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  Sandy bit her lip. Yes, she was going to be quite okay with having him live there. Quite okay.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Palin

  He was busy working away in the southeast fields when it happened.

  With his wealth they would no longer need to work the fields as they had before. They weren’t about to let the crops they’d already planted go to waste, which meant that there was still work to be done. He’d hired a company to come in and manage the property that used to be Rusty’s. It would provide a nice residual income that meant his own personal treasure would continue to grow, instead of being depleted as they needed money.

  Winter had finally arrived, however, and snow was falling rapidly. He had hoped to be done with the last of the planting so that the fields would be ready come spring, but he’d gotten caught up with Sandy and they’d lost a few days. Oops.

  His attention was fully focused on the field, and so when it did happen he was caught completely off guard. “AIIEE!!” he yelped, standing upright.

  That made things worse as the splattered snowball slid down his back and into his pants. Palin hopped from side to side, cursing and trying to keep his voice from becoming too high-pitched.

  Meanwhile Sandy emerged from the swirling snow, her face red with mirth. “Oh you should have seen your face. That was priceless!” She laughed so hard she started to snort. That just made her laugh harder.

  Palin just stood there with his hands on his hips. “You know you aren’t going to win this contest, right? This is going to end really badly for you.”

  “I have no idea what you mean.” She grinned.

  He rolled his eyes and bent over to grab up some snow himself. Another snowball came sailing out of the air, splattering against his neck. She’d been prepared for that he decided, disgusted with himself for falling so easily into her trap.

  Sandy meanwhile had taken off across the open field, howling with laughter. Palin went after her, his long strides easily catching up to her. He bent down, scooped up some snow, and deposited it down her neck even as he bounded on by, barely slowing.

  His mate, meanwhile, went stiff with shock from the cold as it slid down her shirt. At the same time she twisted to try and locate him. This served to throw her off balance, and with a yelp she lost her footing and went down. Snow billowed out everywhere as she landed, most of it drifting back down to cover her as she sputtered and wiped her face clear.

  It was Palin’s turn to laugh.

  He was still doing that when she got up and shoved a handful of snow into his face.

  “Get over here!” he growled as she went off running again.

  He caught up, lifted her from her feet and—gently—tossed her into another pile of snow.

  “HEY!” she shouted before the snowdrift nearly swallowed her.

  “I’ll rescue you!” Palin jumped in after her. In his “rescue” attempt he may have ended up burying her in more snow than not. Oops.

  “You don’t play fair,” she pouted, sitting up as snow cascaded from her earmuff-covered head.

  “Hey, you started it.”

  She grinned and pounced on him, driving him backward into the pile. “Yes, I did.”

  He wrapped her up tight, not letting her flee. They lay like that for a short time, exchanging kisses and making loving fun of each other.

  Sandy kissed him softly, and he sensed a change come over her just before she spoke. “I love you.”

  Palin sat up, snow spilling away from both of them. His eyes searched her face for any sign of doubt, but he couldn’t find anything. Not a single thing that showed anything less than complete and utter love.

  “Sandy,” he said, his voice barely audible over the wind. “I love you too.”

  She giggled and kissed him again. Hard.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Palin

  “You’re nervous.”

  “I am not nervous,” she snapped.

  Palin lifted his eyebrows querulously. “Right. So why are you pacing around the house and tidying like a madwoman?”

  “Because I haven’t seen her in years, and I don’t know what to expect. We were best friends, but I just sort of fell off the face of the earth. What if she’s changed? What if she doesn’t like who I’ve become? I’m scared, Palin.”

  He crossed the floor and swept his mate up into a hug worthy of a bear. “It’s going to be fine,” he said, caressing her freshly dyed and styled hair. Much to his delight she’d stuck with the pastel-pink coloring. It wasn’t a natural look, but it looked good on her, and he’d grown accustomed to it. Heck, he liked it.

  “I wish you could stay.”

