Huntress Bound

by Aimee Easterling

  Sure enough, Sebastien stirred at last, his arm tightening around my middle as he came gradually awake. And I knew even as my mate hugged me that I wouldn’t make it out of the room without being sighted if I remained in lupine form. Which meant it was time to shift.

  After all, waking beside an unexpectedly naked woman is better than opening your eyes onto the snarling visage of a wolf...right?

  My inner beast didn’t entirely agree. She argued that we wouldn’t snarl. Would instead lick and tease and make nice. Still, she allowed the transformation at last, helping me shed my fur and regain my skin in the end.

  Our internal debate had slowed the shift, though. So we had only a split second to spare before Sebastien’s eyelids lifted, his face widening into a sleepy smile that skewered my wolf and me both with its tenderness.

  “Ember, sweetheart,” he murmured, his hand rising to trail across my bedhead even as his lips parted to breathe out my name along with an endearment that melted my human side into a sticky pile of saccharine goo.

  Luckily for the sake of both of our skins, my wolf was less susceptible to words. Predators outside, she reminded me, forcing us to wriggle out of our mate’s willing arms and rise onto our human feet.

  And as we came erect, Sebastien woke more fully as well. I saw the moment his rational brain won out over his instincts. Saw when he took in my completely unclad nature, noted his eyes roaming from my still grubby feet up to my erect nipples before landing on my reddening face.

  Our companion liked what he saw—I could smell his simple animal attraction swirling around my own. But, at the same time, he was uneasy about the fact that I’d ended up in his bed uninvited like some sort of stalker girlfriend.

  The fact I wasn’t even his girlfriend made the whole thing ten times worse.

  “Ember...” my mate began, brow furrowing as his scent turned bitter and harsh. But even in human form, I could make out the sound of footsteps moving around the side of the house, suggesting that Sebastien’s annoyance was the least of our current worries. Any minute now, whoever had been pounding on the front door would break into the back. At which point we’d both be sunk.

  Looks like you were right, little brother, I thought. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. I really should have fried that laptop when I had the chance....

  Then, turning to my mate, I voiced my subsequent thought aloud. “Do you have any files on your computer that you absolutely can’t live without?”

  Wolf-like, Sebastien cocked his head to one side in question. He hadn’t heard the men at the door, didn’t realize that we were already operating on borrowed time. In fact, I got the distinct impression he wasn’t going to let me out of the room without a long-winded conversation neither of us had time for.

  So I instead pushed a little compulsion into my words as I commanded: “Tell me.”

  “No,” my mate answered, his frown deepening so dramatically that I thought the wrinkles might cut their way into his very bones. “I back up everything onto the cloud....”

  Even as he obeyed my request, though, I could see Sebastien’s scientific interest being piqued by my lapse into werewolfism. Further questions would certainly be piling up within my mate’s analytical mind just as they had the day before.

  But I didn’t have time to indulge him. Instead, I snagged my discarded clothing then hightailed it back toward the professor’s unoccupied bedroom even as I cast my reply over one naked shoulder.

  “Great,” I answered. “In that case, I apologize in advance. Answer the door, delay them as long as possible, and I’ll be back after your visitors have left the premises.”

  Chapter 4

  My earlier brain freeze fled as soon as Sebastien’s aroma stopped flooding my nostrils. Left to my own devices, connections formed and plans coalesced at the speed of light.

  Because Derek had been right—the thumb-drive data had somehow drawn unpleasantness down onto this quiet suburban neighborhood far more quickly than I would have expected. Later, I’d analyze the why and the how of that problem. For now, though, I needed to fix my mistake before strangers pressed their way inside and harmed Sebastien because of something that was my own darn fault.

  The thumb drive itself was toast...or at least so I hoped. But I flushed the small rectangle of plastic and metal down the toilet anyway before turning to the computer, which was larger and much more of a problem than the data’s original source. Good thing I had a high-level hacker on my team and a phone with which to bring said personage on board.

