by Debra Dunbar
“Hope it turns you into a huge, badass frog,” Karl commented. I was beginning to like this bear.
“With fangs and claws, and poison spit,” I told him. “I’d be okay with the frog thing if I could spit poison at people.”
“Of course you would,” Jake interrupted. I could tell he was holding back from a major eye roll. “And if you do this smart, you won’t be a frog, get shot, or get blown up.”
Smart like how? Because I was a force of destruction, the muscle. I wasn’t the sneak in and get shit done kind of person.
“What’s the plan?” I asked Karl.
The bear raised an eyebrow and I could tell he was not the sneak in kind of person either. “Can you shoot? Maybe we can sniper the guard and at least we can cross getting shot off the list.”
Dustin winced. “What if he’s just a guy hired to do security duty? It’s not going to look good if we sniper-shoot a mall cop picking up some extra money on the side.”
“He’s not a mall cop,” Sabrina assured him. “He’s got an automatic weapon to guard what looks like an abandoned gas station. And he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot and kill you.”
“Doesn’t matter because I can’t hit the broad side of an industrial complex,” I told them. “How about Dustin flies overhead and I jump out of the plane?”
Everyone stared at me in amazement. “You have a form with wings?” Sabrina asked, exchanging a quick glance with Karl. “Or you just have wings?”
“Like an angel?” I snorted. “Uh, no. And I don’t have an avian form either. I was just thinking of jumping out of the plane. It would hurt, and I’d probably smash right through the roof, but I’d be in without being exploded or turned into a frog, and it would provide a huge distraction for Karl here to jump the guard and be the one getting blown up.”
“Unfortunately the magical protections most likely extend to the roof, so you’d still wind up a frog,” Gwylla said.
“Guess we’re both getting blown up after all,” Karl told me.
That, or we thought of something else once we were there and had an opportunity to check the place out first hand rather than staring at it on a tablet. “When do we leave?” I asked Jake.
“After dinner.” He slid a set of keys across the table to Karl. “Take the black truck. I’ll have weaponry, the C4, the lock-picks, and other supplies loaded and ready.”
Hey, how come I didn’t get to drive? I might have only been a member of this pack for a few days, but I was still a member, where Karl wasn’t even a werewolf.
“Shotgun,” I told the bear, even though I was the only other one going on this trip.
He nodded. “Only if you behave. One wrong move from you and you’re riding in the truck bed.”
I grinned, knowing that he wouldn’t hesitate to follow through on that threat. Although truck bed would be a whole lot better than tied like a dead deer to the roof. Which, from what I could make of this bear, wouldn’t be completely out of the question either.
Chapter 14
Mir once more led me over to her parents’ table for dinner. I was perversely delighted and plopped my ass down next to her mother with a huge smile. I would have hugged the woman had I not been convinced that would start a brawl that might end up with someone dead. Not me. Although if I killed a pack mate, I had no doubt Jake would be lopping my head off come sundown.
“How did your day go?” Mir asked, bubbly with excitement and enthusiasm. “I can’t imagine taking care of the garbage would be much fun. After your three-month probationary period, you should ask for a reassignment.”
“I like it,” I confessed. “It’s physical, which is something I need. And it’s solitary, which is also something I need.” There was something else I liked about the job that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I got the idea it had to do with cleaning up the compound, disposing of the unwanted and undesired remnants of living here. It might be a cliché metaphor, but I was finding that I liked being the one who took out the trash.
“And what about the special assignment? You had another meeting today?” Mir’s eyes were huge, and although she whispered, it was loud enough that I’m sure every shifter in the compound could hear it. Her parents certainly could because they looked over to me in surprise.
“I’m not sure that I’m at liberty to discuss the details, but I’m heading out after dinner and probably won’t be back until late tomorrow or maybe the next day. So don’t worry if you don’t see me around for a few.”
It was important to me that Mir not worry, that she knew my absence didn’t have anything to do with her or our friendship. I’d miss her. I’d been excited as all get out to see her after work and have dinner with her.
“Oh.” Mir’s face fell. “I’ll miss you. Be careful. I mean, I’m sure nothing bad will happen, and you’re probably better able to take care of yourself than any werewolf in the compound, but be careful.”
My tiny little heart grew ten times the size at her words. “I will. I’ll bring you back a present.”
I don’t know what made me say that. It wasn’t like I was going to some exotic location where they sold tourist baubles. I would bring her back something, though. Maybe a broken part of the safe, or a piece of the building.
Mir clapped her hands together at the idea. “Oh, cool! I like red, by the way. And I wear a size four.”
I was pretty sure the guard wasn’t wearing red and that he wasn’t a size four, so that ruled out bringing her his shirt. Hopefully she’d accept something besides a T-shirt as an appropriate gift, or I’d be trying to convince Karl to detour to a Walmart on our way back.
Did they even have Walmarts in Alaska? I guess that was something I’d need to check into.
“You’re leaving? On a special assignment?” There was disbelief in Kathleen’s voice. And relief. I knew she was hoping I wasn’t going to be coming back.
“Who are you going with?” Mir’s father asked. It was the first I’d heard him say anything besides his panicked pleas with his wife to not rock the boat with our Alpha the other night.
