Buch lesen: «Visionary Wolf»

Chapter 1

Good thing he was at Ft. Lukman, Lieutenant Liam Corland thought. At any other military facility, he would never feel comfortable walking calmly with his dog, Chase, across the nearly empty grounds, in his casual camo uniform, later in the morning than he should be reporting for duty. In fact, he wouldn’t feel comfortable working at any other military facility, period.

But this was where Alpha Force was stationed. He had just left his apartment in the bachelor officers’ quarters. Now he headed toward the building across the compound that contained so many important functions—mainly laboratory, cover dog kennel and offices, including his own.

Sure, he should have started his important assignment of this day an hour ago, so he didn’t want to make his lateness too obvious. He avoided the most used pathways, hustling along behind buildings occupied by units other than Alpha Force. Chase and he would be picked up on security cameras when they sneaked in through a back door of the appropriate building, but no one would do anything about it, since they belonged there. Besides, he had a good excuse, and he probably wasn’t the only one who slept in a bit. Not that he had gotten much sleep anyway.

There had been a full moon last night. He had shifted, of course—pretty much on his own terms, thanks to Alpha Force.

And thanks also to the help of his aide, Sergeant Denny Orringer, who now waited for him in the kennel and lab building. Covering for him, if necessary.

He’d talked to Denny earlier, and—

There. Chase and he had reached the back of that building, near the doors leading into the kennel area. The shapeshifters’ cover dogs like Chase were kept there frequently, along with other dogs that helped this military base look like it had a lot of well-trained canines living here all the time.

Of course Alpha Force members who had cover dogs also kept them with them a lot as well, both at Ft. Lukman and when they were traveling—as long as there were some living here, too, to keep up appearances.

Liam, a tech expert, used the key card he had programmed himself to open the back door. He slipped in and enclosed Chase in one of several fenced areas, joining three dogs that resembled him.

Of course, Chase looked wolfen, resembling Liam himself while he was shifted...

“See you later, guy,” Liam whispered to his canine companion, who was already being greeted by his fellows.

Heading for the stairway down to the most important floor of the building, which contained offices and the laboratories where the very special Alpha Force elixir was brewed, Liam walked slowly, figuring he was likely to run into someone else dressed like him.

But fortunately, he saw no one—so no one saw him, either, as he again used a key card to open a door, this time to the stairs.

He heard raised voices from down the hall when he slipped carefully into his own office. They sounded excited. With his special senses, even when he was in human form, he could easily have eavesdropped had he wanted to.

But what he wanted was to get to work.

First, though, he shot a quick text message to Denny to let him know where he was. Then he booted up his computer, a highly sophisticated desktop that was the epitome of today’s technology.

A good thing, since it was used for such a critical purpose.

His phone made a text ping. Denny was probably just acknowledging what Liam had sent. He’d check it later.

A sudden urge for a cup of coffee shot through Liam but he ignored it. He’d get one later when he went to the meeting, but right now he needed to check his usual social media and other sources.

His job at the moment? Look for any and all mentions online of people claiming to have seen shapeshifters last night, in this area first of all, then other locales in this country and the world where Alpha Force members were stationed. And, finally, everywhere else.

He’d undoubtedly find some mentions. Perhaps a lot. He always did, and most appeared to come from people who loved what they considered paranormal—fiction lovers who wanted to see if others, unlike them, had spotted shifters during a night of a full moon. They were easy to deal with.

But Liam needed to deal with the reality of those who didn’t have the kinds of backgrounds to have been introduced to Alpha Force and what it did, but had caught glimpses of possible Alpha Force shifters on that night of the full moon—or claimed to.

Liam had to find their posts, then kid around online. Make them look foolish to the rest of the world, and maybe even to themselves.

That was one of the things Liam, vying, at least in his mind, for tech champion of the universe, did best. But he wasn’t a geek. Oh, no. He loved being a member of the military. Of Alpha Force. He both looked and acted the part.

Except at the computer.

Using one of his many false identities, he logged on to a favorite social media site—and gasped. “No!” he exclaimed aloud.

He read the post more carefully, then jumped onto several other sites—and got the same results.

Existence of a strange military unit of shapeshifters was mentioned more than once on this day after a night of a full moon. That wasn’t unusual.

But claims of damage, destruction—and injuries to real people? The extent of what was described on so many sites was horrific.

And did not bode well at all for Liam’s vision of shifters’ acceptance someday by other people. Those lies were more of the reality now, though.

