Destiny couldn’t believe how much Protection, Inc. had changed. Two years ago, the agency had been full of unhappy misfits. Hal had been a driven workaholic, Lucas had been brittle and arrogant, Nick had been in a permanent state of rage, Fiona had been snippy and secretive, Shane had been haunted and hollow-eyed, and Rafa had created an elaborate false front to disguise his loneliness.

Destiny had liked to think she’d been the only normal, cheerful person there. But now that years had gone by and everyone else had found their mates and sorted out their problems, she had to admit that she, like Rafa, had only been better than the others at putting up a false front. Like the old movie had said, they’d been dancing as fast as they could.

Now Protection, Inc. was full of happy people who’d found themselves when they’d found love, and the only unhappy misfit was her.

“I’m pregnant!” Grace announced, beaming. “Two months along!”

Destiny wasn’t surprised. She couldn’t tell from any change in her figure, but her purple curls had an extra shine and bounce, and she just seemed overall glowy. Even more than that, Grace’s mate Rafa had recently acquired a permanent grin, so engrossed in some wonderful news he couldn’t wait to share that Destiny was surprised he hadn’t literally walked into a wall.

“That’s great,” said Hal. “Our twins and your child will be so close in age. They’ll get to grow up together.”

“Only six months apart,” said Ellie. “Almost triplets!”

“Now that’s what I call a pack,” remarked Nick. Nudging his mate Raluca, he said, “If we got started right now, ours and theirs would practically be quadruplets.”

“I am not getting pregnant tonight,” Raluca said firmly. “First I finish my degree, then I launch my business. Then we have children.”

Nick looked wistful, but said, “You’re the one who gets pregnant. Your choice.”

Raluca traced his silver dragon armlet with a slim finger. “Our children will have big brothers or sisters to look after them.”

Nick glanced at Rafa and chuckled. “Watch out, man. Little brothers and sisters exist to annoy the fuck out of their elders.”

“Not in this case,” said Rafa. “I expect yours will acquire excellent manners… from their mother.”

Nick grinned. “My mom had great manners. Doesn’t always take.”

As the rest of the bodyguards and their mates congratulated Grace and Rafa, Destiny added her voice to the chorus. She’d probably never have children of her own, but at least she’d have friends’ kids to babysit and spoil. Ellie was only a month away from giving birth to twins.

She hoped Ethan would come back in time for the birth. Destiny had known he hadn’t wanted to deploy again, though of course he hadn’t said so. But she could see the weariness in his eyes. He hadn’t looked like Shane or Justin, thank God, like he’d spent the last couple years choosing every night between nightmares or not even trying to sleep. But he’d looked like Hal and Rafa and Destiny herself had when they’d left the military to start Protection, Inc. Like they were… done. Ready to move on.

He could move on. His time was almost up. But when she’d asked him if he was going to re-enlist, he’d shrugged, then said, “Probably” without looking particularly enthusiastic about it.

And that was that. He’d be in for four more years. At least. Four more years of—

A sudden, overwhelming sense of danger swept over her, making her whip around and scan the office. Nothing seemed amiss. No one was there but her friends, and they were all laughing and talking. But rather than relaxing her, the sight only made her more tense. She wanted to scream at them that something was wrong—

“Are you all right?” Fiona murmured in her ear.

“Yeah, fine,” Destiny replied automatically.

But the sense of danger didn’t go away. Destiny tried to make herself think rationally about it. Unlike some people present, she hadn’t been tortured or otherwise traumatized, and had never had a panic attack in her life. So was she getting a genuine premonition? Should she order everyone out of the office, in case she’d picked up some subliminal clues that someone had planted a bomb in it or something…?

But when she thought of that, she realized that she wasn’t afraid for anyone there. She was afraid for Ethan. Though she had no idea why, she was convinced that Ethan was in terrible danger.

He’s a Recon Marine, she told her subconscious or whatever it was. He’s in danger all the time. He can take care of himself.

Her subconscious wasn’t having it. Destiny’s heart was hammering against her chest. Her palms were sweating. The drumbeat of danger, danger, danger was so loud in her mind that she could barely hear herself think.

“Excuse me,” she muttered, and stumbled for the bathroom.

Once she was inside, she splashed cold water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes looked strange. Wild. The green shimmer was strong against the brown, like her tiger was staring back at her.

