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
