Wolf Pack (3 page)

When he’d first started with the FBI he’d had the same type of camaraderie, but that had ended as soon as he’d come out with the other shifters. After his talk the night before with Zak and now another one of the pranks that he’d grown used to, Cole was feeling pretty damn good. But he couldn’t allow the others to know that. He did have a reputation.

“I’m going to strangle your boyfriend,” he warned Jade.

“Then I’d miss my date tonight. And he promised to take me to the new steakhouse that opened by the lake,” she said. “I wouldn’t be happy.” She peered up at him and batted her eyelashes. “Unless you want to take me.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “That won’t be cheap,” he mused. He’d already been to the restaurant and while the beef had been awesome the price tag had shocked him. “I guess I can wait to kill him until he buys you an expensive meal.”

Jade patted his chest. “Thanks.”

He ignored the amused looks from the rest of his team as he stood staring at the cake. He swiped his finger through the icing and stuck it in his mouth. “Not bad,” he said.

“I thought you’d like it,” Luca replied. He was back at his desk, which was pushed against his partner’s, Abilene Fox. She hadn’t made it in yet and he had no doubt that she was spending as much time as she could with Zak before she began her day. Abilene and Zak always seemed to find it difficult to be separated, even to do their jobs. It was quite cute, although he would never say that to the tiger shifter. “The cake is completely organic. Nothing but the best for my friend.”

“This is going to get out of hand,” Jade commented, shaking her head. She sat in the desk across from Cole’s, grinning at him. “Abilene told me yesterday that Zak found his locker full of cat toys.”

Cole snorted but managed not to laugh. It was better not to encourage Luca. But Jade had a point—the practical jokes could, and would, most likely get out of hand. Jamie, a bear shifter, and the team leader who worked mostly on missing person cases were almost as bad as Luca. The two of them seemed to feed each other’s crazy ideas. “When is Cody coming back from his honeymoon?” he asked, hoping it would be soon. Cody seemed able to rein in Jamie, and that could only help with Luca’s bad influence.

Cody Johnson, a falcon shifter, was the first agent hired for the Coalition and had been friends with Jamie and Zak for years before. He was currently on his honeymoon with his long-time flame, Aubrey Reynolds. Cole had never met two people who belonged together more than Cody and Aubrey, and he hoped they were having a good time, but he really needed Cody’s calming influence on the two jokers of the organization.

“Friday,” Luca informed him.

Cole remembered the invitation for the barbecue Saturday.

“And boy do we have a surprise for him.” Luca rubbed his hands together.

There wasn’t anything he could do but shake his head. Cody wouldn’t be impressed. And Cole would love watching him put Luca and Jamie in their places. Hell, he felt like rubbing his own hands together.

The door opened to their office. Abilene walked in with a huge smile on her face.

“Someone got some last night,” Luca muttered. “Or this morning.”

Abilene didn’t break stride, she just continued to her desk, smacking Luca in the back of the head as she passed, before she pulled out her chair. “Commander Green is on his way here,” she said to Cole.

Cole nodded at her. “Maybe you all could look busy? I hate to break up the party this morning,” he said sarcastically. “But I’d like to keep my job.”

The three other wolf shifters in the unit—Mitch, Brady and Adam—went immediately to work. They all bent their heads and started working on their computers. Jade came around his desk and took the cake off the top. As Jade no doubt headed to place it on the break counter next to the coffee pot, Abilene pulled out a file from her bag. Luca was the only one who remained casual—seated with his feet up on his desk. Cole growled at him. Luca grinned but he did drop his feet. The door opened and the commander strolled in.

Commander Green was a big, solid, formidable-looking man. Lion shifter, in his early fifties and, in Cole’s opinion, made for the job of running the Shifter Coalition. Cole respected the man and his position, and with the issues Cole had had with the FBI, that was a true testament to how Commander Green ran the organization.