  He nodded, kissing the top of her head. “Me too. I’d like to meet her. If it goes well you should have her back out. But General Mara has requested my presence back at the base. I guess they want to know what my intentions are. Probably doesn’t sit too well with them not knowing what I’m planning. Something about rogue dragons being a security hazard or something.” He grinned to show he didn’t care, trying to set her at ease.

  “Terrible timing.”

  “I know.” He rubbed her back and then stepped away. “But trust me, it’ll be okay. If Lilly didn’t want to come meet you and catch up, she would have declined, said she was busy, whatever. Didn’t you say she changed around plans just to be able to come out here?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I think that’s a pretty good sign she wants to be friends still.” He kissed her forehead yet again. “I’m proud of you, you know.”

  “You are? For what?”

  “For reaching out to her. You two were best friends. I’ve seen the pictures. It’s good that you’re starting to socialize again, to want to socialize.”

  Sandy looked up at him sheepishly. “It helps knowing that I have you around to beat up anyone who does me wrong.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you that I am not your hitman?”

  She grinned. “I’ve seen how protective you get. Nice try.”

  Palin didn’t even bother sighing, though he felt it warranted. “I’ll be back in a few hours, love. Have fun with your friend.”

  “Thanks. I’ll try not to nervous text you too much until she gets here.”

  He laughed, knowing that he probably wouldn’t make it out of the driveway. What he didn’t tell her was that he knew it was because she was excited just as much as she was nervous.

  “Have fun,” he repeated. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  He felt her gaze on him as he put on his boots and headed outside. The door had just closed behind him when it flew open again.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked as she flung her arms around his neck, a happy grin on her face.

  “Yep. I just wanted to tell you one more time that I love you. I know I just said it, but I can’t get enough of saying it. I’m just so happy with you.”

  Palin didn’t bother trying to quiet the butterflies in his stomach. He loved having that feeling around her, and hoped that it never stopped.

  “I love you too, Sandy.”

  This was his mate. This was his life. And he loved every bit of it.

  ********

  ********

  This concludes Dragon Passion, Emerald Dragons Book 1.

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  Bravo Bear

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  Sentinel: Bravo Bear

  Chapter One

  Connor

  “Sound off.”

  That was his cue.

  “Bravo, check,” he said, his voice barely audible. He didn’t whisper. Whispers were harsh and could carry farther. Instead he spoke with the utmost control and lowest volume possible.

  To a human, they wouldn’t have heard a noise. But then again, he thought, none of them were human. His team leader’s supernatural hearing would pick up his affirmative without problem. He waited silently in his crouch, hidden amongst the shadows of the alleyway as the other members of his team sounded their ready statuses.

  Connor’s nose twitched.

  The upside of being a shifter was that he had many abilities a human did not. The downside was, he had many abilities a human did not. Such as the capability to smell each and every bit of rotting garbage wafting up from the rancid dumpster next to him.

  It annoyed him. He was a professional. Trained for years in various forms of combat, infiltration, and insurgency tactics. He was the literal supersoldier of movie lore.

  And yet a little bit of rotting chicken made his stomach heave. It seriously undermined his whole tough-guy image. Forcing the bile back into his stomach, he concentrated on the mission.

  “Acknowledged, Bravo. Delta, you’re up.”

  Connor was on his feet and moving before the team leader had finished speaking. Two quick strides down the alleyway and he reached a ladder that stopped a good ten feet from the ground. Muscular legs tensed and he leapt into the air, snagging the third rung from the bottom.

  Arms flexed and he pulled himself up in near total silence. Even his grunts were inaudible. The only sound a passerby might have noticed was the squeaking of metal under his weight. That, unfortunately, could not be helped. Despite his stealthy abilities, Connor was still a giant, and with that, came weight that made the metal creak.

  Fortunately for him, they were now more interested in quiet speed. The period of extreme stealth was over. They were moving.

  “Report.” The voice came through his ear clearly, as if the speaker were right next to him.

  Connor rolled his eyes. What did Alpha think he was, a bird?

