Visionary Wolf
Visionary Wolf
Linda O. Johnston
Can she love the wolf…within the man?Lt. Liam Cortland is the newest member of an elite military unit for shapeshifters. A tech expert, his task is to counter reports of Alpha Force’s existence spreading online.When the rumours take a dark turn, his mission grows more urgent. His greatest ally is Dr Rosa Jontay—the woman who’s seen him at his most vulnerable, the woman he knows he can never have. The woman he can't possibly live without…
Can she love the wolf...
Inside the man?
Lieutenant Liam Corland is the newest member of an elite military unit for shapeshifters. A tech expert, his task is to counter reports of Alpha Force’s existence spreading online. When the rumors take a dark turn, his mission grows more urgent. His greatest ally is Dr. Rosa Jontay—the woman who’s seen him at his most vulnerable, the woman he knows he can never have. The woman he can’t possibly live without...
LINDA O. JOHNSTON loves to write. While honing her writing skills, she worked in advertising and public relations, then became a lawyer...and enjoyed writing contracts. Linda’s first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won a Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. Linda now spends most of her time creating memorable tales of paranormal romance, romantic suspense and mystery. Visit her on the web at www.lindaojohnston.com (http://www.lindaojohnston.com).
Also by Linda O. Johnston (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
Guardian Wolf
Undercover Wolf
Loyal Wolf
Canadian Wolf
Protector Wolf
Back to Life
K-9 Ranch Rescue
Second Chance Soldier
Trained to Protect
Undercover Soldier
Covert Attraction
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Visionary Wolf
Linda O. Johnston
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08218-1
VISIONARY WOLF
© 2018 Linda O. Johnston
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Visionary Wolf is dedicated to all Mills & Boon
Supernatural readers, especially those who have
enjoyed my stories about Alpha Force.
And yes, as always, my thanks to my fantastic agent,
Paige Wheeler of Creative Media Agency, and to my
wonderful editor, Allison Lyons. There may be no
further Alpha Force stories, but I look forward
to more Heroes.
Also, as always, I thank my dear husband,
Fred, for being there, and for inspiring me.
Contents
Cover (#u174d6e38-c894-5db5-8067-85c8986e5db6)
Back Cover Text (#u241960ae-26fb-5cd3-ab43-95203a90c294)
About the Author (#u4aed2d9a-da1c-5282-93a3-490c7770d7dd)
Booklist (#ue6171748-3918-5617-9fdf-5a54e8820c8f)
Title Page (#ue8570cd4-89eb-54e0-a176-32a922a9cdd0)
Copyright (#u87db3e01-d0f0-5b8c-a09c-f18d425f3f6a)
Dedication (#udd0942ce-58a0-5efb-b2e3-ef412744f273)
Chapter 1 (#ud2ca727a-9c97-5776-bf51-fd6fdb2693fe)
Chapter 2 (#ud2106c76-bd91-5107-9b13-4405af55ed63)
Chapter 3 (#u9e716156-6f09-5528-9f70-fb8eb845f20f)
Chapter 4 (#u9700c551-925f-5eb3-935c-d78ac36e6535)
Chapter 5 (#ufe3fc89f-45ef-5f8e-b73d-a4363a898aa3)
Chapter 6 (#ubd441009-70e1-5aae-8f55-ef00a677bd88)
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)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
Good thing he was at Ft. Lukman, Lieutenant Liam Corland thought. At any other military facility, he would never feel comfortable walking calmly with his dog, Chase, across the nearly empty grounds, in his casual camo uniform, later in the morning than he should be reporting for duty. In fact, he wouldn’t feel comfortable working at any other military facility, period.
But this was where Alpha Force was stationed. He had just left his apartment in the bachelor officers’ quarters. Now he headed toward the building across the compound that contained so many important functions—mainly laboratory, cover dog kennel and offices, including his own.
Sure, he should have started his important assignment of this day an hour ago, so he didn’t want to make his lateness too obvious. He avoided the most used pathways, hustling along behind buildings occupied by units other than Alpha Force. Chase and he would be picked up on security cameras when they sneaked in through a back door of the appropriate building, but no one would do anything about it, since they belonged there. Besides, he had a good excuse, and he probably wasn’t the only one who slept in a bit. Not that he had gotten much sleep anyway.
There had been a full moon last night. He had shifted, of course—pretty much on his own terms, thanks to Alpha Force.
And thanks also to the help of his aide, Sergeant Denny Orringer, who now waited for him in the kennel and lab building. Covering for him, if necessary.
He’d talked to Denny earlier, and—
There. Chase and he had reached the back of that building, near the doors leading into the kennel area. The shapeshifters’ cover dogs like Chase were kept there frequently, along with other dogs that helped this military base look like it had a lot of well-trained canines living here all the time.
Of course Alpha Force members who had cover dogs also kept them with them a lot as well, both at Ft. Lukman and when they were traveling—as long as there were some living here, too, to keep up appearances.
Liam, a tech expert, used the key card he had programmed himself to open the back door. He slipped in and enclosed Chase in one of several fenced areas, joining three dogs that resembled him.
Of course, Chase looked wolfen, resembling Liam himself while he was shifted...
“See you later, guy,” Liam whispered to his canine companion, who was already being greeted by his fellows.
Heading for the stairway down to the most important floor of the building, which contained offices and the laboratories where the very special Alpha Force elixir was brewed, Liam walked slowly, figuring he was likely to run into someone else dressed like him.
But fortunately, he saw no one—so no one saw him, either, as he again used a key card to open a door, this time to the stairs.
He heard raised voices from down the hall when he slipped carefully into his own office. They sounded excited. With his special senses, even when he was in human form, he could easily have eavesdropped had he wanted to.
But what he wanted was to get to work.
First, though, he shot a quick text message to Denny to let him know where he was. Then he booted up his computer, a highly sophisticated desktop that was the epitome of today’s technology.
A good thing, since it was used for such a critical purpose.
His phone made a text ping. Denny was probably just acknowledging what Liam had sent. He’d check it later.
A sudden urge for a cup of coffee shot through Liam but he ignored it. He’d get one later when he went to the meeting, but right now he needed to check his usual social media and other sources.
His job at the moment? Look for any and all mentions online of people claiming to have seen shapeshifters last night, in this area first of all, then other locales in this country and the world where Alpha Force members were stationed. And, finally, everywhere else.
He’d undoubtedly find some mentions. Perhaps a lot. He always did, and most appeared to come from people who loved what they considered paranormal—fiction lovers who wanted to see if others, unlike them, had spotted shifters during a night of a full moon. They were easy to deal with.
But Liam needed to deal with the reality of those who didn’t have the kinds of backgrounds to have been introduced to Alpha Force and what it did, but had caught glimpses of possible Alpha Force shifters on that night of the full moon—or claimed to.
Liam had to find their posts, then kid around online. Make them look foolish to the rest of the world, and maybe even to themselves.
That was one of the things Liam, vying, at least in his mind, for tech champion of the universe, did best. But he wasn’t a geek. Oh, no. He loved being a member of the military. Of Alpha Force. He both looked and acted the part.
Except at the computer.
Using one of his many false identities, he logged on to a favorite social media site—and gasped. “No!” he exclaimed aloud.
He read the post more carefully, then jumped onto several other sites—and got the same results.
Existence of a strange military unit of shapeshifters was mentioned more than once on this day after a night of a full moon. That wasn’t unusual.
But claims of damage, destruction—and injuries to real people? The extent of what was described on so many sites was horrific.
And did not bode well at all for Liam’s vision of shifters’ acceptance someday by other people. Those lies were more of the reality now, though.
“I need to let the others know.” Liam was barely aware he was talking aloud. He picked up his phone, then realized this was critical enough that he wanted to tell his superiors in person. One in particular—Major Drew Connell, their commanding officer who had begun Alpha Force and remained in charge.
Drew’s office was on the opposite side of this floor, past the lab areas, and Liam immediately headed there. If he hadn’t had this important assignment, that was where he would have gone first, since nearly all Alpha Force members present on the base attended informal meetings in Drew’s office the morning after a night of a full moon. Liam would have headed there eventually anyway to let the others know what he found.
But with these horrible allegations... Liam had to let his unit members know right away. Then he had to dig further online to learn their truth—or, hopefully, not.
If not, though, how had so many unheard of references and accusations been put out there?
He put his computer to sleep, then hurried out his office door, down the halls whose plainness would never suggest the amazing things that went on in the laboratories beyond them, to another hall lined with closed doors. The last one was to Drew’s office.
Without knocking, Liam burst in, expecting to see Drew there holding court with the other shifters and their aides.
But though the room looked busy, he didn’t see that officer in charge. Nor did he see Captain Jonas Truro, Drew’s close friend and aide, a medical doctor like Drew, but, unlike him, not a shifter.
That was strange for a post–full moon meeting in Drew’s office. Did they know what Liam had learned online? Were they trying to deal with it themselves?
But Liam might just be allowing his own angst over what he’d seen on the computer to lead him to false conclusions. Drew and Jonas could be down the hall in the restroom. Or checking something in the lab. Or—
“Oh, there you are, Liam.” Denny, in a folding chair near the doorway of the small, crowded office, stood and looked at him. “I’m glad you read my text.” Which Liam didn’t always do quickly, and he wasn’t about to tell his aide he hadn’t this time, either. Denny was younger and shorter than Liam, and he had a slight growth of facial hair. Liam kept his own dark hair closely shaved—when he was in human form.
He wondered what Denny had said in that text, but he wasn’t about to check now.
“Come in, Liam,” Captain Patrick Worley said, also standing. He was tall, dressed in camos like the rest, and the expression on his face looked grim. Had he heard about what the Alpha Force shifters were alleged to have done?
Had Alpha Force shifters actually done any of it? Any of them in this room?
“Glad you’re here,” Patrick continued. “Have you checked out any online references to shifters yet?”
“Yes, and—”
But Patrick didn’t let him finish. “Good. We’ll want to hear about it. But first there’s something you need to know that we’ve been discussing. Something bad.”
Liam swallowed hard. “I definitely want to hear about it.” Hopefully, none of it was true and he could find a way to calm all the comments that had shown up online. Or—
“It’s about Major Connell,” Patrick said. “Something went wrong with Drew’s shift. Really wrong. He hasn’t shifted back from wolf form yet, and he’s not doing well. Right now, Jonas is with him at the veterinary clinic in Mary Glen. Drew is being cared for by Melanie.”
Drew’s wife, a veterinarian. Not a medical doctor.
This was definitely bad. Very bad. Certainly more important than the false claims Liam had seen online.
What was Alpha Force going to do?
“How is Drew now?” demanded Dr. Melanie Harding Connell. Dr. Rosa Jontay’s boss faced her at the back of the Mary Glen Veterinary Clinic’s main hallway, arms crossed, head tilted.
Rosa understood her concern, of course. Major Drew Connell wasn’t just the head of that highly special military unit known as Alpha Force. He was also Melanie’s husband. Father of her adorable four-year-old daughter, Emily, and two-year-old son, Andy.
“He seems tired,” Rosa said softly, looking into Melanie’s sad but pretty blue eyes. “I just came out of the room for a short break and to get coffee, but I’ll be heading back in there soon. Jonas is still with him.”
That was Captain Jonas Truro, also part of Alpha Force, and from what Rosa understood Jonas was additionally a medical doctor—and Drew’s aide when he shifted. She had seen him a few times in the year or so she had been here, but, as with most of the Alpha Force members, she didn’t know him well. Jonas had apparently been hanging out with his superior officer earlier that night—and later.
“Thank you. And thank Jonas.” Melanie also seemed tired. Stressed. But that wasn’t surprising.
As the only veterinarians at the clinic, they both wore white lab coats. Rosa was the taller one. They both had brown hair pulled up in back by clips, with Melanie’s darker than hers.
Not that she was comparing herself to Melanie, Rosa thought. She considered them both exceptional vets, and that was what really mattered.
But she did wonder what it was like to have as strange a relationship as the one between Melanie and Drew. Committed and deeply caring—but yes, strange, since Drew was a shapeshifter.
“Everything okay with the rest of the clinic?” she asked Melanie. “Do you need me for anything else?”
“Fortunately, we’re not very busy today. What I need you to do is—”
“I’m going back into that examination room right now,” Rosa finished. “But with this kind of situation...it’s so different, and other than to keep an eye on him I’m not sure what to do.”
“That’s all I want you to do. Having Jonas there helps, but the kind of medical assistance Drew might need now—”
“Is veterinary. Right. I understand.”
The door to the reception area down the hall opened, and the senior receptionist, Susie Damon, came out and looked toward them. “Our eleven o’clock Yorkie appointment is here for an exam and shots,” she called. “Okay to bring him in?”
“Fine,” Melanie responded. “I’ll be right there.”
Melanie was handling all the cases that came in, for now at least. She was clearly upset, and Rosa assumed she feared breaking down if she was the vet to spend time with Drew.
And that might make things worse with him.
Melanie looked back toward Rosa. “Just so you know, I did get a call a few minutes ago. So far...well, I gather there are no more answers from Ft. Lukman yet, but one of the Alpha Force members is on his way to relieve Jonas. Maybe whoever that is can shed some more light on what’s going on there, and when...”
She didn’t have to finish. Especially not with the newest look of pain that flashed across her face.
“That’s fine,” Rosa said. “I’ll still hang out with Drew, but I’ll also see what I can learn from whoever that is and report to you if it...if there’s any indication of what they’re doing and how long it will take.”
“Great. And maybe Jonas can help more by doing something at the base. I’ll check back with you soon.” Melanie headed down the hall toward the reception area as Susie led the tiny Yorkshire terrier and his not-so-tiny owner toward one of the closest exam rooms.
Which left Rosa to go grab two cups of coffee from the break room at the end of the hall and take them with her to another exam room, the one where Drew had been brought by Jonas and Melanie early that morning, before anyone else had arrived—but after dawn had broken.
Rosa looked around the hallway once more, but it was empty. Then she slipped into the room.
It was a fairly ordinary exam room for a veterinary clinic, with the back wall covered by a cabinet containing shelves for supplies like bandages, exam gloves and disinfectant, and a sink in the middle for washing hands and more. There was a closed trash can nearby, and a couple chairs sat along the outer wall. In the middle was a substantial metal table.
One of the chairs was occupied by Jonas, who stood when she entered. He was a large guy, dark-complected and dressed in a camouflage uniform. He was around her own age of thirty, she figured.
“Here’s some coffee.” Rosa handed him one of the cups.
“Thanks,” he said as he accepted it.
Rosa turned then. On the table with legs adjusted to keep it close to the floor lay a large canine that resembled a wolf. And he was a wolf—of sorts.
That canine was Major Drew Connell of nearby Alpha Force, its lead officer, from what Rosa had heard.
She had also heard that Alpha Force was a highly covert military unit of shapeshifters, which was fascinating to her. There had been a full moon last night, and Drew had shifted into his wolf form. But he hadn’t shifted back at dawn or beyond.
He’d been home when the sun rose, and the Connells’ home was next door to the vet clinic. Melanie had brought him here after taking their daughter to preschool and making sure the sitter was there for their son. Rosa could only guess what Mommy had said to their kids about where Daddy was, and about the wolf in their house.
Or maybe the kids were shifters, too...
Melanie had also called Jonas, who had arrived at the clinic even before Drew and had stayed with him, along with Rosa, from early morning. It was around ten o’clock now.
Rosa realized she had been standing in the doorway after closing the door behind her. The wolf on the table hadn’t moved—before. Now, he made a soft growling sound and, moving slowly, carefully along the towels that had been secured around the metal top, repositioned himself into a canine sit. His fur was long, an almost silvery brown, with patches of darker coloration. His eyes were amber, and he seemed to stare at her over his long, pointed muzzle.
“It’s okay, Drew,” Jonas said. “It’s just Rosa.”
In his current situation, Drew looked a lot like Grunge, a wolflike shepherd-malamute combination that Rosa had been informed was his cover dog. That meant, she’d been told, that Grunge could be pointed out to people as Drew’s pet, the canine they supposedly saw when he was changed, not him. She assumed Grunge was hidden at home at the moment, or maybe at the base.
“Hi, Drew,” she said. “How are you feeling now?”
He couldn’t answer by speaking to her, of course. But from what Melanie had told her, the members of Alpha Force took some kind of medicine—an elixir, they called it—before they shifted that helped them keep their human cognition. He most likely understood what she said.
But they also were supposed to turn back into human form once daylight began after a night of a full moon, unless they had drunk that elixir and chose not to shift back then. She gathered that Drew hadn’t chosen to stay a wolf when daylight arrived that morning, but still hadn’t regained his human form. And judging by the reactions of Melanie and Jonas, that wasn’t good.
He apparently did understand her, though. Maybe. But he aimed his gaze down at the table and shook his head slowly, as if communicating to her that he wasn’t feeling well.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
And she was. The fact that she had known about shapeshifters, and had, in fact, helped to treat some shifted wolves and other creatures at her home in Michigan, had been the main reason Melanie had hired her here. Apparently the shifter community kept in touch with each other, or at least some did, and Melanie had been hunting for someone like her. And Rosa had been thrilled by the offer of this kind of job.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, not for the first time, looking from Drew to Jonas and back again. She had sat in here with the two of them pretty much since she had arrived at work that day. Melanie had tearfully explained the situation, including her request that Rosa stay with Drew and make sure he wasn’t suffering.
Or, even better, report to Melanie when he finally started to shift back to human form.
But that hadn’t happened. Not yet, at least.
Right now, Drew didn’t even look at her, let alone attempt to communicate something he wanted her to do. Jonas didn’t offer any suggestions, either.
“Would you like some water?” she asked Drew.
He looked at her and nodded, so she removed a clean metal bowl from the sink, filled it partway and placed it on the table in front of him. He lapped up maybe half of it.
A knock sounded on the exam room door.
Rosa glanced at Drew, who was once more lying on the towel-covered table, head between his paws in a fully canine position, the bowl off to his side.
“Come in,” she called.
The door opened and Susie popped her head in. “There’s a guy here from Ft. Lukman who says he’s come to help out.”
To take over for Jonas, Rosa assumed, from what Melanie had said before.
She figured that Susie and the others who worked here had some knowledge of the ties Melanie and her husband had to Ft. Lukman, and probably even knew there were shapeshifters there—and possibly that Drew was one of them.
But they’d also been instructed to remain totally discreet, even among themselves. To Rosa’s knowledge, they never talked about it—or at least they’d never done so around her.
“Thanks, Susie. Let him in.”
In a moment, a tall guy dressed in a camouflage shirt and slacks like Jonas entered the room, and Susie shut the door behind him.
Jonas rose again. “Liam,” he said. “Glad you’re here.” He turned to Rosa. “This is Dr. Jontay, one of the vets here. Rosa, that’s Lieutenant Liam Corland.”
“Hi, Dr. Jontay,” the guy said in a deep, masculine voice. He held out his hand and gave hers a quick, substantial shake. The contact made her feel fully aware of this man’s presence. He was wide shouldered, and his face was angular—and gorgeous. His hair was black and military short. Dark brown eyes looked straight into hers, but only for a moment.
“Hello, Lieutenant Corland,” she said as matter-of-factly as she could manage, considering how oddly her mind was reacting to this guy.
“Liam,” he gently corrected, making Rosa regret she hadn’t done the same. He turned to Jonas. “I’m assigned to relieve you here.”
“Got it. Thanks. I’ll run now, and keep you informed about how things go at the base.” Jonas bent toward Drew, who was sitting up once more on the table, and said something into his ear, which twitched canine style. Then he exited the room.
“Well,” Rosa said, not exactly sure how to handle this. What was this Liam going to do here?
As if she had spoken aloud, he looked her directly in the eyes once more. “Do you know and understand the full situation?” His tone was demanding. She didn’t like it, but she did understand.
“Yes, I think so,” she said. Then, more brazenly, “Do you?”
“Of course. I’m a member of Alpha Force, too. One of its...special members.” Again, he caught her gaze, as if attempting to ensure she knew what that meant.
“Then you’re like...” She tilted her head toward the table, where the canine Drew remained seated, clearly watching them and presumably understanding. “Like Drew,” she finished.
