by LeAnn Mason
“You’re right,” Commander James agreed. “You are just taking her out somewhere public where you can be observed by others.”
This was a fascinating interaction. The two were acting just like family, a righteous father and indignant son. Wow, it really was a family dynamic. Never would have guessed I’d ever get close to anyone other than my parents and Jade. I threw my bestie a shot of “epiphany” in my emotions to throw her off. This is fun.
With the lingering order and my revelation, we all gathered up our respective things to head out. Dane, Jade and Steve were all able to call it a day. Trent was still digging through camera feeds, the circle of filth only expanding as he kept his vigil. Steve’s mind showed that he would be going to his parents’ for dinner while Dane and Jade were going to enjoy having the house to themselves for a while. Something that didn’t happen very often. At all. I was actually quite jealous of their alone time. I’d have to schedule some with Holden. Tonight wouldn’t count. We’d technically be working. It would not be a joyous and carefree evening.
“Nathalee, hang back a minute, will you?”
His excited thoughts had me curious as I took my seat again. “Yes, sir?”
Commander James didn’t answer me immediately, instead reaching into a velcroed pocket at his chest and retrieving a small metal disk. A coin. “I thought about what you said before, about us having a logo. I had a prototype made. Something Trent and I mulled over together. Would you care to see it?”
“Pssh! You know I would,” I responded as I made grabby hands for the coin. He chuckled lightly as he walked around the table to bring me the item I’d not yet seen but already coveted. The solid weight of the disk was surprising, but that thought was pushed from my mind, replaced with awe as I looked at the design adorning its face.
A circle with a DNA helix as its left perimeter encircled a sword whose pommel was adorned with an eagle head, the cross-guard its wings. From each wing hung a scale balanced on either side of the blade.
I stood in wonder. It was perfect even in its imperfections. The left scale was a little close to the helix, but yeah, it was perfect for us. “I love it,” I breathed, not taking my eyes from the beautiful silver piece.
Commander James beamed. He hadn’t been sure of the design, especially when he’d realized the outer circle made it appear off-center, but my appreciation had eased his mind. “I borrowed traditional elements from NE law enforcement and military culture, blending them to create something new. Something unique to us.”
“Just like we’re unique and not perfect,” I smiled. “I don’t think you need to change a thing. I’d be more than proud to have it.” I hesitantly moved to return it to him. I really didn’t want to let it go. It called to me like treasure calls to a dragon, the shiny glint only making my grip tighten.
“No, you keep it. That one’s for you. A reminder of who you are and what we fight for.” He’d seen just how enamored I was with the design and was radiating pride. “It is because of you that emblem even exists. It is fitting that you get the first coin.”
Before I could think better of it, I was out of my chair, arms wrapped around my commander’s neck as I stood on tiptoes and gave him a squeeze of appreciation. “Thank you, sir,” I mumbled as I extricated myself from his person, the coin still grasped tightly in my fist. I’d never let it go. Now to think of how not to lose it…
CHAPTER 25
I DECIDED THAT IF I couldn’t have a snuggly movie night with Holden, I would make sure I had some pony time before we headed out as voyeurs. I needed to see my boys. I hadn’t been out since the incident, and Holden was happy to oblige, reveling in the time we spent training with Raven. He was secretly relieved that being hurt by a spastic Raven hadn’t made me fearful.
As soon as I stepped foot onto the barn grounds, the tension knot in my shoulders eased. I closed my eyes and inhaled the rich scents of dirt and hay; the spice of pine shavings covering the stall floors and the musk of the majestic beasts enclosed within. This would always be my peace, a veritable nirvana when paired with some good music and my man.
Speaking of said man, strong arms encased me from behind, wrapping me in a cocoon of comfort. I couldn’t stay there long before my body started to heat and his hands started to roam. A calloused thumb made its way under the hem of my t-shirt, circling lazily, enticingly. I sighed and leaned backward, allowing my weight to settle against Holden. Warm breath caressed my neck. Soft lips teased the rapidly heating flesh. I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped, my head rolling into his solid chest.
