The Bear And The Unicorn (Supernatural Enforcers Agency 6)

by E A Price

They had to find Sky. She was all that mattered. If the cages were unlocked and all the others shifters were free, so was she – which meant she was somewhere in the building in desperate need of his rescue. Or at least, that’s what he imagined. A logical part of him said that Sky was actually quite a practical woman when it came down to things, sometimes a little too fearless and blasé about her own safety but practical nonetheless. She wouldn’t be dumb enough to put herself in trouble… unless she was doing something mad like trying to protect someone else. Yes, she seemed like the type to try and save others. No, he willed Sky, be selfish. Think of yourself. Put yourself before others!

  Zane snarled as the huge jaguar almost ran into him. His claws flicked out, and Zane readied himself to fight. How the fuck was that guy running around? When Zane left him, he was half crushed and muttering something about raspberries. Or possibly blueberries – something berry related anyway.

  “Out of my way!” howled the jaguar, eyes flashing menacingly.

  “Fuck you!”

  Zane waited for the jaguar to pounce but after a few beats, he realized it wasn’t happening. His bear scented the jaguar’s agitation. Zane took a moment to actually ignore the red haze and look at the male. The jaguar did look like he’d gone ten rounds with a bulldozer, but he wasn’t bleeding. Not much anyway.

  No, the overpowering stench of blood and impending death belonged to the small female he cradled in his arms – the nerdy little female from the control room. She was so small; she was practically swallowed by his overprotective arms.

  “She doesn’t have long,” said Zane carefully.

  The cat bared his teeth. “Neither do you. You want to get the guy in charge of this, or you want to waste time fighting me?”

  “Christian Hawk?” snorted Zane. “I doubt he’ll make it far.”

  “That dumb prick was just a front. Booker was the one in charge. You want him; you better hurry. He’s on his way to the roof, and he’ll be flying away any minute. Once he’s gone, you won’t find him again.”

  Zane scowled at the jaguar as a few seconds ticked by. He really didn’t want to let him go, but Zane sensed he was telling the truth.

  The female let out a mewl of pain, and the jaguar stiffened even more – if that was even possible. The man was already like a plank of wood.

  Against his bear’s yowls of complaints, Zane stepped aside.

  “You won’t get far,” he grumbled. “The SEA will catch up to you.”

  The jaguar curled his lip but didn’t say anything – not to Zane at least.

  “Just hold on, babe,” he whispered to the bundle in his arms.

  He ran down the corridor, not looking back.

  *

  “Hold it right there, asshole!” rumbled Zane.

  The dark, scarred man turned back to look at him with a quizzical expression. Huh, gorilla shifter. He was shorter than Zane but wider. While the other mercenaries looked tough, this guy looked like he’d been hand carved from marble.

  A helicopter waited just twenty feet away from him, and Zane was very aware of the fact that he couldn’t let this guy get on it. Not happening bellowed his restless bear. If this really was Booker – and given the hard set of his mouth in spite of the gun Zane trained on him, he guessed it was – then he had a lot to answer for. First and foremost, the kidnapping and manhandling of his unicorn!

  “You talking to me?” drawled the gorilla.

  “You Booker?”

  No answer.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. Down on the ground, hands behind your head.”

  Booker gave him a long, appraising look, taking in his cuts and bruises, the fact that he was leaning heavily on his left side and that he was only carrying a tranq gun.

  Finally, he shrugged. “Go ahead. Shoot.”

  “Down on the ground!”

  “I said shoot. I’ve been tranqed so many times it takes a lot to put me out. I’ll take the risk. I figure I only got about a minute before I need to be on that chopper. You better make your move because I’m not backing down, and you, bear, you ain’t in any fit state to take me down.”

  His bear bristled at the challenge. “Wanna bet, fuckwad?”

  The gorilla was way too confident, and a second later Zane realized why. Booker’s eyes flicked to something behind him and the bear howled, jerking his body, narrowly avoiding the two bullets from hitting any major organ, but they did hit him, and they damn well hurt. He yowled in pain, spinning and firing tranqs into the offending wolf shifter holding the gun. The male crumpled to the ground.

