Wolf Shield Investigations: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  He knew what he should’ve done, too. He should’ve run as soon as she saw him. Sure, she would’ve taken a story about a wolf back to the house, insisting she’d seen it and that it had been huge, frightening.

  That was the sort of thing that could be brushed aside. They could tell her she’d been mistaken, that she’d only seen a big dog. One of them might even make up a story about seeing such a dog run past one of the cameras. It would’ve been easy. She could have shrugged it off, agreed that she was just a little uptight right now. Her imagination was running away with her.

  And Jace would’ve agreed, and he would’ve sympathized. He could’ve told her anybody’s imagination would run away with them after being through what she’d been through in just that one day alone. Learning what she had about her father, watching her mother slap him and throw him out of the house. It would be enough to make anybody see things.

  But no, because he’d been too stupid to run away, too infatuated with her to leave her alone.

  He had even almost laughed at her, the way she talked to him. Begging him to kill the people down the beach instead of her. He knew his laughter came out as a growl, which had only upset her more.

  Yet none of that was the worst part. The worst part was the way she looked at him when he drew closer. The way she had stared into his eyes as he stared into hers.

  The recognition. She recognized him. He knew she did. That was the worst possible thing that could happen. No way could she recognize him. No way could he let something like that happen.

  Though at this point, it seemed like he didn’t have much of a choice anymore. If it was done, it was done.

  Even if she did tell herself there was something funny about that wolf, something she recognized, there was still no chance she would put two and two together. Shifters weren’t unheard of, not technically, though most claims of shifter sightings had later been debunked.

  It was like spotting the Loch Ness monster. Plenty of people thought they had, and plenty of people believed in its existence, but there wasn’t enough proof. It still existed as a legend, nothing more.

  She could think she had seen a shifter in person and that the shifter was him, but there was little chance of her coming out and admitting it because there simply wasn’t enough proof in the world of shifters being a real, live thing.

  “Is there someplace out here I can wash my feet before going into the house?” he asked. “I would hate to get the floors all muddy.”

  “There’s a shower out here.” Kara pointed to a wood-framed structure that sat behind the pool. Of course, an outdoor shower. They would probably need one thanks to their proximity to the beach. “I was going to rinse my feet, too.”

  “You go first, then.” He was surprised she only hesitated for a moment before going ahead. She didn’t even bother offering an argument. She was good and stirred up, confused, maybe full of theories.

  He could barely wait until she was gone before turning to Zane. “I need you to take this to headquarters immediately. Have Doc look at the two hairs inside the mask.”

  “Hairs?” Zane whispered.

  “Two blonde hairs,” Jace confirmed with a glance toward the pool house. “This could be what we need to break this open. If he can expedite an analysis in the lab, we might be able to put a name to all of this.”

  “Fair enough.” Zane took the mask, holding it with care. Then, he added, “Sorry about earlier. I went to the bathroom. Her sense of timing is incredible.”

  “I’m just glad you didn’t take any longer than you did,” Jace snickered. “Don’t worry about it. Just get that hat to Doc, and all is forgiven.”

  Zane took off then, jogging the rest of the way around the house. Moments, later the sound of an engine roaring to life allowed Jace to exhale.

  Though he couldn’t relax for long. The door to the shower opened, and Cara walked out. “There are towels in there if you want to take an actual shower,” she offered. “Your clothes look a little dirty.”

  Yes, he was filthy after fumbling his way through dressing in the woods. He would’ve laughed at himself if the whole situation wasn’t fraught with tension. “Thanks, I might have to do that.”

  She nodded, chewing her lip. They stood not far from the pool, and the lights underwater cast an eerie glow over everything around them. Every movement of the water sent shadows dancing over Kara’s face, making her look even more troubled than she already was.

  “You okay?” he asked, careful to keep his tone light.

  “You mean after watching my world fall to pieces around me? Oh, I’m just fine.” She looked down at the water, arms folded over her heaving chest. She was about ready to explode, just the way her mother had.

  “There’s a way out of this. It’ll blow over. I know it seems impossible now, but it will. You’ll come out on the other side, and you’ll be stronger for it.”

  “You should be a motivational speaker,” she chuckled, though the sarcasm that usually sat heavy in her voice wasn’t as obvious as it normally was. “Go ahead. Take your shower. I’ll be inside. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Zane just went back to headquarters, but the other guys are inside.” He walked past her, wondering if he should touch her or offer comfort. For some reason, taking a shower first seemed more important, and he soon understood why.

  She might be able to smell the salt on his skin. If she got too close to him, she might wonder why he smelled like he had just been in the water.

  So he hurried into the shower instead of taking her in his arms the way he wanted to, waiting until the door was closed before peeling off his filthy jeans and shirt, stripping down until he was naked before turning on the refreshing water which flowed from an overhead fixture. They really had thought of everything.

  He wondered if he could someday adjust himself to the comforts of being wealthy. He’d been wrong, very wrong about the sort of people who lived lives like this. Some of them may have been empty-headed, cruel, self-centered like the people down the beach who Kara had described to his wolf. Only interested in themselves, in furthering themselves socially and politically.

