Her Lone Wolf (28 page)

She ran her fingers over the slashes on his arm, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth again. “Is that what you were doing? I think the chair your mate was tied to gets as much credit as you do.”

Clayne stared at her.
Mate.
That wasn’t the first time Danica had ever use that word. He’d heard it when she was talking to McDermott—when she said she was special because her mate was a wolf shifter.

“Mate?” He said the word softly, tentatively, afraid if he actually said it out loud, she’d backtrack and change her mind.

She grinned. “Yeah…mate. You don’t mind if I use that word, do you?”

“No, I don’t mind.” He returned her smile. “I like it.”

“Good.”

Reaching up, she slid her fingers in his hair and pulled him down for a long, lingering kiss that made him wish they weren’t in the middle of whatever this underground building was with a dead shifter lying a few feet away.

They were still sitting on the floor like that when a dozen gun-toting DCO agents rushed into the building, Ivy and Landon leading the way.

* * *

The DCO medic insisted on checking Danica out even though she’d told the man repeatedly that his time would be better spent looking at Clayne. But her mate was on the other side of the room giving John a situation report. So she bit her tongue and sat there like a good patient while the medic took her vitals.

She glanced at Ivy. The feline shifter had been hovering over Danica with a concerned look on her face ever since she and the other DCO agents had arrived. Though whether she was more worried about Danica’s injuries or Dick showing up at the scene, Danica wasn’t sure. She wasn’t too thrilled to see him there herself.

According to Ivy, Kendra had freaked out when Clayne called, asking to track Danica’s cell phone, and had immediately called a code red alert after he’d hung up on her.

Danica saw Ivy throw a quick look at her husband. He was standing with Clayne and John, a frown on his face.

“Ivy, I’m fine,” she told the shifter. “Go check on Clayne.”

When Ivy made no move to go, Danica sighed. “Ivy, I’m fine. Really.” She eyeballed the medic, who obviously wasn’t going to leave until he’d examined every single inch of her. “Tell her I’m fine.”

“I’m sure you are,” Ivy said, not giving the man a chance to answer. “But Clayne is worried about you, so we’re checking and double-checking for his sake.”

Danica stifled a groan. She supposed she couldn’t fault them for caring. The medic left to check on Clayne’s injuries just as Dick came over.

“I’d like to talk with Agent Beckett,” he said to Ivy, then added, “alone.”

Ivy gave Danica a questioning look. Danica nodded. She was going to have to deal with Dick sooner or later. After Ivy left, she turned to Dick.

“What do you want?”

Just because she’d known that this head-butting contest was bound to happen at some point didn’t mean she had to be polite about it.

Dick didn’t bat an eye. His voice low and threatening, he practically sneered. “I knew you didn’t have it in you to stay away, even when it was for your own good—or your boyfriend’s, at least.”

She gave him a frosty smile. “Maybe I’m just in town on vacation.”

He shook his head. “How stupid do you think I am? I told you to leave DC and never come back or contact Buchanan. But you just had to do it, didn’t you? Well, I hope you enjoyed your time together, because you’ve just sent your boyfriend to prison.”

The man was so smug it was sickening. Time to use their trump card and find out if Dick had backup copies of the evidence. She hadn’t been this terrified of McDermott—or whatever his name had been.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

Dick’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t try and play games with me. You’re not very good at it. You know full well what I’m talking about. As soon as I leave here, I’m going to go get that evidence and give it to the Eerie County Attorney. He’ll have Clayne in lockup by tonight.”

That
evidence
. Like it was a singular stash of stuff.

“I don’t know what evidence you’re referring to.” She folded her arms and put on her best FBI face. “You should be careful threatening people when you don’t have anything to back it up. Some people might take it the wrong way,” she looked pointedly at Clayne, “and rip your face off.”

Dick stared at her dumbfoundingly for a moment before it dawned on him. Rage twisted his features. “You bitch. You broke into the DCO repository, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“Bullshit,” he ground out as he pulled out his phone. “I’m going to have both of you arrested.”

Danica took a step a closer. “Go ahead. Try it. You won’t find a single piece of evidence tying us to this repository of yours.”

Dick glared at her, speechless. Then his gaze swung to Ivy and Landon. When he turned back to Danica, his eyes were cold. “You got them to do it for you, didn’t you?”

