“She doesn’t know what we are, she may panic. Be prepared for anything.”
“Fuck!” Vince shouted.
SonofaBitch! She was mate to one of them, Riley thought to himself, and she had no clue what they were. How the fuck he ended up in these fucked-up situations was beyond him, he thought for the second time that day. He’d heard of shifters who’d gone insane when separated from their Mates and had no control left at all. Not even with their own mates. He had no idea what to expect here, but he couldn’t just leave her to deal with it on her own. She was human for Christ’s sake. And if this shifter was truly out of control, she may need his protection. Riley shoved Frank’s body aside and slammed and locked the door. He pulled Janie away from the window and put her in the corner of the room, himself in front of her, facing the door using his own body to protect her. “Janie, I don’t know what the fuck is happening here, but shit’s about to get serious. Stay behind me, and please, whatever you see, do not freak the fuck out. I do not need that right now.” Janie, standing behind him, was trembling uncontrollably now, her face white and her lips blue-tinged, absolutely in shock. The place seemed surrounded with snarls and roars. “Can you untie me?” she stammered at him, tears in her eyes. Riley took a knife out of his front pocket and turned toward her. He had to manually turn her around toward the wall so he could see her hands. He cut through the plastic zip ties binding her hands together, turned her back to face him, pushed her into the corner and immediately resumed his position in front of her. “You may see some freaky shit, Janie. But I promise I won’t hurt you. I’ll know you, no matter what I look like. I’ll protect you, Okay?” “Okay,” she whispered back. There was a horrendous amount of noise going on around them. There were shouts and gunshots now. There was a thundering coming up the metal stairs attached to the outside of the building. Something overhead was roaring, and there was a sound like waves crashing at the beach. Janie whimpered behind him, and he put a hand back to pull her up closer against his back as he crowded her further into the corner. His claws had sprung free, and the hair all over his body was standing on end. He was in battle mode, ready to do whatever had to be done for him and the girl to get out of here alive. No amount of money was worth this shit. Once he got out of here, it was time to move on.
Chapter 10
Bane sat in his Bear form, just out of sight of the apartment building they thought Janie was being held in. Bam and Mav were with him, their beasts also on full display. Daniel, still in his human skin, was kneeling nearby, waiting, just like they all were. Bane could just barely make out a light in the window upstairs. He’d been watching it for what seemed like forever, waiting for some sign that they should rush in, or regroup for plan B. Daniel whispered, “Damn, I wish they’d hurry the fuck up. I need to do something, sitting here is driving me crazy!” Just as Bane was turning his head to smirk at Daniel’s impatience, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He zeroed in on the window again, and then he saw and heard her. Janie was leaning against the window as she tried to stand, her hands pressed against the window were tied together, and she was screaming. That was all he needed to know. He roared and burst out of his hiding spot, his brothers on his heels. Daniel, running alongside them, realized they were taking on gunfire, and he shifted to take care of the guys shooting at them. Maverik, still running, kept an eye on Daniel as he himself howled, and Daniel, grey storm clouds swirling around him, took to the air mid-shift. Daniel looked down on them as he rode the air currents up and over the field they were running across to roast the shooters before they could shoot his brothers. Maverik yipped and howled with excitement, jumping into the air and snapping his jaws as Daniel flew over. That male was nuts, but damn Daniel loved him. He aimed his Dragon’s Fire and let loose just before Bane, Bam, and Mav ran across the back yard and toward the metal staircase leading to the second floor. As they had all ingested his Dragons Blood before they’d battled Lurin, they were still immune to the flames. The shooters, however, were not that fortunate. They were instantly incinerated. Daniel glided over the building and roasted the few remaining men in the front yard as well, as his brothers pounded up the stairs, still in their beast forms.
