Untamed Wolf

by Linda O. Johnston

  Jason knew that the general had obligations in addition to being the commanding officer of Alpha Force. This lieutenant really could be as ignorant about the unit as she seemed.

  Jason smiled. Wouldn’t it be fun to see her expression when she finally realized the true nature of Alpha Force?

  Maybe he could figure out a way to do that—although he would not be in a position, he was sure, to comfort the beautiful officer.

  Not then, at least.

  Would she run away screaming?

  Somehow, he didn’t think so. His first impression was that she was no-nonsense, all by the book. Her duty was to help the general, no matter what.

  But Jason would bet she’d never anticipated this.

  Perhaps he could help to educate her. Really educate her about what Alpha Force was about.

  He would definitely try.

  * * *

  “Time for us all to go.” That was the major talking, and clearly no one was about to contradict him.

  Sara watched as everyone at the table rose almost in unison. She did the same.

  So did the sergeant beside her. “Are you staying in the BOQ?” he asked.

  Why? Did he want to accompany her there? Tear off her clothes the way his suggestive looks seemed to do, never mind the rules?

  The idea made her private areas react in ways she hadn’t felt in a long time—even as she shoved the very idea out of her mind.

  “That’s right. I assume you’re not.” She kept her tone brusque, not unfriendly but not anything but professional, either.

  “Right. But...well, you’d better stay in your quarters tonight, Lieutenant.”

  Was he presuming to give her, a superior officer, orders? She glared—but at that moment his look wasn’t sexy or suggestive... It seemed concerned.

  Odd.

  Although it was the night of a full moon. Maybe the general hadn’t been playing her completely and this unit’s members spread the word that they were shapeshifters to hide what they really did. But would anyone sane actually accept that?

  “We’ll walk you there.” Colleen Hodell gestured toward a couple of other lieutenants who’d been sitting with them.

  In a short while, Sara was walking toward the BOQ with Colleen, and with Lieutenants Marshall Vincenzo and Jock Larabey. Marshall was the tallest of the group, with a shock of dark brown hair and thin but surprisingly sensual lips. Jock looked as if he might live up to his name. He seemed quite muscular, judging by the way his uniform hugged his arms and chest.

  “So tell me something about Alpha Force,” Sara said lightly as they trod the path toward their residence. Something real, she hoped.

  “I think that’s up to the general,” Colleen said.

  “In fact,” Marshall added, “I think Jason—Sergeant Connell—was right. You should just stay in your quarters tonight. It’s safer.”

  “The base is safe,” Jock contradicted. “But if you’re not familiar with it, you’d be better off not wandering around at night, and definitely not tonight.”

  Okay, they did seem to be playing the general’s game. But did they all really want her to hide in her BOQ unit tonight, maybe put her head under a pillow and pretend she wasn’t here? Were they going to put on some kind of act tonight? If so, she wanted to see it.

  Or maybe this was completely a sham, so they could actually do something else under cover of darkness.

  They all separated at the elevators. “Good night,” Sara said, wondering what each of the others was thinking.

  When she reached the second floor, she noticed a female captain and male lieutenant down the hall. She went to greet them.

  Neither was part of Alpha Force, they told her. They were Captain Samantha Everly and Lieutenant Cal Brown. Did she want to hang out in Samantha’s unit with them?

  Had they, too, been directed to stay indoors that night? If so, what story had they been told? But she didn’t ask.

  “Thanks,” Sara said. “I just got here today and I’m really tired. I’ll take a rain check, though.”

  She used her key to enter her apartment. There, she unpacked the scant clothing and other things she had brought, then sat down in front of the television.

  She sat there for maybe an hour, but she was bored. And curious. She rose and walked to the window.

  Lights illuminated the part of the base that she could see. So did a full moon that had just risen above the trees that surrounded the back portion of the base.

  She saw no movement. No Alpha Force members or otherwise.

  Hell, she was used to following orders, but the cautions she had been given didn’t amount to orders, did they?

  She wouldn’t stay out long, and she would remain where the base was well lighted.

  Would she need a weapon? Hardly. No matter what those Alpha Force members really did that night, they surely wouldn’t hurt anyone, least of all the aide to the unit’s officer in charge.

  She stayed as quiet as she could, locking her apartment door behind her and taking the stairs rather than the elevator. She exited through the BOQ’s front door.

  The spring air was brisk but pleasant. She moved out of the artificial lights toward the shadow of the nearest building, in case anyone was watching her.

  Hell, she’d already determined that she wasn’t disobeying orders. She was just outside for...for health purposes. The night air would help her sleep.

  She walked around for twenty minutes, seeing nothing. Hearing—well, she wasn’t sure what she heard. There were noises in the distance that she couldn’t identify. Were there some kinds of wild animals living in the woods surrounding the base? Sometimes she thought she heard a howl.

  Or was this all piped-in sound effects to make the gullible think there were werewolves out there? She wasn’t about to buy that.

  She drew closer to the edge of the woods, just to peek, not that she would get close. Had they really loosed some kind of wildlife, something feral, on the base?

