“Yes. That’s them,” Emerson said.

  Jessie wanted to see the license plate number, but the vehicle didn’t have one on the front of the SUV. “We need to watch and see if the license plate is visible when they drove off.” She was hoping they had changed into bears out of sight of the camera. But what if they hadn’t? She glanced at Emerson.

  Emerson had to be thinking the same thing, but he didn’t seem concerned. It would be a disaster if they had to turn the shop owner into a cougar because she’d seen another shifter shift.

  But the men hurried out of the vehicle and headed into the woods in the snow. Thank heavens.

  She wished she could have seen them in their bear forms though, just so she would recognize them again. Though she supposed she would anyway because if they showed up, they would be the ones since all the non-shifting bears should be hibernating.

  Then after some time, the men returned, the snow blowing even harder, obscuring the view of the camera. They got into the SUV and drove off, but they weren’t able to see the license plate number. At least they knew it was two men, and they drove a black SUV. Though they hadn’t really proven anything. This was all speculation on her part that they went into the woods and shifted and one of them had struck Emerson.

  “Thank you,” Emerson said, then he found a cougar ornament hanging on a little tree near the cash register. “I want to get this.”

  “Oh, I always pick up some for your uncle to collect, but he didn’t manage to drop by before he died. I’m so sorry for your loss. He was always such a charmer,” Rachael said again.

  Emerson nodded. “He will be much missed.”

  “I hope that Emerson will stay here and carry on his work,” Jessie said.

  “Oh, I do too. I’m so glad to finally meet you. Your uncle was always talking about you and him. Whenever he heard you were returning home, he would pop in and tell me all about it.”

  Emerson looked glum that he’d lost his uncle before being able to say goodbye to him at the very least. She would have felt that about her parents if that had happened to one of them.

  Emerson paid for the cougar. “I guess we’ll head back to the resort. Thanks for letting us look at your video security.”

  “No problem. Do you think those men were the same ones who broke into your shed?” the woman asked.

  “Yeah,” Emerson said, “but there’s no way to prove it.” He gave the hand-painted, ceramic Christmas cougar to Jessie.

  She kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Emerson. It’s adorable.” She tucked it into her pocket, and they bid Rachael goodbye, pulled on their gloves, and headed outside. “What do you think? I mean, they could have been anyone just taking a walk in the woods, not shapeshifting at all.”

  “I would venture to say they are the ones. They led us right here. Why else park the SUV here and then wander through the snowstorm on a walk in the woods?”

  “I agree.”

  They began to walk back through the snow along the trail they had made.

  “Okay, so the men who came to ask about me, were they wearing the same coats? Driving the same vehicle?”

  “They were driving a dark blue pickup. As to coats, they were more like wool dress coats, not fur-covered parkas like the men at the shop were wearing. I’d say they were about six-two, both of them the same height. With their hoods up when they got out of the SUV, I couldn’t see their faces though to identify them as the same men as the same ones who came to the house looking for you.”

  “I don’t understand why they would break into your shed, unless it was a ruse. Beyond that, why show their faces to you and then return? If they were trying to do this in secret, why not just come back later when I was at the cabin?” She was leading the way on the path they’d made and moved a snow-laden branch aside for Emerson.

  “How did they even know you were going to be at the resort? That keeps running through my mind. Maybe it has to do with one of the rogue cougars you were dating and who ended up dead. A relative or good friend with a vendetta.”

  She scoffed. “The key to that is that I wasn’t dating a bear, but a cougar.”

  “True.”

  “Maybe it has to do with whatever your job had been or something that you had done that offended someone. You haven’t told me what you worked at before you arrived here.”

  “But why come looking for you?”

  “Do you have another question?”

  He chuckled.

  “It appears both bears are mostly black in color,” Jessie said.

  “I agree, or we would have seen some other color of fur. Sure, a few strands of brown, but mostly the coarse outer coat of black. What if it had to do with my uncle giving you a discount on lodging, and that you have been coming here for years? Maybe he had issue with someone and they thought you knew about it.”

  “Oh, you knew about the discount on my lodging?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, good. I figured I might have to have a fight with you over the bill when I went to check out at the end of my stay.”

  “I think I can do better than that. How does free sound to you?”

  She glanced back at him. “Are you sure that’s okay?”

  “Are you kidding? You saved my life and you helped straighten out the shed after it was trashed. I wouldn’t usually have guests do that when they stay here. At least, I hope not.”

  “Okay, thanks. I appreciate it. Do you want the CSF special agents to come up here and help us to figure this out? My sister is awaiting word on whether we want them up here or not.” She wanted them to come, but she didn’t know if Emerson would like the idea and want to deal with this on his own. She thought since they had gotten the best of him the one time, it might help to have some others up here looking for these men if they came here again.

  “Yeah. They can stay in the other cabins. I thought of you returning home until I can figure out what’s going on, but I don’t want you leaving and having them follow you, if that’s what they ended up doing.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. I would feel better if the agents were here. And I don’t intend to leave. I have work to do. This is my one big vacation a year.”

