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Untamed Wolf
Linda O. Johnston
Dark passion crosses the line… Powerful military sergeant by day, fierce wolf by night. Shape-shifter Jason Connell’s freedom is riding on a covert assignment. His desires are tested with every glimpse of his sexy new superior, Lieutenant Sara McLinder. Although she doesn’t believe in his extraordinary abilities, he’s drawn to her. Once the threat against Alpha Force turns explosive, his instinct to protect Sara eclipses everything.Sara’s always lived by the book, but following the rules is impossible when the moon reveals the bare truth about Jason. To survive, they’ll join forces. But to be together, they’ll cross every forbidden line.


Sara wasn’t sure who moved first, but she was suddenly engulfed in Jason’s strong embrace.
His mouth came down on hers, softly at first, then picking up a heat and fierceness and intensity that she felt helpless to do anything about but respond in kind.
No. She never felt helpless. This was exactly what she wanted, precisely where she wanted to be: in Jason’s strong, sexy embrace. Kissing him as if there was nothing, no one, in the world but them.
But as her hands raced under his clothes and up his back to clutch his heated flesh, she heard, in the distance, the sound of conversation.
“I—I’m sorry,” she gasped. “This wasn’t right.”
“Oh, I’d say it was very right,” Jason muttered.
LINDA O. JOHNSTON loves to write. More than one genre at a time? That’s part of the fun. While honing her writing skills, she started working in advertising and public relations, then became a lawyer … and still enjoys writing contracts. Linda’s first published fiction novel appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won a Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. It was the beginning of her versatile fiction-writing career. Linda now spends most of her time creating memorable tales of paranormal romance and mystery.
Linda lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and two Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Visit her at her website, www.lindaojohnston.com (http://www.lindaojohnston.com).
Untamed Wolf
Linda O. Johnston


www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Untamed Wolf is dedicated to wolves, real and shape-shifters. It’s also dedicated to our military, covert and otherwise. It’s dedicated to Maryland, including the Eastern Shore and the area south of Baltimore, where we visit often. Plus, it’s dedicated to my friends and my readers … and, of course, to my husband, Fred.
And it’s especially dedicated to Mills & Boon and the Nocturne series, its editors and most particularly my wonderful editor Allison Lyons. And last but definitely not least, it’s dedicated to my excellent agent, Paige Wheeler of Folio Literary Management.
Contents
Chapter 1 (#u3b60f581-86a8-594a-9c93-685d6d4adc59)
Chapter 2 (#ub17fa89f-ce00-51ac-820a-daebb1c349a9)
Chapter 3 (#u82237995-30eb-57ee-9c4d-2e00e8e73470)
Chapter 4 (#uf06e7876-0bb8-5176-82d4-53d75ebd5d29)
Chapter 5 (#u07e96f11-1af0-5782-b06a-b7399e53119b)
Chapter 6 (#u3dbd77f2-b3dd-5c94-9a13-d998eb295db9)
Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1
Sara pulled her car up to the formidable black wrought-iron gate at Ft. Lukman. She had been driving her small hybrid for more than an hour from D.C. to this out-of-the-way military installation on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Stopping at the security kiosk, she pulled her ID from the purse on the passenger seat. “Lieutenant Sara McLinder, reporting for duty,” she told the guard, a tall man, wearing a standard camouflage uniform similar to the one Sara had on.
So far, nothing here looked different or surprising, no matter what Sara’s superior officer, General Greg Yarrow, had suggested. Of course not.
Even so, maybe she should have waited until tomorrow, as the general had said. It was early evening already, and she wouldn’t have much time to get settled.
On the other hand, it hadn’t been an order, and Sara didn’t like to delay. Facing new situations quickly and immediately was more to her liking than waiting.
“Is General Yarrow behind you, ma’am?” asked the soldier.
“The general will be here tomorrow,” she said.
“Very good, ma’am.” He looked over her identification and passed it back. “Everything looks in order. Welcome to Ft. Lukman, Lieutenant.” The private saluted and the gate slid open, away from the car.
Sara saluted back. “Thank you,” she said, then drove onto the base.
The general had provided her the layout in advance. She knew that the building comprising the Bachelor Officers’ Quarters where she was to stay was to the right once she entered the base. That was where she headed. She was also aware that the cafeteria, not far from the living quarters, should be open late—a good thing. She hadn’t stopped to eat on the way and was hungry.
Rather than pulling into the small enclosed garage, she parked in the open-air lot closest to the BOQ, finding a space at the far end, near a wall. She removed her suitcase on wheels from the trunk of her car. She had already been given a set of keys, so she had no problem either getting inside the functional-looking concrete building or into her apartment after taking the elevator up one floor.
Interestingly, or not, she didn’t run into any other people. Also a good thing, since she didn’t really want to have a gabfest. Not now.
She didn’t spend much time assessing the quarters where she would stay as long as the general kept them at this base. The place resembled a tiny one-bedroom apartment. That was good enough.
She was back outside in only a few minutes, walking in the remaining daylight along a sidewalk toward the cafeteria. As she neared it, she began to see people—others also in camo fatigues and thick-soled shoes similar to hers.
She wondered if she would be able to discern any differences between the two main units now present at Ft. Lukman. That was one of the reasons General Yarrow intended to station himself for a while at this base. He was in charge of Alpha Force, the special-ops unit that had been headquartered here for a few years. A new special-ops group, the Ultra Special Forces Team, had only been assigned here about a month ago to prepare for a highly classified and critically important team assignment with Alpha Force, and the general had heard about some friction between the two units.
He wanted to observe it—and, if necessary, make some changes.
Sara, as the primary aide assigned to General Yarrow, would be his eyes and ears and, if necessary, his mouth.
A group of four enlisted personnel—two men and two women—stood by the building’s entrance. They stopped their conversation and saluted her, and she saluted back.
Interesting, since the general had said that things were fairly low-key and informal here at Ft. Lukman. These soldiers were therefore probably among the new arrivals.
The general had also hinted at a lot of other things about what went on at Ft. Lukman, none of which could be real. He liked to joke. His sense of humor was obviously quite different from hers. But she always admired how serious he appeared, even while jesting.
Inside an entry hall, Sara saw people going in and out through an open doorway in the middle—obviously the way into the cafeteria. The aroma of grilled meat grew stronger the closer she got, confirming her assumption.
The place was smaller than she’d anticipated for a base this size—a long room crowded with occupied tables. She headed toward the food line and picked out a hamburger and fries, then got a soft drink.
Once she paid, she looked around for an empty spot and saw none. She could get the meal to go, but for now was carrying a tray.
“Hi,” said a female voice beside her. “You look lost.” Sara turned and saw a woman in camo uniform with layered tawny hair and a big smile—another lieutenant, like her. “You wouldn’t happen to be General Yarrow’s aide, would you? We were told you’d be here tomorrow, but I don’t think anyone else is expected right now.”
Sara smiled. “Good guess. I’m Sara McLinder.” She saw that her new companion’s name tag read Hodell.
“I’m Colleen Hodell. Welcome. Here, we’ll make room at our table for you.” She gestured across the room where some other soldiers were seated around a table. “They’re all Alpha Force members.”
“Thanks,” Sara said, and followed Colleen.
By the time they got there, someone had pulled an empty chair up to the table. Eight people were already seated around it. Sara smiled and nodded through the introductions. Interestingly, officers and enlisted personnel were all eating together.
Alpha Force protocol might be stronger around here than that of the regular military. Well, the general had warned her to expect things to be different from what she was used to, and some of it had to be real. If this fraternization made her uncomfortable, she wouldn’t show it. Just being friendly wasn’t prohibited under military regulations.
She placed her tray on the table and sat down.
“Welcome to Ft. Lukman,” said the man seated beside her. According to his insignia, he was a sergeant. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard a welcome, but this soldier’s deep voice resonated with what sounded like irony. She looked at him, planning to maintain her rank and dignity.
“Thank you, Sergeant,” she said brusquely, then looked away after noting what appeared to be sexual interest in his flashing golden eyes.
She must have imagined it. That would be the kind of fraternizing that was definitely forbidden under military regulations.
Although...well, she wasn’t supposed to notice such things, but that sergeant was one handsome guy. He looked fairly young, maybe late twenties like her, but his short, black hair was flecked with silver. His features were sharp, his smile gorgeous and challenging—and she couldn’t help noticing how broad his shoulders appeared beneath his camo shirt.
“Are you a new member of Alpha Force?” asked the sergeant, whose ID tag said his last name was Connell.
“Not exactly,” she said. “I’m General Yarrow’s aide, and I’ll be here as long as he is. He is planning some exercises for Alpha Force while he’s here.”
“Then you’re not—” The female sergeant across the table, whose name tag said Jessop, stopped speaking when Colleen elbowed her in the ribs.
“Has the general told you much about Alpha Force?” asked another man at the other side of the table. Sara nearly rose and saluted as she noticed his brass. He was a major. But the informality around here stopped her. Members of this unit might act all military elsewhere, but while eating dinner in this cafeteria they were all, apparently, just people.
“No, sir,” Sara said. “Not really.” Greg Yarrow had implied that things around here were quite different from the rest of the military without giving any credible explanation. He had even suggested that some of the members of Alpha Force went beyond any military skill she could ever imagine—because they were shapeshifters. Hah! She had worked with him long enough to anticipate and deal with that offbeat sense of humor of his. Despite his straight face, he knew better. He couldn’t actually imagine she was a gullible subordinate who’d buy into that. Even so, he hadn’t told her anything genuinely distinctive about the remote and covert unit. She figured she would learn the real differences here on the job.
