Текст книги "Primal Law"

Автор книги: J. Tyler

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Glancing around, he raised his brows. “I just realized where we are. Got an eyeful, did you?”

“You could say that.” Remembering why she’d been so upset when Aric found her, she felt her mood darken all over again. “Someone is going to tell me what’s being done for those pitiful creatures I saw locked away like ax murderers. Especially the guy with the wings.”

“Sounds like we have a lot to discuss. Later, though.”

“I’m holding you to it.”

Using his torn shirt, he wiped a trickle of blood from his temple. “Come on, I’ll walk you back. Go get something to eat while I get called on the carpet.”

“Yes, sir.” She gave him a mock salute.

“That’s more like it, soldier.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

His lips curved upward. “Want to bet? I’m awfully good at getting my way.”

For some reason, she very much wanted him to try.

Four

Jaxon watched Aric leave Nick’s office without bothering to rise from his own chair. As expected, their leader had coolly reprimanded them for their behavior, accepting no excuses before dismissing Aric. Jaxon knew without being told that Nick wasn’t finished. He’d have more to say before sending him to fetch Kira.

But for the longest time, Nick simply stared at him, expression unreadable. As always, Jaxon had to work not to give away how much it bothered him, wondering what the man saw. Finally he broke the tense silence. “We told you Kira got lost on her way to breakfast, which is how she ran into Aric. But you need to know she stumbled onto Block R.”

That unhappy news got a swift reaction. Nick swore. “I should’ve realized she might have, considering where the fight happened. Why didn’t you mention this sooner?”

He shrugged, refraining from cracking, You’re the PreCog. Why didn’t you know?Nicky hated when people said shit like that. “I’m mentioning it now.”

“How’d she react?”

“I could tell she was upset and is sympathizing with their situation. She’s particularly concerned about Blue.” The team’s nickname for the winged creature, since nobody had been able to learn his real name—if he even had one.

“Aren’t we all.” A grim statement, not a question.

“Yeah. None of them is in terrific shape, but he and Raven are the worst.”

At the mention of the feral black wolf, the atmosphere in the office darkened. Raven was a painful subject for all of them, an incomprehensible tragedy. Nick leaned back in his chair and studied Jaxon thoughtfully.

“In addition to being a lab assistant with medical training, Kira seems like the nurturing sort. She’s genuine and has empathy. More important, she’s going to be here for a while and needs a job. If she’s inclined to work with the creatures on Block R, I think we should let her try.”

Jaxon found the prospect interesting. “Did you see this in a vision?”

“Not per se. It’s more of a strong, positive feeling.”

“Then it’s as good as a vision.” He paused. “Are you asking my opinion on this?” Nick didn’t discuss staffing decisions unless they affected the whole team—which they usually did.

“I am. What do you think?”

“I don’t know her very well, but from what I’ve seen, I’m not sure. After all, she did get into hot water, presumably for stealing, someone at NewLife is after her, and she hasn’t yet finished her explanation. I say we hear the rest first before you decide to grant her access to sensitive information and place vulnerable lives in her hands.”

Nick nodded. “I agree. Why don’t you go get her and let’s finish this interview? Afterward, I need to meet with the whole team.”

“What’s up?”

“Couple of items came across my desk this morning from Grant. We’ve got a potential problem to deal with and four unusual murders to investigate.”

“What sort of problem?”

“Reports are coming in of a man hanging around the cemetery outside Cody, possibly a paranormal being. He’s starting to spook the locals.”

“Think he’s connected with the murders?”

“Not sure. I’ll bring you up to speed with everyone else.”

“Knew it’s been too quiet around here.” He stood with a grunt. “Be right back.”

He found Kira in the dining room, clearing her spot at one of the big oak tables. As it had since last night, the sight of her hit him in the gut. Other places, too. She should look ridiculous, drowning as she was in the red shirt and jeans, but instead she was cute as hell. Looking up, she spotted him heading her way and greeted him, her gaze wary.

“Hey. I was just about to take this to the kitchen.”

Had he put that hesitation there? Idiot. Of course he had. In less than twenty-four hours she’d seen him tear apart two men and go after a good friend. As a wolf. Naturally, she wasn’t going to be overjoyed to see him.

“Leave it. The cook’s two helpers get paid well to keep the place clean.”

“Oh. Okay, then I guess I’m ready to face the firing squad.” She grimaced, grabbed her purse from the floor beside a chair, and fell into step beside him.

