by Chant, Zoe
She drew in a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of having him inside her. Enjoying the closeness. A distant part of her shouted a warning, urging her to back off. But before she could listen to it, Jackson bent down and kissed her. All caution left Paisley, and she abandoned herself to the delicious feeling of his warm lips, his steady thrusting, his bare skin against hers, the inexorable ripples of pleasure flowing outward from where they were joined.
He slid against her with every thrust, tipping her farther and farther away from thought, into pure sensation. She was distantly aware of his quickened breathing and movement, and knew that he was approaching his climax. Then she was falling into her own ecstasy, warm and joyous and filled with love.
They lay close together in the sweet aftermath, their arms wrapped tight around each other. Jackson pulled Paisley on top of him, so she wouldn’t have to lie on the floor. It was surprisingly comfortable.
“You make a good mattress,” she said.
“I live to serve,” he replied.
She contentedly traced the curve of his strong chin with one finger. His skin was smooth, fresh-shaved. “This is definitely the most fun I’ve ever had on a break-in.”
Jackson bent his head to kiss her fingers. “Same here— Well, it’s also my only break-in. But I can’t imagine having more fun on one.”
“Maybe if we had sex twice,” Paisley suggested.
“That would do it.” More seriously, he added, “I hadn’t expected this to happen. I thought you’d never respect a man who’s scared of ventilation ducts.”
“Everyone’s scared of something. It’s not like you panicked and refused to come with me. You went in. You just didn’t like it.” She kissed him. “It was brave of you. It doesn’t take courage to do something you’re not scared of.”
Jackson regarded her quizzically, his dark eyes as intent as if he was reading her mind. “I know you’re not scared of enclosed places, or heights, or breaking the law. So what would it take courage for you to do?”
Fall in love, Paisley thought.
She couldn’t bring herself to admit it to him. She was already getting uncomfortable with the intimacy they’d shared. It felt dangerous, as if she’d stripped off a suit of armor she’d been wearing for years.
“Kiss a tarantula,” she said flippantly, then scrambled into her clothes. But even dressed, she felt as naked and exposed as when she’d been nude.
Jackson got dressed too, then checked the computer. “Perfect timing.”
He typed swiftly, then put his earbud back in. “Eli? We’re almost ready for you.”
Paisley replaced her own earbud, just in time to hear Eli say, “Good work, Jackson. Ever thought of becoming a SEAL?”
“You couldn’t pay me enough to get me to crawl around in a tunnel again,” Jackson replied. “But Paisley wouldn’t mind. Recruit her.”
Paisley rolled her eyes at him; she knew the SEALs didn’t allow women. “I’m a cat, not a seal. We don’t like water.”
“Their loss,” Eli said. “We make a good team.”
In the brief silence that followed, Paisley was sure he was wondering what she and Jackson had been doing while they’d had their earbuds out. She hoped he wasn’t regretting that he’d said he wouldn’t mind. Though she hadn’t had the same chance to get to know him that she’d had with Jackson, she liked what she’d seen of him. She’d hate to make him jealous, or hurt his feelings, or leave him out...
Jackson interrupted her thoughts, giving Eli the directions to Research & Development that he’d obtained from the computer.
“And you’ll have to move fast,” Jackson added. “When I say go, you’ll have a twenty-minute window to get to R&D. After that, the lasers will come back on. And once the lasers come back on, the only way to get them off is to run the entire program again. Once you get to R&D, you’ll be stuck there for an hour.”
“Got it,” Eli said. “On your mark.”
Jackson’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “Go!”
Chapter Four
Eli
Eli walked quietly through the dimly lit corridors, watchful and alert. The building was silent, but Paisley and Jackson’s conversation came in softly through the earbud.
“...so I built a device that emitted a high-frequency sound that I thought would drive away bees,” Jackson said. “Guess who I convinced to test it by promising him two-thirds of the honey?”
Paisley’s clear laugh echoed in Eli’s ear.
He smiled, enjoying the sound of his mate’s laughter and the memory of padding through the forest as a grizzly bear, even if that particular time had ended with him getting chased by a swarm of enraged bees. He’d had to leap into a lake to escape.
