by Bobbi Romans
“Wait. You said breakfast. Did someone knock and announce it was meal time or what?” Moss asked, finally catching onto what she’d said upon arriving.
“Yeah. Coyt came up to tell us. He didn’t linger, just knocked, announced grub was ready, and asked if I would let you guys know. Told him yeah and he left. Why?” Hope brightened her pale worried face.
“Is there any way Grace just headed down before us?” Moss quizzed.
“Not unless she went half naked,” Damien reminded them.
“Well I’m heading down and asking anyway.” Beth started out the door, but Moss grabbed her and stopped her.
“How can we be sure they’re not involved?”
“We can’t. But they have cameras, right? I’m willing to bet they aren’t behind her disappearance and those cameras can show what the hell went down last night. There isn’t time to pussy foot around all this.”
Moss nodded in agreement and Damien knew that again, the group had been forced into no choice but to trust the B.E.A.R. organization. While he wasn’t one to trust easily, he also wasn’t a moron. Right now whether he liked it or not, the B.E.A.R. group was their best chance at discovering what happened to Grace.
They headed to catch up with Beth, who’d stormed out before they’d all agreed. Moss had his hands full with his woman. Headstrong didn’t quite cover Beth adequately, but it happened to be the only polite term to come to mind.
Her heavy steps down the stairs echoed her level of agitation. Worry prompted each one.
“So we need access to your security tapes, like right now,” she blurted entering the dining room.
The clanging spoons and forks in dishes that steam rose from in the dining hall abruptly stopped.
“Well good morning to you as well,” Coyt stated, rising to walk to them.
“Actually it’s not. Grace disappeared and we’ve reason to believe she was abducted from your so-called ‘secure environment.’ I mean that was one of the reasons you urged us all to stay last night, wasn’t it? That your compound stood more secure than Grace’s cabin? Well, so much for that theory. Now, the tapes please.”
A pin drop would have caused more noise than the sudden breathless state overtaking the room by the time Beth finished blasting their faulty secure systems.
“Of course. Follow me.” Coyt, too, had grown silent and serious. The entire room eyeballed one another before jumping into action with exclamations to checkout every security feature and alarm system the place housed.
Coyt ushered the group towards an elevator, slid a key card through a special security mechanism, then when a small box slid out of the wall, placed his thumb securely in its center. Within a moment, a small beep occurred and the small box maneuvered back into its hidden spot as the elevator doors slid open with a whoosh.
“If anything has happened to her after all your assurances of safety … ” Damien didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t trust himself to think of the possibilities in such close quarters. So far he’d managed to hold his anxiety in place. But as the minutes without Grace went on, the edgier and less grounded he became.
“Don’t worry, shifter. We’ll get your woman back … if, that is, she was taken.”
In a flash before any thought registered, Damien had Coyt by his throat and up against the elevator wall. Red marred his vision as he squeezed. Oblivious to the others’ cries to let the man go, he wanted to maim, hurt, kill. Would accept nothing short of.
How dare he insinuate Grace would be anywhere except here with him. She wouldn’t have just up and gone, and this asshat dared mention her as if she’d skipped out. As if she were a mole or some other complete bullshit. It would be the last damn thing he thought or said about her. Ever.
“Please, please let Uncle Coyt go. He didn’t mean anything by what he said.”
Somehow through the fog of pure rage, the sweet, pleading voice reached him. As Damien’s vision cleared, he saw the man he held by the throat. Red faced and lacking oxygen and quite near ready to die. Damien released him and backed against the far wall. Took deep breaths to try and contain the need to rip him to shreds. Beth stood next to him. Speaking in soothing tones. He didn’t comprehend what she said, only that it was calm and reassuring. Trick stood between him and Coyt, trying to, he assumed, block his view of the bastard. Moss picked the near unconscious ass and with the young girl’s help, assisted him off the lift.
