Page 24 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 3
“As you know, I work for a top secret branch of the military. Taggert’s in charge of me and my team. I’ve been keeping him up-to-date on the situation here with Price.” I hesitated for a second. “He’s the one who tracked down the information on your parents.”
She slowed down for a second and then shrugged. “Well, I guess you had to find out somehow. After a while, I gave up wanting to know anything about them. So… moving right along.”
“Are you upset?”
“What? Oh hell no. Why would I be mad that you had the government secretly dig into my life behind my back?” she exclaimed. Then she lowered her head and sighed. “Listen, I’m a little annoyed, but it’s fine, really.” Her face scrunched up like she was about to punch me.
“If you say so,” I replied.
“I do. I would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes.” She bit her bottom lip. “As long as Taggert doesn’t use it against me or recruit me to work with you on missions like these, then yeah, I’ll be just fine.”
“Shit.” I skidded to a stop. My stomach plummeted at the thought of Taggert asking her to go on missions.
She stopped walking completely. “Fergus? Are they going to recruit me?”
Over my fucking dead body.
“No, of course not,” I said too quickly. “They might bring you in to ask a million questions about Price and his pack, but that should be it.”
“Dammit, Fergus!” she yelled. “I will not be some government pet project.”
“Listen, I won’t let Taggert or anyone else take you away from me.” I pulled her hand to my lips and kissed it before I towed her along again. “It’ll work out, and besides, Taggert’s a pretty nice guy… once you get to know him—for a couple of years.”
Trinity laughed as we caught up to Cutter and Grant. “You’re just making it worse. You know that, right?”
I nodded and started to say something else when I noticed Cutter and Grant had come to a complete stop. There, in front of us, was the entrance to a cave.
I stared at them with a raised brow. “A cave? Really?”
They growled quietly over their shoulders, and Trinity dutifully turned around so they could shift back.
She shuddered at the sound of popping bones. “I’m fucking thankful I will never have to deal with shifting. Out of everything else I’ve seen, that still creeps me out.”
I tugged their clothes from a bag and tossed them over. After a minute, I told Trinity it was safe for her to turn around.
“Told you he wouldn’t like it,” Cutter said to Grant.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I replied, “Of course I don’t like it. It’s a trap. We’d have nowhere to go if they came here.”
“Not true. I scouted it out the other day,” Grant said. “There’s a second entrance. The cave follows the hill up and comes out on a plateau, which leads to a drop-off, a very high drop-off.”
My jaw tightened. It had the potential to be a good trap for Price and his pack. We could easily draw them in on one side and use the drop-off to kill them. If the fall were from a high enough point, no shifter could survive a broken neck—or that many broken bones.
It just might work, but I’d still have to hear the plan.
I set down the packs and turned to Trinity. “There is no way in hell you’re getting involved in this shit.”
The reaction from all three of them was instantaneous. Cutter huffed, Grant muttered under his breath, and Trinity rolled her eyes.
She jammed her hands on her hips while tapping one foot. “We went over this, Fergus. I’m going to be the bait. It’s the only way to draw Price out to where we need him.”
“I don’t care. I’m not risking you now that I know you really are my mate!” I roared. “It’s not happening.”
“She’s the best chance we have,” Grant argued.
“No. I won’t allow it,” I barked.
Trinity nudged me in the side. “You’re being fucking ridiculous. If I’m your mate, that means, technically, I’m also in charge of this clan, right?”