“It won’t be so bad. You were lost and that wasn’t your fault. I, or someone else, should have made sure you had an escort to breakfast. Don’t worry. Nick won’t rake you over the coals until after you’re officially employed and no longer have an excuse not to break the rules.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Is he planning to offer me a position?”

“Maybe. Let’s finish our talk with him and we’ll see.”

Once they’d settled in, Jaxon relaxed as Nick brought last night’s aborted interview up to speed. Kira fidgeted, outwardly nervous.

“Miss Locke—”

“Kira,” she blurted. “I’m sorry. But it’s Kira.”

He smiled, no doubt hoping to put her at ease. But it only made him appear more dangerous, which Jaxon knew wasn’t intentional at the moment. “Right. Kira. Let’s revisit what you told us before.” He shuffled some papers on his desk, notes he must’ve taken after they’d left last night. “You said you’d become suspicious of Dr. Bowman and Dr. Rhodes. They’d been sending their assistants home, working late, and you overheard them speaking about meeting with Orson Chappell and some of the board members. That correct?”

“Yes.”

“I did some checking on NewLife. Chappell is not only the CEO, he’s the owner and founder of the company. It seems he has a stranglehold on the board and the buck stops with him.”

“That’s what I’ve heard. He’s a charismatic public figure, but he’s rumored to be very tough to deal with and work for one-on-one.”

“But you have no firsthand knowledge?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never met him in person.”

“How long have you worked at NewLife?”

“Four years.”

“And you’ve never met the head honcho?”

“The federal government employs almost two million people, about eighty-five percent of whom live in or around Washington, D.C. How many of those have actually met the president?”

“Good point,” he conceded with a half smile. “So that brings us to the meat and potatoes of the discussion. What was the tip-over factor for you? When did curiosity become suspicion that something possibly . . . unethicalwas occurring? If that’s the right word.”

“Unethical describes what I thoughtI might find. What I started putting together called not only ethics into question, but legality and morality.” She looked away from Nick, staring pensively at the wall, as though remembering.

“Quite by accident, I heard Dr. Bowman whisper something in hushed tones to Dr. Rhodes about the restricted area in the basement of NewLife. A security guard found a sanitation worker down there without clearance and the worker was fired, but that wasn’t the interesting thing. I’m paraphrasing, but Dr. Bowman was upset, and he said something like, ‘Remember the media explosion in the nineties when the first successful cloning of an adult mammal was done with Dolly the sheep? If anyone finds out, this will make that scientific breakthrough look like child’s play and that can’t happen—not before we’re ready.’ ”

Both Jaxon and Nick sat up straighter, eyes widening. Jax interrupted. “And you believe they were referring to whatever research they’re doing in the restricted area that the worker almost discovered?”

“I’m sure that’s what they were talking about. But I didn’t catch any more at that time because they moved out of my hearing. A few days later, Dr. Bowman was called away from work to a family emergency and I sort of took the opportunity to, um . . .”

“Snoop?” Jaxon suggested helpfully.

Her cheeks flushed. “Well, I had to get a report he’d forgotten to hand to me in his hurry to leave, and when I retrieved it from his desk, I bumped his computer mouse. Naturally, he’d forgotten to log out and shut down for the day and the screen saver went away.”

“Naturally.” Nick’s lips twitched.

“The computer hadn’t gone to sleep yet, so the screen and all the icons were right there. He had a document running, minimized at the bottom of the screen and I clicked on it. I know, I know,” she said, the blush deepening. “It was wrong of me and I could’ve been fired.”

Nick steepled his fingers and watched her thoughtfully. “You should’ve been and if it were me, unless you had a reason that was a matter of life and death, you would’ve been. But considering what came later, getting fired was the least of your concerns.”

“I did a stupid thing,” she admitted. “But the section I was able to read on the document was alarming. It wasn’t text, like written narrative, but was several pages of formulas. Lines and lines of letters and numbers, arranged and rearranged, like notes on any number of experiments on test subjects.”

Nick frowned. “Like the doctor was recording what worked and what didn’t? Trial and error, and what he or they tried next?”

“Exactly. It took me a minute to realize the patterns that kept repeating on the page were genetic codes and DNA strands. And this is the part that’s going to sound off the wall . . . Some of the codes, or more accurately the strands, weren’t human.”

Jaxon exchanged a telling glance with Nick before he spoke up. “Not so off the wall, from where we’re sitting. Our DNA isn’t exactly human anymore, either.”

