Linda O. Johnston - Undercover Wolf

“We’ll find them and straighten out this whole mess.”

“We will,” Kristine agreed with obvious determination.

He couldn’t help it. He bent down and kissed her gently on the mouth.

Within the space of a moment, they stood still on a secluded path and he kissed her once more.

Hell, Quinn didn’t just want to share kisses with her. He wanted to touch her everywhere.

That wasn’t going to happen now. Probably wouldn’t happen ever. It shouldn’t happen.

Reluctantly, he pulled back. “Guess that was for luck,” he said, making a joke of it.

“Yours or mine?”

“Both.”

Dear Reader,

Even honeymooning members of Alpha Force can get into trouble, and it takes both family and friends—shapeshifters or not—to help them out.

In Undercover Wolf , the protagonists of the preceding Alpha Force story, Lt. Grace Andreas Parran and her new husband, Lt. Simon Parran, have gone missing on their honeymoon. Simon’s brother, Lt. Quinn Parran, and Staff Sergeant Kristine Norwood, Grace’s Alpha Force aide and good friend, go undercover, unofficially and against orders, to find them. It’s hard enough ignoring their own growing attraction but their undercover identities require that they pretend to be honeymooners! Kristine must also act as Quinn’s aide for shifting into wolf form, which means she keeps seeing him naked!

I had great fun writing Undercover Wolf , the fourth novel about Alpha Force—a highly covert military unit partly comprised of shapeshifters. I hope you enjoy the story.

Please come visit me at my website, www.LindaOJohnston.com, and at my blog: http://KillerHobbies.blogspot.com. And, yes, I’m on Facebook, too.

Linda O. Johnston

LINDA O. JOHNSTONloves to write. More than one genre at a time? That’s part of the fun. While honing her writing skills, she started working in advertising and public relations, then became a lawyer … and still enjoys writing contracts. Linda’s first published fiction novel appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won a Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. It was the beginning of her versatile fiction-writing career. Linda now spends most of her time creating memorable tales of paranormal romance and mystery.

Linda lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and two Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Visit her at her website, www.LindaOJohnston.com.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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I’ve been visiting a number of national parks lately and enjoying them immensely. Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor, Maine, has been one of my favorites, so I had to set a story there. But as always, I have invoked poetic license—this time to make sure those who investigate the fictional crime that happens there handle it the way I want them to, not necessarily as real law enforcement folks might operate. But real law enforcement folks might find problems with having Alpha Force members shapeshift in their jurisdiction!

Those who read my books will expect that this one, too, is dedicated to my husband, Fred, who enjoys travel even more than I do and has fun visiting national parks.

Why do I feel so unnerved?

It wasn’t as if Staff Sgt. Kristine Norwood hadn’t seen a lot of naked male bodies during her years as a nurse, before she’d become a member of the covert military unit Alpha Force.

Maybe it was because she had foolishly allowed herself to notice exactly how good-looking and sexy her new but temporary superior officer, Lt. Quinn Parran, was when they’d first been introduced a few days ago.

They had just reached the test mission’s planned location—a woodsy area at the far end of Ft. Lukman, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Clad in her usual camo uniform and boots, Kristine had hurried in this direction with her heavy backpack over her shoulders. She stopped now and could sense the presence of the man who had kept up with her along the path through the most remote area of the military base where Alpha Force was headquartered.

She ignored that niggling uneasiness, embarrassment—and something she didn’t even want to think about, lust—as she turned toward him.

“This the place?” He glanced around at the pin oak trees looming around them.

“Yes, sir.”

She caught the sardonic raise of his dark brows over his golden-brown eyes.

“Stop calling me ‘sir,’” he said. “You called me Quinn when we were introduced at Simon’s wedding.”

“Yes, sir, but we weren’t on an official exercise then.” And she hadn’t felt so uneasy at the wedding of her regular superior officer, Lt. Grace Andreas, to Quinn’s brother Lt. Simon Parran, who had also just recently joined Alpha Force. Kristine had been maid of honor and Quinn was best man.

He had undoubtedly been the best- looking man there.

Grace and Simon were on their honeymoon now, which was why Kristine and Quinn were temporarily assigned to work together.

He was right, though. She usually called other Alpha Force members by their first names from the time she met them, no matter what their rank. She was friendly enough with Grace and others to joke around with them. But this was different. Way different.

“You want to play military?” he asked. Hell, they were military, even if he chafed at it. “Here’s my next order, Kristine. Stop considering this an official exercise.”

Kristine couldn’t help herself. She smiled both at his words and at his exasperated expression. His military haircut hadn’t compelled him to do a great job of shaving, and the hint of dark stubble on his face emphasized the razor-sharpness of his cheekbones. She ignored the sexiness of the look and how it caused her insides to churn and simmer, and responded, “Can’t do that, sir. But I’ll call you Quinn.”

“But this is only quasi-official.” What, did the guy just love to argue, or was he serious? “It’s a test, both for me and your oh-so-secret military unit. Our military unit.” He’d obviously seen her scowl and was reacting to it. That was a good thing. “We both want to see how I do during my first time using the Alpha Force elixir that my brother Simon has described so glowingly to me. He wants to know, too.”

Quinn was a new recruit. He had obtained his rank because of what he was, not because of training or achievement. At least not yet. And so far, Kristine’s impression was that he had joined the military not because he wanted to—as she had—but for some very unusual benefits he would not have received otherwise.

Like this—using the elixir.

He obviously had some issues with it all, though. She, on the other hand, was perfectly happy following military protocols … most of the time. Tonight, though—well, she would obey orders notwithstanding how uncomfortable she was.