“That’s right. I’m here to help Drew out as much as possible from the...from the military angle. Watch over him while members of our unit try to figure out how to help him in their way.” Something to do with that elixir that helped shifters? Something else? Maybe she would find out more. “And discuss if you think there’s any veterinary way to help him...help him get over his current condition.”
“I see.” This seemed so odd—and yet, since Rosa had grown up with both real wolves and shifters in her area, she could deal with it. Right?
Of course. But the part of all this that made her somehow feel worse at this moment was that she couldn’t help focusing on how this Liam had admitted to her right away what he was.
And she felt terrible to think that this gorgeous hunk of a military man was also a shapeshifter.
Chapter 2 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
“Hi, Drew,” Liam finally said.
There his commanding officer was, in canine form, sitting on a bunch of towels on a lowered table in the middle of this veterinary examination room. Watching them. And now he nodded his head as if in greeting.
Liam turned back to Dr. Jontay. Rosa. This vet was fairly special, from what he had been told before he left Ft. Lukman. She had apparently been found after a long hunt for a good, smart backup by Melanie Connell, who’d been seeking a vet who knew about shifters, had provided medical care to them in the past and would keep her mouth shut about working with more in the future.
Rosa was one pretty, hot woman, to boot.
But checking her out wasn’t why Liam was there.
Seeing, taking care of his friend, his mentor, his superior officer—that was his reason for coming to this clinic.
Sure, he’d told his fellow Alpha Force members at Ft. Lukman about the accusations he’d found online. That was important, of course. But not as important as ensuring that Drew returned to normal. Fast.
And when the topic of needing Jonas to get back to the base to help find a solution arose, Liam volunteered to hang out with Drew here for as long as it took to get him cured.
The rest of the team had argued, since the idea of having so much garbage out there online about shifters and Alpha Force was horrendous, and Liam was the best tool they had for countering it. But he’d told them he had taught Denny how to start his critical counter–social media games. Plus, he would work on it himself as Drew’s condition here permitted.
They’d finally agreed, since most of those at the base would be focused on how to deal with what had happened to Drew, and keeping one of their own with him was critical, too. But if what Denny accomplished, with Liam’s backup, wasn’t enough, they would send Denny to trade places with him so Liam could focus on his job—which was now ridiculing all the ridiculous, and not so ridiculous, claims that had appeared on the internet.
So Liam’s giving a damn about his mentor and wanting to do something about it had worked out—at least for now.
“Okay if we sit down?” Liam asked Rosa. “I’ve got a few things to update for Drew.” Assuming that the elixir Drew had first developed, and had worked with over the years of Alpha Force’s existence, still allowed him to keep his mental acuity—his human mental acuity—hours after he should have shifted back. And his nod before had indicated that, at least, hadn’t been affected.
“Would you like a cup of coffee before we talk?” Rosa asked Liam.
Nice lady, or at least polite.
Or did she have an ulterior motive?
“Yeah, thanks. I’d love one.” But he’d love finding out what was on her mind even more.
“It’s just down the hall.” She motioned toward the door with graceful fingers. Probably skilled fingers, too, since she used them to cure animals around here.
He wondered what those fingers would feel like on him... Heck, just because she was a pretty brunette with shining brown eyes and full lips didn’t mean he should allow himself to feel any attraction toward her. She wasn’t a shifter. She might work with shifters, but he had no idea how she felt about them.
He followed, as she apparently wanted. Well, he wanted it, too.
A guy in blue scrubs walked past them in the fairly long hall—probably a vet tech, Liam figured. He waved to Rosa. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Everything’s fine, Brendan,” she replied. “Are all our patients being handled okay?”
Liam assumed she asked that because she wasn’t caring for anyone besides Drew right now, or at least it looked that way.
“Sure. Melanie’s got it covered, and Dina and I are helping.” The guy waved and walked through one of the doors off the hall. Liam assumed Dina was another vet tech.
“Good,” Rosa said softly. Then, more loudly, she said, “We’ve got coffee brewing in the break room, right here.” She walked a few more steps, then opened a closed door and motioned for him to follow, which he did.
“Coffee’s fine with me,” he said right away, “but why am I really here?” He looked around. The room was a bit larger than the exam room and had a few small tables clustered in its center, a fridge on one side and a counter on the other where a large coffee maker sat.
The smile she sent up to him was pretty, as well as ironic. “I’m that obvious? Well, you’re right. I don’t want us to leave Drew alone for long, but I wanted to ask how things are going at Ft. Lukman. Does anyone there know why Drew hasn’t shifted back? What are they doing to help him? I figure that, since they wanted Jonas there, they must be working on that elixir, since I know he’s a medical doctor and has helped Drew before with that stuff.”
“You’re right, and I know they’re hoping to come up with some new formulation of the elixir that’ll help.” But from what Liam had heard, no one had any good ideas yet about why Drew hadn’t shifted back despite clearly wanting to, or what kind of adaptation could be made to the elixir to help him. They’d even given him some more of the current version of the elixir to lap up, but that hadn’t helped.
“Okay.” Rosa turned her back and headed to the coffeepot, where she poured some into two foam cups that she got out of the cabinet below. She handed one to him. “Milk? Sugar?”
“Black,” he said. “Thanks.”
She went to the fridge and added a few drops of milk to her cup. She turned again toward him. “We’d better get back to Drew.” She seemed to hesitate. “Do you know anything about the formulation of the main elixir?”
“Just generally,” he said.
“Then what do you do in Alpha Force? For one thing, I assume from what you said before that you’re a shifter.”
She said that very matter-of-factly, as if she knew about and accepted their existence, as she’d implied earlier, which fit with the little Liam knew about Melanie Connell’s assistant vet.
“Yes,” he said. “I am.” He thought he caught just the tiniest hint of a reaction in her expression. Maybe he was wrong, and she was good at hiding what so many regular humans who knew that shifters were real actually thought about them. Just to bug her, he asked, “Are you?”
Her brief laugh sounded genuine. “No, though I’ve worked with quite a few over the years.” She paused. “Do you do anything special for Alpha Force? I mean, do you handle some of their special ops–type assignments, or do you do something besides train for the future at the base?”
Somehow, he wanted to impress her, which made no sense. He had no intention of flirting with her. But it wouldn’t hurt to tell the truth. “Well, I do train for the kinds of special assignments we’re sent on,” he said. “But I’m also the chief technology officer.”
Those pretty brown eyes of hers widened. “Really? What does that entail?”
He didn’t want to tell her about the stuff he had seen online making claims of injuries and worse, caused by shifters last night during the full moon. From the little he’d seen here in Mary Glen it had all been false, anyway—he hoped. If all was going well, Denny was continuing with the solution.
So instead of being fully honest, he said, “I just scout around to see what technology is out there that Alpha Force may be able to use to enhance its already fantastic and covert abilities.” That probably sounded good, and it wasn’t entirely false, since he did that along with the rest.
“Interesting.” Rosa pulled her gaze away from his face. “Now, let’s go back and check on Drew.”
Checking on Drew was exactly what Liam wanted to do. And he was glad to see that the wolf with the silver-tipped, thick brown fur sat up on the towel-covered table as they entered and began observing them with his wide, golden eyes.
What was he thinking? Liam would try to find out.
“Hi, boss,” he said. “Rosa and I just got some coffee, but the caffeine wouldn’t be good for you right now. But I want to bring you up-to-date on what was going on at the base.”
That everyone in Alpha Force was scrambling around trying to figure out what happened to him. Liam would tell him that, but word it a bit differently.
Also, as the commanding officer of their unit, Drew would be the first person Liam would normally tell about the kind of online social media fiasco he’d discovered—under other circumstances. He wouldn’t now, of course. Giving Drew further information that would torment him wouldn’t help him shift back any faster.
And would it do any good at all for even a tech expert like Liam to do research online about what had happened to Drew? Shifters weren’t likely to post anything about problems in their shifting, let alone what to do about it.
Plus, Alpha Force had its own unique take—and elixir—that would render most comments inapplicable.
Just in case, though, Liam would take a look later.
“How are you feeling now?” Rosa moved around Liam as if taking charge. She approached Drew and patted him gently on the head between his pointed, moving ears as if he were a pet canine. That irritated Liam a little—although he had a passing thought that if she wanted to touch him that way, or any other way, he probably wouldn’t mind at all, shifted or not.
Drew actually did seem to try to communicate with her some, growling slightly, then shaking his head.
“Do you feel bad physically?” Rosa asked. He stopped moving. “Or are you just frustrated that you haven’t changed back?” He nodded.
Good. At least he seemed to be using human cognition and showed no sign of growing wilder, wanting to attack. He was a human in the guise of a wolf, but for a much longer time than Liam was aware any shifter had remained that way without choosing to stay shifted.
So how were they going to bring him back?
Almost as if he heard Liam’s thoughts, Drew gently pushed Rosa away with his head. He lay down on the table and stared at Liam.
“I think he wants you to bring him up-to-date, as you said.” Rosa looked at Liam with a wry grin on her lovely face, her brown eyes looking both interested and sad. She seemed to really care about her veterinary patient. She probably knew him as a person, too, since she worked for his wife. Liam wished he had something to say that would make her smile.
And Drew, too. Wolves could smile, after all. At least shifters could, somewhat, while in wolf form.
“Okay.” Liam sat down on one of the chairs. Rosa remained standing beside Drew at first, her eyes examining him as the wolf regarded the other man in the room. “Now, here’s the situation—and if you have any ideas we’ll have to figure out a way for you to convey them to me.”
Drew nodded as he continued to lie there. Rosa moved to the chair beside Liam.
“First,” Liam said, “Jonas and Melanie—and maybe Rosa, too—” he looked at her for an instant and saw she was regarding him steadily “—may already have asked you this, but do you know why you haven’t shifted back? I gather this wasn’t your choice. Was anything different this time from one of your regular shifts?”
The response was no, based on the low, grumbling noise he made and the slight shake of his head.
“Okay, then. Here’s what I learned from the conversations at the base before I left.”
Liam started talking about all he had heard and participated in once he had joined the meeting in Jonas’s office. No other shifter had had any problem, so they didn’t believe it was the elixir—the most current version of the tonic that Drew had begun brewing with the changes that had been suggested and tried by other shifters and seemed to work best for everyone. It allowed for all-important human cognition while shifted. There were slightly different versions now being used outside the full moon to give more choice about when to shift into wolf form and when to shift back. A version that wasn’t being used much, if at all, allowed for shifting back to human form when the moon remained full, but it had never been as perfected as the unit members hoped for.
“So,” Liam said, “did you drink the regular elixir we’re now using during the full moon?”
Drew nodded.
“And did Jonas use the light on you?” That was still preferred by Alpha Force members even under a full moon to ensure the timing.
Again, Drew nodded.
“I assume the elixir looked and tasted like it always did, right?” Rosa asked. Liam was impressed that she was jumping into the discussion, as if she knew what she was talking about. And most likely she did, considering who her boss and her boss’s husband were, as well as her own apparent background of at least knowing about shifters.
Shifters other than those in Alpha Force also sometimes attempted to develop their own formulas to help them change when they wanted to. Even some members of Alpha Force besides Drew, including second in command Captain Patrick Worley, and Lieutenant Simon Parran, had brought their own versions when they had joined the unique military unit, or so Liam had heard.
Rosa might have known something about that even before joining this clinic as a veterinarian.
Liam, though, hadn’t brought anything like an elixir with him when he’d joined the unit. As always, he’d been focused on his technological skills. He had been online when he’d first learned such stuff actually existed, beyond the stories and legends, and so did a special, covert military unit that used it.
That was how he had learned about Alpha Force, and the rumors about what and where it was. Why he had shown up at Ft. Lukman one day with a résumé in hand, and had asked to speak with the officer in charge, who happened to be Drew.
Drew had apparently been as impressed by him and his techie skills as Liam had been impressed by Alpha Force. The result had been Liam enlisting and joining the unit—and being taught and mentored by the man before him, the shifter who now couldn’t shift back.
Liam had to figure out how to help him, by assisting the others working on the same problem to succeed or otherwise.
“Well, it would be easier if I could report back to the rest of the gang that you admitted to drinking something besides, or in addition to, our regular elixir,” Liam said, pursing his lips a bit. “But I know they’re all trying hard, without knowing what they’re looking for, to research how this could happen.”
“I’m trying, in my own way, too,” Rosa said, standing again. “I gave him a brief physical before, but would like to do more now, although under these circumstances I’m not sure a regular veterinarian, even with some knowledge of shifters, can help.”
“But we appreciate your trying.” Liam also rose and looked at her. This, at least, was a different angle. “What do you want to do?”
“A blood test, for one thing. And I’d like to take a closer look at Drew’s body to see if there’s something visible, a cut or growth beneath his fur...anything that may be different. Maybe an X-ray, too.”
“Great,” Liam said. “I’ll help.”
Drew appeared to be okay with it as well, since he just stayed limp on the table, which Rosa adjusted to be closer to her waist level. She did the exam first, saying she would draw blood when they were done, then take it into the clinic’s lab to analyze.
“Many vets send blood out to a specialized laboratory for analysis,” she told Liam. “But with this kind of patient I’ve learned to conduct the analyses myself. It’s safer that way.”
Liam wanted to hug this attractive, smart, careful vet, but of course he didn’t.
Instead, he helped her work with Drew, moving him on the table so she could use her stethoscope to check his heartbeat—normal for a canine, she indicated. Also to feel his chest, his limbs, his back, his skin, seeking any kind of lump or other abnormality, but she found none.
With Liam’s help—and also that of Brendan, the vet tech he had seen in the hall before—they moved Drew into another room where the X-ray equipment was kept, but once again nothing unusual was discovered.
Brendan took charge of the move back to the same exam room. There were others in the hall then, including a woman also dressed in blue scrubs like Brendan, whom Liam assumed was the other vet tech Brendan had mentioned before.
Melanie, too, came into the hall just as Brendan got Drew inside the room. “How is he doing?” she asked in a thick voice.
Rosa, who’d been following them, said, “We haven’t found anything yet. He seems tired at times but he—” her voice lowered “—he seems to know what’s going on and communicates with us when we ask questions.”
“That’s good,” Melanie said. “I just wish...” She didn’t finish, but instead hurried away from them, down the empty hall.
Liam looked into Rosa’s lovely brown eyes. She looked sad. No, worse, tormented. He had another urge to hug her in empathy. Better yet, to come up with an immediate answer.
He did neither. But he also didn’t look away from her.
Odd, but he felt they’d somehow bonded over this difficult situation. They both wanted to resolve it. Fast. For similar, but not identical reasons.
Alpha Force needed Drew back the way he was. And Liam needed his friend and commanding officer.
His wife, head vet at this place and Rosa’s employer, mother of Drew’s daughter and son, undoubtedly needed him most of all.
Brendan came out the exam room door. “Okay, he’s situated on the table again. He looks tired.”
Rosa immediately pulled her anguished gaze away from him and Liam felt a pang of...sorrow? “Thanks, Brendan. I’m going to draw some blood now.”
Which was what she did, after entering the room again accompanied by Liam, who helped to keep Drew resting despite the prick of the needle.
But there wasn’t a lot he needed to do. Drew appeared exhausted.
What was wrong with him?
And how were they going to fix whatever it was?
Chapter 3 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
In a way, Rosa appreciated the break from hanging out with Drew and using her veterinary skills to watch over him for any illness symptoms that the wolf he was now might evince.
She was of course happy about his apparent understanding of what she, and other people, were saying. That tended to be true with shifters she’d had as occasional patients around here, unlike before she moved here, when the shifters turned fully into the animals they were. And despite his apparent exhaustion, Drew seemed to be doing all right.
But of course he wasn’t.
So, after drawing his blood using a needle, she said, “I’ll be back soon. I need to analyze this.” She waved the tube containing the red liquid just slightly. She felt sure that both Drew and Liam understood what she meant even without saying so.
But notwithstanding the pressure caused by her worry, she felt even more concerned as she left the room. Drew was her patient, and as a veterinarian she was always anxious about her patients, who generally couldn’t tell her what their ailments were.
In Drew’s case, she might not know all he was feeling, but she knew what his most important condition was.
Plus, oddly, she felt a bit apprehensive about walking away from Liam at the moment. Not because she thought leaving him with Drew was inappropriate in the least. But she recognized that, in the short time since she had first met him, she was relying on him to at least acknowledge, and possibly approve, what she was doing with his commanding officer to make him well.
“Ridiculous,” she muttered, as she reached the door to the lab, next to the room where Drew’s X-rays had been taken. She was the vet. Liam just worked—and shifted—with her patient.
Yeah, and probably had more knowledge than she did about how to deal with this situation. But Rosa would do all she could.
As she’d told Liam, if blood work was needed for most patients of the vet clinic, they sent the sample to a nearby lab for analysis. But the blood of shifters in wolf form was different from that of other canines.
Rosa had learned those differences where she had first obtained her veterinary license and begun practicing, in an area of Michigan where wolves of both types were prevalent.
That was one of many reasons why she had fit in when Melanie had conducted a hunt for the right type of vet—one with knowledge of what, in shifters, remained the same and what didn’t.
Not that Rosa was a doctor for humans, but from what she understood, shifters’ blood and other characteristics remained the same as other people’s when they weren’t shifted.
Now, as she entered the lab, someone was already in there: Dina, the clinic’s other vet tech besides Brendan. “Hi, Rosa,” she said. “Anything I can do for you here?”
“Not now, thanks,” she responded to the short young woman in the typical blue scrubs.
“Let me know if that changes. I just checked out the discharge from a wound of one of our canine patients. Fortunately, the bacterial count was low.”
“Great,” Rosa said, as Dina left the room.
Sometimes Rosa did have one of the techs handle the blood work, often preparing it to be sent to the official lab. Other times they analyzed other kinds of liquids or discharges from the animals.
But the very rare times there were samples from shifters in animal form, either Melanie or Rosa handled it herself.
Not that the techs or other people who worked here didn’t know, or at least suspect, that some of the patients were not exactly regular pets. Still, though they talked about it a little, everyone around here seemed to understand the need for tact and confidentiality. Now, at least. Rosa had heard that there were some rumors after Melanie had taken over this clinic, as a result of the death of the former veterinarians—parents of one of the officers at Ft. Lukman, Captain Patrick Worley, who happened to be a shifter.
Not wanting any interruptions, after placing the tube of blood carefully on the table, Rosa locked the door and muted her phone.
She then washed her hands carefully once more, as she’d done before extracting the sample.
Finally, using a microscope and other appropriate equipment, she began the process of analyzing the contents of the sample, including the red blood cell count and the blood type. As anticipated, both were quite different from a normal canine’s—even though canines had more blood types than humans did.
But there was more that she didn’t anticipate. She had done only a few analyses of shifters’ blood, since they generally remained in shifted form for only a short while. She figured that those around here might have extra chemicals in their blood thanks to their imbibing the elixir to help them with their shift.
That didn’t explain, though, the additional contents in Drew’s sample. Stuff she couldn’t really analyze. It seemed a darker red than usual, somewhat thicker than the blood cells surrounding it.
She was knowledgeable but not an expert in chemistry, and what she saw might mean nothing.
But she realized that, whatever it was, this might be the evidence of whatever was keeping Drew in his shifted form.
She needed someone else to check it out, though. Someone more skilled in this than she was.
She placed the samples into airtight containers for now. Then she hurried back to the exam room that contained Drew—and Liam.
She slipped in without knocking, which was a good thing. Drew was asleep.
Liam had his smartphone in his hands and seemed to be concentrating as he typed something into it. He heard her, though. He probably would have even with normal ears, not just those of a shifter in human form. He looked at her right away.
She gestured for him to follow her, which he did after aiming a glance in Drew’s direction. Evidently he thought all was well, since soon they were out in the hall together with the door shut.
Fortunately, the hall was empty. Rosa looked up at Liam, into his face. Her concern must have been written on hers since his handsome masculine features tightened into a frown. “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.
“I guess my worry is obvious.” She kept her voice low, too. “Are any of your Alpha Force people experts in chemistry? I assume they are because of putting together your elixir, right?”
“I think so, but since that’s not my area I can’t tell you much. Why? Is there something wrong with Drew’s blood?”