Suddenly worried, she dug into her purse and took out her pills. Apart from the emergency stash tucked into her bra, she kept them in a box meant for birth control, so she could always tell by checking the calendar if she’d forgotten to take one. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw that she’d taken one that morning. She wasn’t due for another till tomorrow. So at least it wasn’t that.

But then, what was wrong?

Ethan, that strange inner alarm informed her. Ethan’s in danger. Go help him, or he’ll die!

It didn’t sound like her tiger. It wasn’t a voice at all—it was a feeling, a knowledge, a compulsion that Destiny herself was translating into words. All the same, she asked her tiger, Is that you?

Nope, her tiger replied. No idea what it is. I can feel it too, though. Shall we go check it out?

If I can figure out where—

“Destiny?”

Destiny jumped about a foot in the air, dropping her pill box. Fiona snatched it up before it could hit the ground and handed it back to her.

“Thanks,” Destiny said, replacing it in her purse.

“You’re not all right,” Fiona remarked. Her leaf-green eyes were narrow with worry. “Mind if Justin comes in? You look like… Well, you look like he used to, sometimes. He noticed, too. He’s right outside the door.”

“Yeah, sure,” Destiny said, resigned. “Why not? It’s a unisex bathroom.”

Fiona opened the door, and Justin came in. He looked her over with his coal-black eyes, so startling against his copper-red hair and lashes. “Did something happen to you that I don’t know about?”

“Happen to me?” Destiny echoed, bewildered. “Like what?”

“Something bad,” Justin said succinctly. “You look like you’re having a flashback.”

“No. It’s nothing like that. It’s—”

Ethan, Ethan’s in danger, stop wasting time and go rescue him, now, now, now!

The command had the force of a hurricane. She gripped the sink with both hands, as if otherwise she might be swept away.

“Are you sick?” Fiona asked. “Would you rather we stepped out?”

Destiny realized that Fiona thought she was about to throw up. She opened her mouth to deny it, then closed it again. She couldn’t explain what was really going on, since she didn’t understand it herself and it made no sense, but pretending she was fine was right out. On the other hand, there was one thing she could say with absolute truth.

“I don’t feel good,” Destiny said. Before Justin, a paramedic, could offer to poke and prod her, she added, “I’m fine. It’s a female problem.”

Fiona’s worried expression cleared at that; she’d seen Destiny’s pills many times before, starting at the time when she’d stayed at Destiny’s house before she’d joined the team. “Female problems” tended to cut off discussion, even among women. But before her teammates could decide everything was fine and leave, another blast of alarm hit Destiny like a fist to the gut.

Ethan! Go help Ethan!

Destiny once again clutched at the sink, and once again looked up into her teammates’ concerned faces. If she didn’t let them do something, they’d never let her alone. “Could you drive me home?”

“Of course,” Fiona said. “Justin, can you tell everyone Destiny and I had to go? Just say she wasn’t feeling well.”

“Got it,” Justin replied.

Fiona escorted Destiny to her own car and got behind the wheel. Destiny was relieved to find that the sense of urgency faded once she got in the car. She could tell that it was still there, but it seemed to be abiding its time so long as she was taking some kind of action. She closed her eyes, hoping to discourage questions. But when the car stopped and she opened them, she found that she was at Fiona and Justin’s house, not hers.

“I know it’s nothing serious, but you don’t look good,” Fiona said. “I thought you’d better stay where someone can keep an eye on you. The dogs aren’t allowed in the guest bedroom.”

Destiny couldn’t think of any reasonable objection to that, especially since the entire problem was unreasonable. She followed Fiona into the yard, where they were greeted by an overjoyed pack of dogs.

“Sit!” Fiona commanded. “No jumping!”

All six dogs obediently sat as Fiona took Destiny to the no-dogs-allowed part of the house, which consisted of a guest bedroom, Fiona’s art room filled with paintings and strange glass sculptures, and Fiona’s tech room filled with computers and electronics. Sit Fiona in front of a computer, and she could find out anything.

She could find anyone.

Ethan, Ethan, find Ethan!

Without intending to say anything at all, Destiny caught herself blurting out, “Could you find a Special Forces soldier on a classified mission? I mean, if you wanted to.”

Fiona studied her like Destiny was a computer she’d just started hacking. “If I wanted to. Sure. Like a Recon Marine, maybe?”