I shrugged. “Some Karl dude. He’s a bear. Evidently he’s the mate of the second in the Juneau Pack.”
They both stared at me in shock.
“He’s…” Mir’s father grimaced. “Well, at least we don’t need to worry about you killing him.”
Probably not. I got the impression Karl could hold his own in a fight. Funny that I’d spent most of my life trying to keep my beast from wanting to kill just about every shifter or human I met, and in the space of less than two days, I’d met several beings who my beast was uncertain if she could best. And that didn’t include that sidhe, Gwylla, who she just wanted to avoid like the plague.
“We’ve been working with the other two Alaska packs to deal with the hunters.” Mir shot me a concerned look. “Did you hear about that down in the lower forty-eight? There are humans up here with special magic on their bullets that kill us. And they’re hunting us like we’re animals. We’re not supposed to leave the compound alone, and we’re supposed to carry a satellite phone and wear a protective vest as well as carry a bottle of that antidote if we go out.”
“Jake briefed me,” I told her. Hopefully Jake would put the satellite phone, vest, and antidote in the bag with the C4 and lock picks, because I didn’t have time after dinner to go grab all this stuff.
“Make sure you take a bottle,” Mir reminded me, her voice full of worry. “Just in case you get shot. That way you won’t die.”
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “I’ll be careful, and we’ll take care of the bad guys. Soon it will be safe for you to go into town and shop and hang with your human friends again.”
“I hope so,” she whispered. “I used to go to the human school, but my parents pulled me out in May when Leon got shot.”
“They didn’t seem to be targeting our young, or shifters in populated areas, but we can’t be too careful when it comes to our children,” Mir’s father explained.
“Wel
l, they shot Sabrina in front of a restaurant full of humans, so I think we made the right choice,” Kathleen countered. “At first we thought it was just psychos trying to take our pelts as trophies, as if we were some exotic game, but it seems to be more widespread than we’d thought.”
Mir nodded. “It was those YouTube videos of shifters attacking people. It got everyone scared of us, even the Alaskan humans who know we exist and have lived side-by-side with us for generations. It gave people that hate us an excuse to claim they were killing us in self-defense, and scared the piss out of the humans in the lower states who didn’t even know we existed.”
“Mir. Language,” her father warned. “As horrific it was that Sabrina was shot out in public like that, it did a lot for our PR. Lots of human witnesses defended her, saying she was shot in cold blood while just standing there reading the menu, and that the shooter endangered everyone with his actions. Then another guy came forward and exposed a bunch of them as murderers, saying that the self-defense thing was a sham. If we could just take out the rest of these murderers, I think we could go back to living in peace with the humans.”
“I don’t know,” Kathleen countered. “I’m all for taking out these murderers, but I’m not sure I can ever trust humans again. Where were they after Leon was shot? Why did none of them come forward to defend us when those videos came out? There were humans who I’d known my whole life, who I had lunch with, bowled with, carpooled with, and none of them stood up for us.”
I’d never thought of any of this when I’d been down in L.A. Here were hundreds of shifters who might never again trust their human neighbors, who might separate and grow even more isolated in the world. And when groups held themselves apart and didn’t mingle in society, suspicions and fears went into overdrive. Things had been easier down south where we worked next to humans, not ever letting them know that we were werewolves. There we could fly under the radar, at least for a while. Here, the wolves were known. And especially in the Swift River Pack where we all lived together on a compound. Here such a division between humans and shifters would only hurt us both.
“Well, I want to go back to school,” Mir announced. “I miss my friends, and I know they don’t believe we’re dangerous or weird. They’ll stand up for me. They’ll protect me if someone tries anything.”
I wanted her to believe that. I wanted Mir to keep her Pollyanna innocence and faith in the good in people. I’d fight to keep her innocence, even though I was just as jaded as her parents. More so, because in addition to not trusting humans, I didn’t trust shifters either.
Oddly enough, the conversation had served to shift Mir’s parents’ animosity from me to the human hunters, and for a brief moment, I felt as if I were truly an accepted part of the pack. It didn’t last and by the time we’d finished the pulled pork and cornbread, they were back to frosty silence and wary side-eye glances.
After dinner Mir and I headed back to our room and she helped me pack for my assignment. We both agreed that I should take eyeliner and that kick-ass red lipstick, as well as my mascara. Just in case the assignment went overnight, we decided an extra pair of jeans and a black tank top along with a change of underwear would be appropriate. I stuffed my bug-out-bag of toiletries in the duffle, and turned around to see Mir holding up a leather corset with metal studs and grommets that I’d bought on a whim.
“Since I don’t know what kind of special assignment this is, I’m going to recommend you bring this,” she announced.
I snatched it out of her hands. “Uh, no. First of all, I don’t want to get this bloody because it cost a fucking—I mean, fricken—fortune. Secondly, that bear Karl is screwing the skinny redhead and I get the impression he won’t be looking twice at me. He looooooves her.”
“Wow,” Mir sighed. “I hope some bear shifter feels that way about me someday.”
I did a double take. “Don’t you mean wolf shifter?”