Wanna go home? He asked as he kissed gently down my neck.
“Mmmm, tempting.”
I would love some time alone with you.
I forced my fluttering eyes to open. To focus on the bold sky. The intensity of the tangerine and fuchsia igniting the sky, as if with fire, let me know just how little time we actually had before it was too dark to do much. I deflated and stepped out of Holden’s embrace, making smoothish strides toward the large “X” emblazed doors. “Not before I say hi to my boys.”
A deep chuckle preceded his mental quip. How do I move up on the list? Alone time with me is beneath seeing horses, even one who broke your foot? He clucked his tongue in mock disapproval; I guess I need to improve my powers of persuasion.
A quick sting to my right butt cheek was perfectly timed to make me trip on air, again, as I broke the plane and entered the barn’s center aisle. I glared at him over my shoulder once I recovered but couldn’t help answering his mischievous smirk, his eyes still smoldering. I blew him a kiss over my shoulder as I arrived in front of Jasper’s stall, immediately leaning in to nuzzle my face to his much larger one.
They get all the love, Holden playfully lamented.
I made a show of wrapping Jasper up in my arms and giving him a big smooch before releasing him. I was pushed into Holden’s waiting arms when Jasper decided he wanted to use my body as a scratching post, rubbing up and down from my waist to shoulder. I figured I could help the big lug out with his itchiness woes and brought my hands up to scratch vigorously along his neck. The huge animal reminded me of a dog in that moment. I had apparently found “the spot,” and now that I was diligent in addressing it, Jasper’s neck was arched in extension as far as he could reach, his upper lip reaching even further, dancing a mamba to the tempo of my fevered ministrations.
I couldn’t keep the ridiculous smile from my face as I watched the animal twitch with unrestrained pleasure. Holden echoed my mirth as he too gave Jasper a bit of attention and made familiar noises to the animal, a couple clicks of his tongue in encouragement, before pulling back and stepping away.
I know we don’t have to surveil Devlin for another couple of hours, but I think we arrived too late to do much in the way of work.
“Can we stay for a few and groom?”
Raven?
“Or Jasper. Or both.” I nodded and gave Jasper a loud pat to the neck which echoed in the space. I really wished that I had more time to ride and spend here, but duty called and often. We needed to make sure we had another ride soon. Hopefully we’d have a breather tomorrow so I could get up on Raven. You know… allay my lingering tension about bone crunching stomps.
Holden looked down the wide dirt aisle-way to the other end. Raven peeked his coal-black head over the door and stared at us, his ears showing exactly how interesting he found our trio.
“What ya think Rave, wanna get that pretty coat all shiny?”
The answering bobblehead nodding and whinny made me question if the big softie could understand more than I ever gave him credit for. I mean, I knew that he understood body language and cues after hearing and experiencing them enough to draw a correlation, but was it the same with words? Well duh, Nat. He responds when you say words! I huffed a self-deprecating laugh as my eyes roved back on my training partner.
I am assuming that you want to groom Jasper?
“I don’t know!” I was torn, especially after my revelation. I spent all m
y efforts on Raven when I trained here, but Jasper was the horse I had felt the most connected to before I ever started this crazy enforcer journey. I had asked the question with the hopes of lavishing attention onto Jasper for once, but Raven’s reaction had pulled at my heartstrings. “How do you choose who to ride? Who gets more than just a fleeting acknowledgement?”
Holden walked away from our current position in front of Jasper’s stall and toward where Raven’s silhouette looked on, his eyes peaked with hopeful excitement. Holden reached him and wrapped his arm under his jaw and around to rest his hand over the animal’s nose. Raven’s answer was to lower his head and lean into the embrace, his eyelids lowering in contentment.
This horse and I share a special bond, much like you and Jasper. I came when he was just a foal, a baby. I’ve done most of the work in getting him to this point in his training. He tries to please me, more than any horse I have yet to ride. He will always be my choice.