  Dialing Dad’s number with the tap of a finger, I strained my ears and guessed at Sebastien’s movements in the neighboring room. Sure enough, my mate was grumbling about high-handed, naked women who thought their every wish was his command. And yet, his footsteps headed toward the front door rather than trailing along in my wake, proving that my wolf had chosen well. Sebastien was able to squash his ego and follow orders in a crisis—definitely a keeper.

  Then Dad picked up, reminding me that I had more important matters to attend to than mooning over my newfound mate. “Ember,” my father greeted me succinctly. And only then did I realize that it was six o’clock on a Sunday morning...way too early to call given the fact that my parents had spent the previous evening driving my sister-in-law’s family back toward the protective bosom of the Haven clan. Nonetheless, Dad sounded just as calm and thoughtful as ever, his breathing steady as he waited for me to speak.

  “No time to talk,” I whispered, trying to decide whether to pull on clothes and brush my disreputable-looking hair. Nope—I’d be better off sticking to the body of my wolf when I made my escape. “But I need a way to fry a laptop as quickly as possible,” I continued. “Bonus points if it looks accidental.”

  “Magnets?” Dad asked simply. “Heat would take too long. Acids? Solvents? What do you have on hand?”

  “None of the above.” I frowned, pawing through Sebastien’s bureau in an attempt to find something that might manage to save the day. A pair of knee-high socks looked handy for tying the cell phone around my neck so I could take Derek’s data along with me in lupine form. But besides a spot to stash my other belongings out of sight, the dresser drawers proved far less helpful than I would have liked.

  Then my eyes lit on the drill sitting beside Sebastien’s half-finished sculpture. What if the professor had been carving at his desk when his hand slipped? Would a few well-placed holes be enough to ensure none of Derek’s data remained behind on the laptop’s drive?

  I only realized I’d spoken aloud, when Dad hummed agreement. “Good idea. Is it a solid-state drive? Look through the vent hole to find out.”

  Together, we spent thirty agonizingly long seconds determining that, yes, the drive was small enough to be damaged by drilling. Then, as the distant sound of banter carried from the now-open front door, I turned off my phone and got down to work.

  To a wolf, the high-pitched whine of the drill was both obvious and irritating. But the invaders didn’t seem to notice. Instead, they began with polite requests, moved on to cajolery, then transitioned into officious commands in an attempt to invite themselves deeper into my mate’s abode.

  Through everything, Sebastien remained firm. His voice was clear and level as he asked which agency the invaders were employed by, demanded to see the agents’ identification, then threatened to call a lawyer to back up his constitutional rights. Clever mate, my wolf whispered. And even though I shushed her in my haste to ruin Sebastien’s computer, I couldn’t help but agree.

  At long last, though, the professor caved and let the invaders inside. It would have looked suspicious not to. I just hoped the ninety seconds he’d bought for the sake of demolition turned out to be enough.

  Time to go, I decided. Still, I wasted another scant moment covering my trail. Sprinkling sawdust around the damaged laptop, I laid down the drill and slipped the cell phone into its makeshift sock collar. Then, at long last, I relaxed into the body of my waiting wolf.r />
  OR AT LEAST I TRIED to. Shifts usually came quickly and easily, but my inner beast was tired from our recent transformation and confused by the knowledge that we’d soon be running away from—rather than toward—our chosen mate. So she resisted the pull for several long seconds while voices grew louder and closer on the opposite side of the door.

  “We protect him better by going rather than by staying,” I whispered too softly for a human to hear, all the while eying the thin barrier that stood between me and Sebastien’s uninvited guests. Was it just my imagination, or were the scents seeping underneath rife with a confusing array of emotions and mysteries? Was there an undercurrent of shared understanding present that I wouldn’t have expected from my innocent mate?

