Page 81 of Wolf Unleashed
“I don’t have to prove anything. Neither does she. But if you behave yourself, Gallagher, I’m sure you can convince her to turn over the thumb drive of information she stole from their computers before she escaped. Or do you have all the information from those computers already?”
Gallagher’s jaw tightened. “You fucking know they destroyed them before we made it through the gate.”
“I guess you’ll want that thumb drive then.”
“Hand it over.”
“It’s in a safe spot,” Tiernan cut in. “Issue a statement recognizing her as a full agent who succeeded in infiltrating the WSSO, just as the DSA trained her to do, and clear her way to return to active duty.”
“There was no such mission.”
Rafe chuckled. “We don’t care how you do it. Just clear her name of anything you or anyone else in the government is trying to charge her with. She’s innocent and you know it. Prove you have the balls to stand up for an agent who’s been loyal and dedicated to her government her entire life. Do that, and then we’ll deliver the thumb drive to you.”
“Her badge and gun will be waiting for her when you bring me the thumb drive. You have an hour to clear out before my men level this place so the WSSO can’t return.”
“What of our deal?” Drake asked.
“I’ll meet my end of our deal by staying out of internal shifter affairs.” Gallagher motioned toward Alyssa’s wolf. “With regard to Agent Monroe, you’re on your own, Novak.”
“What deal?” Rafe asked.
“When the tracker the DSA gave you failed to work, Gallagher came to me,” Drake explained. “He asked for help finding and seizing this compound. I agreed to helpifhe agreed to give me the female.”
“She’s not his to give,” Rafe said.
“She’s half-shifter,” Drake said with an eerie smile that worried Maddox. Drake wouldn’t give up, especially if he believed he’d been slighted. “That makes her a non-citizen of the U.S. government, no different than the rest of us. Internal shifter affairs, as Gallagher phrased it. That means she’s mine to claim.”
“She’s been claimed. By us,” Rafe said.
“Not to mate, you moron. I’m claiming her as pack. She’s Maddox’s blood-bonded mate, which makes her part of my pack.”
“Is this your way of controlling me, Drake?” Maddox asked. “Fine. You want me back, I’m yours as promised. I’ll leave with you right now. But she goes with Rafe and Tiernan.”
“I already own you, cousin.”
“But you don’t own me,” Alyssa said from behind Maddox.
* * *
ALYSSA
Shifting hadto be the strangest experience Alyssa had ever had. First to her wolf form and then back to her human form. Not just the feeling of bones moving and reshaping, like she was made of clay, but the way fur sprouted, the growth of her tail, and how her ears and snout grew longer while her limbs grew shorter. Aside from a brief twinge of pain, the process was fast and otherwise uneventful.
The problem with shifting back to human form after being a wolf was the lack of clothing. She wasn’t exactly a prude, but being naked as a human woman surrounded by dozens of men, shifter and human alike, some of whom she had worked alongside at the DSA, wasn’t easy to ignore. In fact, it was damn near impossible. She hid behind Maddox, who was equally naked, as were all the shifters surrounding them. But they’d grown up used to it. She hadn’t.
She would have stayed in wolf form just to avoid this very situation, except she needed to speak for herself.
“I most definitely have citizenship,” Alyssa said, placing her hands on Maddox’s hips as she pressed her breasts against his back and hid behind him. The shifter was larger and wider than her, for which she was exceedingly grateful at the moment.
“That feels nice, angel,” he whispered behind him.
“I’m trying to keep from flashing my co-workers, Maddox. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“Move your hands lower and you’ll see it’s not my mind that’s the problem.”
She buried her face against his back before she could crack up laughing. This entire situation was surreal, and he still managed to flirt with her right in the middle of what she could only think of as a shifter custody battle. Overher.
“The DSA has already agreed you’re a shifter,” Drake said.
