Читать книгу Canadian Wolf - Linda Johnston O. - Страница 9

Chapter 3

Selena couldn’t start teaching anything until her fellow Alpha Force members arrived. She might have the teaching credentials and some experience with the unit, but Captain Patrick Worley was the commanding officer on the American side of this operation.

That was why she decided to excuse herself, leaving Rainey with the others who were peppering her with questions about how someone who wasn’t a shifter worked with Alpha Force. There were things, of course, that Rainey could not reveal about their covert military unit, but Selena trusted her not to mention them. Right now, she needed a little time to herself.

“Where are you going?” Owen called to her from the porch as she walked across the lawn with Lupe beside her.

From there, Owen appeared even taller. Even sexier.

She caught her errant thoughts. “Nowhere in particular.”

“Well, then, why don’t I show you where your sleeping quarters will be?” He pointed toward the other house as he walked down the steps. “You can choose which room you want.”

Selena liked that idea. In fact, as much as she loved being part of a large, close-knit outfit like Alpha Force, she hoped to find a room that would give her some privacy.

In fact, maybe she could just pick out a room and chill out there for a little while.

Although it would be hard to chill at all with a hot guy like Owen around. And if she didn’t stop thinking about him that way, she was going to have one really tough time working with him on their training assignment.

She started toward the larger house and Owen walked beside her. “Ever been to Canada before?” he asked.

“No, this is my first time. Have you ever been to the States?”

“A few times.” His tone suggested he might not have been impressed with her country, but when she glanced at him his face had gone to that neutral, unreadable expression she couldn’t interpret.

She had to keep a lot of secrets as a shifter and member of Alpha Force, but she had a sense that Owen Dewirter might have an even greater number of his own.

The front of the other house was similar to the one they’d just left. They climbed stairs onto the broad wooden porch, Lupe following. It was empty, but Selena imagined sitting out there with the entire group one of these days, holding one of the lessons she intended to provide.

After he unlocked the door, she walked through the five upstairs bedrooms, but it was the one downstairs that called to her. It was an understated room with a narrow white dresser with a mirror on top, a small chair and a single bed that was not much larger than a cot. The bare essentials. There was even a private bathroom—small but convenient.

Feeling a presence behind her, she turned and realized Owen was in the room with her. She was in a bedroom, all alone with Owen. Why had she noticed that? And why did it make her feel so warm inside? In fact, the lower part of her body seemed to ignite.

She chilled it immediately. “I’ll take this one.”

“Somehow I thought you would.” He looked at her with an expression that seemed heated—as if he also recognized they were alone in this house in a bedroom.

Then, clearing his throat, he said abruptly, “I’ll leave you to unpack. See you back at the other house.” And with that, he left.

That was a good thing, Selena told herself, though she felt suddenly bereft.

Instead of unpacking, though, Selena called Captain Worley. When she got his voice mail, she left a message, asking him to call with his expected arrival time.

Then she quickly opened her suitcase and pulled out a few items that she hung in her closet. Almost everything was civilian casual, to maintain their cover.

She next went to the entry and got both of the backpacks. She unpacked the remaining bottle of elixir stored in an insulated container and secured it at the back of the refrigerator.

Then she said to Lupe, “Ready for a walk, girl? When you’re done we’ll go back to the others.”

But as eager as Selena was to get started, she had a feeling it would be a long afternoon.

* * *

Owen had returned to where the constables who now reported to him still surrounded Rainey in the small and crowded living room. They were asking her questions about Alpha Force.

Too bad he hadn’t stayed around to listen to her answers. The more he knew about the group that would be helping to train these raw new candidates, the better.

Instead, he had gone off to spend time with Selena. Not that he regretted it.

He felt more than saw her enter the room a short while later. His nerve endings tingling, he looked up as she and her dog joined the group. But then he noticed that Tim Franzer seemed to sit up straighter. He even moved over on the sofa and waved at the empty spot for Selena to sit down.

The guy wasn’t especially tall or muscular, and he didn’t appear particularly good-looking to Owen, not with his round face and prominent nose.

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.