“I need to let the others know.” Liam was barely aware he was talking aloud. He picked up his phone, then realized this was critical enough that he wanted to tell his superiors in person. One in particular—Major Drew Connell, their commanding officer who had begun Alpha Force and remained in charge.

Drew’s office was on the opposite side of this floor, past the lab areas, and Liam immediately headed there. If he hadn’t had this important assignment, that was where he would have gone first, since nearly all Alpha Force members present on the base attended informal meetings in Drew’s office the morning after a night of a full moon. Liam would have headed there eventually anyway to let the others know what he found.

But with these horrible allegations... Liam had to let his unit members know right away. Then he had to dig further online to learn their truth—or, hopefully, not.

If not, though, how had so many unheard of references and accusations been put out there?

He put his computer to sleep, then hurried out his office door, down the halls whose plainness would never suggest the amazing things that went on in the laboratories beyond them, to another hall lined with closed doors. The last one was to Drew’s office.

Without knocking, Liam burst in, expecting to see Drew there holding court with the other shifters and their aides.

But though the room looked busy, he didn’t see that officer in charge. Nor did he see Captain Jonas Truro, Drew’s close friend and aide, a medical doctor like Drew, but, unlike him, not a shifter.

That was strange for a post–full moon meeting in Drew’s office. Did they know what Liam had learned online? Were they trying to deal with it themselves?

But Liam might just be allowing his own angst over what he’d seen on the computer to lead him to false conclusions. Drew and Jonas could be down the hall in the restroom. Or checking something in the lab. Or—

“Oh, there you are, Liam.” Denny, in a folding chair near the doorway of the small, crowded office, stood and looked at him. “I’m glad you read my text.” Which Liam didn’t always do quickly, and he wasn’t about to tell his aide he hadn’t this time, either. Denny was younger and shorter than Liam, and he had a slight growth of facial hair. Liam kept his own dark hair closely shaved—when he was in human form.

He wondered what Denny had said in that text, but he wasn’t about to check now.

“Come in, Liam,” Captain Patrick Worley said, also standing. He was tall, dressed in camos like the rest, and the expression on his face looked grim. Had he heard about what the Alpha Force shifters were alleged to have done?

Had Alpha Force shifters actually done any of it? Any of them in this room?

“Glad you’re here,” Patrick continued. “Have you checked out any online references to shifters yet?”

“Yes, and—”

But Patrick didn’t let him finish. “Good. We’ll want to hear about it. But first there’s something you need to know that we’ve been discussing. Something bad.”

Liam swallowed hard. “I definitely want to hear about it.” Hopefully, none of it was true and he could find a way to calm all the comments that had shown up online. Or—

“It’s about Major Connell,” Patrick said. “Something went wrong with Drew’s shift. Really wrong. He hasn’t shifted back from wolf form yet, and he’s not doing well. Right now, Jonas is with him at the veterinary clinic in Mary Glen. Drew is being cared for by Melanie.”

Drew’s wife, a veterinarian. Not a medical doctor.

This was definitely bad. Very bad. Certainly more important than the false claims Liam had seen online.

What was Alpha Force going to do?

“How is Drew now?” demanded Dr. Melanie Harding Connell. Dr. Rosa Jontay’s boss faced her at the back of the Mary Glen Veterinary Clinic’s main hallway, arms crossed, head tilted.

Rosa understood her concern, of course. Major Drew Connell wasn’t just the head of that highly special military unit known as Alpha Force. He was also Melanie’s husband. Father of her adorable four-year-old daughter, Emily, and two-year-old son, Andy.

“He seems tired,” Rosa said softly, looking into Melanie’s sad but pretty blue eyes. “I just came out of the room for a short break and to get coffee, but I’ll be heading back in there soon. Jonas is still with him.”

That was Captain Jonas Truro, also part of Alpha Force, and from what Rosa understood Jonas was additionally a medical doctor—and Drew’s aide when he shifted. She had seen him a few times in the year or so she had been here, but, as with most of the Alpha Force members, she didn’t know him well. Jonas had apparently been hanging out with his superior officer earlier that night—and later.

“Thank you. And thank Jonas.” Melanie also seemed tired. Stressed. But that wasn’t surprising.

As the only veterinarians at the clinic, they both wore white lab coats. Rosa was the taller one. They both had brown hair pulled up in back by clips, with Melanie’s darker than hers.

Not that she was comparing herself to Melanie, Rosa thought. She considered them both exceptional vets, and that was what really mattered.

But she did wonder what it was like to have as strange a relationship as the one between Melanie and Drew. Committed and deeply caring—but yes, strange, since Drew was a shapeshifter.

