WE RIDE into town on the Harley, mainly because I need to keep Jasmine’s body close to mine. She
wraps her arms around my waist and presses her chest against my back, humming softly. At least I think she’s humming. It’s hard to hear over the roar of the motor, but that’s what it feels like. A soft reverberation that goes straight to my dick.
I’ve been riding a motorcycle since I was eight years old, but it’s totally different with Jasmine on the bike. She’s a human. Fragile as fuck. One accident and she could be taken from me. I had the fear of that put into me with her crash earlier this week.
Not that I’ve ever had an accident in my life. My reflexes are sharp and my nerves steady. But I drive differently knowing I have precious cargo on the bike. Double-check my mirrors, keep my speed down.
I can’t see Jasmine but I sense her enjoyment and it does something to my wo
LARRY’S MAP was shit and it takes us nearly an hour and a half of backtracking to find the unmarked road he described, but eventually we do. Tom hides the Harley behind a boulder and we hike in on foot. He holds my hand and swings our arms together like we’re on a picnic or date of some kind.The hike is about a half mile in and then the road just seems to stop.There’s nothing here.Tom turns around in a circle. “Wrong road?”The hairs stand up on the back of my neck. “No,” I murmur. “I sense evil here.” He raises his brows.I’m used to people thinking I’m nuts when I say things like that, so I just shrug, but he scans the trees more closely. “From which direction?”The pleasure of being believed does something fluttery to my chest. I close my eyes to feel the energy. It blasts me from straight ahead. I open my eyes and point. Definitely that way.
A SNARL RIPS out of my throat, and I shift before I even have a chance to think. The need to protect Jasmine is too great. My wolf body-checks her to shove her back behind me.My brain isn’t working yet—I’m in full fight-mode, ready to rip their throats out.One of them smiles like he’s going to enjoy killing me.Another one steps forward. “Shift, wolf.” The words enter my body and reverberate through.There’s alpha command in them. It gets my attention, even though I’m unwilling to obey.It helps kick my brain back online.Shifters.These guys are shifters.Which doesn’t necessarily mean they are friendly. But their scents are familiar. These are the wolves from Jasmine’s place.“Shift, wolf,” he repeats.I shift, calmer, now. A little more able to think. Still, I angle my body in front of Jasmine’s to sh
I LEAN MY HELMET AGAINST TOM’ back and review what just happened.Hearing the jabs that jerk took at Tom over me has me mad. Not for myself, but on Tom’ behalf. No wonder he’s felt so unavailable to me. My instincts weren’t wrong. We are literally a separate species.And his own kind mocked him for being with me.Maybe, as much as we’re attracted to each other and as much as we care about each other, a relationship is impossible.I don’t want to think about that now, though, so I push it out of my mind. Tom is still here on a job, and I intend to help him with it. After that, we can talk.We ride back to Tom’ place and he calls his alpha to report. I’m not trying to eavesdrop, but I notice he’s only saying I.Not we.He hasn’t mentioned my involvement at all.Would he get in trouble?Or is this more like… emb
JASMINE and I meet the Taos wolves at the appointed time and place.“Hi, guys!” Jasmine beams that bright smile and waves from the doorway.Four of them sit at a table in the back corner, sharing a couple pitchers of beer. It’s the same three from earlier today and one more who also appears military-trained.They look over. Rafe barely acknowledges us with a slight lift of his chin.“Hey,” she tries again when we sit down. She leans across the table and sticks out her hand to the guy we don’t know. “I’m Jasmine.”He’s younger than the others, probably late twenties, with Captain America good-looks.“Channing.” His dimpled smile is just as bright as Jasmine’s.A low growl starts in my throat
I TUCK a bottle of wine and an opener in my picnic basket, along with our lunch and climb in the bus to meet Tom at his place. It’s our last afternoon in Taos before we head to Phoenix with the refugees, and I intend to make the most of it.I’ve been ignoring the little niggles of anxiety that have been running through me as our end draws ever closer.I don’t want to think about it. Don’t want to give him up. Being with Tom feels too good.Too right.And every time I’m with him, his auric field turns pink.He loves me.He hasn’t said it, but it’s clear.And I feel the same way.I find him sitting outside his place, waiting for me. He surges to his feet as soon as I pull up.“Hey, big man,” I call as I jump out and hoist the picnic basket.“What’s this?” He takes it from me. I didn’t tell him our plans, just that I wanted to
WE MEET the charter bus and the shifter refugees the next morning in a dirt parking lot at the juncture of three highways. The black wolf pack show up in two Humvees and Deke’s Mercedes G63. Whatever their jobs really are or were, they have plenty of money.The refugees climb out of the vehicles. Even though they’ve been free for six weeks now, they still wear shell-shocked, wary expressions. I catch their strange, mixed scents—a jumble of animals, nothing that makes sense. It’s just like the misfit shifters from California. Alpha Green asked those three to come up to Wolf Ridge and meet the bus, so these new refugees will have shifter’s who have been through what they have to advocate for them and help build trust.“We’re going to provide escort to Arizona,” Rafe tells me. “Make sure you arrive safe.” I shake his hand. “Thank you.”A young female walks up with a baby bunny cup
THE DRIVE from Taos to Phoenix is hot. Mountains melt into desert and the air outside grows increasingly more stifling. We pass through Navajo land. I keep catching myself gnawing my lip.It’ll be fine. I release my chokehold on the steering wheel. I’m just meeting Tom’ entire pack.No biggie.But by the time we pull into the parking lot of Wolf Ridge Rec Center, the concrete in my stomach has settled in to stay. Calm down. I jump out of my bus to assist my new shifter friends.Fiona is already off the bus, a pitifully small bag slung over her shoulder. These shifters had nothing. Not even clothes to wear, if Fiona’s makeshift outfit is anything to go by. She looks like she cut up a big man’s t-shirt and a pair of running shorts to fit her. That’s right, focus on helping.When Rey steps off the bus, she stumbles. A lanky male c
2 months later…“Ten minutes Tom. Let’s go,” my leader, shouted down the hall. “Briefing on the plane.”That about summed up my life. One mission to the next. After a while, they all just blurred together. I’ve been with Force since its creation five years ago. My wolf had leader traits, but I was no leader. I’d turned down the job when it was originally offered to lead Pack’s first special ops team. There were now six teams, but mine had remained the highest ranked, the most elite, Great team.You’d think the top dogs should be called Leader, but not around here. In Pack, there was only one Leader, john . He was a good man and a great leader. He’d been disappointed with my initial decision, but the moment we both met the grumpy old gorilla shifter, alex Granger, we both knew I’d made the right decision.alex was a character all of his own. He had been the leader of a powerful band of