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She looked away quickly and stepped it up a notch or two more.
The first bar they came to, in the middle of a retail block, was Myrtell’s. Selena heard the loud hum of conversation even before Owen opened the glass door, and as they stepped inside, the sound level rose to near deafening, despite her being in human form.
Myrtell’s was crowded and smelled of liquor and popcorn and people scents that probably were only somewhat discernible to the patrons here, but were strong and not all pleasant to Selena.
She wasn’t about to mention that to Owen, let alone complain. But after they’d both looked around for several minutes and failed to see either Rainey or any of the CAs, Selena was glad when they left.
Once again, Owen allowed her to choose their speed. And once again, she walked fast, though she didn’t settle into a run.
The next place—the Wonderbar—was on a side street about three blocks farther than Myrtell’s. Its entry was covered by a sign that resembled a theater marquee, and Selena heard the crowd noises emanating from the place nearly as soon as they turned the corner from Columbia Avenue.
As they reached the door, Selena inhaled the aromas emanating from the Wonderbar. If she had to guess, the patrons here preferred beer over the other kinds of alcohol she had smelled at both of the other bars.
She first heard, then saw, Rainey when she looked inside the door. Her aide was sitting with the four recruits around a moderate-sized round table that held glasses of many sizes, indicating their differences in drinks. Wineglasses sat before Andrea and Tim. Sal had a tall glass in front of him with an amber liquid and ice inside, suggesting a drink with hard liquor—or perhaps it was just a soft drink. Craig and Rainey seemed to fit in better with more of the crowd here since beer steins were on the table in front of them.
Interesting choices, but Selena had no time to do more than give that a passing thought. Owen and she hurried through the door and up to that table.
“Hey, welcome.” Sal stood to pull his chair aside to make room for the newcomers. Knowing the young, skinny guy was only nineteen years old, Selena glanced at his amber drink, but she knew that was the legal drinking age in British Columbia. If he had hard liquor in front of him it would be acceptable here, and the scent Selena detected told her it was alcohol.
“Yeah. Where’ve you been?” Andrea asked. Across the table from Sal, she, too, stood and looked around as if seeking another seat for them, her wide but smallish eyes peering over her prominent nose as she checked out the place.
“Looking for you,” Owen said, not entirely truthfully, Selena thought, since they hadn’t sought out the rest of the crowd when they first got to the Yukon Bar. “We needed to let you know we’re going to hold an update session very early tomorrow morning.”
“Then there’s been some news?” Rainey was on her feet, too. Selena couldn’t help grinning at her aide. Rainey was always eager to jump into whatever assignment they had, and being here with these other shifters seemed to only increase her enthusiasm. She’d pulled a Minnesota Timberwolves sweatshirt on, probably her attempt at a silent joke with regard to the wolf shifters here, including her commanding officer—Selena.
“Yes,” Owen said. “We’ll tell you about it first thing tomorrow.”
“And discuss how we’re going to handle things a little later,” Selena added, “when the rest of our Alpha Force team arrives.”
“Right,” Owen agreed. “But right now I’d suggest you head back to your hotel rooms so you can get a reasonably good night’s sleep. You have fixings for breakfast at our...site?”
Selena figured he’d avoided saying “headquarters” in case anyone around was eavesdropping. All the crowd she saw seemed caught up in their own conversations—and imbibing. But she appreciated his discretion.
“Yes, we do,” Craig said.
“Great. Then get on back to where you’re staying now.”
“Soon as we finish our drinks,” Craig agreed, and the others nodded. Selena suspected they had only recently ordered refills since none of their glasses appeared especially empty. But that was okay. The alcohol might help them sleep better.
“We’ll see you in the kitchen of the main house, then, at o-seven...er, seven a.m.,” Selena said, quickly getting herself out of military speak.
“Yes, ma’am,” Rainey whispered with a sly grin.
Selena wasn’t sure whether the RCMP knew US military protocol, speaking or otherwise, let alone followed it. But when she glanced around the table, all the CAs were grinning.
Especially Sergeant Major Owen Dewirter.
* * *
“You’re staying downtown somewhere, aren’t you?” Selena asked as Owen pulled her chair out so she could stand.
Despite being an officer of the law, he didn’t always follow traditional etiquette with women. Even so, something about Selena made him want to revert to the old ways he’d learned as a child here in Canada—actions that had supposedly been imported from the mother country of the UK years, even centuries, ago. Odd, he knew. And he didn’t want to overthink it now.
But on some level he realized he was hoping to make himself think of his obligatory partner in this program as a lady, not an officer in the United States Army whose rank might be in some ways equivalent to his own in the nonmilitary RCMP, or perhaps even higher. And certainly not as a shapeshifter from whom he had a lot to learn to fulfill his current assignment.
Plus, he got closer to her this way than he otherwise might. Could smell her fresh, almost floral scent—nothing like the scent of dogs or wolves that he might otherwise have anticipated.
In addition, while being polite, he could imagine touching her for other reasons than assisting her in and out of cars or pulling her chair out for her.
