Bonnie Vanak - The Covert Wolf

Sexual awareness flared between them. For a long moment his gaze locked on to hers, the blueness of his eyes smoldering with heat. He looked at her not as an annoying Fae, but as a female. A very desirable female. Just as quickly, he released her hand. He turned with a menacing scowl toward the chief petty officer.

“What the hell were you thinking? No, wait, you weren’t. Because you’re always about trying to get into a female’s pants. You didn’t sweep her for bugs, and look what happened.”

Low and deep, his voice proved more dangerous than if he’d shouted. Shaymore’s expression went flat. He stiffened.

“I’m sorry, sir. I got distracted.”

Matt got in his face. “You’re a fine operator, Shay, but you let a pretty face get to you and you’re not only burning yourself, you’re burning us. Think next time.”

Lieutenant Commander Curtis looked concerned. “Are you all right, Miss McClare?”

She nodded. So formal, his concern was courteous, not the simmering emotion she’d sensed from Lieutenant Parker. Matthew. Matt. She said his name to herself silently.

Pairing with this sexy, lethal Draicon could prove dangerous. Those steely blue eyes promised heat, and could peel back all her defenses, leaving her bare and exposed.

Sienna shuddered. Yet she needed Lieutenant Parker’s help if she were to recover the Orb of Light.

Sienna was serious, but spunky, Matt thought as reluctant admiration filled him for the Fae who rode silently beside him. Her gaze was focused on the smokestacks, traffic and lead-gray sky that blurred past them.

Her long, dark hair spilled over slender shoulders. They’d burned her clothing and Matt had bought her new clothes, just in case they missed any stray hitchhiker worms.

But the crisp new jeans hugged her body and the mulberry sweater was too tight. He tried to keep his focus on the road, but hell, he was male. Couldn’t resist a peek at those long legs. She stood around five foot seven, petite for a Seelie Fae, with generous female curves. As formal and brisk as his examination had been, it had been torture. A man could cup her breasts in his palms, feel her soft and silky body beneath him, those long legs tangling with his as he …

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?”