Guardian Wolf

chapter 17



Sitting on one of the usual hard chairs at a table in the Charles Carder cafeteria—alone— Simon drank coffee and reviewed patient files on his laptop. That way, he avoided looking at anyone around him. The place wasn’t crowded, since visitors hadn’t yet been welcomed back. Even so, it was noisy, thanks to the few brave souls from outside who were here, plus hospital staff members. It smelled of the usual mediocre food and the people eating it.

Simon was not happy.

Well, not exactly true. He had helped to accomplish what had needed to be done: Catch and stop the thieves.



He had also helped Grace accomplish her mission. And made sure she came through it without being harmed. Although he doubted she would acknowledge his help. She had thanked him last night after they had both shifted back into human form. But since then she had avoided him.

He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but that hurt like hell, especially after what they had been through together.

But he couldn’t complain. In fact, he was glad about what they had achieved. Not only had they caught the bad guys, but the big bonus was that they had also located all the missing biohazardous materials. The Air Force Security Forces were checking the containers and confirming everything was there—under the direction of their commanding officer here, Major Louis Dryson.

Dryson had thrown himself into the situation by accompanying the movement of the biohazards samples to the storage and incineration building, and had become a victim of the thieves just as his security force stationed there had been. Another chemical had been released that had knocked them out, but all were recuperating. Another good thing.

Simon took another sip of coffee, shaking his head. He should feel good. Everything was wonderful. No one other than Grace and the members of her military group knew that he was a werewolf in disguise, and they would never reveal it to anyone. He had the same knowledge to hang over their heads.

Hell. Enough feeling sorry for himself. Time to go back to work. See some patients—including checking on the MRSA patients whose serious illnesses had triggered this last situation that had ended so favorably.

He closed his laptop and glanced around at the crowd. Some nurses he recognized were just entering the cafeteria. A few more visitors now occupied tables. No one paid attention to him, which was as it should be. He stood.

“I thought I’d find you here.” The familiar, melodic feminine voice from behind him made him smile. He quickly returned his face to the friendly detached expression that he used around most patients.

He’d let himself get preoccupied by feeling sorry for himself. Otherwise, he’d have picked up Grace’s scent long before she got so close—softly floral tinged with that intriguing harsher overlay.

He turned. “Hi, Grace,” he said, as remotely as if they were strictly uninvolved coworkers.

“Hi.” She looked up at him, her sable-brown eyes both quizzical and—was that sympathy in them? Damn! He didn’t want her sympathy for any reason—and he could only guess her rationale.

She undoubtedly was leaving, now that her mission was accomplished. She probably wouldn’t even give him the satisfaction of wrapping up loose ends—like explaining what those two psychiatric lunatics had intended by stealing biohazardous materials. How they had managed to do so, and hide the stuff, for so long. Assuming her military cohorts and she had figured all that out.

She ran a hand through her short, silvery blond hair, as if unsure what to do next. He wished he could touch that lovely, familiar hair, too. Grace pursed her lips—which only tempted him even more to kiss them.

“You look so…angry, Simon. I’m sorry, but I don’t even know what to be sorry about. But—look, I came here because I’d like you to come with me. Now. For a meeting. An officer in charge of my unit, Alpha Force, has arrived. I’d like to introduce you. We’ll be able to tell you some of what we learned about the thieves, Kubowski and Ivers. And… Well, we’ll discuss a few other things, if you’re willing. Will you come with me?”



Hell, yes, his mind shouted. He had a thousand questions.

Not the least of which were: Are you disappearing from my life this time, like I disappeared from yours before? And: Will you have sex with me again now? Later?

And: What is your military force all about? How did you find a bunch of other shifters like that? Can I continue to trust them to keep my secrets, the way they keep their own?

But the things he wanted to know couldn’t be discussed in front of her commanding officer. Even so, if he didn’t go with her now, this would probably be it between them. Forever.

“Sure.” He tried to sound offhanded. “Let’s go talk to your officer in charge.”



Colonel Otis’s office was palatial compared with Grace’s tiny room at the hospital. It contained plenty of space for the meeting about to be held there. Enough chairs, too, to accommodate the colonel, Captain Moe Scoles, Simon and the five Alpha Force members who were present—the four posted there, plus Lt. Patrick Worley, who had arrived that morning only hours after the apprehending of the biohazards thieves.

Now they all sat around the colonel’s desk, waiting for him to get off the phone and begin their discussion.

