I'll Be Dammed

by Mandy Rosko

  It was fun to be playful with Albert, to take their minds off everything else. Because the truth was, even if FUC was going to put them up in the fanciest of accommodations, she didn’t feel in any mood for relaxing and enjoying free booze. She wanted in on the action. She didn’t want second-hand reports of what was going down or what new information was dug up.

  She wanted to be in the room when that information was revealed.

  She understood now that she’d already stepped away from fieldwork when she found out she was pregnant. But this was different. In that case, she’d been growing a life, making their family. Now, she had no baby and couldn’t be part of the field team. It was unfair on too many levels.

  If it weren’t for Albert’s injury, she doubted she’d be going to the hotel at all. That morning she’d had every intention of figuring her shit out, but now she couldn’t risk putting him in any more danger.

  So if it took her accepting being benched to keep Albert safe, she’d do it.

  So many things were different from how they were supposed to be. All because someone wanted to experiment with shifters again.

  FUC had their accommodations all ready for them by the time they arrived. It wasn’t a regular hotel, and she figured, by the length of time it took them to get there, that the driver had purposely driven a convoluted path so they wouldn’t be followed.

  The nondescript tall building looked like it might hold offices or apartments, and the room they were shown to looked like a fancy hotel suite. There was a tiny kitchenette, a living room, bathroom with a large Jacuzzi tub, and the main bedroom with French doors to close it off from the rest of the place.

  The driver escorted them up to their room, where they were met by another agent. Just as the driver had, this one refrained from socializing, short of letting them know that he’d swept the room and that the agents would remain outside the door, leaving only when the next shift arrived.

  As soon as Beverly and Albert were inside, alone, Albert put his hands onto Beverly‘s shoulders and kissed her neck.

  First things first.

  God, that felt so good. She needed him. She hadn’t realized just how much until his mouth touched the heat of her throat, but there was something else that needed to be done.

  “Let me check your bandages.“

  Albert paused. He pulled back from her, and the confusion in his eyes was evident. “Really? I just got these put on.“

  “I know, but that doctor, Diane, seemed pretty sure that you were going to rip your stitches. I just want to take a quick look, and then we can get down to something more fun.”

  And boy, did she ever want some fun.

  Anything to forget how Albert had looked when he was lying on the ground.

  It was funny, Beverly wanted so badly to get some of her memories back, and already she was fighting to forget some of the new ones she had earned.

  Albert allowed it. He didn’t fight it or complain that he was all right anymore. He permitted Beverly to put her hands on him and lead him into the bathroom.

  Beverly turned on all the lights, and gentle he peeled back the bandaging gauze.

  It looked all right. The stitches were still in place, and it was definitely red, but a gel that had been smeared over the wound. Something to aid the healing process?

  She wasn’t sure. Beverly knew that her training should have covered first aid, but it seemed that that part of her memory was gone as well.

  Or it just might have been the thing that she hadn’t excelled at.

  So she put everything back in place and decided that it was all right.

  “How’s it look, Nurse Beaver?”

  She shook her head. “You’re lucky you didn’t tear any stitches. If you had, then I wouldn’t be able to give you your treatment.” Beverly smiled wickedly as she trailed one finger down his chest and past his waist, until she was cupping his balls and rubbing his cock.

  He groaned and reached out to her, sliding his hands up her arms to her shoulders and the back of her neck before tracing back down again. “The lucky one is that fucking cobra. If I hadn’t been shot, I would have shifted and gone straight after him and ripped him to shreds. I want his fucking blood on my talons.“

  Beverly wet her lips. “We’ll find him. But not tonight.”

  She wasn’t going to pretend that they were going to stay out of this. Not after that.

  Albert’s hand moved to the back of her head. His fingers pushed through her hair, what was left of it, but he didn’t look at her as though she were missing something, as though she were ugly.

  He looked at her as though he couldn’t wait to have her, and she loved him for that.

  “We’ll figure this out,” he promised.

  Beverly nodded. “I know.”

  She unzipped his pants, using both of her hands to massage him. He starred at her, breathing heavily, and then leaned in to kiss her.

  It was the best damned kiss she could ever remember having.

  Since she didn’t remember too many of his kisses, she was going to have to make more memories of them with him.

  His tongue pushed possessively into her mouth, a hard and shockingly sweet kiss that made her heady with the desire she had for him. Her knees wobbled. He reached out to steady her, but she quickly pulled back when she felt a tremble in his powerful body.

  “Shit,” he said with a gasp, touching his bandage.

  “Oh my God, are you okay?”

  “More than okay enough to do this.”

  He reached for her again, but Beverly had to perform the ultimate cruelty. She took her hands off his cock and stepped back.

  It was amusing to see the disappointment in his eyes, but she wasn’t that cruel. She wouldn’t leave him hanging for long. “Yes, we absolutely are going to do this, but you’re going to be lying down on your back somewhere.”