When they burst into the living room, Kaid and Vince were battling half a dozen or so men. Some with knives, some with broken bottles, but all of them pissed off. The sight of the Bears and the Wolf charging into the room caused most of them to shout in alarm and move away from the doorway the shifters entered through. This gave Kaid and Vince the upper hand to cold cock a few of them and take them down before moving on to the others. A couple made a break for the front door and slipped away. Bane charged down the hallway, knocking doors in with his massive paws as he searched for Janie. He paused only momentarily as he heard automatic gun fire erupt from the front of the apartment. The rushing sound of Daniel’s Dragon’s Fire assured him that it was handled. The smoke he immediately smelled on the heels of that Dragon Fire was another concern. But he wasn’t leaving this fucking building without his Janie. Bear whispered to him, Just Janie, Doesn’t want us. Not ours. Bane answered, I know, Bear. But we need her safe, even if she’s not with us. Bear intent on saving his Mate answered, Love Janie, save Janie. Before Bane could answer Bear again, he burst into the bedroom she was being held in and came face-to-face with a male crowding her in a corner, keeping her from leaving. Riley looked at the huge black Bear standing in front of him, currently roaring at the top of his lungs, trying to decide if he needed to shift to take him on, or try to reason with him in human form. He knew this Bear was a shifter, could smell it on him. Before he could even decide on how to proceed, the door was filled with another, even bigger Bear, and a huge fucking Wolf. Great, they brought their entire fucking clan, Riley thought, there is no fucking way I can take all of them. The first Bear took a step into the room, the other Bear and the Wolf went to the left and right of the Bear. “I don’t want to fight ya’ll, but I will. I will not allow you to hurt this female. Back the fuck off!” Riley yelled at them, his features starting to morph as his animal tried to take control. Janie whimpered behind him, and he pressed her further into the corner. “Oh my God, Riley, there’s a Wolf in the room!” Janie whispered to him. Riley wondered how she hadn’t seen the Bears yet, but he figured thank God for small miracles. “Just stay with me, Janie. I’ll protect you.” She wrapped her hands in his shirt at his sides and pressed her face into his back. Bane was outraged that she would cower from him, seeking safety from the other male, and he roared even louder. Windows rattling, smoke filling the room, chaos was prevailing, and he stood there in disbelief. Did she truly believe that he would hurt her? This other male was really pissing him off, keeping him from Janie. She does not know me, Bear told him. Bane felt like an idiot, didn’t think any further, just shifted into his human skin and roared with the power of his Bear, “Miiiiinnne!!!!!!!” He lunged for Riley at the same time Riley lunged for him. The Wolf moved in front of Janie and kept her herded into the corner. The other Bear paced back and forth in front of the door. Janie was terrified, trying to plaster herself against the walls and not draw the attention of the huge Wolf whose presence was forcing her to stay in the corner. The growling of the men fighting finally drew her attention, and her mouth dropped open, shocked. It was Bane. Bane was fighting Riley, a totally naked Bane was fighting Riley. Snarling and growling like a wild animal. They were hurting each other. She had to stop this. Riley had protected her, and Bane was her love. She couldn't let them kill each other. “Bane, stop!!!! Stop!!” She got no response, just more fighting. They were both bloody, full of lacerations, but she hadn’t seen a knife anywhere. She smelled smoke, and the room was quickly filling with it. She could hear crackling sounds from the front of the house. It was on fire; she had to get them to stop, or they’d all burn. She was still trembling and feeling weak from the shock her body had plunged into, but she had to try. She raised her voice and tried again, “Riley, stop, please stop. He’s mine. Please don’t hurt him.” She st
umbled out into the middle of the room, the sight of the two men fighting completely wiping all thoughts of the Wolf from her mind, and tried to pry them apart. “Bane!!!!!” she screamed as loudly as she could manage, hanging off his bicep as he drew back to slam it into Riley’s face again. He froze mid-punch and looked at her, as did Riley. Her eyes were watering heavily from the smoke now. She was still trembling, and she was hoarse from screaming, “Please, Bane, stop. He protected me. He wasn’t the one who took me.” Bane snarled at him, but he let go of Riley where he held his throat gripped in one hand and shoved him away from them. Then he bent, scooped Janie up in his arms, and ran from the room. She was trembling so hard that he wasn’t sure if he could hold onto her without dropping her. Riley regained his balance and ran after them, his hand gripping onto Bane’s shoulder to stop him. Bane turned just enough to direct his voice to Riley, “Mine!” he snarled again. Then Bam hit Riley from the right and knocked him away from Bane and Janie. Janie’s broken, tearful voice could be heard trailing after them as Bane ran from the room with her in his arms, “You came for me, Bane.”
