jake added. “And there will most likely be alarms that will go off before you even get near the building.”
“Physical alarms are here and here,” Sabrina said. “And my nose tells me there are explosives in these spots. They tried to cover up the smell with bear urine, but they used too much.”
Karl grunted. “As if a brown bear would walk that close to the building and empty a gallon of piss on the ground. Dumb asses.”
“The magic wards and defenses will be subtler,” Gwylla said, pulling the tablet over toward her. “There are most likely alarm wards surrounding the building, one probably a barrier keyed to keep shifters out. I think it would also keep angels out, since the magic Talligie used plays off the angel within your systems.”
The bear nodded. “I can probably break thro
ugh those, but there’s nothing I can do about not setting off those alarms.”
“You’ll just need to hurry, and maybe one of you can act as a decoy for the other,” Gwylla said. “Then here, here, and here are where there are likely to be additional defenses.”
Dustin pulled the tablet his way and frowned down at it. “Who put these in place? Did Talligie do this before you killed him?”
Gwylla shrugged, the human gesture looking odd on her. “Possibly. I don’t want to rule out the chance that these men could have a mage or another elf working with them. You’ll need to be extra careful.”
That wasn’t a word in my vocabulary, and I got the feeling it wasn’t in Karl’s either.
I reached across the table and slid the tablet over my direction, figuring if I was going to be the sacrificial lamb, or rather sacrificial monster, I had a right to see what I was up against.
“One guard. Explosives and magical shit. The ammo is probably locked up.” I turned to the bear. “You know how to pick a lock?”
“No, I was just going to bust a hole through the safe or haul it out with me.”
“It’s probably too big to haul out with us, and punching a hole through several inches of steel takes muscle we probably don’t have. And if we do, it will take time we don’t have.”
“I’ll get you a set of lock picks by tonight,” Jake told me. “I’m assuming you know how to pick a lock?”
Because I was the bad seed, the monster who killed and vandalized and stole shit. But he was right, I did know how to pick a lock. “Yeah. Get me some C-4 while you’re at it, because there are some locks I can’t pick.”
The Alpha didn’t even bat an eyelid. “Will do.”
“So I can assume I’m going to be shot full of bullets, most of them coated with magic that will force me to shift, rot my insides, and probably turn me more rogue than I already am. I’m going to most likely be blown up once if not twice. Then there’s some magical shit that will fireball my ass, and turn me into a frog or something.”
