Wolf Six's Salvation

"Considering you were the only person to see me?" She paused for a moment, remembering the very vivid dream from this morning that had her wishing he would come looking, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. "What are you going to do to me?"

The corners of Jackson's mouth turned up slightly, but he ignored the possible innuendo. "Depends."

"Depends? That's not exactly very military or by the book sounding," she said, trying not to smile.

"By the book is not in my job description," he replied. His hands were on the table. Chloe was having a hard time resisting the urge to reach out and touch one. She wondered if it would feel as good as it had in the dream.

"So what is your job description, then?" she asked, forcing hands to still in her lap. Looking at his face wasn't much better as she kept thinking of what she wanted to do to those perfectly arched lips.

"I'm a Military Intelligence Officer. I interrogate people." He said it simply, as though it were an everyday, common kind of job.

Chloe gulped and looked at him in a new light. No wonder she felt like she was spilling her guts to him. He was trained to find secrets.

"With your skill set, you'd certainly be good at it," Dr. Turner mumbled. Chloe sent him an annoyed glance, wondering if he was going to participate in the conversation or just make comments.

Jackson gave her a warm smile that made her tingle down to her toes. "I have a knack for being able to tell what people are

thinking. It makes me very good at my job."

"You know what? I'm hungry," Dr. Turner suddenly announced. The change in subject surprised both Chloe and Jackson. "I know of a great little sandwich shop just around the corner. We can sit and discuss this as well as get something to eat. I know I think better on a full stomach."

There was a knock on the door and a student wearing glasses pointed at his watch through the rectangular door window. Dr. Turner smiled. "Also, our reserved time here is over."

"Um, okay." Chloe said, standing up and picking her coat off the back of her chair and gathering her things. Jackson held open the door and Dr. Turner and Chloe filed out, allowing a student with an armload of books to scurry in. The three of them walked in a strange line down the stairs, Chloe and Jackson following Dr. Turner like ducklings.

The cold winter air hit Chloe like a punch in the gut. She shivered and wondered how Jackson and Dr. Turner managed to look so warm. Neither one of them was wearing more than a light jacket and seemed unperturbed by the cold wind whistling through the quad. She sighed. Her brother never seemed to get cold either. It must be a guy thing.

Now that they were all out of the building, Jackson walked beside Chloe as they followed Dr. Turner to the sandwich shop. Jackson was close enough that if she had reached out her hand she could have held his and walked hand in hand. Instead, she tucked her hands into her coat pockets, afraid that her body would betray her.

The sidewalk narrowed as they walked by the mathematics building and Jackson's arm grazed hers. It was if a circuit had been completed and she felt a warmth rush through her, tingling down to her toes. Chloe's face went hot as she glanced over at Jackson, but he just stared straight ahead as though he hadn't felt a thing. A small twinge of disappointment went through her, but she shrugged it off. Maybe it was just static electricity from her coat and she was imagining the whole attraction to the soldier standing next to her.

She sighed, tucking her hands a little further into the coat pockets. She had never been this immediately attracted to someone before. The dream from the night before, and the fact that she hadn't seen a single thing to contradict it, wasn't helping. He sighed as well, looking up into the gray sky as if he were waiting for snow, when he suddenly stopped cold.

He held out his hand, stopping her from walking further as they approached an alley way behind the art building. The campus was deathly quiet this far from the main part of campus on a Saturday. Dr. Turner stopped as well, peering down the alley at something only the two of them could see.

"We need to get out of here," Jackson growled. His voice was low and full of calm assurance of violence. It made the hair on Chloe's neck stand up. She looked over at Jackson, their eyes meeting. He had felt something when they had brushed together, she could see it. She could see everything in those liquid pools of gold.

Dr. Turner made a soft noise that made her turn, seeing four men step out of the alley, their faces covered in masks. Something about the way they stood made her blood run cold. They were definitely not students. And they were definitely not going to let them pass.

Chapter 13

Jackson turned away from her captivating green eyes to see four men in dark clothing emerge from the alley. Their faces were covered with ski masks, but he could smell the violence building on them. He had smelled that same scent, heard that same heartbeat in Afghanistan. It was from a suicide bomber walking into a town square with the detonation trigger in his hand.

Jackson's eyes flashed golden. There was no way these thugs were going to hurt a hair on Chloe. He would rip them to shreds before they could ever even lay a finger on her perfect skin. He turned back to Chloe, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm going to need you to do exactly as I say, do you understand?"

She nodded quickly, fear starting shimmer in her eyes as she glanced over his shoulder at the approaching me.

"Good," he said, taking her chin in his fingers and drawing her attention back to him. "I need to you stay behind us. See that dumpster over there? I want you to go to it. Protect yourself at all costs, do you understand?"

She nodded. Her face was pale but her eyes were bright and determined. He smiled. If they managed to get to her, those men were in for a surprise. She wasn't going to go down without a fight. He pushed her gently and she backed away, heading slowly toward the dumpster without taking her eyes off the four men.

Jackson turned back to face the men. Turner hadn't moved yet, his posture defensive as he waited for Chloe to get to safety. He turned and nodded to Jackson. And it began.

The four men pulled out weapons, small handguns concealed in the back of their waistbands. Turner howled a blood-curdling cry before leaping forward, knocking one of the guns to the ground before the man even had a chance to raise completely remove it from his pants. Turner spun, his eyes glowing golden in the gray winter light, snarling and snapping at the second attacker with teeth growing longer by the second.

Jackson charged the other two men, knocking one down with a sickening thud against the pavement. The remaining man backed away slowly, his eyes going wide at the fearsome beast transforming in front of him. Jackson's eyes were golden and his canine teeth were lengthening into fearsome fangs. Fur sprouted along the back of his shoulders. His hands turned into claws that he slashed at the attacker. With a powerful stroke, he caught him in the middle and sent him flying. He landed ten feet away in a crumpled pile that didn't get up.