by Bianca D’Arc
Chapter Sixteen
Jack tracked Kiki’s path using his nose. Her scent was faint, but not too faint for his shifter senses to follow. Ben came with him, guarding his back while Jack forged ahead slowly, not wanting to blunder in to find himself in the middle of a trap. Everything about this seemed fishy, but he knew one thing for certain. Whatever was going on, Kiki wasn’t playing him false.
She might be the bait in a trap set for him, but not of her own volition. He knew her well enough to know that, for certain. He also had the steadfast belief that a woman—even a human woman with little magic of her own—could never betray her mate that way.
And, from the reaction of his inner bear to her disappearance, he was pretty darn sure she was, in fact, his mate. He’d felt it before. He’d hoped it was so. But, until this moment, he hadn’t really been able to see the truth. Kiki was the woman meant for him. He might’ve been a bit mistrustful of his instincts to this point, but he was all on board now.
The thing was… He had to approach her cautiously. He didn’t want to scare her off.
First, of course, he had to deal with whatever Carol was planning and free Kiki. Then, he’d have time to woo her and convince her to be his mate forever more. With renewed resolve, he focused on the hunt…and on avoiding any traps his prey might have set for him.
The first of those traps appeared not three minutes after he thought of it. Jeff the janitor stepped out of a supply closet and moved closer. He held a gun in his hand and a dead look in his eyes.
“This is loaded with silver hollow points,” Jeff said in a flat tone. “The hollow tips are filled with pure silver powder. This shit will even kill a bear, Carol says. A shifter bear.”
“Will it now?” Jack asked conversationally, wondering where Ben had disappeared to. One moment, he was right behind him. The next, Ben was gone, and Jack was facing off with a clearly entranced AC operative with far too much knowledge and far too little free will.
“Carol says, if you come quietly, she may even let the girl live. You could exchange places with her,” Jeff told him. “I just have to take you to her. That or shoot you,” Jeff said, his tone absolutely chilling in its utter flatness. “Your choice.”
Jack didn’t react as Ben came out of nowhere and grabbed Jeff from behind, relieving him of the gun before Jeff could get a shot off. Jack moved closer to help, but Ben had his AC comrade well in hand. Zip ties bound Jeff’s arms, then his legs, in short order.
“You’ve done this before,” Jack observed.
“Too many times,” Ben agreed, stuffing a clean rag he’d grabbed from the janitor’s closet into Jeff’s mouth and tying it in place with another. “We can leave him in there for now. I don’t want to hurt him if we don’t have to. It’s not his fault he was stupid and got caught up in Carol’s spell.” Ben closed the closet door on the trussed up janitor, wedging a chair under the knob for good measure.
Jack growled his agreement. “Your buddy, Jeff, saw me in the woods a few nights ago. He must’ve reported the bear sighting back to the witch, and she loaded him with ammo that could take down a shifter.”
“We have to assume she knows what you are—or at least, she suspects,” Ben agreed. “That changes the complexion of this situation a bit.”
“It’s a trap. Of that, I have no doubt,” Jack said, nodding once.
“Forewarned is forearmed,” Ben told him. “I don’t think she knows about me. Maybe I can be your ace in the hole.”
“Maybe.” Jack tilted his head, looking at the other man. “But you look nothing like my brother, Ace.”
Ben grinned, as did Jack. This kind of humor was something he’d only ever shared with his brothers, but it was good to meet others—real warriors like Ben Steel, former U.S. Navy SEAL—who could also appreciate a little joke under pressure. Jack might just have made a friend.
Jeff dealt with and out of the picture, they pressed on, moving even more carefully. Ben was a ghost at his back, not too close, but not too far, either. Jack was impressed by the human’s stealth and ability to blend into the background. It was clear Ben was highly trained and very experienced with covert missions. He was as light on his feet as any shifter and as quiet as a mouse, which Jack appreciated.
As they came to the final door before the warehouse area Kiki had pointed out, Jack called a halt. He wanted to fill Ben in before they moved any closer.
