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Celine’s head was reeling as she went back into the kitchen. The handsome soldier had just blown her mind. Today of all days. The anniversary of her parents’ deaths. He’d at last given her some hope that there might be a chance to catch the killer.

A year had passed without any further information.

Celine had almost given up hope. She’d come here to be with her grandfather, in despair.

Nobody knew if her life was also in danger, and after a few incidents that could have been attempts on her life that didn’t succeed, everybody had agreed to err on the side of caution and send her to Gramps.

It was somewhat irregular to have a civilian on this Top-Secret shifter military base, but things on the island had changed a lot, apparently, since the gifted humans had been stationed here.

They had brought their wives and a few, select, civilian researchers to the island, which was why Gramps had taken the assignment to head up their kitchen. To keep an eye on them all.

It was a good place for Celine too, since there were other women who weren’t soldiers around.

Even if they were human and not all that familiar with shifter culture.

They were learning, and friendships were starting to form.

Celine genuinely liked the ladies that were affiliated with the Green Beret unit.

The men were nice too, though she didn’t interact with them a lot.

Except for Zeke. He’d made a point to talk to her a few times, and she had sensed his interest. She was interested in him too, if she was being honest with herself.

He’d been the one bright spot in an otherwise grief-filled existence for her.

She knew she should be shaking off the sorrow faster, but the fact that the killer hadn’t been found gnawed at her.

It wouldn’t let her rest. She wasn’t a soldier or a mighty hunter like some of the others in her family, but she had their genes and sensibilities.

She wanted that evil witch caught and punished.

Eliminated permanently. By her hand, if at all possible.

Her inner beast was just bloodthirsty enough to want to kill the evil being that had taken the two most important people out of her life in such a heinous way.

But Celine had been built for protection, not retribution.

Her magical powers, such as they were, didn’t really lend themselves to the revenge she wished for in her heart.

And now, Zeke and his extraordinary gift had given her hope for the first time in the year since her parents died. Hope that they might actually be able to track down the killer.

Celine was a big believer in fate, and the fact that he’d ended up in possession of her locket on the same day that someone had asked him to read that damned stone couldn’t be just a coincidence.

She hardly ever took off the locket and was shocked that she hadn’t noticed it was gone until he’d handed it back to her.

She wasn’t that forgetful or unobservant normally.

Today was a rough day, of course, but she was still astounded that she hadn’t noticed the familiar weight of the locket wasn’t around her neck.

And then for Zeke to get it, along with the one confounding piece of evidence from her parents’ brutal attack.

That was just too good. Too perfect. Too much as if the hand of the Goddess was orchestrating events.

Celine sent a quick prayer of thanks to the Mother of All as she reentered the kitchen. Everybody was watching her, and she knew she had to say something. She went straight over to her grandfather.

“I lost my locket, and Zeke was returning it,” she told him, knowing everybody else could hear her, since they were all shifters. “And there’s a break in the case,” she added as her grandfather’s eyes narrowed. “I think it’s going to be big.”

Nodding, her grandfather wiped his hands on the kitchen towel he kept over his shoulder and tossed it aside.

He spared one moment to hug her close, and she reveled in the feel of his big, strong arms around her.

He was precious to her and had stepped in to comfort her, even as he was hurting from the loss of his son and daughter-in-law.

They had comforted each other in those early days when she had first arrived on the island.

As much as the brawny master chief would allow anyone to comfort him.

Still, he was a shifter, and big hugs were his specialty.

“Wait here, pumpkin,” he told her. “I’ll find out what’s going on.” He looked up at his second and nodded. “Take over. I may not be back for a while.”

“Yes, Chief,” the second responded immediately.

The rest of the kitchen went back to work, and Celine busied herself finishing up with the vegetables she’d been chopping.

Busy work helped settle her mind a bit. If there was more to find out—and she had to believe there was—her grandfather would get to the bottom of it.

Because of the military setting, he had to be the one to approach the hierarchy.

She couldn’t just go to the Alpha here, though he was a distant relation as they were both members of the Kinkaid Clan.

There was an order to things here on the island that didn’t usually exist outside the military.

There was shifter hierarchy and military hierarchy, and her grandfather knew how to navigate both.

She trusted him to know the best approach.

That thought made her pause. She realized she also trusted the human soldier who had become so intriguing to her in such a short time.

The first time she’d seen Zeke, her inner seal had stood up and taken notice—something it had never really done before.

Not in that way. It thought Zeke might be an ideal playmate, which seemed odd, since he wasn’t a shifter, and she didn’t know what sort of skills he had in the water.

He was a Green Beret, which meant he had special training in all sorts of environments, but he wasn’t a Navy SEAL.

The SEALs excelled in water whether they were shifters or regular humans.

She wasn’t sure what the Army Special Forces were taught or what sorts of skills they had.

It was probably similar, but she’d have to observe some of them in the water to find out for sure.

She certainly wanted to observe the handsome sergeant in the water. In his bathing suit. Or out of it. The scandalous thought almost made her smile.

Celine did her best to remain calm through the rest of the meal service.

The Green Beret unit wasn’t super demanding, and they usually all ate at the same time, except for those on duty.

The kitchen staff always prepared a few meals to leave in the fridge for those who might be working odd shifts and need something to eat later, since the kitchen wasn’t staffed around the clock.