She took a bite of her hamburger. Not bad for cafeteria food.
“Interesting,” said the sergeant beside her. “Maybe I should show you around. Teach you what you need to know.”
“Back off, Jason.” That was the major. She squinted slightly to see his name tag.
It read Connell just like the sergeant’s. Jason’s.
Talk about interesting... Were the noncom and officer related?
That would be unusual—not that relatives had joined the military, but that both men would be in the same unit.
Was that somehow part of the reason that Alpha Force was considered different from other special-ops units?
Doubtful, but— Well, it made more sense than imagining that any of these very real-looking people could be shapeshifters, despite the general’s teasing insinuations that they were. But just being related didn’t make these soldiers distinctive, unless, perhaps, their family members had taught one another useful skills from youth that other people might not have. She couldn’t think of a good example, though.
Maybe they really had taught one another how to shapeshift.
Not!
She took a sip of her drink and another bite of hamburger, then glanced back toward the sergeant to see whether he was, in fact, backing off.
The expression in his eyes was now filled with what looked like irony—even as he seemed to assess her from head to toe as she sat there. Oh, yes. He was a real man.
The gaze heated her insides. Made her sexually aware of the guy all over again.
Forget that, she cautioned herself. She was entirely military. Obeyed all orders and loved it.
No way would she allow herself even to notice if this soldier decided to play games with her.
Although, she realized, she already had noticed...and somehow liked it too much.
* * *
The rumors had been correct, Jason thought. Not that Major Drew Connell—no, not just major, but also Doctor Drew Connell, his cousin—told him much of anything around here.
Jason was just a peon. At least, because of his very special background that had led him to Alpha Force, he had been promoted to sergeant quickly and wasn’t just a private.
In any event, Jason took a sip of soda water and continued to watch the gorgeous, hot—and unapproachable—lieutenant who had only arrived at Ft. Lukman that night. She obviously wasn’t armed with the knowledge she needed to fit in here.
Those rumors said she was a very important aide to General Yarrow. So why hadn’t her boss informed her about what she was in for at this base?
“So tell us something about yourself, Lieutenant,” he said, addressing her. She was slender, with short, blond hair, a pale but perfect complexion, and high cheekbones that underscored eyes of an unusual blue-green shade. “Have you worked with General Yarrow long?” Those were nice, neutral, friendly questions, weren’t they?
Jason was still on probation here. Probably would be for the rest of his life unless he figured out a workable way to resign.
On the other hand, he would be leaving behind some stuff he really liked along with the military regimen he despised. Some stuff he’d grown used to and didn’t want to do without.
So he’d made his decision. He was staying—for the time being, at least.
He glanced at his cousin to make sure there was no angry scowl on his face, the result of every misstep Jason made in Drew’s presence.
Fortunately, Drew just regarded the lovely lieutenant expectantly, as if awaiting her answer, too. So were all other Alpha Force members here—those who were like him, and those who weren’t.
That was something damned special about this unit. They all worked together—and those who weren’t like him were actually assigned to help those with the same characteristics as he had.
What would the lovely lieutenant think if she knew that half the members of Alpha Force were shapeshifters?
Oh, yeah, real dogs and other appropriate animals were kept on base as covers for them. Jason had even started helping to train the dogs in his spare time. But the reality was that Jason, and a lot of others, would be changing tonight under the full moon. By choice these days, which was especially cool.
“I’ve been in the army for nearly two years,” the pretty officer was saying.
She was Lieutenant McLinder. Sara, she’d said during introductions. She didn’t look as if she’d be thrilled for a mere sergeant to address her by her first name, even here.
“I’ve been an aide to General Yarrow for about five months,” she continued.
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 Force, 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.
And no one in the Ultra Special Forces Team was supposed to ask questions about Alpha Force.
“Everyone else back in their quarters?” Jason asked. All the other shifters were brass—officers, from lieutenants up through Major Connell. That was partly thanks to General Yarrow, he’d been told. Although their nature was revealed only on a need-to-know basis, the shifters in Alpha Force were regarded with esteem, and their special abilities were to be recognized by the military, at least by their ranks.
Everyone but him.
“They sure are. Drew said we should all get a couple of hours’ sleep, then we’ll meet up in the lab to compare notes about last night.” Jonas yawned. “You okay on your own now?”
“Sure am.” Jason gave him an exaggerated salute. “I’m off to my quarters. See you later, Captain.”
Jason pivoted as if he felt like genuine, by-the-book military and headed in the growing light of dawn toward the better-than-barracks apartment building that housed a group of enlisted members of Alpha Force, not too far from the BOQ.
Jason was the only shifter in that building—the only Alpha Force shifter who wasn’t a commissioned officer.
Most shifters in Alpha Force had individual aides to help them, primarily enlisted personnel quartered in the same building as Jason. For the exercises tonight, though, the decision had been that only one aide was needed, and Captain Jonas Truro had been it.
Jason didn’t have his own personal aide, anyway. The only perk he’d been given was that he had been promoted to the rank of sergeant nearly immediately. Being a noncommissioned officer was better than just being a private, but he’d have liked the recognition given to the other shifters.
Of course he didn’t have a college education—yet—like the rest of them.
And then there was the reason his cousin Drew had twisted some arms to get him accepted into the military, and Alpha Force, in the first place....
He still had a lot to overcome, damn it.
But having gotten a figurative taste of Alpha Force and how it worked, and a literal taste of the elixir that helped to make Alpha Force what it was...well, like it or not, he’d probably stay with this unit for a nice, long time.
Which meant that disobeying what Jonas Truro might consider to be an order wasn’t in the cards. Not this morning, at least.
Instead of attempting to confront Lieutenant Sara McLinder after what they had—sort of—shared that night, Jason continued toward his small apartment.
The next time he’d see her would probably be at the upcoming meeting in the main building housing Alpha Force labs and offices.
There would be plenty of time then to embarrass even further the woman who’d watched him change that morning.
Chapter 3
Sara didn’t even try to get more sleep.
Each time she sat down, or stood, or did nearly anything, her mind kept returning to that scene near the woods.
And so she spent the next hour sitting on the uncomfortable brown sofa in her quarters, trying to read a book on military history to distract her—and failing dismally.
She remained dressed in the camos she had donned earlier to go look for those damned wolves that had confronted her last night—and what a mistake that had been.
Had she imagined it? Was she nuts? She had, after all, performed some absurd research on her own earlier, about shapeshifters, after seeing the wolves. Had the general’s strange attempt at humor and the innuendos about the unusual nature of Alpha Force left her susceptible to a really wild kind of joke?
But why would anyone here play a joke on her, especially Jason Connell? He didn’t know her. No one here knew her.
Whatever Jason’s reason, he’d at a minimum bared his very hot body to her. He had also somehow changed from a wolf to a man.
Impossible.
Yet... Her mind kept circling that impossible scenario over and over, which oddly gave it more credence.
She had never before hallucinated anything, let alone something so bizarre.
Yet somehow alluring...
She’d taken pictures. She looked at them again. Then put her digital camera away, hidden deeply in a drawer. It provided more questions than answers.
Once more she tried in vain to focus on the large volume she held on her lap. She barely got through the first ten pages.
At six-thirty, she headed for the cafeteria.
The temperature outside remained cool but comfortable. Once again, others in camo fatigues also strode across the base, a few heading in the same direction she was.
But no one she recognized.
Would she see Jason in the cafeteria this morning? If so, what would she say to him?
Heck, he was the one who owed her an explanation. Maybe even an apology for playing games with her that way.
Unless it was real....
No, she wouldn’t go there.
She was soon immersed in the crowd entering the cafeteria, then stood in line. Though not especially hungry, she decided that comfort food wouldn’t be a bad idea. Never mind that she usually scorned pampering herself in any manner.
She paid for her pancakes, bacon and coffee then scanned the compact eating area.
And saw no one she recognized.
She shoved away the pang of regret that Jason wasn’t there. She wasn’t looking forward to their inevitable confrontation—was she?
Well, maybe a little.
Maybe he would be kind enough to provide an explanation, one she could buy—and one that wouldn’t make her feel like an utter fool.
No Alpha Force members were eating here at the moment, at least none she’d met. Did that have some significance?
She would find out. She’d learn all she needed to restore her sense of sanity and well-being.
For now she headed, tray in hand, toward a small table where the folks eating there all wore lieutenants’ insignias. Were any of them members of the Ultra Special Forces Team, or could they be Alpha Force people she hadn’t yet run into?
“May I join you?” she asked, stopping at an unoccupied chair.
“Sure,” said a female lieutenant whose name tag read Swainey. She held out her hand as Sara sat down. “Vera Swainey.” She looked at Sara expectantly.
“I’m Sara McLinder,” she said.
The others at the table introduced themselves, too—three men and another woman.
“Are you all stationed here?” Sara asked.
“That’s right,” said Lieutenant Manning Breman. “You?”
“I just got here yesterday. I’m aide to General Greg Yarrow, who’ll be stationed here on temporary duty for a few months.”
The friendly atmosphere at the table suddenly seemed to freeze into icicles of stares.
“You’re with Alpha Force?” Manning asked, his tone stiff.
