The Bear And The Unicorn (Supernatural Enforcers Agency 6)

by E A Price

  The cat snarled and hurled himself at Zane, shifting mid-air.

  Fuck. This one wasn’t like the mercenaries down stairs. They were all muscles and strength and little skill. This one was quick, disciplined, and he did not look particularly happy to see Zane.

  A second before the massive weight of the cat hit him – not to mention his claws – Zane started changing too. Being a larger animal he wasn’t as fast, and trying to change with a jaguar’s jaw clamped around your arm isn’t the most pleasant sensation. Zane staggered back under the weight, smashing against the wall.

  Zane now in full-on bear mode raised himself to his full, terrifying height – nine feet and eight inches – and tried to dislodge the jaguar from his arm. The cat, on seeing that he had a hold on the much larger animal sure as hell wasn’t letting go and sank his claws into the bear’s stomach. The jaguar was going to hang on until Zane dropped. It was a good plan. Zane was already in pain and bleeding. He wouldn’t last for long like this. He howled and lumbered around the room, banging the cat against every wall and surface he could find. The claws and teeth just tightened on his flesh.

  Vaguely, he heard whining from the two human males who skirted around the awkwardly dancing duo. They finally made their escape out of the room, leaving the animals to it. Crap – he’d been hoping to threaten them into turning everything off.

  Zane sank his own claws deep into the cat, but that didn’t lessen his grip. Nope, the damn cat wasn’t going anywhere. Just like the time his mom’s ginger tomcat sank into his arm and wouldn’t let go – for six hours – when he was twelve, this one wasn’t going anywhere.

  Time to use the jaguar to his advantage.

  Instead of trying to push him away, Zane pulled him closer. If the damn creature wanted to give him a lethal hug, then Zane would use him as a battering ram.

  The bear drove him into the consoles, destroying them and just hoping that did some good. Zane had no clue whether it did – for all he knew he just destroyed the switches that operated a DVD player – but the pained snarls from the tiger currently maiming his flesh were worth it.

  Given that the room now looked like it had gone ten rounds with Godzilla, and because his jaguar-shaped fashion accessory wasn’t letting go anytime soon, the bear rumbled and ran at the window.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Sky almost tented her fingers and said ‘excellent’ as the mammoth ripped through his cage like it was nothing more than tissue paper. Her unicorn pounded her hoofs in celebration.

  The mammoth was still a little woozy, and given that tranq, after tranq, after tranq was being shot into his body he was a little unsteady. Never the most graceful creature he stumbled over his huge feet, crashing into other cages and mercenaries alike. He actually fell on two and - Sky assumed – crushed them.

  Karma thought her unicorn in self-satisfaction. You go through life hurting people, and you are bound to end up being crushed by a mammoth – it’s inevitable.

  “Come on,” muttered Sky.

  But it was no good. The mammoth wasn’t completely immune to the tranqs. He was slowing down, weaving even more and about to go down hard. Damnit, the goons were already relaxing and just waiting to cram him back into another cage.

  Sky looked around wildly. Think, think, think!

  But luck was actually on her side. Before the mammoth finally fell, he swayed and hit the cage holding the gigantopithecus.

  Sky’s impression of the giant ape shifter had been that of a tall, skinny, young woman who liked to nap. Shifted into a giant ape and clambering out of the cage – she was Queen freaking Kong!

  A normal gorilla could be downright scary. One larger than an SUV was definitely a sight to behold. And boy was she pissed! Lucky there weren’t any tall buildings and bi-planes in the area. No, she settled for tearing apart the mercenaries – and Sky really did mean tearing apart. It was actually really gross, and Sky had to look away before her beast hurled.

  Just as she looked down. Snikt! The electronic lock of her cage opened of its own accord.

  Zane, you beauty! The things she was going to do to him when they got home!