Fear shot through Danica, but she quickly covered it up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But supposing there was a repository, and someone like Ivy and Landon had broken into it, they wouldn’t leave any evidence behind to put them there, and you know it.”

The vein in his temple pulsed so hard she thought his head might explode. But then he smirked.

“You might have won this round, but you haven’t won the war. The shifter program is headed for serious changes. It’s just a matter of time before the DCO won’t need psychos like Buchanan anymore. Sooner or later, he’s going to end up in jail where he belongs—or put down.”

What the hell did he mean by the shifter program changing? Danica wanted to ask but wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Besides, he wouldn’t tell her anyway.

Danica lifted her chin. “Or maybe the DCO will finally realize they don’t need a back-stabbing little prick like you. And you’ll be the one who ends up in jail where you belong.”

Dick’s face turned an unhealthy shade of red, and for a moment Danica thought he was going to lose it right there in front of everyone. But instead, he turned and stormed off without another word. It was almost anticlimactic. She’d been waiting for him to say something like
I’ll get you my pretty, and your pesky wolf, too.
She had to fight the urge to cheer and shout,
Take
that, you dickweed.

A strong arm encircled her waist, turning her around. “I wanted to come over the minute I saw you with Dick, but Ivy and Landon told me you had this,” Clayne said. “Everything okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Dick just about had a cow when he realized we stole the evidence he had against you. Based on his reaction, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have backup copies, so I think we’re good.”

Clayne sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he surprised her by kissing her. Danica quickly looked around, wondering just how many people had seen their little PDA. But everyone was busy doing something else. Even John was politely looking the other way. It wasn’t as if they had to keep their relationship secret—as if they could—since she wasn’t working for the DCO now, but Clayne didn’t normally like an audience for this kind of stuff.

He brushed back some stray hair that had escaped from her ponytail just as John came over. Her old boss gave her a smile.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said.

Danica returned his grin. “You’re not. I was just about to talk Clayne into letting the medic take a look at him.”

“Ah. Well, good luck with that,” he said. “Clayne told me about the review board. I’ll take care of it.”

She shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, but I can’t let you do that.”

He waved his hand. “It’s the least I can do after what you did to help Clayne catch a pair of serial killers. And for finding your way back into his life. I only wish I could have figured out a way to make it happen sooner.”

She shot Clayne a look. He seemed just as surprised as she was. “You knew,” she said to John. “About us, I mean?”

His mouth curved. “I had my suspicions.”

“You never said anything.”

“Because I think the policy is ridiculous. If a team gets the job done, I don’t care what their relationship is outside of work.” He glanced at Ivy and Landon, and Danica wondered if he knew about them, too. Or just had his suspicions. But he turned back to her and Clayne before she could decide. “You know, I heard there’s an opening in the Bureau’s DC office, if you’re interested. Though I’d like to borrow you every now and then for an odd job, if you don’t mind working with Clayne again?”

She laughed. “I’d love to.” And Clayne looked thrilled. “Dick might have an issue with it, though. It’ll be hard to look the other way now that Clayne and I are living together.”

John’s mouth tightened. “Like I said, you’ll be working for the FBI. It’s none of Dick’s business.”

“Deal,” she said. “Thank you, John. For everything.”

John nodded and told them to take some time off, then gave Ivy and Landon a wave and left.

“I guess that’s John’s way of saying we have some vacation time coming.” Clayne flashed her a grin. “So, what do you think we should do with all that time off, partner?”

Danica liked the word
partner
almost as much as she liked the word
mate
. She gestured to his arms. “First, we’re going to the training complex to get those looked at since you refused to let the medic look at them.”

The medic looked like he’d tried to bandage the worst of them, but no doubt Clayne had been his normal fussy self and scared the poor man off. The wounds on his arms had stopped bleeding, but they still looked horrible to her. The DCO had a medical facility out at the training complex—people were always getting themselves hurt out there. Maybe Clayne would accept medical attention if she were there.

She braced herself for resistance—this was Clayne they were talking about. But he surprised her by nodding. “Okay, whatever you say.”

He took her hand and started toward the exit, but she hung back. “Are you okay?”

She wasn’t kidding. This wasn’t like him. And he had hit his head really hard during the fight with the other shifter.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I was just agreeing with you—about getting looked at.”