“That’s right.” It wasn’t exactly true, but she hated the antagonism that seemed to waft around her. Maybe they’d explain if she pressed. “Tell me what’s going on here. I get the impression that your unit and Alpha Force aren’t exactly buddies.”
“You could say that.” Vera’s voice was also chill. “We were recently assigned here and assumed that— Oh, wait. I see the person we were saving that spot for. Cal, come over here.” She sounded relieved as Cal Brown, the lieutenant whom Sara had met on her floor in their BOQ yesterday, approached with a tray of food.
There were plenty of empty chairs at nearby tables that Cal could pull up to their table. But all eyes of those seated there remained on Sara, as if demonstrating that she had outstayed her welcome.
“Here,” she said to Cal as she stood abruptly, picking up her tray. “Have fun with this group. I certainly didn’t.”
She strode away, chose a small table near the door and sat down by herself.
She glanced at her watch. It was seven o’clock. She would phone General Yarrow soon. Warn him about the extent of the friction between the two primary units stationed here at Ft. Lukman.
Find out when he was planning on arriving that day.
She wouldn’t, of course, mention what she had seen, or thought she had, earlier that morning.
But when he arrived, she would talk to him as soon as possible. Maybe even show pictures.
He could tell her more about Alpha Force. He had, after all, warned her to expect a different atmosphere and different kind of unit. Had even hinted at what she’d seen.
He knew what Alpha Force was about. She had just preferred not to imagine that what he hinted at could be real.
Now she knew better—and she hoped he would explain it to her.
* * *
Jason sat back on the uncomfortable folding chair, surrounded by colleagues, both shifters and not. He looked around the small basement office in the main Alpha Force building at the far end of Ft. Lukman.
This was where they always met on the morning after a full moon. Other meetings were also held here for Alpha Force members in the secured laboratory area.
On the first floor, dogs were housed—those used as the cover, when necessary, for wolf shifters. Jason had a dog assigned to him: Shadow. He also enjoyed helping to train them in his spare time, although not today.
All the dogs had remained in their nice, well-maintained kennels last night—unlike the shapeshifters of Alpha Force.
“We need your report first this time, Jonas.” Major Drew Connell, Jason’s oh-so-perfect cousin, stood at the front of the room. He looked worried.
He’d really worry if Jason told him what he’d done that morning. Therefore, Jason wouldn’t mention it.
“Everything started out fine,” Jonas Truro responded as he stood up from his seat in the first row of four. He glanced around the group of shifters and aides who were present. “All our wolf shifters chose not to take the version of the elixir that would keep them in human form. Instead, everyone drank the kind that helped with human cognition while shifted but didn’t stop them from changing. Our cougar shifter Colleen did the same.” He nodded toward the woman who sat in the same row as Jason, a few people over.
The elixir was good stuff. Both formulas were. Jason gave the unit, and especially Drew, a lot of credit for that.
Now premixed bottles of both kinds were stored in a special refrigerated room nearby, even as Drew continued to upgrade the formulas for each.
Jason listened with interest as Jonas described everyone’s change in the clearing in the woods that had been previously selected, then how he stayed with the wolf pack as they roved areas also designated in advance. With the Ultra Special Forces Team there for the last month, it had become impossible to have the run of the entire base while in shifted form when the moon wasn’t full. At least last night, with the moon full, the USFT personnel had been told to stay in their quarters...without being told why.
Jason had no doubt that some, if not all, of that unit already suspected the true nature of Alpha Force. They probably scorned it—or feared it. But the official position for both units, at least for now, was to stay separate in all training exercises and otherwise. No joint exercises yet, although that was intended for the future. When? Peons like him weren’t kept informed about such important matters.
“There was one incident,” Jonas said. “Minor, but everyone should be aware of it. Lieutenant McLinder was wandering around outside around midnight and saw the pack. I shooed her back inside, but maybe someone should talk to her about maintaining silence about what she saw.”
And about what she saw around five in the morning? Yeah, she definitely should stay silent about that, Jason thought. And probably would, even without being cautioned. He strongly suspected she wasn’t about to announce to the world, her world, what she had observed. Even though he’d seen her taking pictures.
She might talk to him about it, though.
If so, he was ready. Very ready.
“Our next exercise will probably be later this week,” Drew was saying. “We’ll decide who’ll shift and who won’t. That will also dictate which of our aides and cover dogs—and cat—are needed.”
He talked a while longer. Jason had started to tune his cousin out when a knock sounded on the office door.
It startled Jason, and probably everyone else in the room. They exchanged glances.
Before Drew could look outside to see who it was, the door opened.
Lieutenant Sara McLinder walked in.
Though she wasn’t extremely tall, her straight stance and the glare in her blue-green eyes had her dominating the room in that instant.
She was definitely a good-looking woman. Or maybe his opinion was colored by what he knew she’d seen...and, perhaps, enjoyed.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m obviously interrupting something. But you all should know that General Yarrow will arrive here at Ft. Lukman around ten o’clock this morning.”
* * *
Sara wasn’t sorry at all about interrupting this meeting, whatever it was about. It clearly involved Alpha Force, since she recognized most of the people who sat staring at her.
Including Sergeant Jason Connell. He was as great-looking as she recalled, of course—even with his clothes on. Seeing him in person again only stressed that she couldn’t have imagined what she’d observed...could she? Under his camos, his shoulders were broad. His face was incredibly handsome, and the small streaks of silver in his dark hair only added to the appeal of the package.
She met his amused golden eyes only briefly, then turned back to the major.
The family relationship was apparent between the two men. Major Connell also had gold eyes and flecks of silver running through his dark hair. He was nice-looking, too. Maybe a little older than Jason. But not nearly as handsome.
More quietly than her earlier pronouncement, she said to him, “Major Connell, you know I’m here representing General Yarrow. He even gave me his card keys to get into this building and the lab area on his behalf. If this is an Alpha Force meeting, I should have been invited.”
“I know your assignment, Lieutenant. You’ll be invited to all meetings necessary to what the general, and you, are here to accomplish. This was a recap of some prior exercises and I didn’t think it appropriate for you to waste your time.”
“I’ll let the general decide what’s appropriate for me.” She kept her expression neutral, though her words weren’t.
“I understand.” The major turned back to the group. “I think we’re through here,” he said. “Everyone is dismissed.”
Especially me, Sara thought. But she didn’t complain. Not yet. Nor did she ask any questions.
She had contacted the general, though, and she was really glad that he would arrive in only a couple of hours.
She would be there waiting for him.
For now, she scanned the group until her eyes lit again on Jason Connell, who was approaching the major.
Did Major Connell know what Sara had seen last night? Had Jason told him what he had done?
Surely the major knew who, or what, his own cousin was...assuming Sara hadn’t imagined it all.
Should she simply ask the major? Maybe, but she wanted to talk to General Yarrow first.
And preferably to Jason even before that, to gauge his position about the incident.
Not now, though. He was engaged in a conversation with the major. Time for Sara to leave, along with the rest of the group.
Outside the door she feigned answering her cell phone but hung up as Jason came through.
“I’d like to talk with you, Sergeant,” she said, inserting her most formal military quality to her voice.
“I’ll bet you would, Lieutenant.” There was humor in his tone and a suggestive smile on his face. “Would you like to go someplace where we could...talk alone?”
She felt her face flush. “No, thank you. But I would like for you to give me an official tour of this facility.”
“I can only do that on the major’s orders, Lieutenant.” This time, he sounded serious.
Which suggested further to Sara that she was being kept outside the Alpha Force loop for now. She was a superior officer, yet he was refusing to obey her while giving a good excuse. That would surely change when the general got here and ordered everyone to cooperate with her as well as him.
“Then come with me, please. There’s something I’d like to show you.” Not really, but she decided to lead him back to the area where he had shown her...a lot.
“Yes, ma’am.” His tone again suggested he was thinking about exactly what she was.
He didn’t comment as they walked up the stairs to the main floor of the building. There, she stopped in the kennel area to look at the dogs she had been told were there.
They were all of moderate size, and most resembled the animals she had seen last night: wolves.
“I like dogs,” she said casually. “Do you, Sergeant?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, smiling. “Especially those guys. My favorite is Shadow.”
He reached inside the chain-link fencing of a nearby kennel and stroked the head of the closest dog inside, whom he introduced as Shadow. Sara couldn’t help thinking that this dog in particular bore a strong resemblance to Jason in wolf form. Could he somehow have pulled a prank on her after all? But how?
“Any kinds of dogs you like better than others?” Jason asked.
He probably wanted her to say something like the kind she’d seen last night—and especially that morning. But that wasn’t something she intended to admit.
“Small ones,” she said. “These guys are cute, but they look difficult to walk and control. I like dogs that I can train and manage.” Oh, Lord. She knew she was stepping into a nasty mess that had nothing to do with dog excrement. He could read a lot into her words if he chose. Maybe that was a good thing, if he really was what she suspected. But there was no way she would ever admit to him that what she had seen had touched her libido, gotten her most intimate parts simmering.
“Sounds like a very interesting way to treat your...dogs,” he said. “I’d be glad to teach you how to work with these guys—or any others.”
She’d had enough. They were outside the building on a walkway that led toward the woods in one direction, or toward the BOQ in the other. “I’ve got someplace I need to go now,” she said. “See you later, Sergeant.” She stood straight, looking at him, until he saluted her. She saluted back.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said so officially that it sounded facetious, then he whirled on his heels and strutted off.
Sara headed back toward her quarters. She would find something productive to do until it was time to go meet the general.