Mir giggled. “Bears are really hot. Don’t tell Mom, she’ll freak, but I’d totally do a bear.”
I’d been having sex since I was twelve, but I wasn’t sure if Mir had at sixteen. “Have you…I mean, are you still…?”
“A virgin?” she scoffed. “No way. I’ve done it with two different human guys. One was at a party last year, then the other was this spring right before my parents pulled me from school. And I’ve gotten to second base with Dallas Strider in the woods next to the lake. I might have done more, but he’s a really sloppy kisser. Ick. I hope other werewolves are better than Dallas, because otherwise I’m going back to screwing humans.”
I had to force my jaw to close. “I really think you should wait until you date someone a few times, Mir. I mean, you’re better than hooking up with random humans and some bad-kisser werewolf.”
She frowned. “I know, but it’s fun and I like sex. Don’t you? I thought you would be all about screwing just because it felt good.”
I was. And my beast was ready to slap a chastity belt on Mir for being the same as me.
“I do like sex, and yes, I screw every chance I get. But hookups are like eating junk food. It’s yummy and gives you a sugar rush, but it’s not satisfying in the long run. Don’t think the sugar rush is all that, because really caring about someone you have sex with is a million times better.”
There. That sounded like something a normal person would say, something from a movie on the Hallmark Channel. Do as I say, not as I do.
She tilted her head and pursed her lips. “Did you care about someone? I just assumed…which is probably my bad. Was there someone you loved in your other pack? Do you miss them?”
My mind went to Jake, to that kiss in the gym. But that had been just an in-the-moment thing. I was a tool, a monster to launch at their enemies. I was expendable. All I’d had in my life was quick fucks—hard and fast and over the moment we’d both orgasmed. I ached from the lack of connection, just as I ached from the lack of friendship or any kind of loving parental figure. I didn’t want Mir to go through that. This might be my life, but it didn’t have to be hers.
“I’ve had more one night stands than you could count. And if I ever found a guy—shifter or not—that was more than just scratching an itch, I’d hold on with all my might. I’m broken, Mir. I’ll never find that. I’ll never find someone that loves me. But you will. Have fun and be safe, but don’t have so much fun that you let that really awesome guy pass by. Because that’s going to change your life. And I want you to have that.”
She observed me as if I were an animal in a zoo—a really pathetic animal in a zoo, then launched herself at me and wrapped her arms around my waist in a tight hug. “I want you to have that too, Tupper. You’re awesome. I love you already and I know there will be a great guy who will love you too. That bear shifter might be in love with Sabrina, but there will be a better guy for you. Maybe Jake. He needs someone to love him. And he bought you a coffee maker and a cell phone. I think you should fall in love with Jake.”
I nearly choked at the thought. Sex with Jake might be on the table, but love? I was pretty sure that I could easily fall in love with Jake, but I doubted he’d ever be falling in love with me.
Chapter 15
I was a bit later than expected heading out of my dorm room, but it had been hard to leave Mir behind. With my duffle over my shoulder, I jogged over to where all the pack vehicles were parked and found Karl standing beside the black truck, looking like he was on the verge of dozing off.
“Let’s go, motherfucker!” I shouted, delighted to see him jump. Then I threw my bag in the bed and dashed around the back of the truck only to run head-first into a solid wall of man.
Jake.
I recovered quickly, bouncing away from him. “Seriously? Are you here to see us off? Are you going to break a champagne bottle on the side of the truck and throw streamers at us or something?”
“No, I’m going with you.”
That caused my brain to do a screechy thing. “Why? Don’t you trust me? Why bother to send me if you don
’t trust me? Why bother to even put me on this special assignment team if you don’t trust me? And what exactly do you expect me to do? Kill the bear? Because I doubt I could even if I really, really tried. Screw up? Cause’ that’s a given, and you should have known that before you assigned me this shit.”
Jake reached out and clamped a hand across my mouth. “Stop, before you say something that pisses me off and I have to kick your butt into Russia. I trust you to be you. No, I wouldn’t have put you on this team, or agreed to let you go, if I didn’t trust you to get the job done. And I’m going because this is serious. What happens here affects every shifter on a global scale, and I want to make sure it gets done the way I want it done. And I’ve got a bad feeling about this—call it a premonition. I don’t want either you or Karl to wind up dead because I didn’t listen to my intuition.”
I blinked up at him in surprise, because that was a far more emotional statement than I’d ever expected cool, calculating Jake to be making. Whatever that premonition was, it had to be disturbing as fuck for him to be as unsettled as this.
“I’m going because…well, because I worry about you. I want to make sure you don’t get shot or blown up or turned into a poison-spitting frog or something.”
Someone worried about me. Jake worried about me.
He still had his hand over my mouth, so I bit it gently. He narrowed his eyes, and removed his hand. Then he leaned forward and kissed me, and all the fears, the worries I’d had melted away in a swirl of desire and emotion.
“You ready to do this, Mills?” he asked.
I was so ready to do this, but I got the feeling he wasn’t referring to having hot sweaty sex up against the side of the truck with Karl standing on the other side.
“I’m ready,” I told him. “And I still get shotgun.”