“Everything okay with the rest of the clinic?” she asked Melanie. “Do you need me for anything else?”

“Fortunately, we’re not very busy today. What I need you to do is—”

“I’m going back into that examination room right now,” Rosa finished. “But with this kind of situation...it’s so different, and other than to keep an eye on him I’m not sure what to do.”

“That’s all I want you to do. Having Jonas there helps, but the kind of medical assistance Drew might need now—”

“Is veterinary. Right. I understand.”

The door to the reception area down the hall opened, and the senior receptionist, Susie Damon, came out and looked toward them. “Our eleven o’clock Yorkie appointment is here for an exam and shots,” she called. “Okay to bring him in?”

“Fine,” Melanie responded. “I’ll be right there.”

Melanie was handling all the cases that came in, for now at least. She was clearly upset, and Rosa assumed she feared breaking down if she was the vet to spend time with Drew.

And that might make things worse with him.

Melanie looked back toward Rosa. “Just so you know, I did get a call a few minutes ago. So far...well, I gather there are no more answers from Ft. Lukman yet, but one of the Alpha Force members is on his way to relieve Jonas. Maybe whoever that is can shed some more light on what’s going on there, and when...”

She didn’t have to finish. Especially not with the newest look of pain that flashed across her face.

“That’s fine,” Rosa said. “I’ll still hang out with Drew, but I’ll also see what I can learn from whoever that is and report to you if it...if there’s any indication of what they’re doing and how long it will take.”

“Great. And maybe Jonas can help more by doing something at the base. I’ll check back with you soon.” Melanie headed down the hall toward the reception area as Susie led the tiny Yorkshire terrier and his not-so-tiny owner toward one of the closest exam rooms.

Which left Rosa to go grab two cups of coffee from the break room at the end of the hall and take them with her to another exam room, the one where Drew had been brought by Jonas and Melanie early that morning, before anyone else had arrived—but after dawn had broken.

Rosa looked around the hallway once more, but it was empty. Then she slipped into the room.

It was a fairly ordinary exam room for a veterinary clinic, with the back wall covered by a cabinet containing shelves for supplies like bandages, exam gloves and disinfectant, and a sink in the middle for washing hands and more. There was a closed trash can nearby, and a couple chairs sat along the outer wall. In the middle was a substantial metal table.

One of the chairs was occupied by Jonas, who stood when she entered. He was a large guy, dark-complected and dressed in a camouflage uniform. He was around her own age of thirty, she figured.

“Here’s some coffee.” Rosa handed him one of the cups.

“Thanks,” he said as he accepted it.

Rosa turned then. On the table with legs adjusted to keep it close to the floor lay a large canine that resembled a wolf. And he was a wolf—of sorts.

That canine was Major Drew Connell of nearby Alpha Force, its lead officer, from what Rosa had heard.

She had also heard that Alpha Force was a highly covert military unit of shapeshifters, which was fascinating to her. There had been a full moon last night, and Drew had shifted into his wolf form. But he hadn’t shifted back at dawn or beyond.

He’d been home when the sun rose, and the Connells’ home was next door to the vet clinic. Melanie had brought him here after taking their daughter to preschool and making sure the sitter was there for their son. Rosa could only guess what Mommy had said to their kids about where Daddy was, and about the wolf in their house.

Or maybe the kids were shifters, too...

Melanie had also called Jonas, who had arrived at the clinic even before Drew and had stayed with him, along with Rosa, from early morning. It was around ten o’clock now.

Rosa realized she had been standing in the doorway after closing the door behind her. The wolf on the table hadn’t moved—before. Now, he made a soft growling sound and, moving slowly, carefully along the towels that had been secured around the metal top, repositioned himself into a canine sit. His fur was long, an almost silvery brown, with patches of darker coloration. His eyes were amber, and he seemed to stare at her over his long, pointed muzzle.

“It’s okay, Drew,” Jonas said. “It’s just Rosa.”

In his current situation, Drew looked a lot like Grunge, a wolflike shepherd-malamute combination that Rosa had been informed was his cover dog. That meant, she’d been told, that Grunge could be pointed out to people as Drew’s pet, the canine they supposedly saw when he was changed, not him. She assumed Grunge was hidden at home at the moment, or maybe at the base.

“Hi, Drew,” she said. “How are you feeling now?”

He couldn’t answer by speaking to her, of course. But from what Melanie had told her, the members of Alpha Force took some kind of medicine—an elixir, they called it—before they shifted that helped them keep their human cognition. He most likely understood what she said.

