Canadian Wolf

Even so, Selena gave him a big smile as she joined him.

Which irritated Owen.

If she ever smiled at him that way... She wouldn’t. But it was definitely hot. She was definitely hot—no matter what else she was.

“So, Selena,” said Craig Neverts, getting her attention. He was a nicer-looking guy than Tim, with dark hair, a wide mouth and prominent chin. “I’m finding all the stuff that Rainey’s told us to be amazing. She said you guys shift when the moon isn’t full and you’re going to teach us how.”

“Soon,” Selena said. “When our other Alpha Force members arrive. But maybe tomorrow we can give a brief demonstration of what I’m like while shifted even if they’re not here yet.”

She glanced toward Owen, her expression challenging as if she expected him to say something about how she had done the same for him and his commanding officer—shifting remotely. Not demonstrating the actual shift.

He remembered the demonstration and his lame offer of getting naked with her. Feeling those stirrings again, he banished the images that the mere thought brought to mind.

“Well, I, for one, don’t appreciate just hanging around here like this,” said Andrea Willburn. But she must have sensed that Owen, her new commanding officer, was glaring at her. “Sorry.” She appeared somewhat chastised. “But if it’s okay, can we maybe...well, go into town now rather than waiting till later? Party a little, as part of our cover? I mean if we’re not accomplishing anything useful today?”

To Owen, she somewhat resembled a falcon, the kind of animal she apparently shifted into, with her cap of dark hair and large, beak-like nose.

He thought about her suggestion. It might be the best thing to give everyone the afternoon in town. He’d stay behind, alone, and get some much-needed distance from the woman who was getting under his skin. He looked at Selena as he said, “Why not? Go ahead.”

* * *

That was fine with Selena.

As everyone left the room, she sat there. She had no particular interest in shopping or partying. Besides, she needed time away from Owen. Time to get her mind away from X-rated fantasies and back on the assignment. She took Lupe out on the porch, where she planned to sit and rest.

“You’re still here.”

At the sound of his voice, she turned to see Owen. Why was he still here? “Why didn’t you go with your troops?” Selena challenged him.

“Why didn’t you?” he countered.

“I—I need to take Lupe for a walk.” Not that she hadn’t, just a little while ago.

“I’ll go with you.”

He wasn’t her commanding officer, and she could have responded in the negative. But what the heck? Nothing would happen on a little walk in the woods.

There were worse things than hanging out a little more with Owen, her inner voice said.

Yeah, like not getting to be with him at all...

Now, where did that come from? She liked the guy, sure. But only as a temporary colleague. And if he truly didn’t like shifters despite believing in them, as he’d hinted before, that was even more reason not to spend much time with him.

So was the fact that she was sexually attracted to him.

Without looking at Owen, she grabbed Lupe’s leash and started out. The woods behind the houses smelled rather like citrus from the fir trees that formed a tight canopy, which nearly blocked out the sun. A carpet of downed needles crackled beneath their feet.

“Good area for shifters,” Selena told Owen, wanting to hear his reaction to her touch of goading.

“Glad to hear it.” She looked up to find him grinning down at her. Grinning? He now accepted the idea of her being a shifter?

Heck, that was what she was and why she was here.

Lupe didn’t have much to do except explore, sniffing the ground and air. They nevertheless stayed in the woods for twenty minutes or so.

“Ready to go to town, too?” Owen asked as they headed back.

“Sure,” Selena said, glad she’d survived the walk unscathed. Then she tripped over a branch and Owen grabbed her arm to steady her.

She found herself smiling in thanks up into his handsome, rugged face and saw that there was more than concern in his eyes. Not just casual heat, either.

More like lust.

She opened her mouth just a little as she attempted to thank him...and Owen’s lips came down on hers.

The kiss seemed to ignite the cool forest, especially when his arms went around her and pulled her close. She held him tightly, too, tasting him with her tongue as his teased hers.

Her eyes closed, and for a moment she was aware only of Owen. And herself. Here. Together, in the wilds, where anything could happen.