  Both his brows raised up high. He smiled. “I can do that.”

  “You just want to watch me riding you.”

  “Seeing your perfect breasts above and around my face when I’m kissing your chest? Yeah, that sounds nice.”

  “I don’t...I mean, they wouldn’t be above and around your face at the same time.”

  He laughed. “Baby, when you’re on me, it’s boobs everywhere as far as I can see.”

  Albert reached down for her knees, but then he stopped again, straightening with a soft grunt. “Okay, I can’t lift you just yet. Fucking bullet wound.”

  Beverly smiled, though she didn’t like the reminder of how close she had come to losing him. She would have to make some adjustments if she was going to keep her sanity.

  “You know, I was thinking that when you’re finished healing up—”

  “That you want us to keep our ears to the ground and do a little of our own digging. Yeah, I’m in a hundred thousand percent.”

  She blinked then laughed softly. “I guess I shouldn’t have bothered asking.”

  “No. I’m pretty good at figuring you out.”

  Beverly nodded. “Good, can you figure out where I want you right now?”

  Albert got that look on his face that he seemed to have whenever he got excited about something.

  He didn’t quite race to the bed, he couldn’t, but that didn’t make his excitement any less noticeable. He shed all his clothing then pulled himself up and to the middle of the mattress, propping himself up onto the pillows and watching her expectantly.

  “Okay, Nurse Beaver, is this how you want me? Because I’m ready to be a compliant patient.” His eyes glittered with mirth, and Beverly loved it.

  Even though so much had happened, she had lost so much, this was one of those things that felt beautifully normal to her.

  Maybe relaxing a little wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world while she and Albert were here.

  Because, when they got out, they were going to find that damned cobra and have a throw down.

  “That’s good, Owlbert. You just stay there and keep still, and I’m going to mak
e you feel all better.” She slowly stripped out of her clothes, watching as the only things that moved on him were his pupils and his cock.

  She stood for a moment in her bra and panties, looking sexy for her mate.

  Though her hands moved to her stomach instinctually.

  “You’re beautiful,” Albert said.

  She smiled back at him, dropping her hands.

  “Come here.” Against nurse’s orders, he moved an arm, reaching out for her.

  She took his hand and got onto the bed with him. “You know, it’s kind to weird, this hole here that I know is there, that I feel sad for, but that I can’t remember. Wouldn’t a mother instinctually know that she’d lost a baby? I do feel it, a little, but not like a little person I wanted and loved was killed. Taken from me. From us.”

  Albert shook his head. “You are a mother. Something bad happened to you, and even if you never get your memories back, even if you don’t remember telling me about the little butterfly feeling of our baby moving inside of you, you’re still its mother. Don’t you ever doubt that.”

  She felt the tears welling up in her eyes, but she didn’t want to think about their child anymore. Not now. There was a time for that, just like there would be a time for revenge, but right then, she was going to be with her husband.

  So she smiled down at him, locking their eyes together as she worked her hands over his body, top to bottom. “Your heart’s pounding,” she said.

  He nodded. “So’s yours.”

  Beverly made her way down, leaning in to give the head of his cock a wet kiss, knowing it was just the spot that made his eyes roll to the back of his head. She heard a sigh escape his mouth.

  Beverly only teased her lips around his cock for a minute before pulling back.

  “Do you really think the FUC agents outside can hear us?”

  Albert blinked. “Of course they can. They’re listening for trouble. Let’s just hope they don’t mistake any of our noise for an intruder, or they’ll come busting right in.”

  Beverly’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “That sounds like a challenge.”

  Albert’s eyes flashed. “Absolutely.”

  Thirteen

  The swipe of a ringed hand to the face didn’t feel good. John felt a trickle down his cheek where the stones had cut him, but aside from turning his face away under the force of the blow, he didn’t complain.

  “Idiot! What were you thinking?”

  John clenched his hands, dirty fingernails digging into his palms. “I wanted to bring her back to you.”

  “She’s useless to me now! There’s no point!”

  “But she got away.”

  “She did. She saw nothing. Rumors abound that she recalls nothing anyway. We had what we needed and were home free.”

  Glowing eyes narrowed, the pupils thinning to diamond-shaped slits. “There was nothing to link her to us. You went to their home. You left evidence!”

  “They were new clothes! Still had the tags on them and everything!”

  Another whack across his face, another trickle of blood sliding down his cheek. He felt the heat of the sting after the fact.

  Humiliating. He hated it so much.

  He wanted to strike back, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do.

  Not against his own mother.

  “There is no such thing as no evidence! There is always something. A hair. A nail clipping. Fingerprints.”

  He didn’t think you could leave fingerprints on fabric but figured she was speaking in general terms.

  Unless fingerprints could be left on fabric. What sort of jacket had that been? He’d basically worn a windbreaker with dark jeans and leather gloves.

  Fuck. Could he leave prints on those? What about his boots?

  “Oh, God.”

