Undercover Wolf

Chapter 23

Kristine had never been happier to see Quinn.

Well, not exactly true. There were times when she had been thrilled to see him, all human and all naked. But she was definitely relieved that he had come to her assistance now in wolfen form.

The gun was on the floor. Kristine grabbed it. Quinn remained at Olivante’s neck. His ferocious growls filled the room as the DSPA man struggled against him, arms flailing, legs kicking—and neither making Quinn release his fangs.

Kristine saw where the bullet had gone—into the floor, fortunately. Quinn was not injured.

Olivante’s struggles soon grew fainter.

“Damn you, Parran,” he gasped. “And damn that elixir. I thought it was only a rumor.”

Good thing Kristine had possession of the gun. She was tempted to shoot Olivante but resisted. He was subdued now, and she wouldn’t take any chances on hitting Quinn.

But she heard Mel shouting as he raced up the stairs.

He burst through the door—and Kristine pointed the gun at him. “Good to see you, Mel,” she said with a grin. “Know what? It’s over.”

“What the hell?” His eyes were on the wolf at his brother’s throat. “Is that a real wolf or a shifter?”

“What do you think?” Kristine asked. Apparently, whatever information Olivante had been given about Alpha Force, its makeup and its abilities, the successful formulation of the special elixir that allowed shifting outside the full moon hadn’t been confirmed despite his decision to act, with his horrible wolflike weapons, as if it were true. And his brother might not even have heard rumors about it.

Kristine worried now about Grace and Simon, downstairs and alone and quiet. Mel must have administered the drugs he’d been threatening them and her with. She could only hope they would be okay.

Right now, though, she needed to call for help. Still aiming the gun at Mel, she pulled her phone from her pocket and called 911. She quickly described a kidnapping situation and asked for both cops and EMTs.

But things needed to be rearranged here before their arrival. That Chief Crane of the local police department wouldn’t be pleased to see a werewolf in the flesh.

If he believed his eyes, he would probably shoot Quinn on the spot and claim he had to be the one who’d attacked the cops.

“Watch Olivante for another minute, Quinn,” she said, then waved the gun at Mel. “You come with me.” She had him precede her down the stairs to the basement.

As she’d anticipated, Simon and Grace were sleeping on blankets on the floor of their cage, as if they were animals on display in an old-fashioned nonhabitat zoo.

Fortunately, there was a second, empty cage. Kristine had noticed it before. Had these two SOBs planned to put her in there?

Her teeth were gritted as she motioned for Mel to pull open the door to that one. “Get inside,” she commanded. He didn’t argue but regarded her warily. Was he about to attack? She again brandished the gun while glancing at the lock that dangled at the opening. She smiled to see that it was one with a key rather than a combination. She used her free hand to pat him down, looking for weapons as she kept her gun pointed at him. Then she secured him inside, tested the lock and stuck the key in her pocket. “See ya later,” she said. One down.

She returned upstairs and looked around for an exit besides the front door. There was one in the kitchen at the back of the house, and she left it open. “Let me lock him up downstairs with his brother, Quinn,” she said to the canine, who remained on guard. “You need to go shift back fast, before help arrives. The nearest houses aren’t too close, but be careful when you leave. We don’t want any neighbors to see you. Assuming they didn’t see you when you got here.”

Quinn moved back, and Olivante groaned, rubbing his neck.

“Let’s move.” Kristine waved the gun in Olivante’s face. As the man slowly stood, Kristine looked into Quinn’s golden canine eyes and smiled. “We did good. Now go.”

He gave a small nod of his wolfen head, then headed out. As with his brother, Kristine got Olivante down the steps and into the spare cage.

When the police arrived a while later, she was waiting. One was Chief Crane, and the portly cop scowled in the way she remembered. “What’s going on here?” he demanded.

“I’ve solved the murder of the tourists and attack on your officers for you, and more,” Kristine replied with a grin.

She showed them the cage downstairs with Simon and Grace sleeping in it, along with the enclosure holding the two fuming men.

“She’s the one, Officers,” Olivante shouted. “Look at my neck. That whole werewolf situation before...”

“I’ll show you how I subdued him before his brother came upstairs,” Kristine interrupted. “They set this all up to make it look like woo-woo nonsense. I used some of his own weaponry on him—pretend wolf fangs. That’s how he attacked your police officers, too.”

“Get those unconscious people to the hospital,” Crane said. “We’ll take these two into custody and sort this out later.”

