Page 1 of Raven's Instinct
PROLOGUE
Alan veered at the last moment and backwinged to a landing on the Jeep, which he turned into a one-handed vault from the roll bars as he shifted from raven to man.
Do a flip!his raven encouraged.
“Showoff,” Juliette scoffed, as Alan stood from his crouch. Pumice crunched under his feet and volcanic ash puffed from the place he had landed. “Did you get the security system disarmed so we can get in?”
“No one will be the wiser,” Alan promised. “Their protections didn’t account for wings. How did your rendezvous go?”
“They tried to go back on the deal to use the airfield,” Juliette said mildly. “I know, you warned me that might happen. No need to rub it in.”
“I amwounded,” Alan said. “I wouldneverrub it in. Even if I was completely and entirely right.Again.”
Juliette chuckled.
“Anyone hurt?” Alan asked more seriously.
“Noah got nicked in the shootout but won’t let anyone look at it. Aiden said something about code so ugly it gave him cancer, but we’re not going to need an ambulance for his wounded sense of programming aesthetic.”
“And you?” Alan prodded.
“I might not be a shifter, but I know how to stay out of the way when bullets start flying,” Juliette told him with a brief sideways smile. “They don’t give promotions to dead people.”
“I dunno, I feel like you could get shot up a little and accept a medal lying in a hospital bed. It would look good on the promotion request.”
“I think I’ll pass on gettingshot up a littleand keep all my blood and wits inside,” Juliette said. “Let’s finish this. Aiden and Noah will be waiting at the airport to take us home.”
“Jiggity, jig,” Alan said. Despite his best efforts, Juliette noticed when he winced pulling himself up into the Jeep.The hard landing hadn’t helped him.
“Are you hurt?” she demanded. “I thought you said you didn’t trip the security!”
“I didn’t!” Alan gave a sigh when Juliette stared at him and refused to start the Jeep. “There was a fox who took me by surprise while I was doing surveillance, that’s all. Got me by the leg, not the wing, so everything was fine and he was happy to let go and run off when I turned into a man.”
“Does Aiden need to look at it?” Juliette pressed.
“I wouldn’t want to take away from his data crunching,” Alan said. Then, more seriously, “It’s nothing. It will probably heal before we’re back in the States. I know all the signs of infection and how serious it can be. I don’t need mothering.”
Juliette put the Jeep in gear and drove sedately from the pick-up point down the winding highway. “Good,” she said seriously. “I need you in top form for your next assignment.”
“Tell me it’s somewhere tropical,” Alan said coaxingly. “Bikini girls and white sand beaches?”
“Montana,” Juliette said. “The summers do get hot, but you’ll be starting in the fall.”
“Could be worse,” Alan said. “You could be sending me to central Chile to break into a supervillain lair on an actual volcano like some kind of cliche. Oh wait, we’re about to do that.”
“It’s not an active volcano,” Juliette scoffed. “It’s just old lava fields and some techbro billionaire, not an actual supervillain. Don’t be dramatic.”
“I amneverdramatic,” Alan said, proving her point. “So what’s the case? Who’s on it with me?”
“It’s a solo job,” Juliette said, and her concentration on the road was not warranted by the conditions. “And it’spersonal.”
That caught Alan’s attention. Even his raven went quiet and serious. Nothing about Juliette got personal. Alan had watched her turn on the charm for a job, and he knew the difference between that and her genuine warmth for their team, but he always had the feeling that she kept him—and everyone else—at arm’s length.
Some of it was due to her ambition. Juliette was in line for a promotion that would place her in charge of half the shifter secret agency they both worked for, and that didn’t leave a lot of time for chummy after-hours hangouts. But Alan also had the feeling she was trying to keep herself from getting in too deep, like every time the conversation got meaningful, she backed off, cracking a joke or putting the attention on anyone but herself.
Alan had never pressed, appreciating the need to keep some things private. Ancestors knew there were plenty of things he’d done in his life he didn’t care to share.
“One of my kids goes to child care in Nickel City, Montana,” Juliette said. “It’s a day care for shifters.”
