Wolf Shield Investigations: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  It was already late afternoon by the time they got home, and it was almost laughable, the fact that she’d planned to make dinner that night. If things had gone differently, she would’ve been stirring a pot of sauce, preparing to make baked ziti and garlic bread and all sorts of things she wasn’t technically supposed to be eating. She’d planned on enjoying herself, saying to hell with counting calories for one night.

  Now she couldn’t get out of the truck without wincing as her aching muscles reminded her of what happened earlier.

  “What do you think? Do you want to go up and lie down” When Braxton looked at her, she knew what he was really asking. This would be their privacy.

  Knowing that, she nodded, her heart in her throat and her blood pumping hard enough to make her dizzy.

  Zane looked up at the sky, where a pair of helicopters circled overhead. “You have no idea how much I want to give them both fingers right now,” he muttered, glaring up at them in obvious disgust.

  “Go for it. I don’t care.” And she didn’t. What a freaky thought, not caring even a little bit what happened at this point. It was like the entire universe had conspired over the last week or so in giving her an ugly, unvarnished look at what her life was really all about. How dangerous, how stupid and dangerous and pointless and harrowing it could be.

  If this was the price of fame, she wasn’t sure she wanted to pay it.

  All of this went through her head as she climbed the stairs—slowly, one step at a time, the tightness in her back and shoulders and even her legs making it a challenge. Yet there was Braxton, walking next to her, supporting her, acting like nothing was wrong in the world when he was the one who’d crumpled the truck against the palm tree. He was the one who must’ve borne the brunt of the impact. She’d only gotten banged around a little bit.

  Why did she hesitate so much? Why was she so afraid? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know now. There was no going back from this.

  It was like jumping into a pool all at once when she knew the water was cold. Nothing was gained by taking her time, by being hesitant. That sort of attitude only extended the agony. She’d have to jump in feet first and let the shock roll over her all at once. It would be over soon enough, wouldn’t it?

  “Here’s the thing.” She reached her bed and sat down gingerly, gritting her teeth. “I can’t even imagine what it is you’re about to tell me. I mean, what could possibly be the reason why you made it out of crash like that without a scratch? Are you part robot or something? Is that the big secret?”

  He didn’t even crack a smile. She had to crane her neck to look up at him—God, he was so tall, so improbably huge all over. People weren’t naturally that big. She had never even seen a bodybuilder or stuntman with that sort of size to him.

  “Okay, so that’s not the big secret,” she muttered when he stayed silent. “What’s the problem? You just don’t know where to begin?”

  “How I am supposed to begin when you won’t stop talking?” he asked, and this time he did crack a slight smile.

  “I’m a nervous talker.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Are you nervous?”

  “Wouldn’t you be? I have no idea what you’re about to tell me. And if you think that whole robot thing was completely a joke, you’re wrong.”

  “I didn’t think it was completely a joke,” he grunted before turning toward the window. “Those helicopters are still up there.”

  “I don’t care about them. I care about you. I wouldn’t be sitting here with you if I didn’t care.”

  She got a funny sort of disbelieving look for that. “You’re curious. You think you know something. That’s what you care about.”

  “That’s not true. Don’t speak for me. I hate when people put words in my mouth.”

  He held her gaze for a second before nodding. “I can believe that. So since you care so much, do you think you’ll be able to handle what I’m about to tell you? No matter what you learn?”

  “I won’t know until you tell me, will I? You might as well get it off your chest all at once. Whatever it is, I’ll still be sitting here when you’re finished—and not just because all my muscles have gone stiff.”

  He laughed softly, turning back toward the window. She could admire him now when he wasn’t looking. She could marvel at the perfection standing in front of her. From the wave in his black hair to the definition in his arms, his back, his legs, he was flawless.

  “What I’m about to tell you is something very few people know,” he began. She didn’t notice at first that she’d gripped the bedsheets until her fists ached from holding them so tight. Nothing that started the way he’d started off could end well.

  He then told a story so fantastic, so unreal, she had no choice but to believe him. Funny how that worked. There were some things that were so unreal they had to be true. Who could make up anything like that? Secret experiments conducted on soldiers almost fatally wounded. In what universe did things like that actually happen?

  It was clear he meant every word he said. Once or twice, she tried to tell herself he was lying, making something up. Aside from the fact that she couldn’t imagine why somebody would make up something like this, she sensed his sincerity. There wasn’t even much emotion in his voice as he talked about escaping from that facility.

  “And now, we work together. We’re all we have. We know our secret is safe among us. It’s the rest of the world we can’t trust.”

  “You’re putting your trust in me right now.” It was the first thing she said since he started talking, and her mouth was dry. She licked her lips, though it didn’t help much. “That has to mean something, right?”

  “It does,” he admitted. “Though I have to tell you, if I could’ve gotten out of this without being truthful, I would’ve done everything in my power. There’s only so much I can lie about, only so many stories I can give you before all that’s left is the truth. Today’s one of those situations.” Yes, there was no way to explain how he’d walked away from that crash.

