“Huh,” I said as I stretched out on the couch. “What would you usually be doing right now if I wasn’t here?”
“Training,” Rich admitted. “We’re always on a mission or prepping for the next one.”
“Austin said you guys work mostly stateside, but what kinds of jobs do you take?” I asked curiously.
Rich and Davis shared a look. “That’s classified,” Davis told me after a moment.
“Right,” I said with a sigh. “Don’t let me stop you from training, though. Or is that classified as well?”
Davis chuckled. “Nah, today’s range day. Trev and the other guys won’t mind if we bring you along. We can see what kinds of skills you have.” The smirk on his face made his last comment deliciously flirtatious.
“I think you’ll find my skills quite impressive,” I purred at him. It had been a long time since I’d gotten laid, and Davis radiated sexual energy. I was riled up just sitting within six feet of him.
Rich’s head snapped up to me in surprise, and I gave him a wink. Davis was going to be fun to flirt with, and I enjoyed teasing the sexual tension between us. The chase and the anticipation were always just as much fun as the main event.
“Gear up, and let’s see what you got,” Davis challenged me with a sparkle in his eye.
“Give me ten.” Instead of rushing out of the room, I took my time and put a little extra sway into my hips. I had a fantastic ass from the ridiculous amounts of squats and lunges I did daily, and it was nice to have someone appreciate all of my hard work. I glanced back before I left the room, and sure enough, both guys had their eyes trained on my backside. I chuckled to myself and ran up the stairs once I was out of sight. It would be nice to get back into doing something familiar by spending the day at the shooting range. And I had the feeling these guys had some fun toys to play with.
We stopped at the gas station/convenience store combo on the way to the range to get gas and snacks. I didn’t want to risk anyone from on-base seeing me walking around just fine, so I stayed in the car with a ball cap pulled low. Staying out of sight wasn’t going to be easy when half this town was either military or worked for the military.
A prickle of awareness told me a shifter was nearby and I looked around me suspiciously. The guys would have mentioned it if one of their pack mates was meeting us here. I tried to look through the window of the convenience store, but both Rich and Davis were out of sight. They were probably on the hunt for the Twizzlers, KitKat, and Voodoo chips I had requested. I needed to make up for all the junk food I’d missed out on in the past six months.
I identified the shifter as a shady looking guy who was heading towards the SUV I was currently sitting in. He was walking fast and looking around nervously as if he would be caught at any moment, and his face was shadowed by a hat pulled low. Great. The last thing I wanted was to have to prove to some wannabe robber that I could take him down within seconds. I might look like an average size female, but I had put extra time into my hand-to-hand combat training. Too many guys thought that a girl my size was easy to push around.
The guy tapped on the window, and I was about to tell him off when I recognized him. “Matias?” I asked in disbelief.
He nodded, still looking around nervously. “Yeah, we need to talk. I’ve been waiting for you to get away from the wolves.” His voice was muffled through the window, but I was surprised at how deep it had gotten in the years since I’d been to Colombia.
“How could you possibly know I was here?” I asked incredulously.
“Hába Nábia,” he told me through the glass. That was the title that my grandmother held as the leader of our jaguar community in Colombia. “She sent me here to wait for you,” he explained. My grandmother had the ability to see into the future on occasion. From what my mother had explained, it wasn’t reliable or a hundred percent accurate. Her visions were more general impressions than actual roadmaps to the future. They were also subject to interpretation and could be easily misleading. But apparently, that one had been good enough to send Matias to the exact place and time where I would be today.
I shook my head and stepped out of the vehicle against my better judgment. “Why are you here?” I asked him bluntly. I eyed Matias suspiciously. My mother had brought me back to Colombia every year to make sure I understood my heritage and could experience the jaguar culture. The young boy I had known growing up had turned into a man while I was away. We’d always been close during the summers we’d spent together as kids, and I’d be shocked if he was the one sent to take me out. I tried to remember that this wasn’t the Matias I grew up with. This was a man sent by my grandmother, and he had probably been given orders to harm me. I used my sixth sense to get a feel for why he was here, but to my surprise, I didn’t sense any ill intentions from him.
“I’ve come to rescue you,” he said with a grin. “I have a car around the corner and can have you back home in Colombia by tomorrow.”
That was unexpected. Was Matias trying to lure me into feeling safe with him?
I frowned at him. “Colombia hasn’t ever been home for me.” I cocked my hip out to the side and rested one hand there to communicate maximum attitude. “And I don’t need rescuing.”
Matias looked irritated now that things were obviously not going his way. “Samantha-”
“Sam,” I corrected him sharply. “No one calls me Samantha anymore.”
“Sam,” he huffed. “Be reasonable. You’ve been kidnapped by a bunch of wolves who are in the process of trying to brainwash you. You need to come back and take your rightful place with the family.”
“Family?” I snorted. “Where was my family when my parents were killed, and I was a homeless teen on the run from the foster system?”
Matias frowned. “Surely, you can put your childish feelings aside now that you’re an adult?”