  “It’s bad news for Sebastien if they find us here,” I elaborated, brushing aside my own doubts and debating jumping out the window in my unclad human skin. I could hear agents outside as well as inside, though, and doubted they’d respond well to a naked human streaking through Sebastien’s backyard. We needed to shift if we wanted to escape.

  We can’t leave our mate here alone, my inner beast complained, planting her incorporeal feet and refusing to budge.

  Then, as if he’d felt my wolf’s stubbornness, Sebastien’s voice carried through the door and into our ears. “No, I’m entirely alone,” he said just a little more loudly than was truly necessary. I could imagine his hand on the knob, could see the orb turning ever so slightly on the inside.

  And, at long last, my inner beast caved. If Sebastien expected her to go, then she’d go...although she refused to be happy about the eviction.

  Our shift was more painful than usual as a result of her sullenness, the quiet snaps of breaking and reforming bones sounding like gunfire to my oversensitive ears. But soon enough we were four-legged and unencumbered save for the precious cell phone. At last, we could make good on our escape.

  Taking a running leap, I dove through the window seconds before the creak of the bedroom door carried toward me through the cool morning air. Out of the corner of one eye, I caught sight of two additional humans standing guard on the house’s back deck. But neither set of invaders saw me. In fur form, I was simply too fast.

  Then I’d ducked beneath a hedge, loped across a neighbor’s yard, and wriggled beneath porch girders. Finally, I settled my belly down against the cool earth, safely out of sight.

  Chapter 5

  I was in the clear, and so was Derek’s data...but I couldn’t hear a thing from my current hiding place. So after a few short seconds spent catching my breath, I emerged, racing through the dangerously open territory of the neighbor’s yard while searching for a better vantage point from which to observe upcoming events.

  This time, I was pretty sure the guards outside the back door noticed my passing. But I was wearing a collar—such as it was—and I made sure my body language said “dog” instead of “wolf.” Sure enough, the humans saw what they wanted to see, continuing to scan their surroundings in search of two-legged danger while I hopped up onto the raised platform at the center of a children’s play set. By the time I’d settled back down onto my belly, the watchers had forgotten I even existed.

  Perfect. Not only was I out of sight and out of mind, from my newly elevated perch I could peer straight through Sebastien’s bedroom window and make out the entirety of the scene inside. And what I saw made me open my mouth in doggy amusement because my mate was holding his own quite admirably in the face of long odds.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sebastien blustered, shoulders back and brows drawn together as he glowered at someone just outside my field of view. “And I can’t quite see how accepting funding from DARPA through the college gives you the right to barge into my home at 6 o’clock on a Sunday morning either. Who exactly did you say you were working for again?”

  “It’s all covered in the grant paperwork, sir.” This new speaker stepped forward into my line of sight at the same time his cool and uninformative words carried out the open window. Sebastien’s companion was the stereotypical Man in Black, from his polished shoes all the way up to his reflective sunglasses. And the agent’s face remained expressionless even as he bullshitted with the best of them. “To ensure the sanctity of data, we reserve the right to perform random spot-checks on all experiments funded by our agency at any time.”

  “So go spot check at the college,” Sebastien countered, stepping subtly forward until he just barely impinged upon the other male’s personal space. “This isn’t a lab. This is my home.”

  If the two combatants had been shifters, one would have started to growl and a stare-down—or outright dog fight—would have ensued in short order. As it was, the government agent’s mouth quirked up ever so slightly and he twisted his body until a handgun came into view beneath his coat jacket’s flapping edge.

  So, a threat display. But a very human one.

  Breath caught in my throat and my muscles tensed to leap, but Sebastien neither backed down nor cringed in the face of the official’s firepower. Instead, he merely raised one eyebrow and chastised the agent to his face. “Haven’t you heard of the Safe Firearms Act of 2020?” my fearless professor demanded. “Are you really threatening a U.S. citizen with bodily harm while lacking a search warrant and any indication of potential wrongdoing?”

  In response, Man in Black’s nostrils flared. The well-dressed male evidently thought he was above the law. Clearly thought a gun should be enough to intimidate any civilian into instant obedience.

