The Wolf Within Read Online Free

the Taskforce before and my ideas of what a secret agency looked like relied heavily on old Bond movies and my collection of spy shows. I was disappointed when the room turned out to be a pretty normal looking reception area. White walls, the seal of the President on the reception desk, and one long low leather bench against the wall closest to the elevator doors. Smoked glass doors in the left hand wall had no signs to indicate where we were. Guess that meant that if you’d gotten this far, you were meant to know where you were.
    There was a woman behind the desk. Unlike the valkyrie I’d ridden down with, she was short and dark. She looked sweet and harmless. But in this place she had to be fairly high level FBI. She could probably kill me with her pinky even if she was human.
    “Ms. Keenan?” she asked. When I nodded she handed me a lanyard with an ID badge clipped to it. “Welcome to the Taskforce. Please wear this at all times.”
    I looked at the badge. It had a picture of me, but not me today. My hair was longer, well past my shoulders. I hadn’t worn it that length for over a year. I frowned, trying to work out where they’d gotten the picture. Then I shrugged. The damn FBI could probably get any picture it wanted. I should be more worried about the ‘welcome to the Taskforce’ line.
    I slipped the lanyard over my head as the blonde glided past me and pressed her palm to a small screen by the glass doors. They slid open with a soft hum and she turned back to me. “This way.”
    I followed her into a long, low-ceilinged room bright with harsh artificial light that in no way disguised the fact we were underground. Rows of cubicles formed two orderly lines marching down the length of the floor and the place hummed with familiar office noises. What wasn’t so familiar was the fact that the cubicles were filled with vamps and weres.
    I’d never been around so many non-humans in one space. My skin tingled even though I wasn’t standing close enough to anyone to feel them under normal circumstances. I guess if you put enough weres in a room, the effect gets stronger. My heart started pounding—an instinctive reaction to being surrounded by people who potentially viewed me as a snack. And the fact that I knew the vamps—and probably some of the weres—could hear my racing heartbeat didn’t make me feel any more relaxed. I spent a lot of time over the years trying to control the fear supernaturals caused me. I hadn’t wanted to let Tate win, let him turn me into someone full of hate and fear. I thought I’d mostly succeeded. But apparently this many vamps and weres in one spot was pushing my limits.
    The small smirk on the face of my escort told me she was enjoying my discomfort. It was tempting to accidentally let my silver charm bracelet rub against her and see how she enjoyed a bit of discomfort herself. But that would be small minded and petty. Plus she could probably throw me across the room if I pissed her off too much. I stuck my chin out instead and worked on calming my breathing.
    After a seemingly endless walk past the cubicles, with the occupants watching us pass with unnervingly quiet scrutiny, we came to a row of offices, each with a neat nameplate. We stopped at the one that said Special Agent Daniel Gibson. So now I knew what to call him. If only I didn’t have to call him anything at all.
    “Come in,” Dan’s voice said in response to the blonde’s knock. I didn’t wait. I pushed open the door. Dan was on the phone but waved me in with one hand. The blonde hovered in the doorway. Dan finished his conversation and hung up. He smiled at blondie. “Thanks, Esme.”
    Esme? The blonde goddess was called Esme? Call me shallow but that cheered me up.
    Dan’s office was small and crowded. Files were piled on almost every flat surface. A stack of multi-colored folders teetered on the corner of his desk nearest me. I resisted the urge to push it to a safer position. If Dan wanted to lose his