  Red-hot pain seared him and Zane stumbled, falling to his knees. Gunshot wounds were healable for shifters – but they fucking hurt!

  His bear thundered at him to move, to shift, to do anything as he heard the barely there footsteps of Booker approach.

  Fight him. Kill him. Rip him to shreds urged the bear. Teach him a damn lesson for ever daring to touch Sky!

  Yes, he had to.

  Zane turned just as a boot hit him square in the nose. It was followed by a fist, another fist, and another boot. He fell on his ass, panting, in pain and with the unfamiliar feeling that he might not be able to defeat his opponent. His bear barked at him to get up, to do something.

  Booker leered down at him, enjoying himself immensely. Zane thought of all the ways he wanted to wipe that look off his face when his bear startled. A tingle of warmth, a sweet scent invaded his senses.

  No! What the hell was she doing here? She was in danger; she had to run – Booker would kill her!

  Zane opened his mouth to yell at her as he heard the soft cantering footfalls of her beautiful beast. Booker didn’t even notice she was coming until it was too late. Zane’s mouth gaped in surprise as one second Booker looked down at him with murderous intent and the next he had a unicorn horn through his chest.

  Yep, she fucking impaled him with her horn!

  Booker’s eyes widened for a second – more shocked than if aliens had landed. He looked down at Zane, who stared back in equal surprise, and then he burbled something unintelligible before blacking out.

  The unicorn tossed him away and let out a supremely triumphant neigh.

  Zane fell back on the ground, still gawping like an idiot as she swiftly shifted back to her human form. She’d never looked more beautiful and thankfully wasn’t marred by injury. His bear finally relaxed a little. She was safe; she was whole – that was all that mattered.

  Sky took a moment to check on Booker before she flitted to Zane’s side and anxiously peered at his wounds.

  “Zane,” she murmured helplessly.

  He grunted. “I’ll heal. What about him?” Zane nodded at Booker.

  “Dead,” she said as her hands caressed his chest. “I killed him.” Her eyes darted uncertainly.

  Zane took one of her hands and brought it to his lips, kissing the palm. “You saved me.” He paused. “Yeah, you saved me. I don’t like that; I’m supposed to save you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Not even a thank you from my damsel in distress?”

  He was cut off from his irritated response by someone shouting over them.

  “Hey, does anyone even want this chopper?”

  They looked up to see the helicopter pilot yelling at them, apparently oblivious to everything that just happened. Sure could have used his help a few minutes thought Zane sourly.

  “Just stay where you are and shut up,” Zane shouted.

  The guy crossed his arms and muttered something about time wasters.

  “We need to get you to a hospital,” said Sky, biting her lip.

  “Hey, baby, I lo…”

  Sky slapped her hand over his mouth. “Don’t you dare!”

  He frowned at her, and she gave him a remorseless look.

  “Nuh-uh, mister. If I’m not allowed to say it yet, neither are you. Not until later when my mouth is on your cock, and you’re screaming my name.”

  His eyes widened for a second before he burst into laughter, then clutched at his s
ides. “Don’t make me laugh – it might actually kill me.”

  “But I do, you know – feel that way about you. I’m not telling you because I think we’re not getting out of here alive. I’m telling you because I want to and because I want to tell you it every day. I love how gruff and bossy you are. I love the fact that in spite of the fact that you hate them, you’re willing to try the things I like.”

  “Loathe them with a passion more like,” he interjected.

  “I love that you want to protect me. I love the way you always keep your temper around me.”

  Zane opened his mouth to object, and she hushed him with a gentle kiss.

  “You do. You never yell at me for anything. You get mad about other things, but you’re never really mad at me.”

  “You never do anything to make me mad… okay, well, that’s not entirely true.”

  Sky smiled and softly stroked his cheek. “I love you.”

  “Damnit, I love you too,” he grumbled.