  Not likely. Not animals they couldn’t control. Well, five more minutes out here and she would return to her quarters. It did feel a bit eerie after all, being alone at such a large facility.

  What was that? She heard something—not howls, but a growl. There was no breeze that night, but she also heard crunching of leaves, as if something was walking in the woods.

  Okay. Her imagination really was working overtime. Or maybe there were some kinds of animals out there. She’d better go back—

  She stopped dead as something emerged from the woods. Not just one creature, but maybe half a dozen.

  Wolves.

  Should she freeze? Should she run?

  An African-American man she hadn’t met before suddenly appeared from behind them. He wore camos like her and didn’t seem frightened by the wolves.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “Everyone was told to stay inside tonight. Go back to your quarters. Now.”

  “But are you safe with—?”

  In unison, several of the wolves leaped toward Sara.

  “Run!” called the man.

  And Sara did.

  Chapter 2

  He wanted to chase after her, that foolish woman who hadn’t listened to him or anyone else.

  Didn’t she know how dangerous it could be, wandering around on the night of a full moon in an area where shapeshifters prowled?

  If he had been in his human form, he would have laughed.

  But Jason was in his wolfen form, loving it. Especially because the time of his shift tonight had actually been his choice.

  He stood in the midst of his also-shifted comrades. None chased Lieutenant Sara McLinder from where she had confronted them here, at the edge of the woods surrounding Ft. Lukman. Most of them had leaped in unison to scare her off.

  Soon, though, since she was an aide to the general, she would be told, and shown, the truth.

  Jason looked sideways. The wolf beside him was Drew, his cousin, who had coerced him to enlist in the military, to join Alpha Forc
e, for his own good.

  At this moment, despite his misgivings about the future, Jason couldn’t thank Drew enough.

  His cousin nodded his canine head and turned. He began walking into the woods. So did the other shifters.

  They were followed by their single human aide for the night, Captain Jonas Truro, who was a medical doctor like Drew.

  He was not, however, a shifter, but as a member of Alpha Force he was an expert at helping them, including assisting in perfecting the Alpha Force elixir.

  All shifters here would continue to prowl until dawn. That was when they normally would change back on nights of the full moon anyway, even if they didn’t have access to that very special Alpha Force elixir. His family had started to experiment with it, at least Drew had, and now, with the help of other Alpha Force members including Jonas Truro, he had developed some sophisticated and amazing formulas.

  That elixir was one reason Jason’s thoughts were so clear now, while he was shifted.

  Why he could wonder, so precisely, exactly what lovely Lieutenant McLinder thought about her recent confrontation by an entire pack of wolves.

  Oh, yes. He would laugh, if he could.

  But since he couldn’t for now, he would wait and look forward to a conversation, sometime soon, with pretty Sara.

  * * *

  Sara lay on her back in the dark, on the uncomfortable bed in her new apartment, willing herself to fall asleep.

  She had closed the blinds, but a soft glow still penetrated between the slats. The light from the full moon.

  Hell, she had trained her body as much as she had trained her mind. She never had trouble getting to sleep.

  Except tonight.

  Her thoughts kept returning to the pack of wolves she’d seen. They were wolves, weren’t they? They didn’t look like any breed of domesticated dog she knew of.

  On the other hand, they had been so calm at first. Even when a few had moved quickly toward her, none had acted as if it intended to attack.

  And then there’d been that soldier who shooed her away.

  What was this?

  Was the mysterious Alpha Force really composed of shapeshifters? Somehow, that didn’t seem as nonsensical now as it had before.

  Of course it could still all be some kind of ruse that the military was attempting to impose on enemy forces—couldn’t it? That was the logical assumption. But if so, how had they tamed those wolves that way?

  Sara turned over, trying to get comfortable. Maybe she should pull up a training manual on her laptop. Read something, at least.

  But she knew that if she did boot up her computer, she would instead search for something else entirely.

  Werewolves.

  She had gone to bed in her usual sleeping attire—a T-shirt and matching shorts. She was comfortable in them. She kept telling herself that the room’s warm temperature was fine. So was what she was wearing. So was everything except for the outrageousness of her thoughts.

  She needed sleep, but it wouldn’t come.

  What time was it, anyway? She turned over and pulled her smartphone from the nightstand beside the bed where it was charging.

  Really? Was it actually almost five o’clock? The night was nearly over.

  And she clearly wasn’t going to sleep a wink.

  Throwing the covers off, she flipped the light switch at the side of the bed.

  She had an idea what to do next.

  She was going to track down those damned wolves.

  * * *

  She had dressed in her camo fatigues. She once more used the stairs to get to the first floor of the BOQ, then slipped out the side door again.

  This time, she was armed—with a camera. She had shoved it into her pocket.

  Since this Alpha Force was supposed to be so covert, she suspected that if she took any pictures of the wolves she might be considered in breach of military protocol—at the least. She might even be doing something illegal. Certainly, it could be contrary to her security clearance.

  But she didn’t intend to show anything to the world. No, if she found those wolves again, she would take pictures only for herself.

