Reed (Nano Wolves #4) - Donna McDonald Page 0,52
They will definitely shoot you if you give them the opportunity. Don’t do that.”
“It is like we are in spy movie,” Katarina said as she fastened a government badge to her shirt. “Maybe Agent Nano Wolf will give us code names.”
Reed chuckled. “How about Boris and Natasha?”
“I said movie, Temptation, not cartoon with moose and squirrel. Russia is progressive. We have TV there.”
Reed turned and grinned at Gareth. “She always makes me laugh.”
“That’s too bad, old man,” Gareth said with an equally enormous grin. He held out a cell phone. “Use this to contact us. Just hit 1. That gets both me and Brandi. Keep in mind we’re using open channels so nothing you say will be private to our team. When we get ready to go in, you’ll hear it being broadcast.”
Reed took the phone, looked at it, and then held it out to Katarina. “Do you know how to use one of these? I’ve never owned one.”
Katarina felt her jaw drop. Was he kidding? She forced her mouth to close before she started sputtering. Cursing in Russian instead, she snatched the phone from his palm. “This is what I mean. You need keeper.”
“Are you planning to apply for the position?” Reed asked.
“Nyet,” Katarina said. “Too much work for too little reward.”
“Next time we sleep together, I’ll be sure and count to ten for you since you seem mathematically challenged.”
Snickering over the argument, Gareth walked away shaking his head.
“Gareth will ignore us now. You make us look like poor spies, Temptation,” Katarina said to his back.
“Let’s patrol then,” Reed said, heading off and letting her follow.
They stayed in the forest under the cover of the trees. Only a fraction of the building was visible, but now and again they had an unobstructed view of the exits.
“Tell me secret. How do you walk without noise?” Katarina demanded.
Reed grinned at the question. “Many years of practice.”
“That is not real answer.”
“It’s better than admitting that I don’t know—because I truly don’t know.”
Katarina laughed. She could hear his sincerity. “How can you not know how quiet you are?”
“It’s a family trait. When I was born—and keep in mind this was six centuries ago—werewolves didn’t live as humans nearly as much as they do now. Winters in Alaska were longer and colder. Food was often scarce. You had to be a silent wolf to catch your dinner. If you weren’t, you went to bed hungry.”
“Is it strange to have lived so long?”
Reed nodded. “Stranger than I could ever explain to you. I’ve lived through wars, famines, bad alphas, wonderful mates, and brought lots of children into this world. All that time, though, something felt like it was missing from my life, but I could never discover what it was. Just when I thought I was done searching for that missing part of me, Randall Crane changed my life. I won’t say for the better, but I like the created children that change brought me, even if I didn’t create them the regular way.”
“That sentiment reflects open mind about life. Your words give me hope, Temptation.”
“I’m glad,” Reed admitted because he wanted Katarina to respect him. “I may not say it aloud much, but I understand that we’re all fighting for far more than my pack. All of our kind are being threatened by these rogue scientists, but I don’t understand the betrayer wolves at all.”
Katarina nodded. She heard something and froze. Looking up, she saw a plane passing overhead. It trailed heavy white smoke behind it.
“What is that pilot doing?”
“Crop dusting. They sometimes drop fertilizer and insecticide onto the fields before plowing them. It’s kind of early in the season for that sort of thing, even in Canada. Looks like he’s practicing on the forest we’re in.”
Katarina stared as a fine white powder floated down through the trees and clung to her shirt. “I am covered with powder. Do you think it’s safe?”
She raised her head and watched Reed waver and then tip over like a giant tree that had been cut. She ran to him to check his pulse. He was covered in powder too, but the effect of it seemed stronger on him. His heart beat too fast, yet he still appeared to be alive.
She pulled the cell phone from her pocket and dialed 1 to let Brandi and Gareth know what was happening. No one answered. Katarina stood up and looked around her. Her vision wavered as she redialed the phone. She blinked hard. Still no one answered her call.
Had the