***
By the time breakfast came around, Josh was starting to feel awake and relaxed. The sound of thick-cut bacon sizzling on the stove, mixed with the delectable aroma of fresh eggs would have been enough to put anyone in a good mood. Add pancakes and a plethora of fresh-cut fruit—now a staple with the influx of women into their midst—to the list, and the rumbling of his stomach threatened to outdo any lingering emotions from his thwarted sleep.
“Damn that smells good,” he said as he headed for the piles of food.
“Too bad there won’t be any left for you,” Connor, one of the other members of his team, teased as he slipped in front of him and began to pile food high on his plate.
Josh rolled his eyes, but a smile crossed his lips.
It died as the rest of his crew lovingly pushed their way by him as well.
“Thanks guys,” he said, shaking his head and snagging one of the remaining plates.
“Ngh praghlmb,” Justin said, his mouth already full of food as he passed by on his way to grabbing a seat.
“Wow. That’s so attractive,” a female voice said.
Josh laughed and reached out to take a pile of bacon from Justin’s plate as he tried to stutter a reply to Shay, his mate, as she stood at the door with her arms crossed, shaking her head at him.
Justin yelped at the blatant bacon thievery, but he was too slow. Josh escaped with his plunder.
“Much better,” he said, just loud enough for the others to hear, and an audible chuckle ran round the room.
Madison, Connor’s mate, entered the room a moment later, and the two women proceeded to grab food as well, joining the shifter team at the long table in the middle of the room. These days the breakfasts and mornings were much more informal and relaxed than they had been in the past.
“Any news?” he asked as they sat back, munching on the food, his stomach happy with him at last.
Madison shook her head. “Nothing new yet today. Just the same old, same old with the Agency.”
Josh nodded thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair for a moment. Almost a month earlier, they had fought a pitched battle with their nemesis, the mysterious Agency. The cost had been great, and several times he thought they were going to lose. In the end though, they had defeated one of the senior members of the Agency and reduced the numbers of their foe by a large amount.
The weeks between had been a series of stalemates. With the destruction of two of their bases, the Agency had pulled back, consolidating themselves in their remaining pair of installations. The swath of destruction the Underground had cut through their numbers left them too weak to control the city, giving Josh and his Sentinels time to recover and begin organizing the mass evacuation of all remaining shifters within the area.
Unfortunately it meant that the Agency was too strong in either spot for the Underground to stage an attack. An uneasy cease-fire was in place while both sides frantically worked to secure the resources necessary to rid themselves of the other for good. Josh could only hope that his side would emerge victorious. They had sent pleas home to Genesis Valley for a second team of Sentinels, but so far, nothing had arrived.
His mind wandered back to the present just in time to see Madison get off her phone, with a strange look on her face. As he watched, her eyes tracked across the room until they settled on him.
“I didn’t do it,” he said immediately, trying to look as innocent as possible.
“Bullshit,” Jared, the team leader, said from his spot several seats down.
Madison arched an eyebrow curiously. “Didn’t do what, exactly?”
He shrugged. “Whatever it is that made you look at me like that. I’ve been good…lately,” he amended after someone cleared their throat.
“You know, for once, I actually believe you,” she said. Josh started to relax just as she added, “Which probably means you did do it.”
The others laughed, and a smile even spread across her face for a moment before she sobered.
Josh sat upright at that, realizing she meant business.
“No, that was Valen,” she said, naming one of the twin gryphon shifters who ran Lionshead Mining.
His boss.
“What did he want?” Josh asked suspiciously. It was never a good thing when your boss called about you.
“You’re going off on assignment, apparently,” she said.
Josh felt his eyebrows rocket upward. “I’m what?” he asked in disbelief. Sentinels didn’t just “go off on assignment” on their own. They went as a team, like when his team had been sent to King City. That was an assignment. “On my own?” he said, trying to get more information.
Madison nodded. “Indeed. So don’t fuck it up,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.
He acknowledged her efforts with a smile. “I’ll try,” he said with over-the-top seriousness. “Though it might be easier if I knew what I shouldn’t, ah, fuck up, as you so delicately put it.”
Madison snorted. She wasn’t known for being delicate. Ever since injecting herself with two experimental serums that had transformed her from a human born of a shifter-human coupling into a full-blown bear shifter, she had become as rough and hard as one of the boys. Except she was a woman. The fact that she was stronger than her mate provided the other Sentinels no shortage of jokes if Connor screwed up.
“You’re being assigned as a bodyguard to a woman coming to King City with her brother. He’s here to make some speeches, apparently. I wasn’t given more details than that.”
“Fuck off,” he said, angrily slamming his plate onto the table. “Valen wants me to go play babysitter to some political child? You can’t be serious,” he said. “This is a joke, right?”
Madison leveled a look at him.
“Right?” he repeated, his voice weaker this time.
Madison shook her head.
“Fuck me,” he said under his breath. “Why me? Why not Jared? He’s the leader. Send him to do babysitting duty.”
“You want to argue with Valen? You go right ahead,” Madison said, holding out her phone to him.
Josh crossed his arms. She knew he wouldn’t do it. Hell, neither would she. Nobody argued with Valen, not if they knew what was good for them. Valen was a good man, but if he ordered his employees to do something, he expected it carried out without hesitation or argument. That was made easier because he never gave out bad orders.
Even now, Josh knew there had to be some reason Valen would assign one of the Sentinels to the job. What that reason was, he didn’t know, but Valen and his brother Marcus didn’t do things like this on a whim. No, this would be a well thought-out mission. Unfortunately he wasn’t privy to all those thoughts.
“What’s the game plan?” he asked at last, giving in as he knew he would eventually.
“Meet her at the airport. Stick with her while she’s in town, ensure no harm happens to her. Once she’s on the plane out of here in a few days, that’s it, according to Valen.”
Josh frowned. “One problem,” he said.
“What’s that?” Madison asked.
“With me gone, who’s going to keep these clowns in line?” he said, indicating the rest of his team.
Madison smiled while his friends groaned and threw leftover pieces of food at him.
“Their plane lands in two hours. They’ll be expecting you,” was all the leader of the Underground said to him.
He bolted upright. “Two hours? Cutting it kind of close, aren’t they?” he said, not waiting to hear a reply as he got to his feet and headed for his room.
“I’ll send the information to your phone,” Madison said with a smirk.
He thought about throwing up a middle finger to express his current mood, then decided she didn’t deserve it, despite the enjoyment she took in leveling that bomb on him.
He hurried to his room. It would take him a good hour and change to get ready, study the information and memorize it, and get to the airport. He didn’t want to be late.
Babysitting duty? Come on Valen, that’s not what we’re for!
His irritation at being chosen grew.