Читать книгу Canadian Wolf - Linda O. Johnston - Страница 8

Chapter 1

“I’m still so jazzed!” said Lieutenant Rainey Jessop, clasping her hands under her chin. “Working with Mounties. This’ll be so much fun!”

Lieutenant Selena Jennay sent a wry smile toward her aide. Rainey had been excited from the moment the two of them had first been given this assignment—yesterday. As for herself, she was skeptical. She’d reserve judgment until she better understood the players in this new mission.

She took a seat across from her aide at the table in the small meeting room with gray wallpapered walls, the secluded area to which they’d been shown after arriving at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s northwest Vancouver facility. Her cover dog, Lupe, a canine who resembled a mix between a wolf and a husky, lay beside her.

She glanced at Rainey. “Do you think it’s more fun than working with shapeshifters?”

Rainey looked momentarily shocked, a rare occurrence for the outgoing and chatty young woman. “Hardly. But I’m going to get to work with both Mounties and shapeshifters. Amazing!” She paused, and her smile morphed into a frown as two men in white shirts and blue pants walked into the room. “Although I’d hoped that we’d get to work with Mounties in their gorgeous dress uniforms and tall hats,” she added under her breath.

Selena and Rainey rose to meet the men, smoothing down the camo uniforms of Alpha Force, the highly covert US military unit to which they belonged. Selena’s light brown hair and Rainey’s darker brunette locks were both pulled back tightly into clips.

“Good morning,” said the first man to enter. He appeared middle-aged and had short white hair. Walking around the oval wooden table to where Selena and Rainey now stood, he held out a veined, long-fingered hand. “I’m Anthony Creay, deputy commissioner of the RCMP’s general policing services.”

Then he was the head of the group who’d contacted Alpha Force, Selena reasoned. “Hello, sir,” she said, shaking his hand. She introduced both Rainey and herself. Then she let her gaze drift to the other man.

“Sergeant Major Owen Dewirter,” he said, proffering his hand for a shake, too. “Also with general policing services.”

And most likely the man with whom they’d be working over the next few weeks, Selena figured. The other guy was his superior officer and probably just wanted to make sure things got started well.

“Which one of you is the shapeshifter?” Owen asked. The sergeant major had a distinctively handsome face, with brilliant blue eyes beneath strong brows that matched his short, wavy black hair. His nose was aquiline, his chin broad with just a hint of a beard shadow.

Yet judging by his unreadable expression, Selena had the impression that he wasn’t overly fond of shifters. Did he even believe in them? That wasn’t clear, at least not yet.

“That would be me,” she said in as mild a tone as she could muster, considering her initial bout of irritation. She could be wrong. She didn’t know the guy, let alone how RCMP members thought or acted. He might be attempting to impress his superior officer by remaining emotionless.

“How fascinating!” Anthony did indeed appear fascinated. He stood behind a chair at the opposite side of the table, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly open. “I’m pleased that you’re here to give us a close-up demonstration.”

“Yes. About that.” Rainey drew their attention as she sat down again. Her movement caused Lupe, who’d stood up as the humans did, to sit as well. “We’ve discussed that and are not sure about the best way to handle it. You see, we need a bit of privacy. Actually, Lieutenant Jennay needs a bit of privacy,” she amended. “I’m her aide, and I’ll be with her, but a shift requires that someone, er—”

“I’ll be nude,” Selena interjected. She remained standing for now, her arms crossed. “That’s why I have a female aide. We use a special proprietary elixir, and we will make some available to the shifters you have recruited into the new RCMP team that we’re to train. When the rest of our Alpha Force team arrives tomorrow or the next day, they’ll include a male shifter or two. They may be more amenable to being observed by men when they change. But although you can definitely see me once I’ve shifted, you unfortunately can’t watch me shift.” She found herself looking straight into Owen Dewirter’s still-unreadable gaze. “Too uncomfortable for me. And I don’t like to feel uncomfortable.”

