“We met someplace warmer, and a hell of a lot drier,” Nolan said.
“Once you’ve gone private contractor the military won’t take you back,” Edward said.
“Bobby Lee can’t go back, even if he wanted to,” Nolan said.
“I meant you.”
“I’ve never left the military.”
Edward looked at him like he didn’t believe him, but finally said, “Did you move back to mainstream military?” There was very little Ted in his voice when he asked.
“I put together teams for special assignments.”
“You mean like the teams we were assigned to back in the day?”
“Yes.”
“If I tell Anita she can trust you, am I going to regret that?”
“Why did it bother both of you that we all know Bobby Lee?” I asked.
“Regular military doesn’t work with shapeshifters, not even as private contractors,” Edward said.
“Then how did Nolan and Brennan get to work with Bobby Lee?” I asked.
“That is the question, isn’t it?” Edward said in a voice that was cold and almost threatening. Ted wasn’t going to last as a disguise if he couldn’t do better than this.
“What are you afraid of, Forrester?” Nolan asked.
“Regular military doesn’t play with shapeshifters, but there are other people who wear the uniform. People I don’t want Anita involved with.”
I had a thought. “You mean Van Cleef, don’t you?”
They both looked at me as if I’d said too much. Nolan looked shocked and walked the two of us out away from the rest of the group. The guards on their four-point formation tried to follow me, but I shook my head and let Nolan lead Edward and me a more private distance up to the front of the Humvee line. When Nolan thought we were far enough away, he turned on us angrily. That otherworldly energy danced in the air and around my skin. I had to swallow past it and tell my inner beasts to stay put and not react to it.
“Forrester, I heard the rumor that you and she were . . . Pillow talk like that will get you in jail for treason.”
“She knows the name because I brought her to his attention, or her hanging around with me did. I don’t want her to ever meet him, or be involved in anything he’s doing, and I need to know right now, Nolan: Is he involved with your unit?”
He looked at me. “Why does Van Cleef want to meet you?”
“I’m not sure he wants to meet me, but I’ve heard from more than just Ted that he’s interested in the fact that I carry lycanthropy but I don’t shift.”
“She heals almost as well as a lycanthrope, is almost as fast, and has their heightened senses, but she never changes shape,” Edward said.
Nolan looked from him to me. “If that’s true, then you’d be right up Van Cleef’s alley.”
“You see why I want to keep her away from him,” Edward said.
“You aren’t denying that you’re a couple with her, then?”
“Couple?” He looked at me. “Anita, are we a couple?”
“Not last I checked.”
“Fine. You want blunt. Are you lovers?” Nolan asked.
“No,” we said together.
“Why don’t I believe that?”
“Because no one wants to believe that a man and a woman can be best friends without sex being involved somewhere,” I said.
“A lot of the men in our line of work hate the fact that she and I are better at the job than they are, so it makes them feel superior to spread the rumors.”
“It makes me Ted’s girlfriend, not an equal, I think.”
“What does it give them over Ted?”
I looked at Ted. “Good question.”
“You’re out of step with the younger set, Nolan. Men can be sluts, too. If I’m sleeping with Anita, then I’m getting supernatural help from her, and I’m cheating on my fiancée, which gives some of the jealous bastards a sense of superiority.”
“It’s a way of explaining why you’re better than they are,” Nolan said.
“And then Anita isn’t good in her own right; she’s my protégée, or trainee, or some bullshit.”
“To be fair, you did help train me to be a better hunter,” I said.
“Monster hunting has always been an apprentice system, Anita, no shame in that,” Edward said.
“Who’d you apprentice to?” I asked, because it just occurred to me.
“Van Cleef,” he and Nolan both said, at the same damn time. They stared at each other, and it was only partly friendly.
“Are you still his boy?” Edward asked.
“That summer was a long time ago, Ted.”
“Answer the question.”
“This isn’t one of his projects. I swear that.”
“But you are in touch with him.”
“And you called him in for help just a few years ago, and he came. He sent people to rain hell down on your enemies, helped you save your fiancée and her kids.” It was the first time I’d met Donna and the kids; bad guys had kidnapped them, and Edward had turned to the mysterious Van Cleef for help, because the bad guys had known the name, and Edward, too.
“Because some of the men involved were old friends of ours, and of his,” Edward said.
“They weren’t military anymore; they’d gone more rogue than you have,” Nolan said.