I could see Austin stalking towards me down the obstacle field, clutching the other team’s flag, and sighed in disappointment. Damn it. Looks like I missed all the action!

I had been really looking forward to this game. It had been ages since we last paintballed, but it was really the only time I ever got to use the practical skills we had learned during our Omega training. Being a mostly behind-the-scenes agent, I never got to use those skills in a real life situation, so paintballing was a huge source of fun for me.

“Already?” I called out to Austin as he came closer. I could tell it was him and not Caleb because he was the one who had gone after the other team’s flag. It was common knowledge in our group that Austin always defended the base, so I had suggested we switch him and Caleb for this game in the hopes of taking the other team by surprise. Evidently it had worked.

He just scowled at me, his eyebrows drawn down low and his jaw clenching, but didn’t respond, which gave me a bad feeling. He would normally be on a victory high and rubbing it in everyone’s faces.

“Aus, dude. What’s going on? You look majorly pissed right now.” I prodded him in the shoulder playfully to try and refocus his attention. “Did Kit put up a better fight than you anticipated or something?”

He made a strangled noise, his eyes widening as he stared at me. “What? Why would you say that?”

“Uh, because she is a pretty badass marksman now and you look super ticked off?” Wasn’t it obvious that’s what I’d meant? Maybe I do need to get out more. I spent so much time with my computers and tech that even I could admit I was somewhat lacking in people skills. It was why I always seemed like a blushing, stuttering mess around Kit.

“Oh.” He looked startled and confused for a second, which was not a look I was used to seeing on Austin, but quickly reverted to scowling anger. “Piece of cake. Told you this would be a quick game.”

I grinned; he had been pretty confident when we started. “Yeah, you did. I bet she didn’t even know what hit her, huh? I hope you were at least nice enough not to shoot her at too close of range, though? You know how much these suckers hurt.”

Weirdly, his face flushed red as though he was embarrassed, and he just muttered something under his breath before walking with me back to our team’s base, where we were most likely to find the rest of our friends.

“So where is she anyway?” I asked him, looking back the way he had come to see if she was on her way.

“What do you mean?” he snapped, with an edge of defensiveness. What the hell was his problem today?

“Kit. Where is she? You told her the game was over, right?” I rolled my eyes at him. The way he had been acting around her, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t told her the game was over and just left her out there in the snow.

“Of course she knows the game is over. She’s probably just sulking about losing,” he sneered but avoided eye contact with me. Austin rarely, if ever, avoided eye contact.

“Aus,” I warned. “What are you not telling me?” He was probably my closest friend on the team, as we shared a private love for first person shooter games and had spent countless hours hanging out. I knew when he was hiding something, and his tense shoulders and tight lips were screaming that he was hiding a big something.

“Nothing,” he snapped. “She’s just a sore loser. Let’s go find the others. I’m sure she’ll catch up once she’s done having a cry.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he wasn’t paying attention anymore, already striding across the field to where we had left Caleb protecting our base. If only I hadn’t needed to take that damn phone call. Something had obviously happened with Kit, but I could only hope it was just Austin being his usual charming self.

No matter how often we tried to talk to him about his attitude towards our beautiful new houseguest, he continued to treat her like a piece of gum he had scraped from his boot. For a short time after we’d rescued the two of them from Blood Moon, it really seemed like he had gotten over his ridiculous hang ups, but then all of a sudden he was back to being an antagonistic jerk to her.

Worse even.

The only time I had seen him willingly in the same room as her over the last two months was when he was obligated to either coach her in target practice or attend classes. Not that I was complaining. I had been quietly crushing on Kit in a big way ever since the boys had brought her back to our house after her attempted kidnapping. That night, when Caleb had returned with her unconscious from the tranquilizer, it had been like seeing a ghost.

For months before arriving at Cascade Falls, I had been having these incredibly real dreams of a gorgeous red-haired girl, and there she was. In the flesh. On our couch. I swore my heart had actually stopped beating for a second while I’d just stared at her in shock, until Caleb snapped me out of it.

“Hey, pussycat!” Cole yelled out as we came within sight of them. I stifled a laugh at his nickname for Austin, whose callsign within Omega was Bengal. “How the fuck did you get that flag?”

“What sort of question is that? It’s the objective of this game, isn’t it?” Austin replied with the same evasive tone he had used with me. Something was definitely going on with him.

“Yes, we know that. But how did you get it? We know where Vixen had it hidden, and I doubt she gave it up willingly to you.” Cole was glowering at Austin with a dangerous look in his eyes, which made me tense up, even though it wasn’t aimed at me. Our team’s second in command was not someone you ever wanted pissed off at you.

“Where is she anyway?” River asked as he and Caleb approached, both covered in multiple splotches of colorful paint.

“Fuck, what is with all these questions? I won. End of story. Christina is probably just licking her wounded pride and will meet us back at the reception hut.” Austin threw the flag to his brother then stalked back towards the hut.

“Guys…” I started, frowning after my friend’s retreating form. “He’s hiding something.”

“Agreed,” Caleb murmured. “What did you mean about the flag, Cole?”

Cole made an angry noise in his throat, like the dragon of his callsign. “It was tucked into her bra. Alpha, remember what she said about her bad feeling?”

“I do.” River glowered. “Cole, you and Caleb head back to our base and find her. Wes, you and I are going to find out what Austin is hiding… and how he got that fucking flag out of her bra.”