The guy was apparently smart and astute. But then again, he’d known she had drawn blood and gone off to try to analyze it.
“I’m not sure, but there’s something different about it. I still don’t want to send it to the standard outside places, so I wonder if anyone at your base could take a look and figure it out.”
“Let me check.” He walked to the closest end of the hall, which was a good thing, since Melanie exited one of the exam rooms, and a couple followed her, the man holding the leash of a good-sized boxer. Melanie aimed a quizzical glance in Rosa’s direction, and Rosa just smiled back.
She didn’t have anything to tell Melanie except to report her question.
When she turned back, Liam was just pressing a button on his phone, evidently ending a quick call. “Yes, a couple of our guys, Jonas Truro in particular, may be able to help. Let me take the sample you have to him. I’ve already got Sergeant Noel Chuma, one of the Alpha Force aides, on his way to relieve me here.” He looked up, over Rosa’s shoulder.
Rosa realized she must have looked worried to Melanie, or maybe her boss was just curious—or wanted to see her shifted husband. But from behind her she heard, also in a soft voice, “What’s going on? Why are you both out here?”
She didn’t want to alarm Melanie—or give her false hope that they were about to find any answers. Turning, she said, “I just need a little advice about Drew’s blood test. And Liam checked and found that some of the guys out at the base might be able to help. Unless you’d rather I didn’t do it...”
“No, I’d rather you do it. How is Drew?”
“Sleeping,” Liam said. “But I think we need to wake him up, at least briefly. My contact said to bring the samples you already have, Rosa, but also another one that hasn’t been separated or analyzed at all.”
“Fine,” Melanie said. “I’ll go in with you while you draw that sample and wait with Drew till Noel arrives.” She looked pale, but the expression on her face appeared...well, a little hopeful, if Rosa was reading it right.
“Good,” she said. “And I’m going to the base, too, to talk to your guys there.” She looked at Liam, half expecting him to object.
“That’ll work,” he said. In fact, was that a touch of relief on his face? Admiration? Or was she reading too much into it? “You can tell them what you found and your take on it, and they can do their own kind of analysis.”
“Good,” she said again. “Now, let’s go get that other sample.”
Liam wanted more information about blood tests in general, and this one in particular.
At least that was the reason he gave himself, and Rosa, as he told her he would drive her to the base and back.
He had no other reason to be alone in this smart vet’s presence for the twenty minute trip to Ft. Lukman, or the return trip. She could drive herself, of course.
But she seemed okay with the idea of riding in his black military-issued sedan. Maybe she wanted to talk more about the blood test. Or maybe she felt uncomfortable with the idea of appearing by herself at the military facility.
Or maybe he was reading things into her attitude.
They were on their way now, just exiting the town of Mary Glen on the way to Ft. Lukman. The distance was only about five miles, but it always felt longer, thanks to the two-lane roads lined by tall trees of the surrounding woods.
Liam figured the site of the military base, with its particularly covert unit, had been chosen because of the obscure location.
“So you said you’re not a shifter,” he began, aiming a brief glance at her in the passenger seat, a box containing the carefully wrapped blood samples on her lap. That statement didn’t address the blood tests—but he’d get there. He had other questions he hoped to get answered first.
Their eyes met for an instant before he looked back toward the road. The grin on her face looked wary. Even so, she was still one pretty lady.
“No,” she said, “I’m not. But where I grew up in Michigan there were quite a few wolves, and I learned early on that a few of my school friends and their families happened to be shifters. The existence of real wolves in that area gave them a bit of cover.”
“Makes sense. My family lived in Minnesota for the same reason. But not being a shifter yourself, how did you end up learning that your friends were?” All the shifters he knew were taught from a young age to keep that critical fact to themselves.
“Well, I always wanted to become a veterinarian. I love animals. I always had a dog or two, visited the nearest zoo a lot and—well, I realized at a fairly young age that I heard more wolf howls in the distance on nights of the full moon than otherwise.” She leaned toward him a little. “Did you howl then as you were growing up? Turned out my friends did. One of them, a guy I guess I had a crush on in seventh grade, hinted to me about where to show up at sundown on one of those special nights. He knew I was there, hiding behind a tree, when his family and a couple of others went out into the forest together. It was really amazing to watch when the four of them went from being a regular human family to a small pack of wolves. I never forgot it, of course, though that guy stopped talking to me. Guess his family caught my scent and bawled him out.”
“But you knew then,” Liam stated. He couldn’t help smiling. It must have been quite an experience for a young non-shifter.
“I knew then,” she confirmed. “I hardly ever talked about it—but I just happened to snoop around on more nights of the full moon and saw that a few other friends shared that characteristic.”
“And did they stop talking to you, too?”
“I tried to be a lot more careful. If they knew about me, they never said so, and I never said anything to them, either.”
“But you still wanted to help them as a vet?”
“Sure. When I went to veterinary school I made sure to learn about all canine anatomy as well as volunteering to help the vets who worked with the local zoo. And then, as I learned enough to help, I visited that first guy’s mother one day—he was off at a different college by then—and told her what I knew about them, and how I was learning a lot about working with feral creatures like wolves, in case anyone needed medical help while shifted. She pretended not to know what I was talking about, but—”
“But sometime near then she called on you in her wolf form to come help another shifter who needed medical help that night, right?”
“Exactly.”
Liam could hear her big smile in the tone of her voice. He looked over and grinned back at her. “And from then on they knew you were there to help.”
“Yes, I was. I helped them and myself, and they were the ones to give recommendations about me to Melanie when she put word out—very discreetly, I might add—about how she was a regular veterinarian with...interesting contacts who sometimes needed medical assistance. Since the shifters around me made a point of not admitting their true nature, I thought that the type of organization Melanie hinted about—the US military, of all things—might be a fascinating group of potential patients.”
As he was growing up, Liam had known a couple local people who seemed to recognize what he, his family members and others in the area were, but although they were mostly polite, they didn’t attempt to get to know any shifters better.
He was impressed with this lovely lady who not only accepted the idea of shifters in her life, but actually seemed to appreciate them. Worry about them. Want to heal them.
“I’m sure Melanie is really glad to have your help,” he told her, then shared a brief smile with her before he made another turn on the twisty road.
“And I’m really glad to help her. And the others.” A tone he didn’t quite recognize modified Rosa’s voice.
“Especially Drew,” Liam guessed.
“Especially Drew,” she agreed. “But...I just hope we really can help him.”
“We will,” Liam asserted—hoping it was true.
Chapter 4 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
Even though Liam had asked her to ride with him so he could ask questions about blood and blood types, Rosa was somewhat amused that they never really got into that topic much. And when they did, all she needed to do was go over a bit of what she had already been thinking about.
Yes, she told him when he finally asked, the blood types of people and regular canines had differences. So did the blood types of wolves in general from shifted wolves. People and their unshifted counterparts, not so much.
And the differences she saw from the blood she had drawn from Drew? Well, she didn’t exactly know what they were, except for the odd consistency and darker coloration. That was why she hoped for someone else’s advice.
She didn’t let him know how concerned she really was, although since she was looking for guidance he probably gathered that.
Would those at Ft. Lukman know whether that blood issue was the cause of Drew’s not changing back? If so, would they know how to fix it?
Liam didn’t seem inclined to talk much more about it, which was fine with her. It allowed her to avoid revealing how inadequate she felt, and instead gave her time to ask him about what he did as a technology expert for Alpha Force.
That got him going immediately—and what he had to say about the online claims worried her, too, as someone who had friends and patients around here who were shifters.
Sure, she had met actual shifters at home when she was young. She had also seen sites on the internet, mostly blogs or social media posts, that speculated whether there actually were such things as shapeshifters, as depicted in horror movies and otherwise. Sometimes people claimed to have seen the real thing, and maybe, like her, they had.
She had even found some references to oddities that had allegedly gone on here in Mary Glen a while back. But she’d also seen posts about how all that got resolved when it was discovered that one member of an offbeat group of people who claimed shapeshifters exist had made unsubstantiated claims for his own benefit. Discovering who it was and stopping him had helped quiet things down in this area—at least as far as the rest of the world was likely to know.
But what Liam was describing could be a lot worse for the ongoing peace of shapeshifters—and Alpha Force in particular. Rosa now lived near downtown Mary Glen, not far from the vet clinic. She had heard nothing at all regarding the claims Liam described about how shifters around here, under the last full moon, had hurt some regular people in this area—badly.
Neither had Liam, he assured her. It was simply untrue.
And it was his job to make sure that anyone who saw those ridiculous posts didn’t believe a word.
He’d already checked on how his aide, Denny, had started dealing with the situation, and believed he was doing a good job. But Liam would take over himself later that evening.
After driving through the thick woodlands, they finally arrived at the gate to the military base. Even Liam had to provide his ID to the guards despite being stationed there, and of course Rosa had to provide hers, as well. Then Liam drove across the base to a building she had visited once before to check on an injured animal Melanie had explained was a cover dog, resembling one of the shifters in canine form.
Most of the time, those cover dogs that needed shots or exams were brought to the veterinary clinic, like all other pets in the Mary Glen area. That was how Rosa got to meet and treat them.
However, they’d chosen not to move that dog, Spike—Seth Ambers’s cover dog—without getting him treatment first. Fortunately, though he’d been bleeding profusely, he’d had nothing worse than a fairly minor cut from a broken bottle he’d stepped on.
When Rosa had arrived, Spike was in a special fenced pen by himself in the upstairs area where the cover dogs were housed when not on duty, his leg bandaged, and one of the aides continuously changing the dressing. Rosa had been able to follow Drew as he carried Spike downstairs to what he’d referred to as the base’s primary lab area, where she’d been able to snip off fur from around the cut, wash it well, soak it with disinfectant and wrap it in sterile bandages after providing topical anesthetic, a few stitches and a larger cover bandage and temporary cone collar to make sure he didn’t chew too close to it. He’d healed just fine.
The poor dog’s injury had given Rosa not only the opportunity to see part of the military facility that housed the amazing Alpha Force, but also to increase her already good reputation, thanks to Melanie’s verbal recognition of what Rosa additionally did to help those shifters who needed medical assistance while in their animal forms.
Liam parked his car and used a key card to get them both inside the building. The guy was either a gentleman or he didn’t trust her not to drop the critically important box containing Drew’s blood samples, since he carried it inside. He then led her to the stairway to the area where Rosa knew the labs, and some offices, were located. He unlocked that door and she followed him downstairs.
A lot, maybe all, of the members of Alpha Force were gathered in a room past the labs where Rosa had been before.
“This is Drew’s office in this building,” Liam told her, “although he’s got another one in the main admin building at the other side of the base.”
It wasn’t a large room, but there were many chairs in rows facing the desk, all occupied. Rosa recognized a few of the people there who’d sometimes brought their cover animals to the vet clinic or had come to visit Drew and Melanie in their home next door.
Even so, Liam introduced her to them all—and most important to her now were Captain Patrick Worley and Captain Jonas Truro, whom she’d already met. They were both medical doctors, but only Patrick was a shifter.
Then there was Lieutenant Seth Ambers, also a doctor, Staff Sergeant Jason Connell, who was Drew’s cousin as well as a member of Alpha Force, aides including Staff Sergeants Ruby Belmont, Piers Janus, and more. Rosa hoped she would remember names, but even if she didn’t right away, she would try to have as good a relationship as possible with all of them, easiest if a solution was found quickly for Drew’s problem.
When he was done with the introductions, Liam told Rosa to join him standing behind Drew’s desk facing the group. “Rosa has come here to give a rundown, especially to everyone who’s a medical doctor, regarding what she found when she conducted Drew’s blood test. I’ve mentioned that to some of you.” He gestured toward the box they’d brought, which now rested on Drew’s desk.
Rosa wondered if the entire group needed to hear this, since she figured only a few would know anything about blood and blood tests and the different blood types of regular people and shifters and all. But considering the fascinated and concerned way they stared at her, she assumed they were all highly worried about their commanding officer and what was going on with him. They wanted him back, as normal for his type as he’d been before.
Plus some of them were shifters, too, and would want to ensure, if possible, that the same thing didn’t happen with them. And fellow Alpha Force members who were aides would need to know how to help the shifters they worked for.
So, yes, for their own reasons they all needed to be there.
She first described how she had been put in charge of Major Connell by the head veterinarian at the clinic—his wife. “Melanie did her own exam first, of course, and I’ve been keeping her up-to-date. But I’m sure it was hard on her to have to check out poor Drew in this situation.”
Rosa then talked about how she had examined Drew, had kept him under her care, had looked for any abnormalities in his canine form—and had, of course, taken a blood test.
“I don’t know that I need to get into much detail here,” she told the group. “I did find what appears to be some irregularity in the consistency and color of the fluid and, not being a chemist beyond the skills needed to be a damn good veterinarian—” she smiled a bit sadly at that, realizing that her own fears of inadequacy were showing in her irony “—I wanted to see if anyone here could help analyze Drew’s blood and determine if it’s the cause, or an indication, of what’s going on with him.”
“We’ll take a look.” Patrick was the first to stand, then Jonas did. “Come into the lab area with us, Rosa, and we’ll start checking things out, okay?”
“Of course.”
She glanced toward Liam, who nodded. He apparently wasn’t joining them, but he was her ride back to town. She suspected she’d be able to find another one, though, if necessary.
Patrick picked up the box. She wasn’t surprised when Seth joined them. It wouldn’t hurt to have all the doctors who knew human patients’ traits getting involved, or at least that’s what she surmised.
Patrick led Rosa next door to the lab areas, where he asked Seth to start the analysis process, getting slides ready for the microscope and more.
“We really appreciate this,” Patrick said, standing with Rosa in the middle of the main room, which was lined with shiny metal cabinets with glass doors. Some had equipment on top—a lot of microscopes, for one thing.
Patrick was a tall guy, dressed in camos like all the people around here but Rosa. His hair was light and short, his face long and nice looking, with a cleft in his chin.
He didn’t resemble Liam except for his height and outfit—and for an instant Rosa missed Liam’s presence. Ridiculous.
“I appreciate it, too,” she said to Patrick. “I just hope you can figure this out.”
“I’m sure you know we want to,” he replied. Seth was already removing the various vials of blood from the padding in the box. Rosa had labeled them with the time collected and whether she had done anything to attempt to examine each particular sample, so she figured they at least wouldn’t have any questions about that.
But what they all really needed was answers.
She hung out in the lab for a while, mostly watching the others, listening to them discuss what to do next. Then Patrick said, “You know, Rosa, this is going to take a while. Why don’t you go back to your clinic, and we’ll let you know what we find, okay?”
In other words, her staring wasn’t making them go faster, but might be causing them some discomfort.
She didn’t want that. Besides, back at the clinic she’d be able to bring Melanie up-to-date, such as it was with no answers so far, and maybe do something helpful there before the day ended. “Sounds good,” she said.
She just hoped that Liam was ready to leave.
Liam was champing at the bit.
He had gone to his own office, upstairs in another part of the building, but only briefly to check on how Denny was doing.
He’d promised to return Rosa to town, and though he figured he could get someone else to do it, he wanted to be the one.
He also wanted to get on his own computer and get busy doing his own thing to start fixing all the absurd and detrimental rumors.
“Here’s what I’ve done,” Denny had told him, and good guy that he was, Liam’s aide had followed his prior instructions and started with one of the social media sites where the posts were among the most awful and accusatory against shapeshifters the night before, including an unnamed military group containing shifters. Oddly, as Liam had previously noted, a few had signed their posts with the names of Greek or Roman gods, like Zeus, Hera, Orion, Diana and Poseidon, and even Cerberus, the three-headed dog. They could be a group of anti-shifters, or just one person pretending to be a bunch. Which frustrated Liam. He hadn’t had the time to start figuring that out yet.
Still, Denny had used one of his own fake identities to make fun of the stupid stuff. That needed to be started even before they attempted to figure out the sources of those posts.
“Good job,” Liam had told him, making his short, young helper grin widely.
“Thanks. You want to take over?”
“Soon,” Liam assured him. “Meantime, keep up the good work.”
He returned to Drew’s office, where some of his fellow Alpha Forcers remained. Could he text Rosa to see how much longer she’d be? He felt a duty to do as he’d promised her.
He also felt eager to see her again, and not entirely to get her update on what the others were doing to assess Drew’s weird blood.
He was delighted when she came back almost immediately after his reappearance. “They’re working on it now,” she told Liam and the others in the room. “Not much I can do to help, so do you think...” She looked at Liam, who just nodded, reading the question in her eyes.
“Yep,” he said. “I’ll take you back to the clinic now. Right?”
“Thanks.” She smiled at him.
He got a promise from the clearly worried Jason that he’d keep Liam informed about anything the doctors found and revealed about his cousin Drew’s bad blood. Then he told Rosa, “I’ve a stop to make before we leave.”
“Oh. Okay.” The way she looked at him, he assumed she thought he meant the restroom.
“Pit stop first is fine,” he agreed, “but that’s not what I meant.”
In a few minutes, he met her to go upstairs. Instead of heading for the door out of the building, he turned and said, “Time for some cover dog attention.”
“Really?” She sounded delighted. “Then you’re going to get yours?”
“Yep, that’s my Chase.”
“Is Spike there, too?”
He knew that was Seth’s dog. “Sure. That’s right—you took care of his wound, didn’t you? I’ve heard a lot about it.”
“He’s still okay, isn’t he?”
“He sure is.”
They’d reached the door to the large room where the cover dogs were in enclosures. For fun, Liam let out a brief howl as if he was shifted, and several of those inside responded in kind. He grinned at Rosa’s pleased smile.
“Gee, these guys sound a lot like wolves,” she said, “and so do you.”
“I wonder why.”
He asked her to wait outside while he went in for Chase. She agreed, but asked to peek in the door and see all the canines hanging out there behind the low fences.
When he returned with Chase, her smile was even broader.
“So this is how you look when you shift?” she asked.
“Yep, that’s me—or close enough to me for now.” He asked what she knew about cover animals. From what she told him, Rosa had already learned from Melanie that the shifters in Alpha Force all had cover animals who resembled them when they were shifted. That way, if a non-shifter happened to see them while they were in shifted form and claim they must be werewolves or whatever, they could later bring out their cover animal—mostly wolves here at Ft. Lukman these days—show the non-shifter, and tell them they’d simply seen the Alpha Force member’s pet. That seemed to work well, Liam thought, since Alpha Force members didn’t need to wait till a full moon to shift.
Now Rosa and Liam walked outside toward his car, then into the warmth of the midday air, and he soon tethered Chase in the back seat. His look-alike cover dog-wolf sat up and looked around expectantly. Chase always enjoyed attention and was probably eager to see what the rest of the day held in store for him.
There’d be one stop he might enjoy. After they dropped Rosa off at the vet clinic, Liam had promised a visit to his family in town—his brother, Chuck, and sister-in-law, Carleen. They had moved from Minnesota to Mary Glen just a few months ago and bought an existing restaurant that was a franchise for the Fastest Foods chain, planning to stay here a while.
That was the result of Liam learning about a possible experiment that would involve allowing limited individuals related to Alpha Force team members to occasionally use the elixir on nights of a full moon, with results to be examined by the unit. Those people had to be shifters, close in both relationship and distance, although if all went well, the program might be expanded.
Liam’s family were shifters like him, and were eager to have more access to the elixir. That’s why they had considered their move here worth it, even if they wound up only being closer to Liam. But of course they hoped things went better than that—and they had, at least somewhat. His family members had been allowed to use the elixir once now, during this most recent full moon, as part of the experiment. And more? That remained to be seen, but the ongoing experiment might help.
Liam had received a text message from Chuck a short while ago, as he waited for Rosa. He hadn’t seen his family since their shift last night, nor had he had a chance to speak with the Alpha Force member who’d acted as their temporary aide for the occasion, Sergeant Kristine Parran. Though he’d talked to them briefly on his way downtown before, and they’d sounded thrilled, he wanted to know more about how it all went, and apparently they wanted to talk to him, too. But he couldn’t stay long at the restaurant.
So first he’d take Rosa back to the veterinary hospital and dash in with her to see how Drew was doing. Then he’d stop to see family—quickly.
