What the bloody hell is that about?
As soon as they were all seated, Weatherford introduced everyone on both teams, finishing with the man in the expensive suit and glasses standing beside him.
“This is Nathan McKay, head of the joint FBI-CIA Special Threat Assessment Team—aka STAT. The FBI part handles domestic missions while the CIA portion focuses on international ones. The special part of the moniker is because they tackle cases involving supernatural creatures.”
Even after everything he and his teammates had been talking about moments before Weatherford had arrived, Sawyer could tell their boss’s words caught them off guard. As the silence stretched out, he noticed Harley and the other two werewolves—Jake and Caleb—were regarding him curiously. They probably couldn’t understand why Erin, Rory, and Elliott were so freaked out over the term supernatural considering they had one on their team. That was because Erin, Rory, and Elliott didn’t know he was a werewolf, something he spent every day making sure they never found out.
While the American werewolves mentally chewed on that, Sawyer took the opportunity to size up the rest of the STAT team. Dark-haired Jes Ridley was human and carried herself like an experienced field agent. Interestingly enough, her scent was intertwined with Jake’s, which could only mean one thing—they were a couple.
They weren’t the only ones. Clean-cut Forrest Albright and the very unique-looking Misty Swanson were also clearly a couple. Sawyer was pretty sure Forrest was human, but he couldn’t say he was as confident about Misty. Her violet eyes and long, purple hair—which something told him were natural—made him think she was some kind of supernatural, though he wasn’t sure what.
Beside Sawyer, Erin let out a derisive snort.
“No offense,” she said in a tone that plainly suggested something offensive was on the way. “But I don’t buy any of this bloody supernatural stuff. And if anyone in this room does, they’re barmy. I’ll admit, last night was a little out of the ordinary, but everything in that parking garage can be explained rationally.”
McKay pinned her with a hard look. “Normally I wouldn’t care about your opinions on the existence of the supernatural, but with our respective agencies deciding they want MI6 and STAT working together on this, I need to change your thoughts on the subject quickly.”
Sawyer was so busy wrapping his head around why MI6 would team up with STAT, he barely noticed the look McKay threw Jake’s way. It wasn’t until the other werewolf pushed back his rolling chair and stood that he realized that Jake was going to shift. Right there in front of everyone.
No effing way.
But that’s exactly what Jake did, his upper canines elongating at the same time that his eyes glowed vivid gold and claws extended from the tips of each finger.
The response from his team was predictable.
Elliott shoved away from the table so fast his chair flipped over; Rory froze solid, eyes wide in shock; and Erin jumped up, pulling her Glock from the holster just behind her right hip before backing up to put extra space between her and the werewolf across the table from her.
“What the hell are you?” Erin demanded, pointing her weapon at Jake even as she moved back a little farther so she could keep an eye on all of the Americans at once. She glanced at Sawyer. “And how the hell can you sit there like this is no big deal?”
“Put your gun away and sit down,” he said calmly. “You aren’t going to shoot anyone.”
Even though he was confident Erin wouldn’t actually pull the trigger, Sawyer still sighed in relief when she lowered her weapon and holstered it before finally sitting down again. On the other side of Sawyer, Elliott took his seat as well. This only reinforced his decision to hide his secret from his teammates all these years. It would have absolutely sucked arse if Erin pulled a gun on him like that.
Weatherford stood there looking pissed as hell—and maybe a little embarrassed, too. Harley and the rest of her STAT team didn’t seem too happy, either. McKay was the only one who didn’t appear rattled by Erin’s little temper tantrum.
“Jake is a werewolf. So are Harley and Caleb,” McKay said.
On the other side of the table, Caleb grinned, flashing his fangs, while Harley simply tugged the neckline of her blouse aside to show them the barely discernible scar left from the stab wound last night.
“STAT has learned that when you’re dealing with supernaturals, it’s best to have a few on your side. While we have no idea what that man with the knife was, we do know the other creature was a vampire. And taking them down is impossible without having a werewolf or three on your side.” McKay leveled his gaze at Sawyer, his expression unreadable, before looking at Rory, Elliott, and Erin in turn. “Luckily, now you do.”
Chapter 3
“Since we’ll be working together, maybe we should compare notes while we’re waiting for the girl we rescued to come in,” Sawyer said cautiously, like he was concerned the suggestion might upset the fragile peace that had finally taken hold in the conference room. “Particularly how we both ended up in that nightclub last night.”
Working together.
That might be easier said than done, Harley thought. But that was what McKay and Weatherford wanted them to do.
“Track down these supernatural creatures, figure out what they’re planning to do with those prisoners, and put a stop to it,” McKay had said before he and Weatherford had left.
Apparently her boss and his counterpart in MI6 had missed the fact that no one in the room trusted each other. Then again, considering Erin had been ready to shoot Jake a few minutes ago, trust might be the least of their problems.
Harley was still musing over that when she caught the delectable scent of cinnamon coffee cake on the air. It was so mouthwatering she looked around, trying to see if there was a plate of goodies she’d missed, but there wasn’t. For the thousandth time, she cursed her crappy nose.
She glanced over at Sawyer to see him regarding her with those captivating blue eyes of his. She thought she’d imagined how handsome he was because there was no way any guy could be so good-looking, but he was even more gorgeous than she remembered from last night. It was all she could do not to spend the entire time staring at him. But Erin and the two men on his team were already suspicious of her and her werewolf teammates. If she kept eyeing Sawyer like he was that yummy piece of coffee cake she kept smelling, they might think she wanted to eat him up.
The notion was so enticing, she wanted to crawl across the table and over to him so she could do just that.
Harley stifled a moan and forced herself to focus on the real reason she and her team were there—forging a working relationship with MI6.
She didn’t know how long Sawyer and his team had been working together, but after his teammates’ display when Jake partially shifted after they’d sat down, she could understand why he hadn’t told them what he was. That must suck. Not to mention being exhausting as hell. While she wasn’t a fan of using her abilities, at least she was on a team full of people who would be okay with it if she did.