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
