by E A Price
Booker scowled at him before nodding at another black-clad goon. “Shock him.”
Sky flinched as the male trembled at the pain of the electricity coursing through him. But he resolutely remained standing and smirking at Booker. The big gorilla shook slightly in fury.
“What are you going to do with us?” blurted Sky, diverting his attention. She didn’t want to watch him getting shocked again anymore than she expected he wanted it.
“Fucker’s selling us like animals,” growled the cat shifter.
“You’ll be auctioned to the highest bidder,” explained Booker calmly. “The potential buyers will be arriving soon, so you better pretty yourself up.”
“Yeah,” sneered another shifter. “We’re to sit in our cages and be good, then they’ll send us upstairs, parade us around, get us to shift and sell us to perverts.”
“Silence!” roared Booker.
“And I thought the day turned weird when a skanky witch tried to make my boyfriend her sex slave,” Sky muttered.
Apparently, things can get worse. Her unicorn whimpered. Hopefully, Zane was safe at least.
*
“What is that place?”
Zane frowned through his binoculars. They were ten miles outside of the city, crouching atop a small, dusty hill while spying on a large monstrosity of a building. It looked like an MMA amphitheatre. He’d lived in Los Lobos for years and never known about it. It was kind of out of the way, but still.
“Thirty years ago it was a hockey arena,” said Juliet, waving her phone around trying to get a signal. “It was only open for a year before an altercation between fans got out of hand, turned into a riot and caused massive structural damage.”
“I can believe it of hockey fans.” Of course, they were angry – they liked hockey instead of football. Obviously, something was wrong there.
“Actually, it was during a production of The Little Mermaid on Ice. It started with one of the mothers talking on her phone while Sebastian was singing and quickly escalated from there. Anyway, the owners couldn’t afford to fix the place, and nobody wanted to buy it – there was a rumor about it being built on an old burial ground or something. I thought it was still abandoned.”
Evidently not. It was lit up like the sky on Fourth of July, surrounded by a high fence, patrolling security guards and various cars were pouring into the parking lot – after getting past the security guards armed with automatic weapons on the gate.
Juliet pursed her lips. “Christian Hawk would have enough money to repair it.”
Christian had managed to dodge his tail earlier that evening, so they had no idea where he was for certain. They followed one of the people he had been meeting with there – a rich toothpaste manufacturer who had once been arrested on suspicion of keeping a slave. The case fell apart when the young girl in question denied everything, but it was greatly suspected that she was paid off, and the SEA lost track of her after that. Juliet’s suspicion that Hawk was behind everything they were seeing was further fueled by the fact that they were now watching just about everyone he had been meeting in the last few weeks show up.
“You think Sky’s in there?” His bear chuffed. Go get her, get our mate.
Juliet hesitated. “I suspect so, but… it is just a suspicion. I have no actual proof.”
“I need to get in there.”
He tried to stand, and Lake pounced, pulling him back down. “Take it easy,” breathed the arctic wolf.
Zane growled and struggled. Gunner and Cutter then piled on him too, but still his bear wouldn’t stop struggling.
“We can’t fight our way in,” hissed Juliet disdainfully. “For one thing, we’d be mowed down with bullets before we even made it past the fence. They strike me as the types to shoot first and ask questions never.”
“What are we supposed to fucking do?” snarled Zane as quietly as he could manage. “They have my mate!”
“We suspect they do,” trilled the vampire with maddening patience. “We suspect they’ve been abducting rare species, but we don’t know for certain. And we can’t walk up to the gate and ask to be let in. Without a warrant, they can tell us to take a hike, and no judge will give us one based on a tenuous hunch.”
White hot rage burned through Zane’s body. Words – stupid words and no action. He needed to do something. His bear needed to do something. He couldn’t wait much longer.
“We can’t underestimate them. They were bold enough to abduct your girlfriend off the street. They must be very confident that they are not going to get caught. But if we go in there, we could get caught and killed.” Juliet bit her lip.
