Why did I have to meet her now? So many times in my life meeting someone like Hope would have been perfect. Hell, I would have stayed in my dead-end job in New Orleans if she’d been there. But no. Instead I met her when I was over my head on a crazy assignment in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I wasn’t sure what it was about her. It was more than just her physical appearance, although gorgeous was too tame of a word to describe her. But there was something more, something deep inside her that called out to me and made her impossible to resist. My wolf felt it too, and he reminded me of it any time he could. It was hard enough to handle on the island, but after hours closed in a tight space with her I could barely take any more. I’d tried to stay physically far away from her, but eventually I gave in to my desire to be near her. Holding her in my arms had been a mistake. My body had made my attraction clear, and now keeping things professional would be even harder.

To make matters worse, I was not admitting how much I’d lied. It had been required, and I assumed she’d get that, but she didn’t even know my first name. I took in a deep breath and got ready to tell her everything I could. “I work for a secret organization.”

She nodded. “Ok that's not complicated. I gathered that much from Matheson.”

“It’s not a human organization.” I watched carefully for her reaction.

Her eyes widened slightly, but she otherwise didn’t react. “It’s going to take me awhile to get used to the words ‘not human’, but I’ve seen people shift into wolves. I have no trouble believing this organization is a bit different, but what kind of non-human organization is it?”

“A secret one.”

“Yeah? Are you going to expand on that?”

“A very secret one.” So secret I still didn’t really understand what it was.

“That’s not expanding, that’s repeating.” She folded her hands on her lap. She was relaxed, and I took that as a small win. She felt safe enough to let her guard down a little.

“I wish I could tell you more about it.”

“You can.” She frowned “I know plenty already, there’s no reason to hide anything now.”

She was cute when she was frustrated. Hell, she was cute all the time. Well, way more than cute. “Actually I can't tell you more because I don't really know anything about it.” Admitting that tidbit wasn’t fun.

She narrowed her eyes. “How can you be working for an organization you don't know anything about?”

“Like I told you, it's complicated.” And embarrassing. Admitting how little I knew wasn’t easy. I was supposed to be strong and in charge, but I probably seemed the opposite.

“That's not complicated.” She rubbed her temple. “It’s weird.”

“Weird?” I parroted back. “You should know all about weird. You're the one who came to a deserted island to look for your friend. Because that's normal.” I grinned to let her know I was only teasing. I did want to know more about how the Wellingtons convinced her to come though.

She shook her head. “If you knew Mirabella, you’d understand.”

“I wish I did know her.” There were so many questions she might be able to answer. Was she involved more than just being the little sister and best friend?

“Why?” Anger marred her gorgeous face.

“Not in any way that you think.” I quickly let her know Mirabella would never be a friend of mine. “Because I have a feeling she can answer a lot of our questions, and that she is even less innocent than she would want you to believe.”

“Is that how things work in this organization? You just go with your feelings?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Very funny.”

“I never said any of this was funny.” She pulled her knees to the side of her. “None of this is funny. And I go with my feelings too. At least I did this time. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

“And I’m glad you are, but...” I had to ask the question. Her expression worried me. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook my head. “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

“In any way?” What he did was horrible enough, but I needed to know if he’d done even more. “I need to know.”

“You don’t need to know, but I’m okay. Freaked out and ready to go home, but okay.”

“I’m going to get you home as soon as I can.” And hopefully that wouldn’t also be a goodbye.

“Somehow that implies it won’t be right away.” She ran her fingers through her tangled blonde hair as if trying to comb it.

“Ok, it’s time to explain some things to you.”

“I thought you didn’t know enough to explain everything.” She was annoyed, not that I could blame her.

“I don’t know enough about the organization I work for to explain it, but I know about some other things.”

“Some other things?” She raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

“The containers.” I pointed to one of the large crates.

“Yes?” She leaned forward. “The ones full of weapons, I’m listening.”

“They aren’t normal weapons.” Here came the hard part.

“What are normal weapons? Or rather what makes a weapon non-normal?”

“These have been enhanced with magic.”

“Magic? These are magic weapons?” She moved away from the crate she was leaning against and turned around to face me.

“No, they are weapons enhanced with magic. I think there’s a difference,” I explained.

“Once again, you think?” She sighed.

“I’m sorry I don’t have more definite answers, but I promised to share what I know, and that’s what I’m trying to do right now.”

“So these weapons enhanced with magic, are they bad?”

I nodded. “Very.” Matheson had backed up Asher’s description. One bomb could wipe out an entire city of humans.

“And what does the magic do?” She moved to her feet.

“I don’t exactly know, but…” I jumped in before she could interrupt. “I do know the goal is to hurt humans.” I couldn’t bare to use the words wipe out unless I had to.

“Hurt humans? Like kill them?” I stood up.

Ok, she wasn’t going to let me merely beat around the bush. “Yes, the goal is to kill all of them, or so I’ve been told.”

“Then what are we doing with them? Why not destroy them?” Her eyes were wide with fright.

“We have to find out who the Wellingtons are selling them to. This load Is bad, but it’s not the only one.”

