by Jana Leigh
Calli pulled the shuttle around and circled the Drekinn Agency from above. She loved to look at the compound. It was in upper Manhattan and was four blocks long. Ms. Praton had bought all the property herself and changed it into the Agency. Each block held a different section of the facility. The Enforcers were in the tallest building; Calli slid her shuttle into the above building parking lot and claimed her space. She had been proud when she received the space with her name on it. Cherri and Rissa had one next to hers, but they were always empty.
"Alright, we know what we're doing, right?" Calli said and jumped from the shuttle.
Rissa and Cherri nodded after they jumped also. They were on the parking platform, and the stairs to the left led to their building. Each of them had an office on the eighty-third floor. Only one from the top. Their rank had gotten them such a nice office.
"We meet together in the Enforcer conference room in two hours to brief," Calli said, and they walked down the stairs to their separate offices.
When they were at work, Calli outranked them. It was only because she scored higher on the physical exam than her friends did. But it still meant she was Senior Commander of the Enforcer group. A title she wore proudly. The only step above her, was Brooks.
As she walked into her office and threw her jacket in the corner, Calli paused. She needed to see Brooks before settling in. He had a lot of explaining to do about hiring someone without her approval.
Calli walked down the hallway and entered Brooks' office without knocking. She could do that because of her rank, she smirked to herself and then frowned when a scent hit her nose, she turned sharply to the sitting area where Brooks liked to do most of his business.
There stood a perfectly built man in a similar outfit as hers, black on black, though his stretched across his well-built chest in the most mesmerizing way. His thighs, that were probably the size of her waist, definitely filled out the cargos better. He had short, black hair cut in a flat top and piercing, green eyes that were fixed on her. She could see the vein in his neck pulsing, and she frowned because she had to look up to see it.
Brooks stood next to him and was smiling at her like he hadn't a care in the world. "Calli, finally you have arrived; I would like to introduce you to our newest trainer. Kade Milgren, he's on loan for now, but I was just telling him we could make the position more permanent if he decides to stay."
Calli lifted her head and took a deep breath. Fuckin' A, her wolf howled inside her. Mate.
Chapter 3
Kade stood so still he thought he was going to pass out for a minute. His mate just walked through the door, and she was smokin' hot. Brooks was saying something but he only had eyes for her. He stared at her lean, muscular form and wanted to laugh that they had the same choice in wardrobes. While he generally liked his women wearing more feminine attire, he was sure he would get used this if he could be in her bed every night.
He arrived at the transport hub just a few hours ago; he had had no time to clean up or prepare himself for this meeting. According to Brooks, it was an emergency situation that he was walking into, since their Commanders had been targeted by the King Bondi. He assumed the Senior Commander was a male, but when he arrived and found out 'he' was a 'she'; he wanted to groan.
Working as an Enforcer in the European Section of the Drekinn Agency, he had risen quickly in the ranks. His one female supervisor was a bitch on wheels. She pointed out daily that she was a female in a male position. Kade never cared who worked where as long as they were competent. And his previous supervisor was not. She spent more time getting her nails done than actually working. When Brooks told him where his new Commander had been prior to coming to work, he had been pissed.
He accepted this position to get away from the chick's squad in Europe. That's what they called themselves. Commander Flores had made sure all of her best friends were given jobs in the same field. It was a cluster fuck. Trying to train women who would rather gossip than fight was not his idea of training.
So when he was speaking to Brooks before his mate walked through the door, he had actually been ready to ask for a change of assignment. But now he couldn't, the only thing he could do was suck it up and make his mate look good for the boss, and he was going to have fun doing it.
He wanted to break rank and go to his mate to get a closer look at her. But protocol prevented it. He was going to have to talk to his mate when he was released by Brooks.
Kade had looked forward to coming to New York; his family had lived here for years before they left to return to their homeland in Italy. He had followed because he was an only child and had no other family to speak of, but during the wars, his parents had died, first his father from battle and then his mother from heartache. With no one else left, he wandered the countryside helping others.
That's where he found his calling; he wanted to be an Enforcer. So he applied for training and much to everyone's surprise, he was exceptional at it. Though he had never gone to college like most of the trainees, he was street smart and willing to do what it took to keep the laws enforced. That his mate was an Enforcer too just made it seem like his gut had been right when he entered into the academy.
"Who the fuck is this again?" his mate said.
Brooks laughed, and Kade couldn't stop himself from frowning at the rather pissed-off female who was pointing at him. Wait, she was supposed to be happy and gushing, she had found her mate, the other part of her soul. Kade took a deep breath and growled. Thank goodness she was a wolf, because his was very happy to see her. But what the hell was going on?
He looked at his mate closer and wanted to grin. Maybe this was going to work after all; he could tell she worked out. And even though she had her nails painted; he saw the skull and cross bones, she had added to the black fingernail polish she had gotten.
***
"Enforcer Kade Milgren," Brooks grinned and motioned for him to relax.