When Patrick arrived, he had immediately called a meeting with Grace and the others from Alpha Force, and had monopolized her time with his debriefing in her residential quarters. That meant she hadn’t been able to get together with Simon until now.

On their walk here from the cafeteria, she hadn’t tried to talk to him about anything except generalities. He’d acted as if they were friendly strangers.

He had distanced himself from her already.

She hadn’t hidden that she would be leaving soon, now that her mission here was resolved. But his immediate remoteness hurt as if she had been stabbed with a dagger that could not be removed without doing worse damage than leaving it in.

She hadn’t given up on being able to talk him into some cooperation that would allow them at least a little contact in the future. But her sinking heart knew already how receptive he would be to that.

At least she had gotten Patrick off by himself for a few minutes after the Alpha Force conclave for an additional debriefing…about Simon. Patrick was tall, with clipped, light hair and a cleft chin. Although a physician, he wore a camo uniform rather than hospital garb. He was well aware of all that Major Drew Connell knew. But Grace wanted to update her commanding officers with the additional information she had learned. It would be wise for Alpha Force to back her up in getting Simon’s cooperation. Or even to keep her out of whatever negotiation they did with Simon, if that resulted in his agreeing to some degree of collaboration.

“Sorry.” Nelson hung up the phone. “That was Major Dryson. His Air Force Security Forces have been interrogating the men in custody for the thefts, and he wanted to tell me the latest so I could update you with the information that isn’t classified.” He looked directly at Patrick as he spoke, as if he would feel more comfortable relaying the message only to another military officer in charge.

“That would be greatly appreciated, Colonel,” Patrick said. “I’m eager to hear why some PTSD patients were even motivated to steal the stuff, let alone how they got away with it.”

The colonel glowered, as if Patrick had accused him of ineptitude.

“I doubt I’d have suspected them, either,” Patrick added, obviously to smooth any ruffled feathers.

Apparently mollified, Nelson began to relate the current understanding of what had happened. Ivers and Kubowski had been overseas in Afghanistan together. While on their tours of duty in Special Forces units, they’d both taken drugs to stay awake, and became addicts. That was part of the reason they had been hospitalized at Charles Carder, for physical issues as well as mental. Both experienced post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their intense combat experiences. They had not yet been completely weaned from the drugs, and the substances they were on caused paranoia and hallucinations.

While they were overseas some of their comrades were killed by a virulent strain of a highly contagious disease when the enemy loosed biohazardous materials on their outpost. Plus, there had been the situation that Kubowski had revealed to Grace, when a friend had been a POW and returned with a bad infection that, fortunately, had been contained and hadn’t proven fatal—but could have.

Then, during their hospitalization back in the U.S., they heard of outbreaks of certain serious diseases in and around Charles Carder. As a result of their experiences, they had believed that the initial biohazard specimens were not being disposed of but were being taken by an enemy and stored for development of biological WMD—weapons of mass destruction.



As a result, they collaborated together, using methods learned while in Special Forces, to escape when they wanted and to elude detection as they left the psychiatric wing, as well as to counter security, including cameras. They were skilled in the arts of disguise and blending in with those expected to wander the area. Plus, they had been schooled in using certain chemicals to render enemies unconscious.

Ivers had previously been stationed at Zimmer Air Force Base and knew its facilities—including where to find some of those chemicals. When Kubowski and he stole the materials, he knew where they could be locked into a storage area that they had managed to physically alter without detection. They considered eventually using the biohazards they collected against enemies of the United States, who, in their deranged state, they believed could even be members of the U.S. military.

“Partly thanks to Alpha Force, we’ve stopped them.” The colonel’s acknowledgment sounded somewhat begrudging to Grace. It also didn’t give her unit enough credit.

Patrick just nodded. “Are the men still in the military?”

“That’s right,” the colonel said. “They’re subject to courts-martial.”

“But if they’re as psychologically challenged as they appear,” Patrick countered, “they may get off with just continued hospitalization—in a mental facility without a real hospital attached.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true.”

The audience with Colonel Otis ended a short while later. So, Grace feared, did her proximity to Simon.

But as the Alpha Force members all walked down the hall along with Simon, leaving Moe Scoles in the office with Nelson, Patrick stopped in a small, empty lounge.

He looked at Simon. “This isn’t the place to go into any detail, but I’m aware of the degree of help you provided last night. The kind of help, too. In the interest of national security, I’ll need to work out certain confidentiality issues with you. First, though—well, I’ve worked on certain…let’s say formulations that you might find of interest, just as I’m interested in what you’ve been working on. I’d like to present you with a demonstration of ours tonight. Want to give it a try?”