“Childish feelings?” I hissed as rage bubbled up inside of me. “Ximena told me that our grandmother refused even hear me out. She said that my parents had left our community and that I was no longer entitled to protection because of it. She had implied that I’d soon be following my parents into an early grave.”
Matias had put a surprised look on his face, but his eyes were calculating. He had already known that. He was here to lie and manipulate me. Even though I had suspected that, the hurt still stung. “Ximena is no longer the heir, and Hába Nábia needs someone to take her place. Someone with power. Someone like you.”
I rolled my eyes. I had been trash all these years, and now suddenly they needed me?
“Fuck off, Matias,” I said bluntly. “If I decide to visit our dear grandmother, it will be on my terms and my schedule. I’m not interested in going right now.”
I saw a flash of the real Matias before he smoothed it over. “I’ll stay in the area in case you change your mind,” he said with fake kindness in his brown eyes.
“I won’t,” I snapped before getting back in the vehicle and slamming the door. “Get lost; I don’t want to have to explain you to my new friends.”
Matias scoffed, but disappeared across the parking lot as I had asked. I noticed two men dressed in black staring in my direction, but I pulled my hat down lower. They were close enough to have noticed that Matias and I were having a disagreement, but I doubt they could have made out our words. I thought about flipping them off, because I wasn’t here for their entertainment, but decided they’d go away sooner if I just ignored them. Their heavy stares weighed down on me for a couple minutes longer before they disappeared around the corner of the building.
I didn’t have long to wait before Rich and Davis were back with my treats. Rich’s nostrils flared as he approached my side of the car, where I had been speaking with Matias, and I observed him closely. The parking lot was a tangle of different scents, all layered beneath the overwhelming stench of gasoline. It was unlikely he would be able to pick up on the individual scent of a male jaguar in human form, but it was still possible. I relaxed again when he got in the vehicle with
out comment.
I tried to smooth away the irritation that Matias had caused because these guys had been nothing but nice. And after the first bite of the sweet, tangy Voodoo chips, Matias was already forgotten.
I planned on spending a delightful afternoon shooting dangerous weapons and destroying things, and I wasn’t going to let anyone ruin it for me. Maybe I’d even get to blow something up. A girl could dream.
Chapter 5
I stretched out contently in the afternoon sun, feeling much more relaxed than I had this morning. Spending the day at the range had been therapeutic, and I enjoyed the time I was spending with the guys. I knew I shouldn’t get too attached because this was just a temporary arrangement, but my stupid heart wasn’t listening. It was too busy giving me a happy, contented feeling.
I popped out my EarPro and sat down at one of the picnic tables. One of the guys had been thoughtful enough to pack a cooler full of sandwiches, and I was starving. “You got any roast beef in there?” I asked hopefully.
Quinn grinned and tossed a sandwich at me. He was the last member of Trevor’s team and one of the best snipers I’d ever met. I was truly envious of the scope setup he had on his rifle – that must have cost a pretty penny.
Rich sat down beside me as I took a giant bite of my sandwich. He kept his head down on his phone, which seemed to be his default position. “Whatcha doing?” I asked right after I swallowed.
Rich glanced up at me in surprise. “Oh, uh, I was just checking on my texts.”
“Any news from Caleb?” I asked casually, my sandwich suddenly seeming a lot less appealing.
“Yeah.” Rich hesitated before continuing. “I was going to wait until you were done eating, but Caleb said Hart was brought to Dover Air Force Base this morning. She was transported to the mortuary there and will probably be flown to Charleston in a day or two.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “And her family? Are they making arrangements?”
Rich shrugged awkwardly. “It seems that way. Hart had left a will on file with the marines, and she wanted full military honors. Her family can’t really refuse without seeming like a bunch of assholes.”
I frowned. “I’ve never met them, but Hart talked about them so much I kind of feel like I know them. They aren’t going to be happy about the military funeral, or the attention it’s going to bring to the family.”
“What matters more?” Davis asked quietly. “What she wanted or what her family wants now?”
I bristled and was about to come back with a sharp retort but stopped myself. That was a tough question. I didn’t know if Hart was hanging around, waiting to see who came to her funeral. She might have already been on duty at the gates of heaven, or drinking a pint in Valhalla, or she might even be gone completely – faded into nothing. Her family was here though, and they were mourning a daughter that they now had no hope of ever making amends with. “Her family’s wishes for privacy should be respected,” I grumbled. “But they shouldn’t deprive her of the honor and respect that she earned.”
“You should talk to them,” Trevor suggested gruffly. “Explain what it means to be a marine that died in battle. They might not understand.”
I nodded. “Yeah, maybe.”
My phone pinged with a text, and I glanced down to see something from an unknown number.
“Caleb said he just sent you her mother’s contact info,” Rich explained.
“Shit,” I said as I let out a breath. “What do I even say to her?”
A depressing silence settled over the table, and I pulled out my hairband, ran my fingers through the loose strands, then pulled it up again. “I’ll wait until tonight,” I said softly. “Mrs. Hart would have just received the news, and I should give her some time to come to terms with it.
Maybe I should offer to go up to Dover and escort Hart back home?”
Trevor shook his head. “If you were human, you’d still be debilitated by your injury. It’s going to be problematic enough to get you to the service and hide how well you’ve healed.”
