Chosen By the Pack

2

JASPER’S POV

My nose took everything in––sniffing around to take in my surroundings. My wolf eyes worked just fine, thank you very much, but my animal nose was on fire. It could tell me so much more than any of my other senses ever could. My nose could sense what was going on for miles around me. It kept me safe.

Perhaps that was why I was more comfortable in my wolf form; running on four paws came much more naturally to me than being on two feet. Maybe because I could just be, I could just exist as myself. Nothing was expected of me at all. When I was a human, there were a lot of expectations resting on my shoulders.

Right now, my nose couldn't smell anything that I needed to worry about. There was no danger in the area, no one looming about that would threaten the security of the new safe house that me and the guys had been sent to protect. My job at RedEye was something I took very seriously. Truth be told, once I left my military position, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. I felt a little lost; like I'd lost a lot of my identity.

But then, Phoenix, my buddy from the force, who I'd always held in high regard and had a lot of respect for, contacted me and asked me if I wanted to work for Stark. It was a no brainer. I accepted immediately, grateful that there was another position out there in the world where wolf shifters like me could make use of our talents. I could be useful; protected those who needed to be protected...

Mmm, I couldn't think about protection without immediately thinking about the woman we were looking after right now. Another ex-military member who was an unfortunate part of Project Hammond. Stark didn't want anyone else to be targeted by the Russians, and he certainly didn't want Billie Steel injured.

The moment I saw a photograph of Billie Steel, my heart damn near stopped beating. The five-foot-six woman with gorgeous caramel-colored skin, freckles for days across her face and chest, and golden irises that burned into my soul. Even through the picture, something stirred within me. I was shaken and stirred all at once, it was intense. Never had I ever felt like that before in my life. Never had any woman gotten under my skin in that manner. It was crazy. I was losing my mind over her.

I didn't quite know how I was going to face her when she arrived. Billie Steel might think I was a weirdo for being head over heels with her before I'd even met her, and the last thing I wanted to do was creep her out. It wasn't even like I was a creepy guy, there was just something about her. She did something to me, she just made me feel more me than I ever had before. My God how was I going to feel when I actually saw her in person?

But it wasn't just her glorious good looks that I kept thinking about endlessly––her achievements and personality drew me in. She was cool, with skills, she was fun loving and ambitious, passionate as well. I couldn't wait to have a conversation with her, to get to know her better.

Oh shit.All of a sudden, I realized that I was getting aroused. That feeling was so much more animalistic and intense when I was in my wolf form. I could not be that guy getting all turned on by the thought of finding myself alone with the mysterious Billie Steel. By the concept of her coming towards me, cupping my cheeks in her hands, kissing me deeply and passionately, her hands all over me.

Ooh she was a fiery woman! I could just feel it in my bones, and that was too much for me. I needed that in my life, I just couldn't help myself. What was wrong with me? I needed to shake this off before everyone turned up.

I raced around the perimeter, one last time, to be sure that there was no one else around, nothing I needed to worry about, before it was time to get inside... although something stopped me. Something stopped me from shaking off my wolf self so I could turn into my human form. I guess even if I was getting aroused, and it would be easier for me to control the desire once I was human once more, I just wasn't quite ready yet. I needed just a bit more time in this form.

Soon,I thought to myself as I dove back into the dense brush surrounding this Denver safe house. Stark had done well finding a place that no one would ever find in this midst of this thick forestry and overarching trees, with no sign of civilization for miles around. Billie would surely feel safe here. Soon I will shift.

I would know when the moment was right. I would just know. I always did. If there was one thing that I could trust about myself, it was my gut.

The ambiance around here felt good, but I was utterly determined to make it the best that it could be. I was also aware that Billie's young son, Joey, would be coming along as well. I didn't know if the Russians would leave the boy alone, but judging by the terrible things they had done to other military men and women, the gory deaths they'd made them suffer, I wouldn't put anything passed them. However, no one was going to get to anyone while they were with us. The RedEye team would never let anyone be harmed. Stark would do everything he could to keep us informed about what was going on, and who was behind this, so we could do our jobs, which was why I loved working for him.

What was that?I sniffed a little harder as something new infiltrated my nostrils. It was a smell that I recognized... or at least part of it was. Grant and Phoenix, I knew them very well. But there was more. Two more sweet scents, one that was feminine and all too arousing. She was here, I just knew it. My heart started to pound so hard it absolutely thundered against my rib cage. I kinda feared that it might break free. I'd been trying to gear myself up for this moment all day long, but nothing could prepare me for this. My head was spinning, my breaths were zipping in all sharp and ragged; I was a mess, all torn up for this woman.