“I see.” The words were drawn out slowly by Anthony Creay as he sank down into a chair across from the two women. And clearly, to Selena, the point was that he could not see. Not everything. “Nude? I didn’t consider that—but I believe that observing a shift was part of our understanding. So we would be sure of the genuineness of the help we’re getting.” As he scowled, his fleshy lower lip protruded.

Owen took a seat beside him, then exchanged glances with his superior officer. When he turned back to Selena, he had a decided frown on his face, too. “We need to work something out here,” he said. “We have to watch the process to be sure you’re a real shifter and not just trying to put something over on us.”

His pronunciation of the word out—with an almost long O sound—emphasized that he was Canadian. But his accent wasn’t the only difference between them. He wanted her to get nude in front of him for her demo shift? Not gonna happen. Even though he was one great-looking guy. The thought of him observing her body as she stripped sent waves of heat through Selena that made her feel as if this meeting was on the hottest summer day in the US South instead of a cool evening in the Canadian West.

Was this whole thing primed to be a fiasco? Selena hoped not. She and Rainey were here representing Alpha Force and, since they had been in the western United States and were therefore the closest of those in their unit who had been selected to help the RCMP form their own similar unit, they’d been ordered to Vancouver to give a small and limited demonstration.

Limited being the key word.

Even Lupe must have sensed the tension in the room since she stood beside Selena and whined. Selena reached out and hugged the wolf-dog closer to her.

“Here’s the thing,” she said to the men in as reasonable a tone as she could muster. “Let me introduce you first to my cover dog. Lupe, this is Deputy Commissioner Creay and Sergeant Major Dewirter.” She scratched Lupe behind the ears in a manner that caused the dog to turn her head toward the two men, not that Lupe, a genuine canine, could understand her words. “Gentlemen, this is the canine who looks a whole lot like me when I’m shifted. The way I figured we’d do this demonstration is for Rainey and me to go into another room. You can keep Lupe with you and lock the door to the room. With Rainey’s help, I’ll shift. Then when you unlock the door there’ll be Rainey inside with a canine who looks a whole lot like Lupe. Voilà! That’ll be me, shifted. There’ll be no other person in the room. With doors locked and all, there’s no way we’d be able to do this without it being the real thing.” The very suggestion that they’d try to pull a scam on representatives of a national police department that had requested their help really peeved Selena.

“But we understood we could see the actual shift take place.” Creay’s tone was icy.

Selena glanced toward Rainey, who looked uneasy and bewildered. Well, she needn’t be. Selena was in charge here, at least for now.

“I understand your wish to see the process, gentlemen,” she said. “Maybe you’d have been able to if you hadn’t requested Alpha Force’s presence so urgently. You said you needed at least our initial representation within one day. We were the closest team members available. So here we are.”

“I recognize that,” Creay retorted. “But we don’t have any extra time, either, to wait—or to deal with a situation where things aren’t as represented to us.”

“Are you accusing us of lying?” Selena hated to be confrontational, but their attitude was forcing her into it.

“We’re not accusing you of anything.” Owen’s voice sounded placating, but his expression remained unreadable. “We just want to ensure we’ve got what we were promised by the US military.”

Selena wanted to make good on that promise, too, for the sake of Alpha Force. She took a deep breath, then said, “Look, we want to cooperate with you—but certain things are nonnegotiable. If you don’t feel you can trust us, if you think we’ll play some kind of hoodwinking, magical game even when you can watch to make sure the room stays locked—well, maybe we’d better just leave right now.”

Selena saw Owen glance once more into the angry face of his commanding officer. Then Owen looked directly toward Selena. “Okay,” he said. “We understand your concern, and I hope you understand ours. Our mission is highly important. And...well, it’s probably no surprise to you that not all people believe in shapeshifters. We just need—”

“Do you believe in them?” Selena glared as if daring him to say that who she was, what she did, wasn’t real.

“Yes,” Owen said quietly, planting his arms on the table in front of him and leaning toward her. “I do. But this is all new to Deputy Commissioner Creay and he has his doubts.”

