CHAPTER ONE
LANA
“So, Lana, walk me through something. A group of militant animal activists is chasing you, and they’ve compromised your safe house. How do you best protect your client?”
Lana blinked in surprise at the query. Since graduating with dual degrees in criminal justice and homeland security, her interviews had been full of questions like “Where do you see yourself in five years?” and “What is your greatest weakness?” Her college interview workshops had not prepared her for questions like “How many drug cartels are you familiar with?” and “How many individuals can you track at night when not shifted into your animal form?”
Meghan Bennett, head of the Texas branch of Nick Milan’s Shifter Protection Agency, raised an eyebrow. Meghan sat beside Lana at a long table, her hair done up in a flawless chignon. She’d handpicked Lana for the interview, and the last thing Lana wanted to do was let the leopard shifter down. Lana gave the woman a confident smile.
She cleared her throat and looked back at the laptop screen to the two men participating in the interview over video chat. “How many attackers do I see?” Lana asked.
“Five,” Nick responded, his light northern accent evident.
“Okay,” Lana breathed, visualizing the hypothetical fight. The palms of her hands and feet prickled, just the hint of adrenaline enough to encourage a shift. Lana reined it in; she didn’t think snarling like a bear at the camera would win her the job, even if it made that one guy finally look up from his work. “If we’re already inside the house, I take my client to an easily defensible room or closet with a long hallway, if available. I call you and the local authorities for backup, if available, and set in for a fight.”
“And if you’re not already inside, but only approaching the location?”
“I see five,” she answered. “But I assume there’s more. If I leave the client in the car, he’s vulnerable. I angle him behind me and the vehicle and engage all of my senses to track other assailants.”
“There’s three more outflanking you,” Nick threw in quickly. “They advance before you have time to dispatch the others. What’s your play?”
“I shift,” Lana replied quickly.
Meghan looked surprised. “You’d shift, with backup on the way, in front of witnesses?”
Lana crossed her arms and tilted her chin up. “I’m not going to let my client get killed without doing everything in my power to stop it. What’s the point of a shifter protection agency if you can’t shift?”
She tried to keep the disappointment from her face. She had a few other job offers, but this was the only one she had where she could use all of her abilities to her advantage—not just her education, training, and black belt in Judo, but also her black bear shifter form.
“You already know that your resume is impressive,” Nick said. “All that you’re missing is experience.”
She’d known better than to get her hopes up. Most of the shifters working for Nick’s agency had been in the law enforcement field for years, if not decades. The most experience Lana had was working security in her campus parking lot.
It took great effort to keep the disappointment off her face. When Meghan had called her into the office for a personal interview with the owner, Lana had really thought that she’d made the cut. Lana opened her mouth to thank them both for the opportunity, but Nick wasn’t finished.
“We’d like to give you that experience. Think you’re up for a job—starting today?”
Lana clamped a hand over her mouth to try and disguise her stretching smile and pretended to clear her throat. “I think, yes. Of course. Let’s do this.”
“I’m sending you a file.” Nick fiddled with the computer in front of him, slight static crackling across their connection as he moved. “Here. Look it over with Meghan and let me know if you need anything. You’re in good hands with my southern coordinator, though.”
After a few pleasantries, Nick ended the call, and Lana let out a long breath.
She looked to Meghan. “Okay, let’s do this!”
Lana opened the attachment Nick sent and skimmed through the file, discussing the specifics with Meghan as she went. It seemed easy enough; a glorified babysitting gig for some IT guy in finance named Trent King. The guy had discovered that the company he’d worked for was neck-deep in insider trading. Much more white-collar and tame than any of the training scenarios she’d gone over.
But still, it was a start. A way into a prestigious company that offered her the job of a lifetime.
Lana whistled as she hit the bottom of the notes where she read the big name attached to the insider traders. “Senator Lee Quirk, huh?” A picture of his smarmy face smirked from her screen. She knew she never liked him, but now she had a good reason.
“That’s right,” Meghan confirmed. “This case came to us because another senator, a shifter friend of Nick’s, caught wind of a plot to neutralize Trent. The friend wants us to protect Trent because without his testimony, there’s no case, and right now, this case is the best chance at taking Quirk down and clearing the senate of some of the rot that’s been festering for far too long.”
“Whoa,” Lana whistled. “This is actually kind of a big deal. Why me? It seems sort of huge to attach a newbie to.”
“A few reasons,” Meghan interjected. “One, we work with Matthew Reid, a Texas Ranger who says he knows your dad well.”
“Yeah, I know Matthew,” Lana confirmed. Reid was also a bear shifter, and she remembered him coming to some of her dad’s poker nights. He was like an uncle to her, if a little rough around the edges.
“Second, you have an impeccable student record, along with faculty references,” Meghan continued. “Add in with that my intuition tells me you’re right for this case, plus the fact that we’re short on options when it comes to available agents, and you see why we want you on the case.”
“Right. Well… I’m definitely going to give it my all. I can promise you that.”
Meghan squeezed her arm supportively. “Are you sure you’re available to start right away?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Adrenaline beat beneath Lana’s skin like a drum. She wanted to prove herself immediately… before any of them had a chance to change their mind.
CHAPTER TWO
LANA
Lana drove home on autopilot, already completely wrapped up in her assignment.
She’d gone over all she could with Meghan but seeing how the job was last-minute—for both Lana and the agency—they knew they would be flying by the seat of their pants a bit.
First things first: Lana had to run home, pack a bag, and then head over to Trent’s apartment where she’d pick him up and drive him out to a safe house while Meghan and the others pulled all the information they could on the individuals involved in the plot to assassinate Trent.
Trent’s apartment building was new with a small fountain in the front of the parking lot and a decent-looking swimming pool on the side. She parked next to the closest exterior door from his place and looked around before leaving the car. A few kids clung to their mother as she carried groceries up the outdoor stairs, and Lana could smell someone barbecuing on the grills near the pool.