  He could even bring himself to believe that William Collins had meant well, that he’d started out his career wanting to do his best for the people who voted for him, that it hadn’t always been all about him—his career, his reputation, his legacy.

  Somewhere along the way, however, he’d been tripped up. Maybe by the power, maybe by the adoration his constituents heaped on him. Whatever it was, it had changed him, and look what he’d given up in the process.

  He might have the respect of thousands or even millions of strangers, but he would never have the respect of his family again.

  Jace felt more like himself by the time he turned off the water and rubbed the towel over his dripping body. It wasn’t like him to question himself, to look back over every decision he made and wonder if it had been the right decision. He did what he felt was necessary in the moment, and that was the best anyone could do. He would defend his choices to his dying breath if need be.

  Maybe Kara got under his skin the way she did because he recognized his own stubbornness in her, a sense of belief in oneself. It was rare, that steadfast belief, and it could at times put a person in jeopardy, leading them to believe in themselves while forgetting they didn’t know everything there was to know about the world.

  He would have to walk up to the house in nothing but the towel around his waist since he wasn’t about to put those filthy clothes back on. He gathered them in a ball, held them in front of him before making sure his towel was secure and opening the door to the shower room.

  She was supposed to be in the house.

  It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, though, that she hadn’t done like she said she would. He found her sitting on the edge of the pool, her legs dangling over the side and into the water. She kicked slowly, absently, staring into the pool like it held the secrets of the universe while her motion sent wave after wav
e rippling over the surface.

  “I thought you said you were going in,” he murmured, watching her, wondering what was up. His wolf sensed trouble; he’d been too quick to think the matter had passed.

  “Yeah, I know,” she replied in a flat voice. He didn’t like the sound of it. There was no emotion there, no inflection.

  “What’s the matter? Do you wanna talk?” He wasn’t exactly in the best position for a heart-to-heart, standing there in nothing but a towel, but he didn’t have the heart to leave her sitting alone, not in the mood she was in. “I don’t have anywhere else to be, remember.”

  She snickered. “Yeah. I think maybe we should talk.”

  “Okay.” He looked around, at a loss. What was he supposed to do? Sit down with her?

  “I’ll start if you don’t mind,” she continued, looking up from the water for the first time since he’d approached. Her eyes widened a little with a look he recognized as appreciation.

  There was no helping the small flash of pride her expression gave him. He was nothing more than a man at heart, a man with a gorgeous girl ogling him. He couldn’t help but feel a little smug, knowing she liked what she saw as much as he loved looking at her.

  Even though her hands had been all over him that morning, it wasn’t the same as seeing him the way he currently was. The towel sat low on his hips, covering what it needed to cover but little else.

  She gulped. “Um. Wow. Okay. What’s my name again?”

  He burst out laughing, popping the tension like a balloon. “Okay, I’m more than just a piece of meat. My eyes are up here.” He pointed to them, still laughing.

  She chuckled. “Yeah, well, anyway. Like I said, there’s something we need to talk about. You promised, remember.”

  His laughter died. Damn it. There he was, thinking she wanted to talk about her father, about the way he’d left her vulnerable all these years, the very things she’d accused him of in his office. Jace would’ve talked to her about that until the cows came home if that was what she wanted.

  That wasn’t what she wanted.

  She wanted at that very moment to talk about him. The team. What made them different.

  And he knew, he just knew, that she suspected he was the wolf on the beach.

  They held each other’s gaze for a long time, both of them waiting for the other to back down. He knew that if it came down to that he could outwait her without breaking a sweat. He would carry his secret with him to his grave if that was what it came to. He didn’t have to tell her or anybody.

  And he’d kept it a secret this long, hadn’t he? Not just for his own sake but for the sake of the team, all of them. Their lives could be in grave danger if care wasn’t taken to keep their real nature under wraps.

  He could outwait her. He could outwit her. He could tell her she was nuts, that what she thought she saw on the beach and everything she’d concluded about him and the team was off the wall, impossible, that she was letting her imagination run away with her thanks to the stress she was under. He could put her head on his shoulder and console her, assure her it was natural in situations like this to look for ways to avoid the truth around her.

  Tell her that anybody would react the way she’d reacted when they were under this amount of pressure.

  He could do it, and it would work. He knew it would. He only had to take advantage of her fragile mental state, of the turmoil she’d be in after seeing her parents unravel the way they had.

  It would be easy.

  But he wouldn’t do it. He couldn’t. Not to her. Not when that very thing had been done to her so many times.

  Not when he cared about her the way he did. Not when just the sight of her alone lit him up inside. No one had ever done that to him before. Nothing ever had.

  So, because she’d already been taken advantage of and because he had the feeling he already cared way more about her than he should, he nodded slowly rather than making up an excuse. “You’re right. I did promise. What is it you wanna know?”

  She looked surprised, like she hadn’t expected this. It was a gift for him, really, seeing her look that way. Relieved, almost, like she was getting a chance she’d never gotten before and might never get again, so she’d better get this right.