The second in command took over seamlessly from her grandfather, and everyone obeyed her with military precision.

Except Celine, of course. She wasn’t military, but she tried her best to fit in with the rest of the crew.

They were all shifters. A mixed bunch of lions, a selkie or two, a werewolf and a lynx rotated through the kitchen staff, but always under the direction of her grandfather or his second, Kathleen Kinkaid, a strong, maternal lioness who was protective of everyone in her care.

She was tall and lithe, like most lionesses, and had a very strong personality.

Only Celine’s grandfather could temper Kathy’s tendency to turn the crew into a pseudo-family that she would mother with an iron hand.

She had a very dominant personality, and she was a Kinkaid, but she had grown up with Celine’s father and subdued her own dominant traits a little to follow the master chief’s lead.

Kathy saw Celine’s grandfather as a parental figure and gave him the respect due that position.

He was the true Alpha of this crew, and everybody knew it, though Kathy was a respectable stand-in, when needed.

“All through with the carrots?” Kathy asked in a soft tone as she sidled up beside Celine. Kathy could be compassionate when the situation called for it. She might be dominant, but she was also maternal, which made for a tough-as-nails combination.

“Yes, ma’am,” Celine replied, putting the last of her chopped carrots into the container that would then be given to the chefs.

“Are you all right?” Kathy’s voice dropped even lower.

Celine looked up at the woman who had been like an aunt to her for as long as Celine had known her. Kathy had taken it hard when Celine’s parents—two of her oldest and dearest friends—had been murdered.

Celine nodded. “I’m okay. In fact, I feel like the investigation might finally have caught a break, though Zeke couldn’t tell me much.”

“The master chief will get everything there is to know,” Kathy said confidently.

“I know,” Celine said, smiling softly. They both knew her grandfather didn’t take no for an answer when it was about something important.

“Do you want to keep busy or would you like a few minutes to yourself?” Kathy asked, compassion in her tone when she talked to Celine.

“Busy,” Celine said firmly. “Please.”

Kathy nodded and took the container of chopped carrots. “Might as well get started on peeling potatoes, then.” She smiled kindly as she left with the carrots, and Celine turned to get the sack of potatoes out from under the worktable.

She was about halfway through the sack when her grandfather reappeared in the kitchen. He signaled to Kathy and had a brief conversation with her, then made a beeline for Celine.

“You and I are going to attend a briefing after lunch with the Army guys and some of the chain of command,” he told her flat out. Her heart leapt.

“They’re going to share what they know?” she asked, hope filling her.

Her grandfather nodded. “We’re all cooperating with each other these days, and these Army guys have proven themselves to be men of honor.

I’ve been watching them for Lester, and frankly, they’ve all impressed me, though I don’t have a good read on young Ezekiel.

He’s the one who apparently has the gift of psychometry. ”

“He can see the history of an object just by touching it. Gramps, they had him touch the stone earlier today.” She marveled again at the chain of events.

“I lost my locket in the dining room, and the doctor found it and had Zeke read it. He knew it was mine, but he also knew why I was looking at it and what had happened. Then, later, the doctor gave him the stone to read, and only when we were talking did he put the two together and realized it was evidence from my parents’ house. ”

“Yeah, Lester told me as much, but I still don’t really know much about Ezekiel. He’s a quiet one. What have you learned about him, since you two seem to be on a first-name basis?”

Was her grandfather frowning? Did he not approve? Celine felt a bit of stubbornness rise in her. She liked Zeke, and she would talk to him regardless of what anyone else thought. He might be human, but he was a good man. She knew that in her heart.

“We’ve talked a few times, but nothing major,” Celine replied casually. “Until this morning, that is. He was very kind about what he saw when he touched my locket. He told me that he’d lost a brother to violence and was very compassionate about the whole thing without pushing me to share anything.”

Unlike some people, she thought. Kathy had tried to get Celine to talk about the tragedy more than once, but Celine just couldn’t. Not with Kathy. Not yet. Not ever, maybe.

Gramps just grunted a little and nodded again. He folded his muscular arms over his chest and leaned back against the worktable. He surveyed the kitchen and everything going on in it, then looked down at Celine, meeting her gaze.

“Just tread carefully, pumpkin. We may have been working around these guys for a while, and they seem all right, but I don’t want you getting too involved with any of them. They’ve got a mighty high price on their heads,” he warned as Celine bristled a bit, though she tried not to let it show.

“Zeke can help us,” she reminded her grandfather. “And he’s a nice guy. That’s all.”

For now , she amended silently. Thankfully, her grandfather couldn’t read her mind, though she’d heard the others wondering if maybe one of the Green Berets might have that scary ability.

None of the shifters—at least those in the kitchen—seemed to know for sure.

Though, she’d bet Uncle Lester knew. Uncle Lester knew just about everything and was far, far up the hierarchy in both the military and the Clan.

“Finish up those potatoes and then grab some lunch. Be ready at fourteen hundred for the briefing. I’ll pick you up here and escort you to the conference room.”

Two o’clock, Celine thought as her grandfather walked away to check the progress on the rest of the lunch they’d be serving shortly. Just about three hours from now she’d learn more about what Zeke had seen. She was both elated and scared.