by Paige Tyler
More likely Zarina had browbeaten the new deputy director until he relented and let her do what she was going to do anyway. Landon had a strong-willed woman for a wife in Ivy Halliwell. The man knew enough to conserve ammo when he was in a fight he couldn’t win.
“How did you know where to look?” Tanner asked, leading her down the ridge toward his camp. “Don’t tell me those analysts at the DCO have been watching me on one of their spy satellites.”
Zarina laughed. “No. It wasn’t an analyst figuring out where you were. It was me. Remember the conversation we had when we were sitting on the bench overlooking the obstacle course at the DCO complex? You told me that you were thinking about coming back here.”
“Oh.” He remembered the conversation all too vividly. Mostly because he’d nearly slipped up and told Zarina how he felt about her. Thank God, he hadn’t made that mistake. If she was stubborn now, what would she be like if she knew he loved her? “That explains how you knew I was in Wenatchee. How did you know where to find me once you got here?”
“You’re an easy man to remember.” Her lips curved in the darkness. “I simply walked into every camping and outdoor store I could find in the surrounding towns and asked if they’d seen a man fitting your description. I had a general idea where you were within hours.”
Tanner did a double take. “A general idea? You came up here and wandered around the woods because you had a general idea of where I was? Do you have even an inkling of how stupid that is?”
She glanced at him. “It worked, didn’t it?”
He didn’t bother pointing out that her wonderful plan had almost gotten her eaten. She’d probably have something snarky to say about that, too.
“I’m serious, Zarina,” he said softly. “There are things up here that can hurt you, and I’m not just talking about the bears. Several locals have gone missing in the past few weeks, and no one has a clue what happened to them. It’s not the kind of place you should be wandering around on your own.”
She was silent, as if considering that, then shrugged. “It was a risk I was willing to take. I thought you’d know that about me by now. I’m not a foolhardy person, but for you, I’ll take any risk.”
Tanner cursed silently. He knew that all right. He simply didn’t understand why the hell she’d do something so selfless for someone like him.
He knew she meant well by coming after him. She thought she could make everything better with her magic antidote, that all his problems would simply go away if he wasn’t a hybrid anymore. He didn’t have the heart—or the words—to tell her it wasn’t that simple.
When they reached his camp, Zarina moved her flashlight around, taking in the clearing, the small tent, and the even tinier fire pit encircled with rocks. It wasn’t much, but that was because he didn’t need much. The fire was out now—he never left the camp with it still burning—and he wordlessly walked over to get the flames started again, then put on a bit more wood to build up some extra heat and provide a little more light.
Switching off her flashlight, Zarina stowed it in her pack, then knelt down on the far side of the fire pit opposite him. She held out her hands toward the flames. “Is this where you’ve been staying this whole time?”
He shook his head, trying hard to keep from looking at her too closely in the light coming off the fire. She looked way too damn sexy in the flickering orange and reddish glow. He didn’t need anything making this situation harder than it already was. He was going to have a tough enough time convincing her to leave tomorrow, and it would only be worse if he let himself think too much about spending time with her.
“No,” he said, realizing he hadn’t answered her question yet. “This is about the tenth or eleventh place I’ve made camp since coming here. The rangers from the forest service aren’t too keen about people living out here full time, so I move every few days to make it harder for them to find me.”
She looked around. “It’s hard to believe someone could stumble across this place by accident. It’s so well hidden, I didn’t even know it was here until we walked into the clearing.”
“That’s one of the biggest factors when it comes to the places I set up camp,” he admitted. “It has to be well off the beaten path and difficult to find. I don’t like taking risks, though, so I move a lot.”
She frowned, as if considering that. “It must be difficult having to move your stuff and set up somewhere new all the time.”
He shrugged. “Not really. Everything I have can fit in my pack. I can grab my gear and move everything I own in less than ten minutes. That’s the way I like it.”