* * *
At around nine-thirty, Sara realized she had actually gotten something accomplished in a short time, although not what she had intended.
For one thing, she had thoroughly searched Google on her laptop to see if she could find any information to suggest that shapeshifters could be real.
Of course there was. The authors could all have been credulous fools who wanted to believe, so they did. Nothing stood out to her as proof.
There were also a lot of websites ridiculing the whole idea.
She logged off the computer and left it on the small table in the kitchenette in her quarters. Then she checked herself in the mirror. Almost time to go wait for the general.
She’d decided to meet him right away, before he had time to talk with anyone else.
Soon she headed down the stairs in the BOQ and out the door. She walked toward the front gate.
And got waylaid by Jason. What was he doing out here?
He soon told her. “Hello, Lieutenant. I’m the general’s unofficial greeter from Alpha Force. Is that why you’re out here? I’m supposed to call Drew—er, Major Connell—and let him know when the general arrives.”
“Won’t the security guys notify the major?” Sara asked.
“Probably. But those were my orders.”
“Okay. We’ll both wait for him, then.” She didn’t want to wait with Jason. He would be a big distraction. He would keep her from asking the general questions right away, too. But she nevertheless walked with Jason toward the base’s front gate.
She saw a few other soldiers walking around and some cars cruising the nearby roads. But she was extremely aware of Jason’s tall, masculine presence beside her.
Especially when he said in a voice tinged with suggestiveness, “How are you enjoying Ft. Lukman so far, Lieutenant?”
“It’s fine, Sergeant. I intend to get a lot accomplished here. Learn a lot, too.”
“About Alpha Force?”
“That’s right,” she said. “I have some ideas already about how it can be improved, and I intend to let the general know.”
She sensed Jason’s hesitation beside her, but she wiped the grin off her face before she turned to him. His expression now was grim, not suggestive of anything but worry.
Good.
She looked again toward the guard gate, just in time to see the general’s old, classic Jeep stopping. His ID was apparently approved right away, since the large gate opened inward and the general drove through.
Continuing to drive slowly, he approached the area where Sara and Jason stood.
And then Sara spotted smoke pouring out of the car’s back end.
Chapter 4
What the hell? Jason didn’t need Sara’s frantic shouts of fear, magnified by his canine senses, to spur him to dash to the burning vehicle that suddenly veered off to the side.
He assessed the situation as he ran toward the front of the car. He kept all assumptions and fears, all emotions, in check. Now was only a time for action.
He had worked on the general’s Jeep a couple of times when the old man had come to Ft. Lukman for meetings since Jason’s recent enlistment. It was an early 1990s model Jeep, not quite old enough to be a classic, but still an admirable aging vehicle.
The gasoline tank was in the back—near where the smoke was pouring from, but down low, beneath the axle. That model’s gas tank was built well, to prevent catching fire from sparks off the road or otherwise. Everything should be fine.
Except that the tires were flammable. So were the seats, the carpeting, the safety belts...
And right now, there was plenty of smoke. What remained of the canvas cover could confine a lot of it inside, enhancing the danger of smoke inhalation by the general.
Plus, depending on the location and intensity of the fire...well, despite the built-in precautions, there were no guarantees that the gas tank wouldn’t explode.
Jason aimed for the driver’s door, shoving his hands in his pockets as he ran to check for anything useful. Despite his dedication to working on cars, he didn’t coincidentally happen to carry tools that people were supposed to keep in their glove compartments to shatter windows in emergencies. All he had were keys. A pocket knife. His cell phone.
Nothing likely to be helpful.
Was the general still conscious? The haphazard way the car now progressed suggested otherwise. Yet if he was, maybe Jason could get him to turn off the engine and take the thing out of gear. Push the button to unlock the driver’s door.
For now, he would assume the commanding officer remained alive. He had no evidence he wasn’t...at least not yet.
The stench of burning rubber and more grew even ranker as he arrived at the vehicle, but Jason ignored it. He also ignored the shouts of other people. All behind him? He saw no one closer to the car than he was.
Unsure what was searing hot and what wasn’t, he yanked off his camo shirt and wrapped it around his right hand.
He reached the door and looked in. Smoke. Lots of it. But in the middle of it all, Jason could see that the general appeared conscious—barely. His eyes were open. His hands? Moving, but not in the right direction to get him out of there.
Jason first tried to yank the door open, to no avail. He pounded on the window to get the general’s attention. “It’s locked!” he shouted as Yarrow’s head jerked toward him. Had he heard? Was he aware enough to understand?
Yarrow, one hand at his mouth as he coughed, turned toward the door. In a moment, Jason heard a click that probably wouldn’t be audible to someone with normal human hearing, but with his acute senses it sounded nice and loud. He again tried the door.
This time it opened.
He coughed, too, as smoke smothered his face and his ability to breathe. But it didn’t completely mask visibility.
“Let me help,” said a familiar female voice from behind him. Sara McLinder. The lieutenant had kept up with him.
“Stay back,” he said as he leaned inside.
But she apparently wasn’t used to obeying orders from lower-ranking soldiers. As Jason leaned in and grasped the now-limp body of the general, he was suddenly glad that was so.
He needed to get the CO out of there fast. In moments, as he thrust his hands under the general’s armpits and heaved him out, he found Sara, despite also coughing, grabbing the legs and swinging Yarrow even farther from the frying car.
Others who’d caught up with them, Lieutenants Seth Ambers and Grace Andreas-Parran, also helped to form a stretcher of human—well, somewhat human—arms.
Grace was a doctor as well as a shifting member of Alpha Force. It was still too soon to have her check the general’s condition, though. Awkwardly but quickly, Jason helped the group maneuver the general’s barely conscious body far from the car and within a parking area near the base’s entry kiosk.
The harsh smell of the fire suddenly multiplied, and so did the background odor of oil as the flames apparently reached the engine. How secure was the gas tank now?
Jason swiftly noticed that he wasn’t the only Alpha Force member helping here whose eyes had widened as their noses lifted.
And then, kaboom! As loudly and completely as any explosion in an action movie, the general’s car detonated.
* * *
“Sir? Are you okay? Greg?” Sara wasn’t certain where the tarp had come from on which they gently laid the general down on the hard parking lot surface. Maybe from one of the vehicles parked nearby. It didn’t matter.
What did matter was how her boss, commanding officer to many of those present at Ft. Lukman, was doing.
Was he still alive?
He hadn’t responded to her queries, which she knew sounded pitifully plaintive. Maybe he couldn’t hear her. She wasn’t right beside him now. Not the way things had worked out as the group of them had laid him down gently.
She therefore maneuvered around on the periphery of the tarp to be nearer to his head, not exactly elbowing others out of her way but coming close to it.
She prayed she didn’t imagine it, but the general’s chest seemed to be moving slowly, indicating he was breathing.
“General Yarrow? Sir?” she said, louder this time and definitely closer to his ears, not caring that her voice broke as she addressed him.
He was her mentor. Her friend.
And he might be dying.
Sure, she was a soldier. She had joined the military prepared to go into combat. To lose comrades in arms, if necessary.
But not here, on U.S. soil.
And not this very kind, very wonderful man.
She moved even closer, only to find her way blocked by Jason. “You probably haven’t met Lieutenant Grace Andreas-Parran yet,” he said to Sara, gesturing to the woman in camo uniform, like all of them, who knelt at the general’s other side. “She’s a medical doctor as well as a member of Alpha Force.”
“Oh.” Sara knew what Jason wasn’t saying. She needed to back off. Let the doctor do what she could for the general.
Grace was slim and attractive, with blond hair so pale that it almost looked silver.
More important, her luminous brown eyes were narrowed as she concentrated on scanning the general’s body. From what Sara could see, his camo uniform was intact. Unsinged. Maybe he hadn’t been burned.
That didn’t mean he would survive. Smoke inhalation could kill people. And so far Sara didn’t know if he’d suffered any other kinds of injuries.
“Was he hurt?” she asked Grace. “I mean, besides being in a burning vehicle.”
“Not sure yet.” The doctor’s long fingers moved rapidly along General Yarrow’s prone body, clearly checking for injuries along with her concentrated gaze. “You’re his aide, aren’t you?”
“That’s right,” Sara said.
“Are you aware of any medical conditions he may have—heart related or otherwise? It’ll help diagnose and treat him if we have all his information.”
“I don’t know of any. He’s not exactly forthcoming with that kind of stuff, but I’ve made him occasional appointments for checkups at Bethesda Medical Center. I can call there.”
“Just get me the contact information. With privacy issues, they’re more likely to let me know matters like that.”
Which peeved Sara. She was almost like family to the general. But Grace was right. She was the doctor. She was the one they’d talk to about anything needed to save Greg Yarrow.
Sara was aware of Jason’s presence right behind her. He must have heard the conversation. He rested his hand firmly on her shoulder. To warn her to back off? But the contact seemed more comforting than cautionary.
Under other circumstances, Sara wouldn’t allow him to touch her at all. She was his superior officer. They were on duty.
But at the moment his touch somehow helped her to survive this horrendous situation.
She heard a lot of voices near them, too, and looked around to see other soldiers she had already met here. Some, like Seth Ambers, Colleen Hodell, Rainey Jessop and Jock Larabey, were members of Alpha Force. Others, including Lieutenants Cal Brown, Manning Breman and Samantha Everly, were members of the Ultra Special Forces Team.
All circled the general’s vulnerable body, staying respectfully back.
