Canadian Wolf. Linda O. Johnston
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also liked them, at least a little. Might even be interested in them as more than strange aberrations in the world of human beings. Maybe one of them in particular.
Not that she would encourage anything between them but a good professional working relationship. He might be attractive and hunky, and her human hormones might be tweaked just by looking at Owen Dewirter, but she knew far better than to get involved with a nonshifter. She had learned her lesson, and learned it well.
Besides, this nonshifter seemed to have an opinion, one she couldn’t interpret.
But with him, or despite him, she intended to do all she could to make sure that the Alpha Force mission here was a complete success for both the US military and the Canadian Mounties.
Of course, she’d have help when the rest of the Alpha Force contingent arrived.
When Owen didn’t follow up his acknowledgment with anything else, Selena decided to push him for more. “Most people don’t believe in shapeshifters. Why do you? Have you met any? Seen any shifts?”
“Some members of my family knew a shapeshifter.” He didn’t look at her, but his icy expression as he regarded the road suggested he didn’t want to say anything more about it.
Not that that would deter her.
“Knew? They don’t now?”
“No,” he said shortly.
“I gather that the experience wasn’t a good one. But even if they told you about it, if you didn’t see it yourself, why did you believe?”
“Let’s just say I saw and heard enough to convince me. So how about you? What made you join Alpha Force?”
She must have hit a nerve. But surely the man must have realized that if he was about to work with a bunch of shapeshifters, they’d want to know his experiences with others of their kind.
For now, though, she’d go along with him.
“I grew up in Wisconsin, in the same area as the commanding officer who first developed the elixir. He helped to form Alpha Force, and his cousin’s a member, too.” That was Major Drew Connell and recently promoted Lieutenant Jason Connell. “I heard they were looking for new recruits, so of course I had to jump in.”
Not to mention how the timing had worked. She’d needed something then to help her get over a bad romantic relationship.
The divorced guy she’d been dating then, and cared for a lot, hadn’t known she was a shifter. His cute but sneaky young son had unfortunately seen her ending a shift once before her aide moved her away. The kid gleefully told his father that Selena was a werewolf. Her boyfriend had responded to his son that shapeshifters existed only in stupid stories and he wanted his kid to be realistic and smart. He had told Selena about it. Laughed about it.
So she’d left him and her teaching job and hurried home—only to find this position where shapeshifters were revered and treated well.
But she didn’t want to talk about it. Not now and not ever. Like she’d done with her questions to Owen, he’d pushed buttons with his that really bothered her. It was time for a change in subject.
“I’ve always heard such wonderful things about the RCMP,” she said. “How long have you been a member? And do you like it?”
He glanced over at her. Now those gorgeous blue eyes of his actually had an expression in them—pride, if she read it right. “Ten years, and I love it.”
She asked more questions, and Rainey leaned forward to join in the conversation. For the rest of the ride they were regaled with tales of undercover adventure in trapping bad guys, enjoyable training sessions with those horses that the Mounties rode and antics of the K-9s Owen had worked with. He apparently liked canines, even if his feelings about people who shifted into wolves weren’t quite so warm.
Selena realized that, if she wasn’t careful, she might actually come to like sexy Owen Dewirter. And that could really be bad news.
* * *
By the time they reached West Columbia, Owen could almost believe this was a pleasure ride instead of an official diplomatic mission of sorts: the Canadians requesting US assistance for a particularly touchy situation.
One he hadn’t yet discussed with his new best friends.
Friends? Heck. Under other circumstances, he’d have seduced Selena, or at least attempted to, with more than an irreverent yet necessary offer to take his clothes off. She definitely attracted him that way...at least as she was right now, all sexy human female.
The glances they sometimes shared, brief as they were, suggested she might be attracted to him, too. That was fine here, in the car, when neither could act on any inappropriate appeal.
Later, he’d pretend those glances had never happened.
He drove through the residential area and onto a driveway that rose a short distance through a forest and into the hills.
Up that driveway was the small enclave of two homes that had been acquired to become the CAs’ hidden headquarters—assuming everything worked out.
Owen parked on the paved area between the homes and was met by the four new recruits for the CAs who had rushed out of the smaller of the two houses. The one-story white wood-frame building would be used as the meeting place for the US and Canadian teams as the CAs learned how to use their shifting skills for the good of their country.
The group had clearly been watching for their arrival.
“Hi, Owen.” That was Constable Sal Emarra, the youngest of the new recruits, only nineteen years old. Like the others, he didn’t wear an RCMP uniform; instead he was dressed in casual civilian clothes of a tourist. He held out his hand for a shake, even as he peered past Owen into the vehicle.
It was too late for him to see the passengers since they had exited at the other side. In fact, they were already being greeted by the other recruits even as Owen hurried to open the hatch and extract the luggage.
“Where should we put our things?” Selena asked, joining him.
“I can handle them all.”
“But—”
Before she could grab any, Owen hefted the backpacks over his shoulders, then took hold of the suitcase handles.
Selena shrugged and said, “Just be careful with the backpacks.”
“Of course.”
He put the luggage in the larger of the two homes, a two-story that would be used as the Alpha Force barracks. Then he joined the group for pizza in the other house.
Before eating, though, he stood and looked at each and every member of the group. “Let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves.”
“Better yet,” said Selena, also standing now, “don’t just give your names but tell us whether you’re a shifter and if so, what you shift to.”
She gave him a small, smug smile, as if she’d somehow shown him who was boss.
He didn’t contradict her, though. That information did need to be shared.
Selena went first and then Rainey introduced herself as another lieutenant and Selena’s nonshifting aide.
The others went next: Constables Sal Emarra, Tim Franzer, Craig Neverts and Andrea Willburn. The men informed everyone that they all shifted into wolves, too.
However, Andrea, a pert young woman with short black hair and a long nose, said, “I shift into a falcon—and that’s really fun. But tell us, Selena. How do aides work—and what’s a cover dog?”
“Oh, you’re all going to have fun learning what Alpha Force is going to teach you,” she said, grinning.
Owen didn’t miss the way her smile lit up her face or the way her amber eyes sparkled like twin topaz gemstones.
Oh,