Then, reluctantly, he pulled out the earbud and put it in his pocket. He was on a mission, and missions required a pure, clear focus. He needed to listen for guards and look for traps, and Paisley and Jackson’s chatter would distract him.
Instead, he was distracted by his own thoughts.
He’d always believed that he’d find his mate some day, but he’d figured that she’d be a bear shifter like him. He’d thought he’d meet her at some gathering of shifters, the two of them would immediately know they were meant for each other, and it would all be simple and easy and wonderful.
It was wonderful. More wonderful than he’d ever dreamed of. But more complicated and strange and nerve-wracking, too.
Some things can’t be imagined, he thought. You have to experience them to know how they feel. I’ll never be able to explain to someone who isn’t mated what it’s like to meet your mate, any more than I can explain combat to someone who’s never gone to war.
Eli had a pretty good idea of what Paisley and Jackson had been doing in that hour in the office before Jackson’s program could let Eli into the building. He wasn’t jealous, exactly— the mate bond seemed to prevent that— but he couldn’t help worrying that Paisley would only want Jackson, and not Eli too.
Women always love Jackson, Eli thought glumly. He’s brilliant and funny and sensitive and rich. He can put on a suit and take them to a fancy restaurant and make them laugh all evening. I’m just a bruiser with a lot of scars and no job.
A rustle stopped him in his tracks. Eli held still, barely breathing, all his senses attuned to the sound. Another rustle up ahead, and a barely audible weary sigh.
A guard. Maybe two.
Eli took off his backpack and laid it gently on the floor. Then he crept forward, his feet noiseless on the floor, until he was close enough to hear the breathing of two men. From the sounds, one was positioned on either side of the four-way intersection of corridors he was coming to. He’d have to move fast, to take them both out before they had a chance to yell for help. One false move, and all hell would break loose...
...and come down on his mate and his best friend, waiting in the office upstairs. Eli had to protect them.
He lunged around the corner, fist lashing out the instant the startled guard came into view. His punch connected solidly with the man’s jaw.
Eli didn’t wait to see him drop, but spun around to face the second guard. That man’s mouth was opening to yell, his arm rising to aim his pistol at Eli’s heart. Eli slammed his left hand into the guard’s wrist, sending the pistol flying, and delivered a quick uppercut with his right hand. Eli’s fist crashed into the second guard’s jaw, knocking his mouth shut before the yell could emerge.
The guard’s teeth clicked together, and he collapsed to the floor with a thud.
Eli again stood still and poised for action, waiting to see if the noise of the fight had caught anyone’s attention. But seconds ticked by, and he heard nothing.
He returned to his backpack, took out rope and cloth, bound and gagged the unconscious guards, and went on his way. The pleasant tingle of adrenaline still coursed through his nerves. It had been good to fight again, and better since he knew it was for a worthy cause.
But he hadn’t only fought for the memory of Ryan, and for al
l the men and women in uniform who’d be in danger if his mission failed, or even for his best friend. Though Eli hadn’t shifted, he’d fought as a bear fights, knowing nothing but the primal urge to protect his mate. He’d have laid down his life for Paisley without a flicker of regret.
Eli replaced his earbud. Softly, he said, “Paisley? Jackson? What’s your status?”
To his relief, they both answered immediately.
“We’re good,” said Jackson. “Still downloading the data. There’s a lot of it.”
“Are you all right?” Paisley asked.
“Sure,” Eli replied automatically. “Well— I just knocked out two guards. But I’m fine. How did you know to ask?”
He imagined that he could see Paisley’s shrug as she replied, “Just a funny feeling. I’m glad you’re not hurt.”
Eli smiled to himself as he said, “Same here. I’m taking out my earbud now. I need to focus. Yell loud if you need me. Eli out.”
He went on, following the directions Jackson had given to him, until he neared Research & Development. Eli slowed. There were sure to be more guards there. He listened carefully as he crept forward, his ears attuned for the slightest rustle.