She blinked at him. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right. Anyway, as I scanned the document, I had trouble believing what I was seeing. If I was interpreting correctly, it seemed that the lines represented genes being spliced and DNA being forced to mutate.” Leaning forward, she warmed excitedly to her topic. “From the very top of the page, each line appeared to represent a strand of traits, the code and DNA mutated in some small way from the strand before it.”

“Hang on.” Nick’s brows drew together as he tried to follow. “You’re saying these lines represented progressive change . . .”

Like Nick, Jaxon struggled to assimilate what she was getting at. Hell, he was a soldier, not a scientist.

“Yes—recorded progression of a single individual from human to something else. That’s what was on the page in black and white. From the data, I inferred that a series of tests must’ve been performed on the individual to get those results.”

Nick’s voice was low and troubled. “To what end? What are they attempting to force the human DNA to mutate into? And why?”

“That’s what I was hoping to find out when I took tissue samples from the lab last night.” Opening the purse on her lap, she reached in, dug around, and brought out several small containers. She sat them on Nick’s desk and they eyed the contents.

Nick and Jaxon each picked up one and carefully turned it this way and that. A piece of tissue—it appeared to be flesh and a bit of muscle—floated in clear fluid in the one Jax held. A label stuck to the side declared the vial as belonging to “Subject 0013.” It also had a string of letters and numbers underneath and was dated almost two weeks ago.

“Freaky,” Jax commented in distaste, setting the thing on his boss’s desk. Nick put them in a row and studied the labels.

“Three of these are from Subject zero-zero-one-three. The other five are from different subjects.” He looked at Kira. “Was there any rhyme or reason to what you took?”

“Zero-zero-one-three was the label at the top of the document I saw on Dr. Bowman’s computer. I grabbed what I could see of those, then some others. I was in a hurry. I had a loose plan to take them to a geneticist friend of mine in Los Angeles and see what he could learn.” Her shoulders hunched. “Evidently I didn’t plan ahead very well.”

“I think you might’ve ended up in the right place all the same,” Nick said, raising a brow. “Were you able to print a copy of the document from Bowman’s computer?”

“No. I heard someone in the outer office and had to get out of there. I minimized the document the way I found it, and was never able to go back.”

“Pity. Would’ve been interesting to have our scientists interpret it. These should help, though.” The older man gestured to the containers. “I’ll get these to our lab. Would you be agreeable to assisting down there, if they meet you and decide they’d like to take you on? After I conduct a thorough background check and you pass, of course.”

“Hmm. I don’t know, but . . . Where else do I have to go and what are my other options?”

“Nowhere and zip,” Jaxon put in, not giving Nick time to come up with anything. He pointedly ignored the man, who was trying to hide a knowing smile. “We can’t let you leave for the time being, and at least here you’d get to do the lab work you’re familiar with, only better. How many people can say they study shifters and other beings?”

“True.” Kira brightened, looking excited. “You know, I think I’d like that very much. I’m willing to give it a try, and I know I’ll pass your check. I have a clean record with plenty of commendations, up until I ran across something I shouldn’t have. And for what it’s worth, I have a gut feeling something very wrong is going on at NewLife. I just can’t prove it—yet.”

A mixture of relief and worry swamped Jaxon. He was glad she’d agreed to stay, but he didn’t want her anywhere near whatever Chappell and his scientists were doing. Nick’s next words echoed his thoughts.

“Good. But you’ll keep the sleuthing to our labs and if any action needs to be taken against NewLife, including more investigating, the Alpha Pack team will handle it. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” She shuddered. “Believe me. I don’t want to go anywhere near there again if I don’t have to.”

Something flashed in Nick’s eyes, there and gone so fast Jaxon might’ve imagined it. “That’s the smart route, until we know what’s going on. Now we need to discuss what you saw in Block R.”

Her good mood fled, and she worked to keep her tone respectful though the anger. “Is that what you call the horrible place where you’re keeping those pitiful creatures prisoner? Where some of them don’t have food, water, or even clothing to keep them warm?”

“I understand how bad it must appear to an outsider, but as such you don’t have the facts.” Nick’s tone was firm but patient as he explained. “Block R stands for ‘Rescue and Rehabilitation.’ All of the inhabitants there are getting the best care we’re able to provide, given the considerable lack of knowledge and resources available to us. Complicating matters is how very dangerous many of these species are to humans, their confusion and fear, and our inability to communicate with them.”

Jaxon added his take. “Not only that, our docs are stretched too thin just doing their normal jobs to give them the personal care they deserve.”