“Always come for you,” he told her as he tucked her face into his neck to try to keep her from inhaling more smoke. The smoke was so heavy that even as shifters they weren’t sure of the way out. Bam was right on Bane’s ass in the hallway. Riley was a little ways behind him, and Mav was taking up the rear, nipping at Riley’s ass every once in a while just for good measure. “Stop fucking trying to bite my ass, Wolf!” Riley yelled at the Wolf as he pushed the Wolf’s head away from him again as they caught up to Bane. He knew the Wolf could have taken a chunk out of him by now if he really wanted to. He was just fucking with him, and in a way, that pissed him off even more.
“Can’t go that way,” Bane growled.
Riley stepped forward and looked into the living room now fully engulfed in flames. “Fuck! Can ya’ll jump? There’s a back door, but they took the stairs out a month ago. If you can’t jump, give me Janie. I’ll jump, and ya’ll can climb down.”
Bane looked at Riley like he’d lost his mind. He leaned in until he was nose-to-nose with Riley; then, he roared directly into his face, “MINE!!!!!!!”
“Fine, then I’m guessing that your big Bear ass can jump then. If you hurt her, I’ll kill you, Bear!” Riley turned and ran back down the hallway with all of them on his heels. When he got to the room Janie was kept in, he turned into the room across from it. They all followed him quickly into that room. He went straight to the back wall and started tearing at the sheetrock. They saw what he was doing, and Bam still in his Bear form went to work helping. It took only a few swipes, and they had a small area torn out and could see the outside from in the room. The idiots had only closed in the door they removed with sheetrock. They had not filled in the hole the door left with any kind of support or structure at all, and there was no insulation. Once they had a hole cleared, Maverik shoved his way between them, stuck his head out of the hole, and let off a few high-pitched yips and howls. Not two seconds later, Kaid and Vince appeared in the backyard. Then a huge fucking orange eye peered at them from the other side of the wall, blocking out all else. Riley jumped back to get away from whatever the hell that huge fucking eye belonged to, and Mav snorted at him and leaned halfway out of the hole. Daniel chuffed at them and stuck a claw into the hole they had created and pulled it open even more. Then he lifted his clawed hand up to the hole, palm up, and waited for them to step into his hand. Janie was watching all this and whimpering quietly, shivering horribly. There was a fucking Dragon outside this building. There was a Wolf and a Bear in the room with them, Bane was naked, and Riley was talking to the animals like they knew what he was saying. And the house was burning down around them. One way or another, she was going to die today. She clutched at Bane as he held her a little tighter and moved them toward the Dragon. She started panicking and screaming, trying to crawl back over Bane’s shoulder toward the fire. Bane stopped, wrapping her in his arms again and pressing her head into his chest, “It’s okay, he’s one of my brothers. He won’t hurt us. He’s here to save us.”
“He’s a monster, Bane. He’ll kill us!” she shouted at him.
“No, he’s my brother, they all are.”
“No,” she said again, shaking her head, not able to believe what she was seeing and hearing.
“Go on. Show her,” Bane said, looking at Mav. Bane turned her head toward the Wolf, and Mav shimmered for a moment then became a man, standing there in front of her. He smiled at her and took a step backwards, into the Dragon’s hand. Bam shifted into his human skin and smiled gently at her before stepping into Daniel’s hand with Mav. The Dragon lowered them both to the ground. Bane had stepped close enough to the wall so that she could see that they were on the ground safely. Then Daniel raised his huge clawed hand to the opening again and chuffed at them. Riley was standing beside them now. He looked questioningly at Bane. “Go on, he’s not going to hurt you. You protected Mine.” Riley nodded at him and stepped gingerly into Daniel’s hand. He looked at Bane and Janie, “Come on, the house is going up quickly.” Bane went to step into Daniel’s hand, and Janie panicked again. ‘Nooooo, they’re monsters. They are going to kill us,” she whimpered at him.