And finally, he would fulfill his obligation—and do what he really wanted to. He’d hurry back here to get on the computer at last.
As Liam pulled his car past the base’s front gate and onto the road secluded by trees, Rosa took her phone from her purse and looked at it. “I was hoping to get a call right away saying they’d figured out how to help Drew.”
“That would be a nice thing.” He looked at her briefly and nodded. And had an idea.
He could easily drive past the restaurant on the way to the clinic. That would give him a great excuse to keep his visit quick. He trusted Denny, but the aide was too new at this to fully accomplish what Liam needed to do. If he stopped with Rosa to buy a fast-food burger and coffee—and ask in more detail how his family had enjoyed last night—he could leave quickly to return Rosa to her clinic.
Besides, he would get to stay in her presence just a little longer. That wasn’t important, of course—no matter how much he knew he’d enjoy it. But the idea seemed to work well in all ways.
“I’d like to stop to pick up a meal to go, from the Fastest Foods shop,” he told Rosa. “My treat, if you’d like anything.”
The look she shot at him was one of surprise. “Good idea,” she said. “You don’t have to treat, but I’ll pick up a few things for the clinic staff...and also get Drew a burger to help keep his spirits up.”
“Good idea,” he said in turn. “We’ll be there soon.” Then he had to ask. “Did you get a sense that my superior officers knew what they were doing when it came to analyzing Drew’s blood and determining if that had anything to do with his non-shifting?”
“I liked those guys,” she hedged. “And I’m hopeful...but not sure. I just wish there was more I could do.”
He hated to hear the sad tone in her voice, and to see the dejection in her expression when he managed another glance toward her.
“I’ve got a feeling,” he said to cheer her up, “that there is more you can do, and you’ll figure it out.”
He looked at her again briefly as she shifted in her seat. “Really? I can’t make any promises, but I sure hope you’re right.”
Me, too, he thought, then made the turn from the woodsy road into town.
And if she figured it out—well, that would give him a good excuse to kiss those now happily smiling lips of hers in thanks.
Chapter 5 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
“There we are.” From the driver’s seat beside Rosa, Liam pointed just ahead along one of the town’s main streets. Sure enough, a familiar large neon sign that resembled those in lots of other locations jutted over the sidewalk: Fastest Foods.
“Yes,” Rosa agreed, trying to sound excited. And to her surprise, she was—a little.
A stop for a meal?
After all that had gone on today, Rosa wasn’t really hungry, but the stop would give her a little more time in Liam’s presence. Despite being in the same places a lot that day, they really hadn’t spent much time together.
On the other hand, she barely knew the guy. Plus he happened to be a shifter. Not that she disliked shifters.
Quite the contrary...but she certainly couldn’t be attracted to one, no matter how caring and sympathetic he happened to be about his commanding officer’s medical—or whatever—problem.
The restaurant stood alone in the middle of a sizable parking lot that also had a drive-through line. “Are we going to go through there?” Rosa pointed toward the stream of cars slowly inching forward.
“No, we’ll go inside, though we’ll order takeout.”
He fortunately found a parking spot right away in the busy lot and opened his door. Rosa opened hers, too, and hopped out. “I assume you’ll roll down the back windows a bit for Chase,” she said, looking into the back seat at the wolflike dog, who was now sitting up, panting a bit. Fortunately, the outside air was cool.
“No need,” Liam said. “He’ll come in with us.”
“Into the restaurant? Is that allowed?”
“Of course. He’s a soldier dog—and he’s also kind of my service dog.” Liam’s grin, as he stood beside her near the car on the black paved surface of the lot, seemed proud.
“Oh. Okay.” Rosa loved dogs, and other animals, enough that she wished they were all allowed into all restaurants and other places that served people.
Of course, shapeshifters were allowed anywhere—as long as they were in human form, as Liam was now.
And Rosa realized it was okay to bring Chase, too, when they walked in the door of the crowded, noisy restaurant and Liam was greeted right away by the people who seemed in charge.
A guy who’d been behind the service counter came out the door beside it and hustled toward Liam. They shook hands, then hugged each other. Was he a relative? The guy was about Liam’s height, with similarly dark hair and angular features. He wasn’t in a camo uniform, of course, but a blue denim shirt and jeans, with a white apron on top.
He looked down then and grinned at Chase, leashed beside Liam. “Can’t pet him, bro, though I know he’s family. You know that’s why we keep our Louper out back, too, when he’s here.”
“Right. Not sanitary when you’re on duty. But let me introduce you to someone.” Liam turned toward Rosa and gestured for her to join them.
As she did, a woman who’d been cleaning tables in the busy place dashed over. She was dressed similarly to the man who’d hugged Liam. She was slender, with long, silver-blond hair pulled into a clip at the back of her head, a very attractive woman—who also hugged Liam.
Rosa knew she shouldn’t feel jealous about that—especially when she looked down and saw a ring on the woman’s finger.
“So good to see you, Liam,” the woman said.
“I’ll say,” said the man.
Liam once more looked at Rosa. “I want to introduce you both to someone I’ll bet you’ll be very happy to know one of these days. This is Dr. Rosa Jontay, one of the town’s veterinarians. Rosa, this is my brother, Chuck, and his wife, Carleen. They own this place now—and they’re also owned by Louper, a dog who stays either in the enclosed backyard behind this place, or at home. He’s home today with a dog walker visiting him. Louper resembles Chase.”
Liam looked at her and grinned, and she read in his look the fact that these two people were also shifters who happened to have a cover dog, even though they weren’t military.
“Very nice to meet you.” She shook hands first with Carleen, then Chuck. “And I would be delighted to meet your dog sometime when he’s here or otherwise, though I hope he has no need of a vet.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Carleen said. “Now, you two come over here and sit down, and we’ll get you something to eat.”
“Oh, but—” Rosa began, but fortunately, Liam took over.
“We just need some takeout right now,” he said. “Rosa’s going to get some extra stuff for some of her veterinary staff, and she needs to get back to her clinic.”
“Great,” Carleen said. “We’ll get our staff moving on it right away. Just let them know at the counter what you want.”
There were several people ahead of them in the line, and Rosa didn’t want to butt in. “We’ll take our time,” she said. “But thanks.”
Liam nodded his agreement, though he said, “It helps to be related to the owners when you’re in a hurry. I agree with being polite to their customers, though. And if you don’t mind standing here a few minutes to hold our place, I’d appreciate it. I’ve something to ask Chuck.”
“Fine,” Rosa said, and agreed to keep Chase with her. She watched Liam talking to his brother by the wall nearest the door into the order area and kitchen. It was one of the few times she wished she had a shifter’s abilities—not to shift, but to hear things better than a normal person. The two brothers seemed to be talking animatedly, and she was curious about what they were saying.
The teenage guy at the front of the line stepped aside after placing his order. Rosa was glad to move ahead a little, particularly for the sake of the animals that might be needing her care back at the clinic.
Including, perhaps, Drew. She’d at least check on him, no matter what Melanie and the Alpha Force guy who’d taken over for Liam said about how he was doing—though she’d be absolutely delighted if he’d changed back during their absence.
Unlikely, though, or Melanie would have called her.
At least now there were only three more people ahead of her in line, and two appeared to be a couple. Rosa bent and patted Chase’s head. The dog was definitely behaving well, leashed at her side.
Liam rejoined her. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“Real good,” he responded, without more detail. In fact, he was quiet for a while.
“How long have your relatives owned this place?” Rosa asked finally, to make conversation. Besides, she was interested in his answer. “Did they follow you to Mary Glen?”
And did they want to become members of Alpha Force? she wondered. She figured that a lot of shifters might want to do so if they knew of the reality of Alpha Force, and its special elixir. With their relative, Liam, now a member, she had no doubt that Chuck and Carleen were well aware of the nature of that military unit.
She’d ask Liam more about them later, as she couldn’t here, in public.
“They’ve been here about four months,” Liam said. “They bought this franchise from the former owners and just took over. And yes, they followed me here.”
“Got it.” She looked around again. The restaurant was filled with customers—and with the aroma of grilled meat. Even she could smell it, and she figured it must be many times stronger to Liam, even in his human form. Or at least that’s what she’d heard from shifters in her past—and now. They all had enhanced senses.
And of course Chase stuck his nose in the air and sniffed, off and on.
The next person moved out of their way in line. As they started to edge forward a woman rushed out the door from the kitchen and threw herself against Liam, giving him a huge hug. “Liam, so glad to see you,” she exclaimed.
“Good to see you, too, Valerie,” he said, although his not-so-inviting expression, and the way he moved back, suggested he was fibbing a bit.
Somehow, that made Rosa feel a bit better about the woman’s highly effusive greeting. But who was Valerie?
She found out right away as Liam introduced them. “Rosa, this is Carleen’s sister, Valerie. And Valerie, Rosa’s one of Mary Glen’s wonderful veterinarians.”
Carleen’s sister—a sort of sister-in-law to Liam. That made Rosa feel somewhat better, although since they weren’t related by blood that connection wouldn’t keep Liam from getting into a relationship with her.
But that wasn’t Rosa’s business, though he hadn’t appeared to care about Valerie in that way.
Valerie resembled Carleen. Her silvery blond hair was shorter, though, and loose. She had deep brown eyes like her sister.
“Welcome to town,” Rosa said, to be polite. “Do you work here, too?” She gestured around the restaurant.
“I do right now,” the other woman said. “Look, you go ahead and place your orders, and then we can talk.”
She must have said that because Liam and Rosa had finally reached the front of their line. But Rosa didn’t want to take the time to talk to Valerie, and hoped Liam felt the same way.
Fortunately, Valerie disappeared, heading back into the kitchen—but then reappeared behind the counter, next to the guy who’d begun taking their order. She was the one to start entering things on the computer, and her counterpart, a twentysomething guy with a scruffy beard, didn’t look exactly thrilled about the help.
Rosa wasn’t surprised that Liam’s order consisted of a double burger, rare—lots of red meat. She asked for several sandwiches, including burgers and a couple containing chicken. The one with the most beef she intended to provide to Drew in his canine form.
When they were done ordering, Rosa immediately handed her credit card to Valerie over the counter. She’d already gotten it out and didn’t want to argue with Liam about it. She didn’t even look at him and was glad when Valerie took it from her and began to ring up their order.
“I’ll pay you back,” Liam growled from beside her. She just waved in a neutral gesture. This was another thing not to get into a discussion about here.
Valerie soon handed them the plastic bags containing their food. “Come back anytime, Rosa,” she said. “Bye, Chase. And Liam—when are we all getting together again? You know I’m only planning on being here for a fairly short while, so I’d really like us to see each other as often as possible while I’m in town.”
“I’ll talk to Chuck about it,” Liam said.
“Talk to Chuck about what?” said a voice from behind Rosa. Liam’s brother was there, maybe to say goodbye.
“Having a family get-together,” Valerie replied. “Soon, I hope.”
“Sounds good to me,” Chuck responded. “We’ll invite you over to our condo soon, bro. You, too, Rosa.”
She couldn’t help but cast a sideways glance toward Valerie to see what she thought about that invitation. Carleen’s sister remained smiling, and it didn’t appear forced.
Maybe Rosa was wrong about this woman flirting with her kind-of brother-in-law. Maybe she just intended to keep the family in contact as long as she did stay in town.
“Thanks,” Rosa said, not committing to anything.
But somehow the idea of spending more friendly time with Liam, not related to veterinary or Alpha Force issues, sounded good.
For now, though, she was glad when Liam said goodbye to Chuck, then Carleen, who also joined them, and waved to Valerie behind the counter.
Time for them to get busy with everything they each needed to do for the rest of the day.
Liam refused to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable about the attention Valerie had leveled on him. The woman was attractive, sure. She was also a shifter, like her sister. She’d made it seem that flirting with him was second nature to her, though he had never encouraged it.
But he always remained friendly toward her. She was, after all, a member of his family.
“Nice people,” Rosa said from beside him in the car. Behind them, Chase shifted in his seat, clearly wanting to get into the bags of food that sat on the floor near Rosa’s feet.
“Of course they are,” Liam said. “They’re family.”
“Like Chase?” Rosa wasn’t exactly jesting. She’d told him she considered pet dogs to be family, and she assumed the relationship between a shifter and his cover dog had to be strong.
“Yeah, kind of. Chase and I are pretty damn close these days.” Hearing his name, Chase sat back on the seat and made a low sound that made Liam laugh. “Glad you agree,” he said.
As they continued on, Liam thought a bit about his brief discussion with Chuck. Yes, both he and Carleen had loved the way their shift went. Yes, the Alpha Force person who’d acted as their aide for the night had been just great: Sergeant Kristine Parran. The elixir had been amazing. As far as he knew, all had gone well from Alpha Force’s perspective. And, yes, both Carleen and he would love to do it again. Soon.
Almost as if she read his thoughts, Rosa asked, “Are your brother and sister-in-law shifters, too?”
“Yes,” he acknowledged.
“Do they get to use your elixir?”
Good and appropriate question, he thought. Without saying too much, he told her they were involved in an experiment being conducted by Alpha Force, in which they could be given occasional doses of the elixir on nights of a full moon.
He was glad that Rosa and he had reached the vet clinic, since he didn’t want to answer any further questions she might have. Liam parked along the street. He intended not to just let Rosa out of the car. He planned to go inside and check with Denny about how things were going. And most especially, he wanted to see for himself how Drew was doing.
He opened his car door at the same time Rosa opened hers. Her expression seemed to register surprise as she turned back to look at him. “I thought you were just dropping me off so you could get to work.”
“Not till I check on Drew. Besides, we can wolf down our sandwiches together.” He grinned at his own pun, and she laughed.
“Fair enough.” She bent down to get the bags as Liam got out to leash Chase and let him out of the back seat.
As Rosa headed toward the clinic’s rear door, bags in hand, Liam let his dog sniff the curb and driveway, and when he was ready, hurried him to the entrance.
The street had been fairly well lined with cars, so Liam wasn’t surprised, as he entered the waiting room, to see a lot of people there with their pets—everything from an English sheepdog to a couple mewing kittens in carriers.
They all carried scents of their own.
Since he didn’t see Rosa there, he figured he’d better let the receptionist behind the desk know he needed to catch up with the vet. But Susie, whom he’d met before, smiled and motioned Chase and him through the inner door.
Rosa approached him from down the hall. “I just put our food in the break room, but let’s go check on Drew.”
“Great.” Liam followed her to the room where he had last seen his superior officer. Rosa opened the door, but motioned for him to enter first, which he did, Chase right behind him.
The place looked the same as before, with wolfen Drew sitting on the towel-covered top of the lowered table. With him, on one of the chairs against the wall, sat Staff Sergeant Noel Chuma, who was an aide to whichever Alpha Force shifter needed him.
And no one needed help now more than Drew.
Noel wasn’t a big guy, but he was strong, smart and dedicated to Alpha Force. He rose, and the expression on his deep-toned face worried Liam.
He couldn’t ask detailed questions now, though. Not in front of Drew.
“So, how’s our patient doing?” Rosa asked. She approached Drew, who regarded her with stony eyes that, on some canines—whether shifters or not—would have made Liam worry that he was about to attack.
He knew Drew wouldn’t do that. But Drew’s expression did indicate that he wasn’t happy.
That he probably didn’t have a sense he’d be shifting back anytime soon—and it was getting to be late afternoon on the day he should have retaken his human form early in the morning.
“He’s mostly been resting,” Noel answered for him. “We’ve been for a couple of walks and he seemed happy enough to be out of this room, but, well—happy isn’t the best word. I think he’s really frustrated.”
“Understandably,” Liam said.
Drew made a growling sound that didn’t seem threatening, but might’ve connoted frustration. It was enough to get Chase, who had sat beside Liam, to stand again and watch his sort-of counterpart.
“Tell you what,” Liam said. “Drew, are you okay with being here on your own for a few minutes? Dr. Rosa and I brought lunch back and we need to sort it out, but one of us is going to bring you a really good burger very soon.”
Drew answered by making a noise that this time sounded like a sigh, then lying back down.
He didn’t seem overly excited about the late, tasty lunch he’d get.
And Liam could understand why.
Chapter 6 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
“I don’t want to leave him alone for long,” Rosa said quietly, once they were back in the hall with the door shut behind them. “But we do have a sandwich for you, too, Sergeant Chuma.”
“Noel,” he corrected. “And I’m sure you want to talk with me about our CO and what went on while you all were gone.”
Rosa watched the two military guys trade glances. She figured Liam would hear a lot more than she would, but not while they were all together.
And she appreciated that the sergeant had come here, to ensure that Drew was nearly never alone. His condition was such that no one knew what needs he might have, or when he might have them. And he certainly wasn’t in any condition to grab a smartphone and call for help.
They all headed the short distance along the hall to the break room. Rosa motioned for the others to enter first, glad to see that Brendan had just come into the hall, ushering a young woman with her standard poodle mix from another exam room. Rosa waited long enough for Brendan to ensure that his charges entered the reception area, where the owner could pay her bill and they could leave. But when Brendan turned again, Rosa was right beside him.
“Is Melanie in that room?” She gestured to the room he’d just come out of.
“Yes. Want me to get her for you?”
“Please.”
Brendan once more went through that door, and almost immediately Melanie, in her white lab jacket, strode out and faced Rosa. “You’re back. Do they have any answers yet at Ft. Lukman?”
“They’re working on it. I gave them the blood samples and discussed what I’d seen, and my concerns. They got right on it, so hopefully they’ll figure it out soon.”
“Yes. Hopefully.” Melanie’s hair wasn’t pulled back as neatly as usual. Her pretty face seemed to be aging minute by minute. Rosa just hoped she was providing adequate care to their patients, despite the stress she was under.
“Meantime,” Rosa said brightly, “Liam came back here with me, but I assume he’ll be leaving Noel here, since he has to get back to the base right away. Or almost right away. We brought a late lunch from Fastest Foods, a few sandwiches. That includes a really nice big, rare burger for Drew.” Rosa made herself smile broadly, then motioned for her employer to follow her as Brendan reappeared in the hall, followed by a large man hugging a moderate-size golden cat.
She was glad when Melanie did as she hoped and joined her, Liam and Noel in the break room. Given a choice, Melanie picked out a chicken sandwich among those laid out on one of the tables in the middle of the room, as did Rosa. That left burgers for the guys.
Including the large one for Drew, which Liam was holding. “I’d like to go say hi to Drew, if that’s okay with you,” he said to Melanie. “I can give this to him then.”
“Of course. And thank you both so much for bringing Drew a burger from Fastest Foods. It’s one of his favorite places when...when...” Her voice started to drop off, and Rosa recognized her signs of sorrow.
“When he’s not shifted,” she finished brightly for Melanie. “And when he is shifted. I get it. Let’s give him what we have now, and I promise that, when he’s back to his unshifted self again, I’ll go get him even more burgers there. Okay?”
She looked at Melanie’s brave smile and almost broke down herself. Rosa had had a few relationships now and then, but hadn’t met anyone she wanted to spend her life with. Melanie had, and she’d even gotten past whatever confusion she might have felt about falling hard for a shapeshifter.
She was clearly, deeply in love. And the man she loved was in distress. Ill. In the middle of a condition that no one knew anything about, so no one knew how to fix it. Fix him.
A wonderment about how she’d feel if Liam somehow became her veterinary patient flashed through Rosa. Ridiculous. Yes, she found him good-looking as a human. Kind. Sexy... No, she wasn’t going there. She wasn’t going anywhere with him, or with these ideas. She glanced at him, though—and saw that, for some reason, he was watching her.
She turned away and quickly stepped toward Melanie, then gave her a hug. “We’ll figure it out,” she promised, hoping she wasn’t lying about something as important to her employer as that.
“I know,” Melanie said hoarsely. “And thanks.” She turned to where the two men stood behind her, eating their sandwiches. “And thanks to both of you, too.”
“No problem,” Liam said. “Noel, you said you’d give us a rundown of how Drew’s been doing while you’ve been with him.”