"And I care why?" she said grimly and glared at him.
"Because he is your new instructor. We are having a briefing in a few minutes about what we learned about your abduction. Calli, there is more there than meets the eye. We have a serious problem. Ms. Praton is coming down to fill us in," Brooks responded, then frowned at her because of the tone she took with him.
Brooks was not a wolf. And she knew if she pissed him off enough he would pull that whole, 'I am a Warlock' thing, and make her have zits for two weeks. He had done it before, and she was sure even though Ms. Praton had chastised him; he would do it again.
So, she toned it back a little and said, "Brooks, I thought we discussed this, I was going to be in charge of hiring the person for the training job." Damn, it still came out bitchy because Brooks narrowed his eyes even more.
"Calli, may I remind you who sits in the office marked, Lead Supervisor of all Commanders?" Brooks said softly, and she grimaced.
She huffed, walked to the door and paused, looking over her shoulder. She glared at her GI Mate and motioned with her head to follow. She didn't look back to see if he followed, instead she stared straight ahead and concentrated on her breathing. Why did her mate have to show up today?
She wasn't ready, sure, maybe in a year or two, but having a mate meant she was going to have to settle down. She was totally not ready to do that. She had a lot more to do, and having a man trying to protect her and smother her was not going to work. She knew how male wolves were; it was inbred in their genes. They had to act all bohemian and drag their knuckles on the floor, demanding dinner and a beer at a certain time.
Calli entered her office and held open her door, not looking at the buff, hot, sexy, eye candy that was following her. He filled up her office with his presence, and she had no idea how she would make it through the next few minutes.
Her mate stood in front of her desk at attention, like the good, little soldier he was. It showed her how rigid he was; she would never get away with just walking into a bar after work to have a drink and flirt. Well, cut out the flirting, but st
ill, he would want her home making their dinner. There was no way this was going to work. She was going to have to set him straight right now.
***
Kade wanted to laugh out loud when his mate deliberately used the wrong name when referring to him. She was trying to let him know that this mating was not going to be what he thought. Good, he didn't expect to have a mate who stayed at home twiddling her thumbs all day, but he did expect his mate would actually listen to what he said. He thought back to what he had heard about the Commanders in the Agency on this side of the pond, and he wanted to grimace.
If he was right there were three of them, and they continually got into messes. Sure they always came out on top, and most of the other Enforcers spoke of them in an awe toned voice, but that really didn't mean shit to him. His mate was going to be more careful about the way she was doing things. He had just found her, and he was not going to lose her now.
He waited in front of her desk; she shut her door and took a deep breath. He was thinking about speaking, but wanted to give her a minute to assimilate to him being here. Maybe they could honeymoon on the moon. He heard that they had great suites for newly mated Breyting.
She cleared her throat and walked around her desk; he watched her with intense curiosity. She was absolutely amazing; he thought, her ass was firm and filled out the cargos pants a little too well. She may have to think about wearing baggier pants, or he would never get any work done because he would be staring at her ass all the time.
"At ease," she said briskly and sat down in her chair and swung around to look at him.
He shifted his stance and spread his legs out and relaxed his broad shoulders. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but it was not loose; he looked closer and could see the small braids in it. With her dark hair, it made her look more exotic. Shit, he was about ready to throw her across the desk and bare fang to mark his territory. She had no business walking out there looking like this when she was his mate. He felt the protective instinct kick in and almost growled.
"So, you're going to be the new training Master. We have stacks of candidates and need to get it moving quickly. There has been too much shit going on around here not to have better trained Enforcers. We have lost two in the last three months because they were not trained well enough. That number is not acceptable, we're going to make sure that all the Enforcers are hand to hand combat trained, not just weapon trained. That's where they are lacking. So I would like you to get the first class started in the next few weeks. We have a state of the art training facility on the bottom floor that you will be in charge of. I have a list of the skills you should work on first. Your office is across the hall," she said briskly and pulled open her desk drawer and handed him a key, carefully avoiding touching him.
Kade wanted to grin at the way she was avoiding the mating subject. If that is the way, she wanted to play it for now, he would, but his wolf would not stand for it much longer, the need to have his mate under him would begin to ride him hard soon.
"As you heard, I have a meeting in a few minutes, so I won't be able to take you on a tour of the facility. I will call and have someone come up to your office and take you. If you have any questions, I will be back in about an hour or so," she continued in her best business voice.
Kade narrowed his eyes and then spoke clearly so she would have no misunderstanding as to what he was saying, "I will be at the briefing. According to my job title, I'm not only the training officer in this facility; I am also the second highest ranking officer. I need to know what's going on in order to train the men properly. Brooks gave me the clearance to see all the reports about the Ulfer in the area. My duties also include covering your ass when in the field."
Calli paused from rising out of her chair to shove him out of the office. "Excuse me?"
"I'm your new partner, as of thirty minutes ago, I was promoted to Commander also, so we are identical in rank. Where your duties will remain the same, according to Brooks, I will take over the training. My additional duties include going out into the field with you when you are on a mission," he said firmly and wanted to laugh his ass off when her face turned from red to this pretty, purple shade.