Kira was not placated. “So why haven’t you hired someone to fill that role? There’s no excuse for the neglect I saw. You can’t stick intelligent beings in cells and leave them frightened, unable to comprehend what’s happening to them! It’s wrong on so many levels I don’t even know where to start! And then to terminate them when they become unmanageable—”

“Hey, wait a second,” Nick interrupted with a scowl. “We’ve never ‘terminated’ any of the residents of Block R. Where did you get that idea?”

“From Aric. He said—”

“Well, there’s our first problem—Aric opened his mouth.” Jaxon rolled his eyes.

“He saidthat when the creatures can’t be rehabilitated, they’re killed,” she continued, insistent. “Is that true or not?”

Jaxon felt a surge of annoyance. Trust Aric to spout shit out of context to get a reaction from the sensitive newbie.

Nick clarified. “We eliminate rogue creatures only when there’s no other choice. But that’s typically done on the spot wherever we’re sent, and only when lives have been or are threatened. The only ones we bring back here regularly are those who haven’t taken lives, but can’t be released until we can send them home or they learn to cope in our world. The one exception is when we need to incarcerate a dangerous rogue because we need information, but he wouldn’t be kept with the others.”

“So . . . Block R isn’t like death row?”

“No. Are some of our guests lethal? Yes. But we feel the ones there now can be reached, with time. Which brings me to your question before—I haven’t hired anyone specifically to work with them because none of the candidates whose names have been sent to me by my commander have been quite right for the job. It’s not like we can put an ad in the paper.”

Kira went quiet for a few moments, then asked, “Would it be possible for me to combine my duties in the lab with taking care of them? I could work on gaining their trust.”

Nick smiled, looking extremely pleased. “I have a feeling you’ll be good for them. Spend today getting oriented around the compound and you can start tomorrow. Just be sure to take one of the team with you, for safety reasons, until you make some headway. Take Zander or Aric—”

“I’ll go with her,” Jaxon said gruffly. Like hellwas Aric going to spend more time alone with her than necessary.

Kira nodded at him before addressing Nick again. “What about the pretty guy with the wings? Why is he locked up? He seemed so sad. He looked malnourished and cold, too.”

The plea in her voice got to Jaxon. There was so much she didn’t understand, and the woman had a big, soft heart that had already gotten her into trouble twice.

Nick sighed. “We call him Blue for obvious reasons, because we can’t get him to tell us a name. He’s never spoken, but we know he’s highly intelligent. We captured him in Ireland after getting an emergency call a few weeks ago that something resembling an angel was running amok in a village, causing quite a stir. By the time we arrived, he’d gone into hiding, but we found him, thinking that bringing him in would be relatively easy compared to some of the weird stuff we’ve dealt with.”

“He certainly appears harmless enough.”

“Doesn’t he? Well, that ‘pretty angel’ rendered half the team unconscious with a single wave of his hand. Fortunately, the other half used their Psy powers to subdue him before he could do more damage.”

She frowned. “But he only knocked your men out, causing no permanent harm. Right?”

“Yes, and once we got him here, we thought he was calm enough for us to let him go. We wanted him to realize he had a safe haven here. Instead, he tried to bolt and put up quite a fight. Wasn’t as easy the second time to subdue him. He’s fought us ever since, and we had no choice but to lock him up for his own safety.”

“What about food? Clothing and bedding?”

“He won’t eat. He’s become increasingly despondent and a few days ago things finally reached a breaking point.”

“What do you mean?”

Jaxon said quietly, “He used the chain on his collar to try and hang himself.”

“Oh my God!” she cried. “Poor thing. That’s why there’s nothing in his cell—so he can’t use anything else to try it again.”

“I’m afraid so,” Nick confirmed. “His wrists are bound for that reason, but the silver mesh gloves prevent him from tossing spells at us. Or whatever he does.”

Kira slumped back in her chair, clearly upset. “There must be a way to reach him.”

“You’re welcome to try. Just be careful.”

“What type of being is he?”

Jaxon answered. “Best we can figure, given his physical characteristics, powers, and the fact that he was found in Ireland? Possibly Fae.”

“Fae . . . as in a faery?” Her eyes widened.

“Yep. Specifically Seelie, because of his physical beauty and his unwillingness to do us any real harm, which are typical traits of his kind. How he ended up on our plane of existence is anyone’s guess. Unless you can get him to talk.”

