Chapter 3

      Sara didn’t even try to get more sleep.

      Each time she sat down, or stood, or did nearly anything, her mind kept returning to that scene near the woods.

      And so she spent the next hour sitting on the uncomfortable brown sofa in her quarters, trying to read a book on military history to distract her—and failing dismally.

      She remained dressed in the camos she had donned earlier to go look for those damned wolves that had confronted her last night—and what a mistake that had been.

      Had she imagined it? Was she nuts? She had, after all, performed some absurd research on her own earlier, about shapeshifters, after seeing the wolves. Had the general’s strange attempt at humor and the innuendos about the unusual nature of Alpha Force left her susceptible to a really wild kind of joke?

      But why would anyone here play a joke on her, especially Jason Connell? He didn’t know her. No one here knew her.

      Whatever Jason’s reason, he’d at a minimum bared his very hot body to her. He had also somehow changed from a wolf to a man.

      Impossible.

      Yet... Her mind kept circling that impossible scenario over and over, which oddly gave it more credence.

      She had never before hallucinated anything, let alone something so bizarre.

      Yet somehow alluring...

      She’d taken pictures. She looked at them again. Then put her digital camera away, hidden deeply in a drawer. It provided more questions than answers.

      Once more she tried in vain to focus on the large volume she held on her lap. She barely got through the first ten pages.

      At six-thirty, she headed for the cafeteria.

      The temperature outside remained cool but comfortable. Once again, others in camo fatigues also strode across the base, a few heading in the same direction she was.

      But no one she recognized.

      Would she see Jason in the cafeteria this morning? If so, what would she say to him?

      Heck, he was the one who owed her an explanation. Maybe even an apology for playing games with her that way.

      Unless it was real....

      No, she wouldn’t go there.

      She was soon immersed in the crowd entering the cafeteria, then stood in line. Though not especially hungry, she decided that comfort food wouldn’t be a bad idea. Never mind that she usually scorned pampering herself in any manner.

      She paid for her pancakes, bacon and coffee then scanned the compact eating area.

      And saw no one she recognized.

      She shoved away the pang of regret that Jason wasn’t there. She wasn’t looking forward to their inevitable confrontation—was she?

      Well, maybe a little.

      Maybe he would be kind enough to provide an explanation, one she could buy—and one that wouldn’t make her feel like an utter fool.

      No Alpha Force members were eating here at the moment, at least none she’d met. Did that have some significance?

      She would find out. She’d learn all she needed to restore her sense of sanity and well-being.

      For now she headed, tray in hand, toward a small table where the folks eating there all wore lieutenants’ insignias. Were any of them members of the Ultra Special Forces Team, or could they be Alpha Force people she hadn’t yet run into?

      “May I join you?” she asked, stopping at an unoccupied chair.

      “Sure,” said a female lieutenant whose name tag read Swainey. She held out her hand as Sara sat down. “Vera Swainey.” She looked at Sara expectantly.

      “I’m Sara McLinder,” she said.

      The others at the table introduced themselves, too—three men and another woman.

      “Are you all stationed here?” Sara asked.

      “That’s right,” said Lieutenant Manning Breman. “You?”

      “I just got here yesterday. I’m aide to General Greg Yarrow, who’ll be stationed here on temporary duty for a few months.”

      The friendly atmosphere at the table suddenly seemed to freeze into icicles of stares.

      “You’re with Alpha Force?” Manning asked, his tone stiff.

      “That’s right.” It wasn’t exactly true, but she hated the antagonism that seemed to waft around her. Maybe they’d explain if she pressed. “Tell me what’s going on here. I get the impression that your unit and Alpha Force aren’t exactly buddies.”

      “You could say that.” Vera’s voice was also chill. “We were recently assigned here and assumed that— Oh, wait. I see the person we were saving that spot for. Cal, come over here.” She sounded relieved as Cal Brown, the lieutenant whom Sara had met on her floor in their BOQ yesterday, approached with a tray of food.

      There were plenty of empty chairs at nearby tables that Cal could pull up to their table. But all eyes of those seated there remained on Sara, as if demonstrating that she had outstayed her welcome.

      “Here,” she said to Cal as she stood abruptly, picking up her tray. “Have fun with this group. I certainly didn’t.”

      She strode away, chose a small table near the door and sat down by herself.

      She glanced at her watch. It was seven o’clock. She would phone General Yarrow soon. Warn him about the extent of the friction between the two primary units stationed here at Ft. Lukman.

      Find out when he was planning on arriving that day.

      She wouldn’t, of course, mention what she had seen, or thought she had, earlier that morning.

      But when he arrived, she would talk to him as soon as possible. Maybe even show pictures.

      He could tell her more about Alpha Force. He had, after all, warned her to expect a different atmosphere and different kind of unit. Had even hinted at what she’d seen.

      He knew what Alpha Force was about. She had just preferred not to imagine that what he hinted at could be real.

      Now she knew better—and she hoped he would explain it to her.

      * * *

      Jason sat back on the uncomfortable folding chair, surrounded by colleagues, both shifters and not. He looked around the small basement office in the main Alpha Force building at the far end of Ft. Lukman.

      This was where they always met on the morning after a full moon. Other meetings were also held here for Alpha Force members in the secured laboratory area.

      On the first floor, dogs were housed—those