Page 59 of Protected By Her Mate

“I can run faster, jump farther, and I outweigh them by over a hundred pounds. In their minds, I am the superior predator.”

“Cool!” Luke says excitedly, then grips my hand and pulls. “Let’s go see what the giraffes do when they see you.”

I allow myself to be dragged from exhibit to exhibit, listening to Luke’s excited chatter as almost all the animals turn away from me. Only the Grizzly bears don’t seem too worried about my presence.

“That’s because they could kick your butt in a fair fight,” Charlie laughs, dancing out of reach when I try to grab her.

“I’d win a fight with a bear any day of the week.”

“Aww, did I hurt you in the pride?” Charlie and Luke are laughing, but Charlie’s phone rings before I can set her straight.

“No caller ID.” She answers, using her professional designation ‘Investigator Lopez’. She listens for a moment, then says, “Of course, we’ll come over right away.” Hanging up, she says, “That was Duncan Sharptooth. He needs to see us.”

“What’s going on?”

She glances around and satisfying herself that Luke is distracted by the bears, says, “Another one of his spies has gone missing.”

Chapter 22

Where there’s smoke

CHARLIE

Ifeel Lennox’s eyes on me in the dark, know that he hates that I’m here, but this is what we’ve been working our way toward. Tonight, we bust the New York ASHRA organization.

Several hours earlier, we met with Duncan. He told us that one of his informants leaked vital information about an imminent bombing, but before the young bear shifter could meet with Duncan he disappeared.

“It looks abandoned,” grumbles a police officer who clearly doesn’t want to be on a bust at 3:00 AM. We’re a block away from the warehouse, crouched in a dark alley.

“It’s not,” Talon says.

Talon is Duncan’s head of security. Talon, along with three other bear shifters, joined the team. It was part of the negotiations. Duncan refused to reveal the location of the ASHRA building unless he could send people in. He didn’t want his informant harmed during the bust.

Technically, I have no place on a police bust either, but I talked my way in using my bomb expertise. If there are any explosives in the building, I should be on hand to disarm them.

Lennox argued right up until it was time to move. Not with me. He knows better than to argue with me about my job. He went straight to his superior, and when that didn’t work, he’d gone to mine. I don’t blame him. Now that I can see into his head, I know what his feelings for me are. I can see the conflict he has with his wolf, though both agree on one thing; I should be protected at all costs.

His sharp-eyed glare pierces me through the gloom, but I ignore him as I tug on my bulletproof vest, then slide a protective helmet on, buckling it in place.

As head of our team, Lennox is at the front of our group of seven, preparing to go in first. I’m the second person at the back, the safest position.

There’s another team preparing for entry on the opposite side of the warehouse. They’re going in through a side door while we’re taking a window into the basement.

“You know how to use a gun?” One of the bear shifters asks me, his deep voice rumbling.

“Yes,” I confirm.

“Take this.” He hands me his weapon, showing me the safety.

“Won’t you need it?” I ask.

The cold, heavy metal of the gun feels unfamiliar in my hands. I learned how to use a gun during my training as an investigator, but I’ve never carried one. There aren’t many instances where a fire investigator might find themselves in a life-or-death situation, though that’s changed since meeting Lennox.

The bear shifter holds his hands up, each easily able to encompass and crush my head. “Nope, don’t need a human weapon.”

I laugh nervously. “What’s your name?” I point at myself. “Charlie Lopez.” I leave off my work designation. There’s something about the cool breezy night, the potential danger in our mission, and an exciting electrical charge running through all of us that’s creating an air of intimacy.

“Friends call me Little John.”

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