  *

  Juliet glowered at Christian as he petted her hair. Just wait ‘til she got her strength back. She was going to tear off his skin and use it like a bongo drum. No, not painful enough. She was going to remove every bone from his body one by one and turn them into a xylophone! She didn’t know why she had a musical instrument theme going on. Plus, it had to be noted that she had never actually done either of those things before. They were just stories her maker told her to while away the daylight hours while tucked up in bed. Storied she listened to, avidly, because at least if he was talking, he wasn’t mauling her.

  A sentiment she also felt about Christian. She was trying to encourage him in his annoying rant about how brilliant he is – at least if he was gabbing he wasn’t encouraged to take things any further than petting.

  “You know, my darling,” he was now calling her darling like she wouldn’t gut him for it, “I’ve never been tempted by one of the creatures I’ve sold over the years, and you wouldn’t believe some of the exotic creatures that have come across my purview. But none of them compare to you. You are special.”

  “I’m just a vampire – there are thousands of us in the world.” She wasn’t even a particularly special vampire. She’d much rather have the ability to fly than talk to animals. Being Supergirl is much more preferable to Snow White.

  “Oh, my sweet darling,” Christian purred.

  Great, now it’s sweet darling.

  “You are special. No woman has ever attracted me the way you do. There’s just something about you.” He gave her an assessing look as if he was trying to work it out. “Of course, I would have preferred old-fashioned dating, but you didn’t seem very interested in that, so I’ll take what I can get.”

  Enforced slavery, apparently.

  Juliet’s eyes flickered to the door. She scented someone approaching and for a moment thought it must be one of Christian’s goons. But there was something about this scent. It was a strong, masculine, sexy scent of someone who needed a bath – yet that fact didn’t really detract from the sexiness. No, there was something about this one.

  Christian flinched as the door pushed open and an enormous male with glittering eyes scorched a look in his direction. It was one of the shifters from the cages. Juliet hadn’t paid them much mind earlier; she had been too intent on Sky.

  “What are you… How did you…”

  Christian looked around the room wildly for a weapon. In his arrogance he had discarded his gun, thinking he only needed the small device to control Juliet.

  The huge male, undoubtedly a shifter but not a species she recognized, looked down at her, cradled in Christian’s lap. His nostrils flared as he sniffed and frowned at her.

  Juliet felt the moment Christian was going to move. His erratic breathing accelerated and his heart nearly thudded out of his chest. He tossed Juliet aside, leaping for the gun, and in the blink of an eye, the shifter morphed into a sabre-tooth tiger, sinking his deadly claws into Christian.

  As the tiger made short work of him, Juliet quite enjoyed the screams.

  *

  It appeared that the buyers weren’t quite so enamored by the rare shifters when they were on the loose. Not if the blood-curdling screams as they tried to trample each other to death to get out were anything to go by.

  Zane limped past a couple of pretty disheveled toucan shifters, currently being pecked at by a giant dodo. Evolution was fighting back, or possibly more the fact that the dodo shifter took issue with being kidnapped and almost sold.

  The shifters were out in force and man were they pissed. Maybe he had managed to open all the cages – if not him, someone else did. Juliet was somewhere in the building.

  He groaned as he sidestepped a Tasmanian tiger barreling past him. His bear was not in the least sympathetic to Zane’s pain. Okay, so taking a swan dive out of a window was n
ot his best idea – although it still wasn’t his worst decision. No, there was far too much competition for that title. Besides, it worked, and thankfully he had a nice big, fluffy jaguar to land on – so he wasn’t nearly as hurt as he could have been. The jaguar… yeah, it might take him a little longer to recover.

  Everyone realized something was up when the snake shifter stopped her announcements. After a huge bear and a jaguar flew out of the control room, there was a lot of concern and murmuring about leaving. People were still pretty calm at that point, walking quickly but carefully to the exit. Then a bunch of irate shifters – a wee bit annoyed at being treated so badly – got loose and at that point, it was everyone man, woman and creature for his, her and itself.

  There were still a lot of mercenaries around, but thankfully, the loose shifters and screaming buyers were a nice distraction for them. They barely noticed Zane wandering around.

