Hot SEALs: Her Special Alpha (Kindle Worlds) (X-OPS 3.5) (4 page)

“So, what are you going to do now?” Kendra asked. 

Eden sighed. “Probably dig around a little more and see what I can uncover.”

“You sure you don’t need some backup?” Kendra asked. “I can get Declan to go down there if you need him. I promise he won’t say anything to John.”

Eden glanced at Travis to find him regarding her with blatant interest. “No, I’m good. I think I have my own backup already in place. Just keep digging for whatever dirt you can find, and call me as soon as you find something.”

“I will.” Kendra promised. “Be careful.”

Eden hung up and put her phone away with an apologetic smile. “Sorry that took so long.”

Travis shook his head. “No problem. Since you mentioned something about the big guy with the claws and fangs being a wolf shifter, I’m going to assume that since you have claws and fangs as well, you’re some kind of shifter, too. Am I right?”

It was while she’d been talking to Kendra that Eden decided to tell Travis everything—at least about herself. She’d let the stuff about the guy in the alley being a wolf shifter slip on purpose, hoping it would make a good segue into the conversation.

Eden chewed on her lower lip. “You sure you want to hear this? Finding out the world is completely different than you think it is can be hard for some people to take.”

She held her breath, part of her hoping he’d say he didn’t want to hear it. Travis might not have freaked out in the alley, but that could be because he was a soldier used to seeing things in the heat of battle. What if finding out what she was disgusted him?

“I want to hear it,” he said. “If you trust me enough to tell me.”

“Can I trust you?”

“Yes.”

She really hadn’t needed to hear him say it. She already knew she could trust him. Still, it felt good hearing the conviction in that one simple word.

Eden took a deep breath, then plunged in. “I’m a feline shifter.”

She braced herself, waiting nervously for him to react to the bombshell she’d just dropped.

He nodded thoughtfully, the corner of his mouth edging up. “I should have guessed you were a cat with moves like that.”

Okay, that went better than she thought. “I’m not really a cat. I just have certain naturally-occurring feline genetic material buried deep in my DNA. The scientists where I work think residual animal DNA appears in all of us in the form of a recessive gene. I have the traits of a cat because that gene turned on for some reason.”

“That explains the claws and fangs, as well as the green eyes and the speed,” he mused softly as if she’d just said she was good at spelling or math.

Eden waited for him to say more, but instead, he only picked up his beer and took a long, slow drink. She grabbed her fork and scooped up some of the black beans with their sprinkle of cheese that came as a side with the enchiladas. Travis had to be thinking about what she’d told him. How could he not? He was probably trying to come to grips with the knowledge there were actually things that could go bump in the night out in the world. He hadn’t bailed, though. That had to be a good sign.

“When did you first know you were a cat?” he asked softly.

She smiled, wondering if she should let him on the secret that she couldn’t actually turn into a cat. “The gene turned on when I was eighteen, right before I graduated from high school.”

He nodded, considering that. Eden had to admit he was taking this rather calmly. “Does it hurt when the claws and fangs come out?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “They mostly tingle. Although there is some pain if they come out too fast. It’s not that bad, though.”

“Is what I saw as far as it goes?” he asked. “Do you ever turn into an actual cat?”

She couldn’t help but laugh, even though it was a logical question. “The fangs and claws can come out a little bit more if I’m really pissed, but that’s about it. I don’t get fur or turn into a real cat. I hope you’re not too disappointed.”

“Nah.” He flashed her a grin. “You’re a cute kitty just the way you are.”

It was a silly thing for him to say, but it made her feel ridiculously good anyway.

Travis picked up his fork and dug into the rest of his enchilada. “So, that guy in the alley is a wolf shifter, which means he’s like you, but with wolf DNA instead of feline?”

“Exactly.” She smiled. “You know, you’re handling this way better than most people would. You sure you’ve never dealt with shifters before?”

“Not that I know of,” he said. “Although, I suppose I could have without realizing it, especially if they didn’t let on. As far as me being able to deal with the unexpected, that’s eight years in Special Forces coming through. Dealing with the unexpected and unusual is part of the job description. I’ve lived among and fought alongside people from every corner of the globe, and the one thing I’ve learned is that what a person looks like doesn’t matter as much as whether you can trust them to have your back when the time comes. I’ve already figured out I can trust you with my life, so nothing else matters in my book.”

