Page 16 of Dual Nature

“I was there to kill her,” I blurted, unable to fight against the command in Colt’s voice.

The car went silent at my answer, and I quickly darted my eyes between them, taking in their expressions. Lane was shocked to the point his mouth was hanging open, and Zander seemed intrigued, but Colt was the hardest to read. I saw a flash of surprise followed by a wave of anger. I innately knew he wasn’t angry with me, but it was still hard to handle while being so close to him, causing me to shake a little.

“Did the Senate send you?” he asked through clenched teeth.

Tilting my head, I thought about that question. “Yes and no. I’m an assassin for someone else—was an assassin—but the Senate hired my company to do the job they couldn’t.”

“Did you finish the job?” Zander inquired.

“No,” I answered, letting my eyes fall to my hands. “I wasn’t given proper information, and the situation I found myself in devolved too quickly.”

This seemed to upset all three of them, and I started to panic at the thought that they would be upset with me for my failure. Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm my new rioting emotions.

“Allow me to make this clear,” I stated, needing to prove my worth. “In my twenty-five years in this profession, I’ve never failed to finish a job. I do not plan on letting this one be any different. She is the key. Through her, I’ll be able to find out the identities of the others in her radical-minded group and present that to the Senate. I will find her, and I will end her—just as I have been asked to do.”

“Not gonna happen, sweetheart. There’s no way we’ll ever allow you to hunt down someone who’s known for abusing and killing supers. Not to mention that she had Cory, and it’s Colt’s place to seek revenge for his death,” Lane informed me, putting an end to that discussion. “Now, I want you to rest. The full moon is only three days away, and too much stress before your first shift could cause problems. We can’t have you changing early in the plane or someplace we can’t manage your reactions.”

I fought against the urge to release a frustrated huff, knowing they wouldn’t like it. Seemed I was going to have to do this job on my own after all. I refused to give up so easily.

As if sensing my mood, Colt tucked me in tighter against him and wrapped a blanket around me that carried the same scent as Lane—fresh warm laundry. Then he started to comb his fingers through my hair, and his chest rumbled with a deep, bone-rattling purr that made me melt. Within moments, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fight against the urge to slip into slumber, so I stopped trying.

I felt myself being lifted and shifted into another set of arms, waking me up. Cracking open my eyes, I found Lane’s gaze meeting mine with a look of such rapture and devotion it shocked me. These men knew nothing about me. How could they look at me that way? Was this a wolf thing? Could an omega’s scent really have that much of a pull that it made alphas such as these fall to their knees? Would it work on betas and other wolves of the pack as well?

My mind wandered to how that could be useful that way if I continued on as an assassin. It would be so easy to render someone into compliance with nothing more than my presence. I would be in hardly any danger… as long as they were werewolves, anyway.

Lane’s eyes narrowed as he watched me. “Why do I get the feeling that I won’t like what you’re thinking?”

Quickly, I wiped my face of all expression, surprised that I had been giving so much away. “Seems we have a lot to learn about each other,” I whispered, tucking my head under his chin so he couldn’t look at me.

Lane gave a noncommittal grunt as he walked aboard the private plane. Squirming, I tried to get out of the blanket in hopes I would be set down on my own two feet, and Lane begrudgingly let me go, tossing the blanket on top of a pile of pillows, more blankets, and some clothing. Zander was up by the cockpit, talking to the pilot, and Colt was coming up the steps with what looked like bags of food. Slowly, I walked down the length of the jet, peeking behind doors to find a bathroom on one side and a very well-packed liquor cabinet on the other.

“Do you drink?” Zander asked from where he’d tried to sneak up behind me.

I turned and looked up at him with a shrug. “With my job, it’s frowned upon to eat, drink, or smoke anything that would impair my ability to perform well. Occasionally, I’ve needed to drink to play a part, but it’s not something that I indulge in.”

Zander cocked his head as he studied me with so many questions floating around behind his gaze. “Tell me, how does the nature of an omega mix with being an assassin?”

“Not well so far,” I answered, my shoulders drooping with my sigh. “I can’t tell if the fight between my dual natures will be easier or worse once I have my first shift. The omega instinct is so strong already... I can’t imagine what it’ll be like after the transformation is complete.”

Zander reached out and gripped the back of my neck, using his thumb to brush against my cheek comfortingly. “You won’t have to do this on your own; we’ll be there every step of the way. It’ll help settle your wolf nature once we’re back on pack lands, knowing you’re safe and home. The rest will come with time.”

“We’re ready for takeoff,” the pilot called back.

Using the hand he had on my neck, he pulled me to him and scooped me up before he plopped me in a seat, securing my seatbelt before taking the chair next to me.

“I am able to do these things on my own, you know,” I ventured, a smile tugging at my lips.

“Did she just make a joke?” Colt asked, looking up from his phone. He smiled at me, his eyes dancing with humor, making me feel all warm inside. I was pleased that I’d done that, given him a small amount of happiness.

“I would count that as a joke,” Lane agreed, giving me a bright smile.

With a halfhearted growl, Zander turned away from me. “Makes me feel better to know I did it.” It would appear that this was a new development for Zander, seeing how uncomfortable he was about it.

Reaching over, I gently placed my hand on his arm, causing him to snap his attention to the contact, then to me. “Thank you.”

With another grunt, he took my hand in his and laced our fingers together before looking back out the window.

Once we were up in the air and able to move around, the guys unbuckled and moved to various spots around the plane with laptops or a book. It appeared that they might be trying to give me a little space, but they didn’t look all that happy about it. I was grateful for it though, not at all used to being overwhelmed with so many different emotions. Getting up from my seat, I wandered over to the pile of things that was set in the corner near the most open part of the plane. I grabbed the first pillow, giving it a slight squeeze, and was hit with the scent of evergreen and fresh mountain air that instantly told me it was Colt’s, and I also found a blanket that smelled like him. Kneeling next to the pile, I sorted everything out by scent, interested to see what else I might find, especially when I caught whiffs of unknown males in the mix.