Cole stood silently as the commander took in his team. Each member was split up on different assignments but if something pressing popped up they could all juggle stuff around and would be ready to work hard together. Mitch was helping Jamie in wrapping up a missing person case. They’d found the missing young woman who’d taken off without a word to her family after her parents disapproved of her mate. Cole had gotten the update late the night before so Mitch knew he’d have a few things he needed to complete.

Brady and Adam were handling basic electronic work for some of the other divisions. Jade, Abilene, Luca and he were trying to tug some lines and find a case of missing explosives from a military outpost close by. So far their investigation hadn’t uncovered anything to lead them to who’d stolen the goods but he felt they were getting close. Having Luca and Abilene, who were ATF, attached to his unit was really coming in handy. He didn’t always have them as agents under him. If not involved in a hot case they were required to report to their ATF office twice a week. Their collaboration with the Coalition had been why the FBI had tried to do the same thing with him and Jade. Unlike Luca and Abilene, he and his partner had decided to make the move permanent. He was still waiting to hear that Luca and Abilene would do the same. They fit perfectly with the agency.

The commander finished eyeing the unit and walked closer to Cole. “Looks like you and your unit are settling in nicely. I’m getting good feedback from the other teams,” he said.

“Thank you,” he said with caution. He wasn’t used to compliments from his superiors.

There was a spark of something in his eyes that told Cole his commander knew what Cole was thinking. “I received a call from the Deputy US Marshal this morning,” Green told him. “They are requesting our help in finding a missing witness. I’m assigning your team.”

“Sure.” Cole crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against his desk. “What can you tell me?”

Green shook his head. “Not much. Two agents were killed during a protection detail and the witness is in the wind. The Marshals are thinking that he took off on his own. They received a tip that he was in a motel here but by the time they arrived he was gone again. That was yesterday and they have no new leads. The agent assigned is local and asked for our help. It appears to be a mess and they need help cleaning it up. She’s a shifter so it makes sense that we are brought in.”

“What kind of shifter?” he asked.

“Both her and the witness are wolf shifters,” Green said.

“Okay.” He could only hope that the Marshal would fall in easily under him. Cole glanced over at the other wolf shifters in his unit. He had no problem with them, but then again, they accepted he was the most dominant of them. They didn’t challenge him, and his wolf side liked having his own kind of small pack to follow him.

“Marshal Kendra Brown should be here within the hour. I’ve informed the front desk so they’ll show her up here. I know your team is already juggling a lot but I’ll need you to determine who can spare what time. Two dead agents, Agent Babcock. I don’t want anyone else on the morgue’s slab. I want this guy found and whoever put those two agents down in custody,” Green said. The fury that lit his eyes wasn’t something Cole was used to seeing.

All movement and sound in the room stopped. He didn’t have to look around at his team to know they were all watching. “We’ll shuffle around what we have to. Give this our priority without losing anything on the other cases,” he promised.

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Green told him. He nodded before he spun on his heel and marched away.

Cole counted to five then turned to the others. “You heard him,” Cole said. “Finish up what you can. Mitch, Adam and Brady”—he pointed at each man—“you should be the first available so wrap it up.”

They nodded in response. Cole moved closer to Luca’s and Abilene’s desks. “I’m going to completely pass over our current investigation to you both to handle. Follow up on what we’ve got so far. I have a feeling I’ll need you on the Marshal case too but concentrate mainly on the explosives. I don’t want a school or church to blow to hell while we’re searching for our missing witness.”

“We’ve got this,” Luca assured him. He stood and laid his hand on Cole’s shoulder. “And we’ll still be able to help when needed.”

That was what Cole liked most about Luca. Sure, he liked to joke around and drove Cole crazy, but he was a good agent. He’d put every ounce of energy into both investigations and he was smart. “Thanks.”

The phone on his desk rang and Cole sighed. He sauntered over as Jade reached and grabbed up the headset.

“Adams,” she said into the phone. She listened for a moment before her gaze met his. She lifted an eyebrow in question. With his superior hearing he could hear the front desk agent on the other side of the phone.

He peered around the office. With seven desks, a full break area, a table covered in papers and boxes from the ATF, three filing cabinets, and the boards in the room all full, the area worked well for their multiple cases going but wasn’t the best place for a consultation. “We’ll use the conference room across from the hall,” he said.