Eden blinked. She’d just dumped a whole bucket of weird crap on Travis, and all he’d done was nod and told her that he trusted her. She’d said it before, and she’d say it again. She truly had never met anyone like him.

“I do have a question, though,” he said.

“Okay. Go for it.”

“Do you really work for the Department of Homeland Security? And are there others out there like you and the big-ass wolf shifter?”

She bit her lip. “Now we’re verging into territory that I’m not free to talk about. Not because I don’t trust you, but because it involves secrets that aren’t mine to share. I can tell you I work for an organization that’s technically part of the DHS called the DCO. What the acronym stands for doesn’t really matter because it’s but buried so deep that no one except a few people even know it exists, so you’re never going to find it on any government organizational flowchart.”

He snorted. “And I thought Special Operations Command kept secrets. What kind of work do you do at the DCO? And don’t say you’re a paper pusher. I didn’t believe you when you told me that last night, and I’d believe it even less now.”

Eden finished up the last of her enchilada, then set her fork down on her empty plate and met his gaze. “I work on a team with three other agents. We specialize in providing personal protection to people who have been targeted by really bad people. Kind of like a Secret Service detail, except the people we protect rarely ever know we’re there watching over them.”

“Sounds intriguing. How long you’ve worked for the DCO?” he asked as he polished off the last of his chicken enchilada.

“About four years.” She couldn’t believe how good it felt to share something as simple as where she worked with another person. She’d kept that part of her life secret for so long, it was almost a relief to finally talk about it. “I went to college for communications and journalism and figured I’d become a reporter, but the DCO recruited me a few months before I graduated. Mom and Dad have no idea how the heck I went from a journalism major to working for what they think is the DHS, and I don’t even try to explain it.”

“Your parents and sister know you’re a shifter, right?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never told them. My sister could probably handle it okay, but my mom and dad would lose their minds. They’d probably want me to go to the hospital so some doctor could cure me.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” He frowned. “It must suck, though, keeping a secret like this from your family?”

She smiled. “You have no idea. But it helps to have special people I can share it with.”

Travis reached across the table to give her hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m glad you think I’m special enough to share your secret with.”

Eden felt tears prick her eyes and she looked away before he could see. Hot and sensitive? This guy was the total package.

“So, what did your friend say about the guys we fought in the alley?” Travis asked, changing the subject. “Any good info yet?”

Eden cleared her throat and sat back in her chair, then waited for their server to clear the table of their empty plates before relaying everything Kendra had told her.

“Wait a minute. Someone hired those guys to beat up Brandon and Tim?” Travis asks. “What the hell are they into?”

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” Eden smiled. “Want to help me investigate?”

“We’re going to snoop on your future brother-in-law?” He let out a snort. “Something tells me your sister wouldn’t be thrilled if she finds out.”

“She also won’t be thrilled if she ends up marrying a creep,” Eden pointed out. “You up for a little B&E?”

“Sure.” He grinned. “I’m on my first vacation in years. I’m up for anything.”

Eden wondered if Travis knew how suggestive that little comment was. Almost certainly. That was probably why he’d said it. She didn’t call him on it as he paid the bill, though.

“Brandon and Emily are supposed to be at the country club near the beach for most of the afternoon and evening tomorrow going over last minute details for the wedding on Saturday,” she said as Travis drove her back to her hotel. “That should give us plenty of time to check out his apartment.”

Travis nodded. “Sounds good.”

While Eden had noticed how delicious Travis smelled from the moment he tackled her in the alley last night, being in the close confines of the car with him was practically intoxicating. She loved having a keen sense of smell, but right now it was all she could do not to climb across the console, straddle his lap, and bury her nose in his neck. That definitely wouldn’t be a good idea while he was driving. So instead, she settled for opening the window a bit to let in some fresh air. It didn’t help. If anything, the ocean breeze just made his scent even stronger, and she had to fight to keep her inner feline from coming out.

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed when he pulled into the hotel parking lot. Why the heck was he having such a crazy effect on her?

She tried to calm her suddenly racing pulse as Travis came around and opened the door for her. By the time they rode up in the elevator to the fourth floor and got to her room, she was back in control. Mostly. If he noticed her hand trembling a little as she took her keycard out of her purse, he didn’t say anything.

“Thanks for taking me to dinner,” she said.

“Thanks for trusting me with your secret,” he said.

She nervously fingered the rectangular piece of plastic in her hand. “So, if my future brother-in-law turns out not to be a dirtbag, and this wedding actually happens would you like to come with me as my plus-one?”