Her expression softened, and he knew she was about to say something meant to be comforting. He stood up quickly, cutting her off. “You need to get some sleep. We’ll have to leave early in the morning if I’m going to get you back into town at a reasonable time.”
He expected her to protest, to stubbornly tell him once again that she wasn’t going anywhere, but instead, Zarina simply nodded. Tanner wasn’t fooled into thinking that meant she was going to comply with his wishes. She was simply putting off the argument until morning. He was okay with that. He had no desire to get into it with her right now, either. Not after the evening they’d both already had.
“There’s some more wood over in that pile,” he said, gesturing to the branches he’d broken into manageable-sized pieces and stacked off to the side of the camp. “If you toss a few logs on the fire right before you go to sleep, that should keep you warm enough through the night.”
Once again, Zarina didn’t complain but merely nodded and began taking stuff out of her pack. First came a lightweight sleeping bag, then a self-inflating sleeping pad. That was followed by a blanket and a frigging pillow, of all things. Damn, no wonder that pack had been so heavy. She’d brought her whole damn apartment with her.
“If you have to…you know, use the facilities, I’ve dug a slit trench in the ground over there behind those trees,” he added. “There’s a stream about twenty-five feet or so downhill from my tent, but I don’t recommend going that far outside the circle of the firelight. That grizzly probably won’t come back, but he may have friends.”
Tanner felt like crap for scaring Zarina. Hell, he could hear her heart thumping harder already. But he didn’t want her getting comfy out here. He wanted her going home tomorrow, and that wouldn’t happen if he went easy on her. That’s why he was making her sleep outside rather than in the tent.
He hesitated a moment before turning away, his heart begging him to say something meaningful to her before walking away. But what the hell could he say that would help?
Thanks for coming. I appreciate the thought. Now go home.
“Good night,” he finally murmured, then quickly yanked down the zipper of his tent and ducked inside.
Zarina told him to have a good night in return, and her soft, mesmerizing voice was almost enough to make him turn around and go back outside. The urge to yank her to her feet and kiss her was so strong, his inner hybrid was practically panting in anticipation. Ignoring the beast, he zipped the tent flap closed with a muttered curse.
He yanked off his boots and T-shirt, leaving his jeans on like he always did just in case he had to run out and chase off a stray animal, then lay back on his sleeping bag. He wiggled around a bit, getting comfortable on the balled-up sweatshirt he used as a pillow and waited to fall asleep. Instead, he stared up at the inside of his tent, inhaling Zarina’s intoxicating scent. Damn, how could any woman smell that good? She was like a slice of heaven with a Russian accent.
He tried to block it out, but it was useless. Short of not breathing, there was no way to keep her scent from invading his nose and reminding him exactly how spectacular she was. The fact that it was giving him a boner sure the hell didn’t help.
Tanner closed his eyes only to open them again when his ears picked up an odd tapping sound. It sounded a little like a wood
pecker, but they didn’t usually come out at night. He pushed himself up on his elbows and listened again.
Crap. It was Zarina. Her teeth were chattering. Dammit to hell, he knew that sleeping bag wasn’t heavy enough for her.
Biting back a growl, Tanner yanked open the zipper on the tent and crawled out. If he wasn’t so worried about her, he would have laughed at the sight of her snuggled up dangerously close to the fire pit, completely cocooned in her sleeping bag with nothing but her nose and eyes showing, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl.
Zarina blinked at him. “What’s—?”
Her words trailed off as he dropped down to one knee and slipped his arms under her, then scooped her up, sleeping bag, blanket, and all.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Keeping you from freezing to death,” he muttered. “I’m tempted to carry your blue butt into town and put you in a hotel room right now.” He knelt down to slip her through the open door flap of his tent. “Put your bag inside mine and zip them both up. That should keep you warm enough.”
“What about you?” Zarina asked.
“What about me?”
She unzipped her sleeping bag from the inside. “Aren’t you going to sleep in here, too?”
