Her Wild Hero

He took his hands away. “I’m big, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I pay attention to the little things most people could care less about. Like when I noticed Landon chewing a piece of gum from a pack with airport markings for a tiny island in the Philippines, even though they were supposed to have been in Japan. Or that box of real Belgian chocolate Ivy left on your desk a couple of weeks ago, though they’d supposedly just come back from Moscow. Little things, but I noticed them often enough to figure out the two of them were doing some off-the-books traveling. I figured it was none of my business, so I didn’t tell anyone about it.”


Kendra was shocked—and embarrassed. She’d never thought of Declan as being that perceptive. Stupid of her. She knew he was smart—MIT smart. It shouldn’t be surprising he used that intelligence to see things around him other people missed. And since he was so quiet, it wasn’t like he’d broadcast what he picked up on. Had he already figured out Ivy and Landon were a couple, too?

“Do you think anybody else noticed the same things you did and figured out what Ivy and Landon are up to?” she asked.

“Like John? I doubt it. He is way too busy keeping the DCO going. He’s so big picture that the day-to-day stuff isn’t even on his radar.”

“What about Dick?”

Declan snorted. “Dick isn’t around any of us field agents enough to notice stuff like that. He’s too busy spending all his time in the offices up on the Hill. He’s the least of our worries. No, the only one who might be on to you is that Russian doctor—Zarina. She’s sharper than anyone realizes. She runs around with her nose stuck in her lab notes, but trust me, she sees everything. If there’s someone you need to worry about, it’s her.”

Kendra smiled. Nice to know that while Declan was observant enough to see some things, he didn’t see everything. “Don’t worry about Zarina. She’s not a problem.”

“More secrets?” he asked, then held up his hands. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. Let’s just focus on why those hybrids were trying to stick that needle in me.”

Good idea. She didn’t want to spill any more of her friends’ secrets. “That needle tells me it’s likely the doctors who tortured Ivy are here in Costa Rica looking for DNA material from more real shifters to improve their hybrid process.”

Declan frowned, considering that. “Maybe that’s why we were ambushed—so they could get their hands on me.”

“I thought that, too, but then why shoot at you when they first came after us? I don’t think you were their target.”

“Okay, but then what changed?” he asked. “The doctors Ivy and Landon have been chasing certainly have the intel to let them know I was out here. Why go from trying to kill me to wanting to grab me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. There’s obviously something going on here we don’t know about.”

“Well, there’s one thing we do know.”

“What’s that?”

“That I sure as hell don’t want to fall into their hands. I like my DNA exactly where it is.”

She laughed. “Me, too.”

Declan pulled his pack closer and dug around inside it, then held out an energy bar. “Here. You haven’t eaten anything since this morning.”

Kendra made a face. “God, I hate these things. It’s like eating tub and tile caulk.”

He lifted a brow. “And you have experience eating tub and tile caulk?”

“After eating these things, the answer is yes, I do.”

“Just eat it,” he said gently. “If you do, I promise to take you out to a real restaurant when we get back and buy you anything you want.”

She eyed him thoughtfully as she tore open the wrapper. “Anywhere I want to go, and anything I want to eat?”

He chuckled. “Yes and yes. But you have to eat the whole bar.”

“If I have to eat, so do you.”

“I’m not hungry,” he said. “I loaded up before the mission, remember? I’m still good for a couple more days.”

Kendra knew that was bull. She hadn’t seen Declan eat anything since the day before the ambush—over forty-eight hours ago. There was no way he could keep going as hard as he had been with absolutely no fuel in his system, bear shifter or not.

She wrapped the bar back up. “Well, in that case, I’m not hungry either. I’ll wait until tomorrow.”

He growled but reached into his pack and pulled out another bar. “Fine, you stubborn woman, I’ll eat one. But we don’t have many of them left. This will have to be my last one for a while.”

She waited until he unwrapped his bar and took a bite. Only then did she nibble her own. Yuck, she really had grown tired of these things. But she was starving.

“I want to go to P.F. Chang’s,” she said in between small bites.

“What?”

“You said you’d take me to any restaurant I wanted and that’s where I want to go. It’s my favorite place to eat.”

He thought about that, then shrugged. “Okay. If that’s where you want to go, that’s where I’ll take you.” Declan took another bite, devouring more than half of the remaining bar in a single chomp. “So, what do you want to eat?”

She didn’t even have to think about it. “Spring rolls.”

“That’s it?” He finished his bar, then stuffed the wrapper in his pack. “I’m taking you to your favorite place for dinner after a week in the jungle, and all you want is spring rolls?”