Voices came to his ears, drifting through the closed door up ahead. These guards weren’t bothering to keep quiet. Eli carefully set down his backpack, then reached into it as he listened to four men arguing over the latest NBA draft picks.
He hadn’t bothered to arm himself to fight only two guards, but even he couldn’t take out four men barehanded before a single one could yell for help. With a pang, he missed his SEAL team. And Ryan. SEALs worked in teams or pairs. They didn’t fight alone unless they were the last one standing.
I’m not alone, Eli reminded himself. I’m with my mate and my best friend. They’re right here with me.
He touched the earbud in his pocket, then found his hand drifting to his heart. Eli jerked his hand down. He couldn’t be distracted.
He took a rapid-fire tranquilizer gun from his backpack, then crept to the door. Eli held the dart gun ready as he kicked in the door. He fired in a semi-circle, spraying the room. Then he dove through the doorway and rolled.
Eli fetched up hard against the leg of a lab table. A shock of pain jolted through his ribs. He ignored it and swung his pistol around. Three guards had collapsed in drugged heaps on the floor, but the fourth was lunging at a red alarm on the wall, his hand outstretched to hit the button.
Eli fired. The dart hissed through the air and smacked into the guard’s hand. The man yelped, jerking his hand back. Then he staggered, his eyes rolling back in their sockets, and fell to the floor.
Eli surveyed the scene. Four guards unconscious, no alarm sounded. He didn’t bother tying the guards; they’d be out for hours.
He was in a huge room lined with built-in cabinets, like a bank vault full of safe deposit boxes. Thickly glassed windows looked into more storage rooms, and also a number of laboratories. Some contained medical equipment, while others looked more like chemistry labs.
Eli paced around the room, peering through each window. He found two rooms that were obviously used for testing military equipment, with targets set up, but the equipment itself was nowhere in sight.
Then he found what he was looking for. Eli didn’t blink at pools of blood or mangled bodies, but he flinched at the sight of the room with an array of guns and a bunch of shot-up crash test dummies wearing those fucking vests. The way some were tumbled, he could see how the bullets had pierced the vests and gone out the other side.
He stared through the window, blood hammering in his ears. All he needed to do was go in, grab as many vests as he could carry, and he’d have his proof. No one else would ever have to die like Ryan had died, trusting in armor that might as well have been made of glass.
Eli opened the door and hurried toward the dummies. He knelt beside the first one and started to undo the buckle. Something sharp pricked his fingertip, drawing a bead of blood.
Talk about made of glass, he thought. Then he saw the tiny, spring-loaded needle that his touch had released.
“Fuck!”
Eli tried to leap to his feet, but his legs didn’t support him. He fell to the floor with a crash. The room was spinning around him. He’d gotten so excited, he hadn’t looked for traps. Now he’d been hit by a tranquilizer dart, just like the ones he’d used on the guards.
He snatched desperately for the earbud in his pocket. He had to warn Paisley and Jackson, though he knew he’d never have time to get it in before he passed out. Eli’s fingers were clumsy and numb. The earbud slipped from his fingers and rolled across the floor.
If he’d been hit by a tranquilizer dart, he’d be unconscious by now. He was awake, but he felt cold and sick. His body wouldn’t move right. He couldn’t breathe.
Not a tranquilizer, he realized. Poison.
Chapter Five
Paisley
“Paisley! Jackson!”
It took Paisley a second to recognize the voice over her earbud as Eli’s. He was gasping, his words slurred and hard to understand.
“You’re hurt!” Paisley exclaimed.
“Poisoned,” Eli managed.
“Poisoned?” Jackson echoed, horrified. “Where are you?”
“R&D.”
Jackson jumped up. “I’m on my way.”
Paisley could hear the effort it was taking Eli to speak as he demanded, “Wait! Have you got all the data?”
“Not all of it, but—” Jackson began.
“Get it all.”
“Shut up, Eli. Can you walk?”
“No.”
“Then I’m coming to get you.”