Before she could conjure any steamy scenarios, he pulled away. His breathing was hard and irregular, as was hers, and his expression was still full of heat, but his words were just normal and friendly, as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s drive into town, shall we?”

“Right. Sure. That sounds fine.”

* * *

Selena put Lupe in the kitchen of the house where they’d be staying, then joined Owen at his car.

Neither of them mentioned that kiss or where it had come from—let alone how inappropriate, yet suggestive, it had been.

Maybe it was just an act of closure after their initial discussions of nudity. Something they just had to get out of their systems. Now it was over. At least she hoped so.

Why, then, did it leave her aching for more?

Owen drove them carefully down the hill, then parked along the main commercial street and led her into the Yukon Bar. It was crowded, but even so, there were a couple of available tables. At his urging, Selena chose one—the one closest to the door and therefore the farthest from the noisy bar.

“Is this all right?” she asked.

“Definitely.”

She ordered a glass of red wine; he ordered a beer. When their server left, he asked, “Is it okay— I mean, you’re all right drinking alcohol?”

She laughed. “You mean...people like me? Yes, when we’re like this, all usual activity is fine.”

He smiled at her. She liked his smile and the way it raised his hint of dark beard ever so slightly. “I think I have a lot to learn about people like you.”

“And I have a lot to learn about the Mounties. You’ve told me a bit about your background, but how did you wind up here, in this kind of assignment?” One he didn’t seem to relish. “And when are you going to tell me the main reason for the formation of the CAs unit? I gather it’s something important.”

“It is.” He moved a little closer and spoke softly. “It’s actually a bunch of serial kidnappings that have justifiably gotten our senior officers’ attention, but it would be easier to explain more about it when your folks get here and I can do it all at once.”

The server brought their drinks, and since neither was especially hungry after that pizza, they ordered only a small appetizer to share.

When the server left, Owen looked at Selena with his gorgeous blue eyes and said nothing for a long moment. She felt her insides heat as if those eyes were igniting her nearly as much as his lips had. Before she lost herself in their depths she said, “Okay, tell me why you’re here.”

Shrugging, he took a drink of his beer. He still kept his voice low as he responded. “Not much to say that you don’t already know. As a kid, I always loved to see Mounties in their formal red uniforms riding horses and all. I told you about some of my assignments, but most recently I was assigned to the task force investigating those kidnappings I mentioned. That’s partly why I was chosen to help form the Canada Alphas—so I could use a different direction to catch the kidnappers.”

“Your career sounds amazing,” Selena said.

They started speaking again of Canada and what Selena might see here. The rest of their outing was pleasant. More than pleasant. Selena found herself looking into Owen’s face constantly, sharing smiles and laughs and banter, almost as if they were flirting.

Which, of course, they couldn’t be. Despite that onetime, unforgettable kiss. They were professional colleagues—that was all. Her role was to teach him and his fellow RCMP members what they needed to know and then leave.

Developing any other kind of relationship just couldn’t happen.

* * *

Sitting across the table from the lovely Selena, Owen now wished they’d found the rest of their crowd and hung out with them.

As much as he was enjoying Selena’s company, he was...well, he was liking it too much. Liking her too much.

Trying too much to remind himself what she was. Why she was here.

How touching her, kissing her, had been way out of line.

But he’d absolutely enjoyed their kiss. He also enjoyed the memory of it now, as he watched those full, sexy lips of hers while she talked and smiled and drank her wine and nibbled their appetizer.

This was unlike him. In all his assignments, he was totally professional. He got along fine with colleagues, sure. Even attractive female ones. But he had always behaved with absolute professionalism.

He had already blown that once with Selena. It couldn’t happen again.

She was talking softly now, about her recent assignment, although just loudly enough that he could hear her over the roar of the crowd around them. “Rainey, Lupe and I were in the Seattle area on more of a recon kind of thing. There were some reputed AWOL soldiers hanging out there, around a secluded campground, and the regular army hadn’t been able to confirm it. The idea was that the soldiers might be acting the roles of hunters or naturalists or whatever. They might be easier for a wolf to spot.” She paused and smiled, raising the ends of those sexy lips slowly. “They were. The assignment was pretty well over when I got a call from my superior officer. So here we are.”