  Zane pulled her into his arms, or more like toppled her on top of him while fighting back tears at how much pain that action caused him. It’s fine – he could later say they were tears of happiness. He might have to scratch himself more often and yell things a lot more at football games to prove his manliness, but it would be fine.

  And of course, that was the moment the SEA decided to show up to rescue them. They burst onto the roof, guns blazing and shouting at everyone to hold still. Given that nobody was moving, the continued shouts were completely redundant. If Zane weren’t so woozy from his wounds and blissed out by Sky’s declaration of love, he would have yelled something to that effect.

  Then Juliet – in the arms of the sabre-tooth tiger – turned up demanding to know what was going on.

  Then the mammoth, heavily supported by the penguin shifter showed up – as if the party wasn’t already complete.

  Zane lay back on the ground, chuckling and clutching his mate to his chest. He had her. She was safe. That was all that mattered. In spite of everything, it was a perfect, peaceful moment and one that he would treasure forever.

  Mine.

  “Hey Zane, you dead?”

  The annoying voice of Wayne cut through the haze. Followed by a metal-capped boot prodding his shoulder.

  “Oh man, are those tears?”

  Grrr.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “Hey!” Sky waved at Mercy as she swished into Zane’s office.

  The dove shifter smiled, her cheeks dimpling in a way that would make other women weep. If Sky weren't so sure of Mercy’s disdain for Zane – you know, as a man – she’d actually feel jealous at the two of them working together. Thankfully, Mercy was pretty disdainful of all men.

  Business was, well, not exactly booming, nor brisk, but it was comfortable. Zane wasn’t given any credit for bringing down the shifter trafficking ring. No, the bigwigs at the Council of Supernaturals – complete dicks – gave the SEA all the credit while carefully omitting some details – like how a lot of their friends had been there trying to purchase animals. But through the shifter grapevine – a source of gossip that Gossip Girl would envy – people generally knew about Zane’s involvement.

  If not hot stuff, Zane was extremely warm. Sky agreed, and her unicorn agreed – the fresh bonding mark on her neck agreed too. It was still pink and hurt like hell, but she was pleased with seeing his mark every time she looked in the mirror. Of course, not nearly as pleased as Zane. He was walking around like king of the freaking universe. Like he was the first guy who ever put a bonding mark on a girl.

  Her own people’s bonding customs were a little more complex. Predator shifters tended to bite and say ‘ha, that’s it, your mine’ – primal beasts. Non-predators came up with their own rituals that usually involved full moons and running naked somewhere. They were going to perform her rituals to bond as soon as the lunar cycle allowed.

  The bullets Zane took slowed him down slightly, but not for long. Not if their lovemaking was anything to go by. He was possibly the world’s worst patient, picking at his bandages, refusing to take painkillers and insisting she hop up on him for a ride – that invitation was usually met with a raised eyebrow but an inevitable capitulation in the end. What? He wasn’t the only one who was horny!

  Sky entered the office, frowning on finding the desk empty. The door slammed behind her, and two thick arms encircled her frame.

  “Missed you, mate,” Zane mumbled.

  Her unicorn fluttered. “Mmmm, me too.”

  His hands traveled down her stomach and dipped into her yoga pants. He growled on finding her wet with arousal.

  “Told you I missed you,” she cooed, twisting her neck to nip his chin. “How was your meet-ah!”

  His thumb found her clit and took no time at all to start strumming her, playing her like a musical instrument. Damn the man was a virtuoso.

  “Huh? What was that?” he asked, amusement in his voice. Like he didn’t know what he was doing to her – bastard. “A meeting?”

  Sky clutched at the incoherent thoughts rattling around her brain as her body turned to putty in his incredible talented hands.

  “You… ah… the… don’t tease me!” she wailed.

  “No, no teasing.”

  Zane spun her to face the wall; she braced her hands against it as he pulled her pants down.

  “Mercy?” she quavered as his hands massaged her buttocks.

  “Nope, not showing you any mercy.”

  “No! Mercy!” The last word came out as a moan as his tongue dipped inside her already drenched channel.

