Alpha Unit One, New York

by Chris T. Kat

  “Nicholas,” I tried again.

  “Don’t Nicholas me,” Nicky snapped. “I heard you the first time.”

  My lion didn’t like that kind of attitude at all, and it took me several deep breaths to calm down. When I felt marginally more in control of myself, I slipped one hand behind his neck, and with the other, I lifted his chin upward until he had to look at me.

  I trained my gaze on him, allowing my lion to come closer to the surface. A small gasp escaped Nicky, and his eyes grew impossibly large. Those damn blue eyes framed with thick lashes would be my undoing, I just knew it. Thankfully my lion was still pissed off, so I didn’t give in right away.

  Nicky swallowed, opened his mouth, and clicked it shut again. His hands fluttered along my arms and shoulders, and I narrowed my eyes at him. His eyes took on a wet sheen, and a horrified expression crossed his face.

  Oh fuck. I’m gonna cry if you keep this up!

  I raised my eyebrows at that. So?

  Please! Don’t make me cry in front of Burlows!

  Dammit all to hell! He sounded so plaintive and scared in my head that my annoyance evaporated. What if he had known about Connor before? Did I really think he’d come to me and tattle? I suppressed a snort and instead pulled him back against my body.

  Nicky pressed his head underneath my chin while his arms clamped around my waist. “I only found out about Connor yesterday, when he took me home because of the nausea. Then there was Jesse going feral, and then we mated, and… and I really didn’t think about it. Not much anyway.”

  He was right. When had there been time to tell me? So much had happened in only a couple of days.

  “And you think we believe that?” Burlows asked, sneering.

  I glanced at him over Nicky’s head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh, come on, Black. I don’t believe for one second that he”—he pointed at Nicky with barely concealed rage—“filled out the forms correctly when he started with us. There’s no evidence of him admitting what he is anywhere before he came to us. I don’t know how he tricked you into keeping him, but of course he’s covering for Dulane.”

  I let go of Nicky, who stood there in the middle of the room, bare-chested and totally dumbstruck, while Burlows glared at him. How dare he treat my mate like this?

  “The team decided to keep his nature under wraps so he’d have time to prove himself.”

  Burlows laughed and clapped a meaty hand on my shoulder. If he didn’t take it away within a second, he’d be without it permanently. Fortunately, he pulled back his hand. “I get it. You mated only yesterday, and you’ve been subjected to the XP-27 and you think you need to protect him. That’s only natural given his shifter status. But he withheld what he is, and there’s no way I’m allowing baby shifters to stay on the team.”

  In the background Annie growled, still in her tiger form. From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Jake hanging on to her ruff, trying to keep her in place. Not that it helped much—she’d simply drag him behind her.

  “Is that so?” I asked, ignoring the fast thumping of Nicky’s heartbeat. It was such a distracting sound, dammit!

  “Of course.”

  “I see. Well, then, I’m leaving the team. I’ve had offers from other Alpha Units. I think Philadelphia wants to build up a completely new one.” Satisfaction coursed through me when Burlows’s bluster gave way to surprise. “Oh, and if you ever talk that way about my mate again, I might have to hurt you. Which is absolutely my right since you’ve spoken badly of my baby shifter mate.”

  “You’re bluffing. Another unit might take you, but not him.” He pointed at Nicky, who was trembling.

  “Why can’t you see me as anything other than a shifter whose form is small? Why can’t I keep doing my job? Why do you all have to be so prejudiced that you can’t see beyond your fucking preconceptions?” Nicky asked, his voice only shaking slightly.

  Jake piped up from behind me. “Annie and I are leaving the team as well, which means your Alpha Unit One is dead.”

  Burlows’s face reddened as I held out my hand for Nicky. He grasped it and interlinked our hands, gratitude flowing into me through our bonding link. Before Burlows had a chance to answer, the door to the exam room flew open, revealing Jesse in his sleek black jaguar form, carrying a small white bundle in his mouth.

  “Connor?” I asked.

  Jesse placed Connor in front of him and swiped his tongue over the small white fox’s head. Connor let out a sigh, causing some people in the room to laugh. Within seconds, Jesse and Connor shifted into their human forms. Both looked rumpled and tired, and Connor immediately steadied Jesse by holding him around his waist.

  “We heard the commotion. Actually, I think the whole floor heard Burlows.” He gave me a nod. “If it’s all the same to you, Connor and I will come with you and the others.”

  Connor frowned at him and started to speak. Jesse hushed him by laying a finger on his mouth. Jesse shrugged and smiled, then addressed Burlows, “Then again… I think I’d rather stay here in New York, where the rest of the family is. Oh, did I mention that I called my father, Senator Riker? He’s on his way over with some journalists to keep everyone posted on his son having mated.” He pressed a kiss on Connor’s forehead while Connor stared at him, speechless. “Ah, right. He’s also going to inform everyone that New York’s Alpha Unit One took on two baby shifters successfully.”