Watching Simon’s reaction, Grace held her breath. He had always been so solitary. So independent. Would this be enough to entice him to at least consider working with Alpha Force?

He looked at her. His solemn expression suddenly lightened. He even smiled, causing her insides to somersault in a warm tumble of hope.

“Yes, I’d like that,” he said. “As long as Grace joins me.”



He loped beside his mate through the desert beyond human fences. The night air was warm, the sand cool and coarse beneath the pads of his feet.

When he looked up, he saw that only half the moon was lighted, a bowl-shaped celestial object, weeks away from being full.

A similarly intense light to the full moon, though artificial, had been used to help initiate his change. That and the liquid formula he had drunk.

He was very aware now of the humanity within him. The knowledge, the intelligence, the sensitivity were all enhanced, so much more than when he shifted with his own formula.

He had told the people involved—Grace, Patrick Worley, the three other Alpha Force women—how his formula allowed him to choose not to shift during a full moon. He admitted it was far from perfect, but they had been impressed, since their Alpha Force did not have that capability at all…yet.

He ran on awhile longer, the female wolf beside him easily keeping up. If he worked things right when back in human form, he would be able to run with her like this often after shifting.

The thought pleased him enough that he instinctively wanted to stop and howl beneath the half moon. But he didn’t. Instead, it was soon time to prepare to change back. That was a good thing, for he would then be able to prepare for this future he wanted to achieve.

With Grace.



They had changed back nearly simultaneously. The planning for this shift had been perfect, and they both resumed human shape exactly where their clothing had been left.

This time, Grace’s assistant Kristine had been told to go back to their residential units and care for the dogs. Simon and she would watch each others’ backs.

“Too bad we can’t be sure no one will see us here,” Simon said.

Uneasy, Grace quickly donned her underwear. “What do you mean? Is someone around here? Were we observed?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” he said. “I’m the one doing the observing, and I definitely like what I see.”

He had pulled on his briefs, but before Grace could grab any more of her clothing he took her into his arms.

His warmth and hardness against her gave her visions of hot, mindless sex…the kind they had already shared. She melted against him, knowing she was probably being foolish. Continuing to hope he would somehow remain in her life could only hurt her even more.

“Let’s go to my place,” he whispered into her ear. “I don’t want to run into any of your cohorts tonight. Tomorrow will be soon enough.”

“Soon enough for what?”

“Soon enough for me to tell your buddy Patrick that we need to work out some details.”

“For…?” she prompted, holding her breath as she stared up into Simon’s golden-brown eyes. He was grinning.

He was teasing her. In more ways than one, since his hardness was growing against her middle as he held her tightly.

“For me to enlist in the military and join your Alpha Force.”

“Really?” Grace almost squealed in delight. She held him even tighter, if that was possible, kissing his mouth until he bent farther and met her mouth with his searching, scorching lips.

He pulled away again, but not far. “Yes, really. I’ll share the parts of my shifting formula that they need if they let me work with them, participate in experiments, have it all. That was one great shift before. Especially since it was with you—and we weren’t chasing bad guys. I also feel better now than I usually do after a shift I created artificially—for many reasons.”

“Then you’ll really join Alpha Force?”

“I’m not great at taking orders,” he warned.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” She put her cheeks against the warm flesh of his still bare chest, reveling in the feel of having him so close. And in the realization that her hope to keep him in her life just might come true.

“I’ll tell you a lot you don’t know, as long as you give me time. We’ll have the rest of our lives to learn about each other—if you’re okay with that.”

She drew in her breath. “Are you proposing to me?”

He laughed. “Not yet. That’ll come, when we’re not practically in the nude in the middle of nowhere, and I have a ring to give you. Meantime, I will tell you something you don’t know. After all that happened before, I didn’t tell you everything about my family. I happen to have a brother who is also a shifter—werewolf, like me. His name is Quinn Parran, and he’s a private investigator. I’ve shared my formula with him, such as it is, and I might be able to get him to join your Alpha Force if we combine our medicines.”

“I’d like to meet him,” Grace said.

“He’ll like to meet you, too. I told him a lot about you years ago. He’ll be surprised about how things are working out between us, and with your military group. Of course I’m surprised, too.”

“As am I,” Grace said. “But I couldn’t be happier.”

She reached up once more to give him a kiss that promised, soon, to seal the deal between them…forever.