“Remember that ritual I told you Kiki had reported?” Jack asked in a voice just above a whisper that wouldn’t carry beyond Ben’s ears. Ben nodded. “This is the area of the warehouse where it happened. My bet is that Carol is set up in her ritual space, which means she has the high ground. I’m going to take the direct approach. You, Ace, are going the roundabout way. Copy?”
Ben nodded again. “Keepin’ it covert,” Ben agreed. “Roger that. You want Jeff’s gun?” One side of Ben’s mouth lifted in a half-grin.
“Better not. It could have been tampered with by the witch. Nice as it would be to rub her nose in it, I’ll decline.” Jack watched Ben frown as he unloaded the firearm, planting the bullets in the sand of a cigarette butt holder placed near the doorway. He tossed the gun into a rain barrel a little farther away.
“That’ll keep it safe enough for now,” Ben mused when he was done. “We’ll come back and clean that up later.”
With that, Ben took off for the corner of the huge building, seeking another way in. Jack had given Ben the blueprints for the entire plant last night, so they both knew there was a few other entrances Ben could choose from, depending on what he found on the other side of the building.
Jack was on the more direct route. The same route they’d taken Kiki. He could smell her delicate scent, just barely, in the air. Jack opened the door, knowing he was stepping into a trap, but he didn’t see any other way. His bear wouldn’t let him do more reconnaissance. It wanted to see her and make sure she was okay. It wanted to free her. Now. No room for argument.
Jack trusted his bear to see him through whatever was going to happen. If he’d failed to understand the true danger of their opponent, that was on him. He’d known Carol was dealing in black magic. He’d thought he’d taken her measure, but the fact that she’d been able to kidnap Kiki out from right next door to him meant he’d been wrong. So very wrong.
He only hoped he had enough strength inside him to withstand whatever Carol could dish out. The direct approach might get him killed, but he’d take Carol out—and free Kiki—if it was the last thing he ever did.
Jack walked into the warehouse. At first, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. There were shelving units just beyond the door, starting about fifteen feet from the small parking area where a forklift and a scissor lift were kept ready and waiting for use in this part of the warehouse. Jack proceeded with caution, moving quietly and quickly among the towering rows, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Carol or her followers.
He went down the aisle between the rows of shelving units that stretched up into the sky, knowing that somewhere ahead, oppressive magic was being used. He could feel it, the closer he moved. Black magic, shielding its own presence, but in such strength here that it could be felt, even as it sought to hide itself. Damn.
Carol was way more powerful than Jack had suspected. He’d allowed himself to be deceived by outward signs, when he should have been looking deeper all along. Black magic was like that. It was deceptive. Tricky. Deceitful.
Jack felt like a big fat sucker for having fallen for it. He’d known better, but he’d been distracted. He’d taken his eyes off the prize, and now, Kiki was in danger. It was his own damned fault.
No use crying about it now. Action was required to fix this shitty situation. Jack just hoped that, in a head-on contest, he could prevail against Carol and her little army of zombie followers.
Using caution, Jack peered through the last few rows to see if he could discern what was going on in the big open space just beyond the last row of shelves. He caught glimpses that set his te
mper off. Kiki was there, her ankles bound to a chair, her arms twisted—no doubt, also tied up—behind her. She wasn’t gagged, but he couldn’t hear anything she said, though her lips were moving as she talked to Carol.
There was a black ring on the floor around her and Carol…and what looked like an altar at her back, swathed in black satin. Jack’s inner bear wanted to rend and tear, stalk and kill. It wanted the witch who dared touch his mate dead.
The human side counselled the bear to patience. Kiki looked okay for now, though every moment she was in Carol’s clutches was an agony for his protective soul and only served to make him angrier. He could harness that anger and use it to their advantage. He had to. Kiki’s life was on the line.
He watched as Carol went behind the altar and stirred a bowl there with a red-tipped dagger. Red-tipped? He couldn’t scent anything inside the circle, but he knew it had to be blood on the tip of that knife. Kiki’s blood. Incensed, he stepped out from behind the shelving.