  The room fell quiet until Shelly broke the silence with a bellow of joy. Others soon joined her. I drew an aghast-looking Nicky back into my embrace.

  “Didn’t you know that about Jesse?”

  “No. Do you… do you really think we’ll be able to stay here as a team?” Nicky asked.

  Burlows pounded out of the room, his facial expression set in stone. Jesse had obviously overheard Nicky’s question and answered him. “Of course we will. This is my dad we’re talking about here.”

  “I thought you fought with him regularly,” Connor threw in.

  “Doesn’t mean he doesn’t love me and won’t do whatever I ask of him.”

  “God, you’re such an arrogant ass, it’s unbelievable,” Connor muttered with an eye roll.

  Jesse smiled, smugness dripping off him. “Yeah, and you’ll have to deal with it forever!”

  Connor stared at him, clearly puzzled how to reply, then shook himself. “Yeah, I guess. Besides, you’ve got some very good characteristics. Deeply hidden behind all that stupid arrogance, but still.”

  Annie finally managed to shift. Jake threw himself at her, and without a blink, she encompassed him in a crushing hug. After imprinting a deep kiss on him, she asked, “What good characteristics are we speaking of?”

  Jesse flipped her off, and she reciprocated by sticking out her tongue at him. Connor sighed. “He doesn’t give a flying fuck that I’m a baby shifter.”

  Nicky snuggled up against my side. “And you were so worried about it.”

  “So were you,” Connor shot back.

  “Stupid cubs,” Annie said, then added, “Didn’t someone say something about a private room? Is there a chance to get some food? I’m starving, and since I’m eating for more than one now….”

  Jesse and Connor almost fell over each other to get to her and congratulate her and Jake.

  Nicky gazed up at me. “How can she be so sure?”

  “It’s Annie,” I replied. That was the best explanation I was able to come up with.

  Nicky’s chuckle reverberated through my chest, and I joined him, stroking a hand over his silky hair. My mate. For the first time it really sank in that I’d found my mate.

  Epilogue

  Nicky

  THE THREE months after my mating with Sam passed like a whirlwind. Burlows bowed to the public’s euphoria about changing laws regarding small shifters and baby shifters and kept our unit intact. Our unit was now the figurehead of change in shifter society. Not that it was smooth sailing—far from it.

  The EFSS was still on the loose, claimin
g small shifters remained repressed. They’d taken to targeting businesses that stood openly against hiring small or baby shifters. They didn’t realize most of the public hated them for that.

  The ones we’d caught when they targeted Alpha Unit Two either remained silent or spewed as much weird nonsense as they could. Two of them, obviously the leaders of that particular operation, had been freed by fellow members during their ride from the prison to the courtroom and were nowhere to be found.

  As much as I wanted it to be, life didn’t suddenly become rainbows and kittens. At least not at work. Connor and I endured our share of incredulous looks and sneers from coworkers. Our human colleagues didn’t give a shit about our shifter status, but some of the big cat shifters especially regarded us with barely concealed disgust. Only after Sam and Jesse took a couple of them to task about their attitude did the comments begin to dwindle.

  At least Burlows had come around after a few days. He tried to make up for his behavior by punishing those who harassed Connor and me. What I didn’t know until later was that Burlows’s youngest daughter was a cougar cub shifter, and she’d ripped into him. He still hated that Connor and I went out with the rest of the team because it went against everything he’d learned and lived by, but he’d accepted that Sam and Jesse wanted us with them.

  “What are you thinking about so hard?” Sam asked from across our shared desk.

  “How things have changed around here. After the episode in the hospital, I thought we’d made an enemy in Superintendent Burlows,” I replied.

  “He’s a big softie,” Annie chimed in.

  “Not soft enough to allow you back on the streets,” Jake muttered under his breath.

  “I heard that.” She narrowed her eyes at her mate. “It’s beyond me why I can’t go on the streets just because I’m pregnant. I’m not even showing yet.”

  Jake rubbed his hands over his eyes, sighing. “Seriously? You can’t understand or you don’t want to? Because if it was me who was pregnant, you’d be all over me for even doing paperwork.”

  Annie pushed a stack of papers with a pen, grimacing. “I hate paperwork, and these cubs will take months until they’ll see the light of day. I’m bored to death.”

  “I’m sure the cubs will keep you occupied when they’re here,” Jake replied, his eyes twinkling. “Until they are, I’ll do my best to rescue you from boredom.”

  Jesse pretended to gag while the rest of us groaned. “Please leave the lovey-dovey stuff at home. It’s disgusting.”

  “Not as disgusting as seeing you slobber all over Connor whenever he’s in reach,” Annie shot back. “Where the hell is your better half anyway?”

