Page 100 of Wolf Bound

Demetria laughed. “Oh, that’s really not fair. But ingenious, really.”

“Well, Martin said we’re going to use your ingenuity in a training session for new recruits. How to ensure a person you’re trying to get to safety listens to you and helps you with your mission. No one has ever done that before. When the person who is being tested is told the freed hostage will thwart their efforts to get to the safehouse, they deal with the situation as it arises, which hasn’t worked out too well for some trainees. Your idea was the best ever,” David said.

“I told Martin he should hire Fisher,” Kira said.

Fisher was glad he had done things right then. “How is Meyers?”

“He couldn’t be prouder of his wolf bite received in the line of duty, he said. He was taken to our medical facility to be patched up. Reggie probably won’t recover from his wounds. The tribunal had already decided he would have the death sentence for trying to kill the two of you. And after what happened with him trying to kill the farmer, you, and Parker? There isn’t any doubt he would continue to be a threat to all shifter kind, and humans too,” Everett said. “Also, there’s no need for either of you to testify against the kidnappers. We have tons of witness statements to verify everything that had happened.”

“I can’t have missed out on all the action again,” Demetria said.

“We did our utmost best to stay out of your sight,” Fisher said.

Demetria shook her head. “I never would have envisioned Parker climbing a tree and spotting me. We thought he would be human throughout the exercise.”

Parker and Fisher smiled.

“Yeah, and then we waited until you turned your back and headed out of there before we moved again,” Parker said, sounding thrilled they’d been able to get by agents who were really good at their job.

“Next time we do this, I’m going to catch you,” Demetria promised, smiling.

Fisher laughed. “I’ll have to really be on my toes then.”

“Well, if you’re ready, Martin wants to meet you in his office,” David said. “Kira, he wants to see you also.”

When Kira and Fisher finally arrived in Martin’s office, it was large and furnished with a big mahogany desk and leather chairs, very rich and showing the importance of his position. On the wall were paintings of jungles and jaguars sitting in trees or hunting. It was just beautiful.

With the way Martin had sounded gruff on the phone in the conversations they’d had, Fisher expected Martin to be in his mid-fifties, maybe a few gray hairs, but Martin was in his early forties with no gray hair and distinguished looking, dark haired and eyed, and welcomed them in.

But then first thing, Martin raised his brows as he motioned for them to take seats in a seating area where he joined them. “Eating apple pie on the mission?”

“That was all my idea,” Fisher said, not wanting Parker to get in trouble for it.

“I spoke with Parker, and he said otherwise. He really has your back.”

Fisher laughed. He realized then that Martin had a dry sense of humor.

“Usually, I have to tell agents what they’ve done wrong and could have done better. But you used the resources available to you to accomplish the mission and that’s all that matters. If you were truly out in the field and civilians aided you like they did when you had been taken hostage, the more power to you. Most of all, you helped us recapture Reggie. We were planning to end the mission so that no one who was in the field would get hurt when we learned he had escaped. Well done, the both of you.” Martin shook their hands and handed Fisher a badge. “You are now officially one of my USF Special Agents. Unless we have a priority mission come up in the meantime, enjoy your Christmas holidays. I understand the two of you just mated so you might want to take some time off for a honeymoon also. Just let me know.”

“Thanks so much, sir,” Fisher said.

Kira thanked him too, but then Fisher said, “I want to see how Meyers is doing.”

“Everett and Demetria are standing by, and they’ll run you by the shifter clinic to see Meyers. Again, congratulations for a job well done—both in accomplishing your assigned mission and capturing Reggie with Kira’s help. The two of you work together so well, I’m sure you will be partnered up together for the most part.”

“Thanks, sir,” they both said.

“How, uhm, did Parker fare in the exercise?” Fisher asked, hoping the boy wouldn’t be in trouble for siding with Fisher instead of trying to sabotage his efforts in getting him to the safehouse.

“He is receiving a junior commendation for helping the good guy and has a leg up on receiving additional training—both because of your persuasive technique and his own desire to become one of us when he’s older. We could use you as a trainer once you’ve been in the field for a couple of years, if it’s something you might be interested in. Though I know you have all your family in Colorado, so you’ll probably want to stay there.”

“Yeah, though maybe in the future both Kira and I could do that for a year,” Fisher said.

“Absolutely. That goes without saying that you two would be together for the venture,” Martin said. “Working as a team to solve missions is something we encourage in our training. You and Kira are naturals.”

Fisher and Kira smiled at each other. He was so glad Martin saw them in that way. There was just something about Martin that made Fisher want to excel to prove his worth.

Then they left the office, Everett and Demetria took Fisher and Kira to the medical clinic to see Meyers and found Mabel there, holding his hand while the doctor gave him his release orders. Meyers was grinning from ear to ear. “All our friends are going to celebrate my fight with an escaped convict—though they’re already giving me grief that a wolf bit me. I keep telling them that it’s because I thought he was a good agent pretending to be one of the bad guys.”

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