All heads turned to look in his direction as he deliberately made noise to announce his arrival. Anything to make Carol pause in her evil deeds.
The move worked. She looked up and smiled, right at him. He couldn’t hear what she was saying through the barrier she had put up around herself, the altar and Kiki, but he understood the look in her eyes. She thought she had triumphed. Maybe she had, maybe she hadn’t. As far as Jack was concerned, the jury was still out on that one.
He stepped forward, Carol’s minions—the workers from the plant—spread apart, forming a lane for him to approach. It was a creepy version of the parting of the Red Sea, only it wasn’t water, it was people. People under a potion witch’s control. The next best thing to zombies.
When they closed in around him after he stepped into their midst, still leaving that lane open to the altar, he tried not to wince. Jack could deal with these people, but he’d rather not hurt any of them. For one thing, he didn’t know how many of them had entered into this willingly. It could very well be that they’d all fallen victim to Carol’s magic.
They might be innocent dupes, unwittingly forced into doing what they’d been doing to support Carol’s lust for power all this time. If he could break the spell, he might be able to free them. Jack would much rather do that than possibly injure, or even kill, anybody.
Carol lowered her dagger, stepping out from behind the altar. He could see her lips moving. She was talking to Kiki, who looked like she started screaming when she saw him. She was trying to warn him, bless her. He couldn’t hear her words, but the intent was clear. She was telling him to run, to get out. She was screaming about how it was a trap.
Sweet, sweet, Kiki. She wasn’t yelling for him to come save her, but for him to get away and save himself. He would have to make her fully aware—after this was all over, of course—as to why that was impossible. He could never leave her in danger. He would give his life for hers. He had been born to protect her. It was his honor and his privilege.
Now, he just had to explain that all to her and get her to agree. After he dealt with this little witch problem first, of course.
“Well, would you look at that,” Carol spoke to herself, it seemed. Kiki could see some kind of disturbance out in the warehouse among the gathered people who worked at the plant, but she didn’t know what was causing it. “Seems my little trap worked like a charm.”
Carol sounded smug. Which meant she must think that Jack had fallen for her ploy. Kiki searched the crowd as it parted before her, leaving a lane open to… Jack.
Her heart fell. He looked angry and determined. He also looked so good to her she wanted to cry. She wanted to scream out to him and tell him to run. That it was a trap. That Carol was after him, for some unknown reason.
Kiki tried to yell, but he didn’t seem to hear her.
“Oh, shut up, will you?” Carol shouted, sounding disgusted, behind her. “He can’t hear you. He can’t hear me either, right now, but not for long. I can make myself heard through my ward, but don’t bother screaming. He’ll never be able to hear you again, once I’m through.”
A chill of fear ran down Kiki’s spine as Carol moved to Kiki’s side and lifted that creepy dagger. Carol pointed the tip of the knife to her own throat and spoke a dark word. Suddenly, Carol’s words echoed almost painfully around the circular ward when she spoke.
“Welcome to my little party, Jack. You should have played nice, and I would have rewarded you before I drained your power and made you my plaything.” Carol’s voice dripped with something cloying and dark. Kiki wanted to retch.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you have to let the girl go. She doesn’t know anything about anything, as I’m sure you realize by now.” Jack’s voice sounded far away, as if coming to Kiki’s ears down a long tunnel.
“If I do, you’ll come to me willingly?” Carol sounded as if she didn’t believe him, her voice scornful. “I wasn’t born yesterday, grizzly man. You’ll submit, or I’ll kill her. Slowly. While you watch, helpless.” Carol sounded way too happy about that scenario. “Letting her go isn’t part of my plan at the moment.” Carol raised her arms like a conductor at a symphony concert. With an audible whoosh, she then dropped them to her sides.
For a moment, nothing happened. One heartbeat. Two. On the third, all the workers from the plant turned on Jack, like zombies going after the only living soul on the planet. Kiki screamed, but she knew Jack couldn’t hear her. He had his hands full fending off an attacking horde.