  But Sebastien stood firm, lips curled ever so slightly while one eyebrow rose higher and higher by the second.

  And his bluster paid off. Man in Black reddened slightly at Sebastien’s wordless reproof. Then the corner of his coat fell back over the gleaming pistol as the agent ceded the moral high ground.

  Sebastien: 1. Man in Black: 0.

  UNFORTUNATELY, SEBASTIEN’S opponent didn’t give up the hunt so easily. Instead, brushing the professor’s rights aside without further comment, the male strode over to the desk and began rifling through the accumulated papers filed carefully in well-labeled drawers.

  Luckily, I’d seen those papers already and I was pretty sure Man in Black wouldn’t find anything dastardly among them. The pages were mostly photocopies of scientific articles, complete with yawn-worthy paragraphs bound to put any sane person to sleep. Oh, yeah, and Sebastien had printed out a few recipes as well. But I challenged the agent to discover anything illicit in the descriptions of pad thai and General Tso’s chicken.

  On the other hand, it looked like Man in Black’s nosiness and pistol weren’t the only problems my mate currently faced. “We’ll be visiting the college later today,” a second male interjected, stepping into view at long last. And while Man in Black had seemed like the type of physically fit specimen I’d expect the human government to employ, officer number two was less suited to the occasion and all the more menacing for his incongruity.

  This second specimen was on the old side for one—surely government agencies transferred their experienced workers to a desk job by the time employees hit their mid-fifties? Meanwhile, a sagging paunch along with shaggy hair suggested this male wasn’t required to toe any military-dress-code line.

  “But this space is included in the mandate,” Man in Black called over, backing his partner up while pressing the button to power on Sebastien’s damaged laptop. “Which is why we’re checking here first. Based on your tax returns, Mr. Carter, you’ve written off thirty square feet of this residence as a home office. Do you or do you not use this space to analyze data associated with the mind-control experiment that DARPA funds?”

  “It’s not mind control,” Sebastien muttered, dropping onto the defensive at long last. This was apparently a sticking point, and I could almost smell my mate’s frustration despite the distance that lay between us. “I’ve explained the ins and outs to your superiors several times over. There’s nothing magical about the effects I’ve noted relating to rare test subjects
in the lab. Science just hasn’t yet caught up with...”

  “I understand.” Shaggy Old Guy reached over to place one calming hand on my mate’s shoulder, the good cop to Man in Black’s bad. And even though the older male appeared both polite and cordial, something about the gesture provoked a rumbled growl deep within my chest.

  Because my instincts told me Shaggy Old Guy was considerably more dangerous than Man in Black. After all, the easy-going enemies were always the ones to watch. They’d lure you in, lower your defenses...then stab you in the heart with a smile. I just hoped Sebastien was up to the challenge.

  Go. Help, my wolf suggested. But I stilled her muscles before she could leap to her feet. No, we needed to trust our mate to hold his own against these human officials. We’d only make matters worse if we jumped back through the window in lupine form.

  “Mr. Shepard, the laptop is refusing to power up.” Man in Black’s words brought all of our attention back to the matter at hand. And now it was my turn to smirk. Looked like my hack job had done the trick after all.

  “Are you having trouble with your computer?” Shaggy Old Guy—Mr. Shepard—asked my mate, the official’s face so open and appealing that most innocents would have spilled their guts in a heartbeat.

  Luckily, the professor wasn’t most people. Equally luckily, my mate’s mind was extremely quick. I could see the moment Sebastien realized that there was wood-carving gear on the desk where it didn’t belong. Could see his first flush of annoyance followed by the resolution to protect me from these invaders who had thrust their way uninvited into his home.

  But when Sebastien spoke, a stranger would have thought the only emotion behind his words was genuine regret. “Well, I wasn’t having trouble with it until my Dremel slipped last night. Do you think the damage will be covered by accident protection?”