“But what happens if you can’t fight these guys? And they get the weapons?”

“We can’t let that happen.” I wasn’t failing. There was far too much at stake. If the backup didn’t arrive on time, I’d have to take care of the mess myself.

“Is there any way to get rid of the magic on them? I mean clearly they’d still be dangerous, but could we make them less dangerous?” She jumped to her feet.

“From what Matheson told me, no. At least he and I can’t. Maybe they can. But that would be a problem anyway, because they might notice the change and stay away. We have to play this carefully to make sure we don’t scare the buyers off. That’s why we can’t dump the weapons or anything. If the buyers find them when we aren’t around… well I don’t want to think about that possibility.”

“Who’s they? I mean you said you don’t know who the Wellingtons are dealing with.”

“I don’t, but I also mean the Wellingtons. I guess I also need to explain why they are special wolves. Well, that I am supposedly one too.”

“Oh my. Special wolves?” She laughed dryly. “This keeps getting better and better.”

“I know. I said that wrong. But we’re wolves that can manipulate magic. Of course I’ve never done it, but in theory I can.”

“So you’re a magician on top of a wolf?”

“Not a magician.” That word sounded odd.

She started to laugh.

“You’ve seen men shift into wolves, yet it’s the magic part you are having trouble with?” I tried to understand her reaction.

“I’m not having trouble with it; I’m just struggling to understand. All of this is very new to me.”

“If it helps, the magic part is new to me too.”

“That doesn’t really help.”

I shrugged. “I figured telling you was worth a shot.”

“Ok, so we can’t get rid of the magic, but what about the weapons?” Her eyes lit up.

“What about them?” I loved the excitement on her face, but I had no idea where her train of thought had gone.

“Are they computer based? I bet they are. That’s what the cover was for. I bet they made all the computer components and then added them to weapons later.”

Understanding dawned on me. “And you know how to deactivate the parts?”

“Maybe.” She nodded as if trying to convince herself. “And you can help. You do work for a covert organization.”

“I could kiss you right now.” She had a plan, a real definitive plan, that did not involve sitting around and waiting.

“Then do it. I’ve been waiting for you to do it all day.” There was a challenge in her words I could not ignore.

I cradled her head with my hand and gently brushed my lips against hers. I felt a spark jump between us and knew I had to go in for more. I pulled her tightly against me as I kissed her harder, hungrier. Her hands tangled in my hair as I tipped her head back ever so lightly, pressing my tongue against her lips, asking for access that she eagerly granted. I ran my hand up and down her back, before letting it settle on her hip, once against pulling her against me.

The kiss was fire, intense and smoldering, and ending it became impossible when her hand slipped underneath my shirt and ran over my stomach and then my chest. Each touch of her fingers intensified the fire brewing inside me and between us.

Finally a sobering realization hit me, and I gently eased away. She was kissing me without knowing my true name. That was wrong and had to be rectified before anything could go any further.

She blinked a few times and licked her lips. “Uh, what were we talking about before all that?”

“The weapons. Fixing the weapons. But first, I need to talk to you about something.”

“About what?” She looked down.

“Oh, nothing like that,” I quickly dispelled any worry that I was about to try to let her down easy or anything like that. It was quite the opposite. I now knew it was going to be impossible to let go when all of this was over.

“Then what is it?” She crossed her long legs at the ankles.

I studied her face, her bright blue eyes, and her cheeks that were still slightly red from our kiss. “My name is not Ryan. Well, it’s my last name. My first name is Carter.”

She looked startled at first, then the surprise quickly turned to laughter. “Your cover was to reverse your names?”

“I’m not the one who chose the cover.”

“Oh yeah? Was that decision in the hands of your secret organization?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Ok. So technically I haven’t been calling you the wrong name. Lots of people go by their last names.”

“Technically, yes.”

“But you’d prefer I call you Carter?”

“You can call me either. I just couldn’t let things go any further until you knew the truth. I don’t want you to feel lied to.”

“I was lied to.” Her words hit me straight in the gut. “I should be mad about it, but I get that you probably had no choice. You did what you had to do to get me off that island. To get me away from Justin.” She shuddered as she spoke his name.

“Exactly.”

“And right now we are also in a no choice situation. As much as I’d like to see where that kiss could go, we need to take care of the weapons.”

“We do. Immediately.” My wolf disagreed with me, but I was the one in charge. I ignored the howl that was getting dangerously close to the surface.

“How safe are these weapons to handle?” She eyed the closed crate closest to us warily.

“Probably not safe.”

“Once again with the probably. It’s almost as bad as ‘I think.’”

“Ok, I’ll call it as it is. It’s not safe, but then again being next to them isn’t safe.”

“They will be even less safe when they are used by the wrong people.” She closed her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them. “Let’s do this.”

“Let me handle them first.” I put my hand on the lid of the crate. “Step back.”

“Do you really think stepping back is going to help me if you set off one of the bombs?” She raised an eyebrow.

“No, not at all.”

“Ok then.” She wove her hand in the air. “Proceed.”