  Zane pulled out and replaced his tongue with his finger. His other hand moved back to torturing/pleasuring her nub.

  “Ah, she had strict instructions to get the hell out as soon as you arrived.”

  “Oooh!”

  He added another finger, twirling inside her, stroking her inner walls.

  “So about my meeting?” He couldn’t hide the glee in his voice.

  “Huh?”

  She pressed her hands flat, trying to hold her body still but failing miserably as she swayed against his questing fingers. He circled, flicked and pinched her clit as his other fingers curled inside her, caressing her flesh.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked devilishly. “Thought you wanted to know. Have you forgotten about it already?”

  “Can barely remember my name,” she whispered. Her unicorn had already given up on trying to concentrate on anything and was cantering around like a foal.

  “Can’t have that, can we?”

  Her sex flooded as he added another finger, ramping up his movements, pushing inside her with only the need to make her come, to give her pleasure.

  Smug bastard, she amended. My smug bastard. Mine.

  He gave her everything with no expectation of anything in return. He fought for her; he protected her, and he loved her. Knowing that was more erotic than anything in the world, and she screamed as her body ignited around his fingers, exploding in climax. Her body tingled, flushing as heat spread throughout her, and her juices coated his fingers.

  Sky didn’t even need the bond to sense his self-satisfaction. He told her a couple of days ago that there was no greater feeling of accomplishment than watching her come. He acted like giving her an orgasm was some kind of great achievement – honestly it wasn’t. Sometimes he barely had to look at her, and she was nearly there. But hey, it made him happy, and she was getting thoroughly pleasured on an alarmingly regular basis – she sure as sugar wasn’t going to complain!

  Zane removed his fingers and pressed his mouth to her slit, catching her honey, lapping at it, groaning as if it was ambrosia.

  Sky leaned her forehead against the wall and closed her eyes. “You’re a bad bear,” she purred. “Doing that to me in front of your fish.”

  He chuckled and pinched one of her cheeks. “Only excitement they get,” he said, his voice muffled against her, his tongue lazily doing magical things to her body.

  She opened he
r eyes and gazed as Nemo One, Nemo Two, in fact, all the Nemos up to Nemo Eight swam around their tank nonplussed.

  Zane scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to his desk – already completely devoid of any objects. The framed picture of her, the fake pile of documents he kept around to make himself look important, five partially chewed pens and the snow globe from a previous client were all gone. He’d planned to get her over his desk. Sneaky, sexy bear cooed her unicorn approvingly.

  He pulled her flip-flops and yoga pants off completely, carelessly tossing them away.

  “Juliet offered me my job back.”

  Sky snapped her eyes open, pulling herself out of her post-orgasmic daze. “Really? Well, that’s wonderful. That’s what you wanted.”

  Zane sat in his chair and pulled her into a sitting position on the desk, her sex lewdly on display for him. He took a moment to leer before pulling her shirt and bra off.

  “I turned it down,” he said unconcernedly.

  “Why? I thought that was why you opened your detective business in the first place.”

  His hands cupped her breasts, pinching her nipples, much more interested in them than the actual conversation.

  “Yeah, the thing about working for the SEA is that the hours are long, you don’t get to choose your cases, and you have to pretend to listen to your bosses and do what they say.”

  “Yes, I hate pretending,” she whimpered.

  Zane scooted his chair closer to the desk, pulling her ass closer to the edge. Sky gasped as his mouth closed around one of her breasts. He suckled on her orb for a moment before releasing it.

  “Don’t get me wrong, working for myself involves long hours, but I get to choose which ones. Plus, don’t you like it when I take you on stakeouts?”

  “I do,” she admitted breathily. Honestly, they were some of their most enjoyable dates – mostly because he was at his most relaxed when he was working. Not that he ever relaxed much. He lived his life as a coiled spring, but working seemed to help. Almost as much as paintball – which they very much enjoyed doing together. They were an unstoppable team. They’d already been banned from two paintballing places for making the kids cry. Hey, someone had to lose!