Don't do this,I told myself fiercely. Don't fuck up your first impression.

First impressions were so important, that had always been drilled into me ever since I was a young pup, and that felt incredibly important right now. I needed to shake everything off, starting with my wolf form. Much as someone like Billie would, of course, have experience with wolf shifters, especially because she had been in the military, I didn't think it would be a good idea for me to meet Billie as a wolf.

Even if nothing was going to ever happen between me and Billie, which of course it wasn't because she was a client and I was one of the security guards, I still didn't want to mess up my very first meeting with her, I couldn't.

I twisted my body around, bursting out of my fur, and surged into my human body. I walked towards the smell just as the truck and motorcycle drove through the secret hideaway. The smell became stronger, making it harder to calm my racing heart as I stood up as tall as I could.

"It's going to be fine," I whispered to myself. "It will… just be cool. Yeah, cool."

Then again, being cool wasn't something I was capable of. Not really. Especially with my hands all curled up into fists by my side. I squeezed my fists even tighter when they came to a stop in front of the house––nerves absolutely zig zagged inside me, but I tried to keep my head held high.

Phoenix stepped off his Harley and waved to me as he slipped off his helmet, that warm inviting smile spread across his face. If only that was enough to calm me down. I did just about manage to wave back though, which I hoped was a good start to me behaving like a normal person in front of Billie.

"Ah, Jasper, you're here." Grant slid out the truck first, but I could hardly even see him. My gaze was fixed on the person behind him. The beautiful woman coming to life from the photos at last. "I take it you've been scouting the area?"

I nodded. "Uh huh, yeah. Everything looks real good."

Fuck, the reaction within me was instant. If I thought that I liked Billie from her picture, it was nothing compared to the way I felt about her in real life. Wow, she was stunning. Mind blowingly beautiful. I could not catch my breath.

I fell back a little and pointed towards the safe house. Shit, this was even harder than I thought it was going to be––I wasn’t sure how I was going to be around her without losing my mind. I was practically trembling with desire.

"Come on then, Joey," she said, talking to her son. He was sleeping, poor kid was likely absolutely exhausted, but Billie was trying her hardest to wake him up to get him inside. "Come on, baby boy. We need to get inside. There's a bed."

"I'll carry him," Grant offered, immediately making me cringe. I should have been the one to carry him, rather than just standing here like an idiot.

I fell back a little more and continued to watch intently as Billie handed Joey over to Grant. I could immediately see how much she cared for her son, how much she loved him and was terrified for him. She was likely running away to protect him more than herself, wasn't she? Which was admirable. I felt yet another surge of determination flood through my body, we had to look after this family.

"Is there a bed inside for him?" Billie checked. Grant nodded. "Okay, and is it somewhere safe? Somewhere no one will be able to get to him."

Ah, so it didn't matter to Billie how far away from civilization we were. She still wasn't going to let her guard down and relax. That was a true military attitude, wasn't it? I knew that I would be the same if I was in her position––especially if I had a child to care for and look after.

"He's going to be absolutely fine, don't you worry about that."

At that moment, Billie seemed to sense my eyes on her. She twisted around to stare right back at me with confusion in her eyes. But she didn't hate me staring at her, she was intrigued by me. I felt it, deep within me, deep within my bones.

She parted her lips a little, about to say something to me, but she seemed to think better of it at the last minute. Instead, she glanced away, towards the safe house. Before walking towards it though, she did shoot me one last little look.

Was there promise in that look? A feeling that she was just as fascinated by me? I guess only time would tell. Much as I didn't think getting involved with clients was a good idea, I knew in a heart beat I would break all my rules for Billie.

I remained at the back of the crowd as we walked towards the house. I couldn't stop myself from admiring Billie's curvaceous body, the shape of her ass, even the way that she carried herself. Everything about her was just magnetic.

"Hey, hey, guys!" Cody swanned into the safe house with a smirk playing on his lips. "Good to see you all again. Especially you, Billie."

It was as if someone had sucked the air right out of the room. I didn't know what it was exactly, but there was some past connection between Cody and Billie which immediately became all too apparent. He hadn't told us anything about that before, so who knew what the hell it was, but it felt... off. I couldn't put my finger on it, even as I darted my eyes frantically between them both.

