Page 24 of Radar (Iniquus Certified Cerberus Tactical K9 #2)

Xander

Saturday

Lumberjack, Alaska

Had he noticed the blonde-haired woman with the delicate features and the men flocking around her at the bar?

He had.

Had he pretended to read his book while he watched her watch him?

Yup.

Did he notice the new guy’s approach went over like a lead balloon?

Yeah, and whatever she said to him, dropped the guy’s testosterone through the floor to the basement. It had Xander grinning behind the pages of his book.

Now did he see her, drink in hand, heading his way?

Absolutely.

So did Radar. Radar lifted himself to a sitting position, striking his most regal pose.

Xander looked down to catch Radar’s gaze, and he would swear Radar was telegraphing the message that he was doing his best to be a good wingman.

“Good job, buddy,” Xander said quietly, giving Radar a scritch.

She was definitely heading his way. Xander let his focus drift up to catch her gaze. Did Xander think this woman was interested in him?

Could be.

But according to his female friends, Xander looked safe, especially when Radar was around. After whatever tension just happened at the bar between the local stud and her, she was probably heading this way because he was a—

“Hi,” she stopped next to the lounge chair. “I don’t know you. But you look like a nice guy. I’m wondering if you would mind if I just hung out over here for a few?” She smiled.

Yup, he was a safe harbor.

That smile. Wow. Xander’s blood raced through his veins. He wasn’t sure he could catch his breath. “However long you need,” he managed as he closed his book.

Xander shot a look at the guy on the bar stool and back to her. “Are you shaking?”

“Maybe a bit.” She came around the chair, setting her drink on the table, and lowered herself into the deep cushions.

Was the shaking from her interaction with the guy or the cold? Xander started to take off his fleece to hand it to her.

“No, thank you, if that’s for me, you’re kind, but I’m just … I don’t enjoy those kinds of interactions.”

“Bear in the woods,” Xander said as Radar moved to sit between his knees.

Having Radar there was grounding. It helped.

This woman was doing something to Xander’s circuitry, and his cheeks had gone numb.

Radar looked up at him . His eyes said, I mean, what the hell, man? Get it together.

Xander patted Radar’s side to reassure his doggo that he was doing his best under these unprecedented conditions.

“Ha! Yeah, well, if you’re referring to the viral question of whether I would prefer to be with a man or a bear in the woods,” the woman said, “that whole thing takes on a different meaning here in Alaska. I usually answer that with black bears in mind, since I’m from northern Virginia.

I might need a little more research about grizzlies and polar bears before I answer that, while out here in the middle of nowhere.

” She leaned forward, stretching out her hand. “Elyssa.”

And before Xander could shake, Radar lifted his paw and slipped it between her fingers.

“Hello, handsome. Aren’t you the best dog ever?” she asked, then looked up at Xander with a smile even more radiant than before.

“This is Radar.”

Xander followed Radar’s gaze and saw the man Elyssa had fled, putting his arm out on the wall, capturing a woman. The bartender called out the guy’s name, barking a warning, and the guy dropped his arm and stood up. The woman slipped to the side and hustled to her group.

Elyssa had taken in the scene as well. “Research complete, I’ll chance the grizzly.”

“That guy is terrible.”

“If you’re about to say, ‘that’s not me’ or ‘that’s not every guy,’ it’s a poor answer. While I wait for my friend to get back, I appreciate the safe-feeling harbor, but—”

“But you're monitoring to see if your gut kicks in telling you that you made a poor choice, thinking I was harmless?”

“To be clear, I chose your dog.” The return of a warm smile took the edge off and made this exchange feel flirty rather than tense.

Xander liked the saltiness of it. Johnna White sprinkled salt on her melon, telling him that it made it taste all the sweeter.

And now Xander understood that it could be true.

“Radar’s a great dog. Now, back to the terrible guy at the bar thing, it’s a tough one for a man to navigate. I’ve had to come up with strategies.”

Radar stood up, walked over to Elyssa, staring at her, his body rigid.

“Hello to you, too, sweetheart.” She reached toward his neck and wriggled her fingers in his fur.

