by Amelia Jade
She blinked, her dazed look so innocent that it brought a smile to his face, despite everything that was going on.
“You look like shit,” she muttered.
“You took us for a rather big fall,” he replied instantly with a laugh. “You ain’t looking so hot yourself.”
Maddy smiled. “Kiss me,” she said, no give in her voice.
He gladly obliged, ignoring the need for them to run, letting himself bask in the moment for a few moments.
“We need to go,” she said, her voice already steadying as they broke apart, pre-empting him from saying the same thing.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “No idea how long until the Agency gets here. Time to split.”
Maddy got to her feet, looking around. The crowd of people was still staring at them.
“Place is closed!” she shouted, her voice strong and clear, startling even him. Connor looked at her wonderingly, amazed at the change in her personality. He smiled.
Nobody moved.
Maddy growled menacingly and took a step toward the nearest edge of the crowd.
People turned and began to flee. In seconds the entire bar was following. It took only a few minutes, and then they were the last ones.
“Time to go,” he announced, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the front. “We’ll go with them, try and escape in the chaos.”
Maddy nodded and they took off, quickly catching up with the last stragglers, and then losing themselves amidst the bigger group of people in the parking lot out front.
“Come on!” he shouted suddenly over the noise, pulling her through the crowd, away from the road.
He had seen three familiar-looking black SUVs pull up in front.
The Agency was there. They had gotten out just in time. They fled into the darkness of the night, her hand wrapped in his.
Chapter Eighteen
Madison
He led her down a set of stairs behind the building. The door opened into the basement, revealing about a dozen faces. There were more than she expected.
“Why are so many of you here?” Connor asked, obviously thinking the same thing. To her knowledge, the Underground only had roughly two dozen or so people who knew any sort of detail about it. That meant with the addition of her and Connor, and given the fact that the rest of his team wasn’t due back yet, there was over half the people present.
“The Agency knew of our safehouses,” a familiar looking woman said, stepping forward. “Even mine,” she said, unhappy with herself. “I only shared it with one person. I thought it was safe.”
“Flint,” Maddy said.
The woman nodded.
“Maddy, this is Deanna. You probably saw her around the club. She was Flint’s de facto number two.”
The two exchanged greetings.
“Now that you’re here, Connor, I can tell what I was telling the others,” Deanna said.
Maddy frowned at her voice. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good news.
“What did you say?” Connor asked, his hand gripping hers a little tighter. He had heard it too.
“I told them about Flint.”
Maddy nodded. They deserved to know.
“Then I told them that we should all head for Genesis Valley.”
Maddy’s head came upright.
“No,” she said aloud, firmly, over the top of Connor’s agreement.
The entire room turned to stare at her.
“We have to go,” Deanna said. “The Agency knows who we are. For those of us who have families, they know who those are.”
Maddy shook her head. “Tell your families to get to Genesis Valley. To leave tonight. I doubt the Agency cares, as none of them are shifters. The local authorities can get away with a lot when it comes to shifters, due to the prejudices so many still have against you.”
She frowned. “I guess I have to say ‘against us’ now, don’t I?” she said, looking up at Connor.
The big man smiled, squeezing her hand to let her know he was there to support her. They needed to talk about how the hell she had managed to manifest a bear, but right then, it didn’t matter. They had to look after the safety of others.
She had to look after them. Everyone was looking at her now. Maddy gathered her courage, and continued speaking. “Regardless of what the authorities can do to shifters, they can’t let the wholesale disappearance of human families go unnoticed. Too many questions would be asked, and I bet that government agencies not bought off by them would look into the sudden disappearance of dozens of normal humans. So, tell your families to leave, but I would not worry. The Agency just wants shifters for what we contain inside of us. Nothing more.”
Maddy gazed out and across the crowd. “We were dealt a big blow today,” she said, noticing how she had used the word we without meaning to. But it was true; she was a part of them now. There was no escaping that fact. “Our leader, as it turns out, was actually an Agent all along. He formed us from the ground up as a tool for the Agency.”
She pulled her lips back in a snarl. “Well, today that tool turned on its owner, and now we are free. Free to act how we wish, and more importantly, how we need to. No longer will our actions benefit the Agency. They will benefit those who need us. The innocent shifters of King City.”
“You want us to go back to doing what we were doing?” Deanna asked incredulously.
“No,” she said firmly, standing tall. “I want us to start new. Start fresh.” She smiled. “Start better. I firmly believe that with the knowledge that all of you have, and with the backing of the shifters in Genesis Valley, that we can build this up into something more. Something that no longer jumps whenever the Agency is mentioned. I say we are done sneaking around. I say we take the fight to them!”
She knew her cheeks were burning, inflamed by the passionate speech that she had just delivered. A speech she was still trying to convince herself she had delivered.
To her absolute shock, the people cheered. Even Deanna was looking at her strangely.