  Darkness still hovered over the base—the darkness before dawn, since the moon was setting behind the trees. Soon, the sun would rise.

  For now, Sara kept in shadows as she crossed the paths toward the woods where the wolves had emerged from among the trees.

  She stayed just outside the foliage. Canines, whatever their nature, had keen hearing. They’d hear her anyway, but she didn’t want to make it any easier by tromping on dry, fallen leaves.

  She found the base interesting in its layout. From where she was, most buildings—nearly all low and two-or three-story—were to the left, and the woods were to her right. It wasn’t hard to stay in shadows, but that was changing with almost every minute.

  Dawn was breaking.

  She— What was that?

  She heard a noise in the woods, as if someone else stepped on those dry leaves. Was it the man who had shooed her back inside before?

  Or was it an animal?

  A wolf?

  Okay, if she was going to have any chance at all of seeing what she sought, of taking pictures, it was time to move. Slowly, so she didn’t make any more noise than absolutely necessary, she slid between the trees.

  It was darker here than in the open, but the fact that sunrise was beginning made it easier to see.

  There. She heard something again.

  A howl?

  No...it sounded more like a moan. A human moan.

  Was someone hurt? Had those damned wolves attacked someone?

  Less inclined to be protective of herself when someone might need her help, she walked faster in the direction of the noise.

  The moans sounded louder, accompanied by other noise, as if something thrashed in the underbrush. Was it a person being attacked?

  Damn, she really should have brought a weapon. She had her phone in another pocket and could call for help if necessary, but the first minutes during an attack could be critical. She needed to find out fast exactly what was going on.

  She started running in the direction of the sounds.

  She emerged into a clearing among the trees where daylight was beginning to glimmer.

  Sara blinked in confusion and disbelief as she looked at the source of the sound.

  Only one being was present in the clearing. It definitely wasn’t a fight but—what was it?

  That wasn’t one of the wolves. Or at least the furry being didn’t look like one—not exactly. It was larger, more elongated, and as Sara watched, the hair on its body appeared to be sucked in until only flesh remained except on the head—and in certain private areas where humans also had hair.

  Male humans—and hair wasn’t all that was private that Sara observed.

  This couldn’t be. And yet, it was.

  As she watched—and, fortunately, had the consciousness to start shooting pictures, including a video—the wolf-like creature disappeared, replaced by the form of a man.

  Not just any man.

  She realized quickly that it was Sergeant Jason Connell she watched, changing from a wolf back into a human.

  She couldn’t stop staring at him, and not just because of the incredible metamorphosis she had just observed.

  Jason Connell stood there, breathing hard as if shedding final discomfort at what he had gone through. He flexed his body—his arms, his chest and yes, his most private areas, riveting Sara’s gaze there as she, too, started breathing a bit harder. Lord, was he generously endowed there. Was that a factor of who, or what, he was?

  She continued to shoot pictures, but only for a moment.

  Jason grinned then and looked straight at her. He flexed once more, and she swallowed hard. How long had he recognized that she was there?

  He certainly did now.

  “Good morning, Sara...er, Lieutenant,” he said. “Like what you see? I’d be glad to demonstrate some more.”

  With a
strangled cry, Sara turned and ran back the way she had come.

  * * *

  Jason considered just letting her go.

  She wasn’t supposed to be out here, anyway. But he didn’t have any clothes here to slip on.

  He had purposely separated from the rest of his pack a while ago. He had wondered if the lovely lieutenant would return to the area where she had found them to follow up on what she thought she had seen.

  Sure enough, she had appeared where he had anticipated. Just by running into the pack last night, though, she really hadn’t seen much of anything...then.

  If he went after her now, he would only emphasize what she had seen this morning. Him.

  Not that he minded. But even if he wanted to, he doubted he’d be able to slip into the BOQ nude to do—whatever.

  He found the lieutenant hot. Presumably, she now found him hot, too. He hoped so. He hated to think all that moving and flexing, purposely giving her an eyeful, had been in vain. Not that either of them ever could, or would, act on it.

  No, he would head back to his own quarters first. He would run into her casually on the base, anyway.

  Hanging out with Alpha Force was why she was here.

  “Hey, where’ve you been, Jason?” Jonas Truro slipped out of the woods. He held out a T-shirt and jeans toward him. “Not a good thing to wander around here like that, especially now.” He nodded toward Jason’s crotch.

  At the moment, his private parts were at ease. He’d been alone there long enough, in the somewhat cool morning air, to chill out.

  “Not with that new unit here,” Jason agreed, taking the clothes and slipping them on. “Thanks.” He wasn’t about to mention that he’d been seen—especially considering who it had been.

  Although it probably would have been worse had someone from the new special-ops group stationed here seen him. Though everyone was pretending cordiality, there’d been friction between Alpha Force members and the new unit, the Ultra Special Forces Team. They were here to engage, eventually, in some mutual training with Alpha Force for a so-far undisclosed covert assignment overseas. The team’s unique skills still remained secret from Alpha Force. No one outside their group was supposed to ask questions about their nature.