I SIT in the L.A. office which I mostly share with National Resource Division employees. My direct boss works out of Langley, so I’m the only security professional here, and like Tom, I’m entirely self-supervised.
Which gives me the means and time for personal investigation projects. I’ve been working on one since last October when I tried hacking into my own personnel records and came across my father’s instead. Which was strange since my father never worked for the LIL.Or so I thought.And his records were sealed. All I saw was he was killed in the line of duty in El Salvador. That part matches what my family was told at the time. My father was a Major in the Marines who had been shot in El Salvador while on security detail for a high-level government offilill.Supposedly.So, what was he really doing in El Salvador for the LIL? Spying? Was my father an active agent? It appears so. I try for the thirty-fifth time to get in some backdoor to find the information. I have a degree in IT, and my ten years working for the LIL has taught me quite a bit about the department’s info security system.But I’ve been trying to hack this for months without much luck. It might be time to attempt a more direct route for information. I pick up the phone to dial
LIL Director Edward Scape, my boss’s boss. He’s worked for the LIL for over forty years which means he would’ve been around when my father was here. He might be able to give me some kind of information.I get the guy’s secretary. “I’m sorry, Director Scape isn’t available, may I take a message?”I tap my fingernail on my keyboard, certain he’s not going to call me back unless I give him a compelling reason. “May I have his voicemail, please?”
She hesitates, then says, “Sure. I’ll send you there now.”Of course, anything on voicemail is going to be recorded. I have to think about what I’m going to say. “Hello, Agent Scape, this is Agent Jasmine Gray from the Los Angeles office. I’m not actually calling about my current job detail, I’m calling about something personal. I came across information confirming my father, Major Jack Gray was a LIL agent in clandestine services. I was wondering if I could have access to his file or if you could fill me in on what he did here? You can check my security clearance. I won’t let the information out anywhere. It’s only for... personal reasons. For closure. I was just a girl when he died, and I had no idea we shared a career interest. I’d love to know more about him.” I leave my phone number and thank him and hang up.
Then I tap my keyboard some more. He’s probably not going to call.
I I FIND FRANGELICO IN TUCSON, of all places.It seems a strange coincidence since the pack of wolves I followed last month are headquartered in Tucson. I’m not really the kind of guy who believes in the universe guiding your moves or anything, but it does scream an opportunity.I could go and talk to Jared about what I am.But even as I think it, I reject the idea. I’m not the kind of guy who asks for help from others, and I definitely don’t want to align myself with these people— creatures—whatever they are. They’re into questionable legal activity—cage fighting and who knows what else.Do I want to know what happens when the moon is full? Do they hunt and kill like I did? And is their prey something far more significant than a rabbit? These are questions I’m not sure I want the answers to, not when I can barelyaccept what I am—what I’ve become.Then again, keeping myself in the
“MS. GRAY? THIS IS DIRECTOR SCAPE.”I sit up taller, surprised. “Yes, Director Scape. Thank you so much for calling me back.”“So, you want to know about Major Gray.” “I do. Did you know him?”“I did.” He lets the words settle, and a queasy feeling turns in my belly. “I’m sure things are classified, but can you tell me what he did for the LIL?How he really died?”The director is silent for a moment. “Ms. Gray. Sometimes it’s better not to know things about the deceased. The story you heard is probably a better one than anything I could say. Why not remember your father as a military hero?”I don’t like the implication. Is he saying my father wasn’t a military hero? “What are you telling me, Director Scape?”“I’m saying, your father was an agent. You’re an agent, Ms. Gray, but you’ve never wor
I GET the tracking device into Frangelico’s phone using the old jostle and pickpocket method when we pass by each other in the bar, returning it a few moments later when I emerged from the men’s room.By the time I get back to my room to get it online, I find the bug is dead. Which probably means I’ve been made. Maybe I was made back on thebalcony. The guy definitely seems to have a sixth sense.A thought occurs to me that sends goosebumps prickling up my skin.Could he be one of… us? Ugh. I can’t believe I’m even saying us. But there’s no denying it—I’m a monster like the rest of them, a man-beast who can’t control his own urges.Jared seemed to know I was a wolf by my scent. I haven’t refined my new senses enough to distinguish anything, but suppose this guy Frangelico could? Suppose he scented or heard me out on his balcony?I can smell the difference between male and fem