Ohh, there is something there.

"Cody," Billie practically whispered, the color absolutely draining from her face. "I... I didn't know that you were going to be here. Mind you, I didn't know I was going to be here." She chuckled awkwardly, but the pain was evident in her throat. "I was supposed to be on my own journey, but I got accosted."

Cody tossed his head back and laughed. "Yeah, I told Grant and Phoenix to get you that way, or you wouldn't have come. Reasonable conversations have never exactly worked out for you, have they?" He cocked a knowing eyebrow. "As we both know."

What the hell was this? I so desperately wanted to dive into the middle of this conversation, to demand more details, but it wasn't my place to. This was exactly why I found it easier to be my wolf self, none of this human nuance.

Now all I could do was hope that they argued it out and I could find out everything. Was that awful of me? To want them to fight?

It didn't matter really, because it seemed like they weren't going to get past this awkward thick tension anyway. No one was saying a damn word.

"Right, I'm going to get Joey into bed," Grant declared in a voice that was a little too loud. It was clear he wanted to shatter the tension as well. "Then maybe we can have a meeting and work out how all of this is going to go."

"Yeah," Phoenix agreed. "Because Stark has given us a lot of instructions so we might all want to get to grips with them, then we can know where we stand, what needs to be done etc."

Cody shrugged, that smirk remaining on his face. "Sounds good to me."

It appeared to me like he was bursting at the seams, desperate to spill everything out, but he was waiting impatiently for Billie to spark it. He wanted her to speak first, then if it did turn into an argument, he could blame her.

But she didn't. Billie stared at Cody defiantly, before following Grant and her son to Joey's bedroom to help put him to sleep. Cody wasn't sticking around either, to speak to me and Phoenix. He muttered something under his breath about doing a final check of the area to make sure we were all safe before we had the meeting.

"What was that about?" I gasped to Phoenix. "That was a bit intense."

"Cody and Billie worked in the same division for a while," Phoenix replied with an easy breezy shrug as if the information was a simple fact, not something that was making my head spin like crazy. How did I not know this before? "So I guess it makes sense that they know one another."

"How long did they work together? How close were they?"

Phoenix stared at me with well-deserved confusion. Yeah, that was a bit much, wasn't it? I went a bit overboard. It was almost like I was jealous or something...

The weird thing was I didn't actually have that sensation of jealousy. Of course I wished that it was I who knew Billie from before––I ached to have that prior connection with her so it would give me something to build on, but it wasn't jealousy as such. It was just a little odd.

I pressed my hand to my stomach, pushing the weird flappy butterfly feelings away––not that doing that helped anyway. I wasn't comfortable with any of this.

"I don't know much." Phoenix eventually shrugged. "I guess we're going to find out over time, right? Unless there isn't much to know. I don't know, maybe they barely even talked to one another. I've worked with lots of people who I haven't ever really gotten to know, and I'm sure you have done the same thing. Maybe there is nothing, you know? I mean, neither of them revealed anything, so..."

I narrowed my eyes at him. There was definitely more to know, I could sense it. I was pretty sure that he knew it as well. But whatever, we would have to let it go. We were just going to focus on the job at hand, and do the jobs we were hired to do––protect Billie and her son from impending danger.

"Okay, so a meeting... we're going to have a meeting," I continued instead. "Let's just concentrate on that instead." I shook my head, trying to rid my brain of any thoughts related to Billie. "Work out how we're going to keep Billie and Joey safe from the Russians. With Stark's rules. Right."

I knew I was just parroting what had been said beforehand, but Phoenix related when I latched onto this. I guess it was easier for him to talk to me about the meeting rather than the weird connection and tension between Cody and Billie.

I guess if I wanted to find out the truth from someone, it would have to either be Cody or Billie. Urgh, I didn't relish the idea of talking to either of them about this.

Cody returned to the living room with a bunch of mugs in his hand, the hot drinks that he'd promised only a moment before, and he took a seat on the couch. That smug smile was still very much there on his lips, the twinkle in his eyes.

Cody looked like a man who had a secret, and it drove me crazy. I just wanted to pull it from his brain. What was wrong with me?

Yeah, there was more. There was no way Billie and Cody barely knew one another. Hmm, this was really suspicious. If I wasn't so intrigued, I would have wanted to shift into my wolf form once more and run at the speed of light. But curiosity had gotten the better of me. I had to stick around and find out what exactly was going on.