“They could kill Sky!”
They could sit out there debating the problem all night, and they still wouldn’t get anywhere. The time for talking, thinking and logic was over – now it was time for action.
“But we can’t arrest anyone without real proof which we can’t obtain legally,” she argued.
“Sky’s in there. I can feel it.”
And he could… sort of. When he found out she was abducted, he felt like his body was being pulled apart. But now, he felt like he was closer to her. She had to be in there. He felt it in his chest – in that organ that pumped blood around his body. What? He wasn’t girly enough to admit his heart ached without her… even if it did. Or perhaps it was just wishful thinking on his impatient bear’s part. If she weren’t in there, getting in and tearing into a few people would certainly alleviate his mood a tiny, tiny bit. Like 0.07% or something like that.
Juliet sighed. “Then let’s make sure she stays alive long enough for her to swoon into your oversized arms.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Zane picked at his collar and Juliet slapped his hand.
He hated suits. Even more so the floppy wig and glasses Juliet forced on him. He looked like a nerd. Suck it up growled his bear. Find Sky, then rip the damn suit off… and crush the glasses.
Juliet managed to find herself a decent red dress and a blonde wig. In his opinion, she looked like she’d just stepped off a stage in Las Vegas, but she looked passable. He looked like a gorilla stuffed into a suit designed for a chimpanzee. Like he’d dressed and brushed his hair in the dark.
Just outside the turn off for the arena, they managed to detain a couple of the guests – a couple of millionaires from Texas with extremely bad taste. The husband was large enough that Zane didn’t look too stupid in his suit, and the wife slender enough that Juliet didn’t look like she was playing dress-up in her mother’s closet. They had to let four cars go before they found a decent enough sized couple. It had been kind of a struggle getting the couple out of their clothes, but Cutter snarled at them until they hopped to it, and actually kind of believed their spiel about the radioactivity in the area affecting their clothes… kind of. Juliet was an excellent liar.
Wayne was driving the couple back to the SEA headquarters to be detained for a while, under the purview of checking them out for radiation poisoning.
For some reason, Juliet kept make-up and wigs in the back of her car – so they were on hand. There was a long pause when she announced it, but nobody thought to question it. Juliet was… old and somewhat mysterious. Undoubtedly she had a good-ish reason for the strange things she did.
Juliet spritzed herself in perfume repeatedly, making him cough. Then spritzed some over him for good measure – just in case anyone in there already had their scents. She checked her bright red lipstick was gaudy enough and slanted a look at him. They had a heated argument about who exactly was going into the arena. She had been plumping for either Gunner or Wayne, but Zane insisted. More like threatened to try and storm in if she didn’t let him sneak in with her.
He didn’t know what she was worrying about. And calling him a bear shifter-shaped disaster was a little strong. But, hey, so far he’d managed to get past the checkpoint on the gate. He managed to drive up to it in a gold colored Hummer with zebra print seat covers – yeah, extremely bad taste - get the window down, fl
ash the Texan couple’s invitation at the surly guard and then drive through the gate after being grunted at – all without incident. The invitation they found in the car simply stated the date, arrival time and directions on how to get to the arena – it didn’t specifically mention what was happening in there. Which really would have helped their case.
“Do I have to worry about you in there?” asked Juliet. “Can I trust you to behave?”
Zane stared at her for a few moments. “Well, I’m not going to lie to you… shall we go?”
Yes, to get our mate howled the bear. Rawr.
*
Sky scowled, and her unicorn snorted as a middle-aged man leered at her. She didn’t know what was more offensive. The look on his horny face or the rug on his head masquerading as hair. Amazing. All the technological advances in the world and still they couldn’t make a decent and natural looking toupee for men. The words ‘nice rug’ danced on her tongue, dying to be flung at him. But she restrained herself.