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Linda O. Johnston
Can she love the wolf…within the man?Lt. Liam Cortland is the newest member of an elite military unit for shapeshifters. A tech expert, his task is to counter reports of Alpha Force’s existence spreading online.When the rumours take a dark turn, his mission grows more urgent. His greatest ally is Dr Rosa Jontay—the woman who’s seen him at his most vulnerable, the woman he knows he can never have. The woman he can't possibly live without…
Can she love the wolf...
Inside the man?
Lieutenant Liam Corland is the newest member of an elite military unit for shapeshifters. A tech expert, his task is to counter reports of Alpha Force’s existence spreading online. When the rumors take a dark turn, his mission grows more urgent. His greatest ally is Dr. Rosa Jontay—the woman who’s seen him at his most vulnerable, the woman he knows he can never have. The woman he can’t possibly live without...
LINDA O. JOHNSTON loves to write. While honing her writing skills, she worked in advertising and public relations, then became a lawyer...and enjoyed writing contracts. Linda’s first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won a Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. Linda now spends most of her time creating memorable tales of paranormal romance, romantic suspense and mystery. Visit her on the web at www.lindaojohnston.com (http://www.lindaojohnston.com).
Also by Linda O. Johnston (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
Guardian Wolf
Undercover Wolf
Loyal Wolf
Canadian Wolf
Protector Wolf
Back to Life
K-9 Ranch Rescue
Second Chance Soldier
Trained to Protect
Undercover Soldier
Covert Attraction
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Visionary Wolf
Linda O. Johnston
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08218-1
VISIONARY WOLF
© 2018 Linda O. Johnston
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Visionary Wolf is dedicated to all Mills & Boon
Supernatural readers, especially those who have
enjoyed my stories about Alpha Force.
And yes, as always, my thanks to my fantastic agent,
Paige Wheeler of Creative Media Agency, and to my
wonderful editor, Allison Lyons. There may be no
further Alpha Force stories, but I look forward
to more Heroes.
Also, as always, I thank my dear husband,
Fred, for being there, and for inspiring me.
Contents
Cover (#u174d6e38-c894-5db5-8067-85c8986e5db6)
Back Cover Text (#u241960ae-26fb-5cd3-ab43-95203a90c294)
About the Author (#u4aed2d9a-da1c-5282-93a3-490c7770d7dd)
Booklist (#ue6171748-3918-5617-9fdf-5a54e8820c8f)
Title Page (#ue8570cd4-89eb-54e0-a176-32a922a9cdd0)
Copyright (#u87db3e01-d0f0-5b8c-a09c-f18d425f3f6a)
Dedication (#udd0942ce-58a0-5efb-b2e3-ef412744f273)
Chapter 1 (#ud2ca727a-9c97-5776-bf51-fd6fdb2693fe)
Chapter 2 (#ud2106c76-bd91-5107-9b13-4405af55ed63)
Chapter 3 (#u9e716156-6f09-5528-9f70-fb8eb845f20f)
Chapter 4 (#u9700c551-925f-5eb3-935c-d78ac36e6535)
Chapter 5 (#ufe3fc89f-45ef-5f8e-b73d-a4363a898aa3)
Chapter 6 (#ubd441009-70e1-5aae-8f55-ef00a677bd88)
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)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
Good thing he was at Ft. Lukman, Lieutenant Liam Corland thought. At any other military facility, he would never feel comfortable walking calmly with his dog, Chase, across the nearly empty grounds, in his casual camo uniform, later in the morning than he should be reporting for duty. In fact, he wouldn’t feel comfortable working at any other military facility, period.
But this was where Alpha Force was stationed. He had just left his apartment in the bachelor officers’ quarters. Now he headed toward the building across the compound that contained so many important functions—mainly laboratory, cover dog kennel and offices, including his own.
Sure, he should have started his important assignment of this day an hour ago, so he didn’t want to make his lateness too obvious. He avoided the most used pathways, hustling along behind buildings occupied by units other than Alpha Force. Chase and he would be picked up on security cameras when they sneaked in through a back door of the appropriate building, but no one would do anything about it, since they belonged there. Besides, he had a good excuse, and he probably wasn’t the only one who slept in a bit. Not that he had gotten much sleep anyway.
There had been a full moon last night. He had shifted, of course—pretty much on his own terms, thanks to Alpha Force.
And thanks also to the help of his aide, Sergeant Denny Orringer, who now waited for him in the kennel and lab building. Covering for him, if necessary.
He’d talked to Denny earlier, and—
There. Chase and he had reached the back of that building, near the doors leading into the kennel area. The shapeshifters’ cover dogs like Chase were kept there frequently, along with other dogs that helped this military base look like it had a lot of well-trained canines living here all the time.
Of course Alpha Force members who had cover dogs also kept them with them a lot as well, both at Ft. Lukman and when they were traveling—as long as there were some living here, too, to keep up appearances.
Liam, a tech expert, used the key card he had programmed himself to open the back door. He slipped in and enclosed Chase in one of several fenced areas, joining three dogs that resembled him.
Of course, Chase looked wolfen, resembling Liam himself while he was shifted...
“See you later, guy,” Liam whispered to his canine companion, who was already being greeted by his fellows.
Heading for the stairway down to the most important floor of the building, which contained offices and the laboratories where the very special Alpha Force elixir was brewed, Liam walked slowly, figuring he was likely to run into someone else dressed like him.
But fortunately, he saw no one—so no one saw him, either, as he again used a key card to open a door, this time to the stairs.
He heard raised voices from down the hall when he slipped carefully into his own office. They sounded excited. With his special senses, even when he was in human form, he could easily have eavesdropped had he wanted to.
But what he wanted was to get to work.
First, though, he shot a quick text message to Denny to let him know where he was. Then he booted up his computer, a highly sophisticated desktop that was the epitome of today’s technology.
A good thing, since it was used for such a critical purpose.
His phone made a text ping. Denny was probably just acknowledging what Liam had sent. He’d check it later.
A sudden urge for a cup of coffee shot through Liam but he ignored it. He’d get one later when he went to the meeting, but right now he needed to check his usual social media and other sources.
His job at the moment? Look for any and all mentions online of people claiming to have seen shapeshifters last night, in this area first of all, then other locales in this country and the world where Alpha Force members were stationed. And, finally, everywhere else.
He’d undoubtedly find some mentions. Perhaps a lot. He always did, and most appeared to come from people who loved what they considered paranormal—fiction lovers who wanted to see if others, unlike them, had spotted shifters during a night of a full moon. They were easy to deal with.
But Liam needed to deal with the reality of those who didn’t have the kinds of backgrounds to have been introduced to Alpha Force and what it did, but had caught glimpses of possible Alpha Force shifters on that night of the full moon—or claimed to.
Liam had to find their posts, then kid around online. Make them look foolish to the rest of the world, and maybe even to themselves.
That was one of the things Liam, vying, at least in his mind, for tech champion of the universe, did best. But he wasn’t a geek. Oh, no. He loved being a member of the military. Of Alpha Force. He both looked and acted the part.
Except at the computer.
Using one of his many false identities, he logged on to a favorite social media site—and gasped. “No!” he exclaimed aloud.
He read the post more carefully, then jumped onto several other sites—and got the same results.
Existence of a strange military unit of shapeshifters was mentioned more than once on this day after a night of a full moon. That wasn’t unusual.
But claims of damage, destruction—and injuries to real people? The extent of what was described on so many sites was horrific.
And did not bode well at all for Liam’s vision of shifters’ acceptance someday by other people. Those lies were more of the reality now, though.
“I need to let the others know.” Liam was barely aware he was talking aloud. He picked up his phone, then realized this was critical enough that he wanted to tell his superiors in person. One in particular—Major Drew Connell, their commanding officer who had begun Alpha Force and remained in charge.
Drew’s office was on the opposite side of this floor, past the lab areas, and Liam immediately headed there. If he hadn’t had this important assignment, that was where he would have gone first, since nearly all Alpha Force members present on the base attended informal meetings in Drew’s office the morning after a night of a full moon. Liam would have headed there eventually anyway to let the others know what he found.
But with these horrible allegations... Liam had to let his unit members know right away. Then he had to dig further online to learn their truth—or, hopefully, not.
If not, though, how had so many unheard of references and accusations been put out there?
He put his computer to sleep, then hurried out his office door, down the halls whose plainness would never suggest the amazing things that went on in the laboratories beyond them, to another hall lined with closed doors. The last one was to Drew’s office.
Without knocking, Liam burst in, expecting to see Drew there holding court with the other shifters and their aides.
But though the room looked busy, he didn’t see that officer in charge. Nor did he see Captain Jonas Truro, Drew’s close friend and aide, a medical doctor like Drew, but, unlike him, not a shifter.
That was strange for a post–full moon meeting in Drew’s office. Did they know what Liam had learned online? Were they trying to deal with it themselves?
But Liam might just be allowing his own angst over what he’d seen on the computer to lead him to false conclusions. Drew and Jonas could be down the hall in the restroom. Or checking something in the lab. Or—
“Oh, there you are, Liam.” Denny, in a folding chair near the doorway of the small, crowded office, stood and looked at him. “I’m glad you read my text.” Which Liam didn’t always do quickly, and he wasn’t about to tell his aide he hadn’t this time, either. Denny was younger and shorter than Liam, and he had a slight growth of facial hair. Liam kept his own dark hair closely shaved—when he was in human form.
He wondered what Denny had said in that text, but he wasn’t about to check now.
“Come in, Liam,” Captain Patrick Worley said, also standing. He was tall, dressed in camos like the rest, and the expression on his face looked grim. Had he heard about what the Alpha Force shifters were alleged to have done?
Had Alpha Force shifters actually done any of it? Any of them in this room?
“Glad you’re here,” Patrick continued. “Have you checked out any online references to shifters yet?”
“Yes, and—”
But Patrick didn’t let him finish. “Good. We’ll want to hear about it. But first there’s something you need to know that we’ve been discussing. Something bad.”
Liam swallowed hard. “I definitely want to hear about it.” Hopefully, none of it was true and he could find a way to calm all the comments that had shown up online. Or—
“It’s about Major Connell,” Patrick said. “Something went wrong with Drew’s shift. Really wrong. He hasn’t shifted back from wolf form yet, and he’s not doing well. Right now, Jonas is with him at the veterinary clinic in Mary Glen. Drew is being cared for by Melanie.”
Drew’s wife, a veterinarian. Not a medical doctor.
This was definitely bad. Very bad. Certainly more important than the false claims Liam had seen online.
What was Alpha Force going to do?
“How is Drew now?” demanded Dr. Melanie Harding Connell. Dr. Rosa Jontay’s boss faced her at the back of the Mary Glen Veterinary Clinic’s main hallway, arms crossed, head tilted.
Rosa understood her concern, of course. Major Drew Connell wasn’t just the head of that highly special military unit known as Alpha Force. He was also Melanie’s husband. Father of her adorable four-year-old daughter, Emily, and two-year-old son, Andy.
“He seems tired,” Rosa said softly, looking into Melanie’s sad but pretty blue eyes. “I just came out of the room for a short break and to get coffee, but I’ll be heading back in there soon. Jonas is still with him.”
That was Captain Jonas Truro, also part of Alpha Force, and from what Rosa understood Jonas was additionally a medical doctor—and Drew’s aide when he shifted. She had seen him a few times in the year or so she had been here, but, as with most of the Alpha Force members, she didn’t know him well. Jonas had apparently been hanging out with his superior officer earlier that night—and later.
“Thank you. And thank Jonas.” Melanie also seemed tired. Stressed. But that wasn’t surprising.
As the only veterinarians at the clinic, they both wore white lab coats. Rosa was the taller one. They both had brown hair pulled up in back by clips, with Melanie’s darker than hers.
Not that she was comparing herself to Melanie, Rosa thought. She considered them both exceptional vets, and that was what really mattered.
But she did wonder what it was like to have as strange a relationship as the one between Melanie and Drew. Committed and deeply caring—but yes, strange, since Drew was a shapeshifter.
“Everything okay with the rest of the clinic?” she asked Melanie. “Do you need me for anything else?”
“Fortunately, we’re not very busy today. What I need you to do is—”
“I’m going back into that examination room right now,” Rosa finished. “But with this kind of situation...it’s so different, and other than to keep an eye on him I’m not sure what to do.”
“That’s all I want you to do. Having Jonas there helps, but the kind of medical assistance Drew might need now—”
“Is veterinary. Right. I understand.”
The door to the reception area down the hall opened, and the senior receptionist, Susie Damon, came out and looked toward them. “Our eleven o’clock Yorkie appointment is here for an exam and shots,” she called. “Okay to bring him in?”
“Fine,” Melanie responded. “I’ll be right there.”
Melanie was handling all the cases that came in, for now at least. She was clearly upset, and Rosa assumed she feared breaking down if she was the vet to spend time with Drew.
And that might make things worse with him.
Melanie looked back toward Rosa. “Just so you know, I did get a call a few minutes ago. So far...well, I gather there are no more answers from Ft. Lukman yet, but one of the Alpha Force members is on his way to relieve Jonas. Maybe whoever that is can shed some more light on what’s going on there, and when...”
She didn’t have to finish. Especially not with the newest look of pain that flashed across her face.
“That’s fine,” Rosa said. “I’ll still hang out with Drew, but I’ll also see what I can learn from whoever that is and report to you if it...if there’s any indication of what they’re doing and how long it will take.”
“Great. And maybe Jonas can help more by doing something at the base. I’ll check back with you soon.” Melanie headed down the hall toward the reception area as Susie led the tiny Yorkshire terrier and his not-so-tiny owner toward one of the closest exam rooms.
Which left Rosa to go grab two cups of coffee from the break room at the end of the hall and take them with her to another exam room, the one where Drew had been brought by Jonas and Melanie early that morning, before anyone else had arrived—but after dawn had broken.
Rosa looked around the hallway once more, but it was empty. Then she slipped into the room.
It was a fairly ordinary exam room for a veterinary clinic, with the back wall covered by a cabinet containing shelves for supplies like bandages, exam gloves and disinfectant, and a sink in the middle for washing hands and more. There was a closed trash can nearby, and a couple chairs sat along the outer wall. In the middle was a substantial metal table.
One of the chairs was occupied by Jonas, who stood when she entered. He was a large guy, dark-complected and dressed in a camouflage uniform. He was around her own age of thirty, she figured.
“Here’s some coffee.” Rosa handed him one of the cups.
“Thanks,” he said as he accepted it.
Rosa turned then. On the table with legs adjusted to keep it close to the floor lay a large canine that resembled a wolf. And he was a wolf—of sorts.
That canine was Major Drew Connell of nearby Alpha Force, its lead officer, from what Rosa had heard.
She had also heard that Alpha Force was a highly covert military unit of shapeshifters, which was fascinating to her. There had been a full moon last night, and Drew had shifted into his wolf form. But he hadn’t shifted back at dawn or beyond.
He’d been home when the sun rose, and the Connells’ home was next door to the vet clinic. Melanie had brought him here after taking their daughter to preschool and making sure the sitter was there for their son. Rosa could only guess what Mommy had said to their kids about where Daddy was, and about the wolf in their house.
Or maybe the kids were shifters, too...
Melanie had also called Jonas, who had arrived at the clinic even before Drew and had stayed with him, along with Rosa, from early morning. It was around ten o’clock now.
Rosa realized she had been standing in the doorway after closing the door behind her. The wolf on the table hadn’t moved—before. Now, he made a soft growling sound and, moving slowly, carefully along the towels that had been secured around the metal top, repositioned himself into a canine sit. His fur was long, an almost silvery brown, with patches of darker coloration. His eyes were amber, and he seemed to stare at her over his long, pointed muzzle.
“It’s okay, Drew,” Jonas said. “It’s just Rosa.”
In his current situation, Drew looked a lot like Grunge, a wolflike shepherd-malamute combination that Rosa had been informed was his cover dog. That meant, she’d been told, that Grunge could be pointed out to people as Drew’s pet, the canine they supposedly saw when he was changed, not him. She assumed Grunge was hidden at home at the moment, or maybe at the base.
“Hi, Drew,” she said. “How are you feeling now?”
He couldn’t answer by speaking to her, of course. But from what Melanie had told her, the members of Alpha Force took some kind of medicine—an elixir, they called it—before they shifted that helped them keep their human cognition. He most likely understood what she said.
But they also were supposed to turn back into human form once daylight began after a night of a full moon, unless they had drunk that elixir and chose not to shift back then. She gathered that Drew hadn’t chosen to stay a wolf when daylight arrived that morning, but still hadn’t regained his human form. And judging by the reactions of Melanie and Jonas, that wasn’t good.
He apparently did understand her, though. Maybe. But he aimed his gaze down at the table and shook his head slowly, as if communicating to her that he wasn’t feeling well.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
And she was. The fact that she had known about shapeshifters, and had, in fact, helped to treat some shifted wolves and other creatures at her home in Michigan, had been the main reason Melanie had hired her here. Apparently the shifter community kept in touch with each other, or at least some did, and Melanie had been hunting for someone like her. And Rosa had been thrilled by the offer of this kind of job.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, not for the first time, looking from Drew to Jonas and back again. She had sat in here with the two of them pretty much since she had arrived at work that day. Melanie had tearfully explained the situation, including her request that Rosa stay with Drew and make sure he wasn’t suffering.
Or, even better, report to Melanie when he finally started to shift back to human form.
But that hadn’t happened. Not yet, at least.
Right now, Drew didn’t even look at her, let alone attempt to communicate something he wanted her to do. Jonas didn’t offer any suggestions, either.
“Would you like some water?” she asked Drew.
He looked at her and nodded, so she removed a clean metal bowl from the sink, filled it partway and placed it on the table in front of him. He lapped up maybe half of it.
A knock sounded on the exam room door.
Rosa glanced at Drew, who was once more lying on the towel-covered table, head between his paws in a fully canine position, the bowl off to his side.
“Come in,” she called.
The door opened and Susie popped her head in. “There’s a guy here from Ft. Lukman who says he’s come to help out.”
To take over for Jonas, Rosa assumed, from what Melanie had said before.
She figured that Susie and the others who worked here had some knowledge of the ties Melanie and her husband had to Ft. Lukman, and probably even knew there were shapeshifters there—and possibly that Drew was one of them.
But they’d also been instructed to remain totally discreet, even among themselves. To Rosa’s knowledge, they never talked about it—or at least they’d never done so around her.
“Thanks, Susie. Let him in.”
In a moment, a tall guy dressed in a camouflage shirt and slacks like Jonas entered the room, and Susie shut the door behind him.
Jonas rose again. “Liam,” he said. “Glad you’re here.” He turned to Rosa. “This is Dr. Jontay, one of the vets here. Rosa, that’s Lieutenant Liam Corland.”
“Hi, Dr. Jontay,” the guy said in a deep, masculine voice. He held out his hand and gave hers a quick, substantial shake. The contact made her feel fully aware of this man’s presence. He was wide shouldered, and his face was angular—and gorgeous. His hair was black and military short. Dark brown eyes looked straight into hers, but only for a moment.
“Hello, Lieutenant Corland,” she said as matter-of-factly as she could manage, considering how oddly her mind was reacting to this guy.
“Liam,” he gently corrected, making Rosa regret she hadn’t done the same. He turned to Jonas. “I’m assigned to relieve you here.”
“Got it. Thanks. I’ll run now, and keep you informed about how things go at the base.” Jonas bent toward Drew, who was sitting up once more on the table, and said something into his ear, which twitched canine style. Then he exited the room.
“Well,” Rosa said, not exactly sure how to handle this. What was this Liam going to do here?
As if she had spoken aloud, he looked her directly in the eyes once more. “Do you know and understand the full situation?” His tone was demanding. She didn’t like it, but she did understand.
“Yes, I think so,” she said. Then, more brazenly, “Do you?”
“Of course. I’m a member of Alpha Force, too. One of its...special members.” Again, he caught her gaze, as if attempting to ensure she knew what that meant.
“Then you’re like...” She tilted her head toward the table, where the canine Drew remained seated, clearly watching them and presumably understanding. “Like Drew,” she finished.
“That’s right. I’m here to help Drew out as much as possible from the...from the military angle. Watch over him while members of our unit try to figure out how to help him in their way.” Something to do with that elixir that helped shifters? Something else? Maybe she would find out more. “And discuss if you think there’s any veterinary way to help him...help him get over his current condition.”