He gave her a slow, sexy smile. “I’d love to.”

This was usually the part of the evening where she and a guy kissed good night. But with Travis, she’d like to do a lot more than kiss. Sleeping with a guy on the first date wasn’t something she did, no matter how gorgeous he was, but for Travis, she just might make an exception.

She wet her lips with her tongue, then ran it over her teeth to make sure her fangs hadn’t made an appearance without her knowing. That would be a sure way to scare a guy off, regardless of how accepting that guy seemed to be of her shifter half. And from the way Travis was gazing at her, he was definitely going to kiss her.

A door down the hallway slammed closed, pulling her out of the moment and reminding her that they weren’t alone. Travis cleared his throat.

“I should go,” he said. “I’ll be back tomorrow ready for some B&E.”

Eden could only nod, disappointed he hadn’t kissed her liked she’d hoped, and mad at herself for not being that same badass woman she’d been last night and kissed him instead of letting him walk away.

She was about to slide her keycard in the door when Travis stopped halfway down the hall and turned around. She waited for him to say something, but instead he closed the distance between them in a half dozen strides and cupped her face in one hand, then tilted her head back and covered her mouth with his.

This was the first time she’d ever kissed a man who knew what she was, and it felt extraordinary. Like she was free to finally be who she really was and not worry about holding back. So she didn’t. Instead, she let out a little sound deep in her throat that was half moan, half purr, and tangled her tongue with his.

Travis slid his hands in her long hair, kissing her so hard that she could barely breathe. Then, when she thought for sure she would pass out from lack of air, he dragged his mouth away and trailed it along the curve of her jaw to her ear.

“Your eyes are even more beautiful when they turn green,” he whispered huskily.

Eden was so high from his kisses it took her a moment to process the words. When she finally did, her eyes went wide. She hadn’t even realized she’d shifted!

Travis kissed her again, a slow, tender kiss that made her knees weak all over again. “Good night, Eden.”

Turning, he walked down the hall to the elevator, leaving her leaning against the door of her hotel room for support. Last night she’d asked him if he tackled all the women he met, or if she was special. But now she knew he was the one who was special.

Chapter Four

Travis stifled a groan at the sight of Eden’s curvy hips swaying in front of him as he followed her up the stairs to Brandon’s third-floor apartment. In addition to being supermodel gorgeous with long, silky hair and big blue eyes that turned the most brilliant green he’d ever seen when she did the whole cat-thing, she had an absolutely killer body.

He’d woken up this morning with her taste on his tongue and a hard-on in his boxer briefs that could have cut glass. Not that he was complaining. Eden Bristow was amazing. He’d kissed a few women in his time, but none had gotten to him like she did. One kiss and he’d been transported to a heaven he hadn’t even known existed. It sounded crazy, but he couldn’t think of any other way to describe the effect she had on him.

And okay, yeah he’d been a little shocked to find out she was a feline shifter. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have called bullshit. But last night he’d discovered the world was far more complicated than he’d ever thought. No way in hell did he think Eden was a freak, though. Even when the fangs and claws came out, she was beautiful. Nothing she’d told him last night changed that.

Travis was so lost in thoughts of Eden he didn’t even consider how they were going to get into Brandon’s apartment until they were at the guy’s door. He could always kick it in, but that would probably attract a lot more attention than they wanted.

He was about to ask Eden if she had any special kitty-cat skills that would get them inside when she pulled out a lock pick set and dropped to one knee in front of the door. Well, damn.

“You sure you work for the good guys?” he asked as he followed her into the apartment and quietly closed the door behind them. “Because you sure do bad really well.”

She laughed as she switched on the overhead light, illuminating the living room. “I’m sure. But thanks for the compliment.”

Travis glanced around. Other than the sweet television on the wall opposite the couch, the place could have been his old apartment. Unlike Brandon, he’d never splurged for a fancy TV because he was never home long enough to watch it. Then again, Brandon probably wasn’t, either. Navy people didn’t spend a lot of time stateside.

“What are we hoping to find?” Travis asked.

“I’m not sure,” Eden admitted. “Something that indicates why those guys went after Brandon—if he was their intended target. Just look for anything suspicious. I’ll take the bedrooms.”