Tanner thought his jaw might have dropped, but he wasn’t sure. Before going to bed, Zarina had taken off her coat, along with her shirt, jeans, and boots, and was now wearing pajamas with cute cartoon moose printed on them. Holy hell, she’d brought pj’s with her? Apparently, the lightest, snuggest pair she could find. And holy hell part two, she wasn’t wearing a bra, either. She definitely hadn’t been faking how cold she was. Damn. It was all he could do not to cup her perfect breasts in his hands and kiss her until neither of them could breathe.
“That would be a no,” he said, working overtime to keep the growl out of his voice and the hard-on from showing through his jeans.
She frowned. “Take my blanket at least. It’s cold out there.”
Even though he didn’t need it, he snatched the blanket from her outstretched hand, then quickly ducked out of the tent before he could change his mind and climb in the damn sleeping bag with her.
Stomping over to the fire, he tossed another few pieces of wood on it, then stretched out on the blanket and tried to get comfortable. Fat chance of that with the tree branch throbbing between his legs. Well, he sure as hell wasn’t going to be cold tonight, that was for damn sure.
“Tanner?” Zarina called softly from inside the tent.
He tensed. If she suggested she needed him to come wrap his arms around her because she was still cold, he was seriously going to lose it.
“I left my pillow out there by the fire,” she said. “Could you bring it to me?”
He didn’t bother muffling his growl this time. Grabbing the pillow, he got up and walked over to the tent. The moment he unzipped it, Zarina’s scent hit him like a two-by-four. Hurriedly tossing the pillow to her, he headed back to his makeshift bed by the fire before he did something he’d regret.
Chapter 2
“I can’t believe Landon split up your team,” Trevor Maxwell said.
Tate Evers grunted. He’d joined the dark-haired coyote shifter and his partner/girlfriend, Alina Bosch, on one of the benches along the edge of the training area on the DCO complex a little while ago to watch his former teammates navigate the obstacle course with their new partners. Tate had worked with Brent Wilkins and Gavin Barlow, along with bear shifter Declan MacBride, for nearly a decade, but the DCO was currently going through a lot of changes, and that meant a lot of changes for his team, too.
“Landon needed veteran agents to pair up with the shifters they recently recruited,” Tate said. “Brent and Gavin are two of the most experienced field agents he has, so it makes sense to pair them up with the newbies.”
Some of Alina’s strawberry-blond hair had come loose from its bun, and the fall breeze toyed with it. She reached up to tuck it behind her ear. “That all sounds very professional, but aren’t you pissed you’re losing your guys?”
Tate opened his mouth to say he wasn’t, but then stopped. Why bother? He might have recently met Alina, but he and Trevor had been working together since he’d first come to the DCO. The coyote shifter knew him as well as anyone. Besides, Trevor had always been clever. He’d see right through the lie.
“Yeah, it does kind of suck,” Tate admitted, scratching his scruff-covered jaw. “I’ve always worked with a partner, even back when I was in the marshals. When the DCO started bringing in new recruits, I saw the writing on the wall and figured I was going to lose Brent or Gavin, if not both of them. But Declan, too? That’s tough.”
Trevor did a double take. “Wait, what? Declan has a new partner?”
“No,” Tate said. “Landon has him training the new recruits instead of going on missions so he can stay close to Kendra and the kids.”
Understanding lit Alina’s face. “Can’t blame him for that. I’ve heard the twins are a little wild. What are they, two months old?”
Tate couldn’t help grinning. “Yeah. They’re growing like weeds. I think they’re going to take after their dad.”
The mountainous bear shifter was like a brother to him, so while Tate was genuinely happy Declan was able to spend time with his growing family, he was also bummed not to be working with him anymore. Without his team, Tate felt damn useless at the moment. The DCO seemed like it was moving at a hundred miles an hour these days, and he was stuck in neutral.