“I’m like them, Janie. I’m a Bear. And I didn’t kill you. I’d never hurt you. I love you, Janie. We aren’t monsters.”
Shaking her head constantly at him now, “No, you’re just Bane. You’re not like them.”
There was a loud cracking above them, and Riley yelled, “Now!” Bane held her so tight it was almost painful and stepped into Daniel’s hand, her fighting him the whole way. Daniel placed them carefully on the ground near the others, a good distance away from the burning house. Vince and Kaid’s bikes had been moved to the back of the house and were parked near where they were standing. Kaid took a pair of pants out of one of his saddle bags and tossed them to Maverik. He reached for another and tossed them to Bam. Bane held Janie tight as Daniel’s clouds formed, and he shifted back into his human skin. Janie gaped at him open-mouthed as a tall, beautiful, Native American male stood where the Dragon had been. He inclined his head at her gently, and she could do no more than stare at him. She turned her attention to Riley, who was standing there with these men as though it was no big deal. “What are you?” she asked him, her voice barely audible.
Riley turned his attention back to Janie, “Panther,” he said before looking back at the house.
Bane placed her gently on her feet and then caught a pair of pants that Vince tossed his way. He slipped them on, then started running his hands over her limbs, checking for injury. “Did they rape you, Janie?” She shook her head no, then looked at Riley still standing there watching the house burn. She indicated him with a point of her chin in his direction, “He wouldn't let them,” she said quietly. Her teeth were chattering, her body shaking violently, the shock her body was experiencing becoming too much to bear. Suddenly she clutched her stomach and turned away from the group, vomiting profusely. The chloroform, the smoke, the fire, the shock of men that could turn into beasts, it was all too much. She vomited until she thought she was going to pass out. Bane standing beside her, holding her hair back out of the way, supporting her so she wouldn’t fall. Murmuring to her, trying to soothe her. When she was finished, she felt him scoop her up into his arms again. “Let me get you somewhere safe, and then I’ll leave you alone. I promise, I won’t hurt you,” he told her sadly.
“I know that,” she told him, “I just, this can’t be real. This doesn't happen in real life.” She sobbed on the last word, and Bane knew she was close to breaking. He needed to get her away from here now. He started walking back toward the alley where he’d left his bike.
“Let’s all get the hell out of here,” Kaid told them. “Surely somebody has seen the flames and reported the fire by now.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it, Kaid. People in this neighborhood are probably glad to see it burn,” Vince said.
“And if they saw Daniel’
s Dragon?” Mav asked.
“Most of them out at this time of night around here are high on something anyway, who’s going to believe them?” Vince answered.
“What about him?” Mav asked pointing at Riley.
“I’m good, I got a place to go. Nobody knows me or knew I was ever here. At least nobody still living,” Riley said, looking pointedly at the charred stacks of ashes lying around the yard.
“Not what I meant. We gonna let him live?” Mav asked smirking at Riley.
“He protected Janie.” Bam answered.
Kaid nodded at Bam, “That he did.” He turned to Riley, “We live out off Hwy 10. Come by once this all calms down.”
Riley looked around at all the shifters standing near him. He had his own reasons for trying to find a peaceful place to land. He’d made a pointed effort to try to keep his head down, not attract too much attention. And after this last stint with Ricky to get his hands on enough money to carry him for a little while, he was hopefully done with the shady side of things, for a while at least. He’d grown up hard and wasn’t skilled in many ways, but he had brawn on his side, and when he needed money, there had always been somebody in a less-than-legal position that needed a little muscle. But he had reason to steer clear of that lifestyle now. He had more than himself to think about, and he owed it to her to make a better life. One without judgment or ridicule. But it had been a long time since he’d been around this many shifters. And a Dragon? Fuck! He hadn’t even known they still existed. He’d have to think on it and decide if it was the best move. He turned his gaze on the Alpha again, “If I’m still around.”
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