Which most likely meant he should start being rude from this moment on.
“That’s right,” he responded. They left the others behind at the table and wended their way through the bar crowd to the exit door. Once they were out on the sidewalk he continued, “My team and I will move into the house you and your other Alpha Force members will be occupying now once you’ve trained us and moved on.”
“So where are you all living now?”
“Hotels. I’m in one, and the rest of the CAs are in a different one.” He’d thought that would help his subordinates bond without worrying too much about being part of a regimented system. That would come in time. And he didn’t worry about his command. As soon as the training and the mission started, they’d know who was in charge.
She turned sideways to look up at him. “It would be more convenient for you to stay downtown right now rather than driving me back to the house. I could wait until Rainey is ready to go, then ride with whoever drove her here, or she and I could even walk back to the HQ if she doesn’t have a ride. It’s not that far.”
“In the dark and in tonight’s chilly air? No way.”
He couldn’t help but appreciate her offer, though. She didn’t automatically consider him and the CAs her inferiors, who were required to take good care of her in exchange for teaching them.
“All right.” She sounded relieved. He liked that, too. He figured she had made the offer because she believed it to be convenient for him, even though she’d hoped he’d refuse it.
They walked back to his SUV in the Yukon Bar’s gravel parking lot, and without thinking, he took Selena’s arm and helped her into the passenger seat.
Despite the sweater she wore that kept him from touching her skin, he was highly conscious of her warmth. She, too, appeared to notice the contact, since her head turned quickly and her amber eyes captured his for just an instant. “Thank you,” she said. He shut the door, then went around to the driver’s seat and started off.
He had anticipated struggling to find a neutral topic of conversation on the short drive back to the enclave when he realized he wanted to know everything about this woman—including more of what she really thought about being a shapeshifter. But he didn’t really want to bring that up. Not now.
He was relieved when she started the conversation. She sat in shadows in the seat beside him, but the lights outside the vehicle illuminated her enough that he could see her lovely face—and the fact that she was smiling as she watched the scenery while he drove.
First, she commented on the bars they’d visited. “I liked the Yukon best, but I can see why our gang likes the Wonderbar. There’s more action there, for one thing.”
“True. But I was with them once at the Yukon and they really got into talking about...what they were. Quietly, and using euphemisms, in case anyone was listening.”
“Euphemisms like what? Although I might have heard them all. Used them all at different times.”
He told her Andrea’s description of what they all had in common as being windows through which illumination fell—like the full moon that changed them, he assumed. Did Selena still identify with that? He knew that shifters in her Alpha Force didn’t need to wait for the right phase of the moon. He had even seen it, sort of.
His new unit members were also students, ready to learn all they could about the universe. They were animal lovers. And more. And with each description, Owen heard Selena draw in her breath and giggle.
He liked that he could please her like that.
“You enjoyed that conversation, too, didn’t you?” she asked, facing him as he waited at a traffic light.
“I liked her ingenuity,” he admitted.
“Did you ever think, when you decided to join the RCMP, that you’d find yourself in such an unusual situation?”
He hadn’t. Not really. But he had previously become aware that shapeshifters existed, and the experience he’d had suggested that illegal, even violent, situations could result from contact with them.
“No,” he said curtly as the light changed and he stepped too quickly on the gas.
He glimpsed Selena’s movement beside him, as she was jolted back into her seat.
“Sorry,” he added, but didn’t explain his discomfort.
“You had a bad experience with shapeshifters, didn’t you?” she asked quietly.
Damn, but the woman was perceptive. He would have to watch himself around her.
“No,” he said only somewhat truthfully. He realized then that this might be a good time to tell her—and vent a little. “Not me personally. But a short while after I joined the RCMP I had a couple of family members killed in the States—in Minnesota—and others there asked me to come and talk to the local authorities and try to make sense of what had happened. I traveled there, and that’s when I learned that one of those killed had been a distant family member by marriage who’d been a wolf shifter. He was shot with a silver bullet while shifted, after he’d killed my blood relative, a third cousin. Despite attempting to dredge out the details and help, I didn’t get a lot of information on motive or anything else, other than that it was a family tragedy, and I never did make any sense of it. The cousin who was killed was apparently a prominent business owner in the area, and the details were hushed up so the shop he owned would survive. His wife and kids still own it and we stay in touch at the holidays.”
It was something he almost never talked about, and neither did anyone else in the family, except maybe those in Minnesota. But letting Selena know that he genuinely believed in shapeshifters—and why—had seemed appropriate.
“Look, Owen, I understand that it’s a difficult topic to discuss, but—”
“Glad you recognize that.” He realized he sounded curt, but she apparently got the message and didn’t push. In fact, they didn’t say much as he continued onward until he reached the houses. She might not be satisfied with his silence, but that was the way he wanted it.
He pulled his car in front of the larger house, where she and Rainey would spend this night and should be joined by the rest of her Alpha Force team tomorrow. They had left the lights on, and the two homes were illuminated.
He saw a half-moon off to the east. Not a full moon. It nevertheless seemed symbolic of what was to occur here.
