Covert Desires. Sondrae Bennett

      Leaning against the counter, Danny zoned out as the conversation hummed around him. He drank from the glass in his hand and somehow managed to suppress his grimace. Beer was his drink of choice. Never had been particularly fond of the fancy stuff. But it was a celebration of Misty, mate to a friend of his, having been proven innocent of some nasty charges brought before the shifter council. So Danny hadn’t complained when his sister, Julie, showed up with a bottle of champagne. Who was he to spoil the fun?

      “To solving problems,” Misty toasted. His brothers and sisters all raised their glasses in salute and Danny followed suit. Although he didn’t know her well, Misty a fox shifter and he a wolf shifter, they’d been in the same class in grade school and he’d always admired her cheerful spirit. He was glad the trial had ended in her favor. Otherwise they would have had a rogue alpha fox to deal with, considering how fiercely Cody loved her.

      The whole trial was troubling. It seemed as if the hybrid shifters present had wanted blood, egged on by one woman in particular–the sister of a man who’d kidnapped Danny’s sister, Julie, not so long ago. All of it motivated by a desire for power and a foolhardy plan to gain a foothold with the shifter council.

      Yellow-brown tinted the edge of his vision. Just remembering the terror when they’d discovered Julie missing made his eyes shift to wolf. The riots that had followed the man’s punishment, incited by the convict’s bitch of a sister, had raged out of control. When Misty had gotten caught in one, she’d injured a few people while trying to flee, and the hybrids had twisted her desperate escape into a hate crime against hybrids everywhere, with Misty trapped in the middle of the scandal. Hence the trial.

      At least now everything was settled. The bad guys were in the council’s hands, their crimes known, and his troubles were over. The woman had been sentenced for conspiracy, kidnapping a human, and inciting riots that could have exposed shifters to humans. The shifter council had no other option than to hand her a death penalty.

      Life would settle back into its routine. No more riots. No more trials. Just normal, everyday problems. Paper jams and burned coffee. He’d take those over the problems of the past month any day of the week.

      Routine was good. It helped steady him. Allowed him to maintain control of his wolf. Anything that tipped the scales of that battle in his favor was something to be grateful for. Some days were harder than others. And he’d learned firsthand how important control was. His gaze drifted to Julie before he guiltily looked away, remembering the time he’d grabbed her arm in anger when they were kids, and broken the bone.

      Letting his wolf get away from him only caused heartache for those he loved. So he kept it leashed as much as he could, never completely releasing the reins of control, even when in wolf form. And routine helped distract him from the cagey feeling that had been building inside him the past year.

      “Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but we’re not problem free quite yet. Apparently, the protests and riots in the area have drawn the attention of some government officials. The council’s sources in Washington have informed them that an undercover agent has moved into the cabin off Route 70. Since our two communities are the closest around, we’ve been asked to make sure they don’t discover something they shouldn’t.” His brother, Jason looked around the gathered group, stopping momentarily on Danny. Great, more problems. “We need to figure out how to approach this, and find out what the humans know. More importantly, we need to keep the wrong information from getting out.”

      “Well, that’s easy enough,” Misty said. Danny stared warily at the mischievous smile on her face. She was a bit too gleeful. Definitely planning something. “There’s only one unmated woman here. Laurie will just have to seduce the man.”

      “Oh, no…”

      Danny didn’t even have time to breathe a sigh of relief that her plan hadn’t involved him before Laurie started protesting.

      Jason cut her off just as quickly.

      “The agent is a woman. Although, she is young enough something like that might work.”

      No one spoke for a minute. Then as one, their gazes swung toward him. Danny froze, glancing between the stares directed his way. At first he didn’t understand, then the conclusion they had all obviously reached hit him with the force of a Mack truck. The agent was a woman... And he was the only unmated man in the room.

      “Shit,” he said.

      He wanted to protest, wanted to deny it, but there was no point. It would be useless. Even if it was possible to reason with this group–which it wasn’t–he didn’t have a better idea to offer. It did seem to be the easiest available plan. Well, for everyone in the room who wasn’t him.

      Which was how he found himself ringing the newly rented cabin’s doorbell with a plate of badly burned chocolate chip cookies. A pathetic excuse for spying on the town’s newest resident, but it was the best he could come up with. And the alternatives his family had suggested were out of the question. Misty had actually suggested he show up shirtless to “mow the lawn.” Then pretend to be shocked that someone had recently rented the property. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

      Still, glancing at the plate, he couldn’t help but wince as he took in the barely distinguishable black lumps. He should have stuck with the Toll House premade stuff, but had wanted a more personal touch. After all, he was trying to seduce the woman. To get close to her just so he could deceive her. The least she deserved was homemade cookies. But apparently thinking cooking was better than store bought was where he’d gone wrong. Well, no. Agreeing to this stupid plan to begin with was his fatal mistake. No matter how unfeasible the other options he’d frantically proposed the past two days had been.

      Even if he did manage to seduce the woman, how was he supposed to keep her from learning too much, or asking the wrong questions? For that matter, seducing her under these circumstances felt…wrong. Cheap, somehow. Like his family was trying to whore him out.

      He thought about how he would feel had the agent been a man, and seducing the agent had been Laurie’s responsibility. Oddly enough, not so bad. Guess he wasn’t any better than the rest of them.

      Sighing, he glanced at his watch before ringing the doorbell again. The woman’s car was in the driveway, so she should be home. The cabin stood close enough to the town to be a potential concern information-wise, but would still be a trek by foot. At least it would be on two feet. Plenty of the wolves and foxes hunted in the area. Which reminded him, he’d need to make sure everyone stayed away until the woman left. He made a mental note to address the issue at the next pack meeting.

      “Can I help you?”

      Danny started at the voice. Not only because it came directly behind him, but because he hadn’t sensed her approach. At all. Not many people had the ability to sneak up on wolf shifters. Especially not him, a dominant wolf who helped run the local wolf pack with his two brothers, and one whose wolf was closer to the surface than even his own family knew. It wasn’t easy to catch him off guard.

      The voice was lyrical and soft. Not the voice he’d