  He came across a sea cow lying on a middle-aged man in a tuxedo. The man was gasping and crying for mercy. The sea cow adjusted her bulk but didn’t move to shift back to human.

  Zane nodded at her and his bear virtually chuckled. “Nice. You mind if I rifle his pockets? Just looking for a phone.”

  She grunted and moved to the side to allow him access. He whistled as he came up with a wallet, some condoms - ugh, and yep, a cell phone. Apparently, some of the other guests were smart enough to find a way to hang onto their phones during their security frisk at the door.

  Zane winked at the sea cow. “Appreciate it.”

  He tried dialing Lake, wanting to find out what was taking the arctic wolf so damn long to get his frozen butt in there and back them up. But all he got was a busy signal. Given the chaos going on, he didn’t want to take any chances. He called Jessie back at the SEA offices and in a few words told her to call in the cavalry. He hung up while she was still chittering down the phone at him.

  Right, enough goofing off. He needed to find Sky – stat. The idea of her running around alone – in a bikini – without him to protect her from murderous goons or dirty leers was enough to motivate him through the pain.

  Zane had a sexy unicorn to save, and then debauch, and no injury was going to stop him. Walk through the pain, cry like a little girl later.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Booker pushed past the idiots trying to flee. His gorilla howled as he tossed a few people aside. Cattle, mindless fucking cattle the lot of them.

  Damn cluster fuck situation. He should have got out while he could weeks ago when everything started going wrong. He got too greedy. That was it. So what if he couldn’t afford his own private island? He could just suck it up and manage on an inhabited island. Plus, he didn’t need to own four mates – he could settle for just two.

  He had no idea where Hawk was, or anyone else, but he knew Hawk’s chopper was scheduled to arrive any moment, and Booker was leaving on it.

  “Booker!” cried the squeaky voice of Dr. James.

  He and his gorilla ignored her and kept moving. The last thing he wanted was to be cornered by one of the shifters wanting a little payback. His gorilla wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, but he was man enough to admit he didn’t want to push his luck in taking on that damn sabre-tooth mano a mano.

  The doctor panted while trying to keep up with him.

  “The shifters are all loose,” she gasped.

  “I know,” Booker grunted. Kind of hard to miss. Were it not for the screams, howls, and roars, he could tell by the stenches of blood and urine pervading the air.

  “Everything’s gone wrong,” she whimpered, tugging on his shirt sleeve, trying to slow him down. Fat chance. He was out of there.

  “I know.”

  “Vargas is hurt,” she said in a trembling voice. “We need to help him. He was pushed out of a window! We need get him some medical attention.”

  Booker ignored her, continuing his march towards the roof. She followed him, waiting for a reply that wasn’t going to come. He was cutting and running, and there wasn’t anything there to stop him.

  “But, Vargas…”

  Booker shook off her grip. “He knew the risks.”

  He could feel her confusion and hurt, not to mention the objections bubbling inside her. “You’re going to the roof – for Mr. Hawk’s helicopter.” She skipped ahead of him and stopped, directly in his path.

  “Get out of my way!” he howled, knuckles itching with the need to shift and pound her.

  The small woman folded her arms and jutted her chin. Of all the times to grow a set of balls…

  “You’re running away.”

  “Yes, and if you had any sense,” – which he highly doubted, “you would too.”

  She blocked his way and tried to give him a hard look. It wasn’t enough to scare a particularly jumpy mouse, but that didn’t stop her.

  “No. Vargas needs help; we have to go… ugh!”

  Booker shot her. He didn’t have time for her inane whines, so he shot her. He couldn’t get over how surprised she looked. She honestly thought he was going to help her. She honestly thought he wouldn’t trample over her to get what he wanted. She honestly believed he would turn around and run to get help for Vargas. He actually kind of liked Vargas – the most affectionate statement he’d ever attributed to anyone including his mother – but not enough to risk his own freedom or his life.

