Until things got worse and it didn’t.
The Omega Destiny, International campus, or ODI as it was generally referred to, sat on forty or so mostly fenced acres in an unincorporated part of Travis County in Texas. In addition to the main building that housed the administrative offices, dining hall, and some of the staff quarters, there were multiple dormitories that housed the Omegas who were enrolled in the various life training programs, whatever the hell that meant.
The only section that wasn’t fenced was a heavily wooded area at the back of the property, not that the fence was really much more than a property boundary, security-wise. One of the local hate groups had taken it upon themselves to try and force ODI off their own land. Their ongoing midnight shenanigans had so far been little more than annoying, but they were the reason my men and I had been sent to provide security until the situation resolved, one way or the other.
The night that my two worlds collided in a startling fashion, the sun was just beginning to set, bathing the cloudless Texan sky in gorgeous waves of pinks, reds, and golds. I was killing the last few minutes of my sentry time before dinner by doing one last round through the outbuildings when the security hyena’s voice crackled through the com in my ear.
“Sector 2. Intruder by shed three. Move in.”
Turning slowly to avoid alerting the intruder, I swept my eyes over the shed in question. It took several seconds to pick out the slight, dark-haired figure creeping along the edge of the building. One step at a time, I moved closer, careful to look as casual as possible to keep from tipping the intruder off. Despite our size, members of theBöxenwolfBrigade are some of the most highly trained military personnel in the world, and the beings on assignment with me were second to none when it came to stealth of movement. The young man was completely surrounded by werewolves before he noticed that he was no longer alone and drew a wicked knife from a leather scabbard on his belt, raising it high with a shaking arm. He spun around and I was staring down into the terrified face of the man I’d been searching for since that night six weeks earlier.
Ari was standing right in front of me.
My first thought was that he’d come looking forme,the same way that I’d returned to the bar repeatedly trying to seek him out, and how stupid gone was I over him that all of my training and experience was overridden by memories of a quick fuck from weeks before?
Reality crashed over me.Ariwas a fuckingHunter. AHunterwith a capital fuckingh, one of the same bastards that I was there to protect the ODI residential studentsfrom.
And then I had a whole lot of unanswered questions.
The biggest one was did he know who -or rather,what- he’d given his cherry to in the front seat of that deathtrap of a truck? Had the whole encounter been a setup? If so, what the fuck kind of game was he playing?
“Fang!” Kade hissed my name as I stared at the slight man trembling in the dimming light.
Oh, right. The job.
My mangled mouth twisted into a caricature of a smirk when Ari flinched at the sight of my hairy, claw-tipped hand reaching toward him. I plucked the hunting knife with the wickedly curved blade from his shaking hand as he held it aloft, tucking it into the back waistband of my pants. Two of my men stepped forward and secured Ari’s hands behind him.
“Careful,” I snapped at them when I saw Ari’s face twist in pain. “The Director is adamant that the humans are not injured, if at all possible.”
The were to the left grumbled but loosened the restraint before turning back to the main building, gently prodding Ari to walk ahead of him. I paused long enough to call in replacements for the four of us and then double-timed up to fall in beside Kade as we strode toward the administrative offices.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I was suddenly personally involved with one of the targets and I had no idea what the hell to do about any of it.
Chapter Two
Ari
Phase one of my escape plan -beingaccidentallycaptured by the shifters- went off without a hitch. There was a brief, terrifying moment where I was surrounded by six immense, snarling, fang-bearing werewolves but as soon as one of them plucked my knife from my hand, they’d all been relaxed and polite, if not gentle as they restrained me and ushered me into the main building.
Once we got there, I was surprised to find that virtually everyone we saw looked, well, normal.
I mean, the werewolves aside, the rest of them all just looked likepeople. If I’d met them in the street or the grocery store or anywhere else where strangers crossed paths, I would never have guessed that these were the vicious, filthy, Satan-loving shifters that the clan elders railed against with such fervor and regularity.
Expecting to be handed over to the local sheriff for a few nights in jail, nights I was counting on to get a few square meals and to give me the time for some of my worse injuries to heal before being returned to my father’s control, I recited my name, rank, and serial number as I’d been trained to do. Then, I was horrified when the leader seemed to dismiss me out of hand, instructing one of the werewolves to keep my knife but return me to the clan camp.
“What?” The words tore free of my throat before I could stop them. “You can’t do that! You can’t send me back!” I was shaking, the fear of what the elders would do to me if I was released was much stronger than any fear of these shifters. “I mean, I’m a prisoner of war. You can’t release me!”
“We’re not in a war, kid,” one of my captors said gruffly.
“We’re not,” the man in charge agreed, studying me intently. “But maybe we should hold on to him for security. Room seventy-two is available. Put him through the showers and give him a regulation uniform,” he ordered. “Then I want him to eat. Force feed him, if necessary.”
Relief flooded me as the werewolves escorted me from the office, leaving me so weak that my knees buckled as the door closed behind us.
“Shit!”
The werewolf guard behind me cursed as I stumbled, then scooped me up in a bridal carry without missing a step. Later, I would blame the adrenaline coursing through my veins for the lack of fear as I stared up into the monster’s misshapen face. Actually, I felt safe. Safer than I could ever remember feeling and as I stared up into its face, I was struck by how familiar the unusual yellow and brown flecked amber eyes seemed. Eyes that were studying me with what seemed to be a mixture of anger, concern, and something else that I couldn’t identify.
The next few hours passed in a blur.