Under the interested looks from the goon squad, she had awkwardly washed herself and then donned the embarrassingly small bikini they provided her. To their disappointment, she managed to do it without flashing any skin. She was hardly ashamed of her body. She was more than happy to strip down and shift to go running as her unicorn, but she wasn’t going to give the buttheads who kidnapped her a cheap thrill.
Now she was standing in her cage like a damn animal, trying not to cover her body whenever a perv leered at her, and forcing herself not to hurl insults at them. A few of them asked her questions and through gritted teeth she replied. No, she did not eat sugar cubes!
Her unicorn wasn’t thrilled, but she didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because of her. The large penguin shifter, Georgie already seemed fragile enough as it was, visibly shaking as the parade of ‘buyers’ walked past her. Sky wasn’t sure how she’d hold up to that guy Booker really hurting her. Plus, there was Zane to think of. She’d rather him be safe and enjoying a life without her than for him to be hurt. As long as he didn’t enjoy his life without her too much. Hey - she never claimed to be a saint.
As far as she could see, the people checking her out were rich dimwits with more money than brain cells. They appeared to be shopping for exotic pets or worse. Sky was trying not to dwell on the ‘or worse’ part.
An older gentleman was perusing her body. His expression was cold, certainly not holding the lust of the other men who’d shown interest in her. He licked his lips and Sky had the horrible feeling he was interested in eating her… and not in the good, sexy way like Zane did.
Terrific. So either she was looking forward to being a pet, a sex toy or a meal. None of those options was enticing.
The large penguin shifter was now openly sobbing. Some of the mercenaries growled at her to stop but she wouldn’t. She was on her knees in her cage, weeping into her hands. Bernard, the male in the cage next to Georgie was trying to comfort her. Sky was impressed to find out he was a mammoth – she read it on the side of his cage - they all had an information sheets giving details about them like in real zoos. The fact that he had a crush on the penguin wasn’t on the sheet. Sky discerned that from his snarling fits when any male looked at her.
The penguin’s outburst didn’t seem to be causing any problems. The buyers really didn’t pay any attention. They still inspected her body and read her information, as if she wasn’t having a meltdown.
Palaeeudyptinae – extinct species of giant penguin.
In fact, if Sky didn’t know any better, she’d say Georgie’s wailing actually attracted more buyers. Perhaps some of them wanted a submissive shifter.
Her unicorn shook her head. Monsters. All these people were monsters. How could they even conceive of buying another living being?
The sabre-tooth tiger was perhaps the calmest captive in the room. Or at least as far as Sky could see – there had to be more than a hundred cages in total, snaked around the room. Yeah, it was kind of an eye opener about how many rare shifters there were in the world.
The tiger just smiled nastily at anyone who dared approach him – and a lot of people did, almost as many who approached her. It wasn’t conceit – she knew she was the star attraction. There was also the possibility for her that she might actually be bought as a plaything for a spoilt child. What little girl doesn’t love unicorns? Perhaps if she was very lucky, that might be the case for her. Yes, she could be the pampered and put-upon pet of a spoiled child… woohoo! Her unicorn rolled her eyes at her sarcastic thoughts.
But the tiger just smiled like he knew something, and his dark, mocking eyes told everyone who dared get close to his cage exactly what he would do to them were it not for the bars separating them. He didn’t answer their questions and stared at them until they backed away slowly.
A lot of people actually made a wide berth of his cage. The bravest actually seemed to be women, who admired his impressive physique and clearly had no sense of self-preservation when it came to predators.
A female leopard shifter smirked at the tiger and told him, “See you soon, sweet cheeks.”
His smile hardened, but his knowing look never left him.
Perhaps he has an escape plan suggested her unicorn.
Yes, that would be great. One that she could piggy-back off, because she had come up with zilch. Honestly, seven years as a yoga instructor really did not prepare her for any of this.
