Wolf Under Fire, page 27
“McKay,” he said. “What’s up?”
Every werewolf in the room—including the twins—stopped what they were doing to focus on Jake. It took a moment for her to realize they were listening to what McKay was saying on the other end of the line. Man, she’d love to have their hearing. She couldn’t pick up anything he was saying and she was sitting right beside Jake.
Jake hung up and looked at them. “We have a mission—possible human trafficking involving our specialty.”
Since Austin and Colt didn’t know what their team specialized in, Jake couldn’t say, but Jes knew what he meant. Human trafficking with a supernatural angle.
“Our plane leaves in two hours,” Jake added, getting to his feet.
She and the rest of the team—the Pack—stood as well, Harley and Caleb already heading for the door.
“Where are we going?” Jes asked.
He grinned. “Paris.”
Paris, huh? As she and Jake hurried into the bedroom to pack, Jes wondered if they might slip in a romantic dinner while they were over there. In between saving the world, of course.
Acknowledgments
I hope you had as much fun reading Jestina and Jake’s story as we had writing it! When we decided to write a spin-off from our SWAT: Special Threat Assessment Team Series, we wanted to keep all the fun things that made it part of the SWAT world while making it different at the same time. That’s when we came up with the idea of taking our werewolves international, à la Mission Impossible. Making Jake Huang, the werewolf we introduced in Wolf Instinct (SWAT), the hero and alpha of the STAT pack was an easy choice. And a special shout-out to our real-life friend and author, Jestina, for inspiring the heroine!
This whole series wouldn’t be possible without some very incredible people. In addition to another big thank-you to my hubby for all his help with the action scenes and military and tactical jargon, thanks to my fantastic agent, Courtney Miller-Callihan; thanks to my editor and go-to-person at Sourcebooks, Cat Clyne (who loves this series as much as I do and is always a phone call, text, or email away whenever I need something); and all the other amazing people at Sourcebooks, including my fantastic publicist and the crazy-talented art department. The covers they make for me are seriously droolworthy!
Because I could never leave out my readers, a huge thank-you to everyone who reads my books and Snoopy Dances right along with me with every new release. That includes the fantastic people on my amazing Review Team, as well my assistant, Janet. You rock!
And a very special shout-out to our favorite restaurant, P.F. Chang’s, where hubby and I bat story lines back and forth and come up with all of our best ideas, as well as a thank-you to our fantastic waiter-turned-manager, Andrew, who makes sure our order is ready the moment we walk in the door!
Hope you enjoy the next book in the STAT: Special Threat Assessment Team series coming soon from Sourcebooks, and look forward to reading the rest of the series as much as we look forward to sharing it with you. Also, don’t forget to check out the action-packed series that started it all—SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team!
Happy Reading!
Read on for a sneak peek at the next book in Paige Tyler’s enormously popular SWAT series
Coming soon from Sourcebooks Casablanca
The moment the man in the expensive suit and Italian loafers walked into the diner, Bree Harlow was sure she recognized him. She couldn’t remember where they’d met, but she was certain they had. In fact, she was so sure, she stopped mid-conversation with her teenage son, Brandon, to give him a smile and a wave. But before she could so much as lift her hand, the man walked up to the table where the two police officers were sitting and shot them.
Without saying a single word.
Without even waiting for them to notice him.
He’d just…shot them.
Before Bree realized what was happening, she and Brandon were on the floor trying to stop the bleeding while the man in the suit was ranting and raving about monsters and voices in his head.
She’d taken Brandon out to breakfast this morning so they could relax and, hopefully, talk. Bree knew her son was dealing with some stuff and she desperately wanted to help. But between the nightmares that had him ripping up his sheets and the way his brown eyes flashed yellow whenever he got upset—which seemed to be all the time lately—she had no idea what to do.
No matter how many times she tried to get her son to tell her what was wrong, he wouldn’t. If anything, he became even more withdrawn. Bree thought having breakfast at the diner that made his favorite chocolate chip pancakes might put him in a talkative mood, but then the guy with the gun had shown up and keeping those police officers alive had become the only thing that mattered to her at that point.
Hope flared bright when a big cop walked in. Diego’s presence commanded the room, and Bree found herself believing there was nothing he couldn’t do. When he convinced the guy in the suit to release the injured officers and four other people, she started thinking the whole thing would ultimately end okay.
Then the guy grabbed Brandon and Bree watched in horror as the humanity left the man’s eyes and he’d lifted the gun to her son’s head. Terror flashed yellow gold in Brandon’s eyes, tearing her heart out.
