Before coming here, the CAs had been given a brief amount of preliminary training as Canadian police officers and instructed in some of the formalities. Owen had nevertheless told them that, although he was in charge, informality was fine here.
When he had visited them at their hotel last night, he had briefly described to them part of what they’d be up to today, but it wouldn’t hurt to repeat it, drum it into their heads, so they would be ready once the rest of the Alpha Force team arrived to teach them their methods of shapeshifting.
“First thing, I’m going to brief you about our assignment and the update I received last night that I didn’t mention to you before. Then the rest of the day will depend on when the other Alpha Force members arrive.”
“Got it.” She was surrounded by the other CAs on the porch, their gazes all trained on him. Each watched him with concentration, a couple of them nodding.
They all looked interested and eager.
But that didn’t mean they’d be able to do the job—especially with all the tweaks that needed to be added to normal, rational, predictable RCMP constable duties. Not that they were the usual RCMP constables.
Turning his back on them, he hurried into the house. Maybe he was just being naive, but he believed that Selena would be the ideal trainer—and not just because she was a shapeshifter. They’d studied her background, and since she’d been a teacher before joining Alpha Force, she should be able to take these young shifters and instruct them on exactly what was needed to fulfill the RCMP’s needs here.
That was why she was here—not to create impossible sex fantasies in Owen’s mind each time he saw her.
And at night when he tried to sleep...like last night.
He shook off the thought. Heading into the kitchen with the gang behind him, Owen began asking questions before giving orders for breakfast preparation. “Who’s good about cooking eggs? Sal? Great. There are some in the fridge along with butter, and the frying pan is in the drawer beneath the stove. Who’s our go-to toast guy?” Tim Franzer raised his hand, which left Craig Neverts, Andrea and him. Owen decided to brew the coffee, so he told Craig and Andrea where the items were to set the large dining area table.
“Now, let’s get to work,” Owen said.
“Need any help?” Selena, along with Rainey and Lupe the dog, had just come through the kitchen door.
“I think we’re good,” Owen said. But he watched as Selena immediately approached Sal and started helping to cook the eggs.
Was there anything that woman couldn’t do? She was a US soldier, a teacher, a cook...and a shapeshifter.
And sexier than any other woman Owen had met.
With all that in her favor, he’d no doubt that she’d be one hot partner in the bedroom.
But that was one scenario he’d never see realized.
He walked over to the large coffeemaker, glad he had something entirely neutral to accomplish.
Something that allowed him to keep his back toward the rest of his cohorts—so no one would be able to notice the bulge at the front of his jeans.
Chapter 6
Selena was glad to keep busy, even though it was a challenge for all the CAs and her to stay out of each other’s ways while whipping up their breakfast together.
Finally they had the meal prepared, and all of them found seats around the sizable dining table. She didn’t plan it, but Selena found herself sitting beside Owen near the doorway to the kitchen. Not a bad place to be. In fact, the two of them were more or less in charge, so why not join forces for what needed to be said here?
Not surprisingly, Owen said he had a lot to tell them, including information he’d just learned yesterday that they needed to know. But he directed them to start eating first.
Selena wanted to hear Owen speak a lot more than she wanted to eat.
Nevertheless, Owen handed her a bowl so she could scoop out her own helping of eggs. “These look great,” he said.
“They are great,” said Craig, who sat across from them. He had already dished himself a substantial helping and had his fork up to his mouth.
Sal and Andrea were on one side of Craig, and Tim had a seat next to him. Rainey was beside Selena. It was almost as though the two groups were opponents—except that Owen sat close enough to her to appear to be on her side.
That wouldn’t be entirely accurate, though. They weren’t enemies, of course, but the differences between them seemed as weighty as the matters they needed to work on together.
Then there was the proverbial elephant in the room, at least as far as Selena was concerned: her totally inappropriate sexual attraction to the man.
Selena ate rapidly, watching the others across the table and listening to their friendly hazing of one another. Even Rainey became the subject of their amusing gibes. How could she stand to be in a whole room full of animals? they’d teased her. Even their commanding officer, Owen, was an animal. A human one. Selena knew he didn’t need to shift to become a feral creature.
To Owen’s credit, he jested along with them, talking about how he would use his own wild nature to mow down any of those here who dared to disobey him.
But after a few minutes of the revelry, Owen fortunately ended it.
“Okay, everyone,” Owen called out. “Let me have your attention.” He had finished his eggs and toast quickly and now just held a coffee cup in his large right hand. Despite the prior levity, his deep voice now resonated with authority and seriousness, and although it wasn’t extremely loud, he did, in fact, appear to capture everyone’s attention.
Selena put her fork on her plate though she wasn’t through eating. But she wanted to concentrate on what he said.
“I’m going to start at the beginning,” Owen said. “I’ll give a quick recap of why those of you who are now part of the Canada Alpha team have been recruited, both to refresh your recollections and to make certain our Alpha Force visitors know enough. Then I’ll tell you why what you’re about to embark on is crucial to our national security. How you can help save lives.”
