Dreya shook her head, fear in her eyes. He’d seen that look before in the integration room when she thought someone was going to see the video of her climbing that apartment building.
“I can’t,” she said so softly, he could barely hear her.
Danica put gentle hands on Dreya’s shoulders. “You’re going to have to learn to trust someone with your secret sooner or later, and I think we both know that someone needs to be Braden.”
Dreya didn’t say anything. She stood there looking at the floor.
Braden frowned. He felt more confused than he’d ever been in his life. “Dreya, what’s going on?”
She rounded on him with an angry look on her face. “I’m going to do this, but if you say anything nasty or tell anyone, I’ll… You’ll be sorry!”
He started to ask what she was talking about, but before he could get the words out, she spun around and ran at the wall. He had about three seconds to wonder what the hell she was doing when she leaped at the wall.
And stuck there.
Braden was pretty sure his jaw bounced off the floor as Dreya scrambled up the wall using nothing but the strength in her arms and shoulders…and the inch-long curved claws that had suddenly sprouted from her fingers.
He shook his head, certain he was seeing things. But no, Dreya was really climbing the wall, just like she’d done a couple of days ago. She wasn’t using some cool ninja gear, either. She had frigging claws!
When she reached the top, she vaulted gracefully onto the narrow platform attached there, then turned to look at him. He couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t even breathing hard. Or that she had two fangs sticking out over her bottom lip. They were sharp and delicate at the same time, like something a cat would have—or a very genteel vampire.
Holy shit.Dreya had claws…and fangs.
They stared at each other for what seemed like forever before she hopped off the platform and slid down the wall, the claws of one hand digging into the wood to slow her descent. Even after she hit the ground so lightly, it was like a feather had landed, Braden couldn’t take his eyes off the wall…and the five deep gouges furrowed into the wood.
Dreya marched up to stand before him, her claws and fangs gone, her eyes shooting daggers at him.
“Well?” she demanded.
Braden glanced at Danica and Clayne to see them regarding him expectantly. When he turned to Dreya, he saw that underneath that anger was a whole lot of fear.
“That was…pretty fucking amazing,” he said.
Just like that, the tension in the room evaporated. Dreya smiled, a small, tentative smile. That must mean he’d said the right thing.
“I think getting through a morning of training like this calls for an early lunch,” Danica said. “You want to hit the cafeteria, Dreya?”
Dreya gazed at Braden for a moment, then nodded. “Lunch sounds good.”
“She probably won’t be able to tell you this for a long time, but what you just said to her was important,” Clayne said after Dreya and Danica had left. “Since she can’t say it right now, I will. Thanks.”
With that, Clayne turned and walked out after his wife and Dreya, leaving Braden alone in the middle of the gym, trying to figure out what the hell he’d just seen. One thing he definitely knew for sure. His whole world had been turned upside down, and something told him it wasn’t ever going to be the same again.
Chapter 9
Braden was halfway to the cafeteria when his cell phone rang. Stopping, he dug it out of his cargo pocket and checked the call screen, then thumbed the green button and held it to his ear.
“Congratulations,” Mick said.
“Congratulations for what?” Braden asked.
He wasn’t in the mood for guessing games. He was confused enough already.
“Don’t act like you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about, you lucky bastard,” Mick said. “The lieutenant announced it at roll call this morning. He said you’d been detailed out on a long-term assignment for a joint Homeland/MPD task force. I don’t think he has a clue what the hell you’re doing on the task force, but he got off on implying he did.”
Braden clenched his jaw. “Well, shit.”
He didn’t know why he was shocked. He’d already figured out that Danica and Clayne had manipulated him. It wasn’t that much of a stretch that someone had done something official to make sure he hung around for a while. On the bright side, he could stop worrying about anyone missing him at work.