She took a deep breath before releasing it, and Kade saw the sparkle in her eyes and knew he was about to get her full rage directed right at him. Kade braced himself and waited.
She started off speaking slowly and softly, but by the end of the sentence, she was screaming, "While I appreciate the offer, there is NO WAY IN FUCKING HELL I WILL HAVE A PARTNER! I HAVE TWO PARTNERS ALREADY!"
"I hate to burst your bubble, ma'am, but they have their particular jobs, and as I was briefed, while they are great in their own areas of expertise, they are not anywhere as qualified as I am. Brooks and Ms. Praton felt that they need to be sticking to the home base more while you, and I are in the field. That's what our job is." He said smoothly then just to piss her off, he added, "Mate."
"Oh, no, you did not go there," she whispered, and the color drained out of her face.
"Uh, I kinda think I did. I know you feel it," Kade teased. Where the hell had that come from, he never teased and smiled like this. He was mean and scary, that was his job.
"While I will admit there is some kind of pull going on between us. If I fuck you, it will go away," she said smoothly, and then continued as if she hadn't tried to offend him. "I'm the lead Commander around here and will give assignments. Yours is training."
Calli was leaning over her desk, and he was sure that she didn't know she was giving him a great shot of her boobs. The perfectly, rounded globes made his mouth water. He wanted to throw her on the desk, but he held back. Instead, he leaned over the desk, bracing his hands in front of hers and getting to her level, so they were nose to nose. He could feel the electricity in the air sizzle when they got so close.
Her blue eyes got darker, he grinned; they must turn when she was aroused because he could totally scent her arousal in the room. It floated and wrapped around him like a teasing wind.
"You are not technically my supervisor, sweetheart, so I'm going to the meeting and anywhere else you are planning on going afterward," he said softly and firmly.
"Ya think?" she ground out.
"Oh, I know, sweetheart," he replied.
He could see she was having a hard time being so close to him. Their arousal scents were combining and filling the room with a sweet, tantalizing aroma. He wanted to kiss her so frickin' bad, but he held off; Kade was certain she would not appreciate it right now. He could do her dance but when all was said and done she would be his.
"Call me 'sweetheart' one more time, and you are gonna end up flat on your ass," she whispered menacingly.
Kade grinned; she should know not to pull a wolf's tail by now. They would rise to the challenge. His wolf was howling inside him, wanting him to tame his mate. Kade whispered back with a soft breath, "Bring it."
Calli sucked in her breath but refused to pull back. She would not be dominated by him. Her wolf would not allow it. He could see her wolf trying to come near the surface and fight him. She had amazing control. Most wolves he knew would have accepted the challenge he threw out, and they would be fighting by now.
They stood nose to nose, staring at each other for a few minutes, neither of them breaking eye contact. The tension in the room was rising to its breaking point. They both could feel it. Kade waited; he would be the victor here.
Before they could settle this little disagreement, there was a loud knock at the door and whoever it was didn't feel like they had to wait, because the door swung open. Kade never took his eyes off his mate, and neither did she. They stood like statues facing off.
It was Brooks; he could scent the Warlock, but more than that he could hear his chuckling.
"Looks like you are getting along well, there's no bloodshed. The meeting, we are all waiting for you two," Brooks said and waited while they both stood up straight still keeping their eye contact. "Shit, quit the pissing match," Brooks said and step
ped in between them, breaking their stare off. No one won; no one lost. They were still on equal footing.
Calli growled behind Brooks when the Warlock took Kade's arm and began to steer him to the door. Brooks stopped and turned around surprised. She had never done that to him before apparently, if Kade understood the frown on the man's face.
"Stand down, Commander," Brooks ordered, and Kade turned his head to see Calli looking at the hand resting on his shoulder. "Okay, what the fuck is going on?"
"Nothing," Calli ground out and stalked out of the door.
Kade and Brooks watched her leave without a backward glance, and Kade grinned again. This was gonna be some kind of fun, he thought.
"Well?" Brooks said and waited while Kade watched until Calli was out of sight. He turned to his boss.
"She is my mate," Kade responded.
"Well fuck a duck, son; you have your work cut out for you." Brooks laughed, "She will not go down easily."
"Just the way I want it," Kade said and followed the direction his mate had gone. Brooks shook his head, following, laughing the whole way.
Chapter 4
Calli couldn't believe she had just growled at her boss. Her wolf had been pissed when the other man touched Kade. She was feeling the sexual tension and wanted to claim her mate. But that wasn't going to happen, she told her wolf in her head. She would not be tied down like a pretty, little housewife yet. She had more to do, and Kade needed to understand that. They would talk later; she decided, and then she would tell him that she was not going to mate anyone. Maybe she could say it convincingly enough to actually get him to back off. She was going to have to go home and get her purple, supersonic vibrator to keep at the office as it was.