“But you never listen to me about stuff like that.”

“That was before.” He took her hands in his. “Things are different now.”

She thought she understood, with this whole
mate
thing and all, but she still had to ask, just to make sure he wasn’t loopy from a concussion.

“Different how?”

“Well, when you’re in love with someone, you have to do things they want you to do, to make them happy—even if you don’t think it’s necessary.”

Now it was her turn to be surprised. “Love?”

His very sexy lips curved into a smile—a casual, confident smile. “Yeah…love. You don’t mind if I use that word, do you?”

She laughed and shook her head. “No, I don’t mind at all. I like it.”

“Good.” He pulled her close, sealing the word with a kiss. “Because I love you like crazy. It might have taken a while for us to get it right, but now that we have, I plan to tell you frequently how much I love you.”

Danica told herself she wouldn’t cry. It just didn’t seem right to cry over something so mushy, considering that she was this tough FBI agent who’d survived being kidnapped by a psychotic werecat serial killer.

But she failed miserably as tears started trickling down her cheeks.

Clayne reached up to gently wipe them away. Considering that his were the hands of a man who could do such an extraordinary amount of violence and harm when he wanted, his touch was incredibly tender.

“Come on. Let’s get me fixed up so I can take you home and show you exactly how much I love you,” he said.

Danica let him lead her toward the stairs, but after a few steps, she tugged him to a stop. “I almost forgot. I love you, too.”

“Do you have any more ice?” Kendra asked, sticking her head around the corner into the kitchen. “The guys dumped the last of the stuff from the ice bucket into their beer cooler.”

Danica shook her head. She had the feeling that was going to happen. Considering that beer didn’t taste any better cold than it did warm, she didn’t know why they bothered.

“There’s a cooler of fresh ice hidden behind the shower curtain in the guest bathroom. I put it there when Clayne wasn’t looking. There’re more wine coolers in there, too.”

Kendra grinned. “Thanks, Danica. You’re brilliant.”

Danica laughed and checked on the chicken wings in the oven. They had another few minutes, so she leaned back against the counter and caught her breath.

Things had been crazy since she had moved back, and this thank-you party she and Clayne had ended up hosting was just the start. Their lives were probably a little too busy to be trying to pull this kind of party off, but they owed Kendra, Ivy, and Landon big time for getting that evidence Dick had on Clayne. If they hadn’t, she and Clayne might be living in Bora Bora right now under assumed names.

Danica would have invited John if she thought he would have accepted the invitation. She and Clayne owed him just as much for their newfound happiness, not to mention getting her a job at the FBI’s DC office. Tony had told her Carhart just about popped a blood vessel when he’d found out she’d been transferred. She would love to have seen the look on his face. Then again, she’d rather not deal with that idiot.

“Too bad you couldn’t tell him you killed the Hunter twice,” Kendra said when the subject came up after Danica joined the rest of the party out on the deck.

“No, thanks,” Clayne said, answering for her as he reached for another chicken wing. “Let’s just keep that hidden in the DCO files forever.”

Danica nibbled on a chicken wing as she listened to Clayne tell their guests how hard it had been to take down the shifter who’d kidnapped her. He’d told them the story before, but they listened anyway. Well, Ivy and Kendra were listening—Landon was staring off into space.

“Everything okay, Landon?” she asked when Clayne paused to take a breath.

It took a second for her question to get through to the soldier-turned-covert agent. He gave himself a shake. “What?”

Ivy whacked him on the shoulder. “You zoned out.”

He gave them a sheepish look and swigged his beer. “Sorry. Clayne was putting me to sleep. I’ve only heard the story about five times now.”

His wife frowned. “Nice try. You were thinking about that stuff you found in the repository again, weren’t you?”

Clayne reached for his beer. “What stuff?”

“Nothing.” Landon sat back and put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Just some old records.”

“Bullshit,” Clayne said. “If you’re still thinking about it, it’s more than just some old records. Spill it—what’d you see?”

Landon exchanged looks with Ivy. “Tell them,” she urged. “If you’re right about this, they should know.”

He took another swallow of beer while he thought about it. “I found a bunch of files on Stutmeir.”