“Thank you, Officers,” said the wonderful, familiar voice of Quinn, who had just arrived in human form, wearing his own clothes. “I wish I had been here to see everything that Kristine did. We all owe her.”

Kristine smiled at him. His golden eyes were glowing hotly, sensually, as he smiled back. She wanted to throw herself into his arms to thank him. And more.

She realized that it was partly adrenaline pulsing through her. Partly relief.

But she ached to show her gratitude in a personal way.

Very personal.

* * *

Kristine sat in the living room with Chief Crane while a local crime scene team canvassed the place, taking photographs and collecting evidence.

The local cops allowed Quinn to remain with his brother and sister-in-law until help arrived for them in the form of a military helicopter. While Kristine was still with him, Quinn had gotten permission from Chief Crane to call his commanding officer to have emergency aid brought in immediately.

Kristine could hardly wait to talk to Maj. Drew Connell and give him a full rundown on what had happened here.

And also to hear how he would talk to General Yarrow and give their highest commanding officer ammunition to torpedo that entire horrible Defense Special Projects Agency and keep them from investigating, and undermining, Alpha Force any longer.

For now, Kristine gave Chief Crane a rundown on what had occurred here—putting her own spin on it, of course: the way Olivante had essentially kidnapped her, given her a totally weird tale of wanting the world to believe that there were werewolves, of all things, in Acadia National Park. How he’d apparently decided to kidnap a couple of honeymooners, whom he’d kept drugged, to frame for his incredible murderous spree.

He’d brought his own brother into it.

And then, to harm the U.S. military, make it look inept and absurd, he set things up with nasty, potentially lethal paraphernalia he had collected to make his story of a unit of combative werewolves, of all things, appear true.

“For the sake of national security,” Kristine concluded, “we’ll need your discretion in all this. I’m certain that General Greg Yarrow, who’s headquartered in Washington, D.C., will send official media relations advisors to help put the right spin on this amazing, ridiculous story, and your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.”

Eventually, Quinn and she were released.

Simon and Grace were, by then, undoubtedly under appropriate medical care.

This assignment was over. Their mission had been accomplished, most successfully.

It was time for them to head back to Ft. Lukman.

* * *

First, they had to return to their hotel to check out. That meant packing up the clothing and few personal items they had left there.

Quinn watched as Kristine collected her stuff and tossed it into the carry-on bag she’d place on a luggage stand. “I’m so glad this is over,” she said, her back to him.

“I’m just happy that Simon and Grace are okay,” he responded. “And that those damned Olivante brothers will get what’s coming to them.”

They were civilians, of course, but Olivante himself had had clout within the Department of Defense. Clout over Alpha Force and its members.

The ability to give them orders. Control them. Make them look bad.

That only emphasized to Quinn the problems with remaining in the military. Would he?

He would be considering the pros and cons very carefully from now on. And at the moment, considering the lack of support and backup Kristine and he had been provided, the cons were definitely in the lead.

One thing had particularly surprised him as Kristine had recapped what had happened. She had told him that Olivante and his brother had lost a relative who was murdered by a shapeshifter.

Quinn and his family had lost a relative because he was a shapeshifter.

Interesting similarity—and even more interesting to see how the Olivantes had attempted revenge against all shifters.

Now, Kristine turned to look at Quinn, a troubled expression on her face. “Did Major Connell think they’d get off on some kind of insanity plea?”

“Not likely. Most of their crimes were committed on federal property and they harmed U.S. soldiers as well as civilian police officers. They’ll be tried for their crimes in federal court with prosecutors just waiting to throw the book at them. And the evidence collected at the crime scenes, the place they were held prisoner, their testimony, ours...”

“They’ll be incarcerated for life?” Kristine finished with such a delighted smile on her face that Quinn almost laughed. Almost. But he was distracted by the bra she held in her hands to pack.

Which encouraged him to take a quick look at the part of her body where such clothing was generally worn. Well, not so quick.

And when he looked up, Kristine’s smile had become heated. Longing.

He dropped the jacket he’d been about to throw in his own bag and quickly crossed the room. He took her into his arms and kissed her, hard and deep, using his tongue to incite her to the kind of heat that had started permeating his body.

“One for the road?” he demanded against her mouth.

“Oh, yes.” But she really hadn’t had to answer him in words.

Her hands were already unbuckling his belt, pulling down his pants.

And then her mouth moved away from his, downward, to his hard cock...and after a few exquisitely enticing minutes, they both rushed onto the bed.