Interesting, Selena thought. Creay’s position was that of the majority of regular people. But the sergeant major was a believer. How did he know the reality?

Well, if he was the one who’d be working with them, maybe she would find out. Or not, if things continued to deteriorate.

He leaned in closer toward Selena, and his confrontational posture made Lupe tense up and growl. Glancing at the dog, he backed up slightly. “We seem to be at a stalemate. I’ll be with you at the headquarters of the new team we’re forming. But Deputy Commissioner Creay won’t be with us. He’s going back to our headquarters in Ottawa when we’re done here. I may be able to watch some of the male shifters change then, but he needs to see you shift now.” His expression changed then from demanding to something Selena couldn’t interpret at first. Challenging?

Could be, considering his next words.

“I’ll tell you what, Lieutenant Jennay. If you strip and show us your change, I’ll strip right along with you. That way we can both feel uncomfortable, not just you. Although I have to admit that I’m just a normal human being.”

Selena blinked in surprise at his outrageous offer.

Normal? She doubted that. The idea set her body on fire, and it was all she could do to prevent herself from letting her gaze slide down his fully clothed body toward the area she really would like to see nude.

But was he serious? Or was this some kind of additional challenge? “That’s not—” she began.

“Not necessary,” Deputy Commissioner Creay interjected. Selena drew her gaze away from Owen and focused on Creay. His expression had calmed a bit. “I trust the people I spoke with at Alpha Force, and I’ll trust them more after one of us gets to observe a shift. But that’s apparently not going to happen now, so why don’t you do your shift, as you suggested, inside a locked room. We’ll check out the room before you enter and then monitor the shift from the outside. For now, that should be fine.”

Selena gave a sigh of relief that the face-off had now been averted, even as she continued to watch Owen Dewirter. Now his eyes, too, were unreadable.

What would he do if she told him that she accepted his offer to strip bare?

No matter how much she liked the idea on some level—like, deep inside her now-blazing body—she wouldn’t agree. Handling her shift the way she had already described was the best way to go. It should satisfy them. This was an RCMP facility. Where would Alpha Force find another dog that looked like Lupe and be able to sneak it in?

Besides, she was aware that others in Alpha Force sometimes used this method of shifting in a secured room to prove to nonshifters who—and what—they were, and she hadn’t heard of any problems resulting.

But all she said was “Fine. So...shall we get started?”

* * *

Owen Dewirter observed Selena from across the table—for the moment, at least—as she stood.

Maybe he’d been way out of line with his suggestion. It had been impulsive. But it had also been born out of irritation and a need to end their impasse.

Owen hadn’t wanted to strip here—although the idea of seeing Selena Jennay nude definitely stiffened a certain part of his body. But he also knew Anthony Creay well enough to be certain that his superior officer didn’t like to be denied anything he believed he was entitled to.

This way, Anthony wound up making the decision—a good thing, and probably the only way to make the superior officer stand down. And now what Lieutenant Selena Jennay had proposed had become acceptable. She would shift without a male audience.

She would shift, though. He didn’t actually doubt that she was a shapeshifter.

Although he believed—no, knew—they existed, he had major concerns about shapeshifters.

But this one was also a gorgeous, sexy woman—even dressed in the sexless camouflage uniform of US soldiers.

She was slender, moderately tall, with full lips and high cheekbones. Her light brown hair seemed most unusual, with highlights that shimmered in even the low artificial lights in this conference room. Her amber eyes flashed with emotion as she spoke—like now, as she conversed softly with the other woman, glancing occasionally toward the two men.

Owen rose, too, as did Anthony. “Do you know of any suitable room?” his superior asked in a low voice.

“Why not in here?” Owen asked. “We can leave.” As he spoke, he scanned the small chamber, furnished only with the table and chairs. They were two stories up, so their visitors couldn’t slip Selena out and a dog in—especially since the window overlooked the parking lot and the station’s inside guard post. Whoever was on duty would no doubt see any shenanigans.