  “All right, do you want me to call them to ask for their assistance since it’s my problem, or do you want to call since you know them?” Emerson asked.

  “I will.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and pulled off a glove, then called her sister. “Emerson says he wants you to send some agents to help us learn what’s going on.”

  “Okay, I’ll let them know.”

  “Thanks, Sis.” They ended the call.

  When she and Emerson arrived at the resort, she went into his home to move her laptop and bag back to her cabin, but Emerson came with her to check things out, just in case someone broke into her place in the meantime.

  But the cabin was clear, no sign of any intruders, for which she was glad.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to continue to stay with me until reinforcements arrive?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

  “No. It’s daylight. There’s no snowstorm. You will be on high alert anyway.” She was certain if she tried to write when he was in the living room where she was working, it would be like being with her mom and her retired dad and she wouldn’t be able to get any writing done. Besides, the cabin was all decorated for Christmas, warm, welcoming, perfect holiday ambience.

  “All right.” He carried in some wood and kindling for her wood stove and left a lighter to light the fire if she wanted one.

  “Thanks, Emerson.”

  “Did you want to have lunch at my place?”

  “No, thanks. I write while I’m eating.” She hated to keep turning him down, but she really did work better if she was by herself.

  “What about dinner?”

  “Same thing. I’m just here to write. Really.” And she hadn’t even started working on her word count yet today. Though she would love to have lunches and dinners and breakfasts with him on the days she wasn’t decorating for Christmas and trying to track down bear shifters. “Maybe tomorrow, if I can get my word count done first.”

  “Okay, well if you need anything or feel that something isn’t right—”

  “Wait, I was going to see the lighthouse this afternoon actually.” Which was one reason she was feeling stressed about not getting her writing started already. “If you would like to go with me, that would be fun. I’ll be taking some pictures and using the descriptions for my story. But the company would be welcome.”

  “Yeah, sure. I’ve never seen it. I would love to join you.”

  “Never?” She was really surprised, but then again, he didn’t seem to be the kind who liked family fare or resort stuff. Maybe hiking in the vast wilderness would suit him better. At least he seemed kind of like a loner to her.

  “No. When I visited with my uncle, I just…visited. He didn’t want to leave the resort in case anyone needed him for anything, and I wasn’t interested in seeing the sights on my own.”

  “Well, you’re in for a treat. Okay, I’ll be over at one.”

  “I look forward to it.” And he sounded like he really did and that made her glad she’d asked. He didn’t have anyone that might need him at the resort so he might as well enjoy the time.

  He had a spring in his step when he left the cabin, and she set up her laptop to work on the kitchen table. Then her sister called.

  Jessie hadn’t wanted to say anything to her sister in front of Emerson in the woods, but now, she had to have her say. “Tracey, you were supposed to investigate Emerson surreptitiously. Not go and call him about it! He told me at breakfast. Talk about a shock. You could have at least given me a heads-up!”

  “His name is Emerson Merriweather.”

  “Oh, well, that’s boring as far as the intrigue about his name goes, but it makes sense. I had thought he might have the same last name as his uncle, but then when he wouldn’t tell me what it was, I figured it had to be something different.”

  “He was Black Ops.”

  Shocked, Jessie’s jaw dropped before she could respond. “What?” Jessie couldn’t believe it. Especially when he was willing to let others come to help them out. Still, when he went on missions, he would have a team, probably, to back him up and not have a civilian in the line of fire he would want to protect. She couldn’t believe that’s what his former job was though. He had been undercover! She smiled because he’d told her the truth and she had figured he was joking.

  “Our retired resident CIA operative, Florence Fitzgerald? She knew he was Black Ops.”

  “Aliases,” Jessie said. He’d told her he might have lots of aliases. He had been telling her the truth about that too, when she had thought he’d been teasing. Then she thought of his injury—the wound to his arm—a bullet wound, she was certain. He had to have gotten it on the job since it looked to be so recent. “So he’s kind of a good guy?”

  “That depends on which side he was on and who he killed, if he was assassinating people.”

  “Wow. Are you sure about this?” Already Jessie was wondering if he had anything to do with the bear that attacked him because of his former job. Here he was denying it would have anything to do with him.

  Her sister sent Jessie a picture of him wearing a dress army uniform. He was a Ranger.

  “Yeah, that’s him.” Black Ops. He looked utterly dashing in a uniform too. “What did Florence say about him? Exactly?”

  “He was good at his job, and then on this last mission, she learned he just called it quits. She still has friends in high places. The mission had gone down badly, but she didn’t know anything more than that. She even recommended to someone still with the CIA to recruit him for a mission after that because she knew he could get the job done, but he wouldn’t do it, even though it was something he could easily have done and it would have been a good thing. But once he was finished, he was through with the business.”

  “Wow.” He’d been shot during his mission! At least Jessie suspected that was what the wound on his arm was due to for sure now. “Then at least I should feel protected.” But Jessie wondered what had gone wrong on his last mission, besides him being shot, if that’s what had happened. Would he feel he couldn’t talk to her about it? Maybe, because it was a secret Black Ops mission. She wanted him to know that he could. Not one word of his mission would be in her novel, nor would she tell anyone else about it.