Finally Damien sensed he could move without the need to physically harm anyone. He shook his head a few more times and with breathing back in check, turned ready to face the consequences of his actions. No, he didn’t give a shit about Coyt, but frightening the girl as he had? The fear he’d seen in her eyes. Well that was different. Made him feel like a total douche.
Wisely they’d taken Coyt somewhere else, but now a man stood before them and he didn’t seem too happy with the events. Like Damien gave a flying shit.
“I trust you’re in better control of yourself now?”
“I’d have no control issues if you had proper charge over your compound or yellow-bellied men who want to blame an innocent woman for being abducted,” Damien sneered, once again fighting to contain the anger.
“Whoa, let’s say we all start over. Shall we?”
Moss appeared from around a corner and headed straight toward them. Obviously his friend was concerned over a repeat performance.
“And you are?” Beth asked, peeved and highly agitated herself.
“They call me Squire, and I run B.E.A.R. How can I help you?”
“Good. The dude in charge. Now, where are the tape recordings from last night?”
“To which tapes are you referring?” Damien sensed the man, for whatever reason, attempted to stall them.
“Look, asswipe, my aunt has been abducted and we need to review your security tapes now. Not in a minute, right damn now.” Beth seethed, stomping towards Squire aggressively enough Moss shadowed her steps in case the need for obvious intervention occurred. Damien didn’t doubt if this Squire man didn’t take them to the surveillance room asap, Moss wouldn’t be pulling just one person off a B.E.A.R. member, but two.
“Grace is missing? How? When?” Squire grew serious in the blink of an eye.
No one else caught it, but he did. They’d never told him her name. But it was far more than that. The way Squire said Grace’s name, like she was a Goddess and he but her servant unworthy of speaking her name, made Damien’s gut roil. Both he and Grace suspected more was going on than met the eye. They’d been right. His only concern now though was the tapes and getting Grace back. Then he’d dig into just how familiar Squire was with Grace. Oh yeah. Dude seriously would get a face alteration. Grace was his. Period.
“Sometime during the night,” Damien spat, biting back the rest of his words, still reeling over the fact he’d not awakened during her abduction. And still suffering a pounding ass headache.
“Who was first to knock on her door and notice her gone?”
Hell fucking yeah. His shot at Squire came earlier than he hoped.
“I awoke to find the bed empty early this morning.” Words and steel combined as Damien verbally laid claim to his woman.
Squire’s gaze took him in. Shock, anger then control slipped back into his expression. The man might know Grace, but for now was keeping the information to himself.
“And nothing was out of place?” The man might be quiet, but Damien never failed to recognize a fellow shifter. In fact everyone he’d run across here at the compound was. Difference was, his animal reared as it sensed Squires was a challenger. An alpha encroaching on his turf. Their animal counterparts were rearing to get out. Prove dominance.
Yeah buddy. After only a second of recovery, Squire’s holier than thou mask had returned.
“No. Nothing out of place and no oddities. Not a damn thing except waking to the flu. Not only is your compound not secure, it’s apparently host to a plague of viruses as well.”
“Wait, I thought Moss said shifter
s don’t get sick?” Beth picked up on the oddity.
“Not usually. But I awoke off-kilter and would swear my head is ready to explode.”
Damien couldn’t miss the worried look Beth shot Moss.
“Please, Squire, we need to review those tapes immediately. My aunt is gone, Damien probably drugged and we’re wasting precious time. Please.”
Squire took in the woman before him, and again Damien picked up on something unspoken but clear as a bell. He felt something toward Beth, too. What though?
“Of course, follow me.”
Beth and Moss on Squire’s heels, while he and Trick lingered in the back. Smart kid. He was taking in all his surroundings, no doubt bookmarking anything he thought would be useful.
“So, dude, spill. What’s the beef between you and these corn-fed boneheads?” Trick whispered once Squire and the others had gone further ahead.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Damien tried to downplay the kid’s questions. Now wasn’t the time and he wasn’t use to sharing his feelings anyway.