“I see.” This seemed so odd—and yet, since Rosa had grown up with both real wolves and shifters in her area, she could deal with it. Right?
Of course. But the part of all this that made her somehow feel worse at this moment was that she couldn’t help focusing on how this Liam had admitted to her right away what he was.
And she felt terrible to think that this gorgeous hunk of a military man was also a shapeshifter.
Chapter 2 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
“Hi, Drew,” Liam finally said.
There his commanding officer was, in canine form, sitting on a bunch of towels on a lowered table in the middle of this veterinary examination room. Watching them. And now he nodded his head as if in greeting.
Liam turned back to Dr. Jontay. Rosa. This vet was fairly special, from what he had been told before he left Ft. Lukman. She had apparently been found after a long hunt for a good, smart backup by Melanie Connell, who’d been seeking a vet who knew about shifters, had provided medical care to them in the past and would keep her mouth shut about working with more in the future.
Rosa was one pretty, hot woman, to boot.
But checking her out wasn’t why Liam was there.
Seeing, taking care of his friend, his mentor, his superior officer—that was his reason for coming to this clinic.
Sure, he’d told his fellow Alpha Force members at Ft. Lukman about the accusations he’d found online. That was important, of course. But not as important as ensuring that Drew returned to normal. Fast.
And when the topic of needing Jonas to get back to the base to help find a solution arose, Liam volunteered to hang out with Drew here for as long as it took to get him cured.
The rest of the team had argued, since the idea of having so much garbage out there online about shifters and Alpha Force was horrendous, and Liam was the best tool they had for countering it. But he’d told them he had taught Denny how to start his critical counter–social media games. Plus, he would work on it himself as Drew’s condition here permitted.
They’d finally agreed, since most of those at the base would be focused on how to deal with what had happened to Drew, and keeping one of their own with him was critical, too. But if what Denny accomplished, with Liam’s backup, wasn’t enough, they would send Denny to trade places with him so Liam could focus on his job—which was now ridiculing all the ridiculous, and not so ridiculous, claims that had appeared on the internet.
So Liam’s giving a damn about his mentor and wanting to do something about it had worked out—at least for now.
“Okay if we sit down?” Liam asked Rosa. “I’ve got a few things to update for Drew.” Assuming that the elixir Drew had first developed, and had worked with over the years of Alpha Force’s existence, still allowed him to keep his mental acuity—his human mental acuity—hours after he should have shifted back. And his nod before had indicated that, at least, hadn’t been affected.
“Would you like a cup of coffee before we talk?” Rosa asked Liam.
Nice lady, or at least polite.
Or did she have an ulterior motive?
“Yeah, thanks. I’d love one.” But he’d love finding out what was on her mind even more.
“It’s just down the hall.” She motioned toward the door with graceful fingers. Probably skilled fingers, too, since she used them to cure animals around here.
He wondered what those fingers would feel like on him... Heck, just because she was a pretty brunette with shining brown eyes and full lips didn’t mean he should allow himself to feel any attraction toward her. She wasn’t a shifter. She might work with shifters, but he had no idea how she felt about them.
He followed, as she apparently wanted. Well, he wanted it, too.
A guy in blue scrubs walked past them in the fairly long hall—probably a vet tech, Liam figured. He waved to Rosa. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Everything’s fine, Brendan,” she replied. “Are all our patients being handled okay?”
Liam assumed she asked that because she wasn’t caring for anyone besides Drew right now, or at least it looked that way.
“Sure. Melanie’s got it covered, and Dina and I are helping.” The guy waved and walked through one of the doors off the hall. Liam assumed Dina was another vet tech.
“Good,” Rosa said softly. Then, more loudly, she said, “We’ve got coffee brewing in the break room, right here.” She walked a few more steps, then opened a closed door and motioned for him to follow, which he did.
“Coffee’s fine with me,” he said right away, “but why am I really here?” He looked around. The room was a bit larger than the exam room and had a few small tables clustered in its center, a fridge on one side and a counter on the other where a large coffee maker sat.
The smile she sent up to him was pretty, as well as ironic. “I’m that obvious? Well, you’re right. I don’t want us to leave Drew alone for long, but I wanted to ask how things are going at Ft. Lukman. Does anyone there know why Drew hasn’t shifted back? What are they doing to help him? I figure that, since they wanted Jonas there, they must be working on that elixir, since I know he’s a medical doctor and has helped Drew before with that stuff.”
“You’re right, and I know they’re hoping to come up with some new formulation of the elixir that’ll help.” But from what Liam had heard, no one had any good ideas yet about why Drew hadn’t shifted back despite clearly wanting to, or what kind of adaptation could be made to the elixir to help him. They’d even given him some more of the current version of the elixir to lap up, but that hadn’t helped.
“Okay.” Rosa turned her back and headed to the coffeepot, where she poured some into two foam cups that she got out of the cabinet below. She handed one to him. “Milk? Sugar?”
“Black,” he said. “Thanks.”
She went to the fridge and added a few drops of milk to her cup. She turned again toward him. “We’d better get back to Drew.” She seemed to hesitate. “Do you know anything about the formulation of the main elixir?”
“Just generally,” he said.
“Then what do you do in Alpha Force? For one thing, I assume from what you said before that you’re a shifter.”
She said that very matter-of-factly, as if she knew about and accepted their existence, as she’d implied earlier, which fit with the little Liam knew about Melanie Connell’s assistant vet.
“Yes,” he said. “I am.” He thought he caught just the tiniest hint of a reaction in her expression. Maybe he was wrong, and she was good at hiding what so many regular humans who knew that shifters were real actually thought about them. Just to bug her, he asked, “Are you?”
Her brief laugh sounded genuine. “No, though I’ve worked with quite a few over the years.” She paused. “Do you do anything special for Alpha Force? I mean, do you handle some of their special ops–type assignments, or do you do something besides train for the future at the base?”
Somehow, he wanted to impress her, which made no sense. He had no intention of flirting with her. But it wouldn’t hurt to tell the truth. “Well, I do train for the kinds of special assignments we’re sent on,” he said. “But I’m also the chief technology officer.”
Those pretty brown eyes of hers widened. “Really? What does that entail?”
He didn’t want to tell her about the stuff he had seen online making claims of injuries and worse, caused by shifters last night during the full moon. From the little he’d seen here in Mary Glen it had all been false, anyway—he hoped. If all was going well, Denny was continuing with the solution.
So instead of being fully honest, he said, “I just scout around to see what technology is out there that Alpha Force may be able to use to enhance its already fantastic and covert abilities.” That probably sounded good, and it wasn’t entirely false, since he did that along with the rest.
“Interesting.” Rosa pulled her gaze away from his face. “Now, let’s go back and check on Drew.”
Checking on Drew was exactly what Liam wanted to do. And he was glad to see that the wolf with the silver-tipped, thick brown fur sat up on the towel-covered table as they entered and began observing them with his wide, golden eyes.
What was he thinking? Liam would try to find out.
“Hi, boss,” he said. “Rosa and I just got some coffee, but the caffeine wouldn’t be good for you right now. But I want to bring you up-to-date on what was going on at the base.”
That everyone in Alpha Force was scrambling around trying to figure out what happened to him. Liam would tell him that, but word it a bit differently.
Also, as the commanding officer of their unit, Drew would be the first person Liam would normally tell about the kind of online social media fiasco he’d discovered—under other circumstances. He wouldn’t now, of course. Giving Drew further information that would torment him wouldn’t help him shift back any faster.
And would it do any good at all for even a tech expert like Liam to do research online about what had happened to Drew? Shifters weren’t likely to post anything about problems in their shifting, let alone what to do about it.
Plus, Alpha Force had its own unique take—and elixir—that would render most comments inapplicable.
Just in case, though, Liam would take a look later.
“How are you feeling now?” Rosa moved around Liam as if taking charge. She approached Drew and patted him gently on the head between his pointed, moving ears as if he were a pet canine. That irritated Liam a little—although he had a passing thought that if she wanted to touch him that way, or any other way, he probably wouldn’t mind at all, shifted or not.
Drew actually did seem to try to communicate with her some, growling slightly, then shaking his head.
“Do you feel bad physically?” Rosa asked. He stopped moving. “Or are you just frustrated that you haven’t changed back?” He nodded.
Good. At least he seemed to be using human cognition and showed no sign of growing wilder, wanting to attack. He was a human in the guise of a wolf, but for a much longer time than Liam was aware any shifter had remained that way without choosing to stay shifted.
So how were they going to bring him back?
Almost as if he heard Liam’s thoughts, Drew gently pushed Rosa away with his head. He lay down on the table and stared at Liam.
“I think he wants you to bring him up-to-date, as you said.” Rosa looked at Liam with a wry grin on her lovely face, her brown eyes looking both interested and sad. She seemed to really care about her veterinary patient. She probably knew him as a person, too, since she worked for his wife. Liam wished he had something to say that would make her smile.
And Drew, too. Wolves could smile, after all. At least shifters could, somewhat, while in wolf form.
“Okay.” Liam sat down on one of the chairs. Rosa remained standing beside Drew at first, her eyes examining him as the wolf regarded the other man in the room. “Now, here’s the situation—and if you have any ideas we’ll have to figure out a way for you to convey them to me.”
Drew nodded as he continued to lie there. Rosa moved to the chair beside Liam.
“First,” Liam said, “Jonas and Melanie—and maybe Rosa, too—” he looked at her for an instant and saw she was regarding him steadily “—may already have asked you this, but do you know why you haven’t shifted back? I gather this wasn’t your choice. Was anything different this time from one of your regular shifts?”
The response was no, based on the low, grumbling noise he made and the slight shake of his head.
“Okay, then. Here’s what I learned from the conversations at the base before I left.”
Liam started talking about all he had heard and participated in once he had joined the meeting in Jonas’s office. No other shifter had had any problem, so they didn’t believe it was the elixir—the most current version of the tonic that Drew had begun brewing with the changes that had been suggested and tried by other shifters and seemed to work best for everyone. It allowed for all-important human cognition while shifted. There were slightly different versions now being used outside the full moon to give more choice about when to shift into wolf form and when to shift back. A version that wasn’t being used much, if at all, allowed for shifting back to human form when the moon remained full, but it had never been as perfected as the unit members hoped for.
“So,” Liam said, “did you drink the regular elixir we’re now using during the full moon?”
Drew nodded.
“And did Jonas use the light on you?” That was still preferred by Alpha Force members even under a full moon to ensure the timing.
Again, Drew nodded.
“I assume the elixir looked and tasted like it always did, right?” Rosa asked. Liam was impressed that she was jumping into the discussion, as if she knew what she was talking about. And most likely she did, considering who her boss and her boss’s husband were, as well as her own apparent background of at least knowing about shifters.
Shifters other than those in Alpha Force also sometimes attempted to develop their own formulas to help them change when they wanted to. Even some members of Alpha Force besides Drew, including second in command Captain Patrick Worley, and Lieutenant Simon Parran, had brought their own versions when they had joined the unique military unit, or so Liam had heard.
Rosa might have known something about that even before joining this clinic as a veterinarian.
Liam, though, hadn’t brought anything like an elixir with him when he’d joined the unit. As always, he’d been focused on his technological skills. He had been online when he’d first learned such stuff actually existed, beyond the stories and legends, and so did a special, covert military unit that used it.
That was how he had learned about Alpha Force, and the rumors about what and where it was. Why he had shown up at Ft. Lukman one day with a résumé in hand, and had asked to speak with the officer in charge, who happened to be Drew.
Drew had apparently been as impressed by him and his techie skills as Liam had been impressed by Alpha Force. The result had been Liam enlisting and joining the unit—and being taught and mentored by the man before him, the shifter who now couldn’t shift back.
Liam had to figure out how to help him, by assisting the others working on the same problem to succeed or otherwise.
“Well, it would be easier if I could report back to the rest of the gang that you admitted to drinking something besides, or in addition to, our regular elixir,” Liam said, pursing his lips a bit. “But I know they’re all trying hard, without knowing what they’re looking for, to research how this could happen.”
“I’m trying, in my own way, too,” Rosa said, standing again. “I gave him a brief physical before, but would like to do more now, although under these circumstances I’m not sure a regular veterinarian, even with some knowledge of shifters, can help.”
“But we appreciate your trying.” Liam also rose and looked at her. This, at least, was a different angle. “What do you want to do?”
“A blood test, for one thing. And I’d like to take a closer look at Drew’s body to see if there’s something visible, a cut or growth beneath his fur...anything that may be different. Maybe an X-ray, too.”
“Great,” Liam said. “I’ll help.”
Drew appeared to be okay with it as well, since he just stayed limp on the table, which Rosa adjusted to be closer to her waist level. She did the exam first, saying she would draw blood when they were done, then take it into the clinic’s lab to analyze.
“Many vets send blood out to a specialized laboratory for analysis,” she told Liam. “But with this kind of patient I’ve learned to conduct the analyses myself. It’s safer that way.”
Liam wanted to hug this attractive, smart, careful vet, but of course he didn’t.
Instead, he helped her work with Drew, moving him on the table so she could use her stethoscope to check his heartbeat—normal for a canine, she indicated. Also to feel his chest, his limbs, his back, his skin, seeking any kind of lump or other abnormality, but she found none.
With Liam’s help—and also that of Brendan, the vet tech he had seen in the hall before—they moved Drew into another room where the X-ray equipment was kept, but once again nothing unusual was discovered.
Brendan took charge of the move back to the same exam room. There were others in the hall then, including a woman also dressed in blue scrubs like Brendan, whom Liam assumed was the other vet tech Brendan had mentioned before.
Melanie, too, came into the hall just as Brendan got Drew inside the room. “How is he doing?” she asked in a thick voice.
Rosa, who’d been following them, said, “We haven’t found anything yet. He seems tired at times but he—” her voice lowered “—he seems to know what’s going on and communicates with us when we ask questions.”
“That’s good,” Melanie said. “I just wish...” She didn’t finish, but instead hurried away from them, down the empty hall.
Liam looked into Rosa’s lovely brown eyes. She looked sad. No, worse, tormented. He had another urge to hug her in empathy. Better yet, to come up with an immediate answer.
He did neither. But he also didn’t look away from her.
Odd, but he felt they’d somehow bonded over this difficult situation. They both wanted to resolve it. Fast. For similar, but not identical reasons.
Alpha Force needed Drew back the way he was. And Liam needed his friend and commanding officer.
His wife, head vet at this place and Rosa’s employer, mother of Drew’s daughter and son, undoubtedly needed him most of all.
Brendan came out the exam room door. “Okay, he’s situated on the table again. He looks tired.”
Rosa immediately pulled her anguished gaze away from him and Liam felt a pang of...sorrow? “Thanks, Brendan. I’m going to draw some blood now.”
Which was what she did, after entering the room again accompanied by Liam, who helped to keep Drew resting despite the prick of the needle.
But there wasn’t a lot he needed to do. Drew appeared exhausted.
What was wrong with him?
And how were they going to fix whatever it was?
Chapter 3 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
In a way, Rosa appreciated the break from hanging out with Drew and using her veterinary skills to watch over him for any illness symptoms that the wolf he was now might evince.
She was of course happy about his apparent understanding of what she, and other people, were saying. That tended to be true with shifters she’d had as occasional patients around here, unlike before she moved here, when the shifters turned fully into the animals they were. And despite his apparent exhaustion, Drew seemed to be doing all right.
But of course he wasn’t.
So, after drawing his blood using a needle, she said, “I’ll be back soon. I need to analyze this.” She waved the tube containing the red liquid just slightly. She felt sure that both Drew and Liam understood what she meant even without saying so.
But notwithstanding the pressure caused by her worry, she felt even more concerned as she left the room. Drew was her patient, and as a veterinarian she was always anxious about her patients, who generally couldn’t tell her what their ailments were.
In Drew’s case, she might not know all he was feeling, but she knew what his most important condition was.
Plus, oddly, she felt a bit apprehensive about walking away from Liam at the moment. Not because she thought leaving him with Drew was inappropriate in the least. But she recognized that, in the short time since she had first met him, she was relying on him to at least acknowledge, and possibly approve, what she was doing with his commanding officer to make him well.
“Ridiculous,” she muttered, as she reached the door to the lab, next to the room where Drew’s X-rays had been taken. She was the vet. Liam just worked—and shifted—with her patient.
Yeah, and probably had more knowledge than she did about how to deal with this situation. But Rosa would do all she could.
As she’d told Liam, if blood work was needed for most patients of the vet clinic, they sent the sample to a nearby lab for analysis. But the blood of shifters in wolf form was different from that of other canines.
Rosa had learned those differences where she had first obtained her veterinary license and begun practicing, in an area of Michigan where wolves of both types were prevalent.
That was one of many reasons why she had fit in when Melanie had conducted a hunt for the right type of vet—one with knowledge of what, in shifters, remained the same and what didn’t.
Not that Rosa was a doctor for humans, but from what she understood, shifters’ blood and other characteristics remained the same as other people’s when they weren’t shifted.
Now, as she entered the lab, someone was already in there: Dina, the clinic’s other vet tech besides Brendan. “Hi, Rosa,” she said. “Anything I can do for you here?”
“Not now, thanks,” she responded to the short young woman in the typical blue scrubs.
“Let me know if that changes. I just checked out the discharge from a wound of one of our canine patients. Fortunately, the bacterial count was low.”
“Great,” Rosa said, as Dina left the room.
Sometimes Rosa did have one of the techs handle the blood work, often preparing it to be sent to the official lab. Other times they analyzed other kinds of liquids or discharges from the animals.
But the very rare times there were samples from shifters in animal form, either Melanie or Rosa handled it herself.
Not that the techs or other people who worked here didn’t know, or at least suspect, that some of the patients were not exactly regular pets. Still, though they talked about it a little, everyone around here seemed to understand the need for tact and confidentiality. Now, at least. Rosa had heard that there were some rumors after Melanie had taken over this clinic, as a result of the death of the former veterinarians—parents of one of the officers at Ft. Lukman, Captain Patrick Worley, who happened to be a shifter.
Not wanting any interruptions, after placing the tube of blood carefully on the table, Rosa locked the door and muted her phone.
She then washed her hands carefully once more, as she’d done before extracting the sample.
Finally, using a microscope and other appropriate equipment, she began the process of analyzing the contents of the sample, including the red blood cell count and the blood type. As anticipated, both were quite different from a normal canine’s—even though canines had more blood types than humans did.
But there was more that she didn’t anticipate. She had done only a few analyses of shifters’ blood, since they generally remained in shifted form for only a short while. She figured that those around here might have extra chemicals in their blood thanks to their imbibing the elixir to help them with their shift.
That didn’t explain, though, the additional contents in Drew’s sample. Stuff she couldn’t really analyze. It seemed a darker red than usual, somewhat thicker than the blood cells surrounding it.
She was knowledgeable but not an expert in chemistry, and what she saw might mean nothing.
But she realized that, whatever it was, this might be the evidence of whatever was keeping Drew in his shifted form.
She needed someone else to check it out, though. Someone more skilled in this than she was.
She placed the samples into airtight containers for now. Then she hurried back to the exam room that contained Drew—and Liam.
She slipped in without knocking, which was a good thing. Drew was asleep.
Liam had his smartphone in his hands and seemed to be concentrating as he typed something into it. He heard her, though. He probably would have even with normal ears, not just those of a shifter in human form. He looked at her right away.
She gestured for him to follow her, which he did after aiming a glance in Drew’s direction. Evidently he thought all was well, since soon they were out in the hall together with the door shut.
Fortunately, the hall was empty. Rosa looked up at Liam, into his face. Her concern must have been written on hers since his handsome masculine features tightened into a frown. “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.
“I guess my worry is obvious.” She kept her voice low, too. “Are any of your Alpha Force people experts in chemistry? I assume they are because of putting together your elixir, right?”
“I think so, but since that’s not my area I can’t tell you much. Why? Is there something wrong with Drew’s blood?”
The guy was apparently smart and astute. But then again, he’d known she had drawn blood and gone off to try to analyze it.
“I’m not sure, but there’s something different about it. I still don’t want to send it to the standard outside places, so I wonder if anyone at your base could take a look and figure it out.”