“I suppose that would work,” Anthony said, also looking around.

As they spoke, Lieutenant Jennay speared them both with a sharp gaze that gave no quarter. Owen had no doubt that if her demeanor was typical of the US military’s Alpha Force, that explained how the covert group accomplished its sometimes impossible missions.

He looked forward to this assignment.

He’d been one of the very few members of his division within the RCMP’s general policing services who hadn’t immediately scoffed when Anthony asked in his interview whether he believed in shapeshifters. Owen knew they were real.

He just didn’t happen to like them. Experience had taught him to mistrust them.

And yet, it was in his country’s best interests for a group of shifters from the States to help the RCMP to form its own covert unit, similar to Alpha Force, but a police unit instead of a military one.

Owen was all about helping his country. He would head the team. The fact that he’d previously worked with canines at the RCMP’s police-dog service training center wouldn’t hurt, either.

“So what do you think?” Selena eventually asked, her hands on her hips and confrontation in her expression.

“We’ll lock you right in here,” Owen said with no inflection, as if he had no interest in continuing the confrontation. “This is as good as any place. Maybe not the most comfortable location to get naked, but you won’t be aware of it for long anyway.”

“Not true,” Selena snapped back. She clearly hadn’t lost her attitude. “You may believe in shapeshifters, but you don’t know anything about Alpha Force and our elixir if you think we lose awareness. For your information, the elixir developed by members of Alpha Force allows us to shift without a full moon and to keep our human awareness when the moon isn’t full, and neither is the case with other shifters.”

“Sounds like a useful concoction.” Owen had understood there was something that made Alpha Force members different from other shapeshifters, but hadn’t known what it was.

She seemed to relax a little after that. “But that’s okay for now. You’ll learn more as we help to train your RCMP shapeshifters.” She drew out those words as if to rub the concept back in his face.

He realized that he was smiling—wryly perhaps, but genuinely. She wasn’t only lovely. She amused him.

Even though she was a shapeshifter. Or so she said.

She was right. He knew little about Alpha Force, its elixir or anything else related to the unit. But if she could genuinely shapeshift now, when the next full moon wasn’t due for a couple of weeks, it would tell him a lot.

“There aren’t any security cameras in here, are there?” Selena asked. He watched as she scanned the walls.

“No,” said Anthony Creay. “This room is usually used for secure and private meetings.”

“Okay, then we’re on.” Selena looked around a little more as if she didn’t trust what he said, but there were no places that Owen saw, either, where equipment could be hidden.

“Fine,” he said. “Now, what would you like us to do?”

It was her turn to grin. “If you’d like, you can go ahead and get naked anyway.” She let her eyes scan Owen’s body up and down, and he felt himself start to respond. Not a good idea. Not here, and not ever.

But since they were going to be working together, should he call her bluff after all? He gave it a second’s thought before he knew the answer. No sense in angering his commanding officer. “Nope,” he said. “I think this is your cue, not mine.”

She shrugged one shoulder, as if she had no interest in whether he kept his clothes on or not. Too bad, he thought. But it was better that way.

“So what would you like us to do?” he asked her.

“Leave.” She began walking around the table, holding out the leash attached to her dog’s collar. “Just watch out for Lupe. She’s a great dog—but like me, she’s got quite a bite if you rile her.”

He assumed she was still just teasing. Even so, he gingerly grabbed hold of the leash’s looped handle. It was his responsibility, not his superior officer’s. The furry wolf-dog looked up at him with eyes that did indeed appear a similar amber shade to Selena’s. Her cover dog. The way she would appear while shifted, she’d indicated.

A fine representative of the wolf species, albeit with some traces of other canine stock, like, perhaps, Siberian husky.

“I bite, too, Lupe,” he said, although the way he petted her furry head belied his words—justifiably. He liked dogs. A lot.

It was their shapeshifting counterparts that he didn’t trust.

Was Selena different? He’d see, as time went on.