Danica vaguely remembered Clayne mentioning the name when he’d told her about Ivy’s capture and the off-the-books-rescue effort he, Landon, and Kendra—along with Landon’s Special Forces buddies—had mounted to get her back.

“So?” Clayne said. “The DCO probably has a whole wing of the repository set aside for the guy and his damn hybrids.”

Landon shook his head. “That’s the problem. The files I read weren’t new. They were at least two years old.”

Kendra’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“Wait a minute.” Clayne frowned. “You’re saying the DCO was previously involved with that psycho and forgot to mention it?”

Ivy nodded. “There’s more.”

“I didn’t have a chance to read it while I was there, so I stole the file. Since then, Ivy and I have been poring over every word,” Landon explained. “The scariest part is a funds transfer document that makes it look like the DCO gave Stutmeir an assload of money. Maybe enough to fund his hybrid research.”

Danica was speechless.

“Well, crap,” Kendra said.

“No kidding,” Clayne agreed. “I know I don’t trust most of the people in charge at the DCO, but I have a hard time believing they’d do something like this. Not even Dick is that screwed up.”

“We don’t know that they did,” Landon said. “All I can say for sure is that we have a document showing the DCO transferred a large sum of money to Stutmeir, but it didn’t say what it was for. We’re guessing on a lot of this.”

“But you have to admit, the timing is damn coincidental,” Danica pointed out. “Clayne told me about the hybrids. It would have taken a lot of cash to get a program like that up and running.”

Landon didn’t say anything.

Ivy tilted her head to look at him. “Tell them the rest.”

The muscle in his jaw ticked.

Okay, that had Danica even more worried.

“The funds transfer document had three approval signatures on it. Dick’s, some member of the Committee we didn’t recognize, and…John’s.”

Danica almost choked on her wine cooler. “John?”

“I can’t believe that,” Kendra said. “John would never be involved in something like that.”

“I don’t like to think so, either,” Landon said. “Look. I’m not saying I know what it means. All I’m saying is that his name and what looks like his signature are on a document giving money to someone named Stutmeir.”

Clayne shook his head. “Damn, Landon. You really know how to throw a wet blanket on a party.”

“Maybe the money was for something else,” Danica suggested.

John had done so much for her and Clayne. She couldn’t believe he was involved in something so underhanded.

“Maybe,” Landon agreed, but he didn’t sound convinced.

Or maybe not. “The other day Dick said something odd to me when he found out he wasn’t going to be able to put Clayne in prison. He said the shifter program is going to change and that the DCO wouldn’t need shifters like Clayne anymore. If the DCO did fund the hybrid research, maybe that’s what he meant.”

Ivy grimaced. “I guess the real question is, what do we do about all this stuff we think we know?”

“There isn’t anything we can do,” Landon said. “We don’t know enough right now. We could break into the repository again and look for more information, but now that Dick knows we broke in, they’re going to put in a whole new security system that we don’t know anything about. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dick goes in and gets rid of anything he thinks might be incriminating. I think we’re just going to have to watch our backs and make sure we know who we can trust.”

“I know who I trust.” Clayne laced his fingers with Danica’s, his thumb brushing the diamond engagement ring he’d given her the same day he rescued her from a demented serial killer. “Danica and the three of you.”

Danica sighed. Five people in an organization as big as the DCO wasn’t much, but for now, it would have to be enough.

Ivy, Landon, and Kendra stayed a little while longer, but after that bombshell, no one seemed to be in the mood to hang around and party. Clayne had a pensive look on his face as they cleaned up.

Danica set the chip and dip bowl on the counter and took his hands in hers. “Hey. I know you’re worried about that stuff Landon told us, but we’re finally back together, and that’s the important thing. If the DCO is making hybrids, we’ll deal with it. Right now, we have more important stuff to focus on—like planning our wedding.”

Clayne grinned. “I was thinking about that. If we leave now, we could be in Vegas by morning. We could get married in the Elvis chapel as the sun comes up.”

She laughed and went up on tiptoe to kiss him. “That’s not bad as a backup plan, but I have something else in mind.”

“Like what?”

“Like a big church wedding.”

He made a face. Danica laughed. She might have to talk him into it, but he was going to look so damn sexy in a tux. Just like he had on that mission in Mexico all those years ago when she’d first realized she was falling in love with him.