AMIDST THE CATS' CRADLE - 9

C H A P T E R N I N E - - - - M I T C H

He had trouble speaking for the first few seconds. Since their one night together, she had both graced and tormented his dreams. There she was. Gwen Neeson is more seductive-looking than ever.

Her voluptuous form was soft and attractive, with some of the hard lines of muscle he recalled turning softer. However, this just served to further arouse his jaguar. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a loose braid and hung over one shoulder. In an apparent attempt to claw its way out and attack on Gwen where she was standing, the animal was scratching at him.

The good news was that she appeared to be as taken aback by their presence as Mitch was by hers. The unfortunate part was that she Mitchaced at their presence, despite having the beginnings of a grin on her lips for the tiniest fraction of a second before she appeared to remember who was around.

Only then did Mitch realize that he could give the other person in the room any attention at all. Instantly, his blood grew chilly.

Ace. Naturally, it must be him, he reasoned as his hands tightened into fists and his eyes shrank.

“Gentlemen. What a pleasure. I wasn't expecting to see you in the building at this hour," Ace replied, his tone indicating whether he was startled or not.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting to see any cockroaches skittering around, so I suppose we're both in for a dismal evening," Mitch snarled, seeing his brother seething in a similar amount of annoyance behind him.

"Now, guys, behave yourself. After all, we're in the company of a lady. I suppose you are familiar with Gwen Neeson. Mitch and Jordan Allen. You might remember them as two of the six jerks that nearly murdered you on that plane," Ace added, a lovely grin on his lips and a small inclination of his head.

Gwen's mouth opened for a split second, as if she was looking for words but couldn't find any, and then she closed those gorgeous, cherry-red lips again to nod blankly.

"I remember," she replied, her eyes fixed on two ghosts or a pair of sharks about to rip her to bits.

What the hell happened?

Confusion trundled through Mitch and he looked back at Jordan, who seemed no wiser. Mitch could have racked his brain as much as he pleased, but he was sure he couldn’t come up with a single thing that would have caused Gwen to give them the kind of greeting she was now. Their night together was one of the fondest memories Mitch had ever made, and though he hadn’t talked to Jordan much about it later, he knew his brother had to hold it in his mind equally as dearly.

Gwen had been the first and only woman so far that Mitch had felt a strong emotional connection to. His heart constricted on itself, pressing smaller in his chest, seeing her almost indifferent reaction to him now. She had everything he wanted in a woman. The brains, the attitude, the beauty, and the mouth on her could put most soldiers to shame if she wanted to. And now his dream woman was looking at him like she would have rather been anywhere else.

It fucking stung.

“What are you doing here?” Jordan asked after a small pause, and Mitch wasn’t sure who it was directed to, Ace or Gwen.

It probably didn’t matter. Mitch released his fist, taking a breath to chill his fraying nerves in an attempt to get a handle on himself. There was no use in making a fool out of himself, after all. The bad boy cougar stood up straighter, rising to his full height, as tall as Ace was, and crossed his arms over his chest as he flicked his gaze between Gwen and his least favorite Firm operative.

“Not that that’s any of your concern, but we had some business with Miss Neeson. I trust we can consider it finished now, yes, Gwen?” Ace said, giving Gwen an expectant look.

She nodded begrudgingly, the slightest tilt of her chin, the life draining out of her eyes as she met his gaze. It chilled Mitch to the bone, seeing her react that way. Immediately, he knew something foul was going on here, but true to form, Ace wouldn’t give him any clues without something to bargain for. Ace was well known with the men of Shifter Squad Six. Every single one of them had a bone to pick with him one way or another, and somehow, all of them had so far resisted the urge to pound his face into the gravel.

Mitch wasn’t so sure if he could keep himself on that list for much longer if he’d done something to Gwen.

“Anyway, I’ll leave you three to get reacquainted. I’m sure you have great stories about that one scar you got during the mission. I’ll talk to you soon, Gwen. Behave yourself,” Ace said, the makings of a purr in his voice, probably the closest thing to affection he’d ever heard coming out of the slab of ice masquerading as a human being.

Ace walked out of the room, a meeting room with a long table and fancy-looking chairs. His footsteps resounded in the empty hallway outside, his heels making clicking noises until he was far enough not to be heard anymore. And more importantly, not to hear what they were saying, either.