  “So what you’re telling me is, those tests they did on you turned you into something else. Something different.” Amazing, how thick her tongue was, how difficult it was to get the words out.

  He nodded his chest heaving when he sighed. “Are you aware of the presence of shifters in the world? Shapeshifters?”

  He might as well have asked if she believed in Santa Claus. Only the fact that he was clearly so serious, so sincere, kept her from laughing out loud out of sheer disbelief. “I’ve heard of them,” she choked out. “But that’s sort of a conspiracy theory, isn’t it? Or, like, a myth. Like that spot in New Mexico where the aliens supposedly landed. That sort of thing.”

  It started to sink in, probably too slowly. “But you wouldn’t be bringing it up if there wasn’t a reason, right? You’re not just randomly mentioning them. There’s a reason, isn’t there?”

  “Yes, there’s a reason. Do I have to spell it out? I know you don’t want to believe this, but do I have to make it clearer?”

  She was so cold now. Cold and trembling and afraid because he wasn’t completely human anymore. She could trust the man, but could she trust who he’d become?

  “That’s what they did to you? They turned you into a shifter? How is that even possible? I mean, besides the fact that shifters aren’t really supposed to exist?”

  “Like I said, they would know better than I do why they started the project in the first place.” He ran his hands through his hair, lacing his fingers behind the back of his neck as he started pacing. She noticed that he kept his distance and was glad—she still didn’t even know how she was supposed to take this news, and his proximity would only make things more confusing. “The only theory we’ve ever been able to come up with this that they thought they could build some sort of super army, people who can’t be hurt—or who can be hurt, but who heal almost instantly.”

  “Which is why you weren’t wounded in the crash.” It all made sense, even if none of it really
did. She wasn’t even sure she wanted this to make sense.

  “Exactly. And why Zane didn’t seem surprised that I wasn’t.”

  “Of course. I didn’t even think about it.”

  On the one hand, it was sort of satisfying to get answers. There was a sense of relief in watching the pieces fall into place.

  On the other hand, she couldn’t deny not wanting any of this to be true. Here she was, maybe in love with him—she was thinking along those lines before the crash, wasn’t she? About how important his opinion was and how she wanted to be a better person for his sake.

  And now, here he was, telling her he wasn’t human anymore. Not all the way.

  It might get him killed one day if the wrong people found out he’d been talking. Could she love somebody whose existence was a danger to somebody else? Who might want to silence him forever?

  “What are you? I mean, what do you shift into?”

  “A wolf. We all do.” He kept pacing, and she noticed the way he didn’t look at her while he did it. Was he afraid? It didn’t seem possible for somebody like him—strong, powerful, part-animal—to be afraid of anything. “I guess they took the blood from a single shifter. Maybe a pack. Who knows? It’s not like we stuck around long enough to find out or like they’d tell us if we asked. We weren’t human to them.”

  He snickered before letting out a snarl of disgust. “It’s insane. It really is. There we were, mortally wounded soldiers, and they treated us like we were less than human. I guess they figured we’d be dead if it weren’t for them, so what did it matter how they treated us once they saved our lives?”

  “Or they didn’t plan on keeping you alive,” she whispered. The way he almost tripped over his own feet made her wish she’d kept that little gem to herself. He wasn’t stupid—he would’ve thought of this on his own—but it was one thing to know it and another thing to hear it.

  “I have no doubt they planned on disposing of us,” he admitted once he recovered from the surprise, and the fatigue in his voice struck her. This was probably something he’d thought about so many times. “Especially once it was obvious that their little tests had gone wrong. They never planned on creating actual shifters.”

  “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” She snickered at herself. “That sounds like such a stupid thing to say, doesn’t it? I mean, obviously, I’m sorry, but I wanted you to know. I wish I knew what to say otherwise.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. I don’t want you to think you have to say anything, really.” He came to a stop in front of her.

  She looked up at him, wondering how she hadn’t figured it out a long time ago. Wasn’t it always that way? There was no way in the world that she should’ve assumed he was a shifter when she was so sure about there being no such thing. But now that she knew the facts, she felt like she should’ve seen it all along.

  “Thank you for trusting me.” She tried to smile, tried to pretend this hadn’t shaken her the way it did. There was no reason to think of him differently, was there? Yeah, keep telling yourself that, she thought even as she struggled to keep her expression neutral. She didn’t want to push him away.

  “I didn’t have a choice otherwise,” he admitted with a shrug. “I had to trust you. You’d have to know eventually.”

  “Why would I have to know? Because of the crash?”

  He didn’t answer right away. His frown and the way his eyes darted over her face made her heart race. Something was about to happen. Something had already happened.

  “No. Not just because of that. And I think you know it,” he murmured. He took one step, then another, approaching her slowly like one animal approaching another—God, was she always going to think of him that way?

  He stopped, froze stiff. She licked her dry lips. “What is it?”

  “You’re afraid. I feel it.”