“Hey. What the hell happened?” That was Major Drew Connell, who maneuvered his way through the crowd.
“He’s a doctor, too,” said Jason into Sara’s ear. “A damned good one.”
She already knew that Drew, CO of the unit, was also a physician. “Great.” She turned to look toward Jason. His expression was bland, but his gaze, as he looked at her, seemed surprisingly sympathetic and she felt tears rush to her eyes. “Two Alpha Force doctors right here?” she continued, needing to say something else to demonstrate that she wasn’t some emotional wimp. “The general’s in good hands.” Sara prayed that was so.
A siren sounded in the distance. “Good,” stated Drew Connell. “I called 911 immediately.”
“I did, too,” Grace said. “The general needs to be checked out by EMTs with appropriate equipment, then transported immediately to the nearest emergency facility. That’s at the Memorial Hospital in Easton, isn’t it?”
“That’s right,” said Drew.
“What...” The word was soft but interjected into the conversation from below them.
The general!
It was all Sara could do not to push her way through all people, doctors or not, to get closer, to hear what Greg had to say.
Only...was it good for him to expend energy trying to talk?
The wail of the siren grew closer. It would be even more difficult to hear him, anyway.
But his eyes opened. They looked around, cloudy and dazed—not at all the usual strong expression conveyed by the powerful and confident CO.
“What happened?” he said. His voice was loud enough now to be heard. He began moving, as if wanting to sit up.
“We’re not certain yet, sir.” Drew held him gently on the ground. “Please stay still for now till we can check you better for injuries. Your car caught fire and we’re going to get you to the nearest hospital for an examination as soon as possible.”
Which was a good thing. Sara had learned, from the general’s initial description of Ft. Lukman, that it held an infirmary with high-tech equipment. But that couldn’t compare with a genuine medical facility staffed by specialists and nurses. Greg Yarrow was entitled to the best care possible.
“Fire?” The general’s look somehow hardened, despite the overall laxness and pain in his features. “Hell.” That apparently cost him a lot of effort, since he grew silent again.
The siren was extremely loud now. Sara saw the ambulance screech up to the entry kiosk that, only a few minutes earlier, had admitted the general’s now-destroyed car.
The EMTs were allowed in immediately. They quickly gave the general an initial exam, and then loaded him into their vehicle. Lieutenant Grace Andreas-Parran and her husband, Lieutenant Simon Parran, who had just joined the group around the accident site, got into the ambulance with him. Jason also let Sara know who the newly arrived man was—and that he was a doctor, too.
“There are a lot of medical doctors in this unit,” Sara said. Did that have something to do with their apparently woo-woo nature, or did their backgrounds somehow help to mask what Alpha Force was really about?
“Yeah, there are,” Jason responded. “In case you’re wondering, those two are especially appropriate to go with the general. They recently returned here after dealing with an ordeal of their own.” Sara had heard about that from the general. “They’ll take good care of him.”
Major Drew Connell stood beside Sara and Jason, along with some Alpha Force members Sara recognized and other people she didn’t. As the ambulance pulled out of the gate, Drew turned toward them.
“So, cuz,” he said to Jason, then gestured toward the smoldering hulk of the destroyed car. An emergency truck with a Ft. Lukman sign on the side had pulled up and was spraying the wreck with chemicals, presumably to put out the fire. “I doubt there’ll be much left to examine, but when those guys are done I want you to take a lot of pictures. We’ll need to secure the wreck where it is temporarily, but I want you to move it ASAP into a secure part of the main parking structure and cordon it off so no one can reach it till I get a good forensics team here to check it out. I need to know exactly what happened. Vehicles like that don’t just catch fire for no reason. You okay with that?”
“Is that an order, Major?”
“It sure is, Sergeant.”
Jason offered up a halfhearted salute along with his grim smile that looked right at home on his sharp-featured, too-handsome face. “You’ve got it, cuz. Er, sir.”
Sara didn’t smile, even though she recognized the lightness in the exchange between the two cousins as most likely their way of dealing with this terrible event.
At least the general had survived. But now, as Drew had suggested, they had to figure out what had happened.
She wasn’t certain how, but she intended to help.
She would do all that she could to bring to justice anyone involved with endangering her CO.
* * *
One of the first things Jason had done after enlisting in the military, and showing up at Ft. Lukman for a very specialized form of basic training, was to check out the closest auto-repair and maintenance facilities.
Jason understood from even before he enlisted that his primary official assignment would be to take care of Ft. Lukman’s vehicles, which was what he knew best...besides shapeshifting. Oh, and stealing cars—but that would remain in his past. Like it or not, he’d started over here, as a member of Alpha Force.
The base didn’t have much in the way of auto-repair equipment for him to use, though. He’d bought some of the basics. But he had also needed to figure out where he could rent what he’d need only occasionally.
As a result, he had an immediate answer when Drew asked, “Any idea how you’re going to move that thing?”
They both watched the base security guys who’d finished spraying the damaged vehicle with foam to end its smoldering.
“Sure do,” Jason said. “There’s a well-equipped service station in Mary Glen that has a car-carrier tow truck to haul in wrecks or whatever. I’ll see if I can rent it. If not, I’ll get the owner to bring it here and move the carcass for us.”
“Sounds good. Meantime, I’ll keep an eye on that hulk to make sure no one plays with it. We don’t want any further destruction of evidence of what caused the fire, especially if it was somehow deliberately set.”
Jason turned to walk through the substantial group of onlookers still hanging out despite dissipation of the excitement. Sara McLinder remained among them. In fact, the lieutenant hadn’t moved, and he couldn’t read the expression on her beautiful but clearly sad face as she continued to stare in the direction where the general’s ambulance had departed. But it held more than sorrow. Anger? Determination?
Hell, he wanted to find out what she was thinking. He approached her and asked impulsively, “Hey, Lieutenant, you haven’t been here long enough to visit our nearest town, Mary Glen, have you?”
She turned toward him and blinked her amazing blue-green eyes as if she’d just been brought back to awareness from some kind of dream. “No,” she said slowly, as if wondering why he asked, “I haven’t.”
“Okay, then, come with me while I pick up a truck to move that thing. We won’t stay long, but at least you’ll get a sense of the place.” He paused then drew nearer and said in a confidential tone too soft for nearby members of the Ultra Special Forces Team to hear. “Oh, and by the way, some of the townsfolk even believe in shapeshifters. I’ll tell you all about them on the way.”
* * *
Sara was fascinated.
First of all, she liked that, riding beside Jason in his souped-up, old, red Mustang, she could pay much more attention to the road leading away from Ft. Lukman. It was surrounded by gorgeous, thick woodlands composed of trees including mature oaks as well as evergreens.
The road was basically two-lane—barely. They made a sharp left turn at the edge of the base, and Jason swerved to avoid some stones on the pavement.
Sara was definitely an urbanite, but she still found the area charming and attractive. Definitely worth visiting.
But not under these circumstances.
“How far is Mary Glen from here?” she asked Jason.
“Not far in mileage.” He glanced toward her from the driver’s seat for only an instant before redirecting his eyes back to the risky road. “Light years away in attitude.”
“I suppose you’re going to explain,” she said.
“I suppose I am.” He grinned. And then he began telling her an utterly wild tale about Mary Glen and some murders that had been committed there over several years. “I don’t have firsthand knowledge of this,” Jason said, “But my cuz Drew told me about it. It’s how he met his wife, Melanie, in fact. Now they even have a kid—little Emily.”
“Really?” Sara said. “Now I’m getting interested.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you about it. First of all, he said a lot of townsfolk bought into the legend of shapeshifters living in the area. I don’t go to town a lot, but I gather some of its citizens still believe the story. If nothing else, they liked the legend because it brought tourists—and, in fact, it’s one reason Ft. Lukman was established so near Mary Glen, as only loonies like them would buy into the rumor that anyone had seen shifters in the area. Other people here, though, hated both the idea and shapeshifters.”
He explained how the parents of Lieutenant Patrick Worley, one of the members of Alpha Force, had been killed by silver bullets, about a year apart, theoretically because they were werewolves.
“And in fact, Dr. Worley, senior, was a shifter. After he died, Patrick sold his dad’s veterinary practice to Dr. Melanie Harding—Melanie Harding-Connell now, my cousin-in-law. Drew’s wife.”
It seemed that a cult of shapeshifting groupies used to hang out in Mary Glen hoping to see, and perhaps dispose of, some shapeshifters by shooting them with silver bullets. Maybe some still did.
“That’s an absolute myth, though,” Jason added. “Shapeshifters can be killed just like regular people, by any normal kind of ammunition.”
Sara just rolled her eyes but didn’t comment.
In any event, back then someone had shot Drew’s cover dog, Grunge, who was found injured by Melanie, and, excellent vet that she was, she had saved the dog’s life—while endangering her own as an apparent shapeshifter lover. She’d proven to the town that Grunge was not Drew in shifted form. Drew, of course, never admitted to shapeshifting—especially not to that wacko group of people.
Eventually, after more killings, the perpetrator was finally caught. Things around Mary Glen—and around Ft. Lukman—had settled down to a relatively peaceful existence.
Until now.
“Do you suppose anyone from town could have sabotaged the general’s car?” Sara asked.
“Possibly, but that all happened a while ago. I’d bet instead that it was a member of our new best friends, the USFT.”
“But why?” said Sara.
“When we figure that out,” Jason replied, “we’ll probably know who it was, too.”