If her son died, she’d die, too.
Bree would have done anything she had to do to save Brandon’s life—even putting herself between him and the gun—but it felt like she was buried in Jell-O, unable to close the distance between herself and the man threatening her son, no matter how hard she tried.
All at once, a blur of movement caught her eye, then a SWAT cop was knocking Brandon and the guy with the gun to the floor. A split second later, three more SWAT cops came through the windows. Screams of fear echoed in the diner, but the only thing she could focus on was getting to her son.
She’d just reached Brandon when she heard Diego shouting for the guy with the gun to drop it. She grabbed her son to protect his body with her own, even as her gaze went to the scene playing out a few feet away. When the guy placed the gun under his chin, every instinct she had begged her to look away, but she couldn’t, and the sight of him taking his own life was the most horrible thing she’d ever witnessed.
The overwhelming chaos in the diner disappeared, replaced by silence and time seemed to slow.
There was so much blood.
Bree had no idea if seconds passed—or hours—but then she heard something so out of place with her surroundings that it immediately snapped her back to reality.
Growling.
Low, soft, pained…growling.
And it was coming from Brandon.
She looked down to find him gazing up at her with vivid gold eyes, half-inch-long fangs visible over his bottom lip.
Bree had always considered herself to be a strong person. She’d gone through a lot in her life and dealt with it. But she couldn’t ignore the obvious. The accumulated stress of this situation had been too much for her. She was having a mental breakdown. Because there was no way she was seeing what she thought she saw.
Suddenly, Diego was at her side, pulling Brandon up and talking to him in a slow, calm voice, telling him to relax and breathe, that everything was over and he was going to be okay at the same time he used his big body like a shield, keeping other people in the diner from seeing her son’s face. His voice was the most soothing and calming sound she’d ever heard in her life and even though he wasn’t talking to her, she found herself breathing in time with his instructions—in through the nose, hold it for five seconds, and out through the mouth.
Bree watched in stunned fascination as the yellow glow slowly receded from her son’s eyes and the fangs disappeared. At the same time, his panicked breathing and frantic features relaxed, and she realized it was the first time in months he didn’t seem tense.
There was a commotion behind her and she glanced over her shoulder to see the other officers quickly moving everyone outside, herding them in such a way that they didn’t have time to look at the body on the floor…or Brandon.
It was like they were all working together to keep anyone from seeing what was happening with her son. Like they all somehow knew something unexplainable was going on.
“There you go, kid.” The SWAT cop’s deep voice made her turn back around and she saw him standing there with his hands on Brandon’s shoulders. “Just a few more deep breaths and you’ll be good to go.”
Diego was right. A few seconds later, Brandon was completely fine, and Bree found herself wondering if everything she’d seen was a figment of her confused mind.
It could have been, right?
She felt a gentle hand on her arm and looked up into the warmest brown eyes she’d ever seen, a little overwhelmed by the concern she saw there. Diego didn’t even know her and yet he seemed genuinely worried.
“Let’s go outside,” he said, nodding toward Brandon. “This place is about to be crawling with cops, crime scene techs, and general-purpose gawkers. I’d rather be somewhere else before they show up. I think we have a lot to talk about.”
She was about to ask what he meant by that, but then it hit her. Everything she’d seen had been real. Diego had seen it, too. And now he wanted to talk about it. Because that’s what cops did. They dug into stuff until they knew everything.
Bree’s heart began to thump hard all over again as she realized the danger her son might be in now. What if Diego revealed what he’d seen? Brandon would be treated like a freak. From the look on Brandon’s face, he realized the same thing and was on the verge of freaking out.
“Relax,” the cop said softly, looking first at Brandon, then her. “I’m not a threat to your son. I promise.”
Gaze locked with hers, Diego’s eyes flared vivid yellow gold. The color was only there for a second before it disappeared, but it was impossible to miss. Or mistake it for anything other than the same thing she’d seen in her son’s eyes. The cop looked at Brandon, earning a wide-eyed gasp. Bree had no idea what any of this meant, but it had to be a good sign…right?
“Like I said,” Diego murmured. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Bree nodded, her head spinning as she tried to understand what was going on. What was happening to her son and how could a cop they’d just met know what it meant?
Untamed Wolf
On sale November 2020!
About the Author
Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sexy, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education, but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines who fall in love with them.
Connect online:
paigetylertheauthor.com
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Paige Tyler, Wolf Under Fire
