The Shifter's Love: Bear Heat

    "No. No no no. Seriously Emily?" Tristian said while running his fingers through his head frustratingly. " We don't need someone else. Our crew is perfectly fine just the way it is and you know it."      "Sorry Tristian. This is beyond my hands and you know it. After the fire mishap in Mexico, General White and the higher ups said you guys needed a expert at least until you are all more comfortable with the potential of something like that happening again. Alex is that person."     Fire mishap? Tristian thought. It was a damn wanted drug lords compound that Tristian's youngest crew member accidentally set on fire when he misplaced the small charge they were using to inflitrate. Yes, it may have caused a few million or so to turn into flames and ended up burning the house down in the process, but they still caught the prick and finished the job.      Tristian and his 6 man crew of bear shifters work for the DOD under General White. While Tristian and 3 of crew met him when he was his captain during his Marine Corps days, the rest of the crew have been slowly added on along the way. General White and a few others caught Grant shifting during a mission, and instead blowing his cover to the Corps and the world....He struck a deal with them. Captain White went to the top of the food chain and pitched an project idea. Tristian and his crew became private government contractors, doing whatever they needed when they needed it (within the realms of their many skill sets), and the USMC turned a blind eye to the whole fiasco. The guys kept their secret and kept doing what they loved while making their own rules in the process. No outsiders. All fun. Serious when business calls. Don't blow your cover unless absolutely necessary.     This setup had been working perfectly for the past 3 years. The guys got stationed to a custom base just outside Layton, Utah. Situated between a state park, a national forest and Great Salt Lake; this gave the team plenty of room to let their bears out without drawing any attention to themselves. Plus being a half hour away from Salt Lake City, it gives them plenty of options to burn off the excess energy that's hidden just beneath the surface when they aren't able to shift.     "Tristian?" Emily said pulling him out of his trance. "Look. I'll see what I can do with General White. I know he knows your situation and maybe he can pull some strings with the ones above him. But we also know how stepping on their toes goes too..." she trailed off.     "Fine." Tristian said grumply "When should we expect this Alex person to show up?"     "Friday morning at 0900. So you have today and tomorrow to prepare your crew and Monday Alex's file will be delivered for you to look over and start integrating the skill sets into the group training and tactic methods. After that its just waiting on a mission."      "Yeah yeah. Bye." Tristian said, then slammed the phone down on the receiver. Running his fingers through his hair again, he turned his chair around to the window to see what his crew was doing outside. He knew the news would piss them off just as much as him so he pondered for a moment if he should just go break the news to them now or wait until dinner. Watching the guys play a game of football, he decided to say screw it and just tell them now. Hopefully they take it better than he did.     Finally getting up, he walks out of his office and downstairs and outside to where the guys were playing football. After enjoying a couple minutes of football banter, he clears his throat.     "Conference room. Now." And turns back towards the building with his guys following behind.     Standing in front of his crew, he seriously couldn't be prouder of his misfit group. They have all been through their own their fair share of hell, yet here they all sit as a united and powerful force. So this will just be another temporary obstacle for him and the crew to overcome so they can go back to their joyous, well-oiled group.     "Pentagon called.....As much as I hate to say this. We're getting a new crew member Friday morning."     Groans, growls, and fists hitting the tables, he could see how this was going to south real quick.     "What the f**k? Why do we need someone else? We do just fine as is!" Hunter Fox (his beta and second in command) growled.     "Seriously boss! This is bull s**t!" Brantley Gray said infuriated.     "ENOUGH! Sit the hell down and let me finish explaining!" Tristian growled using his alpha aura. After his crew finally all sat back down, still obviously pissed, his youngest member Max Cromwell raised his hand.     "Yes Max....What is it?"     "Is this my fault from the Mexico incident?" he said, clearly upset with himself.     Tristian sighed "No. It just brought to light an expertise that none of us are that familiar with and this Alex kid is supposed to be a fire expert. Once he gets here and I get his file to look over to see what exactly he is good at, we are gonna have him here long enough to help get us up to speed on fire tactics and techniques that we can integrate into our missions, then he is gone. I'm hoping he is here 6 weeks tops then life can go back to normal."     "But why a new crew member? Can't we just take some classes and call it a day? Why throw off our whole team dynamic. I mean what if the guy doesn't eat meat or only listens to pop music?" crew member Grant Black asked.     "Listen.....I don't know all the answers here. All I know is this is temporary and we aren't gonna let this person change how we do things. Let's just get through this. We don't have to be happy about it, but lets not piss the guy off too much. Don't need bad reports getting back to the Pentagon. That could mean canceled contracts for us." Tristian said firmly while looking at his crew.     "Yes boss" they all replied, obviously still upset.     "You guys are dismissed. Let's all meet out by the SUV's in a couple hours and go get brews and steaks to clear our minds." he said halfheartedly trying to cheer his men up.     "Only if it's your treat boss!" Max said, clearly the only slightly enthusiastic one in the bunch right now.     "Sure sure. On me. Now get out of here before I change my mind."     ****     After a good night of food, brews and a few too many egged on shots from each other, the whole crew felt slightly better about the new member of the crew. They even decided to be smart asses and decorate the front entrance to their facility to help the new guy feel welcomed. They knew their contracts depended on compliance with what the higher ups said, so they might as well buck up, shut up and make the best out of it.      ****      Sitting here at Salt Lake City International Airport, Alexandria was quite excited about this new endeavor she had coming her way. After leaving her hometown at 18 to join the United States Marine Corps, she furiously dedicated herself and fought tooth and nail to become the 3rd women in USMC history to become a firefighter, a title she is seriously proud of. After a couple years of proving herself, the opportunity to become an officer over all Marine firefighters was presented and she jumped on it. Now sitting here as a First Lieutenant in her cammies, drinking her coffee at the airport cafe, she is pondering this current opportunity that she was offered.     General White had approached her a couple weeks ago at her base office in Quantico offering her a very interesting and unique proposition. She keeps her active duty status as a Marine, but attaches to a private contractor program: Operation Shifter, and helps train them with any and all knowledge that goes with fires and possible secret military missions. It was definitely the most unique offer she had ever seen, and the pay addition for the job was alone something she couldn't turn down.      But what got her the most was the operation name. Shifter? Where had she heard that word before? It was definitely what sealed the deal for her, she never stopped until her desire for knowing about something was satisfied. But she was able to stay attached to the assignment as long as need be, while still doing all of her standard duties with the Corps, something she wasn't giving up under any circumstances.     "First Lieutenant Carter? My name is Adam. I'll be your escort to the base at Layton. Are these all your bags?" He said in a very professional manner.     "Yes, thank you. Just these 3 duffel bags, and please, call me Lexi." she said back with a giant smile.     "Very well First....I mean Lexi. Let me load up your bags and we will hit the road. It's about a 30 min drive so we will have to hurry. Traffic is terrible but thankfully I have a shortcut if you are ok with that?"      "Whatever it takes to get us there by 0900 Adam. I'm not big on bad first impressions and being late is one of those."     "Of course. Let's hit the road." he said with a smile.      'Well.....Let's see what type of insanity I've gotten myself into with this arrangement' she thought to herself while the SUV pulled out of the airport.