“So is Landon going to team you up with someone new soon?” Trevor asked.
“Yeah, just not sure when. Kendra’s been working overtime with that fancy compatibility computer program of hers trying to find someone for me, but no luck so far.”
Trevor’s hazel eyes glinted with amusement. “Are you saying you’re a hard man to work with? Say it isn’t so.”
Tate snorted. “Yeah, I’m not too sure how to take that, either.”
If this were any other organization, Tate would probably go on missions solo, but that wasn’t the way the DCO did things. The whole purpose of the DCO partner program was to pair shifters and humans together. The shifters had the ability to handle themselves in the field. The human part of the equation was to make sure their secret never got out. If people knew the government had shifters working for them, there was no telling what would happen. In Tate’s experience, most people didn’t like anyone who was different than they were. And saying shifters were different was an understatement.
As he watched the new teams move from one part of the obstacle course to the next, Tate had to admit that Brent’s and Gavin’s partners matched up with them well. His buddies were moving through the ridiculously difficult terrain faster than they ever had with him and Declan. He guessed Kendra really did know what she was doing with that compatibility program of hers.
“Speaking of changes,” Alina murmured, motioning off to the left with her chin. “If someone would have asked me to lay odds on Hamilton ever letting that happen, I would have said slim to none.”
Tate followed her gaze to see Sage Andrews and Derek Mickens strolling along the perimeter of the training area, their shoulders bumping occasionally as they walked, their mouths moving in soft conversation. There wasn’t an armed guard in sight.
It wasn’t the fact that the feline hybrid and the Army Special Forces soldier were having a quiet conversation together that was so unusual to see. The couple had been attached at the hip since Landon had gotten the army to allow Derek to spend a couple of months here on temporary duty. No, the fact that the DCO had let Sage out of her room at all was the big shocker. The hybrid had been held prisoner at the DCO for months, locked in a secure dorm room supposedly for her own protection.
“I’m starting to think that we grossly underestimated Hamilton and Rebecca,” Trevor said. “So far, they’re doing a damn good job of
running this place.”
Tate couldn’t argue with that. Everyone at the DCO had been stunned, not to mention more than a little worried, when John, their former boss, had told them he was walking away. Tate could understand why he’d done it—his wife and kid had almost died. There was also the whole issue of his ten-year-old daughter going through her first shifter change years before she was supposed to thanks to the fear and stress of seeing her mother get shot. If anyone deserved some time away, it was John. Rumor had it he’d moved his family to the Seychelles Islands…or maybe Fiji. Then again, they could be living in Iceland. Who knew?
“I agree they’re doing a good job—they’ve definitely brought in more shifters than I ever would have thought possible—but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to trust them,” Tate said. “Especially since we know for a fact that Rebecca Brannon was involved with hybrid research up in Maine.” He pinned Trevor with a look. “It’s almost a certainty she was funding Mahsood’s program at that mental institution where you went undercover, even if there isn’t any proof.”
Alina shuddered. “I’m less concerned about the possibility that a congresswoman was funding the research than I am that she knew Mahsood was using her daughter as a guinea pig. It scares me to think how cold-blooded a woman would have to be to allow that.”
Trevor grunted “Oh, I never said Rebecca was a saint. She’s definitely up to something, which means we still need to keep an eye on her, as well as that Hamilton guy she handpicked to serve as director. I’m just saying she’s doing a good job rebuilding the DCO. Landon and Ivy are only bringing in all these new recruits because Rebecca has given them the go-ahead. As for Hamilton getting rid of the bars and locked doors on Sage’s dorm room, that’s okay with me, even if it turns out later he’s an evil bastard.”
“Okay, I’ll buy that,” Tate said. “But have you noticed how much time Ivy and Landon are spending out on the road? I know they’re busy recruiting new agents, but a suspicious person might think Rebecca and Hamilton are purposely keeping them, as well as most of the other teams, out of the way for some reason.”