  “Yes. He’s a weapons expert and knows all kinds of tricks when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.”

  “Does Mrs. Fitzgerald know anything about his personal life?”

  Tracey laughed.

  Jessie frowned. “I was just wondering.”

  Tracey chuckled. “Yeah, right. I know you. Even if we weren’t cougar shifters and I didn’t know better, we’re twins. I always know when you’re interested in a guy.” Then her voice turned more serious. “And this time, like the last times you got involved with a guy, you are headed for trouble. I mean, you already are in the middle of it!”

  Chapter 7

  “You’re Black Ops?” Jessie said to Emerson after lunch when he collected her to drive to the Split Rock Lighthouse. She’d had the hardest time forcing herself not to call him as soon as she and her sister had ended their call once she had learned of it and grilling him about it, though she suspected he wouldn’t fill her in on anything about his job.

  “What?” He frowned at her, looking surprised that she would know about it.

  “Don’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about.” Even though he was probably indoctrinated with the notion that he couldn’t ever tell anyone about it. “My sister—”

  “Learned this through the Fish and Wildlife Services sources?” He sounded incredulous.

  “No. We have cougars who are retired from the FBI and CIA in Yuma Town.”

  “No way could they have learned about me. It’s ultra-secret. Unsanctioned. Very few know about it. And they’re not supposed to be telling anyone about the missions in any event.”

  She sighed, hoping he wouldn’t get mad if she told him who had known and had shared it with her sister. “Florence Fitzgerald?”

  “Hawk One?”

  “Hawk One. Oh, that’s so cool.” Jessie smiled.

  Emerson shook his head. “Nobody’s supposed to know about what I do.”

  “We’re a cougar family. We watch out for each other.”

  “And she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement like everybody else.”

  “She’s a cougar. And if it means protecting the people she cares about…” Jessie shrugged. “She’s going to do it.”

  He let out his breath in exasperation.

  “I understand why you couldn’t tell me before. But what if this has something to do with one of your missions?”

  “The men were asking for you. Maybe you were writing about someone in one of your books and it hit too close to home.”

  They arrived at the lighthouse and parked. “I did mostly picture books.”

  “For little kids?” He sounded surprised.

  “No, photographic books. Like of ghost towns, or coral reefs, of winter scenes in Colorado. This is the first time I’ll be writing a purely fictional, paranormal romance. I wanted to do something different.”

  “I can’t imagine books on photography would pose a problem.”

  “I can’t either. And that they think any of my books would involve your uncle. Why not my parents then? I live with them all year long when I’m not gallivanting around the country working on a book.”

  She paid for their admission to the lighthouse, though he had his credit card out to do so, but she had invited him and she wanted to do this, especially since he was letting her stay at the cabin rent-free.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  “You’re welcome. After you helped me decorate for Christmas, it was the least I could do. Besides, I invited you.”

  “I have to admit, your cabin looks nice after we decorated it.”

  “It does.” Just like when she’d visited the resort in the past.

  They walked through the grounds until they reached the lighthouse and went inside. She took pictures of the original lantern in the lighthouse when it was completed in 1910 and the winding stairs and the view of Lake Superior from the windows while Emerson talked to the lighthouse keeper who was wearing the costume of the period. It had been restored to what it had looked like in the 1920s. Then they went to the lightkeeper’s home to see the way they lived back then.

  She hadn’t thought Emerson would be impressed, but he said, “This is a pretty cool place.”

  “It is. I’m glad we came to see it together.”

  After that, they headed outside to take the path that would give them views of the lighthouse up on the cliffs from a distance.

  It was beautiful. Emerson seemed to be enjoying it too and she was glad he had come with her. She hadn’t been sure he would like seeing all this stuff, especially given what his job had been. It shouldn’t change her view of him as far as her perception of what might or might not interest him now. He didn’t need to be at the resort for other guests, and just in case the trouble followed her here, she was glad he was here with her.

  “I guess you can’t talk about what you did while on your job,” she said as they made their way to the steps that would take them to the rocky shore. On the way down, she was taking more pictures of the lighthouse in the distance way high up on the rocks and the waves churned up down below, the snow and ice on the rocky shore.

  “Nope.”

  “Not even if it’s about this case and me knowing what had happened might help us figure stuff out?”

  “No, I can’t. I don’t want you involved in any of that.”

  She glanced at his arm. “You were shot. In the arm. I knew it. That’s what you were taking antibiotics for. An ear infection.” She scoffed. “I knew you weren’t taking antibiotics for an ear infection.” She took some more pictures of the lighthouse and rocks.

  He didn’t confirm or deny it.

  She glanced down at the rest of the stairs they had to walk down and could imagine leaping down the 174 stairs in a race to the bottom to see if she could beat Emerson. Since he was a bigger male cougar, he would probably get there first.