“Let me check.” He walked to the closest end of the hall, which was a good thing, since Melanie exited one of the exam rooms, and a couple followed her, the man holding the leash of a good-sized boxer. Melanie aimed a quizzical glance in Rosa’s direction, and Rosa just smiled back.
She didn’t have anything to tell Melanie except to report her question.
When she turned back, Liam was just pressing a button on his phone, evidently ending a quick call. “Yes, a couple of our guys, Jonas Truro in particular, may be able to help. Let me take the sample you have to him. I’ve already got Sergeant Noel Chuma, one of the Alpha Force aides, on his way to relieve me here.” He looked up, over Rosa’s shoulder.
Rosa realized she must have looked worried to Melanie, or maybe her boss was just curious—or wanted to see her shifted husband. But from behind her she heard, also in a soft voice, “What’s going on? Why are you both out here?”
She didn’t want to alarm Melanie—or give her false hope that they were about to find any answers. Turning, she said, “I just need a little advice about Drew’s blood test. And Liam checked and found that some of the guys out at the base might be able to help. Unless you’d rather I didn’t do it...”
“No, I’d rather you do it. How is Drew?”
“Sleeping,” Liam said. “But I think we need to wake him up, at least briefly. My contact said to bring the samples you already have, Rosa, but also another one that hasn’t been separated or analyzed at all.”
“Fine,” Melanie said. “I’ll go in with you while you draw that sample and wait with Drew till Noel arrives.” She looked pale, but the expression on her face appeared...well, a little hopeful, if Rosa was reading it right.
“Good,” she said. “And I’m going to the base, too, to talk to your guys there.” She looked at Liam, half expecting him to object.
“That’ll work,” he said. In fact, was that a touch of relief on his face? Admiration? Or was she reading too much into it? “You can tell them what you found and your take on it, and they can do their own kind of analysis.”
“Good,” she said again. “Now, let’s go get that other sample.”
Liam wanted more information about blood tests in general, and this one in particular.
At least that was the reason he gave himself, and Rosa, as he told her he would drive her to the base and back.
He had no other reason to be alone in this smart vet’s presence for the twenty minute trip to Ft. Lukman, or the return trip. She could drive herself, of course.
But she seemed okay with the idea of riding in his black military-issued sedan. Maybe she wanted to talk more about the blood test. Or maybe she felt uncomfortable with the idea of appearing by herself at the military facility.
Or maybe he was reading things into her attitude.
They were on their way now, just exiting the town of Mary Glen on the way to Ft. Lukman. The distance was only about five miles, but it always felt longer, thanks to the two-lane roads lined by tall trees of the surrounding woods.
Liam figured the site of the military base, with its particularly covert unit, had been chosen because of the obscure location.
“So you said you’re not a shifter,” he began, aiming a brief glance at her in the passenger seat, a box containing the carefully wrapped blood samples on her lap. That statement didn’t address the blood tests—but he’d get there. He had other questions he hoped to get answered first.
Their eyes met for an instant before he looked back toward the road. The grin on her face looked wary. Even so, she was still one pretty lady.
“No,” she said, “I’m not. But where I grew up in Michigan there were quite a few wolves, and I learned early on that a few of my school friends and their families happened to be shifters. The existence of real wolves in that area gave them a bit of cover.”
“Makes sense. My family lived in Minnesota for the same reason. But not being a shifter yourself, how did you end up learning that your friends were?” All the shifters he knew were taught from a young age to keep that critical fact to themselves.
“Well, I always wanted to become a veterinarian. I love animals. I always had a dog or two, visited the nearest zoo a lot and—well, I realized at a fairly young age that I heard more wolf howls in the distance on nights of the full moon than otherwise.” She leaned toward him a little. “Did you howl then as you were growing up? Turned out my friends did. One of them, a guy I guess I had a crush on in seventh grade, hinted to me about where to show up at sundown on one of those special nights. He knew I was there, hiding behind a tree, when his family and a couple of others went out into the forest together. It was really amazing to watch when the four of them went from being a regular human family to a small pack of wolves. I never forgot it, of course, though that guy stopped talking to me. Guess his family caught my scent and bawled him out.”
“But you knew then,” Liam stated. He couldn’t help smiling. It must have been quite an experience for a young non-shifter.
“I knew then,” she confirmed. “I hardly ever talked about it—but I just happened to snoop around on more nights of the full moon and saw that a few other friends shared that characteristic.”
“And did they stop talking to you, too?”
“I tried to be a lot more careful. If they knew about me, they never said so, and I never said anything to them, either.”
“But you still wanted to help them as a vet?”
“Sure. When I went to veterinary school I made sure to learn about all canine anatomy as well as volunteering to help the vets who worked with the local zoo. And then, as I learned enough to help, I visited that first guy’s mother one day—he was off at a different college by then—and told her what I knew about them, and how I was learning a lot about working with feral creatures like wolves, in case anyone needed medical help while shifted. She pretended not to know what I was talking about, but—”
“But sometime near then she called on you in her wolf form to come help another shifter who needed medical help that night, right?”
“Exactly.”
Liam could hear her big smile in the tone of her voice. He looked over and grinned back at her. “And from then on they knew you were there to help.”
“Yes, I was. I helped them and myself, and they were the ones to give recommendations about me to Melanie when she put word out—very discreetly, I might add—about how she was a regular veterinarian with...interesting contacts who sometimes needed medical assistance. Since the shifters around me made a point of not admitting their true nature, I thought that the type of organization Melanie hinted about—the US military, of all things—might be a fascinating group of potential patients.”
As he was growing up, Liam had known a couple local people who seemed to recognize what he, his family members and others in the area were, but although they were mostly polite, they didn’t attempt to get to know any shifters better.
He was impressed with this lovely lady who not only accepted the idea of shifters in her life, but actually seemed to appreciate them. Worry about them. Want to heal them.
“I’m sure Melanie is really glad to have your help,” he told her, then shared a brief smile with her before he made another turn on the twisty road.
“And I’m really glad to help her. And the others.” A tone he didn’t quite recognize modified Rosa’s voice.
“Especially Drew,” Liam guessed.
“Especially Drew,” she agreed. “But...I just hope we really can help him.”
“We will,” Liam asserted—hoping it was true.
Chapter 4 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
Even though Liam had asked her to ride with him so he could ask questions about blood and blood types, Rosa was somewhat amused that they never really got into that topic much. And when they did, all she needed to do was go over a bit of what she had already been thinking about.
Yes, she told him when he finally asked, the blood types of people and regular canines had differences. So did the blood types of wolves in general from shifted wolves. People and their unshifted counterparts, not so much.
And the differences she saw from the blood she had drawn from Drew? Well, she didn’t exactly know what they were, except for the odd consistency and darker coloration. That was why she hoped for someone else’s advice.
She didn’t let him know how concerned she really was, although since she was looking for guidance he probably gathered that.
Would those at Ft. Lukman know whether that blood issue was the cause of Drew’s not changing back? If so, would they know how to fix it?
Liam didn’t seem inclined to talk much more about it, which was fine with her. It allowed her to avoid revealing how inadequate she felt, and instead gave her time to ask him about what he did as a technology expert for Alpha Force.
That got him going immediately—and what he had to say about the online claims worried her, too, as someone who had friends and patients around here who were shifters.
Sure, she had met actual shifters at home when she was young. She had also seen sites on the internet, mostly blogs or social media posts, that speculated whether there actually were such things as shapeshifters, as depicted in horror movies and otherwise. Sometimes people claimed to have seen the real thing, and maybe, like her, they had.
She had even found some references to oddities that had allegedly gone on here in Mary Glen a while back. But she’d also seen posts about how all that got resolved when it was discovered that one member of an offbeat group of people who claimed shapeshifters exist had made unsubstantiated claims for his own benefit. Discovering who it was and stopping him had helped quiet things down in this area—at least as far as the rest of the world was likely to know.
But what Liam was describing could be a lot worse for the ongoing peace of shapeshifters—and Alpha Force in particular. Rosa now lived near downtown Mary Glen, not far from the vet clinic. She had heard nothing at all regarding the claims Liam described about how shifters around here, under the last full moon, had hurt some regular people in this area—badly.
Neither had Liam, he assured her. It was simply untrue.
And it was his job to make sure that anyone who saw those ridiculous posts didn’t believe a word.
He’d already checked on how his aide, Denny, had started dealing with the situation, and believed he was doing a good job. But Liam would take over himself later that evening.
After driving through the thick woodlands, they finally arrived at the gate to the military base. Even Liam had to provide his ID to the guards despite being stationed there, and of course Rosa had to provide hers, as well. Then Liam drove across the base to a building she had visited once before to check on an injured animal Melanie had explained was a cover dog, resembling one of the shifters in canine form.
Most of the time, those cover dogs that needed shots or exams were brought to the veterinary clinic, like all other pets in the Mary Glen area. That was how Rosa got to meet and treat them.
However, they’d chosen not to move that dog, Spike—Seth Ambers’s cover dog—without getting him treatment first. Fortunately, though he’d been bleeding profusely, he’d had nothing worse than a fairly minor cut from a broken bottle he’d stepped on.
When Rosa had arrived, Spike was in a special fenced pen by himself in the upstairs area where the cover dogs were housed when not on duty, his leg bandaged, and one of the aides continuously changing the dressing. Rosa had been able to follow Drew as he carried Spike downstairs to what he’d referred to as the base’s primary lab area, where she’d been able to snip off fur from around the cut, wash it well, soak it with disinfectant and wrap it in sterile bandages after providing topical anesthetic, a few stitches and a larger cover bandage and temporary cone collar to make sure he didn’t chew too close to it. He’d healed just fine.
The poor dog’s injury had given Rosa not only the opportunity to see part of the military facility that housed the amazing Alpha Force, but also to increase her already good reputation, thanks to Melanie’s verbal recognition of what Rosa additionally did to help those shifters who needed medical assistance while in their animal forms.
Liam parked his car and used a key card to get them both inside the building. The guy was either a gentleman or he didn’t trust her not to drop the critically important box containing Drew’s blood samples, since he carried it inside. He then led her to the stairway to the area where Rosa knew the labs, and some offices, were located. He unlocked that door and she followed him downstairs.
A lot, maybe all, of the members of Alpha Force were gathered in a room past the labs where Rosa had been before.
“This is Drew’s office in this building,” Liam told her, “although he’s got another one in the main admin building at the other side of the base.”
It wasn’t a large room, but there were many chairs in rows facing the desk, all occupied. Rosa recognized a few of the people there who’d sometimes brought their cover animals to the vet clinic or had come to visit Drew and Melanie in their home next door.
Even so, Liam introduced her to them all—and most important to her now were Captain Patrick Worley and Captain Jonas Truro, whom she’d already met. They were both medical doctors, but only Patrick was a shifter.
Then there was Lieutenant Seth Ambers, also a doctor, Staff Sergeant Jason Connell, who was Drew’s cousin as well as a member of Alpha Force, aides including Staff Sergeants Ruby Belmont, Piers Janus, and more. Rosa hoped she would remember names, but even if she didn’t right away, she would try to have as good a relationship as possible with all of them, easiest if a solution was found quickly for Drew’s problem.
When he was done with the introductions, Liam told Rosa to join him standing behind Drew’s desk facing the group. “Rosa has come here to give a rundown, especially to everyone who’s a medical doctor, regarding what she found when she conducted Drew’s blood test. I’ve mentioned that to some of you.” He gestured toward the box they’d brought, which now rested on Drew’s desk.
Rosa wondered if the entire group needed to hear this, since she figured only a few would know anything about blood and blood tests and the different blood types of regular people and shifters and all. But considering the fascinated and concerned way they stared at her, she assumed they were all highly worried about their commanding officer and what was going on with him. They wanted him back, as normal for his type as he’d been before.
Plus some of them were shifters, too, and would want to ensure, if possible, that the same thing didn’t happen with them. And fellow Alpha Force members who were aides would need to know how to help the shifters they worked for.
So, yes, for their own reasons they all needed to be there.
She first described how she had been put in charge of Major Connell by the head veterinarian at the clinic—his wife. “Melanie did her own exam first, of course, and I’ve been keeping her up-to-date. But I’m sure it was hard on her to have to check out poor Drew in this situation.”
Rosa then talked about how she had examined Drew, had kept him under her care, had looked for any abnormalities in his canine form—and had, of course, taken a blood test.
“I don’t know that I need to get into much detail here,” she told the group. “I did find what appears to be some irregularity in the consistency and color of the fluid and, not being a chemist beyond the skills needed to be a damn good veterinarian—” she smiled a bit sadly at that, realizing that her own fears of inadequacy were showing in her irony “—I wanted to see if anyone here could help analyze Drew’s blood and determine if it’s the cause, or an indication, of what’s going on with him.”
“We’ll take a look.” Patrick was the first to stand, then Jonas did. “Come into the lab area with us, Rosa, and we’ll start checking things out, okay?”
“Of course.”
She glanced toward Liam, who nodded. He apparently wasn’t joining them, but he was her ride back to town. She suspected she’d be able to find another one, though, if necessary.
Patrick picked up the box. She wasn’t surprised when Seth joined them. It wouldn’t hurt to have all the doctors who knew human patients’ traits getting involved, or at least that’s what she surmised.
Patrick led Rosa next door to the lab areas, where he asked Seth to start the analysis process, getting slides ready for the microscope and more.
“We really appreciate this,” Patrick said, standing with Rosa in the middle of the main room, which was lined with shiny metal cabinets with glass doors. Some had equipment on top—a lot of microscopes, for one thing.
Patrick was a tall guy, dressed in camos like all the people around here but Rosa. His hair was light and short, his face long and nice looking, with a cleft in his chin.
He didn’t resemble Liam except for his height and outfit—and for an instant Rosa missed Liam’s presence. Ridiculous.
“I appreciate it, too,” she said to Patrick. “I just hope you can figure this out.”
“I’m sure you know we want to,” he replied. Seth was already removing the various vials of blood from the padding in the box. Rosa had labeled them with the time collected and whether she had done anything to attempt to examine each particular sample, so she figured they at least wouldn’t have any questions about that.
But what they all really needed was answers.
She hung out in the lab for a while, mostly watching the others, listening to them discuss what to do next. Then Patrick said, “You know, Rosa, this is going to take a while. Why don’t you go back to your clinic, and we’ll let you know what we find, okay?”
In other words, her staring wasn’t making them go faster, but might be causing them some discomfort.
She didn’t want that. Besides, back at the clinic she’d be able to bring Melanie up-to-date, such as it was with no answers so far, and maybe do something helpful there before the day ended. “Sounds good,” she said.
She just hoped that Liam was ready to leave.
Liam was champing at the bit.
He had gone to his own office, upstairs in another part of the building, but only briefly to check on how Denny was doing.
He’d promised to return Rosa to town, and though he figured he could get someone else to do it, he wanted to be the one.
He also wanted to get on his own computer and get busy doing his own thing to start fixing all the absurd and detrimental rumors.
“Here’s what I’ve done,” Denny had told him, and good guy that he was, Liam’s aide had followed his prior instructions and started with one of the social media sites where the posts were among the most awful and accusatory against shapeshifters the night before, including an unnamed military group containing shifters. Oddly, as Liam had previously noted, a few had signed their posts with the names of Greek or Roman gods, like Zeus, Hera, Orion, Diana and Poseidon, and even Cerberus, the three-headed dog. They could be a group of anti-shifters, or just one person pretending to be a bunch. Which frustrated Liam. He hadn’t had the time to start figuring that out yet.
Still, Denny had used one of his own fake identities to make fun of the stupid stuff. That needed to be started even before they attempted to figure out the sources of those posts.
“Good job,” Liam had told him, making his short, young helper grin widely.
“Thanks. You want to take over?”
“Soon,” Liam assured him. “Meantime, keep up the good work.”
He returned to Drew’s office, where some of his fellow Alpha Forcers remained. Could he text Rosa to see how much longer she’d be? He felt a duty to do as he’d promised her.
He also felt eager to see her again, and not entirely to get her update on what the others were doing to assess Drew’s weird blood.
He was delighted when she came back almost immediately after his reappearance. “They’re working on it now,” she told Liam and the others in the room. “Not much I can do to help, so do you think...” She looked at Liam, who just nodded, reading the question in her eyes.
“Yep,” he said. “I’ll take you back to the clinic now. Right?”
“Thanks.” She smiled at him.
He got a promise from the clearly worried Jason that he’d keep Liam informed about anything the doctors found and revealed about his cousin Drew’s bad blood. Then he told Rosa, “I’ve a stop to make before we leave.”
“Oh. Okay.” The way she looked at him, he assumed she thought he meant the restroom.
“Pit stop first is fine,” he agreed, “but that’s not what I meant.”
In a few minutes, he met her to go upstairs. Instead of heading for the door out of the building, he turned and said, “Time for some cover dog attention.”
“Really?” She sounded delighted. “Then you’re going to get yours?”
“Yep, that’s my Chase.”
“Is Spike there, too?”
He knew that was Seth’s dog. “Sure. That’s right—you took care of his wound, didn’t you? I’ve heard a lot about it.”
“He’s still okay, isn’t he?”
“He sure is.”
They’d reached the door to the large room where the cover dogs were in enclosures. For fun, Liam let out a brief howl as if he was shifted, and several of those inside responded in kind. He grinned at Rosa’s pleased smile.
“Gee, these guys sound a lot like wolves,” she said, “and so do you.”
“I wonder why.”
He asked her to wait outside while he went in for Chase. She agreed, but asked to peek in the door and see all the canines hanging out there behind the low fences.
When he returned with Chase, her smile was even broader.
“So this is how you look when you shift?” she asked.
“Yep, that’s me—or close enough to me for now.” He asked what she knew about cover animals. From what she told him, Rosa had already learned from Melanie that the shifters in Alpha Force all had cover animals who resembled them when they were shifted. That way, if a non-shifter happened to see them while they were in shifted form and claim they must be werewolves or whatever, they could later bring out their cover animal—mostly wolves here at Ft. Lukman these days—show the non-shifter, and tell them they’d simply seen the Alpha Force member’s pet. That seemed to work well, Liam thought, since Alpha Force members didn’t need to wait till a full moon to shift.
Now Rosa and Liam walked outside toward his car, then into the warmth of the midday air, and he soon tethered Chase in the back seat. His look-alike cover dog-wolf sat up and looked around expectantly. Chase always enjoyed attention and was probably eager to see what the rest of the day held in store for him.
There’d be one stop he might enjoy. After they dropped Rosa off at the vet clinic, Liam had promised a visit to his family in town—his brother, Chuck, and sister-in-law, Carleen. They had moved from Minnesota to Mary Glen just a few months ago and bought an existing restaurant that was a franchise for the Fastest Foods chain, planning to stay here a while.
That was the result of Liam learning about a possible experiment that would involve allowing limited individuals related to Alpha Force team members to occasionally use the elixir on nights of a full moon, with results to be examined by the unit. Those people had to be shifters, close in both relationship and distance, although if all went well, the program might be expanded.
Liam’s family were shifters like him, and were eager to have more access to the elixir. That’s why they had considered their move here worth it, even if they wound up only being closer to Liam. But of course they hoped things went better than that—and they had, at least somewhat. His family members had been allowed to use the elixir once now, during this most recent full moon, as part of the experiment. And more? That remained to be seen, but the ongoing experiment might help.
Liam had received a text message from Chuck a short while ago, as he waited for Rosa. He hadn’t seen his family since their shift last night, nor had he had a chance to speak with the Alpha Force member who’d acted as their temporary aide for the occasion, Sergeant Kristine Parran. Though he’d talked to them briefly on his way downtown before, and they’d sounded thrilled, he wanted to know more about how it all went, and apparently they wanted to talk to him, too. But he couldn’t stay long at the restaurant.
So first he’d take Rosa back to the veterinary hospital and dash in with her to see how Drew was doing. Then he’d stop to see family—quickly.
And finally, he would fulfill his obligation—and do what he really wanted to. He’d hurry back here to get on the computer at last.
As Liam pulled his car past the base’s front gate and onto the road secluded by trees, Rosa took her phone from her purse and looked at it. “I was hoping to get a call right away saying they’d figured out how to help Drew.”