“You want to tell us what’s really going on here, Gwen?” Mitch asked, not able to quite keep the irritation out of his voice.

Gwen looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Mitch’s stomach lurched when he saw her lower lip tremble slightly. It was like whatever had happened since they’d last met had made her both stronger and more fragile at the same time, keeping her in its grips with a force that Mitch couldn’t comprehend. One thing was clear, though: Ace had something to do with it.

“I swear, I’m going to rip that fucker’s face off,” Jordan snarled suddenly behind Mitch, and it took a few fast movements to get ahold of Jordan’s shoulder before he had a chance to speed out of the room in search of the intel officer.

“Fucking hell man, relax!” Mitch hissed, finding it distinctly funny that it was him telling Jordan to calm down while it was always the other way around.

Jordan’s expression was twisted in anger as he glanced back at Mitch and then to Gwen, who was still standing in the middle of the room like a deer caught in headlights. Mitch had to assume that if she had anywhere to run to, she would have.

“What the fuck did he do to you, Gwen? Tell me right now. I’m not kidding, I’ll rip that smug smile right off his face if I have to and I bet there isn’t a single agent in The Firm who’d fucking fault me for it.”

Jordan yanked his arm out of Mitch’s grip. Honestly, if Gwen spoke a word on the topic, Mitch was convinced he’d be right by Jordan’s side, tracking Ace down and exacting some long-overdue justice. The fact that he felt so strongly about her only dawned on him when he looked at her again. She was almost exactly the same as he remembered her, but not quite.

He’d always had a soft spot for women, obviously, but it hadn’t driven him to fits of rage quite like seeing Gwen wounded would. The realization was chilling, and the harshness of his cougar’s reaction also made him pause. A soldier was supposed to be in control of his emotions, a SEAL all the more so. But she could mess with his brain without even saying a word.

“He didn’t do anything; it’s fine!” she said, her words coming out a little bit raspy and raw, but she seemed to gather herself. “We were only talking.”

“What could you be talking about to that fucking slime?” Mitch asked.

“I work here now,” she said, stunning the room into silence. “I have for… a while now.”

“What?! You’ve been working here and we didn’t know?” Jordan asked, indignantly.

Rationally, Mitch knew that they had no right to demand anything of her. But another much more vocal side of him was siding quickly with Jordan’s assessment of the situation. Could it be that both he and Jordan had treasured the night they’d spent together, but to Gwen, it had meant nothing?

That thought pissed him off almost as much as Ace had.

“Yeah,” she said softly, averting her gaze from them. “Funny how life works out sometimes.”

“I’m not fucking laughing,” Mitch said, the hints of a growl in his words.

Gwen pursed her lips slightly and she looked so very vulnerable again, something he hadn’t seen at all when they’d been together the first time. But it somehow made her even more appealing. Probably because it weighed on his urge to protect her, despite everything.

“Who have you been working as?” Jordan asked, getting ahold of his emotions faster than Mitch could after his initial outburst.

“Special assignment. I… I don’t think you have the clearance to know,” she said, looking up and holding her head a little bit higher, a little bit prouder.

There was a semblance of the woman Mitch remembered and lusted for. That tilt of the chin, that blaze in her eyes… fuck, she was as sexy as he remembered and it was killing him that they were standing around, getting into some sort of a fucking argument because of Ace of all people.

“All right, whatever. You’re here, that’s what matters. If you say Ace hasn’t done anything, I won’t believe you, but I’ll trust you. He’s done something to everyone, you might just not realize it yet,” Mitch said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Tell you what. We’re heading out for a drink and some dinner. Do you wanna join us? I promise we won’t talk shop. Right, Jordan?” Mitch asked pointedly, turning to look at the older Allen.

“Right,” Jordan said after a tense pause, sighing and relaxing his body. “Sorry, Gwen. It’s been a long time and whenever I see that fucker, I see red.”

“He’s an asshole,” she said with a slight smile, the corners of her mouth cutely curving upward.

“You’ll get no objections from the gallery on that,” Mitch said. “Come on. Let’s pretend this isn’t super weird.”

Another thing easier said than done.