  “I’m not afraid,” she scoffed. “Get real.”

  “You are. I sense it. I can practically smell it.”

  She scoffed again—and this time, she wasn’t kidding. “Don’t do that. It’s creepy. Telling me you smell something on me.”

  “That’s part of who I am. It’s something you’ll have to get used to.”

  “Will I?” she whispered, both thrilled and terrified because she still wanted him, wanted him with a depth and certainty that was almost scary. Just like kissing him, there was something different here, something she never knew was possible.

  “I’ve gotta admit, I don’t know how this works. We weren’t given a user manual, you know. But the way I feel about you… the way my wolf feels…”

  She shivered, then regretted it when his face fell. “This is too much,” he muttered, backing away. “It’s wrong. I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have to apologize! Please, don’t—” But it was too late. She had no idea how she was supposed to react, but it was clear she’d done the wrong thing. There weren’t user manuals for people who found out about this sort of insanity either.

  He went to the door. “I’ll leave you alone.”

  “I don’t want you to. Don’t.”

  “No,” he grunted. “You need time to think about this. So do I, apparently.” He left her there, sitting on her bed, wondering whether she could handle being with anyone who was part wolf. And whether she had a choice anymore.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “I’ve never seen somebody recover that fast from a car accident—except one of us,” Jace snickered as they sat around the dining room table the day after the crash. It was a beautiful day, the way it normally was out there, and it would’ve been nice to sit out by the pool and actually relax for a little while when things were quiet and there weren’t any threatening phone calls coming in.

  But not with so many helicopters flying overhead working in what seemed like shifts. The world wanted to know how Serenity was, who she’d been with in the car when it crashed. It wouldn’t do any good for footage of four unknown strangers sitting outside to make the rounds. Bad enough they’d been captured escorting her into the house after leaving the hospital.

  The doctor who’d treated her had even been on the news, talking about how gracious Serenity was and how he was sure she’d have no lingering side effects. The reporter had played up the whole ‘poor girl, she’s already been through so much in the past few days’ angle before asking when Miss Starr would show her face to the world again.

  And who the muscular man was who’d gone to the hospital with her.

  There was no way of explaining to Melody why they had to be so careful without coming out and telling her the whole, ugly truth. “If anything, it will earn more interest in your firm,” she’d argued once or twice when they told her how careful they wanted to be around the media. “Imagine how many more clients you’ll get when people hear about you.”

  That was exactly what they didn’t want, but how could they explain that to her? They couldn’t. It was easier to let her think they made bad business decisions.

  “What am I supposed to tell people when they ask about you?” she’d asked, and that wasn’t such an easy question to answer. What was she supposed to say? Finally, Logan had called her and explained the importance of exclusivity. They had to remain private, as private as they could, with their business only coming from word-of-mouth, recommendations from highly trusted sources. Otherwise, they’d end up having to field pointless calls that would be nothing more than a waste of time when the interested parties couldn’t afford them.

  That had finally worked. She’d understood once it was put in terms she was familiar with—and if there was anything a manager would understand, it was dollars and cents.

  “She’s not the sort of person to lie in bed and take advantage of a situation like this,” Braxton mused out loud. He knew there was admiration in his voice and didn’t care. Let them know how he admired her. She wasn’t the person he assumed she was when they first met, not by a long shot. Either she had never been that person, or this ordeal had changed her.
/>   Regardless, he wanted them to see her the way he did—though he suspected they already did.

  They could hear her downstairs. Not her, per se, but the music she played while working out in her home gym. It was top-of-the-line all the way, impressive enough that he wished he had the same sort of set up himself. Granted, their bodies didn’t require much working out—their size and strength and health all came from the blood they’d been injected with. He guessed they could’ve eaten nothing but fast food and ice cream and it wouldn’t have made a difference.

  Still, he liked working out. He liked putting his body to use, feeling the muscles stretching and flexing, seeing how much he could lift and how long he could run. Even though those misguided, ill-fated experiments had turned him into who he was—someone whose existence could only be shared with a few people, his existence relying on relative anonymity—there was still something exciting and even fun about testing the limits of what those scientists had done to him.

  Melody was out by the pool, but she wasn’t out there to get a tan. She was working, typing on her laptop, ignoring the helicopters whenever they appeared overhead. He noticed she wasn’t doing her usual shtick, talking on the phone nonstop, sending text messages, monitoring Serenity’s social media, checking to see whether she was still trending.

  It would’ve been nice if he could’ve believed the accident had shaken her up, that it had put her priorities back in order. She could have lost her client, her claim to fame. After all, the entire reason photographers had been chasing them at all was the work she’d done to keep Serenity’s name on everybody’s lips.

  It was perverse thinking he might want to thank whoever had cut them off in traffic. They might have done some good indirectly.

  He still wasn’t sure how Serenity felt knowing who he really was. He might have given her time to think things over while he was there in the room with her, but he couldn’t bear it. It was too much; there was too much riding on her reaction. He was strong enough to handle a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them.