But they also were supposed to turn back into human form once daylight began after a night of a full moon, unless they had drunk that elixir and chose not to shift back then. She gathered that Drew hadn’t chosen to stay a wolf when daylight arrived that morning, but still hadn’t regained his human form. And judging by the reactions of Melanie and Jonas, that wasn’t good.

He apparently did understand her, though. Maybe. But he aimed his gaze down at the table and shook his head slowly, as if communicating to her that he wasn’t feeling well.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

And she was. The fact that she had known about shapeshifters, and had, in fact, helped to treat some shifted wolves and other creatures at her home in Michigan, had been the main reason Melanie had hired her here. Apparently the shifter community kept in touch with each other, or at least some did, and Melanie had been hunting for someone like her. And Rosa had been thrilled by the offer of this kind of job.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked, not for the first time, looking from Drew to Jonas and back again. She had sat in here with the two of them pretty much since she had arrived at work that day. Melanie had tearfully explained the situation, including her request that Rosa stay with Drew and make sure he wasn’t suffering.

Or, even better, report to Melanie when he finally started to shift back to human form.

But that hadn’t happened. Not yet, at least.

Right now, Drew didn’t even look at her, let alone attempt to communicate something he wanted her to do. Jonas didn’t offer any suggestions, either.

“Would you like some water?” she asked Drew.

He looked at her and nodded, so she removed a clean metal bowl from the sink, filled it partway and placed it on the table in front of him. He lapped up maybe half of it.

A knock sounded on the exam room door.

Rosa glanced at Drew, who was once more lying on the towel-covered table, head between his paws in a fully canine position, the bowl off to his side.

“Come in,” she called.

The door opened and Susie popped her head in. “There’s a guy here from Ft. Lukman who says he’s come to help out.”

To take over for Jonas, Rosa assumed, from what Melanie had said before.

She figured that Susie and the others who worked here had some knowledge of the ties Melanie and her husband had to Ft. Lukman, and probably even knew there were shapeshifters there—and possibly that Drew was one of them.

But they’d also been instructed to remain totally discreet, even among themselves. To Rosa’s knowledge, they never talked about it—or at least they’d never done so around her.

“Thanks, Susie. Let him in.”

In a moment, a tall guy dressed in a camouflage shirt and slacks like Jonas entered the room, and Susie shut the door behind him.

Jonas rose again. “Liam,” he said. “Glad you’re here.” He turned to Rosa. “This is Dr. Jontay, one of the vets here. Rosa, that’s Lieutenant Liam Corland.”

“Hi, Dr. Jontay,” the guy said in a deep, masculine voice. He held out his hand and gave hers a quick, substantial shake. The contact made her feel fully aware of this man’s presence. He was wide shouldered, and his face was angular—and gorgeous. His hair was black and military short. Dark brown eyes looked straight into hers, but only for a moment.

“Hello, Lieutenant Corland,” she said as matter-of-factly as she could manage, considering how oddly her mind was reacting to this guy.

“Liam,” he gently corrected, making Rosa regret she hadn’t done the same. He turned to Jonas. “I’m assigned to relieve you here.”

“Got it. Thanks. I’ll run now, and keep you informed about how things go at the base.” Jonas bent toward Drew, who was sitting up once more on the table, and said something into his ear, which twitched canine style. Then he exited the room.

“Well,” Rosa said, not exactly sure how to handle this. What was this Liam going to do here?

As if she had spoken aloud, he looked her directly in the eyes once more. “Do you know and understand the full situation?” His tone was demanding. She didn’t like it, but she did understand.

“Yes, I think so,” she said. Then, more brazenly, “Do you?”

“Of course. I’m a member of Alpha Force, too. One of its...special members.” Again, he caught her gaze, as if attempting to ensure she knew what that meant.

“Then you’re like...” She tilted her head toward the table, where the canine Drew remained seated, clearly watching them and presumably understanding. “Like Drew,” she finished.

“That’s right. I’m here to help Drew out as much as possible from the...from the military angle. Watch over him while members of our unit try to figure out how to help him in their way.” Something to do with that elixir that helped shifters? Something else? Maybe she would find out more. “And discuss if you think there’s any veterinary way to help him...help him get over his current condition.”

“I see.” This seemed so odd—and yet, since Rosa had grown up with both real wolves and shifters in her area, she could deal with it. Right?

Of course. But the part of all this that made her somehow feel worse at this moment was that she couldn’t help focusing on how this Liam had admitted to her right away what he was.

And she felt terrible to think that this gorgeous hunk of a military man was also a shapeshifter.