“Yeah,” Destiny admitted.

“Why? Ethan’s been on classified missions before. What’s special about this one?”

For the first time in her life, Destiny lied to a teammate. “Before he left last time, Ethan told me something that makes me think he might be in trouble. Because… because he should be back by now, and he isn’t.”

Fiona’s leaf-eyes seemed to see right through her. “This sounds like something you should take to Hal.”

“No!” Floundering, Destiny went on, “Uh, Ethan said it was classified, and not to tell the rest of the team, because he might get in trouble, and—

Fiona held up a slim hand. “Destiny. Stop. Don’t lie, you’re not good at it. What in the world is going on?”

Destiny bit her lip. Fiona was a close friend, but that only made it worse. A teammate whose opinion you respected was the last person you wanted to have find out that you weren’t the steady, dependable woman she thought you were. She couldn’t bear the idea of Fiona, of all her teammates, thinking Destiny was a freak and a lunatic.

The silence stretched out between them. Then Fiona said quietly, “I am the last person who should object to you keeping secrets. Pull up a chair.”

Fiona sat in front of a computer and got to work hacking into military databases. Destiny, very conscious of her lack of a classified clearance, did not pull up a chair. Instead, she fell back on her training as a soldier and averted her eyes.

“Found him!” Fiona exclaimed. “He’s in Pakistan, near the border of India. I’ve got the exact area here… Hmm.”

“What’s the ‘hmm?’” Destiny inquired.

“That’s all I can get,” Fiona replied. “His team must be involved in something top secret. It looks like a lot of stuff about them was never even entered into a database.”

“To protect it from people like you,” Destiny said drily.

Fiona gave her a catlike smile. “Guess we’ll have to investigate in person. Do you want the whole team—” Destiny frantically shook her head, sending her box braids flying. “How about just me, you, and Justin? Or just me and you?”

“Just me,” said Destiny. Most likely she’d lost her mind out of sheer broken-heartedness, and she didn’t want to drag Fiona into that. Not to mention that she didn’t want witnesses to her embarrassment when Ethan turned out to be absolutely fine. “It’s probably nothing. I’d feel weird dragging anyone else into it. I’ll fly into India, and then see if I want to try crossing the border. If it nothing, I’ll stay in India for a while. Sightsee, clear my head. You know.”

“I do know. Justin and I cleared our heads sightseeing in Venice once. I’ll tell the team you were stressed out and went on a trip to India. It won’t be a lie. On one condition.”

“What?” Destiny asked warily.

Fiona crossed the room, took a tiny piece of electronic equipment from a shelf, and handed it to Destiny. “Keep this on you at all times. It’s a GPS transmitter.” As Destiny opened her mouth to object, Fiona said, “I won’t use it to follow your movements. I know this is private business, and I respect that. But if you’re not back in a week and you haven’t called in to confirm that you’re all right, I’m coming to get you.”

“Got it.” Destiny clipped the transmitter into her bra, beside her emergency pills.

She borrowed Fiona’s computer, found the airport closest to Ethan’s coordinates, and booked a flight. Fiona dropped her at the airport. Destiny didn’t even have time to go home and pack. But her purse had a month’s supply of pills and everything else a girl might need if she had to go somewhere suddenly, and she could buy whatever else she needed at the airport.

All the way to the airport, her mind kept fluttering around like a bird that had accidentally flown into someone’s house, jittering from the conviction that she’d arrive and find that he was fine and she was insane and then she’d get arrested for trespassing in a war zone, the terror that he wasn’t fine at all and she’d arrive too late to save him, and memories of kissing Ethan, eating barbecue with Ethan, standing back to back with Ethan with their guns drawn.

The hurt in Ethan’s sea-colored eyes when she’d told him to stop asking.

Destiny knew she should stop asking. If she kept picking at the scab, the wound would never heal. But she couldn’t help herself.

Is Ethan my mate? Destiny asked her tiger.

Stop asking me that, hissed her tiger. If I ever spot your mate, believe me, you’ll be the first to know.

Destiny had heard so many variations on that reply over the last two years that it should have stopped making her feel like her heart had been ripped in two. But the pain was as sharp and fresh as it had ever been.

She boarded the plane bound for India. Maybe after this little vacation of insanity proved exactly how crazy her obsession with Ethan had driven her, she could finally let him go.