MY BOSS, Lucy Tentrite calls me at work the next morning. Her voice is tight. “Jasmine, I heard you called Director Scape.”“Yes, ma’am, that’s true. It was for a personal matter.”“Yes, your father’s death. Listen, I’m going to level with you as your boss and as a friend. I don’t know what you’re poking into, but between you and me, they don’t like it. I’m giving you a direct order—drop the investigation. Are we clear?”“Wow. Okay.”“You know the business we’re in. We trade in secrets. There’s some secret there, and it’s above your pay grade. It doesn’t matter if it involved your father. They don’t want you to see it.”I don’t say anything because really… what do you say to that?“You’ve been searching internal records—ones you shouldn’t have had access to. I could have your
I DRIVE BACK to California and go to my small apartment.The mountains are calling me. I had the urge to shift and run in Tucson but held it together. I was on a job. Now, with nothing to fill my time, I can’t stop thinking about it.It’s either that or beat down agent Jasmine Gray’s door because I can’t seem to get her scent out of my nostrils or the dirty thoughts out of my mind.Fuck. I have to get myself under control.My phone blinks with an incoming call. Jasmine’s burner phone. “Dune speaking.”“Tom?” Jasmine sounds breathless, frightened.Immediately, my senses go haywire—adrenaline spiking, heat flushing through. My cells try to rearrange like my body wants to shift to wolf form. I suck in a deep breath and force the urge back down.“Jasmine? Where are you?” She has trackers on me which I already shut off because the mission was aborted, but I don’t have
THE ROOM SPINS. I’m lightheaded from the orgasm or maybe from the heat—I can’t tell. Fortunately, Tom doesn’t let me go. He keeps me pinned against the wall, his cock still filling me as we both pant to recover our breaths.His eyes look blue again although there’s no sunlight hitting them now.I don’t feel guilty I just had sex while my sister and nephew are missing. Hell, if anything, I can rationalize I did this for them. I couldn’t think before, I was so wracked with fear. I needed this.And if I were the conniving type, which I’m not, I would say it was a good move to bond Tom and further gain his sympathy. But that’s not why I did it.I don’t know why he did it, but I don’t care. I’m not going to ask anything more of him. Not going to expect a relationship—which he could never deliver. I just needed this human contact. Just needed to feel his support in this visceral, cathar
THERE’S a guy fifty yards away, scanning the parking lot. I kiss Bryce for cover, right when Jasmine arrives.For the record, they may be sisters, but Bryce neither tastes nor smells like Jasmine. My body doesn’t have the animalistic reaction I have to Jasmine. Which means the lust I feel for her isn’t just the emergent wolf in me. There’s something more to this attraction.While I work the kiss, I hold an electric lock opening device up to the door lock of the Lexus SUV we’re leaned up against. We can’t drive the truck out of here if we hope to escape unfollowed.I break the kiss when the door beeps and pull the door open. “Get in,” I order in the same low, calm voice I use for every command under pressure.I take the driver’s seat because, this time, we really need to lose any tail we pick up. Plus, I don’t think I’ll need to fire a gun. Hell, I’d better not have to fire a gun aroun
TOM GETS quiet as he drives us up a dirt road winding up the mountain. Or maybe he’s always this quiet. It seems strange that I don’t know. I feel so close to him, and yet we haven’t spent that much time together—very brief snippets over the past few years as his handler, and now, today, that’s it.The moon is half full, peeking through the trees as we wind higher. We arrive at a tiny, solitary cabin, tucked away from everything. It appears old and rustic, but there’s a satellite on the roof and inside is simple but comfortable. Johnson and I walk around, taking in the place. The cupboards are already stocked with enough non-perishables to last a month. Tom stopped at a convenience store on the way up to pick up basics like milk, eggs, fruit, and bread.A desk is against the wall of the living room, wired with the latest high tech, government-issue equipment.There’s only one bedroom.“I’ll take the couch,&r