So far all she had was shifting when she got out of her cage and running like hell. But in spite of how scared her unicorn was and desperate to get out of there, she really didn’t think they were up to running into a hail of bullets.
She needed an idea with a hell of a lot more juice!
*
Juliet pulled on Zane’s arm as she dazzled the security bear. He had a face like a slab of granite, but even he melted just a little under Juliet’s attention. The bear let them in without even bothering to ask for identification. He barely even looked at their invitation.
She gave their names in a husky and frankly awful Texan accent, and he couldn’t give them their security passes fast enough. Well, that wasn’t accurate; he actually lingered over slipping it onto Juliet’s wrist, damn near feeling up her hand… if that was a thing. Zane grunted at him for good measure – given that he was actually supposed to be her husband and all. The bear nodded them through the metal detectors and deflated a little when it didn’t sound for Juliet – clearly, he was hoping for a chance to pat her down. Course, he was thoroughly relieved when it didn’t make a peep for Zane either.
Zane hesitated slightly at the entrance of the arena. The parking lot was lit by floodlights, but beyond that was darkness, and where the rest of the SEA lurked potentially waiting to breach.
Get in, get our mate and get out. Kick and claw some ass if there’s time. Grrr.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sky tried to emulate the sabre-tooth tiger's don’t fuck with me stare. It probably wasn’t working. Actually, considering that she’d just been called cute and/or adorable by three different people, it was safe to say it wasn’t.
Okay, focus, find a way out.
Electronic locks, silver bars, lots of mean looking guys with tranq guns and what looked like real guns, too. How did the A-team make this look so easy?
Sky crossed her arms, trying not to pout as a small, petite vampire sauntered her way followed by a beast of a man with a terrible, shaggy hairdo. She sighed as they practically made a beeline for her. Great, more potential buyers to not spit at.
Except… was that… her unicorn bounced up and down with glee.
Zane. In spite of the tight, constricting suit and strange new hair do, and admittedly sexy glasses, she recognized him. That was her beast of a man! Damn, he looked silly and yet he’d never been so handsome.
Sky tried not to bounce up and down too. Her heart pounded. He was here for her. He came for her. He was going to save her. And in spite of her pacifist nature, she hoped he was there to kick some ass. She was kind of
hoping for a little action herself.
He shook his head in warning before she could say anything - before she could run to him and demand a smooch through the bars.
Yep, play it cool. Probably the best way to go.
He tried to look nonchalant, but he couldn’t hide the hungry, angry look on his face.
“You okay?” he breathed, his dark eyes searching her, narrowing at but then appreciating the tiny bikini.
“Fine,” she whispered, eyeing the vampire with speculation. Where did he pick her up? wondered her unicorn jealously. “They’re auctioning us off.”
Zane unobtrusively watched the guards prowling between the cages.
“We gathered,” said the vampire in a low voice. “I’m Juliet, by the way – we’ll exchange pleasantries later when we’re in perhaps a little less danger. They took our phones at the entrance so we can’t contact anyone.”
“You need to get us all out of here – lord only knows what they’re going to do to us.” Sky cast a furtive glance at a tall, thin male vampire smiling benignly in her direction.
“We need to arrest the people doing this as well, preferably with minimum casualties.” Juliet gave Zane a significant look; he smiled grimly at Sky. “I’m going to take a look around to get a better idea of this place, you just… just try not to kill anyone yet.”
Zane nodded as she sauntered away, swinging her hips, pretending to peruse the other species for sale. At least she distracted the guards.
“I love you,” Sky murmured. Her unicorn whinnied in happiness waiting for his response. What she didn’t expect was the fury in his eyes.
“How dare you?” he growled throatily.
Sky frowned at him. “What?” He was really mad that she loved him?
He balled his fists as he struggled to maintain his temper. “How dare you tell me that?!”
“But…” Surely this was where their relationship was heading? She was sure he loved her too. How could she be so wrong? Her unicorn whined pathetically.