“Take her up to conference room C.” She hung up and stood. “I’m with you?” She stated it as a question but Cole had no doubt that if he tried to pawn her off on something else he’d get an earful.

“Of course,” he said while he blinked innocently at her.

She snorted but grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair. Her black slacks with small gray pinstripe matched the jacket perfectly. She also wore a bright blue short-sleeved shirt and black boots. Her hair was pinned back away from her face and she wore only minimal makeup. There were times that he’d thought about trying for something more on the romantic side of things with her. Before she’d fallen for Luca of course. She was pretty, smart, stubborn and driven. But she had been his only true friend and he couldn’t risk losing her. Cole shook the thought away. It had to be all of the couples in his new circle of friends that had him thinking about more intimate relationships.

Jade was in front of him so he rushed forward. She opened the door into the hallway and he almost ran into her when she stopped suddenly. Cole looked over her shoulder and every thought he’d had left him.

The woman—
agent
, he mentally corrected—in the hall was a knockout, with her short brown hair with streaks of blond throughout and bright green eyes. She had a golden, light-brown skin tone that spoke of some sort of mixed race. Kendra was dressed in formfitting gray slacks and a white button-down shirt. She was a gorgeous sight clothed but Cole knew how amazing she also was naked.

How in the hell was he supposed to work with this agent when less than twelve hours ago he’d been buried inside her tight pussy?

She lifted an eyebrow and smirked. Cole couldn’t do more than blink stupidly back. He ran his eyes down her body in a slow but full eye fuck. Her badge was on her belt and her weapon at her hip. She stood a few inches shorter than his six-foot height but her body was all curves and softness, unlike his muscular frame. Cole took all this in while the woman peered back at him. His body sparked alive and he grew a little breathless. His cock hardened and he needed to adjust himself.

The clearing of a throat broke through his daydreaming and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Jade had moved to the side to allow him out of the door but he hadn’t moved. He caught the amused gaze of the agent who’d escorted the Marshal up to them. Cole nodded. “Thanks, we’ll take it from here.”

“Sure,” Agent Jones said and winked.

“Jade Adams,” Jade introduced herself. “My partner, Cole Babcock.”

“Kendra Brown,” she replied. “US Marshal.”

Her voice, God, he would never forget the sounds she’d made as he’d mounted her from behind the night before. He’d been in human form but the wolf had still been close to the surface.

He’d been on his run for about an hour before he’d scented another shifter close by. Just one shifter out on their own. With Zak’s words still running in his mind, he’d decided to check out the presence. It could have been either the suspect Zak was searching for or someone who could end up hurt.

What Cole had found instead was a gorgeous gray wolf who had spotted him as she’d crossed over a fallen tree trunk. She’d dropped her head and bared her teeth at him. Even in his wolf form, Cole had been turned on beyond belief.

On light feet he’d circled around her while letting all his dominance come to the surface and reach her. He’d growled and she’d carefully lain herself on the ground in submission.

Even as his wolf had wanted to claim the female, his human side had been strong enough to push his instincts down. He’d transformed back into a human and stood before her. She’d risen to her four legs before she’d too turned.

Cole’s breath had caught at her beautiful human form and he’d been unable to hide his reaction to her since he’d been naked.

Kendra had smiled at him then.

The rest had happened so quickly that Cole still wasn’t sure how they’d ended up together. One minute he’d been hot and wanting and the next they’d been rolling around the forest ground with their lips locked together and greedy hands touching each other.

He’d taken her hard and fast until their screams had carried out through the trees and they’d come together. Cole had rolled off her, panting and gasping for breath. He’d closed his eyes but he must have been more tired than he’d realized since he’d fallen asleep.

The female, who he now knew was Kendra, had been gone when he’d woken in the middle of the night.

The replay of what had happened hours earlier did not help him control his erection. He coughed into his hand while he looked away from the Marshal. He didn’t even glance at his partner since he knew she’d be more than a little curious and very amused.