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 barely
accept what I am—what I’ve become.Then again, keeping myself in the dark seems like a particularly stupid move, too.
Frangelico booked a room in a resort on the west side of town—Marriott Starr Pass. I head up there and swipe a key card from a housekeeping cart to get into his room.
Bugging the place is easy work but probably not that useful. I drop devices into the hem of his clothing and under the inner sole of his shoe. Really, though, I need to get the guy’s phone. That’s the best place for a bug and the most difficult to get.
Hearing a keycard slide into the lock, I slip out onto the balcony and press my back against the wall. It’s my dumb luck, he comes straight my way. Maybe he saw the curtain move, maybe he just wants fresh air. Either way, I need to disappear. I drop over the side of the balcony, hanging by my fingertips as he stands there, sniffing.
Yeah, I can hear him sniff. My hearing has amplified since I first shifted under Jared’s command last month.
I draw in a breath through my nose, picking up his scent as well. My sense of smell has increased, too. Frangelico smells odd—not at all like a person. More like a cold, earthy smell. It’s... wrong.
I walk my hands quietly around the corner of the balcony and drop softly onto the balcony directly below. I sense rather than see Frangelico leaning over the side like he heard my movement, but I dart back into the shadows.
The guy is definitely on high alert. I jimmy the lock on the balcony door and slip out through the room below. I need a better plan to get to this guy, and I’d better think it through. He may not be surrounded by security, but the guy is cautious, maybe even paranoid. Which means he’s definitely into something illegal.
I move quickly through the halls of the hotel and down to the front desk. Using one of my many fake IDs, I book a room for the night—right down the hall from his.
“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
JOHNSON’S UP almost as early as I am, padding into the kitchen at the first light of dawn. I’ll bet that drives his mom nuts.“You hungry?” I ask.He shrugs.“I’m gonna take that as a yes.” I set a box of Golden Grahams on the table with a bowl. “Have some cereal.”He seems to like that and tears open the box. The cereal spills on the table, but I don’t say anything, just pour milk into his bowl and drop a spoon into it. “Have at it.”He shovels a bite into his mouth. “Thanks.”Bryce comes out next, but Jasmine hits the shower. I get itchy thinking about her being naked with just a thin door between us. Last night, I had to leave the cabin because the desire to open that bedroom door and throw Jasmine over my shoulder was too strong.I shifted and hunted most of the night. I’m just glad I found my way back and was able to change back to human form before