Suspicious could be a very broad definition, Travis thought as he snooped around the living room. He was used to kicking in doors and taking down terrorists, not tossing an apartment. He could pass right by something important and never know it. Luckily, Brandon didn’t have a lot of places to hide stuff unless you counted the toilet bowl tank in the small bathroom off the main living area, and there wasn’t anything in there.

Wondering if Eden had better luck, Travis walked into the guest room-slash-home office. She was leaning over a laptop computer on the desk near the window.

“You said you’re good with computers, right?” she asked. “Any chance you can hack into this one?”

He grinned. Now they were talking. “There isn’t a computer around I can’t hack.”

Eden stepped aside so he could sit down, then watched as he typed in the security password a few seconds later.

“Damn,” she said. “You are good. How’d you figure out his password so fast?”

“Because his password is
password
.”

“Seriously?”

Travis chuckled. “You’d be surprised how many people use it.”

She folded her arms and leaned her hip against the desk. “Huh.”

Travis ran his finger over the touchpad, clicking on the documents folders and scanning the titles. He’d barely gotten anywhere when Eden’s phone rang. She frowned a little when she saw the name on the call screen.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s Emily.” She thumbed the button and held the phone to her ear. “Hey, what’s up?”

Whatever Emily said must have alarmed the hell out of Eden because her eyes widened as she threw a quick glance at him.

“What a coincidence,” Eden said into the phone. “I’m at a coffee shop right down the street from Brandon’s place. Why don’t I meet you in the parking lot and you can show me what you’ve come up with for the DJ’s playlist?”

Eden hung up and shoved the phone in the back pocket of her jeans. “Emily and Brandon just pulled into the parking lot. I’m going to run down there and stall them. Wrap up as fast as you can, then get out of here. I’ll meet you at the side door with the car.”

Travis opened his mouth to ask how the hell she was going to make it downstairs without them seeing her come out the front door of the apartment building, but she was already opening the sliding glass door that led out onto a balcony. He didn’t even have time to ask what the hell she was doing before she leaped over the railing.

What the hell?

He raced on to the balcony just in time to watch her hit the ground. The force of the landing dropped her to one knee, but then she was up and running for the front of the complex like she was some kind of frigging superhero.

Shit
.

Eden had forgotten to tell him about the part where she could jump off a third-floor balcony and land on her feet. Thank God it was nighttime and no one was around or she’d be on every social media site right now. Something told him she was the look-before-she-leaped type.

Travis slid the door closed, then locked it before going back over to the desk. He quickly searched through the folders, looking for anything unusual. That was hard when he didn’t have a clue what he was looking for. A picture of Eden’s future brother-in-law cheating on Emily? A file with photos of the man accepting a bribe from a Mexican drug lord?

Luckily, Brandon was organized to the anal-retentive degree. He had perfectly labeled folders for his military, medical, and tax records, his various insurance policies, personal photos, and even one for the wedding and honeymoon to Hawaii. None of it was even remotely suspicious.

Travis glanced at his watch. Two minutes left. Just enough time to check Brandon’s Internet browsing history, including the sites that couldn’t be deleted and only a hacker could find. A quick glance confirmed that Brandon was boring as hell.

Sure, he’d looked at a few porn sites—the guy wasn’t a monk—but it was dull, kink-free stuff, and there wasn’t much of it. The only other places he regularly visited were news and sports media outlets, wedding and honeymoon sites, and frequent checks to the couple’s gift registry at a fancy store. No dives into the dark web, no searches for explosives or drugs, nothing that indicated the man had ever been involved in anything that would get him beat up by hired professionals.

Travis took a quick second to skim through Brandon’s emails, too, but there was nothing of any interest in those, either. Most of it was work stuff, and the rest were lots of back and forth conversations with either Emily or Tim.

Shaking his head, Travis logged off the computer and shut it down, then did a fast circuit of the apartment to make sure everything was back in its place before he bolted for the door. He turned right going out, heading for the emergency stairwell at the end of the building instead of the main one he and Eden had used earlier. He’d just pushed open the heavy metal door at the end of the hall when he heard a man and woman in the midst of conversation at the other end of the corridor.

Eden pulled up in his rental car the moment he stepped outside. He opened the passenger door and got in as if they’d done this a hundred times.

“Anything?” she asked as she drove out of the parking lot.

He shook his head. “Nothing. As far as I can tell, your sister’s fiancé is clean. The guy barely even looks at porn, much less anything sinister on the Internet. I didn’t see anything in his email, either.”