“C’mon, aren’t we past this? You can trust me, man. I caught the dope on how you wanted to rip Squire’s throat out. The way you almost did Coyt’s. Something has you on edge.”
“I can honestly say I don’t know.” And that was true. He didn’t know.
“Fine. But you don’t trust these ’tards anymore than I do. Am I right, man?”
Yep, Trick was still observing and noting things like windows or more doors. If Damien had a little brother, deep down he suspected he would be a lot like this kid.
A buzzing saved him from answering the kid’s twenty questions and their attentions turned toward a large set of double doors that opened at the end of the corridor.
Inside the room lights came alive in vast array of twinkling colors. Red, blue, and yellow all flickered life as monitors, motion sensors and control panels blinked furiously.
A few quick movements and their first question was answered. No, there hadn’t been any monitors in the rooms, only those they’d detected in the hallways. At first, the tapes reflected only lonely corridors. Then, if you’d blinked, you would have missed it. Dark shadows appeared on the walls like ink blots with nobody around to make them.
“I’ve seen them before,” Moss offered. “Back at Demetrius’s cave, when I’d gone through Octavia’s secret passageway. They’re abominations created by Demetrius.”
“Yeah, we ran into them as well that day,” Beth agreed “What are they?” Squire asked in genuine curiosity and concern.
“Well, according to Demetrius, more swamp gas than actual beings.”
“How is such a thing even possible?” Squire leaned closer to the monitor before him, stunned at the peculiar and menacing sight. The shadows left the walls and became silhouettes of men. Men who slid right through the door and into the room Grace and Damien had been given.
“With dark magic, I suppose nothing is off limits,” Beth whispered, her fear and worry for Grace clear.
“Excuse me, I sensed the commotion from up here and wanted to check on what was happening.”
They turned to find the woman named Red had appeared behind them. Odd Damien hadn’t sensed another’s presence. He should have, unless someone purposely cloaked their presence. Something again wasn’t right that neither he, nor it appeared Moss, had been aware of her arrival. The more he thought about the peculiar woman, the more his gut skittered with unease. She bore no particular scent he could detect. Everyone, shifter or other, carried a unique scent.
“Yes, Red. I want you to head down and inform the others the compound was exposed last night. Find out if anyone sensed or heard anything wrong. Off. Maybe even just a small brownout or like.”
“Sure thing, boss man, but can I ask what’s happened?”
Damien maneuvered himself behind the woman and while for the most part his slight movements went unnoticed, a faint voice reached through the throbs of pain still lancing his head.
“What’s going on? You’re up to something. I can tell,” Beth asked mentally.
“It seems our friend Red here is set on hiding something and I want to know what.” He pushed the message around in his head not quite sure how this telepathic communication thing worked.
“How so?”
“She bears no scent. Everyone has a scent … It screams wrong.” Once behind the woman, he took another whiff. Not even perfume, deodorant or shampoo. Not one damn glandular scent wafted from the lying bitch. Nothing normal could possibly account for that, which only left magical. Why would a B.E.A.R. member need magical enhancements to cloak her scent, unless someone else’s scent lingered on her she didn’t want detected? “Beth, be ready. My animal side has found a traitor.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Red flip a small switch. He didn’t know what it went to, but he’d bet it was some kind of alarm that had been turned off during the night and now she raced to reset before anyone noticed. He watched Beth’s face scrunch up in concentration — sweat beaded from her forehead and her eyes closed. Her head was partially turned so that the others weren’t aware of whatever it was she attempted. Only he was privy to the extreme in her expression and posture.
Before he had a chance to mentally ask what she attempted, the little hellcat launched across the room and straight on Red.
If they’d thought his attack on Coyt bad … well, hell, they hadn’t seen anything yet.
Chapter Fourteen
A cracking sound resonated around the room, machines clattered as bodies hit and bounced from one metal contraption to another. Hair and curses flew madly about.