“No! Jackson—” Eli’s voice cut off as if he’d been choked. His ragged breathing echoed in Paisley’s ear as if he was lying beside her. He sounded like he was dying. But he cared more about protecting his fellow soldiers than being saved himself.
A hot feeling rose up in Paisley, made of desperation and determination and maybe even love. Eli was in danger. She had to help him, but she wasn’t sure what she could do. She didn’t know much about computers, so she couldn’t take over the hacking while Jackson rescued Eli. And there was no way she was strong enough to carry a big guy like him to safety.
She had nothing to give him but empty, useless words. But since they were all she had, she said, “It’s okay, Eli. We’ll get the data, and we’ll save you. You don’t have to choose. ”
“Oh. All right. Thanks.” Eli sounded like he’d taken some comfort from her words. Maybe they weren’t so useless, after all.
Jackson began typing frantically, tension radiating from every line of his body. “Hang in there, Eli. I’ll look up what hit you— Look up the antidote and get it to you—”
“It’s booby-trapped!” Eli gasped. “Look up the traps. Don’t get caught!”
Jackson’s dark eyes flickered back and forth as he read through scrolling pages of information faster than Paisley would have thought possible. “You’re right. There’s other traps too. Someone’s been expecting us— or someone like us.”
Paisley glanced around uneasily. “Do they know we’re here?”
“I doubt it. We’d have been busted way before we got to download any of their precious data.” Jackson continued typing as he spoke. Then his shoulders sagged in relief. “Eli, the poison they used on you has an antidote, and I’ve found where it is. If we can get it to you within thirty minutes, you’ll be fine.”
“I’ll go,” Paisley offered. “Jackson can stay and keep downloading.”
“Lasers,” Eli warned her.
“Yeah, they came back on,” Jackson said. “I just started running the program to turn them off again. But Paisley can crawl through the ventilation shafts. She’d have to anyway. The antidote’s in a room that’s booby-trapped to hell and back. The only safe entrance I see is an air shaft about eight inches wide.”
“I’m a very small cat,” Paisley said, hope rising within her. “Practically a kitten.”
“Is it safe?” Eli demanded. “Don’t risk—”
“Eli, stop talking,” Paisley said. As he continued protesting, she added loudly, “Sorry, can’t understand you. Your voice is really slurred. Jackson, show me the way. And hurry.”
Jackson pulled up the route on the computer. Paisley memorized it, then hurriedly undressed and crammed her clothes into his backpack.
Fur, claws, twitching whiskers...
Paisley shifted and leaped up on to Jackson’s shoulder.
Jackson took a Swiss Army knife from his pocket, then stood on a chair to remove the tiny screws from the screen over the opening of a small ventilation duct high in the wall. He took out the bottom two screws, then gave the screen an impatient shove. It swung out like a cat door, allowing Paisley to jump through, then swung shut behind her.
Her claws clicked against metal as she squeezed through shafts so pitch black that even her cat eyes could see nothing. She relied on her whiskers and her memory of Jackson’s map to guide her, as she wriggled through ever-narrower tunnels.
Paisley came up short at a wire screen. She had to unscrew the bolts with her teeth, wincing at the metal taste and the nails-on-a-chalkboard sensation. It was hard to do, and it made her jaw hurt. Finally, the last bolt came free and clinked to the floor.
She leaped out of the duct and glanced around the sterile, empty lab. Paisley focused on human things— her fear for Eli, Jackson’s confidence in her, Eli’s sky-blue eyes, Jackson’s warm hands—and became a woman.
She strode barefoot and nude to the refrigerator, found the labeled syringe with the antidote, and gingerly set it between her teeth. The plastic was cold against her lips. She shifted, holding the syringe tight as her jaw changed around it, and jumped back into the ventilation shaft.
Paisley squirmed through another set of narrow ducts, her heart pounding, until she came to another screwed-in wire screen. In the dim light, she could see dummies scattered on the floor. Among them lay a living man, nearly as still. The sound of his labored breathing filled the room.
She didn’t want him to spend one second longer lying there and wondering when she’d come. Paisley set down the syringe and meowed.