“Radar, come here,” Xander said.

Elyssa reached for her drink, and Xander noticed she was wearing a medical alert bracelet. As Radar moved back between his legs, he whispered. “I got it, buddy, thank you.” Xander stroked down Radar’s neck and chest as he nodded toward Elyssa’s glass. “What are you drinking?”

“Electrolytes.” She lifted the glass. “Gotta stay extra-hydrated in the cold.”

Xander raised a finger in the air. “Nachos with salsa and a shaker of salt,” he called out. Then focused on Elyssa. “Will you eat some nachos?”

“Yes, thanks.” She gulped down her drink, then pulled her purse around, drew out a bottle, and filled her glass again.

“You were telling me about your strategies. Is one of them sitting off to the side, looking calm and capable, but also like you’re in a steady relationship, and then the women flutter toward your light for safety? ”

“Couple things there.” Xander pulled his brow together, the shadow of a smile winking at the corners of his mouth.

“That isn’t a bad play, to be honest. Second, I look like a man in a steady relationship?

I think I might like some more information on the last one, mainly because I’m not seeing anyone right now. ”

Xander paused as warmth spread across his chest, and he felt like he could, in fact, be a light that a woman could flutter to for safety.

And then he thought he had lost his damned mind and wondered if he hadn’t touched palytoxin in Orest Kalinsky’s suitcase.

After all, one of the weirdly dangerous effects of palytoxins was a sense of euphoria.

And euphoria was a pretty good word to describe these sensations he was experiencing.

Elyssa turned at the sound of the lodge door and signaled as a guy stomped the snow from his boots, looking her way. “He’s not in a relationship,” she called.

“Seriously?” the guy asked, shucking his coat. He focused on Xander. “You totally give off contented at home vibes.”

Radar wandered back over to Elyssa, but this time, he booped her on the leg. He looked Xander’s way, then booped her in the leg again.

“I’ve got it, Radar. Come here,” Xander said.

A second man shuffled in and shut the door behind him.

“I am content at home,” Xander said. “Is that something that’s tied to being in a relationship?” He was laughing now. This was an absurd conversation, and it was fun.

“Well, okay, let me say it doesn’t look like you’re on the prowl. I’m Eddie, by the way.”

“Ender,” Xander replied. “And you’re right. I’m not prowling out of self-preservation.”

“I’m Paca.” The other guy said as he joined them, pulling off his hat and loosening his scarf as he sat in front of the fire. “What’s this now about self-preservation?” This guy showed up with his pointy face, huge liquid brown eyes, and a head full of crazy hair.

He may call himself Paca, but this was most definitely Dr. Claude Burns, squirrel researcher.

Xander’s mark.

The bartender came over and set mugs of hot cocoa in front of Eddie and Paca, then placed the nacho platter and shaker on the table in the middle of the group. Xander gave his room number as he pushed the salt in front of Elyssa.

“Please help yourselves. I got the nachos to share,” Xander said.

“Okay, on the topic of self-preservation, I’m a visitor in Alaska.

The danger is that if I were looking for someone whose company I would enjoy,” Xander made a concerted effort not to flick his gaze toward Elyssa because that would have been over-the-top junior high shit, “it’s very possible that I could make a significant connection here in Alaska.

There are only three outcomes, and all of them are terrible. ”

“Truly?” Elyssa slid her boots off, then curled her long legs into the chair. “How do you figure?”

“If I make a romantic connection, first, she might just sever the connection, and I’d be left brokenhearted. Second, I leave Alaska with the intention that we hold something together long distance, and I go to bed in Virginia every night sad and alone.”

“Pitiful,” she said with laughter in her eyes.

Yes, Xander had heard Elyssa say she was from Virginia. Yes, he wanted her to know that he was, too. He thought he’d done that smoothly.

“Or third?” Eddie asked.

“Third, I leave heartbroken and decide I can’t hold it together for a long-distance relationship, so I move here to Lumberjack, Alaska, to be with her. It’s lovely, don’t get me wrong, just, I can’t with the cold.”