  “Yeah, you’re in big trouble. Wait until I tell your father.”

  His heart stopped. “Does he have to know? We’re still working. Everything is still moving ahead.”

  “Not for much longer after what you did. They’ll be onto us. We’ll need to move quickly.”

  “Move?”

  “They’ll find you. They’ll question you.”

  “I won’t say anything.”

  “You will. Everyone does.”

  A thrill of fear rushed through him.

  His mother stepped forward. She was smaller than he was. Her feathery fingers touched his bleeding cheek.

  He winced, but she was soft with him. She didn’t hurt him.

  “Don’t worry, my baby.” She leaned forward, her beak nuzzling his shoulder. “We’ll take care of this.”

  He put his hand to her shoulder. She was so small, so frail, but she was so much better compared to what she used to be.

  Which meant what they were doing was working. It was worth it.

  They just had to fix some of the kinks, and they were good to go.

  “What will happen to the baby?”

  “Mmm? You mean your new little brother?”

  He winced. “Yeah. Will he be able to survive?” He didn’t know much about babies, but he knew shifter fetuses developed much faster than human ones. They had pulled this one out of that woman prematurely, and he was so small, but so far he’d lived.

  As a half-bird, half-saber-toothed rodent, the infant would be useful, so they’d said.

  John just never expected to have to call it a sibling instead of a fetus.

  “Fine. Fine. Doing very well. Should be out of the incubator soon. We calculated the extraction perfectly. The advanced gestation plus the shifter healing properties means he had an excellent prognosis, and your father’s special serum has given him an extra boost. He will make a good replacement for the woman.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “So long as you don’t get any more bright ideas. Not like your sister.”

  John pressed his lips together. He lowered his eyes, nodding.

  “I understand.”

  “Good.” She pulled away from him, taking the warmth of her touch with her. “I have other things to attend to. You will stay here. No more going out. Not for a long time.”

  “But I—”

  She silenced him with a look. That was all it ever took.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  So much that he didn’t know. So much that he wanted to help with.

  If only that damned teacher hadn’t gotten away. Even if they didn’t need her anymore, she’d destroyed so much of the lab on her way out, putting them back months in research.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  His mother waved him off, seemingly uncaring of her feathers, which usually bothered her a great deal.

  “Fine, fine. Now go clean up your face. You’re bleeding all over the floor.”

  John touched his cheek again, wincing at the wet tenderness he felt against his fingers.

  It would be easy enough to clean up if Mrs. Huntley hadn’t destroyed their lab.

  He’d have to wrap his face with whatever he could find around here and run his cheek under a tap.

  And now he wasn’t allowed to leave?

  The door behind his mother closed in a loud, metallic clink, as though he were being trapped in here.

  Down in the dark with all the other failed experiments.

  At least his new little brother was still alive. If that kept Mother happy, her mind off her condition, then so be it.

  But he was not going to allow himself to be trapped in here. Not again.

  So he would do something about it.

  Fourteen

  Alyce wiggled her pen on the desk, looking over the email that had come into her inbox.

  She had the FUC-issued security on her computer, and it was blinking to her that the message was untraceable. She contacted the swan princess to see if she could get into the machine and work some of her magic to track this thing.

  But Alyce couldn’t wait however long it took for Jessie to figure it out.

  If this was legit, they needed to act.


  And Alyce was about to drag Albert and Beverly back into this because, well, they were going to want to know.

  Honestly, she couldn’t believe she was about to do this. A good director would separate business from personal and leave the victims where they were.

  Beverly was still recovering, and Albert had been shot.

  But here she was, cell in hand, their contact number on her screen.

  Because they were more than victims. They were her teachers, her friends, and if someone had done to Alyce what they’d done to Beverly and Albert, she’d want to be there for the takedown.

  This email could be a trap. Or it could be nothing. She would be either putting them in more danger than they had already been exposed to or getting their hopes up for nothing.

  But if it was something…something big…they would want to be there.

  The email was an anonymous tip with an address. It was way the hell outside of town and up the mountain in the north.

  She plugged in the address to a map and got walking directions to the place where Albert had found Beverly building her den. It would be four hours of walking, for a human.

  On those little beaver legs Beverly suddenly had? More difficult to say, but with all the wilderness around, it was no wonder they hadn’t found her sooner.

  It was still a miracle that Albert had.

  The map showed that the area was empty but for a couple of log cabins. The email claimed that there was a whole compound hidden there.

  It reminded Alyce a little too much of the whole Mastermind issue.

  That shit was still fresh to a lot of people. Could someone have built a whole new lab for experimenting on shifters?

  They still had no lead into why anyone would want to change Beverly from her saber-toothed beaver form. It could be just an unintended consequence of experimentation.

  Like her miscarriage. No idea if it was intentional or not.

  Didn’t make any of it any better.

  What if the child had been the real prize there? The offspring of a saber-toothed beaver and a barn owl? Someone might be interested in that.