“Yes, and I think your presence here will be a particularly good thing. We’d already been planning to form the CAs, but it had to come together even faster than originally thought because of those kidnappings. We—”

He heard a cell phone chime. “Mine,” Selena said. She pulled it from her pocketbook and looked at it. “It’s my captain. Excuse me.” She rose and walked away.

At the same time, Owen’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at it. Anthony Creay, his boss.

“Yes, sir?” he answered.

“I hope you’re getting your CAs trained well and fast, Owen. There’s been another kidnapping.”

“But the last one was only last week. There’s always been a good month or more before the next one.” Owen realized his protest was inane. If there’d been another kidnapping, the criminals’ prior MO on the four previous cases was no longer relevant.

“True. They’ve been so successful that they must be ramping it up. Which is all the more reason that your group is so critical.”

Selena returned and sat across from him again, no longer holding her phone. He mouthed Creay when she raised her eyebrows in question.

“We’re still waiting for some of the Alpha Force members,” he said, this time keeping his voice low in case anyone was eavesdropping.

“I heard what you said,” she told him in a soft voice. “Tell your boss they’ll be here tomorrow.”

Across the table his eyes met hers. The mission was about to get under way. And things were about to get interesting.

Chapter 4

They left immediately, at Owen’s suggestion, which was fine with Selena. She didn’t telephone Rainey, nor did Owen call his CAs. “I’d rather tell them in person to get their tails back to the hotel where they’re staying for now so they’ll get up early for a briefing, even if your Alpha Force guys haven’t arrived yet,” he told Selena, and she agreed.

Owen led Selena out the door, but instead of going to the parking lot, they turned left outside and began hurrying down the sidewalk.

“I’d thought the gang would end up at the Yukon, too,” he said, “and we could have just talked to them here. But I’m aware of the other bars in town that my group also seems to like. I haven’t been downtown much with them, but they took care to introduce me to their favorites.”

Several cars drove by under the streetlights, but Selena and Owen were the only ones on the sidewalk outside the bar. The air was cool. Selena was glad she had grabbed a sweater to bring along after partially unpacking her suitcase earlier. She had removed the black wrap when they’d sat down, but now she pulled it on again over her T-shirt.

She was surprised, after sticking an arm through one sleeve, that the other sleeve was lined up so she could easily finish shrugging it on. Owen had grabbed it and held it up for her. Apparently, on top of being a member of the RCMP, he was a gentleman.

“Thanks,” she told him, turning enough to glance at him. He nodded in acknowledgment and kept walking.

Evidently more used to the crisp air than she was, he didn’t don a sweater or jacket over his gray plaid shirt. It fit well over his black jeans, hugging his chest in a way that suggested his training as a Mountie kept his physique in perfect shape.

West Columbia reminded Selena of countless small towns she’d visited back in the States. The street they traversed, Columbia Avenue, was lined with shops of various types.

There were also a number of restaurants, all with lights on and apparently still open. Selena didn’t recognize their names, but they seemed to be an assortment of family-style and gourmet eateries. Some of the aromas wafting out of them, especially the gourmet establishments, filled Selena’s senses and made her smile, even though she was far from hungry. Maybe she’d have an opportunity to sample some of the food here before her assignment was complete.

“This seems like a very pleasant town,” Selena said to make conversation. She was very aware of Owen at her side. She had the sense he wanted to pick up the pace but had reined himself in somewhat to accommodate her.

He didn’t need to. She was quite comfortable walking fast and did so often at home as part of a daily fitness regimen. She ran, too, when she felt like it—in both her forms.

Partly to accommodate him instead, and partly to challenge him, she began walking faster.

He kept up with her with apparently no effort. “I like your speed,” he said, sounding not at all out of breath, which didn’t surprise her.

“I thought you might.” She glanced up at him at her side and caught a glance that appeared somewhat amused—and a whole lot sexy.