“Jeez,” she muttered. “No pressure or anything.”

Nick chuckled. “A lot to take in, huh? The important thing is not to rush him, or any of them. I think you’ll do fine.”

“What about the black wolf? I think he’s going to be my toughest challenge.”

The boss’s humor died. “You’re right about that. Raven is completely feral, but we haven’t given up on him. We can’t.”

“Why not? I’m all for rehabbing, but if there’s no hope it seems cruel to let him pace that cell day after day, going mad.”

Jaxon cleared his throat, which had suddenly gone tight. “We can’t give up because Raven is one of us. Five and a half years ago, he was the finest SEAL we’d ever known. After we were attacked by rogue weres in Afghanistan, he turned wolf. Unlike the rest of us survivors, he never came back.”

Kira’s head reeled with the overload of information Nick and Jaxon were dropping in her lap. Never had she imagined having such a bizarre conversation with anyone.

Fae. A Seelie running scared through Ireland.

A maddened wolf with his human counterpart stuck inside.

Weirder and weirder.

Which led to the obvious question. “What about the others? The snake and the furry gremlin thing?”

Jaxon folded his arms, causing his biceps to bunch enticingly. “The furry guy is just what he appears—a little pain in the ass. He bites. Ask me how I know,” he deadpanned, causing Nick to laugh. “The snake isn’t your typical garden variety, as you no doubt noted by his size. But it’s not just the fact that he’s the size of a small horse. He’s a basilisk. And before you ask, forget almost everything you’ve read in the legends about them.”

“I haven’t heard much. Just that they’re extremely venomous and supposedly kill with a glance. Fairy-tale stuff.”

“The venomous part is correct, but they can’t, or don’t, kill with their gaze or everyone in the compound would be dead. The most interesting thing is that he can take human form.”

Of course he can. “So he’s a shifter. Does he talk?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Jax curled his lip. “Belial is . . . Well, you’ll see for yourself.”

“What?” She glanced between the men. “Is he hideous or something?”

“No, quite the opposite. His power is seduction and he knows how to wield it. He’s a sly son of a bitch, and that makes him more dangerous than anything. I can’t get a vision of his past. Even Nick can’t get a good reading on whether he’d hurt anyone in the future, though he swears he wouldn’t.”

“Despite biting and nearly killing Ryon,” Nick added, his voice hard. “The only reason he wasn’t terminated is he insists he never would’ve struck if he wasn’t terrified when we tried to take him in.”

“With all due respect . . . most of us mere mortals will never know if we can truly trust the most sinceresounding person not to hurt us. We have to abide our neighbors because we have no choice. We can’t go around locking people up just because we’re not sure.Is it really fair to hold this person to a different standard just because he’s a basilisk and he rubs you the wrong way?”

Both men had the decency to look guilty at that statement. Still, Nick wasn’t totally sold. “Most people can’t swallow you whole while you’re sleeping.”

She sighed. Seemed she had a lot of work to do with her new charges before they could even begin to be integrated into life at the compound. But she was looking forward to the challenge more than she had anything in ages. Sure beat working for Bowman, the jackass.

“Okay, I’ll make a prediction,” she began, watching their reactions. “Within one month, I’ll have them ready to socialize with kings. Well, maybe not kings, but a bunch of flea-bitten wolves and the occasional human.”

Jaxon gave her a smoldering look that made her nerves tingle, but didn’t rise to the teasing “flea-bitten” remark. “I say it can’t be done within a month. Six months, if you’re persistent.”

“Wanna bet?”

“You’re on. If it takes you longer than one month from today, you have to do the entire team’s nasty, sweaty laundry for six weeks.” He grinned at the idea.

Smelly underwear and bloodstained shirts? “Eww. Three weeks.”

“Four. That’s fair—same as your month with our socalled guests.”

She thought about it. “You’re on. I believe they’ll come around. And if they prove me right, you have to . . .” Take me to dinner.Right, like she’d blurt that out in front of his boss.

Forget that. With Jax, I’d ratherbe dinner. And dessert. Yum.

And where the heck had those naughty thoughts come from, anyway? Couldn’t be those full lips or the angle of his cheekbones. Those smoky blue-gray eyes regarding her in amusement. Or that sexy tribal tattoo creeping from under the sleeve of his T-shirt to run down his muscular arm.

“Kira? If you win?”

She shook herself, struggling not to blush. “Um, you have to promise to do your best to see that they get home, or wherever they wish to go, within reason.”