  “Uh, well. Hmm.” She looked down again, her cheeks flushing. “This is gonna sound crazy. I mean, it sounds crazy to me, and I’m the one thinking it. I almost can’t bring myself to say it out loud because there’s no taking it back. I could sit here and pretend to joke, like ha-ha I didn’t really mean it. But that would be a lie.”

  “I understand.” He sat on a wicker chair, careful to keep his legs closed for the sake of modesty even though modesty was the last thing on his mind. Even now, knowing how close he was to having his secrets spilled all over the patio, he couldn’t help but imagine how simple it would be to take her out here. Nobody was in the house but his team and her mother, who was probably halfway to a drugged haze by then.

  He could bind them before anybody had the chance to stop him.

  It was a test of his self-control, but he did well. “You can say it,” he prompted, dread almost closing his throat. “Go on. It’s just us. What do you wanna say?”

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking. “Okay. I’m just gonna come out with it. Here we go. I hope you don’t hate me for this.”

  “Impossible,” he breathed, and he loved the way her eyes lit up.

  It seemed to give her extra strength, and when she spoke it all came out in a rush. “Wolf Shield. The wolf I saw on the beach. I felt like I knew it. I felt like it understood me when I spoke. I recognized its eyes—the same eyes as yours. It seemed to know me too. Are you shifters, all of you? Wolf shifters?”

  There it was.

  He could either deny it, the way people had denied her the truth for most of her life, or he could admit it the way he’d have to if he ever hoped to mate with this woman.

  When he looked at it that way, there was only one answer he could offer.

  He nodded. “I am. We are.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  It was like a punch to the gut.

  It also seemed too easy. The last thing she’d expected was for him to be honest and so quickly. He hadn’t put up a fight. He hadn’t bothered pretending.

  Instead, he’d come right out with it.

  And now, she had no idea what to do with herself. How was she supposed to react? How did a person react to something like this? She had expected him to laugh at her, to remind her that shifters weren’t real. They were only a legend, something people whispered about.

  Yet here he was, and she had known, deep in her heart, that it was him on the beach. To find out she was right was almost the biggest shock of all, even more of a shock than him being who he was.

  She was right. Her instincts were right, and somebody was finally coming out and admitting she was right, which she knew shouldn’t have seemed like such a gift, but it did. Even though this wasn’t strictly about her, it felt like his honesty was a gift to her.

  She could have gotten up and kissed him then and there just for that, except she didn’t trust her legs to work very well just then, not when she was shaking the way she was.

  “Were you born this way?” she asked, trying to understand him, to make sense of who he was, wondering how far she could push before she’d gone too far.

  She didn’t doubt he would tell her in no uncertain terms when she had, but she didn’t want to hurt him either. The last thing she wanted, now that he’d opened up to her this way, was to intrude too far. It was like a dance, the two of them moving around each other, trying to figure out the steps without instruction.

  He shook his head, his eyes never leaving hers. “No. None of us were. When I’m about to tell you might come off like I’m being evasive, but I promise that’s not what I’m trying to do. It’s just that what you asked me about is complicated, and I don’t have all the answers. I wish I did. There’s a lot of things I wish I
understood.”

  “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” she was quick to answer. “Really, I’m just glad you admitted it. I knew it was there. I knew there was something really different about you guys. You don’t know what it means, you trusting me with something like this.”

  “I hope you don’t make me regret it,” he replied, his voice tight.

  “If you thought I would make you regret it, would you have told me? Come on. There’s gotta be something in you, some instinct, that tells you I’m safe, that I would never tell anybody your secret.”

  He snickered, smirking a little. “I guess you’re right about that. No, we weren’t born this way. We were turned into shifters years ago.” There was no missing the bitterness in his voice, the narrowing of his eyes.

  “Who would do that?” she asked a split second before she figured out the answer. “Was it some sort of government thing?”

  “Careful,” he chuckled. “That quick mind of yours might get you in trouble one day. Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. I don’t know exactly who was involved. None of us ever found out. It was a secret program. We were all wounded in one way or another, horribly wounded, on the verge of death.”

  Her breath caught in her throat when she imagined him in that sort of condition. There he was, as big as anything, so strong and powerful. She had never seen anybody like him in her whole life. To think of him so close to death…

  “For me, it was an IED. The same was true for Sledge and for Doc, though Doc isn’t one of us. They never got around to doing that to him, conducting tests I mean. They saved his life, but by the time they wanted to start the testing, everything fell apart. I’m still not completely sure to this day what happened. I only know that we all escaped.”

  She barely blinked or breathed as he told his story, overwhelmed and horrified.

  “Anyway, it blew a hole in me. I died for a few minutes, actually—I mean I totally flatlined. But they brought me back and injected me with shifter blood to see if I would heal. I mean, there was probably no chance of me surviving the way I was. I know I would be dead right now if it wasn’t for what they did. Shifters heal from even severe wounds almost instantly, and they wanted to see if that blood would have the same effect on humans.”