The Covert Wolf

Swearing under his breath, he concentrated on the highway. His C.O. had fully briefed him on Sienna McClare while the Fae showered and changed. He knew everything, from her shoe size to her job as a clerk in a convenience store to recent purchases she’d made of classical music CDs. Everything except why she’d been living alone outside her Fae colony, when the Fae were traditionally forest dwellers and social creatures. That had been a gap in her file.

He’d told Sienna as much as he could about their destination. Thanks to intel from their vampire buddy and his extensive network of spies, they’d gotten a bead on a witch in northern New Jersey. She’d asked local covens for protection spells against pyro demons because she’d used info from the Orb to “set up a Draicon werewolf and a jaguar overseas.” Now she was running scared.

Be afraid, he thought grimly, remembering how Adam died. Because if you helped kill my buddy, I don’t know if I can control myself.

For the first time he realized he might. Maybe that was why his C.O. sicced the pretty Fae on him. Curt knew Matt would hold it together around a female. Always had in the past.

There’s a first time for everything.

“Can I drive?”

“Not on this freeway.”

Sienna blew a breath on the window and rubbed her index finger over it. “What are the plans once we reach the witch’s house?”

“I’ll question her. You hang back, keep an eye out.”

“Question her? You won’t hurt her, shift and scare her? Show a little fang and terrorize her into talking?”

“Why would I do that?”

“I’m sure you’ve done it before. That’s what Draicon do best.”

Matt gritted his teeth. She was pretty, but infuriatingly stubborn. “Sweetheart, someone sold you a bad bill of goods about my people. We may have a bad rep among some paranorms …”

“But underneath you’re all sweetness and good? Nice doggies who like car rides and sticking your heads out the windows to catch the wind? I heard you were all snarl and growl.”

His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he resisted the impulse to do exactly as she’d suggested.

“I’m a U.S. Navy SEAL. My team and mission come first. Just as your Fae colony comes first for you.”

Silence draped the air for a moment. “I have no colony anymore. No family.”

Words spoken so quietly, he wouldn’t have heard them if not for being Draicon. Matt changed lanes and sped up. Odd, how they had that in common. His family had been close, hell, his own brother-in-law supported him joining the teams. It was Étienne who suggested Matt’s abilities would come in useful for the newly formed Phoenix Force.

But in the ten years he’d been a SEAL, his family had become more distant. They’d started nagging about quitting, settling down into pack life, finding a mate and starting a family. The bonds he shared with his teammates were thick and strong as steel cable. He couldn’t leave the teams. Not with dark forces becoming more clever, and endangering more and more civilians.

His team was his pack now. With a small pang, Matt realized he forgot how to be fully Draicon. He wouldn’t know a real relationship if it kissed him. He was a ladies’ man, but one-night stands were the norm. Relationship, hell, he couldn’t commit. Not when he got called out on an hour’s notice, or worse, never came back at all.

Like Adam.

Matt remembered Tatiana’s sobs. He couldn’t do that to a mate. He didn’t want one, didn’t want to fall into the trap of settling down and falling in love. Because falling in love meant giving up what mattered most to him, being a SEAL.

“Can we start over?” Her voice was soft, a rub of velvet against his frayed nerves. “If we’re going to work together, we should try to get along. I’m sorry for the dog references.”

“And I’ll try not to make any Mr. Spock jokes.”

Sienna gave a small, sweet laugh, the sound stirring his jaded self. “Are all your assignments like this?”

“No. We either go in as a pair—” he swallowed hard, thinking of Adam “—or as a team. I’m used to covert action, get in, get out and get gone. This is a little different for me. For one, I’ve never worked with a female before, let alone a Seelie Sidhe who can glamour as a Draicon.”

Not that I’d trust one. Never.

“My glamour isn’t limited to Draicon. It just happens to be the form easiest to me.”

“Why?”

She shrugged, pushed at a lock of hair, showing her pointed ears.

“Those have to go. They’re too obvious. Glamour yourself into a Draicon. We’re getting closer to our target.”

Sienna shot him an annoyed look. “Aye, aye, captain.”

“It’s lieutenant.”

She made a sound and then muttered, “Fine. You want Draicon?”

Matt nearly lost control of the car as she shifted. A gray-and-white timber wolf sat on the seat. She grinned, showing sharp canines.

Startled, he jerked the wheel to the left, turning into the other lane. A driver he cut off blew the horn. Matt straightened out the car and glared at Sienna.

Sienna the wolf put a large paw on the window button, rolling it down. She stuck her head out the window, tongue lolling.

She had a sense of humor, after all. He slowed down, and as he thumbed the window up, she jerked her head inside.

“I’d let you drive, but I don’t think your paws would touch the pedals.”

With a low whine, she shifted into her human form. “You’ll really let me drive?”

“Naw.” He considered. “You probably drive like an old lady.”

Magick shimmered in the air again. This time, she took the form of a NASCAR driver.

Matt laughed. Sienna resumed the form of a Draicon female, an impish smile on her mouth. Her very red, very wet mouth. A kissable mouth.

Concentrate. “Back on the subway, tell me, what were you doing on Canal Street?”

“I was following a lead in Chinatown.” She pushed at the long fall of her silky hair. “I’ve been working on my own, disguised as a Draicon, trying to find the Orb. A Draicon in Brooklyn told me a shop owner was selling something like that in Chinatown.”

“Did you find anything out?”

She shook her head with a small sigh. “It was a dead end. The shop had closed and the owner passed away. He was probably yanking on my chain.”

“Or worse. Intending to wrap that chain around your neck.” He aimed her a stern look. “No more going solo.”

When she opened her mouth, a line furrowing between her brows as if to protest, Matt added, “Or I’ll take those memories I left intact.”

Her mouth closed.