Selena had been informed of the basics before, but hearing them from Owen, with his point of view and earnest tone, drove home the importance that she’d been told surrounded her mission here.
Yes, the recruits were shapeshifters. How they had been found and recruited into the RCMP was only hinted at, but their ultimate objective was a matter of Canadian national security as Selena knew.
“We’re all very pleased to have found each of you and look forward to your justifying the trust we’ve placed in you.” Owen’s gaze moved slowly from Sal to Andrea to Craig to Tim. In exchange, they each peered solemnly toward him and nodded.
He then looked toward Rainey and, finally, at Selena. Those eyes of his were gleaming and blue and grave. They didn’t turn her on at that moment, but they definitely made her take notice. Made her want to fulfill whatever they commanded.
Which, right now, was apparently just to listen.
“I believe you were told what we need to accomplish, how we got the attention of the US military and why we were let in on the highly secret existence of your Alpha Force, but just in case, here’s the story.”
Owen took a sip of coffee, then reached toward the carafe that sat on the table not far away.
“I’ve got it.” Selena reached for it and then poured coffee into the nearly empty cup that Owen held out. She warmed her own, and Rainey’s, too, before passing the carafe so the CAs could take more as well.
“Thanks,” Owen said. Then he finally dived into the crux of what they all needed to hear. He described the horrific serial crimes taking place in Canada. Family members of some of Canada’s most successful business magnates, or even the magnates themselves, had been kidnapped to extort tremendous amounts of money. “There were four prior abductions that we’re aware of, and you’ll recognize the surnames of the victims—or at least those of you who are Canadian will.”
Selena hadn’t heard of three of them, but the fourth, Marc Wagnere, was well-kn
own in the States as being the originator of an internet search-engine site that competed easily with Google and others. She’d heard something about the senior guy’s illness, but as far as she’d known, that was all that had gotten into the news—not anything about an abduction.
“Of course, this is all confidential information,” Owen continued, “and you’re not to discuss it with anyone except among yourselves. And now there’s another victim.”
Before he continued, Selena heard a noise outside. Lupe did, too, since the large, furry dog stood up and barked.
Selena couldn’t help glancing at the other three wolf shifters in the room. They appeared both alert and confused, looking from one to the other. She suspected they’d heard the outside sounds as well.
Was there some jeopardy here? No, she knew who had just driven up the driveway to the headquarters.
“Let’s pause for a moment, okay?” she asked Owen, whose hearing probably hadn’t been tweaked. “And I think you ought to get someone to brew some more coffee.”
“Why?” He looked concerned and not exactly happy.
Before Selena could explain her assumption the doorbell rang.
Lupe barked once more even as Selena hurried from the dining room and down the hall to the front door. She had just grasped the knob when she felt a hand on her shoulder and Owen pulled her away.
“What the hell are you doing?” Owen demanded. “We don’t know who’s out there. It could be dangerous.”
Selena hesitated. She could be wrong. She moved away from Owen’s grasp and again approached the door. This time she looked through the peephole viewer.
Sure enough, she saw whom she’d expected to see.
Staying out of Owen’s reach, she pulled the door open, then grinned at the men who stood there—her fellow Alpha Force members assigned to this mission. No cover dogs, though. Lupe was the only one on this mission.
“About time you gentlemen got here,” she told them with a smile, although they had appeared earlier than expected.
“Easy for you to say,” retorted Patrick Worley. “Wait until we tell you all we went through to arrive early.”
“Hold that thought,” Selena said, “and come inside. We’re in the middle of a report on why we’re here—and something that just occurred.” She was a little annoyed that the last time she’d spoken with Patrick, he’d indicated there was no way they could arrive this early.
Was this an attempt to make a good impression on the CAs, by demonstrating that the importance of this mission to Alpha Force made them pull out all the stops to get here fast?
Maybe. But Selena doubted it would have that effect on Owen.
It certainly didn’t on her.
Nevertheless, she was glad to see them.
“Sergeant Major Owen Dewirter of the RCMP,” Selena said, assuming all the formality expected of a US soldier on duty, “I’d like you to meet Alpha Force members Captain Patrick Worley, Lieutenant Marshall Vincenzo and Captain Jonas Truro.”
As the group shook hands, Selena smiled, feeling all kinds of relief circulating inside her.
Formality be damned. These were people with a job to do—herself included.
A job for which they all needed a briefing.
“Hey, everyone,” she said. “C’mon back inside so we can talk.”
In a few minutes, they were all seated around the dining room table and Owen first introduced the CAs.
“They’re our shifters,” he told Patrick, “but I’d imagine you know that.”
The senior Alpha Force member nodded. Patrick was a tall man, square-shouldered, with light, cropped hair. His face was long, and he had a cleft in his chin. As with the rest of Alpha Force, Selena was used to seeing him in camos, but today he wore a black hoodie. “I assume you can guess that two of the three of us are shifters as well. That’s Marshall and me.”
Selena saw no expression on Owen’s face at that news, but she made a mental note to warn her fellow Alpha Forcers that though he believed in shapeshifters, he didn’t appear to like them much.