He seemed to go down under a pile of people and then… Something stirred. A pale green and yellow-gold light came from the center of the knot of people, resolving into a golden brown filled with the energies of the earth. Something was happening. Something Kiki didn’t fully understand.
One minute, Jack was in big trouble, and the next, the people that had been menacing him were flying through the air, launched outward from the center of power by those same golden brown energies. Magic. Visible for the first time in her life to Kiki, without a boost from one of her family members. She could actually see this magic, which meant it had to be amazingly powerful since she was such a poor witch.
The power grew outward from the center, and where Jack had been standing, there was now a giant—absolutely freaking huge—grizzly bear. Kiki blinked, not quite believing her eyes.
“Oh, goody. The fur ball has come out to play,” Carol crowed. “What do you think of your boyfriend now?” Carol seemed to be taunting Kiki, but she could only shake her head. “Oh, poor little Kiki. You didn’t know anything about shifters, did you? Honey, I hate to break it to you, but your boyfriend is a bear. Literally.” The sarcasm dripping from her voice set Kiki back. Did she really mean…?
Kiki looked at the bear, now rushing toward her, sending the workers flying in every direction if they got too close to him. She noticed that he carefully kept his claws away from the people. He was going out of his way not to hurt anyone more than necessary. Sweet Lord! Jack really was the bear!
And the bear really was Jack. Good heavens.
Jack went full bear and raced forward, only to be brought up sharp by the evil black line of Carol’s ward. Try as he might, the ward blocked him. Jack paced back and forth around the curve of the circle in front of Kiki. He had to find a way through. That’s all there was to it.
The ward itself had hurt when he clashed with it. He could smell singed fur and knew the ward had burned where he’d touched it. The pain was nothing at the moment. The priority in his mind was to get to Kiki and free her of Carol’s threat.
Jack had to throw the people who continued to come at him away. He did it as gently as possible, but he knew some of them would wind up with broken bones simply because of the way they landed. They were moving slow, like zombies under Carol’s control, which helped, but they just kept coming. All the while, Carol had time to do more spells.
She might be primarily a potion witch, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t cook up more nastiness for him to deal with on h
is way to defeating her. Just as he thought that, Jack noticed a lull in the crowd as they parted to let another of their number through. It was Bob Boehm, and he was carrying a rifle.
Jack had little doubt the ammunition in that firearm would prove to be as painful to shifters as the stuff that had been in the janitor’s gun. It wouldn’t kill Jack outright—not unless Bob made a very, very lucky shot—but enough poisoned holes in his hide would probably disable Jack enough so that Carol’s minions could subdue him. If that happened, they were toast.
“You can run, bear, but then my friend Bob there will just shoot Kiki instead. I have the ability to let things pass through my ward, if I so choose, and I would definitely choose to let him shoot little Kiki in your place,” Carol taunted him, giving him no real choice. He would protect Kiki with his last breath. If that meant standing in the way of a bullet to save her from taking it, he would, even if that bullet was nearly guaranteed to stop him in his tracks.
Bob was far enough away that Jack couldn’t leap on him before he fired the shot. Carol had taken Jack’s shifter abilities into account when she’d laid this trap. Jack stood his ground, in front of Kiki’s chair, so close, yet so far away with the evil ward keeping them apart. Jack was big enough in his bear form that he totally blocked Kiki’s sitting form. At least he had the satisfaction of knowing that he’d take the bullet, and it wouldn’t harm her.
What came after, he still didn’t know. The situation looked grim, but he would take it one step at a time and hope he’d find an opportunity to turn the tables. Somehow.
Bob stood, taking careful aim. He was back toward the edges of the crowd that had parted to give him a clear shot, but Jack could see him clearly. Bob’s eyes were glazed. He was fully under control of the potion witch.
A second later, a shot rang out.
Chapter Seventeen
Jack heard the shot but felt no impact. Then he realized, the shot hadn’t been from the rifle but rather, a handgun. He searched the periphery of the room, where the shelving units were stacked all around and spotted the flash of moving metal. Ben.