“Who will lead us?” From the back of the room, Andre stepped forward.
Maddy gasped. “What happened to you?” she said.
He was badly beaten, and had a large gash on his arm that was stitched together, though it still leaked blood.
“Flint,” he spat. “He knew as soon as Milos and I got back. We managed to escape him, but we ran into a hit team at our safe house. Barely got out with our lives.” He shook his head. “That new gunk they put on their knives is going to be a game changer.”
“This is why we need to fight back,” Maddy said, seizing on the moment. “These two would be strung up somewhere right now, their blood pumping for as long as the Agency could make it, just so they can turn it into a vial of million-dollar serum.”
Angry rumbles sounded throughout the room.
“Let Maddy lead us,” a voice said from the back of the room.
Bodies parted, revealing a man lying on a couch, swathed in bandages and missing an eye. It took Maddy a handful of seconds to recognize him.
“Milos,” she whispered, appalled at the damage that had been done.
Then his words sunk in.
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
But Deanna nodded. “Yes, that is a great idea. I’m no leader,” she said. “I’ll help you as I did Flint, but I couldn’t do your job. You have the fire, the passion, the inner strength—and now somehow the outer strength—to do this.” She smiled wryly as Maddy acknowledged the last point.
Her? Lead the Underground?
“I—” she began, then fell silent as Connor squeezed her hand.
She looked up at him, meeting his gaze.
How did I ever think that he looked creepy with those blue eyes? I could look into them for hours. Forever.
He smiled at her, and dipped his head ever so slightly. It wasn’t much, but she knew that it meant he believed she could do it.
“Maddy!” Someone else in the crowd shouted, and as if the spell was broken, the grou
p broke apart. Some went to make phone calls, others came up to her to congratulate her, offering whatever kind of help they could.
After half an hour, she finally managed to extricate herself from them.
“What did I just do?” she asked, resting her head on Connor’s chest, listening to his heartbeat, clear as day with her newfound hearing.
“You just made yourself our leader,” he chuckled, her head bouncing up and down slightly with the movement.
She looked around, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.
“Hey,” Connor said, the bass of his voice rumbling through her.
She looked up at him.
“You can do this,” he said. “I know it. Deep down, I think you know it too.” He smiled. “This is where you belong.”
Maddy shivered at hearing those words. She did belong. This is where she fit, the place she had been looking for, for a long time.
“I belong,” she whispered.
Chapter Nineteen
Connor
“How is your father?” he asked as she returned to the kitchen.
Maddy smiled her beautiful smile, looking happier than ever. She had finally been able to contact her father, now that he was safe in Genesis Valley. It was something she had been worrying about a lot. More than she had been willing to admit, even to him.
“He’s good,” she said happily, sitting at the table. “He’s got a job at that Lionshead Mining Consortium, the one you work for. Doing some sort of research for them, I guess. We didn’t talk too much about that. He was, ah, a little more interested in knowing about me, and what I can do now,” she said awkwardly.
Connor smiled. She would get over that part of it. He could tell.
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said softly, meaning every word of it.
“Connor?” she asked as they ate breakfast the next morning.
The Underground had scattered overnight, dispersing to several other safe houses Connor and his team had set up without Flint knowing. There were still several people in the unit, but as it turned out, Connor had secured all three floors of the sixty-year-old storefront building for their use. The pair of them had had no trouble finding some privacy the night before to renew their relationship. He smiled at the memory of it.
“Mmm?” he replied around a mouthful of bacon and egg.
“I’m a shifter now,” she said with a grin. “And I think I was always supposed to be this way.”
He returned the smile, careful not to let the bits of bacon in his mouth show. “You certainly seem both more confident and happier,” he admitted after swallowing his mouthful.
“I feel…normal,” she said slowly. “I think. I mean, I don’t feel normal using how I used to feel as the ‘normal’ to compare it to. I feel normal as in, this is how I think everyone else usually feels. As if I’m finally who and what I’m supposed to be. As if I’d been denying a part of me somehow.” She shrugged. “Not that I ever could turn into a bear before, but it’s like taking the two serums unlocked something within me.”
He nodded. They had discussed how she had taken the two types of serums. The one that bonded with the shifter DNA that had lain latent in her, and the one that bonded with the active human DNA. It had formed something within her that had allowed her bear to come to life.
It brought a whole different angle to the shifter world, and half-bloods. The question was going to be asked for a long time now about whether every half-blood had a bear locked away inside of them or not. That wasn’t a problem for Connor to solve though. He was a warrior, not a philosopher, and was perfectly okay with it. He was happy with what he had.
“Well, you certainly are stronger than you were before,” he said, shaking his head ruefully.
They had tried to test out just how strong she was last night. Neither of them knew if her heightened powers was a temporary thing. She was much stronger than he was, and still had been this morning. He had rolled over on top of her when he woke. The move had startled her, however, and she had thrown him clear of the bed when she jerked in surprise.