  “Still climbing,” he replied. “It is ten floors up you know.”

  “Faster,” Alpha urged.

  I’m going. He was. Connor had reached the landing above and was now racing up the stairs, taking them four at a time as he gunned for his objective.

  A minute later he crouched quietly outside of the window on the tenth floor. “Bravo, in position,” he said.

  “Delta, door is clear.”

  His partner had it easy, taking the stairs inside.

  Ignoring his chosen lot, Connor flicked out his knife and easily slid it through the top of the two panes of glass, easing the simple locking mechanism open. Sheathing his weapon, he lifted the window open and slipped inside.

  The lights were off, but that didn’t matter. Between the moonlight and the ambient light of the city, it was practically daylight for him. The bedroom door was closed, but not completely shut. There was perhaps an inch of space.

  He crept across the intervening distance, and after taking a breath, eased it open.

  A deep rumble came from inside the room.

  Shit.

  “Friend!” he shouted, backing away as a giant bear came charging at him. “Underground!” he said, though he didn’t shout this one.

  The bear stopped, looking at him oddly.

  “I promise,” he said, spreading his hands wide, then slowly reaching up to his face, where he pulled the balaclava up, to reveal himself.

  The door to the hallway banged open.

  “Hold!” Connor shouted at Delta as his partner readied himself. “Just a case of surprise, I think. Isn’t that right?”

  The bear crouched warily, looking back and forth between the two of them. It continued to growl, though perhaps not as loudly as it had the first time.

  “I’m Bravo, this is Delta,” he said, motioning to the other man now in the apartment. “We’re Team One, from the Underground. We sent you a letter. Most of it was typed. At the bottom was the written passphrase of Thunder, with a return call sign.”

  He waited expectantly. He was fairly positive this was their man. He was in the right apartment, and his bear had the same gray streak down the right side that their objective did in human form. But that could be false.

  The bear growled once more, pawed at the ground, and then stood up. As it did, it changed. The once mostly black fur seemed to simply retract into the skin. Limbs shrank and the elongated snout of the bear was suddenly part of a fairly flat face. Paws became hands and feet, and a moment later their target stood in front of them.

  “Lightning,” he said simply.

  Connor nodded, relieved to have that over with. This was their man.

  “Okay, you got our letter then. Are you ready?”

  “One moment,” the man said, disappearing into the bedroom. He reappeared with a sack on his shoulder.

  It was the ready bag that the note from Connor’s team had said to prepare, jus
t in case something came up.

  Unfortunately, something had come up. Most of the time their letters were ignored. Connor was happy to see that this time, it hadn’t been.

  “Notice anyone on your way up, Delta?” he asked as they waited for the man to put his shoes on before heading into the stairwell.

  “Nothing.”

  They always referred to themselves by their team name when on a mission. It made them much harder to track. That’s why they wore the masks as well. They didn’t want their enemies to know what they looked like. So far, it seemed to be working, but Connor knew that luck wasn’t going to last.

  A door clanged open somewhere below them, the noise echoing up the concrete stairwell with ease. Booted feet entered and began pounding on the stairwell.

  “Just some kids out late, right?” Delta asked sarcastically.

  “They could have come in at a different level. I mean, they have eight options that aren’t this floor or the ground floor,” Connor replied.

  Neither of them believed it.

  “Shit, window it is,” they said practically in unison, ushering their charge back into the hallway and then into his room.

  Delta lead the way. He opened the window and kept it propped while the other two followed him, before leading the way down. Connor was in the rear. They flew down the stairs, taking full advantage of the fact that all of them were shifters. Less than thirty seconds later, he leapt the full fifteen feet from the last landing to the ground, joining the others.

  Feet pounded down the stairs above them.

  “Those are human,” Connor said as they listened for a half second.

  “Gentlemen?” their charge asked.

  Connor didn’t know his name, and didn’t want to know his name. That wasn’t part of the mission. He was their target, and the objective was to get him to safety at the train yard. That was the entire focus of his world just then.