She looked away quickly and stepped it up a notch or two more.

The first bar they came to, in the middle of a retail block, was Myrtell’s. Selena heard the loud hum of conversation even before Owen opened the glass door, and as they stepped inside, the sound level rose to near deafening, despite her being in human form.

Myrtell’s was crowded and smelled of liquor and popcorn and people scents that probably were only somewhat discernible to the patrons here, but were strong and not all pleasant to Selena.

She wasn’t about to mention that to Owen, let alone complain. But after they’d both looked around for several minutes and failed to see either Rainey or any of the CAs, Selena was glad when they left.

Once again, Owen allowed her to choose their speed. And once again, she walked fast, though she didn’t settle into a run.

The next place—the Wonderbar—was on a side street about three blocks farther than Myrtell’s. Its entry was covered by a sign that resembled a theater marquee, and Selena heard the crowd noises emanating from the place nearly as soon as they turned the corner from Columbia Avenue.

As they reached the door, Selena inhaled the aromas emanating from the Wonderbar. If she had to guess, the patrons here preferred beer over the other kinds of alcohol she had smelled at both of the other bars.

She first heard, then saw, Rainey when she looked inside the door. Her aide was sitting with the four recruits around a moderate-sized round table that held glasses of many sizes, indicating their differences in drinks. Wineglasses sat before Andrea and Tim. Sal had a tall glass in front of him with an amber liquid and ice inside, suggesting a drink with hard liquor—or perhaps it was just a soft drink. Craig and Rainey seemed to fit in better with more of the crowd here since beer steins were on the table in front of them.

Interesting choices, but Selena had no time to do more than give that a passing thought. Owen and she hurried through the door and up to that table.

“Hey, welcome.” Sal stood to pull his chair aside to make room for the newcomers. Knowing the young, skinny guy was only nineteen years old, Selena glanced at his amber drink, but she knew that was the legal drinking age in British Columbia. If he had hard liquor in front of him it would be acceptable here, and the scent Selena detected told her it was alcohol.

“Yeah. Where’ve you been?” Andrea asked. Across the table from Sal, she, too, stood and looked around as if seeking another seat for them, her wide but smallish eyes peering over her prominent nose as she checked out the place.

“Looking for you,” Owen said, not entirely truthfully, Selena thought, since they hadn’t sought out the rest of the crowd when they first got to the Yukon Bar. “We needed to let you know we’re going to hold an update session very early tomorrow morning.”

“Then there’s been some news?” Rainey was on her feet, too. Selena couldn’t help grinning at her aide. Rainey was always eager to jump into whatever assignment they had, and being here with these other shifters seemed to only increase her enthusiasm. She’d pulled a Minnesota Timberwolves sweatshirt on, probably her attempt at a silent joke with regard to the wolf shifters here, including her commanding officer—Selena.

“Yes,” Owen said. “We’ll tell you about it first thing tomorrow.”

“And discuss how we’re going to handle things a little later,” Selena added, “when the rest of our Alpha Force team arrives.”

“Right,” Owen agreed. “But right now I’d suggest you head back to your hotel rooms so you can get a reasonably good night’s sleep. You have fixings for breakfast at our...site?”

Selena figured he’d avoided saying “headquarters” in case anyone around was eavesdropping. All the crowd she saw seemed caught up in their own conversations—and imbibing. But she appreciated his discretion.

“Yes, we do,” Craig said.

“Great. Then get on back to where you’re staying now.”

“Soon as we finish our drinks,” Craig agreed, and the others nodded. Selena suspected they had only recently ordered refills since none of their glasses appeared especially empty. But that was okay. The alcohol might help them sleep better.

“We’ll see you in the kitchen of the main house, then, at o-seven...er, seven a.m.,” Selena said, quickly getting herself out of military speak.

“Yes, ma’am,” Rainey whispered with a sly grin.

Selena wasn’t sure whether the RCMP knew US military protocol, speaking or otherwise, let alone followed it. But when she glanced around the table, all the CAs were grinning.