Their discussion was enough of a diversion for Sara that the drive to the main street of Mary Glen, Maryland, went quickly.
So shapeshifting was real. Jason certainly sounded convincing.
He had looked even more convincing....
* * *
The car-carrier truck was definitely available for rent. At the right price. At the right high price.
But hell, Jason thought. Uncle Sam would be footing the bill, not him.
And the vehicle, with its black, shining cab in front and car-size, ramplike bed in back—along with a hookup to pull a car onto it—was exactly what he needed.
Sara didn’t seem impressed, but he figured she wasn’t a vehicle aficionado, at least not the way he was. He haggled for a few minutes with the owner of the service station that owned the truck, though, so she’d figure he was a good military guy who wanted to save his employer, and his country, some money.
After more discussion, he locked his beloved Mustang in a relatively secure-looking garage area.
He then returned to the truck, opened the passenger door and took Sara’s hand, helping her climb inside.
He liked touching her warm hand, feeling her firm grip.
Wondering what it might feel like elsewhere on his body...
Hell, what was he thinking? Why had he even taken this woman along with him? It wasn’t in his nature to feel sorry for someone who was apparently suffering in sympathy for a downed friend—in this case, a superior officer.
But he had enjoyed her company. Too much.
“This thing rides amazingly well,” Sara said as they headed back toward Ft. Lukman. Then she paused. “But I really like your Mustang.”
Okay. If he hadn’t already been attracted to her, Jason knew he would be now.
But, he told himself, just because she was beautiful and sexy and fun to tease—and talk to—and he’d inhaled her light and appealing citrus scent on their entire ride to town, and even though she liked his car, that didn’t mean he could let himself get involved with her.
She was an officer—a non-Alpha Force one at that. She seemed completely by the book. Ready to obey all orders of her commanding officer, the injured general.
Horrified that she’d seen Jason shapeshift and now trying to ignore it.
And he was just a military peon.
One who happened to be a shapeshifter, and proud of it.
* * *
Their ride back from Mary Glen wasn’t as enjoyable to Sara as going the other direction.
Surprisingly, she had been enthralled by Jason’s glib tale about the quaint small town and its foibles. Not that she’d liked hearing about murders and strange shapeshifter groupies, but the way Jason had described the amazingly squirrely people had captured her interest.
But on the way back, it seemed as though he’d exhausted his interest in the town—and her.
Even so, their being cooped up in the small cab of that truck hadn’t seemed uncomfortable.
Sara hadn’t let it.
Her verbal encouragement hadn’t spurred Jason to tell more stories about Mary Glen, or even himself. Maybe he didn’t want to talk to her about his shapeshifting. Maybe then he would have had to explain what Alpha Force was really about.
And Sara would have enjoyed hearing it. Been relieved, in fact, to learn the secrets.
She had other questions about him, too. Why had he joined the military at all? He didn’t seem enthralled by it. Was it simply to join this team of military shapeshifters?
But he was a noncommissioned officer, and many other members of Alpha Force whom she’d met so far were lieutenants and above. Why was he different?
She didn’t ask. Not now. And when Jason stayed quiet, Sara had started talking about herself—and how she had become General Yarrow’s aide. She’d first gotten her undergraduate degree in political science at Kent State University, where she’d also joined ROTC. She’d always wanted to give back to her country, plus she loved the order of the military. She’d planned early on to make it her career.
She didn’t mention, though, that Alan, her college boyfriend, had thought her nuts and kept trying to get her to do things outside the box. All he did was make her feel uncomfortable.
One night she’d joined Alan at a party and found him drinking, indulging in “recreational” drugs—and making out with another woman. That ended their relationship. And Sara hadn’t been seriously interested in another man since then.
Which was a good thing, especially now. She would never get involved with someone like Jason. She was superior in rank to him. She had the honor of being an aide to a general, and Jason fixed cars.
And, worst of all, he was an amazingly genuine shapeshifter.
His sexy, amusing demeanor didn’t make up for any of that.
“I’d really like to know more about Alpha Force,” she finally finished. “And what makes it tick. General Yarrow is really proud to be the unit’s commanding officer and always hinted broadly at its...unusual characteristics. One thing I do like is the camaraderie among its members.” Although she knew she’d have to remind herself more than once that it was okay to call other members here by their first names instead of their ranks, as she did sometimes in private with her mentor, Greg Yarrow. She’d slipped, though, out of fear for him earlier today, but she wouldn’t do it again.
Alpha Force was military, but its members clearly were less formal than any other unit she had associated with.
Jason shot a quick glance at her then—just as he flipped on the truck’s turn signal.
They were back at Ft. Lukman, and he was about to enter the part of the road nearest the entry—just beyond where they’d first seen General Yarrow’s car on fire.
Jason slowed down again, as if seeking clues. Or avoiding those stones on the road. Or both.
Sara couldn’t help it. She looked around, too. The area was surrounded by trees similar to those they’d passed all along the drive. Could someone have shot something from the cover of the forest that set the Jeep’s canvas on fire?
But wouldn’t the guard in the kiosk have seen it?
Maybe it had been completely accidental. Maybe the people studying what was left of the vehicle would find an indication of what the general had been storing in the back that caught fire. Or maybe he was a closet smoker—though she’d been around him a lot over the past months and had seen, and smelled, no indication of that. And surely the vehicle would have been designed, for safety, for its canvas cover to withstand being hit by a lit butt, just in case.
Still, it seemed awfully coincidental for it to start burning in earnest, however it caught fire, just when the general entered Ft. Lukman.
Jason stopped at the kiosk. As he showed credentials to the guard who greeted them, Sara jumped as she heard a rapping on the passenger window beside her. She looked over.
It was Major Connell. She immediately pressed the button to roll the window down.
“Good,” said the major. “You’re back.”
Sara felt herself quiver in anticipation. Had something else bad happened? Before asking, she looked around.
The hulk of General Yarrow’s car was still there in the spot ahead of them. A couple of soldiers stood by it, rifles at their shoulders, obviously guarding the vehicle’s corpse.
With the truck she rode in, there was a means of moving it to an out-of-the-way spot for further study before official disposal.
For now, though, Jason would have to steer around it.
But not immediately.
Sara stared back out the window toward Drew. “Is the general—” she began.
“He’s doing okay. He wants to see you and me at the hospital ASAP.”
“Fine.” But Sara darted a glance toward Jason. “Only—”
“I’ll get some of the guys to help me move the damaged car onto the ramp back there,” he said, casually gesturing toward the back of the truck. He didn’t seem at all perturbed that she’d be deserting him this quickly.
Which shot a bolt of unanticipated sorrow through Sara.
She hadn’t planned on being with Jason for this amount of time.
She certainly hadn’t planned on enjoying it.
But this just might be the only opportunity she would ever have to spend time with this appealing, sexy—and unattainable—man.
Ever.
And now it was over.
Chapter 5
General Yarrow’s hospital room didn’t impress Sara as looking any more exciting than any other hospital room she’d ever visited, except for its privacy. It was compact, with a single bed—which the general occupied—and two windows along one wall where the blinds had been opened, spilling light inside. The illumination struck the small chest of drawers where patients or their families could stow belongings. A TV hung overhead on the far wall. There were chairs—four of them, occupied now, including the one where Sara sat nearest to the general’s right hand.
Appropriate, she realized.
It was all she could do to prevent herself from taking that hand in hers. To reassure him that everything would be okay.
Ridiculous. He was the one used to dictating the status of how whatever was happening each day played out. Plus, he was still her commanding officer. He would be shocked if she treated him like her friend or relative, no matter how fondly she thought of him.
Major Drew Connell and Sara had arrived only a couple of minutes ago. They’d entered the room and sat down in the seats as the general directed. The other two were occupied by Lieutenant Simon Parran and his wife, Lieutenant Grace Andreas-Parran, who’d obviously done a good job of accompanying the general here and ensuring that he was seen quickly in the emergency room.
Fortunately, his injuries were not life threatening. Grace had met them at the door and briefly informed them that General Yarrow had suffered a substantial amount of smoke inhalation. He’d been coughing and complained of a headache and shortness of breath. He was currently being treated with oxygen that he inhaled via tubes placed in his nose. Otherwise, he was fine.
He looked ashen, though, as his head rested on a pillow at the top of the raised back of the bed. His paleness was emphasized by the unmitigated blackness of his full head of hair—now more askew than Sara had ever seen it before.
But his light brown eyes were flashing, as always—ensuring that anyone on whom he directed his gaze knew exactly who was in charge.
“So where is the shell of my car now?” he demanded of Major Connell. The general, in his blue-plaid hospital gown, was the only one not dressed in camo attire. Sara wasn’t used to seeing him in anything but his casual uniform, jeans and T-shirt during off hours, or, occasionally, something more formal.
“By now it should be secured in an area within the base’s main parking garage, sir,” Drew said, leaning toward him. “Lieutenant McLinder went with Sergeant Connell to rent a special flatbed vehicle to move it, and they arrived back at the base just in time for the lieutenant to accompany me here.”
The general nodded his approval toward Sara. The gingerness of the movement might not have been obvious to the others in this room who didn’t work with him daily, but Sara could tell that he was in real discomfort—and trying to hide it. They all were doctors but she knew the general better than any of them.
She was his primary aide and hoped she would continue in that position for a long time to come.
But maybe not where he had intended, most recently, to station himself—Ft. Lukman.
