Madison

Her eyes swept out over the drug-addled group of shifters. Three of them had managed to revert to their human forms, while two more were still growling weakly and making uncoordinated attempts to fight the others.

“I might have made a mistake in coming back,” she said at last.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” the woman at the top of the stairs said, laying the tranquilizer gun on the wooden railing in front of her, making it readily accessible in case she needed it again.

Madison looked at the tranquilized shifters, and then back at the woman, and then repeated the motion. “Uh-huh,” she said at last, not overly convinced.

“I’m Mila.” A hand stuck out her direction.

Not her gun hand, Madison noted, returning the handshake. “Miranda.”

“Is that your real name?”

“As a matter of fact it is not,” she replied, taking another moment to regard Mila. The woman was more formidable than she looked. “Madison,” she said, deciding to go out on a limb and trust her gut, to believe that this woman wouldn’t betray her.

Anyone who could so immediately tell that she was lying deserved a modicum of respect. It was something Madison had gotten very good at, and few people saw through her casual lies these days.

“Fuck with them, and you’ll deal with me,” Mila said calmly.

Madison very carefully noted the way the other woman’s hand came up to rest on the gun.

“Understood,” she said. “Though I have no intentions of it.” She blew out some air between her lips. “I actually don’t know if I have any intentions with them at all,” she admitted, eying the bunch once more.

“They’ve just been cooped up too long,” Mila said. She paused. “Mostly waiting for you to respond.”

Madison’s eyes became slits for a moment as she recalled why she had taken so long to come back out to the cabin where the renegade shifters had taken up temporary residence.

“Indeed. You have my apologies for that.” She didn’t elaborate any further.

One of the remaining shifters made an annoyed noise and his bear began to shrink, slowly reassuming human proportions. Well, shifter-sized human proportions at least, which tended to be six and a half feet or more of pure muscle.

“I can’t use them,” she pronounced, then glanced over at Mila. “Though I could use you.”

Mila returned the appraising look with a neutral expression. “I don’t go anywhere without Pierce.”

“Fine, which one is he?”

Mila just jerked her chin at one of the men on the ground.

“Fine, bring him.”

“He doesn’t go anywhere without his brothers,” Mila said in the same monotone voice. She wasn’t protesting. It was a simple stating of the facts.

Madison sighed, irritated at the situation as a whole. Time was not her friend at the moment. She’d hoped to come in, speak to the assembled group, and then depart with what she needed. Walking in on them trying their best to rip each other’s heads off had not been part of the plan.

“Well they’re not coming if they aren’t worthy,” she said.

“Worthy of what?”

Madison looked over to see that the final member of the group had reassumed his human form, and was now managing to stand up. Only the one who she’d stepped over had managed to get that far yet. The rest were still sprawled out on the ground, though she thought the one Mila was focused on was lying there more because he wanted to, not because he couldn’t get up.

“Who are you?” she asked, answering the question with one of her own.

“Maximus Koche,” the shifter stated, as if that should mean something to her.

It didn’t.

“Well, Maximus Koche, I need to know that you’re all worthy of my and my organization’s trust.”

He snorted. “We’re worthy.”

Madison scoffed, not bothering to try and hide her sarcasm or disbelief. “Right. You can’t stop from trying to beat the snot out of each other, and yet I’m supposed to trust you to have my back during a mission? Yeah, I don’t think so.”

The big shifter bristled at her words, but Madison just stared him down. She knew he wouldn’t do anything to her. His words were all bluster. Besides, even if he had decided to make such a dumb mistake like that, Mila would have knocked him down before he got to her, of that Madison was confident.

“You would just as soon kill my agents as each other,” she went on. “You need to get your anger under control first, if you expect to work with us.”

“Who are you? Does that mean you’re in charge?”

It was the shifter who had wound up at her feet. His eyes were alert and focused now, virtually free of any remaining influence of the drugs.

“Your name?”

“How about yours?” he returned.

Her lips twitched. “My name is Madison.”

“Are you in charge of this group who supposedly fights against the Institute, Madison?” Kean asked, repeating his earlier question.

“You don’t need to know that,” she told him. “I’m not sure you can be trusted with that information.”

The shifter didn’t glare at her, but he did lift his chin slightly. “I can.”

Madison focused on him. Tall, like all of them, though not the tallest. He had a smooth featured face, accented by his nearly hairless scalp. Not bald, she thought, looking at his tanned skin, simply clean-shaven everywhere. He had a day or so worth of stubble on his face and on the top of his rounded head. It was an attractive look, coupled with the light bronze tinge to him.