  She stumbled back against the wall and slid to the ground, blood blossoming over her white shirt. Maybe if she got medical help, she would live, but he doubted she would. Huh, at least she finally stopped talking. She was just looking at him with huge, wet eyes.

  Wordlessly, he stepped past her body and went on his way.

  *

  “I’m a little teapot, short and stout…”

  The mammoth shifter had shifted back to his human form and regained consciousness. He was just drugged up to his eyeballs and singing inane songs. The penguin shifter cradled his head in her lap and smiled at him.

  “That’s lovely, but we really ought to be leaving.”

  Bernard grinned and lifted a hand to her face and sloppily tried to caress her cheek. He managed to swipe one of her eyes and stick a finger in a nostril, but she got the gist of what he was doing.

  On seeing him escape, the two rhinos manhandling her had been distracted, and her heart pounding out of her chest in fear for her mammoth, she grabbed one of their guns and shot them both. She probably should have kept her eyes open for that part. Her courage had a surge, but not enough of a surge to actually watch herself shooting people – she was still a shy, giant penguin at heart and always would be. Also, she had a feeling that you really weren’t supposed to shoot people in the groin, but it all worked out.

  The mercenaries who weren’t taken apart by the giant ape – literally taken apart – were soon picked off by her and the other freed shifters. Those who hadn’t already left were now leaving – and judging by the screams, those who had left were now terrorizing anyone else they found in the building.

  They needed to go as well. The last few weeks had been hell, but there was one bright spot. A huge, mammoth of a spot, and she sure as sugar wanted to spend a lot more time getting to know him from outside the confines of a cage.

  Sky let go of Bernard’s wrist. “His pulse is a little sluggish, but I guess it would be because of the tranqs. Keep in mind my medical expertise comes from a weekend course in first aid.”

  “All mine comes from watching El Hospital de Amor.” The number one Spanish soap opera in Serpens City.

  Sky looked up and bit her lip. “I need to find my boyfriend, are you going to be okay getting him out of here?”

  Georgie nodded. “Yes, and thank you.”

  “No need to thank me, just make sure you get out of here alive. No need for anyone to die today.” She paused. “Well, no one else.”

  Bernard growled as he tried to clamber to his feet. “Want to kill Booker. Fucking monster.”

  “He is a monster,” whispered Georgie, wrapping her arms around hi
s torso, partly to support him, and partly for her own comfort. “What he did to those who misbehaved… those screams will stay with me.”

  He leaned on Georgie and pressed his forehead against hers. “Want to kill every man who hurt you, no every man who even touched you.”

  “I can’t deny that I feel the same,” muttered Sky. “About Booker, I mean. Just get out and hopefully I’ll see you soon.”

  Sky gave them a small, forced smile and loped away.

  Georgie adjusted the huge male hanging off her body, immediately wishing she could have persuaded Sky to stay with them… and protect them. Her previous courage had already fled, and she was back to her usual uncertainty and cringing.

  “I love you,” whispered Bernard into her hair.

  Momentary shock gave way to pure joy, and her penguin flapped in happiness. Sure, he was a little drugged up, and he probably didn’t really know what he was saying, but she would take it.

  “I… I think I love you too.”

  That was it. That was all she needed. Her courage shot through the roof. They were sure as hell getting out of there alive and intact.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  The bear scented the blood and growled at Zane to hold. He considered shifting to his furry alter ego, but although he felt more protected in that state, and indeed he was a lot more terrifying, it was not without limitations - opening doors and aiming a gun chief among them.

  The blood tingled through his nostrils, causing not a wholly unwelcome predatory twinge from his bear. Blood – hunt – kill – eat. It was only natural. But then so was pooping in the woods. His bear groused at Zane every time he brought that up. Zane hushed him and told him to concentrate. At that moment, he had to be wary of everyone.

  Zane moved forward cautiously. Whoever was bleeding was probably bleeding to death, given the volume of blood. The coppery smell invaded all of his senses making him almost light headed. The bear pushed at him, but Zane gritted his teeth and held the beast back.