I watched as man and beast stood locked in contented silence and smiled softly at the love I saw, the love I felt between them. This was exactly why I needed this. I saw now that Holden needed it just as much. This place and its inhabitants were as much a grounder for the Primal in front of me as I found it to be for myself.
The blinding orange light filtering through the doors, showing me a riot of dirt and wood particles dancing merrily within the beams, reminded me that our time here was short. I peeled away from Holden and Raven to enter the tack room and grab a grooming box full of brushes and snagged the halter that sat on the peg with Jasper’s name. Putting the harness on my bud, I secured it before opening the latch on the door and allowing him to exit. We only walked a few feet into the aisle where I attached ropes, bolted to support beams on either side of the open space, to a metal ring on the corresponding sides of the halter. This told Jasper that I wanted him to stay in the middle and minimized the potential for injury either from or to him. I looked down the center and noticed that Holden was no longer embracing Raven. I didn’t see him at all for a moment until I noticed movement inside the stall.
Holden had decided that he’d groom Raven while he was loose inside the stall. I wasn’t allowed to do that yet, especially with Jasper. Holden had reminded me often that Jasper was not Raven, and just because I could do something with the big black steed didn’t mean I could also do it with any other horse. Last week, I’d been shown just how much they couldn’t be predicted one hundred percent of the time.
Each animal had its own personality, a way of thinking and doing things that one needed to understand and be comfortable with handling before deciding to take them on; even that wasn’t a guarantee. Jasper did not have the same laid back and babysitter attitude that Raven embodied as Holden often reminded me when I asked if I could ride him yet.
I knew the day he said yes was the day I was stuck in the round pen again.
I grabbed the little rubber curry comb and proceeded to brush it in circles into every area of Jasper’s hide. I got another stretch and lip twitch for my efforts on his neck, and I made sure to spend enough time in the area to get plenty of laughs before moving to the other brushes, which didn’t have such entertaining effects.
Hooves were cleaned without incident, so I finished my pampering at Jasper’s glorious blonde tail. It wasn’t until I was grabbing handfuls of the long strands that I realized the beautiful color was actually made up of several. I combed through the mass slowly, cataloguing each color as I came across the strands. Black, brown, white, copper all intermingled with a corn silk blond being the most numerous. I took my time untangling each snare, Jasper’s floor length tail too beautiful to only do a cursory comb.
We should probably head out. Figure we should get to the bar before Dev and Cara so we look less conspicuous to her.
Roused from my bubble, I released Jasper’s now unmarred fly swatter, looking past the doors into the dying light. I nodded and set about releasing Jasper from his ties in the aisle. I gave his flank a pat as he passed by me and into his stall when I unbuckled his halter. He’d already eaten his dinner, so he was immediately bored and whinnied as Holden and I walked back toward the truck. Now to get ready to spy on Devlin and his girl. While they were on a date. Awesome.
“How many times have you spied on people?”
Spied on people? What do you mean?
I think I offended him with my wording. “Well, that’s basically what surveillance is, right?” I asked him over the hood of the truck as he pulled open the creaking door. “Have you ever “surveilled” me?” I asked as I bounced into the passenger seat, still looking at Holden. At his silence, I screeched, “You have!” I totally thought he’d say no. “When? Why?” My mind was reeling, coming up with a variety of outlandish reasons he’d have watched me.
I kept an eye on you a few times.
His vague reply had me narrowing my eyes at him, willing him to tell me specifics so I could decide if I needed my eyes to shoot death lasers. “Go on.”
I just watched out for you when the illusionist was running amok. With a quick shrug, he dismissed my anger. He didn’t even look away from the road.
Was he blushing? The dark stubble lining his cheeks made it hard to decipher, but I was pretty sure he was, a dark flush seeming to brighten his skin. To call him on it or not to call him on it, that is the question… “I never heard you,” is what came out instead.
He finally cut his eyes my way, that crooked smile gracing his features and crinkling the corner of his stunning eyes. I know you, know your range. Then as a sarcastic afterthought, he threw out, And I'm just that good.
