Call of the Wild (14 page)

When Aaron spoke, he interrupted his father’s musings. “What are you going to tell Uncle Matt?”

Doug’s brother, Matt, and his wife, Carrie, had no children. They had always spent a great deal of time with Doug and Luce’s children. After Luce died, Carrie especially had grown closer to her niece.

“I’m not sure. Laura is going to have to do some fence mending there, too. Carrie’s going to be upset she didn’t share her plans.”

“After I get Marsha unpacked over at my place, why don’t we invite them over to dinner?” suggested Aaron.

“Good idea, only I don’t think there’s any food left in the house. I’ll call and ask them to come over on Friday. That will give us a day to get settled in. Your brothers will be back in town by then, too.”

“That’ll work,” said Aaron.

“What are your plans?” asked Doug.

“I’ve only got a couple of months. Actually, only about seven weeks left in my twenty. I’ll put in for my retirement and then sell the condo. I’ll go back to Montana with Marsha after our trip to West Virginia.”

“I have a suspicion most of my children are going to end up in Montana. Oh well, I was thinking about retiring anyway. I want to be nearby when your sister has the babies,” said Doug.

“When Aunt Carrie finds out Laura is pregnant, there will be no holding her back. She and Uncle Matt will make a beeline to Montana.”

Doug Donahue sighed deeply. His life had grown much more complicated.

Marsha was curled up in her seat and pretended to sleep so her mate and his father could talk. She listened to them discuss everything that happened without giving away any particulars. It wasn’t surprising, given the work they both did. They had to be accustomed to talking about important subjects while making the conversation sound innocuous. Still, after a short time they stopped talking and Aaron turned to her. Lifting up the armrest between them, he pulled her into his arms and tilted his head to hers. The two of them didn’t move for the remainder of the flight.

Matt Donahue sat at his desk reading a text from his brother, Doug. Doug and his eldest son, Aaron, were flying home today. Matt knew Laura had finally contacted his wife, Carrie, also by text, but they hadn’t had a phone conversation yet. He hoped his brother would have some answers for them because his wife had been really hurt by Laura’s silence. Ever since Laura’s mom died, Carrie had become more than a favorite aunt. The two of them had grown really close, which made this whole situation so much harder to understand.

Now his brother was being evasive too. What the fuck was going on? He slammed his drawer shut and barely kept from throwing his phone across the room. The buzzing of the intercom finally got his attention. Stabbing down the button, he growled into the mic, “What?”

“Director Donahue, Special Agent Soyez is here to see you. He doesn’t have an appointment,” said his admin.

She had been with him for years and basically ignored his foul temper when a case wasn’t going his way. She knew work was fine and correctly deduced his current attitude was fueled by a family problem. It was the reason she was willing to interrupt him; she hoped a work issue would get his mind back on track.

“Send him in,” he said tersely and then let out a breath. “Helen, I’m sorry for biting your head off.”

“No problem, sir,” she said, before disconnecting the intercom. It was the other reason why she put up with his bad days; he always apologized when they spilled over onto her. And he made a real effort not to let them.

George Soyez, former ATF agent and now SAC of a special unit within the FBI, walked through the door in time to hear Matt apologize to his admin. He had a pretty good idea what bug was up his friend’s ass and hoped his news would make things better instead of worse.

“I’ve got good news and bad news; which do you want to hear first?” he asked his old friend.

“This last month has been shitty and stressful. Unless you want me to reassign your ass to the field office in Nome, Alaska, give me some goddamned good news!” said Matt.

George could see his old friend was on the ragged edge of control. Instead of giving him the whole story from start to finish, he went straight to the bottom line.

“Your niece, Laura, married Alexander Marasov. Word is there was some specialist he knew, and now it looks like she may be able to walk again.”

It was absolutely the last thing Matt Donahue expected to hear. His brain froze as George’s words repeated themselves over and over in his head. He knew who Alex Marasov was—the Alpha over all shifters in North America. He’d actually met the man on a few occasions and liked him. He also understood he couldn’t ask too many questions now; this was an unsecured location.

Getting his emotions under control, he looked over at his long-time friend. George was calmly sitting in the chair in front of his desk, playing with his cell phone. The man was addicted to match-three games and played them constantly. As a stress reliever, it was a lot better than alcohol. Matt knew firsthand how many beers it took to get George drunk. His shifter metabolism worked the alcohol through his body quickly. If his human coworkers saw it, they’d be sure he was an alcoholic. He had a couple of drinks now and then with the guys, and played on his phone a lot.

Matt’s heart rate was returning to normal. He was breaking out in a grin when he remembered there was also bad news.

“Okay, we’ll get into the details later. What’s the bad news?” he asked.

Since Matt had appointed George as Special Agent in Charge of a complete shifter unit, he knew the bad news had to do with shifters. Which meant his niece might be in danger. Fuck!

“There’s a clan of terrorists planning a genocidal attack. We’ve narrowed the area down to West Virginia. There will be thousands of innocents in the line of fire,” said George.

Matt instantly knew The Society was involved because George had used the word ‘clan’ in the sentence. If he had used ‘cult,’ then it would mean the Shayatin. Innocents in the line of fire meant humans, unaware of shifters, were in danger of becoming collateral damage. And genocide? Well, hell, genocide meant genocide. Wholesale slaughter of entire shifter families and communities.

“Where do you have your intel gathered?” Matt asked.

He was giving George a way of getting them both out of the office.

“There was a lot of data. We’re still analyzing and checking, so it’s all at our field office. I felt the time had come to bring it directly to you,” George said, using their code for urgent.

“Let’s go; I’ll have Helen cancel my schedule for the rest of the day.”

