SWAT Team One and the Social Worker (19 page)

dark green and black.

“Dustin,” she whispered as his chest expanded and contracted.

She slowly reached out toward him, and he growled, baring his teeth.

Kyle pulled her hand away and her body back against his own.

“He smells the other beast on you. He can see what the beast did

to your dress and how he exposed your flesh to him. In human form

we can resist the urge to recover our mate with our scent, but in wolf form the urge is uncontrollable,” Kyle whispered as Dustin leaped

then ran through the back door.

Sam’s heart pounded in her chest as she grabbed back on to Kyle

and hugged him.

“We’ll clean this up. You grab her bags while Kyle and Sam wait

in the SUV. We have to get out of here before the others show up,”

Ted stated as he headed toward the staircase.

* * * *

Kyle wrapped a blanked over Sam as she straddled his waist and

snuggled against his neck. He didn’t mind one bit. The more she

kissed him and clung to him, the less and less he smelled of the beast that tried to hurt her. Dustin still hadn’t calmed down yet. He felt his brother pacing, unable to shift back to his human form. The danger

wasn’t over. They knew that.

“I was so scared, Kyle. I thought they killed you,” she whispered

in between kisses to his neck and jaw.

“I was afraid that you wouldn’t know there was danger.”

She pulled away from his shoulder to look at him. Her breasts

were exposed from the torn dress, her abundant cleavage showed

between each white, lace-covered mound. He could see where the red

marks remained from where the beast grabbed her roughly.

He continued to caress her back underneath the blanket.

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“I heard you,” she whispered. Then lowered her thick eyelashes to

stare at his shirt.

He touched her chin and lifted it so she would open her eyes and

look at him.

“What was that?”

“I heard you in my head, warning me to run, just as that thing

entered the bedroom and attacked. I don’t know how, but I swear I

heard your voice, Kyle. Did you call to me?”

He smiled then hugged her to his chest.

“It’s okay, Sam. It’s all part of the mating process. As mates

accept their love and position on their joining, their bond becomes

stronger and stronger. Some become so connected that they can speak

to one another with their minds alone.”

“That’s incredible.”

“I was worried about you, but the other wolf attacked, so I didn’t

get the chance to get into the house to save you. I called to you to run as I called to the others for help. Dustin got here before I even

finished killing the other wolf. It was crazy. It was as if he sensed that you were in danger.”

She hugged him quick then kissed his chin before looking at his

face again.

“I heard a noise and noticed that some things were moved around

in my room. This feeling hit me, and instantly I thought of all of you, but then I was afraid. I thought about Dustin as the fear hit me, and then the guy was standing in my doorway.”

“Dustin must have heard you. He must have felt your fear, and

you just thinking of him called to his wolf for help.”

She shivered as she thought about such capabilities and

connection. Kyle pulled her to him and kissed her.

One by one the others gathered by the SUV. Each of them

thoroughly kissed Sam and looked her body over for injuries. She still felt shaky and on edge. They got her some new clothes to wear then

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helped her out of her dress. She hadn’t noticed that Dustin arrived.

When she turned around, she saw Dustin, and he didn’t look happy.

Sam stood against the SUV along with the others when Dustin

made his way toward her. He looked her over from head to toe but

from a distance. “Are you okay?” he asked abruptly. She felt a tinge

of fear from his tone and apparent bad mood. In response she slowly

nodded her head.

He glanced at the others then back at Sam. She lowered her head

and began to step away to enter the vehicle with the others when she

felt Dustin grab her and pull her to him.

He hugged her tight and sniffed her hair as he whispered in her

ear.

“Are you certain that he didn’t hurt you?”

She wrapped her arms around him best she could and squeezed.

He pulled her up into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. When he

released her lips, he touched his forehead to Sam’s. “Let’s get going.”

She gave him one more squeeze and a quick kiss before he

released her to Adam’s waiting arms.

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Chapter 10

The flight in the private jet, sent by the father she apparently

didn’t know as well as she thought, had impressed her very little. Her mind focused on the week’s events, leading up to today and the

information revealed by Ted about Alex. She felt guilty for thinking

about Alex as her men tried to engage her in conversation and pull her from her somber thoughts. It was no use. She was overwhelmed with

information. She didn’t want to return to where her nightmares began

and where she lost her best friend and her first love. She didn’t want to learn of all the lies that surrounded her family as well as those

around them. It was as if everyone had secrets and she was an

outsider. Now, even though she was bound to her mates, they had

deceived her, too. They knew of her existence. They knew she was

important and on the government safe list, yet they didn’t tell her.

Samantha looked at them, and all five of them were watching her.

She wanted to hate them, but just looking at the five strapping,

sexy males, removed that idea immediately. They were exceptional

men. Ted had explained about the Valdamar wolf clan despite the

brothers’ opposition. They were embarrassed by the kudos and

compliments. Sam, on the other hand, was quite impressed and felt

proud. That was a difficult emotion to swallow when she was still

considering whether or not she truly could be their mate.

