Coyote!
Marlee knew it the moment she saw him, human form or not. The man coming down the Sentinel headquarters hallway was a full-blooded shape-shifterâhis eyes sharp, his presence full of strength and purpose and charismatic intensity. He stalked directly toward her, clearly on his way from the tactical dispensary, a heavy gear bag over his shoulder and a frown forming at the sight of her.
Marlee ducked hastily into the employee gymâthe room where sheâd been headed in the first place, here in the sleek, clandestine subfloor levels of Sentinel Brevis Southwest, regional operations for the desert climes. She didnât want to deal with the coyoteâs sharp gaze, his questing natureâthe sudden bloom of awareness as he realized who she was.
And he would, because of what he was. What they all were, the full-bloods. Not that it ever showed on the outside, but Marlee Abril Cerrosa knew it in her heart: this man was coyote.
The gym door closed gently behind her, enclosing her in that familiar cool spaceâweight machines lining the wall, free weights in an extruded corner nook, and a row of cardio options. Brevis took the fitness of its field and support agents seriously.
Of course, Marlee was neither. Not any longer.
Metal crashed from the free-weight nook; a muttered curse followed.
Marlee found him in an instant, sitting on a weight bench in cutoff sweats and no shirt, the smattering of hair on his chest a dark rusty blond to match unruly hair above. Tiger. Bengal tiger.
Irritation tightened her mouth. Sheâd come here in midmorning because so few others ever worked out at this time; she could count on a solitude free of knowing looks and silent accusations.
And then he stretched, his private disgruntlement turning to a wince as he worked his arm and shoulder, twisting his torsoâ¦revealing a splash of scarring.
Marleeâs irritation gave way to guilt. Sheâd learned to judge the age of such thingsâto recognize those injuries from the Core Dâoìche attack.
The injuries sheâd caused.
Arrogance. As if she had such power. As if sheâd done more than feed minor pieces of information to the former Atrum Core Prince, Fabron Gausto, or plant a computer virus or two, thinking them to be insignificant and low-level tinkerings.
No, she hadnât even known. Sheâd been taken in by the Atrum Core; sheâd been used.
Sometimes Marlee thought her ignorance made it even worse.
Oh, hellâthe Sentinel had seen her. He didnât quite release the stretch as he gave her a distracted nodâand then he looked again, sat up a little straighter, seemed a little larger.
And there it was. That which had always terrified her: the tiger, looking back at her.
How the field Sentinels ever blended into outside society at all, she didnât know. How this man could even try amazed her. The gleam of wild in pale hazel eyes, the subdued brown streaks in rusty blond hair tapered short at his nape to obscure them, the barely quiescent aura of powerâit all shouted of his otherness. It was an alluring strength, a charismatic strengthâ¦but never a comfortable strength. Not for a moment.
Especially not with his obvious flare of interest.
Heat prickled on Marleeâs cheeks and neck, tingling down her spine; she had a sudden, uncomfortable awareness of every sensitive spot on her body.
âIâm sorry,â she finally managed to say. And then, before he could ask whyâbefore he could figure out whyâshe gave him a reasonâ¦if not the true reason. âI didnât mean to interrupt you.â
âItâs a big room,â he said, and he was still eyeing her. âUntil now, not one of my favorite rooms.â
Hell, he was interested.
And Marleeâs body was as treacherous as the rest of herâshifting uncomfortably, so aware of her isolation and her loneliness. Aching to leave before he understood who she was, aching to stay just a moment longerâ¦
âYou must be staff?â he said, finally releasing his stretchâonly to reveal another slashing scar across one broad pectoral.
âBetween assignments,â she managed to respond, understanding now why he was here, and how that was her fault, too. Sheâd seen it beforeâthat first wave of healing field agents sent out too soon after Core Dâoìcheâso desperate was the situation here at Southwest Brevis, so thin were their agents on the ground. And so great was the need in the field, where the Atrum Core had wasted no time taking advantage, wreaking subtle chaos in their centuries-long quest for power and pushing all the ancient boundaries of their ageless cold-war battlefield with brevis regions around the world. Core Dâoìche had merely been another of that power-hungry factionâs strikes against the shape-shifting Sentinels and their mandate to protect the earth and its people.