“I said I’m sorry for that!” she complained, coming over to him and giving him a seductive kiss on the cheek, then trailing down to his neck.
He closed his eyes with a growl.
Her hands disappeared from his shoulders.
Connor’s eyes flew open just in time to see two pieces of bacon disappear from his plate.
He growled playfully, shoving the remaining bits into his mouth and got up from his seat to chase after her.
Maddy shrieked and fled across the room, but he caught up to her, locking his arms around her. Although they both knew she could break away quickly, that wouldn’t be fun. Maddy let herself pretend to be helpless as he picked her up and set her on the countertop.
Swallowing his meal, he moved in close so that they could embrace each other.
“How are we going to do this?” she asked softly into his ear as he held her tight, relaxing in their closeness. Being with her always evoked a sense of peace, something he had rarely felt before.
“You have a good team to support you,” he said firmly.
Not one person had decided to leave the Underground, despite all that had just happened. Everyone had said they would stay.
All those that had made it out, at least. Although those with families had reported that their loved ones were safely on their way to Genesis Valley, half a dozen members of the Underground had never reported in at all.
Connor feared the worst.
“I’m going to have to give you orders,” she said. “I don’t want that to be a stress point between us.”
He nodded seriously, acknowledging the point. “Well, don’t forget, Jared is actually the head of the team. So you can give him the orders. I’ll fight with him over them, and he’ll fight with you.”
Maddy brightened almost instantly with the reminder, before her shoulders slumped once again. “See? That just shows how little I know about the Underground, and how ill prepared I am for this.”
He squeezed her tight. “You’re going to do fine. Trust me.”
Maddy gave him a small smile.
“Now kiss me,” he said. “That’s an order.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure I give the orders around here now, mister.”
He laughed. “You give the orders in the office.” He leaned in close, nipping at her neck. “I give them in the bedroom.”
He quickly put himself to work proving his point.
Chapter Twenty
Madison
Two Weeks Later
“Jared,” she said sharply as the Sentinel team leader marched into the command center, followed by the rest of his team.
She had gotten to know all four of them rather well over the past few weeks as she cemented her place as leader of the Underground, and got their new command center up and running. It hadn’t been easy, and there had been a few brushes with the Agency, but now they were ready to go.
“Yes ma’am?” he said, stopping several feet short of her. He didn’t salute, but he did straighten his shoulders in her presence, a show of respect that he did for few people.
“Is your team ready to do their jobs?” she asked, for the benefit not only of him and his team, but the other seven people scattered around the room. Each of them were doing their own jobs as they monitored cameras, phone lines, reviewed imagery, and any number of other things necessary to ensure the Underground was as well-equipped as possible to fight their enemy.
“We are,” he said formally. His expression didn’t change, but she could sense the confusion in his voice. They had been doing plenty of things the past two weeks. Why would today be any different?
She smiled internally. Today was different however; he just didn’t know it yet.
“Good. I have a mission for you.”
The rest of his team stood straighter at those words. They had done many things for her recently, but they hadn’t gone out on a mission. The mission. To rescue someo
ne in danger. It was what they had signed up for, and it was time that the Underground got back to its primary purpose.
Protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves.
“We’re ready, ma’am,” Jared said firmly.
“Good. Here’s the information,” she said, handing him a dossier. It was sparse. They had to rely mainly on word of mouth and whatever they could dig up on the internet to provide them with information. But it would be enough. It had to be.
“Anything else, ma’am?”
She thought for a moment.
“Make sure your entire team comes home,” she ordered.
Jared beamed, and she saw two of his team do the same. The third just blushed a deep red.
“Of course, ma’am,” he said, trying to fight his smile down before it became a grin.
In the background, Connor mouthed I love you.
It was her turn to flush.
“Now get out of my sight,” she said with false gruffness.
He saluted, and the team left, though Connor lingered behind, looking at her expectantly. She could see the rest of the team looking on in her periphery. With a sigh full of false anger, she mouthed the words back to Connor.
I love you too.
He smiled, blew her a kiss, and fled from the room before the pen she threw could hit him.
A sound ran through the room and she spun. No one would meet her gaze; they all focused studiously on their screens. But Maddy wasn’t blind. She could see the grins on their faces.
“Okay people,” she said aloud, letting herself smile. “Let’s make sure they get home alive.”
Spines straightened, and if it was possible, her team began to work even harder.
Her team. She liked the sound of that. Maddy was home, at last. She couldn’t describe how wonderful that felt, because it all paled next to something else. She was in love.
Her hands fell in front of her as she tried to discreetly play with a finger on her left hand.
She wasn’t used to having the weight of a ring on it.
Her smile became a grin, and right then, she didn’t care who saw it.