His eyes were big and round as they regarded her with a silent intensity. As she watched his barely upturned nose twitched in just the cutest manner, momentarily distracting her. Madison felt her lips purse slightly, but calmed them before they betrayed her with a smile.

Perhaps she could trust this one. “I definitely can’t trust him,” she said, thrusting a finger at Maximus, who growled.

Kean just shrugged, a smile playing over his lips as if to say: That’s your problem, not mine.

Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t.

“Unfortunately for you,” she said, directing her words at all of them, but looking only at Kean. “It’s not that easy. You need to prove to me that you’re willing to work with us before we truly bring you in.”

Kean crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby tree trunk. The small tree swayed heavily under his weight. “What are you suggesting?”

“A test,” she said levelly.

“Seriously? A test? What do you want us to do, prove our capabilities to you?” Maximus said sarcastically. “We’re shifters; I think you know what we’re capable of.”

“I need to be able to trust your minds, you idiot,” she snapped. “Not your bodies.”

Maximus seethed at her insult, but Madison knew she had him pinned. If he attacked her, he proved her wrong. But still, she didn’t want to drive him too far. Madison had a feeling that he would be needed before everything was over. If she insulted him too much in front of his brothers, where it appeared he thought he was the leader, it would hurt his standing.

Madison needed him to trust her as well, so she eased off.

“What sort of test?”

There was Kean again, speaking up and saying what needed to be said. Madison eyed the others. The one was definitely just lounging on the ground now, and looked more at Mila than at her. That had to be her mate. What had she said his name was?

Pierce, right. He looked like he didn’t particularly care. Madison figured that was likely just a charade, an act so that his brothers didn’t realize that he’d been reacting to her words, even if he hadn’t said a thing nor really even looked her way. He was in agreement, and he would come with her if she asked. But that wasn’t going to be enough. He had a mate, and picking him to come along with her could just raise unnecessary tensions.

There were two more brothers, neither of whom had said anything. One of them was staring at her with only a shade less hatred than Maximus, though he’d done a better job of keeping his temper under control. That one would be trouble, she suspected. Maybe not for her, but for the brothers.

Her eyes narrowed on the final brother. He was on his feet now, but standing aloof from the other four. His body language was distant and unassuming, but his eyes regarded her intently, if not agreeably. He was listening carefully to everything she said—and everything she didn’t, Madison realized suddenly—and making his own opinion.

That one was a dangerous foe, and she immediately decided to stay on his good side. He seemed capable of reading her well, which unnerved Madison to no end. Keeping her composure, she spoke at last.

“A mission. One of you will accompany me on it, to help prove your loyalty and desire to help.”

“What kind of mission?” Maximus asked.

“A retrieval of sorts. The Institute has something of mine. We’re going to track it down and get it back.”

“Fine, I volunteer,” Maximus said instantly, lazily raising a hand.

“No,” she said. “I’m sure you mean well, but honestly, I don’t like you, and you don’t like me. That isn’t a recipe for success. You’d have to follow my directions, and I don’t trust you to do that.”

The neutral one seemed ready to speak up, but once again Kean beat everyone else to the punch.

“I’m going.”

The way he stated it drew Madison’s attention like a magnet. The force behind his voice was unmistakable, and she saw him set his shoulders in a challenge, as if to warn his brothers that they shouldn’t bother trying to argue this one.

“Keener Kean comes to save the day again,” the unnamed angry one barked.

A motion from Maximus quelled any further insults though. Madison regarded him warily, wondering what he was going to do. But Maximus just shrugged, and the other one who had been trying to shoot lasers from his eyes to incinerate her followed as the leader walked out of the circle, leaving them behind.

The one who had seemed neutral pushed off the tree trunk, and came forward before Kean did.

“Don’t hurt him,” he said, and then walked off before she could reply.

Madison didn’t need to ask him if that had been a threat. The tone of his voice had made it more than evident that he would take it personally if she somehow betrayed Kean on their mission.

That wasn’t her plan though, so they should be okay.

“Sorry about them,” Kean said as he came close to her. “They’re just pissed off at having been here for so long with no real way to go home yet.”

Madison just shrugged. “Whatever.”

“So,” Kean said, trying to seem enthusiastic. “What’s the plan? When do you want to leave?”

Madison descended the stairs and brushed past him, trying not to inhale the leathery wood scent that he gave off.

She failed.

“We’re leaving now, let’s go,” she said, heading back down the trail to where her car was parked.

She tried to keep her voice cold, to disguise the way she wanted to smile and do a little shake at the lovely smell. The last thing she wanted was him knowing she found him utterly dreamy.