Page 32 of Chased

Madison looked at the desktop, which had a neat row of office supplies lined up in size order. “I can’t imagine needing anything that isn’t here.”

“You probably don’t,” Breanna said with a grin. “Because Jaeda set that up, not me. She’s so organized it’s scary.”

Madison called across the room, “Thank you, Jaeda.”

Jaeda, who was being fierce on the phone again, raised her hand in a little ‘no problem’ wave.

Breanna went on, “You can bring your own stuff to decorate, if you want.” Breanna’s work area had a bulletin board covered with little goofy drawings and inspirational sayings, and photos of her and a dark-haired guy—who was obviously Switch, her mate, since they were kissing or snuggling in basically every picture. There was also a collection of miniature robots on one corner of the desk.

Breanna took her into the break room, where they grabbed coffee and doughnuts, and then Breanna sat them both down at the tiny table.

“I wanted to talk to you alone,” she said. “You and I are basically the only permanent people here who aren’t soldiers. Even Michelangela is really an operative—which is why she needed people to take over the admin side of things.”

Breanna took a sip of coffee, looking as if she were searching for words. “Okay, here goes. Outlaw Ridge isn’t like… well, it’s not like anywhere else. They go after bad guys who think they’re above the law, but the missions aren’t official. That’s why it’s all secret. It’s financed by a… a person named Thanatos, who lives in a mansion up the mountain. He’s not a wolf, but this is all his territory.”

Madison remembered Sanchez mentioning Thanatos. She wondered when—or if—she was going to meet him. Maybe she wasn’t important enough for that.

Breanna took a bite of donut before she continued. “Most of the men here are ex-military, or ex-spies or ex-criminals. A lot of them have PTSD issues or major burnout. Most of them can still go out in the field, but some can’t. It doesn’t matter. They all have jobs here, doing whatever they can.”

She paused again and then added, “Almost none of them has anything remotely resembling social skills.”

Madison said, “Mmm. I kind of noticed that. Boomer came knocking on my window this morning.”

Breanna rolled her eyes. “Oh, for the love of Pete. What did he want?”

“For me to help him play a prank on Sanchez. And to give him coffee.”

Breanna gazed at her thoughtfully. “What did you say?”

“No to the prank, partly because it involved me going to Sanchez’s cabin and seducing him.” Breanna almost spit her coffee. “And Sanchez was nice to me, so I don’t want to do something mean to him. I did give Boomer coffee. I told him he has to bring the mug back, though.”

Breanna, having managed to swallow, gave a little snort of laughter. “He won’t.”

“I know. I figured I could go steal it back.”

That brought a wicked smile to Breanna’s face. “Good call. I’ll help you.”

Madison said, “It would be more time-efficient to hit the Sanchezes’ cabin. They got the other three mugs. Or maybe I could just have more mugs?”

Breanna was laughing. “What, did you have a line of guys at your window this morning, for coffee?”

“Hey, it’s damn good coffee.” That set Breanna off again. “And Sanchez mostly wanted to know what Boomer wanted. The looking-in-the-window thing freaked me out at first, but Boomer seemed okay, and I remembered you were friends with him, so…”

“Yeah, Boomer’s good people, under all that attitude. And total inappropriateness.” Breanna leaned in, her forearms resting on the table. “The thing is, the Ridge used to be all men, under the old alpha. No women allowed here at all.”

Madison stared. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She thought that over. “Yeesh. That’s a lot of testosterone without an outlet.”

“Oh, they have outlets,” Breanna said. “Brawling with each other. Shooting people.”

“Pranking each other.”

“Oh my god yes. All the damn time.” Breanna went on, “Thanatos is still not a fan of women, so you won’t see much of him. Trust me, this is a good thing.”

Good to know. Although they were certainly making her curious about him.

“Anyway. The old alpha died a couple of years ago, and Gunn took over as alpha, and then he and Mikey were mated and they both bonded with the pack, so Thanatos had to let her stay. Only Mikey’s home pack are all Shifter Enforcers, which meant that Outlaw Ridge had to come out to the world and have a legitimate face so her pack could pretend their missions are all above-board. That’s when Outlaw Ridge Security was born.

“Mikey and Gunn also wanted to give the rest of the men a chance to bring mates here, which meant it had to become more…” She hesitated. “Family-friendly? More of a community and not just an operations base. So when I came, I kind of jumped in to help make that happen.”