Despite his reasons, though, he had been behaving utterly professionally—at least if she didn’t count his sexiness and those stolen kisses. She certainly wasn’t about to mention any of that to her fellow soldiers.
“I’ll explain now why we need Alpha Force’s help,” Owen continued, “both to teach our people how to shift when there’s no full moon, and also to stay aware of who and where they are, and why, which I understand our CAs need help with.”
“I’ll say,” Tim asserted, and the other CAs nodded. Selena nearly grinned at the eagerness on his pudgy face, the way he clasped his hands on the table in front of him. “And let me say that I really appreciate this. I want to help my country, and to do it in a way that will help me, too, in ways I never knew were possible before—”
“Hold that thought,” Craig interrupted. “Let’s let our commanding officer speak.”
“In other words,” Owen said, his tone slow and droll, “shut up and listen.”
Selena smiled and said nothing.
Chapter 7
“First,” Owen said, “let me repeat what I started before and give some further explanation.”
He was glad that the Alpha Force team was now fully present. That way, he could be certain they knew the appropriate details, and he would not have to repeat anything again.
He mentioned those kidnap victims’ names again and then he went into some detail about the abductions that made Selena visibly cringe. Each victim had been treated horribly, denied sleep and food. A couple had been physically abused—beaten and even whipped.
And all were threatened with death should their ransoms not be paid. Their treatment made it clear that this was not an idle threat, but a promise by their abductors.
“They’d been allowed to speak to their wealthy family members now and then, to encourage them to fulfill the ransom demands. And when the money was eventually paid and the victims released, none had enough information as to where they’d been held. But their physical condition—especially that of the elderly Mr. Wagnere—was terrible. And now... Here’s what I learned a little while ago.” Owen picked up his phone from the table. “I received a call from one of my superior officers in the RCMP who knows about what we’re doing—Anthony Creay, deputy commissioner of general policing services. Selena met him when she first arrived in Canada.” He glanced toward the woman at his side.
She nodded. “That’s right. I had to prove to him, as well as to Owen, that I was a shifter.” Her grin was ironic as she leveled it first on him, then looked from one Alpha Force member to the next. They all grinned, too, as if in empathy. Owen wouldn’t have been surprised to learn they’d each had situations where they were with nonshifting humans who didn’t believe in their...unusual capabilities.
In some ways, he wished he’d had no reason to believe, too.
But he did believe. And at this moment, that was actually a good thing.
“Anyway, there is a new situation. One we need to move on quickly. Someone near the top of our organization—maybe the RCMP’s commissioner or an assistant commissioner—somehow became aware of your Alpha Force. How they did doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we’ve had that rash of kidnappings in Canada, where the victims are either the heads of some of our most esteemed and lucrative companies, often in high tech, or a relative of one of those top executives.” He had identified them before, but Owen now added details on the victims and their businesses to further explain the urgency.
“I’ve heard about some of that,” Patrick stated, “but not all.” His fellow Alpha Force members nodded.
Owen had no doubt that at least some information about the kidnappings would leak and thereby make it into American news reports, as some had in Canada as well. Many crimes that went on here might not have been as interesting to the neighbors to the south. But these, where high-profile companies that also did business in the United States were involved, might get more attention. Particu
larly if the stories could be considered sensational. Titillating. Scary and exciting.
And unfortunately these could.
He hazarded a glance toward Selena. Was that sympathy he saw in the slight inclination of her head and a touch of sorrow in her lovely amber eyes?
He looked away quickly. He didn’t need the distraction. He had a story to relate.
“Each time, because of who the victim was, the companies they headed anted up and paid some pretty colossal amounts of ransom. Meantime, the RCMP and even some government groups attempted to locate the kidnappers to bring them down—with no success so far. Except that...well, we think we might know their location now and where they go with the people they abduct.”
“But you haven’t stepped in and arrested them?” Selena asked.
“No, because our investigation has been hampered by that believed location. The victims, after being ransomed and released, say they were kept chained to walls and blindfolded, so they haven’t been able to say much about their environments.”
“But what’s your speculation?” That was Patrick, who had leaned forward at the table. Good. The guy in charge of the Alpha Force group now looked intrigued.
So did Selena, although Owen didn’t glance sideways at her this time. But she, too, had turned to face him even more. That he could tell.
“Well, there’s an area near the border of British Columbia and the Yukon, miles from the nearest village, where satellite sensors have picked up more activity than usual lately, often around the time of a kidnapping. In fact, there used to be almost no activity at all in that very remote location, and what’s there now disappears quickly. The place is impossible to reach except by helicopter or plane—and landing anywhere nearby would be difficult, though possible if we know that really is our target. The camera surveillance we’ve attempted so far was somehow jammed. We believe the victims are taken underground into caverns, but it has been impossible so far to confirm whether this is the actual location.”
“How about drones?” asked Tim, leaning forward with a look of fascination on his pudgy face.
Canadian Wolf (Paranormal Nocturne Romance) Page 6