An image of Sergeant Jason Connell flashed through Sara’s mind, and she willed it away. If they didn’t return to the base housing Alpha Force, then she would never see the gorgeous, devil-may-care noncom again. In either of his forms.
Either of his forms? Heck, the fire in the general’s car had taken precedence in her mind over all else—even pondering how strange, and outrageous, the reality of shapeshifting was.
Not seeing Jason again would definitely be for the best.
“What’s the next step, then?” the general asked. “I presume you’re having the remains examined by someone who’ll be able to tell me what happened to the damned thing.”
“I will, sir,” Drew said. “I’m just having a little difficulty deciding on the right kind of forensics team for this. I of course don’t want to use a civilian team, and because of the...well, delicate nature of the units stationed at Ft. Lukman and their relationship, I want to be sure I get the right kind of expertise in place, with complete discretion. And honesty.”
“In other words,” Simon said drily from his seat on the opposite side of the general’s bed, “you want to bring in someone who won’t either be ready to reveal any unusual things he may see—like shapeshifting—or afraid to point fingers at our new best friends, the Ultra Special Forces Team.”
Simon was a tall man, whose straight, dark eyebrows matched his wavy, thick hair. Sara had noticed how often he shot glances toward his wife. She knew they were newlyweds, and had also heard, as a result of the general’s grumblings, some of the awful details of their kidnapping while on their honeymoon.
Fortunately, other members of Alpha Force, primarily Simon’s brother, Lieutenant Quinn Parran, and Grace’s aide, Sergeant Kristine Norwood, had helped to bring them home— although their involvement hadn’t been strictly in accordance with military protocol. That hadn’t pleased the general—but Sara thought his irritation had been more for show in his position as commanding officer of Alpha Force than his real feelings.
What Simon had just said worried Sara, who liked everything military to be by the book. That included all units being...well, ordinary—even if she already knew that Alpha Force was anything but.
Plus, all military units should unquestionably keep any rivalry under control for the good of the country.
Assuming rivalry was what was going on at Ft. Lukman. If so, it was way out of hand in the event it had been the reason for General Yarrow’s injury.
“You think they’re responsible for this?” Sara demanded, recalling how Jason and she had already discussed that possibility. Her initial experiences with members of the USFT unit, in the cafeteria, in the BOQ and otherwise, hadn’t been especially cordial. In fact, she’d sensed a lot of animosity from that team without understanding why...although maybe they simply mistrusted another military unit alleged to have woo-woo stuff affiliated with it, like shapeshifters. She could understand that. But all military troops had to act for the good of the country, not in accordance with their own suspicions or misgivings.
Surely no one within the USFT would intentionally do something to harm the commanding officer of another unit...would they?
Simon appeared ready to say something affirmative in response to Sara’s question, but the general waved his hand dismissively. “Unknown, at least for now. That’s why we have to be sure to handle the investigation appropriately.”
“Do you have any suggestions about who should investigate your car, then, General?” asked Grace, who was seated beside her husband, opposite Sara.
Before he responded, Sara broke in. “I have an idea, sir. At least for starters. We can keep it low-key at first, but there’s someone stationed at Ft. Lukman who apparently has an excellent background in working with cars. If we get him to do more than just move the vehicle—”
“You’re talking about Sergeant Jason Connell, aren’t you?” Simon’s tone was neutral, but there was something troubling about the way he avoided looking toward Drew—cousin to the soldier under discussion.
“That’s right,” Sara agreed. “I understand he’s an expert in fixing automobiles. As long as he doesn’t do anything to obscure any evidence needed to be confirmed by a neutral third party, why not have him start the investigation? Major Connell already directed that he take a lot of confirming photographs while the car was still at the scene of the event. They can be shown to whoever conducts the official investigation later, too.” She didn’t call what had happened an accident. With that intense a fire, she suspected it was anything but.
“I don’t mean to insult your cousin, Drew,” cut in Grace, her gaze now on the major, “or offend you, but—”
“But you’re going to, anyway.” Drew turned to Sara. “You’re probably not aware of the full situation with Jason, Sara, but—”
“But he’s a car thief,” broke in Simon.
“Was a car thief.” Drew’s expression darkened as he turned toward the lieutenant. “He enlisted in the military and joined Alpha Force as part of his penance for past misconduct.”
“Right. It didn’t hurt that joining up kept him out of prison.” Simon was smiling now. “Hey, we understand. Far as we know, he’s now a model soldier. A fine member of Alpha Force. We’ve seen him do great things with the unit’s automobiles that need servicing. But—”
“I assume you’re not suggesting that he could have been the one to somehow booby-trap my car, are you?” asked the general drily. “Why would he?”
“Why did anyone?” countered Simon. “Assuming it wasn’t just spontaneous combustion.”
Sara tuned out of the discussion for a moment, digesting what she had just learned. Sergeant Jason Connell wasn’t merely a car lover and outstanding mechanic. He had apparently been arrested, and maybe convicted, of being a car thief. He must have agreed to join Alpha Force and throw himself under the scrutiny of his well-regarded cousin Major Drew Connell, a commissioned officer and a medical doctor to boot, to keep himself out of prison.
And this was the guy Sara had found so sexually exciting?
Hell, even if he was sexually exciting, everything she learned about him made him even more of a wrong choice for involvement.
Even so... “General, sir, I didn’t know all that about Sergeant Connell. But he is a member of Alpha Force, and you’re its commanding officer. He has a good reputation for working with cars, and he obviously isn’t going to steal what remains of your Jeep. Sir—” Sara turned to Drew “—as I said, you’ve already ordered that photos be taken. You’ve also said that the remains should be kept in a protected area. You can additionally order that some of the other soldiers on base, maybe more security team members who aren’t part of Alpha Force or USFT, assist Sergeant Connell, and be there the whole time he’s conducting his investigation. Although—” She looked back at the general. “If he was involved, and there was anything he could steal off the damaged car and hide, he’ll have done that already.”
“True,” said General Yarrow. “And I wouldn’t have approved acceptance of the sergeant into Alpha Force if I’d thought he was still any kind of risk. Although having someone watching to confirm he doesn’t do anything wrong with my former vehicle now is a good idea. In fact—”
Uh-oh. Sara didn’t like the general’s smile. She had seen it before when he was about to give an order that he knew the recipient would hate.
He was looking at her.
“Lieutenant McLinder, I hereby order you to work with Sergeant Connell to find out what the hell happened to my car—and to make sure he does a good job of checking it out.”
Her shock must have shown on her face, since, for the first time that she’d seen after the explosion, General Yarrow actually laughed. So did the other three Alpha Force members in the room.
Then the general grew serious. “One thing, though. I’m pretty sure you already know it, that you’ve seen some things you didn’t expect despite my warning before you preceded me to Ft. Lukman.”
“Are you about to tell me that Sergeant Connell is a shapeshifter, sir?” Sara tried to put levity and nonchalance into her voice, but knew she failed miserably. She looked, one by one, at the three Alpha Force members now in her presence, all medical doctors and commissioned officers. “I don’t know if everyone in Alpha Force is a shapeshifter,” she said, “but I now believe that some of you are. And that includes Jason Connell. So if you—”
General Yarrow raised his hand in a sudden gesture that she recognized was intended to command. She immediately shut up.
Which was a good thing, since a voice sounded from behind her. “General Yarrow. Greg. We just heard and had to come here to make sure you were all right.”
Sara turned. In the doorway were a couple of the USFT members she had seen in the cafeteria. They were preceded by a short, stocky man also in camos, his insignias indicating that he was a general. He’d been the one to speak.
“I’m fine, Hugo. Everyone—” General Yarrow’s gaze took in the Alpha Force group around him as he gestured toward the newcomers “—this is General Hugo Myars, commanding officer of the Ultra Special Forces Team. I’m sure you’ve met some of his team members.” He nodded toward the not especially friendly officers Sara had previously spoken with.
Myars maneuvered his way around the representatives of Alpha Force, while his backup remained near the door, their caps respectfully doffed and in their hands. “I know our people aren’t merging as well as we’d initially hoped, so the exercises we planned are on hold, and now this. But I’m here to let you know, Greg, that the USFT and all its team members wish you a speedy recovery, and we’re ready to work with Alpha Force as soon as we can start conducting joint training sessions.”
Nice gesture, Sara thought.
Unless, of course, this was just General Myars’s way to try to disguise the fact that he, or some of his subordinates, were the ones who’d set fire to General Yarrow’s car.
But if so, why?
And did this unanticipated get-well visit make what Jason would find in the Jeep’s remains even more critical...because it would point right to these apparently kindhearted fellow soldiers?
* * *
Jason couldn’t help it.
At the moment, he stood alone on the hard concrete of Ft. Lukman’s main parking garage, arms crossed, enjoying the rare and temporary solitude. Thinking.
He was in the military now. That usually meant having too many people around.
Although there were some people—one in particular at the moment—who he admitted to himself weren’t so difficult to be near. But not just now.
He loved cars. They had a purpose, were understandable and followed logical rules.
They were indifferent to the fact that he was a shapeshifter, didn’t care that he had made some mistakes when he was younger—well, except that he’d occasionally taken some cars away from their real, and possibly abusive or ignorant, owners.
He particularly loved those cars that could be considered classics.
That didn’t necessarily include General Yarrow’s aging Jeep, but Jason had seen, when he had serviced it before, how the general had babied it. Kept it in excellent condition.
Let experts—like Jason—work on it.