She had no idea that their pack even existed and was mainly

located in Texas as well. Then again, her father had secluded her from many wolf packs. He kept her around humans and told her that most

of the family relatives were dead, and the ones that weren’t hadn’t

mattered. When she questioned him about this, he would get angry

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and say things like he was the most important person in her life and

no one else mattered. Or he would say that her destiny lay elsewhere

and not involved with blood relatives who didn’t care and hurt him

and her mother. It was part of his reasoning behind building her

strength and making her work out so hard to become such a great

martial artist. Her ability to use handguns and other weapons always

seemed odd to her, but now it made sense. Her father had been

training her for this. The main problem was that she wasn’t a wolf,

she didn’t know who the enemy was, and no one had yet to enlighten

her with facts or names. Including her mates, who immediately

recognized the elder her father provided security for as well as the

pack that Ted and Alex came from.

She was kind of getting past the fact that they had withheld

information from her, but she also understood the reasons. In her

head, Sam put together the times they had disappeared for weeks or

months at a time and how one of the other groups of SWAT would

show up to check on her. Conveniently at the supermarket, the

precinct, or when she arrived home from work. There were three other

teams that she knew of. But knowing how large their packs were,

there could be millions out there.

It felt odd to be such a major part of something yet not have a

clue. How the hell could she protect what she never knew existed?

She released a sigh and thought about her father. Frederick Gray

had a bit of explaining to do. She had always had a little fear toward her father because of something she saw in his eyes whenever he got

angry. Although he rarely yelled at her and never struck her or

punished her, he had expressed enormous upset over her close

friendship with Alex. He, in fact, at one point forbade her from seeing Alex, but she defied him. It was the one and only time she ever

disobeyed her father. Being the daughter of a military officer, she

understood about discipline, obedience, and respect. Although she

was her father’s only child, she learned to study hard, to work out and train even harder so that she could defend herself and prevail in most
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situations. He had taught her a lot. Even after her mother’s death,

when Sam was just a baby, Frederick Gray taught her about being a

respectable young lady no matter hard she tried to fight him. She

silently chuckled to herself. She really gave him hell during her three-year stint as a major tomboy. It was then that she met Alex and Ted.

Their friendship grew, and soon, by their teens, their attraction to one another grew as well.

When Alex and his brother joined the Marine Corps, she had been

heartbroken and filled with fear. She wanted to have sex with Alex

then, but he wouldn’t. He told her she was to save that for someone

special and that he wasn’t worth her love. Sam felt the tears fill her eyes. He was more than worth her love. He had meant everything to

her.

The years that followed brought Alex home from time to time.

Each visit he had changed more and more. She understood that a lot

of it had to do with him being of wolf, but she sensed something

different. There was a wall inside him, and he no longer spoke freely.

Now she understood why. He had secrets. Apparently, the kind of

secrets that people and wolves were willing to kill to get.

She recalled when Ted finished his last tour and joined the police

department. She attended his graduation from the academy and was

there for him as he received medals and honor after honor for his

brave service. Never once did she look beyond what most people

would have seen it for. It was nutty to think that millions of

werewolves were working with the government and were actually

helping to uphold the law and keep the human citizens safe. It was

shocking.

Things around her weren’t as they had appeared. Perhaps hostage

situations and gun battles were apparent cover-ups to more? It made

her wonder, though, if that were true, then why not take out men like

Myers Lewis and the gangs people like him were part of?

She thought about what Ted had told her so far. They were

working to destroy the big fish, not men like Myers Lewis. Yet, she

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couldn’t help but wonder who decided who should live and who

should die? Was it a combined board of were and human? Perhaps the

council and the federal government? But then their identities would

be known and there wouldn’t have been a need to place the names and

locations of these individuals on some secret microchip. She wiggled

in her seat and instantly felt the chills just thinking about it. This was like some crazy 007 movie. Everyone had ulterior motives, and it

would be difficult to determine who could be trusted and who

couldn’t be. Never mind the fact that this microchip was hidden and

supposedly she was key to finding it.

She looked at the men and swallowed hard. Something told her

that she may never make it back to New York alive.

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Chapter 11

The plane landed and the seven of them made their way to the

private entrance to the terminal. The men had serious expressions on

their faces, and she watched as they cased the perimeter and did a

bunch of other things secret ops soldiers do. Trey and Adam remained

at her side as the others, including Ted, disappeared through the

terminal.

She felt each of their hands against her lower back as they walked

through the small terminal to a private door and garage. Trey and

Adam stopped short, pushing Sam behind them. Her rear hit the door,

and she covered her mouth to stop the groan.

They sniffed the air then seemed to relax a little. Adam took her

hand just as the three of them emerged in a private underground

garage. They heard a noise then suddenly a very large man appeared

in front of them.

He had to be at least six feet five inches tall. He was very rugged

looking with facial hair and light brown hair that fell just short of his shoulders. He looked untamed, and his eyes held hers as if he were

undressing her. Sam felt her cheeks flush then the sound of Adam and

Trey growling.

The man laughed. “I was just fucking with you. Shit, I know she’s

your mate. She’s got Valdamar all over her,” the man stated with a

smile.

Trey went to go shake the man’s hand, and instead the large man

pulled Trey into a bear hug.

He released Trey then went to Adam. Once he released Adam, the

men introduced her.

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