“That would be a nice thing.” He looked at her briefly and nodded. And had an idea.
He could easily drive past the restaurant on the way to the clinic. That would give him a great excuse to keep his visit quick. He trusted Denny, but the aide was too new at this to fully accomplish what Liam needed to do. If he stopped with Rosa to buy a fast-food burger and coffee—and ask in more detail how his family had enjoyed last night—he could leave quickly to return Rosa to her clinic.
Besides, he would get to stay in her presence just a little longer. That wasn’t important, of course—no matter how much he knew he’d enjoy it. But the idea seemed to work well in all ways.
“I’d like to stop to pick up a meal to go, from the Fastest Foods shop,” he told Rosa. “My treat, if you’d like anything.”
The look she shot at him was one of surprise. “Good idea,” she said. “You don’t have to treat, but I’ll pick up a few things for the clinic staff...and also get Drew a burger to help keep his spirits up.”
“Good idea,” he said in turn. “We’ll be there soon.” Then he had to ask. “Did you get a sense that my superior officers knew what they were doing when it came to analyzing Drew’s blood and determining if that had anything to do with his non-shifting?”
“I liked those guys,” she hedged. “And I’m hopeful...but not sure. I just wish there was more I could do.”
He hated to hear the sad tone in her voice, and to see the dejection in her expression when he managed another glance toward her.
“I’ve got a feeling,” he said to cheer her up, “that there is more you can do, and you’ll figure it out.”
He looked at her again briefly as she shifted in her seat. “Really? I can’t make any promises, but I sure hope you’re right.”
Me, too, he thought, then made the turn from the woodsy road into town.
And if she figured it out—well, that would give him a good excuse to kiss those now happily smiling lips of hers in thanks.
Chapter 5 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
“There we are.” From the driver’s seat beside Rosa, Liam pointed just ahead along one of the town’s main streets. Sure enough, a familiar large neon sign that resembled those in lots of other locations jutted over the sidewalk: Fastest Foods.
“Yes,” Rosa agreed, trying to sound excited. And to her surprise, she was—a little.
A stop for a meal?
After all that had gone on today, Rosa wasn’t really hungry, but the stop would give her a little more time in Liam’s presence. Despite being in the same places a lot that day, they really hadn’t spent much time together.
On the other hand, she barely knew the guy. Plus he happened to be a shifter. Not that she disliked shifters.
Quite the contrary...but she certainly couldn’t be attracted to one, no matter how caring and sympathetic he happened to be about his commanding officer’s medical—or whatever—problem.
The restaurant stood alone in the middle of a sizable parking lot that also had a drive-through line. “Are we going to go through there?” Rosa pointed toward the stream of cars slowly inching forward.
“No, we’ll go inside, though we’ll order takeout.”
He fortunately found a parking spot right away in the busy lot and opened his door. Rosa opened hers, too, and hopped out. “I assume you’ll roll down the back windows a bit for Chase,” she said, looking into the back seat at the wolflike dog, who was now sitting up, panting a bit. Fortunately, the outside air was cool.
“No need,” Liam said. “He’ll come in with us.”
“Into the restaurant? Is that allowed?”
“Of course. He’s a soldier dog—and he’s also kind of my service dog.” Liam’s grin, as he stood beside her near the car on the black paved surface of the lot, seemed proud.
“Oh. Okay.” Rosa loved dogs, and other animals, enough that she wished they were all allowed into all restaurants and other places that served people.
Of course, shapeshifters were allowed anywhere—as long as they were in human form, as Liam was now.
And Rosa realized it was okay to bring Chase, too, when they walked in the door of the crowded, noisy restaurant and Liam was greeted right away by the people who seemed in charge.
A guy who’d been behind the service counter came out the door beside it and hustled toward Liam. They shook hands, then hugged each other. Was he a relative? The guy was about Liam’s height, with similarly dark hair and angular features. He wasn’t in a camo uniform, of course, but a blue denim shirt and jeans, with a white apron on top.
He looked down then and grinned at Chase, leashed beside Liam. “Can’t pet him, bro, though I know he’s family. You know that’s why we keep our Louper out back, too, when he’s here.”
“Right. Not sanitary when you’re on duty. But let me introduce you to someone.” Liam turned toward Rosa and gestured for her to join them.
As she did, a woman who’d been cleaning tables in the busy place dashed over. She was dressed similarly to the man who’d hugged Liam. She was slender, with long, silver-blond hair pulled into a clip at the back of her head, a very attractive woman—who also hugged Liam.
Rosa knew she shouldn’t feel jealous about that—especially when she looked down and saw a ring on the woman’s finger.
“So good to see you, Liam,” the woman said.
“I’ll say,” said the man.
Liam once more looked at Rosa. “I want to introduce you both to someone I’ll bet you’ll be very happy to know one of these days. This is Dr. Rosa Jontay, one of the town’s veterinarians. Rosa, this is my brother, Chuck, and his wife, Carleen. They own this place now—and they’re also owned by Louper, a dog who stays either in the enclosed backyard behind this place, or at home. He’s home today with a dog walker visiting him. Louper resembles Chase.”
Liam looked at her and grinned, and she read in his look the fact that these two people were also shifters who happened to have a cover dog, even though they weren’t military.
“Very nice to meet you.” She shook hands first with Carleen, then Chuck. “And I would be delighted to meet your dog sometime when he’s here or otherwise, though I hope he has no need of a vet.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Carleen said. “Now, you two come over here and sit down, and we’ll get you something to eat.”
“Oh, but—” Rosa began, but fortunately, Liam took over.
“We just need some takeout right now,” he said. “Rosa’s going to get some extra stuff for some of her veterinary staff, and she needs to get back to her clinic.”
“Great,” Carleen said. “We’ll get our staff moving on it right away. Just let them know at the counter what you want.”
There were several people ahead of them in the line, and Rosa didn’t want to butt in. “We’ll take our time,” she said. “But thanks.”
Liam nodded his agreement, though he said, “It helps to be related to the owners when you’re in a hurry. I agree with being polite to their customers, though. And if you don’t mind standing here a few minutes to hold our place, I’d appreciate it. I’ve something to ask Chuck.”
“Fine,” Rosa said, and agreed to keep Chase with her. She watched Liam talking to his brother by the wall nearest the door into the order area and kitchen. It was one of the few times she wished she had a shifter’s abilities—not to shift, but to hear things better than a normal person. The two brothers seemed to be talking animatedly, and she was curious about what they were saying.
The teenage guy at the front of the line stepped aside after placing his order. Rosa was glad to move ahead a little, particularly for the sake of the animals that might be needing her care back at the clinic.
Including, perhaps, Drew. She’d at least check on him, no matter what Melanie and the Alpha Force guy who’d taken over for Liam said about how he was doing—though she’d be absolutely delighted if he’d changed back during their absence.
Unlikely, though, or Melanie would have called her.
At least now there were only three more people ahead of her in line, and two appeared to be a couple. Rosa bent and patted Chase’s head. The dog was definitely behaving well, leashed at her side.
Liam rejoined her. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“Real good,” he responded, without more detail. In fact, he was quiet for a while.
“How long have your relatives owned this place?” Rosa asked finally, to make conversation. Besides, she was interested in his answer. “Did they follow you to Mary Glen?”
And did they want to become members of Alpha Force? she wondered. She figured that a lot of shifters might want to do so if they knew of the reality of Alpha Force, and its special elixir. With their relative, Liam, now a member, she had no doubt that Chuck and Carleen were well aware of the nature of that military unit.
She’d ask Liam more about them later, as she couldn’t here, in public.
“They’ve been here about four months,” Liam said. “They bought this franchise from the former owners and just took over. And yes, they followed me here.”
“Got it.” She looked around again. The restaurant was filled with customers—and with the aroma of grilled meat. Even she could smell it, and she figured it must be many times stronger to Liam, even in his human form. Or at least that’s what she’d heard from shifters in her past—and now. They all had enhanced senses.
And of course Chase stuck his nose in the air and sniffed, off and on.
The next person moved out of their way in line. As they started to edge forward a woman rushed out the door from the kitchen and threw herself against Liam, giving him a huge hug. “Liam, so glad to see you,” she exclaimed.
“Good to see you, too, Valerie,” he said, although his not-so-inviting expression, and the way he moved back, suggested he was fibbing a bit.
Somehow, that made Rosa feel a bit better about the woman’s highly effusive greeting. But who was Valerie?
She found out right away as Liam introduced them. “Rosa, this is Carleen’s sister, Valerie. And Valerie, Rosa’s one of Mary Glen’s wonderful veterinarians.”
Carleen’s sister—a sort of sister-in-law to Liam. That made Rosa feel somewhat better, although since they weren’t related by blood that connection wouldn’t keep Liam from getting into a relationship with her.
But that wasn’t Rosa’s business, though he hadn’t appeared to care about Valerie in that way.
Valerie resembled Carleen. Her silvery blond hair was shorter, though, and loose. She had deep brown eyes like her sister.
“Welcome to town,” Rosa said, to be polite. “Do you work here, too?” She gestured around the restaurant.
“I do right now,” the other woman said. “Look, you go ahead and place your orders, and then we can talk.”
She must have said that because Liam and Rosa had finally reached the front of their line. But Rosa didn’t want to take the time to talk to Valerie, and hoped Liam felt the same way.
Fortunately, Valerie disappeared, heading back into the kitchen—but then reappeared behind the counter, next to the guy who’d begun taking their order. She was the one to start entering things on the computer, and her counterpart, a twentysomething guy with a scruffy beard, didn’t look exactly thrilled about the help.
Rosa wasn’t surprised that Liam’s order consisted of a double burger, rare—lots of red meat. She asked for several sandwiches, including burgers and a couple containing chicken. The one with the most beef she intended to provide to Drew in his canine form.
When they were done ordering, Rosa immediately handed her credit card to Valerie over the counter. She’d already gotten it out and didn’t want to argue with Liam about it. She didn’t even look at him and was glad when Valerie took it from her and began to ring up their order.
“I’ll pay you back,” Liam growled from beside her. She just waved in a neutral gesture. This was another thing not to get into a discussion about here.
Valerie soon handed them the plastic bags containing their food. “Come back anytime, Rosa,” she said. “Bye, Chase. And Liam—when are we all getting together again? You know I’m only planning on being here for a fairly short while, so I’d really like us to see each other as often as possible while I’m in town.”
“I’ll talk to Chuck about it,” Liam said.
“Talk to Chuck about what?” said a voice from behind Rosa. Liam’s brother was there, maybe to say goodbye.
“Having a family get-together,” Valerie replied. “Soon, I hope.”
“Sounds good to me,” Chuck responded. “We’ll invite you over to our condo soon, bro. You, too, Rosa.”
She couldn’t help but cast a sideways glance toward Valerie to see what she thought about that invitation. Carleen’s sister remained smiling, and it didn’t appear forced.
Maybe Rosa was wrong about this woman flirting with her kind-of brother-in-law. Maybe she just intended to keep the family in contact as long as she did stay in town.
“Thanks,” Rosa said, not committing to anything.
But somehow the idea of spending more friendly time with Liam, not related to veterinary or Alpha Force issues, sounded good.
For now, though, she was glad when Liam said goodbye to Chuck, then Carleen, who also joined them, and waved to Valerie behind the counter.
Time for them to get busy with everything they each needed to do for the rest of the day.
Liam refused to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable about the attention Valerie had leveled on him. The woman was attractive, sure. She was also a shifter, like her sister. She’d made it seem that flirting with him was second nature to her, though he had never encouraged it.
But he always remained friendly toward her. She was, after all, a member of his family.
“Nice people,” Rosa said from beside him in the car. Behind them, Chase shifted in his seat, clearly wanting to get into the bags of food that sat on the floor near Rosa’s feet.
“Of course they are,” Liam said. “They’re family.”
“Like Chase?” Rosa wasn’t exactly jesting. She’d told him she considered pet dogs to be family, and she assumed the relationship between a shifter and his cover dog had to be strong.
“Yeah, kind of. Chase and I are pretty damn close these days.” Hearing his name, Chase sat back on the seat and made a low sound that made Liam laugh. “Glad you agree,” he said.
As they continued on, Liam thought a bit about his brief discussion with Chuck. Yes, both he and Carleen had loved the way their shift went. Yes, the Alpha Force person who’d acted as their aide for the night had been just great: Sergeant Kristine Parran. The elixir had been amazing. As far as he knew, all had gone well from Alpha Force’s perspective. And, yes, both Carleen and he would love to do it again. Soon.
Almost as if she read his thoughts, Rosa asked, “Are your brother and sister-in-law shifters, too?”
“Yes,” he acknowledged.
“Do they get to use your elixir?”
Good and appropriate question, he thought. Without saying too much, he told her they were involved in an experiment being conducted by Alpha Force, in which they could be given occasional doses of the elixir on nights of a full moon.
He was glad that Rosa and he had reached the vet clinic, since he didn’t want to answer any further questions she might have. Liam parked along the street. He intended not to just let Rosa out of the car. He planned to go inside and check with Denny about how things were going. And most especially, he wanted to see for himself how Drew was doing.
He opened his car door at the same time Rosa opened hers. Her expression seemed to register surprise as she turned back to look at him. “I thought you were just dropping me off so you could get to work.”
“Not till I check on Drew. Besides, we can wolf down our sandwiches together.” He grinned at his own pun, and she laughed.
“Fair enough.” She bent down to get the bags as Liam got out to leash Chase and let him out of the back seat.
As Rosa headed toward the clinic’s rear door, bags in hand, Liam let his dog sniff the curb and driveway, and when he was ready, hurried him to the entrance.
The street had been fairly well lined with cars, so Liam wasn’t surprised, as he entered the waiting room, to see a lot of people there with their pets—everything from an English sheepdog to a couple mewing kittens in carriers.
They all carried scents of their own.
Since he didn’t see Rosa there, he figured he’d better let the receptionist behind the desk know he needed to catch up with the vet. But Susie, whom he’d met before, smiled and motioned Chase and him through the inner door.
Rosa approached him from down the hall. “I just put our food in the break room, but let’s go check on Drew.”
“Great.” Liam followed her to the room where he had last seen his superior officer. Rosa opened the door, but motioned for him to enter first, which he did, Chase right behind him.
The place looked the same as before, with wolfen Drew sitting on the towel-covered top of the lowered table. With him, on one of the chairs against the wall, sat Staff Sergeant Noel Chuma, who was an aide to whichever Alpha Force shifter needed him.
And no one needed help now more than Drew.
Noel wasn’t a big guy, but he was strong, smart and dedicated to Alpha Force. He rose, and the expression on his deep-toned face worried Liam.
He couldn’t ask detailed questions now, though. Not in front of Drew.
“So, how’s our patient doing?” Rosa asked. She approached Drew, who regarded her with stony eyes that, on some canines—whether shifters or not—would have made Liam worry that he was about to attack.
He knew Drew wouldn’t do that. But Drew’s expression did indicate that he wasn’t happy.
That he probably didn’t have a sense he’d be shifting back anytime soon—and it was getting to be late afternoon on the day he should have retaken his human form early in the morning.
“He’s mostly been resting,” Noel answered for him. “We’ve been for a couple of walks and he seemed happy enough to be out of this room, but, well—happy isn’t the best word. I think he’s really frustrated.”
“Understandably,” Liam said.
Drew made a growling sound that didn’t seem threatening, but might’ve connoted frustration. It was enough to get Chase, who had sat beside Liam, to stand again and watch his sort-of counterpart.
“Tell you what,” Liam said. “Drew, are you okay with being here on your own for a few minutes? Dr. Rosa and I brought lunch back and we need to sort it out, but one of us is going to bring you a really good burger very soon.”
Drew answered by making a noise that this time sounded like a sigh, then lying back down.
He didn’t seem overly excited about the late, tasty lunch he’d get.
And Liam could understand why.
Chapter 6 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
“I don’t want to leave him alone for long,” Rosa said quietly, once they were back in the hall with the door shut behind them. “But we do have a sandwich for you, too, Sergeant Chuma.”
“Noel,” he corrected. “And I’m sure you want to talk with me about our CO and what went on while you all were gone.”
Rosa watched the two military guys trade glances. She figured Liam would hear a lot more than she would, but not while they were all together.
And she appreciated that the sergeant had come here, to ensure that Drew was nearly never alone. His condition was such that no one knew what needs he might have, or when he might have them. And he certainly wasn’t in any condition to grab a smartphone and call for help.
They all headed the short distance along the hall to the break room. Rosa motioned for the others to enter first, glad to see that Brendan had just come into the hall, ushering a young woman with her standard poodle mix from another exam room. Rosa waited long enough for Brendan to ensure that his charges entered the reception area, where the owner could pay her bill and they could leave. But when Brendan turned again, Rosa was right beside him.
“Is Melanie in that room?” She gestured to the room he’d just come out of.
“Yes. Want me to get her for you?”
“Please.”
Brendan once more went through that door, and almost immediately Melanie, in her white lab jacket, strode out and faced Rosa. “You’re back. Do they have any answers yet at Ft. Lukman?”
“They’re working on it. I gave them the blood samples and discussed what I’d seen, and my concerns. They got right on it, so hopefully they’ll figure it out soon.”
“Yes. Hopefully.” Melanie’s hair wasn’t pulled back as neatly as usual. Her pretty face seemed to be aging minute by minute. Rosa just hoped she was providing adequate care to their patients, despite the stress she was under.
“Meantime,” Rosa said brightly, “Liam came back here with me, but I assume he’ll be leaving Noel here, since he has to get back to the base right away. Or almost right away. We brought a late lunch from Fastest Foods, a few sandwiches. That includes a really nice big, rare burger for Drew.” Rosa made herself smile broadly, then motioned for her employer to follow her as Brendan reappeared in the hall, followed by a large man hugging a moderate-size golden cat.
She was glad when Melanie did as she hoped and joined her, Liam and Noel in the break room. Given a choice, Melanie picked out a chicken sandwich among those laid out on one of the tables in the middle of the room, as did Rosa. That left burgers for the guys.
Including the large one for Drew, which Liam was holding. “I’d like to go say hi to Drew, if that’s okay with you,” he said to Melanie. “I can give this to him then.”
“Of course. And thank you both so much for bringing Drew a burger from Fastest Foods. It’s one of his favorite places when...when...” Her voice started to drop off, and Rosa recognized her signs of sorrow.
“When he’s not shifted,” she finished brightly for Melanie. “And when he is shifted. I get it. Let’s give him what we have now, and I promise that, when he’s back to his unshifted self again, I’ll go get him even more burgers there. Okay?”
She looked at Melanie’s brave smile and almost broke down herself. Rosa had had a few relationships now and then, but hadn’t met anyone she wanted to spend her life with. Melanie had, and she’d even gotten past whatever confusion she might have felt about falling hard for a shapeshifter.
She was clearly, deeply in love. And the man she loved was in distress. Ill. In the middle of a condition that no one knew anything about, so no one knew how to fix it. Fix him.
A wonderment about how she’d feel if Liam somehow became her veterinary patient flashed through Rosa. Ridiculous. Yes, she found him good-looking as a human. Kind. Sexy... No, she wasn’t going there. She wasn’t going anywhere with him, or with these ideas. She glanced at him, though—and saw that, for some reason, he was watching her.
She turned away and quickly stepped toward Melanie, then gave her a hug. “We’ll figure it out,” she promised, hoping she wasn’t lying about something as important to her employer as that.
“I know,” Melanie said hoarsely. “And thanks.” She turned to where the two men stood behind her, eating their sandwiches. “And thanks to both of you, too.”
“No problem,” Liam said. “Noel, you said you’d give us a rundown of how Drew’s been doing while you’ve been with him.”
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Linda Johnston
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: Can she love the wolf…within the man?Lt. Liam Cortland is the newest member of an elite military unit for shapeshifters. A tech expert, his task is to counter reports of Alpha Force’s existence spreading online.When the rumours take a dark turn, his mission grows more urgent. His greatest ally is Dr Rosa Jontay—the woman who’s seen him at his most vulnerable, the woman he knows he can never have. The woman he can′t possibly live without…