“How’s Sage doing?” he asked.
“She feels horrible. But at least she’s not sobbing uncontrollably now,” Zarina said. “I told her that she did very well on the exercise, but she’s still upset she lost control and attacked you.”
He shrugged. “She got her animal side back under control pretty fast.”
Zarina pinned him with a look. “You know that’s not true, and so does she. Sage only gained control because you roared at her. If not for that, she would have tried to attack those two guards and probably me, too. She’s terrified she might kill someone while her animal side is in control.”
Tanner didn’t say anything. He knew exactly how Sage felt. He was afraid of the same thing.
“It’s so strange to see the obstacle course completely empty,” Zarina said in that soft, beautiful accent of hers. “It’s like this place is falling apart in front of our eyes.”
Tanner couldn’t help but think that there was more to Zarina’s words than the literal interpretation. While the facilities were already showing signs of neglect, it was like the soul of the DCO was rotting away from the inside out as more and more good people left to be replaced with dirtbags. Soon, there’d be nothing left to show for all the work John had put into this place. Over a decade of hard work gone in the blink of an eye.
“The new teams don’t do a lot of training,” Tanner said.
Zarina let out a delicate snort. “The new teams don’t do anything but sit around and eat. And the only time they leave the complex is to go traipsing off to some far corner of the world chasing after Ivy and Landon or one of the other teams. If Dick and Thorn knew just how close they really are to the DCO complex, they’d go crazy.”
Tanner chuckled. She was right. Dick in particular would pass out if he knew that almost all the shifter teams were hiding less than two hours away from the Washington, DC, area.
“Speaking of Ivy and the others,” Zarina said, glancing at him, “do you think you’ll be seeing Kendra and Declan anytime soon?”
Kendra MacBride and her bear shifter husband were expecting twins any day now, so it wasn’t really the best time to be on the run. Tanner looked around before answering. He doubted anyone could have snuck up on them without him knowing, but he checked anyway. “I won’t risk going to see them. Not unless they call me, which I doubt they will.”
Zarina frowned. “I’d feel a whole lot better if I could give Kendra a checkup myself. She’s a week past her due date already. I should be with her.”
Tanner sighed. Zarina still wasn’t thrilled that he was the only person in the DCO to know where Landon, Ivy, and the rest of the fugitives were hiding. Or that he was the only one who’d gone to see them. She knew they were somewhere close by because of how long Tanner had been gone the last time he’d taken Kendra something to help her deal with muscle spasms related to her pregnancy.
“You know that isn’t possible,” Tanner said as gently as he could. “They’re watching you too closely. While you’re an amazing woman, you’re not a covert agent. Thorn’s people would find you.”
It was Zarina’s turn to sigh. “I know. It’s just hard thinking about Kendra and the others being out there on their own. I hate that Thorn’s goons are always following me.”
Zarina wasn’t the only one being watched. Thorn had people following some of the other DCO employees as well, including Trevor. The coyote shifter was under almost constant surveillance.
Fortunately, Dick and Thorn ignored Tanner. For whatever reason, they considered him nothing more than a dumb animal, too out of control to be trusted to do anything covert or complicated. That was fine with him, since being invisible made it easy to slip away and get messages to his friends whenever Dick was closing in on them. It also made it simple to snoop around Dick’s office, talk to his secretary, and listen in on private conversations that people had no idea he could hear so he could figure out what the hell Dick and Thorn were up to. With John out of the way, Thorn would be making his big move, but no one had a clue what it was.
“Can you at least tell me if Ivy is with Kendra?” Zarina asked. “If Kendra goes into labor without a doctor there, I’d feel a lot better if Ivy were around to help.”
Tanner shook his head. “You know I can’t tell you anything. It’s safer for everyone if you don’t know.”
She made a face at him, sticking out her tongue. He chuckled, unable to help himself. Clearly, living in the United States was having a profound effect on her. She would never have done anything like that when she’d first arrived here.
“Why?” she demanded, her blue eyes flashing. “Because Adam says it is? What do we even know about this guy? Hell, he doesn’t even have a last name! He popped up as a voice on the end of the phone a couple of days after John died, and we all did exactly what he told us to do. How do we know we can trust him?”
Zarina was only echoing what Tanner had thought the first time the mysterious shifter named Adam had called. He’d given Landon, Ivy, and the others places to hide, new identities, money, and even burner phones Tanner used to keep in contact with them.
“We know we can trust him because Landon and Ivy trust him,” Tanner said. “According to them, Adam had been working behind the scenes with John for years trying to find something to pin on Thorn. Adam hasn’t done anything to steer us wrong yet.”
Zarina’s mouth tightened. “So Ivy and Kendra aren’t together?”
Tanner lifted a brow but didn’t answer. Zarina rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the obstacle course again.
The funny thing was that Zarina was right. The DCO agents had split into three groups and were hiding out at separate locations. Ivy and Landon weren’t with Kendra and Declan.
“Are you going to tell me what happened in there?” Zarina asked after a moment. “I haven’t seen you lose it like that in a long time.”
That was only because she hadn’t been in Costa Rica when he’d completely gone animal during a rescue mission and had run off into the forest like a lunatic. When his team found him, they’d had to tackle him, then practically sit on him for thirty minutes until his rage subsided.
Since then, Tanner had thought he had his inner animal well in hand. Now, he realized any semblance of control he’d been experiencing was nothing more than an illusion. The moment he’d thought Zarina was in danger, he’d completely lost it. Even now, he could feel the beast in the back of his mind, prowling around, looking for a way to slip out again. It was like the thing had been encouraged by that minor bout of freedom.