“Well, don’t bite my dog,” Selena said.

She turned around, waving her hand. “Right now is a good time for you gentlemen to leave.” She glanced over her shoulder. “After you lock the door you can stand in the hall to make sure we don’t slip out and play the games that you apparently expect. Rainey will knock for you to open the door when my shift is complete.”

“Fine.” Owen waited until Anthony had cleared the doorway, then followed.

He turned back for an instant, just long enough to notice that Selena was already preparing for what would occur after he locked the door. Her head was bent as she started unbuttoning her shirt.

Too bad he really couldn’t stay and watch. Maybe some other time.

The other woman, Rainey, had crossed the room and picked up the large backpack she’d carried inside before. She studied its insides, and before Owen left, he saw her extract some kind of bottle. Was that the elixir Selena had mentioned?

He figured he would find out, if not today, then in the days to come, when he was with the Alpha Force members who had promised to help instruct the new RCMP members he had assisted in recruiting.

Those new members were also shapeshifters—or so they’d claimed—and had their claims confirmed by reputable friends and family, including others within the RCMP. He hadn’t yet had a chance to watch them shift, either, since they did so only under a full moon—so far.

“Hey, haven’t you left yet?” That was Rainey, who’d looked toward the door after handing the bottle to Selena.

Selena had stopped moving and was also watching him suspiciously.

“On my way.” He gave a small yank on Lupe’s leash. The dog obeyed and preceded him out the door.

Owen shut the door behind him and took the key from Anthony’s hand. He turned it in the lock.

“So,” he said, “I guess now we just wait.”

* * *

Moving her erect ears, inhaling deeply to further stimulate her sense of smell, Selena stared at the door.

Her shifting had finally ended. As always, there had been discomfort.

Also as always, she had finished taking off her human clothes before imbibing the elixir and waited while Rainey shone the special battery-operated light on her that resembled the glow of a full moon. But this time she had also turned to stare at that closed door.

Maybe the distraction had helped, since the discomfort hadn’t seemed as bad as usual. Even now, shifted, she couldn’t help wondering what it would have been like if Owen Dewirter had actually removed his clothes, too.

“You okay?” Rainey asked as she always did.

In her wolfen form Selena couldn’t shrug and say, “Of course.” Instead, she just gave a soft growl and lowered her head.

“So, you ready to show off to those doubting Thomases?” Rainey asked next. “Why would they even invite Alpha Force to help save their Mountie butts if they didn’t believe that our abilities—your abilities—were real?”

That wasn’t something Selena could respond to, either. Not now, in any event. And in fact she had no answer.

But she’d definitely gotten the sense that the smart-alecky Owen Dewirter believed in, but did not appreciate, shifters.

She would find out why. Eventually.

For now, she padded over to the door and listened. Even as a human, her hearing surpassed that of normal people, but it was particularly enhanced after her shift, as were her senses of smell and taste.

She sensed that Lupe was still outside. The men were talking, perhaps joking a little.

The older man clearly did not know what to expect.

She lifted her paw and touched the door frame, which cued Rainey, who knocked to summon the two Mounties.

Selena heard footsteps on the hallway floor. In seconds, she heard the sound of the key in the lock. The door was pulled open, and Owen stood there, looking in.

On one side of him was Anthony Creay. On the other was Lupe, who pulled on her leash.

Selena walked forward and traded nose sniffs with her cover dog.

“Care to come in and look around, gentlemen?” Rainey sounded smug.

“Yes,” said Anthony, and he strode through the open entry.

Owen just stood there, looking into the room and down at her. She could not read his expression. It wasn’t admiring, but neither was it full of scorn.

“It is real,” she finally heard the older man say. “No Selena here, just the dog. The wolf. Whatever.”

“Yeah,” Owen agreed. “It’s real. And that’s a good thing, since our guys have a lot to learn to accomplish our underlying mission.”

She might help to teach them a lot—but she needed to know exactly what that mission was. And soon.