Within minutes, they were out of the building and speeding to West Virginia in George’s specially modified SUV. The windows were heavily tinted—not exactly legal. Luckily, with the government plates, they didn’t get pulled over and ticketed. The tinting allowed them to see if anyone had a laser listening device aimed their way.

Another agent had stayed with the car so they knew no bugs had been planted since the most recent sweep a few hours earlier.

Once they were loaded up and on the road, Matt spoke again. “Okay, what the hell is going on?”

“Your niece is the best thing to happen to shifters in the last—oh, a couple hundred years, at least. She’s the one who uncovered the plot to completely wipe out three towns of shifters. Any human residents are either members of The Society or are expendable as shifter sympathizers. Alex flew back yesterday and, in person, filled us all in. We can’t risk The Society finding out we’re aware of their plans.

“By the way, your eldest nephew has also mated to one of ours. He’s the one who came up with the idea of how to prevent the massacre.”

“How did this happen? Does Doug know?” Matt asked. Slapping his hand on his knee, he answered his own question. “He must know; he would have just found out. That’s why he and the others have been acting so strangely.”

“Actually, your brother has known about us for years. Each of you has kept the secret from the other,” said George.

“If we both knew, why didn’t you say something?” asked Matt.

“Because being brothers, you may have discussed us and been overheard. It was better this way. Now, of course, everyone in your family has been made aware. Then I was given permission to speak.”

“I’ll need to speak to Doug when his plane lands. I know he has a secure room in his house. However, it’s been standing empty for nearly a month. Do we have time to get it swept for bugs before he gets in?”

“When Laura mated with Alpha Marasov, your entire family was put under protective surveillance, just in case. Your brother’s house was swept this morning, and we’ve had a team keeping watch since then; it’s clean. Our latest Intel is, The Society doesn’t know about our enclave in Montana. We’re still in the beginning stages of moving our national administration there. The Society thinks by striking in West Virginia, we’ll be crippled and scattered.

“Without your niece, this would have been the worst attack on shifters in nearly a thousand years. Our national leadership would have been completely wiped out. As it is, we stand a chance of stopping them. Your niece is fucking brilliant, and your nephew’s military background is perfect for planning this particular operation.”

Matt could feel the pride he had in his family. He also worried about their safety. He knew they and their children would never be completely safe, even here in their own country.

“Where are we going?” he asked. George had already briefed him. What more did he need to know?

“Alex and Laura have some ideas on how we can go after these guys. If the FBI can take some of them down, they’ll do some real prison time. You know how hard it is to prosecute these guys and maintain our secrets. Half of our evidence can’t be used,” said George.

“I would love to put some of these bastards away for felony crimes. What’ve we got?”

“We’ve got a meeting with Alex Marasov. He’s ducked his shadows in order to brief us personally.”

Leaning back in his seat, he went over everything he’d been told. At the same time, he made plans to visit his brother when his plane got in. They had a lot to talk about.

Doug Donahue entered his house and dropped his luggage by the door; he would deal with it later. Right now, he wanted a drink. He needed to try to figure out what he could tell his brother and sister-in-law. According to shifter law, they couldn’t be told. Except that his family had always been close—really close. If he and his sons all ended up moving to Montana—and it looked like a real possibility—Matt and Carrie would either be hurt or they would follow, wanting to keep the family together.

What bothered him more, though, was keeping Laura’s ability to walk from them. Other than himself and his wife, Luce, no one loved Laura as much as her Uncle Matt and Aunt Carrie. Her brothers loved her differently; she was their sister. Matt and Carrie loved her like a parent. Having her taken from their lives, not being able to share in her recovery, was going to devastate them.

Doug knew he needed to find a way to make it all work out. Taking another sip of whiskey, he put down his glass and ran his fingers through his hair over his head. It was a gesture his kids would recognize as his ‘thinking on a thorny problem.’ The messier his hair got, the more difficult the problem.

An hour and a half and two whiskeys later, he stood in front of an empty refrigerator looking for something to eat. He’d been gone from home for nearly a month, chasing down his daughter. Food wasn’t about to miraculously appear on the empty shelves. After staring for five full minutes, he finally came to the conclusion there was nothing there. He closed the refrigerator door and opened the freezer door instead.

He then remembered the last of the steaks had been eaten. He was contemplating calling for a pizza when the doorbell rang. Doug wondered who would be coming by the house at this time of night. Other than his kids, he’d only texted his brother. Shit! He wasn’t ready to deal with his brother. Maybe Aaron and Marsha had come by; he could only hope.

Opening the door, he wasn’t too surprised to see Matt on his doorstep. What made it even worse, though, Matt had also brought Carrie. Before he even said hello, his stomach gurgled…loudly.

Matt chuckled as he looked at the hair standing up all over Doug’s head.

“As usual, little brother is here to solve all your problems,” said Matt.

He shoved the pizza box—which Doug had failed to notice—at his brother, pushing him aside so he and his wife could walk in.

Dazed, because of the two whiskeys on an empty stomach, and more than a little confused, Doug followed his brother into the kitchen. Carrie, who knew this house as well as her own, started pulling out plates and napkins. She just
tsked
when she saw her husband and brother-in-law already sitting down, each with a slice in their hands.

“Long story short, your house was swept for bugs earlier today. You don’t have to worry when I tell you that Carrie and I have known about shifters for years. Both of us have even met Alex Marasov a couple of times,” said Matt, before taking a large bite of pizza. “Thanks, honey,” he mumbled, when she put a plate down in front of him and handed him a napkin.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full. I swear you two get together and you revert to ten-year-olds,” Carrie said in an exasperated, yet tender, voice.