Jaxon glanced to Nick for confirmation. When his boss nodded, he agreed. “Okay. If it’s within our power, they’ll leave if they wish. But just so you know, it might not be possible for them all. I don’t have a portal to the Fae realm hidden under my bed.”

“It’s a deal.”

Nick stood, signaling a conclusion to the meeting. “Kira, welcome aboard. Give me a regular end-of-week report on Block R so we can discuss their progress. I’ll have Mac see you about starting in the lab, too.”

“Thank you, Nick. I won’t let you down.”

His gaze softened, and for a second, he appeared melancholy. “I know.” He turned to Jaxon as he walked them to the door. “Tell the guys I’ll see everyone in half an hour, in the smaller meeting room.”

“Will do.”

As she and Jaxon walked out together, she was hyperaware of the big man at her side. He must put off some serious pheromones because all she wanted to do was rub against him like a cat in heat. She’d been attracted to men, but never like this. It was almost as if she had no control over the need to be close to him, and that scared her a little.

“I’ll show you around outside, if you want,” he offered. “If you’ve never been to Shoshone, you’re in for a real treat.”

Just being with Jax was a treat, but she kept that to herself. “I’d love that.”

“Come on.”

He offered his arm and after a second’s hesitation, she slipped her fingers around his biceps. The gesture was sweet and so old-fashioned, and so at odds with the raging beast that had torn out two men’s throats, she didn’t know what to say. It did funny things to her heart, and brought her defenses down several notches, which made her uneasy, too.

She found it hard to comprehend that this man and his friends were shifters. Where was the line between man and beast? Or was there no definition, one simply meshing with the other to create an altogether different being? Could a woman fall in love with such a man?

Could she make love with a shifter? And then came the inevitable disturbing thought– who would I be making love to? The man, the wolf, or both?

She shuddered, and Jax misunderstood the reason. Thank God.

His voice was concerned as he looked down at her. “Are you cold? It’s usually warm during the day in the summer, but it can get chilly up here at night.”

“No, I’m fine, but thanks.” He led her out a side door and she stood gazing in awe at the view. Towering aspen and pine skirted the edges of the compound, and beyond that a wide lake sparkled perhaps a half mile away. In the distance, the Rockies rose majestically toward the sky, defying mankind and the changes wrought by millions of years.

She’d only seen one thing more impressive.

“Stunning, huh?”

She met his gaze squarely. “Very.” Damn, she hadn’t meant for that to come out so low and husky, betraying her inner turmoil. The awareness of him and how good he smelled, how warm and right he felt beside her. Solid. Why did he have to be so danged sexy?

His pupils enlarged, and his voice was deep as he pointed to a part in the trees. “Want to take a walk? There’s a great footpath and a stream that way. The view is awesome.”

Sotempting. “You have a meeting in thirty minutes. I don’t want to make you late.”

He shrugged. “I’m a big boy. Besides, we won’t go far.”

“Lead the way,” she said, already cursing herself for her weakness. What was it about this guy that clouded her judgment?

Gently, he peeled her hand off his arm. Disappointed, she started to put some space between them, but he took her hand instead, completely swallowing it in his. The spark from the contact zinged up her arm and spread all over her body. Tightened her nipples and made her ache to get closer.

Lips hitching up, he tugged her hand and they started off. As they entered the mouth of the trail, she forced her attention to a different kind of scenery.

“It really is beautiful here. I like to walk in the mornings if I get up in time, and I can’t imagine any place more scenic to get my exercise.”

“The trails are great for that purpose, but never venture out alone,” he said, his tone deadly serious. “The grizzlies have been really aggressive again this summer. There are also black bears, moose, and any number of dangers. If you went off alone and got hurt, we could find you by following your scent, but it might be too late.”

“I knew that, but it’s easy to forget that dangerous things can be found in pretty packages.”

He gave her an odd look. “Don’t I know it.”

Jax didn’t explain and she didn’t ask, though she was curious. She wondered what made the man tick, what pain lurked in his past. She sensed whatever rode him was more than losing his former life as a Navy SEAL, being turned into a shifter, though that was bad enough. Without being told, she knew it would take a lot more than a fledgling friendship and a few strolls in the woods to crack his armor.

Had any woman ever managed that feat before? Had there been anyone serious?

There wasn’t now, she decided, or he wouldn’t be holding her hand. There wouldn’t be this spark that threatened to ignite when they touched. Jax didn’t seem the sort of man to stray once he’d set his romantic course. If he ever did.