As he parked, Selena opened her own door. He quickly exited the SUV and hurried around to hold it for her and to reach out for her hand as if to steady her.
“I’m really okay,” she said, not touching him and giving him a stubborn look. Her full bottom lip stuck out obstinately. Sexily. “But—”
“You definitely are okay,” he said. And then, as if he had planned it—maybe to keep her quiet—he bent down, put his arms around her curvaceous, struggling body and put his lips on hers.
Struggling? No. Maybe for a moment, but then she reacted. Positively. Hotly. She leaned in and placed her hands on his chest, and he relished the feel of her so close, her warmth.
The kiss went on for hours, or was it only seconds?
Didn’t matter. Didn’t matter that it was inappropriate, or that his body was reacting in a way that made him both uncomfortable and eager all at the same time.
She wasn’t the one to pull away. He was, and he regretted it.
“Rainey could get back here anytime,” he said breathlessly, looking down into Selena’s face.
She looked bemused. And hot. And even inviting.
He declined the invitation. “Let me walk you up to the door,” he said, taking her arm once more.
She seemed to realize who and where she was at that instant. Her expression hardened; her cheeks reddened in the pale light.
“No need,” she said, pulling away, and he watched as she ran up the porch steps and used her key to enter the house.
Chapter 5 (#ulink_a47d3bfa-705f-54cb-aae4-bbf96a449fda)
Lupe greeted her enthusiastically, whining as Selena walked into the house and jumping up and down in the kitchen behind the chair Selena had set up as a gate.
The wolflike dog had been alone for a while and needed to go outside for a walk.
Selena needed to go outside, too, to cool off in the Canadian breeze after that kiss. That hot, suggestive, sexy kiss that made her insides so aware that Owen felt like a lot more than a professional contact.
She also wanted to ponder some more, on her own, Owen’s brief tale of how he had learned of shapeshifters—and his reason for not thinking much of them. Could she get him to discuss it further with her? He hadn’t seemed inclined to do so. And she certainly couldn’t fix the situation.
After Selena released Lupe from the kitchen, she cautiously opened the front door and looked outside to make sure Owen was gone.
But his vehicle was still there, parked on the pavement linking the two houses.
Lupe whined—she didn’t want to wait. So Selena figured she had better take her dog outside now.
She fastened the woven yellow nylon leash to Lupe’s matching collar and picked up a recyclable bag for anything Lupe might leave. “Let’s go,” she said, smiling at her eager dog.
On the front porch, Selena looked around before closing the door behind her. No sign of Owen. Good. But she’d have to try to hurry since she’d no idea when he might reappear, most likely from the other house.
Lupe seemed interested in going to the area between the two buildings, which was mostly grass edged in neatly trimmed bushes. Needles from the nearby fir trees decorated the lawn.
Lupe pulled gently, her nose to the ground, and Selena followed. Since it was dark outside and the illumination from the lights around the driveway wasn’t very bright, this area remained shrouded in shadows. That was fine. Selena stayed alert, all of her enhanced senses attuned to ensure that nothing perilous was around.
Selena detected the scent of some kind of small feral animal, although it was light enough to suggest that whatever it was had come and gone. But that explained why Lupe seemed extremely interested in smelling the grass and its light needle covering. The dog soon produced what she needed to, and Selena scooped it with the bag she’d brought.
That was when she heard a sound other than the branches of the nearby trees blowing in the light breeze and the very distant sound of an occasional automobile.
No, this was soft footsteps on pavement. Lupe heard them, too, since she raised her head, and her pointed, erect ears moved like antennae toward the direction of the sound.
Had Rainey returned? Selena hadn’t heard any car noises.
No, it was probably Owen heading toward his car. Selena remained still, listening. There was no reason to believe that whoever it was constituted a threat to Lupe or her.
Lupe pulled her lead and dashed toward the sound. “Wait!” Selena commanded, keeping her voice low. She didn’t want the person to hear her, especially if it was Owen.
But Lupe didn’t wait. Her leash taut, she kept pulling Selena in the direction of the driveway. She was usually quite obedient. Not now. Did she sense a danger from which she wanted to protect Selena? Or a friend she wanted to greet?
Selena found out in moments as the back-lit figure of a tall, well-built male appeared in the gap between the buildings. Lupe headed toward him, and Selena released her leash.
It was clearly Owen.
Selena followed her dog, knowing she needed to work to get Lupe even better trained here. Yes, she was mostly obedient, emphasis on mostly. Alpha Force cover dogs did get a significant amount of training, but they weren’t necessarily expected to act as official K-9s who sniffed out explosives or cadavers or anything like that. Their function was to be there for their shapeshifter counterparts so that if anyone saw an animal in wolfen form, they wouldn’t be surprised—even if that particular wolf happened to be a shifted human.
Same went for other types of cover animals, such as those for felines or birds or whatever.
Selena knew that the Canadians would soon need to find cover animals for all of their CAs, including a falcon counterpart for Andrea. But that was far from being her current concern.
“What are you doing out here?” Owen demanded as she got closer.