“Oh, shut up!” I scolded him, delivering a quick push to his beefy shoulder. The truck jerked left. “Oh, crap,” I laughed. “Don't kill us!”
It's your fault, woman!
“Yeah, yeah. Your ego was taking up too much room in here. I couldn't breathe.”
Well, maybe next time, deflate it in a way that doesn't have a possibility of ending with our deaths, yeah? he complained.
“Smartass,” I grumbled and had to refrain from shoving him once again as his rough laughter filled my head. “Let's just get this night over with.”
About an hour later, a chameleon version of Holden and I slunk into Enhanced, the only club-like establishment Minefield boasted. The name was super original. Lame.
I followed pseudo Holden, staring at the back of his stylishly messy bronzed head to a small table in a dark corner which pulsed intermittently with neon lighting as the beat thumped. I couldn't help but tug the hem of my shirt. If that's what this thing I was wearing could be called. I thought it resembled scraps more than a finished garment. It had holes at the shoulders and stopped virtually right below my boobs. The flimsy fabric had come from Jade's closet.
Mind you, on her it was a flowing blouse, and the royal blue went well with her golden hair and vibrant green eyes, but on me? It was like I'd been trying to relive the glory days of my eleven year old self, and even then, it hadn't meshed with me.
I'd put more effort into my make-up and hair, doing more than just a swipe of mascara and gloss. Instead of my trademark ponytail, Jade had curled my tresses into flowing waves.
Thank goodness Jade had stepped up because I never could have gotten the look without her, I probably would have fried off my hair in random chunks and looked like an electrocuted raccoon had she not assisted. She knew it too, and I had to hand it to her… I looked pretty hot. I’d need to ask her about this gloss; it was amazing. My lips tingled with a minty zing and sparkled like pink diamonds.
Holden grabbed my hands as I slid into the booth next to him, startling me. Stop fidgeting. You look great. That only caused me to fidget more. He caught my hand again, pulling it to his mouth for a soft kiss to the knuckles.
It was really weird to interact with him when he didn’t look like himself. Muddy brown eyes watched me from below a heavy brow, caramel skin was smooth and freshly shaven… or appeared to be, but I knew it was just another remarkable aspect of Hol
den’s ability. The hair hadn’t left his body, just been reallocated. It helped give the added length to the hair on top of his head, allowing it to fall messily into his eyes.
“I-I’m sorry. That makes me want to do it more. I'm not used to going out.” I waved at myself. “Not used to looking… like this.”
If it makes you feel better, I think you're even more beautiful in your natural, comfortable state.
It did. I smiled gratefully at him and relaxed back into the seat, relishing his appraisal of my everyday appearance.
I'm sure I'd love your truly natural state best of all.
“Oh yeah, what’s this truly natural state you speak of?” I asked as a server ambled over to drop two waters on our table. I quickly scooped up the one in front of me and began sucking down the cold liquid. It seemed I was still nervous.
Naked.
The mouthful of water I'd just chugged burst from my lips in a volcano-like eruption before I could clamp my maw tight enough to contain it. I choked as a sizeable gulp made its way down the wrong tube and toward my lungs where it would do its level best to drown me.
Laughter exploded in my head and had me shooting daggers at the Primal male who, on a good day, was the highlight of my life. This was apparently not a good day because right now, I was picturing him more as the annoying donkey from that kid movie with the ogre. The visualization tilted my lips.
There's a smile.
“That's because I'm picturing you as a literal ass.”
Confusion lit his features for a moment until his attention was snagged by something over my right shoulder. A quick glance clued me in. Devlin and Cara were now here, and they'd been seated two tables away. Still within a clear line. Time to buckle down. The game was afoot, and I still needed to prove that Cara should be a suspect, if not the suspect, for the two murders we had laid at our feet. These men were all blindsided by that thought. I'll admit from what I’d seen of her, she didn't seem the type. But she'd blossomed since our first meeting a week ago. Who knew what else could be uncovered?