“Actually, it would say you know me better than you realize.” He popped a cookie into his mouth and chewed slowly. “The whole fighting the good fight approach was a waste of time, and for an omega, the team concept wasn’t exactly a winner, either.”
“So what ultimately closed the deal for you?” She reached over to nab another oatmeal cookie. “Was it the big gun they gave you?”
He snorted. “McKay promised to wipe away my criminal record in return for staying with the STAT team for three years. The fact that I get to carry a .45 is just extra.”
She let out a soft laugh. “What has it been like being on the team?”
“Honestly?” Caleb grinned. “It’s been way better than I imagined. In the beginning, I didn’t think something like this would work. I mean, after Toby, there’d never been anyone on my side. Becoming an omega werewolf—aka the ultimate outsider—only made it worse. But with this team, sometimes I feel like I’m one of them. Like I’m really part of the pack. Or at least as close to being part of a pack as someone like me is ever going to get.”
He expected her to nod and eat another cookie or maybe comment on how she was happy for him. Instead, he got a pair of arms thrown around his neck and a mouthful of hair as she tucked her face in his shoulder and squeezed the stuffing out of him. Being trapped in her embrace, buried under the overwhelming scent of honeysuckles, was heaven.
Admittedly, it was a little awkward with the way they were sitting there side by side on the desk, but Caleb’s arms found their way around her anyway. Having her in his arms was as natural to him as breathing, and once he had her there, it was impossible to keep his mind from wandering back to what happened the last time he had Brielle there.
As if reading his mind, Brielle pulled back, gazing up at him with knowing eyes. “I’m not terrified of you, Caleb. You know that, right? And your glowing blue eyes, claws, and fangs don’t bother me at all. In fact, I find the fangs, in particular, very intriguing.”
“You had me at fangs,” he murmured, bending his head to kiss her.
Caleb told himself not to go overboard, but the second their lips touched, he felt his inner werewolf start to wake up, his gums and fingertips beginning to tingle. He wanted to blame his inner omega for the way his hands found their way into Brielle’s long, silky hair, fingers twisting and tugging as their kiss deepened, but that was a cop-out, and he knew it. He wanted her so badly it hurt and trying to deny it was only making it worse.
A rumbling growl started from deep in his chest when Brielle suddenly moved, one of her jean-clad legs coming up to gracefully swing across his legs, wiggling until she was settled on his lap, the heat of her body pressing against the growing hard-on in his jeans. Then she started grinding, and he felt his fangs erupt, the quick metallic tang of his own blood quickly disappearing as he was consumed by her taste. There was no way he was going to be able to stop now. They were going to make out on this desk in an abandoned office in the middle of Moscow.
And Brielle seemed completely cool with that.
“Okay,” Jake’s cock-blocking voice interrupted over the radio. “Looks like the coast is clear. Time to go. Misty, you and your team head inside. Everyone else, move to your backup and overwatch positions.”
Brielle continued to kiss him as if she hadn’t heard the same thing in her earpiece, and for a second, Caleb thought she might ignore the call. But finally, after several more exquisite moments of pleasure, she gently broke the kiss, pulling back to look down at him with desire in her eyes.
“We’ll finish this later,” she promised as she gracefully climbed off him. “That’s a promise.”
“Damn straight,” he agreed, the words slurred ever so slightly by the fangs extending over his lower lip.
Chapter 11
“I’m getting a really bad feeling about this,” Caleb murmured.
He and Brielle were hiding in a janitor’s closet a few hundred feet from the server room where Misty, Forrest, and Genevieve were busy snooping. Jake and the rest of the team were stationed throughout the building, positioned to intercept anyone approaching the top level of the building, where the server room was located.
Brielle looked away from the partially open door she’d been peeking through and frowned at him. “What do you mean? The building is nearly deserted, and Jes is watching the security camera video feeds. It’s not like anyone can sneak up on us.”
Caleb didn’t answer her. Instead, he stood there in the middle of the cleaning supplies, mops, and various tools, staring off into space, tension radiating off him in waves. It was difficult to believe that, a little while ago, she’d been grinding on his lap, ready to rip both their clothes off and make love to him right there on a desk in the office building across the street. Now, here they were in a janitor’s closet, and Caleb’s fingers were twitching like his claws were going to make an appearance any second. She was tempted to blame his paranoia on the same hesitancy he had about sleeping with her—heaven knew she had to practically hit him over the head before he finally figured out that she wanted him as much as he wanted her—but she knew it wasn’t that.
“What makes you think something is wrong?” Brielle asked when he didn’t say anything. If he’d even heard what she’d said before.
At first, she thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he sighed and slowly shook his head. “I don’t know.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side like he was trying to listen to something only he could hear. “But my instincts are telling me that something is about to happen.”
She didn’t bother to ask if it was something bad. It went without saying that Caleb’s werewolf instincts wouldn’t be acting up for anything good.
“Jake, this is Brielle,” she murmured softly into the radio. “Caleb’s instincts have suddenly started ringing like a bell. He has no idea why, but I think we need to be closer to Misty, Forrest, and Genevieve in case he’s right.”
“Copy that,” Jake said. “Jes, are you seeing anything on the video feed? Harley, do you and Sawyer get the sensation that anything’s wrong?”
“Negative” was the answer from all three members of the team.
A moment later, Jake was back on the radio. “Okay. Brielle, you and Caleb move closer, but be careful. Everyone else, get ready. There’s a reason Caleb’s inner wolf is talking to him, even if we don’t know what it is yet.”
Caleb was on the move the moment Jake finished speaking, his long strides carrying him down the dimly lit corridor of the office complex, leaving Brielle to hurry to catch up. He didn’t have his weapon out yet, but she could tell from the set of his shoulders that he was ready to attack the first thing that stepped in his path. She reached inside the back of her jacket, checking to make sure the 9 mm auto was still secure in its holster. Jake had refused to let her come on this mission without a weapon. She hadn’t bothered to mention that she barely knew how to use it. Yes, she understood the basics—take the weapon off safe, pull the trigger, gun goes off—but she seriously doubted she’d be able to hit anything. Not if she had to depend on her own ability alone.
Brielle’s eyes darted toward every dark corner and hallway they passed, trying to uncover the threat that Caleb’s instincts insisted was here somewhere. She couldn’t see anything, but if he trusted his inner wolf, then she would, too.