“Where the fuck is she, bitch?” Though Beth asked, she gave no time for Red to answer. Damien watched as Beth exploded, becoming a nearly uncontrollable powerhouse. He worried what may happen if her power unleashed into the fury it had during the battle with Octavia when Beth had nearly brought the cave in around them from the sheer force emitting from her.
Hair, spit, and curses flew as the coppery smell of blood permeated the security room, and unlike when he had Coyt by the throat, none of them stepped between the vicious fight before them. A tooth hit the floor and Damien sighed in relief when he caught Red spit a decent amount of blood before Beth surged onto her again. There was no way at the moment to split the women apart without the chance of hurting one or both.
“What in the hell is she doing?” Squire shouted, jumping out of his seat in front of the monitor. Moss whirled around before the man could make a step and blocked his path to the melee.
“Kick her big ass, Beth,” Trick bellowed to his left and trained his eyes on Beth’s every jab, kick and strike.
“I do not have a big ass!” Red spat glaring daggers of death at Trick.
“Bitch, backstabbing your own friends like that,” Beth seethed. “You’re going to wish your stank ass was never born.” Beth yanked Red’s head back so hard Damien was shocked the other woman’s neck didn’t snap. Her assault continued as she slammed Red’s face down against the control board and continued doing so until blood spatter coated the console and another of Red’s teeth went flying. Red kicked outward and sent Beth sprawling backward.
Sirens blared all around them and Squire shot them a menacing look demanding someone break the women up. Even knowing he had a traitor among his group of comrades, he couldn’t stomach seeing one of his own pulverized.
Too fucking bad, Damien thought, relieved and glad Beth took matters into her own hands. He’d never lay a hand on a woman, but this traitor … well he’d have figured something out.
Heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway, coming in their direction and fast.
“You think you’re better than everyone else, Barbie?” Red screeched gaining her footing on Beth.
“Who the fuck are you calling Barbie?” Beth zipped from the awkward posture she’d ended up in from Red’s kick to her gut, and sailed past the hands that now blindly reached in between them in a vain attempt to rip the two apart.
Again
, ill chosen timing did little to break the dueling duo up, but hell, he’d tried to tell Squire to back off.
“Damn, dude … you checking her bad self out? Beth’s stomping Red a new ass, man.” Trick didn’t seem the slightest concerned for Beth. Truthfully none of them did as the minx ripped chunks of red hair while bashing Red’s head against any hard surface she could. None of the men had any doubt of Beth’s anger, but if they were to question the other gal, they needed to intercede. Squire sadly had a point. Beth made her statement, now Red needed to make hers.
“Beth. Easy honey, remember, she may be our only clue as to where Grace is.” Moss interjected himself between the bodies and snatched Beth around her waist. Legs and arms flailed as she fought trying desperately to get back to the woman. “Easy, baby,” Moss coxed doing his best to soothe his mate. Damien understood and commended his fierce loyalty to her. Beth proved passionate in all she did, including fighting for those she called her own. His friend indeed had scored a true treasure.
“Moss, let me go or so help me God … ” she hissed, still spitting mad.
“Or you’ll what, love?” Moss whispered something into her ear that settled her instantly. Her body relaxed into his, her breathing calmed and her posture returned to normal.
“Well, we wouldn’t want that to happen.” Damien caught her reply and slight blush as she calmed within his friend’s embrace.
The rest of the B.E.A.R. members piled in to check what caused all the chaos and screaming that must have echoed through the building. Squire gave instructions for Red to be taken down into questioning. Damien didn’t need to be told about the room to get the message it wasn’t as hospitable as the other plush rooms within the compound.
“You are so going to pay for that, bitch. He’s going to rain hell down around you and I’ll be there to laugh as you scream,” Red swore retribution on Beth.
“Bring it, Bozo.” Damien caught the muscles in Moss’s arm clench as he held Beth tight. She’d begun fighting to get free again.