“Before you came in, we were speaking of bears.” Elyssa flicked her head in bar-guy’s direction.

“Oh, sorry, kid,” Eddie said. “I didn’t mean to leave you to the wolves, bears, wildlife in general.”

“I found safe harbor with Radar.” She pointed to Xander’s dog.

“Gorgeous puppy,” Eddie said, then turned to Elyssa. “So, bears?”

“I was about to hear some ‘dealing with women strategy’ when you came in.”

“Not so much a strategy as an awareness,” Xander said.

“I’ve spent a lot of time listening to women explain why they prefer the bear.

I get that just my physical presence on a hiking trail, for example, can terrify women who don’t know me from Adam.

Adam, by the way, is my brother, and we do look alike. ”

“Boo.” Elyssa wrinkled her nose. “You use that joke a lot .” She lifted the saltshaker and caught Xander’s gaze.

“Guilty,” Xander said. “And salt away.”

Elyssa sprinkled the salt heavily on the far side of the platter, leaving the rest for others to decide how salty they liked their food.

“So, how do you keep women hikers from being terrified?” Eddie asked.

“Usually, I talk to Radar about how he’s a good boy. I crouch down to rub his scruff, and he makes those deep guttural sounds of pleasure, so the woman knows my dog is relaxed, that means my dog doesn’t feel tension in me, I’m not revving up for something.”

“True if she knows dogs,” Elyssa said, with a shifting light in her eye that made Xander think that she was settling deeper into the conversation, growing more comfortable. “I think it’s a gut knowing that if a dog is blissing, there’s not a lot of danger.”

“Yeah. If I don’t have Radar with me, and I see a woman, I just say, ‘I see you coming up the path, how do you want me to handle this, so you feel safe?’ That’s usually enough to get a raised hand and a ‘you’re good.’”

“I get that,” Elyssa said, “It means you understand the danger, you know the lingo, and you’re comfortable with consent.

And it means some woman or women educated you about their experiences, and you took it to heart and modified your behavior.

I know for sure that whatever you wanted to do to me, you could do it.

I have only your moral compass and integrity keeping me safe.

That and your dog.” She stared at him for a long moment and then asked, “Did you say your name is Ender?”

“Ender Belov.” Xander didn’t use a cover in the field.

His work, so far, hadn’t required him to develop a secondary persona.

Being two people was time-consuming and mind-bending, so he preferred it that way.

But to keep himself as unsearchable on the Internet as possible, Xander used his call sign, Ender, in the field as a layer of anonymity.

“Ender?” It was as if Elyssa was tasting it to see if she liked it in her mouth.

And that thought sent Xander’s hormones flooding through his system. “It’s a nickname I got in the military,” he said evenly.

“Ender. Like you ended things?” Her brows pulled together. “Ended people ?”

Huh, no one had asked him that before. It was a reasonable question, especially given the topic they’d started with. Her facial muscles stiffened as she grew wary.

“I ended conflicts with analysis,” he said to wipe away the images she might be conjuring.

It was true enough if he was malleable with the definition of the word ‘analysis.’ It was interesting, though, that while Xander trained to say what was necessary to get a job done, he felt uncomfortable obfuscating when answering Elyssa.

“My given name isn’t much different – It’s Xander Belov.

” He smiled. “You can call me Xander if you like it better.”

Did it matter that Squirrel-guy knew his name?

“Ender from Xander,” Eddie lightened things back up. “At least they didn’t go with Dander.”

“Are you calling him flaky?” Elyssa asked with a laugh. She turned back to Xander, “They could have gone for your last name instead, Belov could easily morph into ‘Beloved.’”

Did she turn pink when she said that? Was that a blush?

“Can you imagine trying to get through boot camp called Beloved?” Paca snort-laughed.

“No one ever suggested that before?’ Elyssa asked.

“Never.” Xander let a slow smile spread across his face. “Well, my grandmother called me beloved, but I was about five, and it came with a cookie.”

And as fun as this conversation was, there was humanity to save, Xander reminded himself.