She sighed. “That’s good, I guess.”

“But you still think Brandon’s involved in something.”

Eden chewed on her lower lip a moment before answering. “Call it feline instinct, but yeah.” She pulled into the hotel parking lot and found a space, then glanced at him. “Do you want to come in so we can regroup and figure out where to go next? Or do you have other plans?”

He grinned. “I’m all yours.”

Eden smiled back, and for a second, he thought he caught a flash of green in her eyes, but she turned away to open her door before he could be sure.

They just walked into her room when her cell phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket and held it to her ear.

“Hey, Kendra,” she said. “Hang on. I’m going to put you on speaker phone so Travis can hear, too.”

Eden thumbed the speaker button, then set her iPhone on the small, circular table to one side of the room and sat down.

“First off,” Kendra said after Eden made the introductions, “I still haven’t ID’ed the other three guys from the alley, but at least I have something to go on. We got lucky and they ran a red light a few blocks from the restaurant. The photo is pretty grainy because it’s designed to focus mostly on the license plate and not so much the occupants of the vehicle, but tech is working to clear up the picture enough to do facial recognition. I’m hoping to have something soon.”

“You’re telling me you can’t ID a six-foot-four wolf shifter without facial recognition?” Eden asked. “How many of them could there be?”

There was silence on the other end of the speaker. “Are we really going to have this conversation in front of Travis?”

Eden gave him a smile. “We are.”

More silence, then, “O-kay. Well, in that case, I’m still working through a few different angles. But the bottom line is that he’s almost certainly from outside the U.S. and he’s not in our shifter database. The only way a shifter like him can stay off our radar is if he’s actively hiding from us, probably with the help of some very powerful people.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Eden said.

“It isn’t,” Kendra agreed. “But for what it’s worth, I’m thinking Brandon wasn’t the target of that beatdown. It was Tim.”

Eden frowned. “What makes you say that?”

“Because while both guys are similar on the surface—officers at the Naval Operation Center at Norfolk with good military records—when you dig a little deeper, you realize that’s where the similarities end. Brandon is seriously squared away while Tim is broke and in debt up to his eyeballs. He’s using credit cards to pay for everything, including his other credit cards. My guess is that he either has a substance abuse issue or a gambling problem. Considering his military record is still clean, I’m leaning toward the latter. But regardless, he’s probably only a couple months away from everything blowing up in his face.”

“How the hell has he kept his security clearance if he’s in debt and has a gambling problem?” Travis asked. “Those things are red flags to the investigators when they do periodic background checks.”

“Usually they are,” Kendra agreed. “It’s probably just a matter of time until they catch him.”

Eden considered that. “If it’s gambling, do you think you can find out who his bookie is?”

“Yeah, I can probably find that out,” Kendra said. “But if it’s Tim and not Brandon, why do you care?”

“Because Brandon and Tim are best friends, and crap like this has a way of seeping into the lives of everyone around the person with the actual problem. I want to make sure none of this gets within ten miles of my sister.”

Kendra hung up a little while later, promising to find out who Tim’s bookie was—assuming they were right and he had one—then get back to them as quickly as she could.

“Since it looks like we’re on hold until Kendra comes through with some more info for us, do you want to go grab dinner?” Eden asked.

“Dinner sounds good,” he said. “But I’m fine if you want to stay here and order room service.”

Travis didn’t mind going out, but he’d much prefer to hang out with Eden alone.

She smiled. “I’ve eaten off the room-service menu a couple times already. It’s not very good.”

He didn’t really cared what they ate—or if they ate at all. He grinned. “That’s okay. The company will make up for it.”

Travis expected her to laugh at what probably sounded like a really cheesy come-on line, but instead she regarded him seriously. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

He wondered where this was going, but nodded nonetheless.

“Why aren’t you bothered by knowing what I am?” she asked quietly.

Of all the things he’d expected her to come out with, this hadn’t been one of them. “What do you mean, knowing what you are? You’re a beautiful, fearless woman who knows how to kick ass. Why would any of that bother me? Is there some other aspect to your shifter nature you haven’t told me about yet? Do you get all furry during a full moon and shed all over the couch?”

Eden laughed and shook her head. “No, I don’t get furry, thank God. And as far as other aspects of my shifter nature, you’ve seen the obvious stuff. I can run fast and jump from heights regular humans can’t. And as you’ve probably already figured out when I was fighting that other shifter, I’m pretty strong for my size.