“We can put her in a wheelchair,” Quinn offered. “That way, you won’t slip up if things get emotional, Sammy.”
I blinked at the nickname he’d just given me, but I appreciated the sentiment. I had just met these guys, and they were already supporting me through one of the worst times of my life. “Thanks,” I said with a sad smile.
Davis cleared his throat. “You wanna shoot my weapon after dinner? We’ll see what you can hit at eight hundred meters. We usually fly model airplanes to practice on moving targets once it gets dark enough to use night vision.”
I looked at him in surprise. “Cool,” I said with a forced smile. “Blowing shit up always makes me feel better.”
“Hallelujah,” Quinn echoed.
The guys let me shoot stuff, as promised. Davis had hovered over me like a nervous mother hen as I handled his baby, but that didn’t take away from the experience. Darkness slowly crept over the range, and this was when most people would have called it a night. But not these guys.
Davis handed me a pair of night-vision goggles, and I looked at him in confusion. “Um, you already have a night vision scope on here?”
“Put them on,” he said with an excited grin.
I looked through the goggles, and my mind was blown. “Dude, this is sick!” I exclaimed.
Davis shared my enthusiasm. “Yeah, the dual tube set up improves depth perception, and the device itself lets you see through smoke and fog better than anything I’ve ever used before because it combines thermal and night vision into one image. But you haven’t even seen the best part.”
Davis did something, and the image in front of me changed. Not only did I have an enhanced view through the goggles, but there was a smaller square at the bottom right of my vision, showing me the view through the scope on the rifle.
“It’s called ‘picture in picture’ mode.”
“This is insane. You can have one eye on your flank and the other watching your team get into position,” I said excitedly.
“You haven’t even seen the best part,” Davis teased me.
I groaned. “Am I going to need a cigarette after this?”
“You’re definitely going to need to change your panties,” he said with a wink.
He changed modes, and the little picture in the corner disappeared. “Make sure you’re looking at the same image as the rifle,” he instructed me.
Now, a round magnification of my target appeared right where the rifle was aimed. “You can still see the full image, but the circle is letting you see where the rifle is pointed. It saves you that three to five seconds to shoulder your rifle and acquire the target.”
“Whoa,” I said as I played around with the images. “You don’t have to choose between locking onto a target and keeping situational awareness.” “Right?” Davis said with a grin.
“How do I get one of these?”
“Join the team,” Mike suggested from where he had been listening to our conversation. “Austin has the connections and the budget to get us things that won’t make it to the marines on the ground for a couple of years.”
I made a noncommittal sound. “How long did it take you to get used to this setup?”
“About a week of training every night,” Davis admitted. “But once you’re used to it, you don’t want to go back.”
Davis let me play around with his rifle a while longer before he took it back and challenged Quinn to a contest. The other guys all joined in, but Quinn demolished them. I watched from a step back with a weird sense of longing in my heart. Being a part of this world could be a good thing.
“You up for a workout after this?” Davis asked he packed up his weapon. “Since we’re going back to the pack house, we can still run a few miles on the beach before calling it a night.”
“Sure,” I said with a shrug. I needed to get my leg back into shape, and what better way was there than to challenge myself?
“The pack’s construction comp
any was hired to demo a building later this week, and
Austin said we could use it to practice a high-risk extraction tomorrow. You in?” Quinn asked.
I waited for a heartbeat for one of the other guys to object to Quinn inviting me along, but when no one did, I gave him a grin. “Of course. It sounds like you guys get to do all the fun stuff.”
“We prefer to have a team of six,” Mike added. “James will step in for high-risk missions when we need an extra person, but it would be preferable to have someone who trains with us regularly.”
Trevor grunted, and I wasn’t sure how to interpret it. Was he agreeing or objecting? “I’m still active-duty,” I said lightly. “I have to go wherever the marines need me next.” “Yeah,” Quinn said with a sigh.
No one spoke up to say how challenging it was going to be to get me back on active duty after my injury. And no one mentioned that my career in the marines had most likely come to an end. I was grateful, because I wasn’t quite ready to come to terms with any of that.
“Just train with us for now,” Davis offered. “We can figure out the rest later.”
“Speaking of later,” Mike added. “Who’s up for a trip to the Tavern later tonight?”
Trevor shot him a dark look, and even Quinn gave him the side-eye. “You sure you’re up for that, bro?” Davis asked cautiously.
Mike shrugged. “I’m good. Ready to get back out there.”
Interesting. There was clearly a lot of history here. I didn’t want to pry in something that was none of my business, so I stayed quiet.
“If we go, we go together,” Trevor grumbled. “No bar fights, and if I cut you off, you don’t argue.”
“You got it, boss,” Mike said sarcastically.
“So, if some guy grabs my ass, then I should knock him out with the first punch?” I asked brightly. “To avoid a bar fight,” I clarified as they gave me odd looks.
Trevor cursed under his breath, Quinn rolled his eyes, but Davis slung his arm around my shoulders. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”
Finding Buried Secrets: A Seaside Wolf Pack Novel Page 6