Free Call of the Wild by Lucy Kelly Page A

steadily on the plans, pushing any emotions away to keep his head clear. When he found out Marsha wasn’t just an analyst, that she was one of the team leaders, everything gained another level of importance.
    He wasn’t quite sure what drew him so strongly to this particular woman. He only knew it was vital to him to keep her safe. His life up until now had been flowing along. He didn’t have any complaints. Now he knew there was so much more out there. It was time to make some changes.
    After so many years in the Army, he’d steadily worked his way up the ranks. His most recent promotion was likely going to lead to a desk job the next time he received orders to change assignments. Like Laura and his brothers, he had started taking college courses early. Mom had to homeschool Laura, so he and the others decided to stick with her. They all ended up graduating early, and he’d entered the Army as an officer at the age of eighteen.
    In a few months, he’d have his twenty years in and could retire at full pension. He’d originally thought to stay on. The military life was all he knew. Now, he had a new war to fight. They couldn’t go to the authorities with their problems. Laura wanted a shifter army? If there was one thing Aaron knew, it was Army.
    He thought this would be a quick in and out visit. Get Laura, take the blonde to bed and go back to life as he knew it. Well, the more he discovered the more he realized he wanted to be here. No one here seemed to have his skills, he was needed. There was also the upside of the blonde in close proximity.
    The hours flew by as the others in the room took his basic ideas and elaborated on them. They knew the people better and were able to make suggestions on who should be placed where.
    There was a small argument going on between Marsha and one of the others, when the door opened. Two little girls were pushing enormous carts through the door of the conference room. He immediately jumped up to help them, and then he realized this was Lola and her sister, Lila. He could see them! Damn! That blood thing really worked!
    He soon discovered that whoever helps the Kobold gets first pass at the lunch buffet. He didn’t have any idea how they accomplished it, and he didn’t really care. What he loved was the abundance of great tasting food. Give him a grill and he could cook just about anything—but the kitchen he was basically lost in. After years of MREs, the Army’s infamous Meals Ready to Eat, he loved home cooked food, he just had no concept how to cook it himself. When he was home he ate all his meals in restaurants or grilled out on his apartment’s tiny balcony.
    “Wow, I’m a shifter with an extremely fast metabolism and even I couldn’t eat all that,” said Marsha, when she saw the pile of food on his plate.
    She was having a steak with cheesy fries and steamed broccoli. From what she could see, he had a steak, three pieces of fried chicken, along with French fries and potato salad. No green stuff on his plate at all.
    “I don’t get food this good very often so I tend to dig in when I can. I have a pretty fast metabolism, too,” Aaron answered.
    Marsha gave his frame the once over. His body seemed to be all muscle. Not too bulked up. He could probably buy shirts and jackets off the rack—just lots of lean, hard muscle. Thump, thump, thump.
    Squeezing her thighs together, she tried to concentrate on something else, anything else so her arousal wouldn’t spike. She didn’t need everyone in the room giving her the eye. Having Laura and Alexander—or as Laura called him Sasha—constantly hot for each other, did help hide her own situation. Newly mated, go figure.
    She just needed to remember that even though Aaron was less of a jerk today than he was yesterday, he still wasn’t going to want to mate with a shifter. That would be taking things too far.
    Marsha didn’t give a thought to her abundant curves. The looks he gave her said it all; he wasn’t turned off.