Now, though, it was gone—a pile of mostly metal debris. Smelly, fire-scarred, isolated wreckage that Jason was currently examining, all by himself.
He had done as ordered and found a rare location within the main garage that contained only a few spaces, an area on the third floor where only the top brass were authorized to park. A secure enough area that, by closing a garage door and erecting a barrier comprised of excess metal and wood from recent construction on the base, he’d been able to jerry-rig a portion into a pretty secure area after hauling the wreckage there in the truck he’d rented.
He’d been there for a while now, initially just staring at what was left of the deceased Jeep.
As he’d been told, he had found some security guys who were not members of either Alpha Force or that damned Ultra Special Forces Team, and given them orders to show up in about an hour to guard the general’s former car.
That was one good thing about being a sergeant. Even though he was a noncommissioned officer, there were some folks who were of inferior ranks, and he could give them orders.
On the other hand, there were plenty of people of higher rank than him.
Like that gorgeous, sexy lieutenant. He hadn’t wanted to think about her now, but she had insinuated herself into his mind, anyway.
And that stirred some of his most sensitive body parts. Bad time to allow her into his thoughts.
No, right now he ached to dig into the mess and figure out exactly what had happened. And not just because the senior commanding officer of his very special military unit had been in the vehicle when it caught fire.
No, it was even more because he gave a damn.
But Drew wanted a completely unbiased review, by non-Alpha Force investigators, of what was left, in case it contained evidence that pointed to someone’s having caused the damage.
Someone like one of the members of that other major unit at Ft. Lukman, whose members had decided to look down their snooty human noses at their rival team here that they didn’t understand at all, except to believe it inferior.
Little did they know.
But would they have tried to kill the superior officer of that unit? If so, why? And how had they set that fire?
Jason had changed into a well-worn T-shirt and jeans so he wouldn’t appear to be doing anything official. Plus, he didn’t want to mess up his uniform.
As he’d intended all along, he now approached the charred mass from the rear.
That was where the smoke had first appeared, or at least that was what it had looked like while watching the general drive through the gate.
He studied it first, then drew closer, knowing he’d better not touch it or move anything around. He wasn’t an expert in finding evidence, and he might ruin any that happened to be there.
But he knew cars, damn it. And he particularly wanted—
“Hello, Sergeant Connell.”
He forced himself not to jump out of his skin—his human skin—despite being startled by the familiar, strong female voice from behind him.
Instead, he pivoted to see Sara McLinder walk through the only door to this area that he had left accessible.
“Lieutenant.” He nodded in acknowledgment but didn’t want her here. Did he? The sight of her slim body, sexy even in her unisex camo uniform, made him want to approach her and do a lot more than salute.
He stayed where he was.
Especially because he anticipated that she was there to give him orders—like, get away from the damn wreck. Go somewhere else. Obey what she said, just because she could tell him what to do.
“Sergeant—Jason,” she said. “Do you have a camera with you?”
He nodded. “I took a lot of photos before having this thing moved here, like my cuz said.” He’d have done it, anyway.
He’d wanted the reminder of how this poor vehicle had ended up immediately after its destruction.
“Good. Let’s take some more right here before we start.”
“Start what?” He didn’t even attempt to hide the suspicion from his tone.
But that only brought a smile to her lovely, smooth features. A smile that emphasized the natural pinkness of her lips that wasn’t enhanced by any lipstick.
Lord, how he’d love to taste them...right now.
“Drew knows a lot better than I do about your skill in working with cars, but I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen and heard. You should pretty much only look, and touch only what you have to—and take a lot more photos so that, when any experts are brought in, they won’t say that any evidence has become so tainted that they can’t draw any logical conclusions. But even unbiased investigators might miss something a car expert wouldn’t. So I’ve gotten your cousin’s approval to ask you to conduct an initial investigation.”
* * *
“You did that for me?” Jason’s look was smug and sexy as he aimed a smile at her. “I didn’t know you cared.”
Sara shouldn’t have told him she’d been the one to convince Drew. The guy obviously assumed that she’d done it because she was attracted to him.
Not that she’d admit it to him...but she was.
She raised her chin as she shook her head in a slowly skeptical denial, staring him straight in those gorgeous golden eyes. “I don’t—not about you. But I do care about General Yarrow, and I want to make sure we get all the answers in case this wasn’t simply a terrible accident.”
“So you think his car was sabotaged.” Jason’s words sounded more like a statement than a question, even as his expression grew serious.
“I believe it’s a real possibility, so I want to know the truth.” She pulled her own camera and some rubber gloves from the tote bag she had carried, then set the bag on the concrete beside her. “Besides, I’m here to observe...and help.”
His turn to look skeptical. She didn’t like that at all. “Just how do you plan to help?”
She wasn’t about to tell him she was under orders to supervise him—not unless that became necessary because he looked about to screw things up. With his apparent ego, it would be better to let him think he was in control. Think being the operative word.
“Observation is the main thing. And taking pictures, too. In fact, since you’ve already taken some, I can be in charge of the rest, at least for now. Plus—well, if you need assistance I’ll see what I can do. I can at least hold things out of the way, act as a second pair of eyes, whatever.”
He nodded. “That sounds doable.”
“Fine. Let’s get started. Put these on first.” She handed him one pair of the rubber gloves, keeping a second for herself. Then, drawing her gaze abruptly away from Jason, she strode toward the pile of metal remains, aiming her camera and snapping initial pictures.
This was the same camera she’d used to take pictures of his shift. She had already downloaded them onto her laptop computer and made a backup copy, password protected both files, then erased them from the camera.
Alpha Force’s cover would not be blown by her.
Taking closer pictures of the Jeep now would be better, though. “Why don’t you do this in a narrative?” she suggested. “I have a lot of memory left on the card in this camera and can take videos.”
“Good idea.”
Great. They seemed to be in agreement. For the moment, at least. And the division of labor seemed reasonable.
Sara considered herself fairly competent with a camera, but less so with a car.
Even so, she wanted to do a damned good job of supervising Jason as he conducted his preliminary analysis of what had happened to the Jeep to cause it to catch on fire.
Maybe even help with it herself.
Assuming, of course, that the fire hadn’t destroyed all indications of its initial cause.
Jason began at the rear of the hulk. There was nothing left of the canvas that had once been the removable exterior covering, but the metal framework, blackened and curled in places from the heat, remained mostly intact.
“Is it cool enough for you to touch anything?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s fine now.” He was already bending over the back of the thing, mostly looking. But then he probed a few places with his fingers.
For the next few minutes, Sara mostly recorded and listened as Jason used his knowledge of cars to study every centimeter of what he was able to see and described what he was doing.
At first, he apparently saw nothing that he seemed to think was out of place in the remains of a burned-out Jeep.
At one point he asked, “Do you happen to know if General Yarrow was carrying anything in the bed here?”
“He didn’t mention anything.”
“Well, we’ll need to check with him. I see a few things that are definitely not part of the car, but they don’t look especially dangerous, either.”
Without moving them, he pointed them out to her. One was the burned carcass of what appeared to be a battery, and the other was a small piece of metal that could have been from a child’s toy, maybe even a model of the Jeep, judging by its angles.
Then there was what was probably the remains of a steel fishing rod and a lure box containing what once had probably been hooks but were now just melted puddles of metal. Some additional small, melted clumps of metal. Nothing useful or conclusive. In the passenger seat were the remains of what must have been the general’s overnight bag, still partially intact.
Sara dutifully continued to shoot the video, recording Jason’s mention of each item and exactly where it lay in the midst of ashes and other debris.
She was impressed with Jason’s meticulousness and attention to detail in the ruined Jeep. He pointed out the parts he recognized, those that were no longer recognizable but had qualities that allowed him to make assumptions, and more.
He occasionally asked for her to gently touch something, holding it out of the way so he could pry even farther into some inside area. She shot more pictures of each of those areas when her assignment was complete.
Eventually, after more than an hour, Jason was through.
“I know it’ll all be speculation,” Sara said, holding the camera on Jason, “but do you have any initial opinion about the origin of the fire?”
His handsome features grew even sharper as his expression hardened. “Nothing conclusive, nothing I can point to that proves it was anything but some odd mechanical failure or spontaneous combustion or unavoidable accident,” he said, “but despite finding nothing obvious during this first examination, I knew this Jeep well after servicing it for General Yarrow. I believe this was somehow deliberately sabotaged, set on fire. And I’ll do anything I can to find proof.”
Sara turned off the camera and looked at him, seeing the frustration and sorrow on his face. She wanted to do something to comfort him, but all she could do was to acknowledge her agreement. “That’s my belief, too,” she said quietly. “But since you didn’t see anything to hang that opinion on—”
“I will,” he said grimly. “Count on it.”
Chapter 6
Jason used his cell phone to call the head of the small base security team. Time for them to guard the car’s remains. It was getting late on this very busy day.
Sara waited with him, concern furrowing her brow beneath her short cap of blond hair. He’d never thought frowning sexy before. But, as unfortunate as it was, everything about Lieutenant Sara McLinder made him ache to touch her.
Everything including her light citrus scent.
And the way she’d jumped in to help him study the Jeep. Concentrated on taking videos. Essentially interviewed him to preserve his thoughts and actions in case they helped lead to what the hell had caused the vehicle to catch fire.
Everything including the way she now pulled her phone from her pocket often to check the time.
Yes, even that was sexy and taunted him to get up close and personal with her, encourage her to relax...and more.

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