Especially Sergeant Major Owen Dewirter.

* * *

“You’re staying downtown somewhere, aren’t you?” Selena asked as Owen pulled her chair out so she could stand.

Despite being an officer of the law, he didn’t always follow traditional etiquette with women. Even so, something about Selena made him want to revert to the old ways he’d learned as a child here in Canada—actions that had supposedly been imported from the mother country of the UK years, even centuries, ago. Odd, he knew. And he didn’t want to overthink it now.

But on some level he realized he was hoping to make himself think of his obligatory partner in this program as a lady, not an officer in the United States Army whose rank might be in some ways equivalent to his own in the nonmilitary RCMP, or perhaps even higher. And certainly not as a shapeshifter from whom he had a lot to learn to fulfill his current assignment.

Plus, he got closer to her this way than he otherwise might. Could smell her fresh, almost floral scent—nothing like the scent of dogs or wolves that he might otherwise have anticipated.

In addition, while being polite, he could imagine touching her for other reasons than assisting her in and out of cars or pulling her chair out for her.

Which most likely meant he should start being rude from this moment on.

“That’s right,” he responded. They left the others behind at the table and wended their way through the bar crowd to the exit door. Once they were out on the sidewalk he continued, “My team and I will move into the house you and your other Alpha Force members will be occupying now once you’ve trained us and moved on.”

“So where are you all living now?”

“Hotels. I’m in one, and the rest of the CAs are in a different one.” He’d thought that would help his subordinates bond without worrying too much about being part of a regimented system. That would come in time. And he didn’t worry about his command. As soon as the training and the mission started, they’d know who was in charge.

She turned sideways to look up at him. “It would be more convenient for you to stay downtown right now rather than driving me back to the house. I could wait until Rainey is ready to go, then ride with whoever drove her here, or she and I could even walk back to the HQ if she doesn’t have a ride. It’s not that far.”

“In the dark and in tonight’s chilly air? No way.”

He couldn’t help but appreciate her offer, though. She didn’t automatically consider him and the CAs her inferiors, who were required to take good care of her in exchange for teaching them.

“All right.” She sounded relieved. He liked that, too. He figured she had made the offer because she believed it to be convenient for him, even though she’d hoped he’d refuse it.

They walked back to his SUV in the Yukon Bar’s gravel parking lot, and without thinking, he took Selena’s arm and helped her into the passenger seat.

Despite the sweater she wore that kept him from touching her skin, he was highly conscious of her warmth. She, too, appeared to notice the contact, since her head turned quickly and her amber eyes captured his for just an instant. “Thank you,” she said. He shut the door, then went around to the driver’s seat and started off.

He had anticipated struggling to find a neutral topic of conversation on the short drive back to the enclave when he realized he wanted to know everything about this woman—including more of what she really thought about being a shapeshifter. But he didn’t really want to bring that up. Not now.

He was relieved when she started the conversation. She sat in shadows in the seat beside him, but the lights outside the vehicle illuminated her enough that he could see her lovely face—and the fact that she was smiling as she watched the scenery while he drove.

First, she commented on the bars they’d visited. “I liked the Yukon best, but I can see why our gang likes the Wonderbar. There’s more action there, for one thing.”

“True. But I was with them once at the Yukon and they really got into talking about...what they were. Quietly, and using euphemisms, in case anyone was listening.”

“Euphemisms like what? Although I might have heard them all. Used them all at different times.”

He told her Andrea’s description of what they all had in common as being windows through which illumination fell—like the full moon that changed them, he assumed. Did Selena still identify with that? He knew that shifters in her Alpha Force didn’t need to wait for the right phase of the moon. He had even seen it, sort of.

His new unit members were also students, ready to learn all they could about the universe. They were animal lovers. And more. And with each description, Owen heard Selena draw in her breath and giggle.

He liked that he could please her like that.

“You enjoyed that conversation, too, didn’t you?” she asked, facing him as he waited at a traffic light.

“I liked her ingenuity,” he admitted.