  “Better half?” Jesse echoed.

  “Sure. Less arrogant and infinitely cuter when in his kit form.” Annie raised her gaze at me speculatively.

  I hurriedly turned my back to her. Sam’s lips twitched into a smile as we locked gazes.

  Worried, baby?

  Oh come on! You know what’s going to happen when she gets that look! Please rescue me! Give me something to do. Preferably something that’ll drag me out of the office, I pleaded.

  No one’s leaving the office until Julie’s gotten here. That goes for you as well.

  She’s going to make me shift!

  Sam’s laughter echoed in my head, and warmth enveloped me from the inside out. I huffed and flipped Sam off. Ever since Annie was pregnant and knew Connor and I were baby shifters, she demanded we shift periodically so she could indulge in playing with us.

  It wasn’t that I disliked the idea of playing with her, because she honestly played, whereas Sam allowed me to climb all over him, pull at whatever I could reach, and so on, but he was more of a cuddler. Still, it felt odd for her to exude those… those motherly hormones, which I always reacted to.

  The door opened and pulled me out of my musings. Connor held it for Julie, who hobbled into the room on crutches. She smiled at us, and all of us cheered.

  After lots of hugging, she leaned her crutches against her desk and sat down in her chair. She patted it lovingly and said, “God, I missed this.”

  “What? The chair or our wonderful company?” Connor asked.

  Julie laughed. “Both, actually. I wish I could go out with you right away, but the doc said paperwork duty is all he’s clearing me for the next few months.”

  “Oh, a fellow sufferer. Hallelujah!” Annie lightly bumped her fist against Julie’s shoulder.

  “When are those two new gals starting?” Roland perched on Julie’s desk, and it didn’t elude me that she rested her hand on his knee. Neither of them had volunteered any information, but it was obvious they’d grown closer during Julie’s convalescence.

  “Tomorrow,” Sam replied. “It’s still tomorrow, like I’ve told you lot for the last month or so. Don’t give them a hard time, okay? They’re only on the team until Julie and Annie go back to active duty.”

  “They better not get handsy with Jake,” Annie growled.

  “Even though I’m flattered that you still believe every woman on earth is after me, I’d like to remind you that is not the case.” Jake stood next to Annie, one arm draped around her waist.

  “What about the cashier in the supermarket yesterday?” Annie turned Jake around so they were facing each other. “Or Burlows’s new secretary? Or—”

  Jake stopped her by kissing Annie soundly on the mouth, eliciting cat whistles from all of us. Typically, Jake retaliated by giving us the bird behind his back, not once stopping his kisses.

  “You’re all crazy,” Sam muttered as he strode back to his desk.

  “Since there’s nothing pressing for us to do right now and we’re overdue for a coffee break, how about we do that?” Jesse chimed in.

  “No!” Connor and I shrieked simultaneously. Coffee break nowadays didn’t include any coffee at all. It only meant everyone capable of shifting would, and then everyone would congregate at one point in the room and become one big pile of cuddling bodies.

  “Ah, wonderful! That was a resounding yes.” Jesse caught Connor by the loops of his jeans and pulled him against his chest. “Shift. Now.”

  Both of them shifted at the same time, leaving behind Jesse’s black jaguar and Connor’s fluffy white fox kit. Connor gave a sort of bark before he swished his tail over Jesse’s nose.

  Tiny rose up with interest within me. Connor’s tail always enticed me into chasing him.

  Roland helped Julie onto the floor, but only after placing a pillow on it for her to sit on. She glanced at all of us with raised eyebrows. Roland shrugged and said, “Just go with it.”

  He shifted as well, and rested his big furry head on Julie’s lap. Immediately, she stroked along his back and relaxed, leaning against the wall behind her. Annie and Jake followed suit, although Jake lay with his head pillowed on Annie’s chest. She draped her forepaws loosely around him, purring.

  Jesse shoved at Annie to make more room, then gave up with a disgruntled yowl. He curled himself up with Connor resting between his forepaws.

  “Shall we go over to that pile of idiots?” Sam asked.

  “Hey, we heard that!” Jake said.

  “You don’t want to tell me this”—Sam indicated the rest of our team—“is normal?”

  “Normal’s overrated anyway. Come on, old man,” I teased.

  I shifted, intent on hiding somewhere, but Sam was faster than me. A big paw landed on my back, immobilizing me.

  Feeling cheeky today, huh? Sam asked.

  Ah, no. Not particularly.

  Really? You could’ve fooled me. Sam didn’t wait any longer and closed his muzzle around my neck to carry me over to our team. My mewls of protest fell on deaf ears, though. Okay, they were mostly for show. Sometimes indulging in feeling safe and loved was more important than saving face.

  Sam dropped me onto the floor, circled twice, then reclined. I launched myself against his mane and made myself comfortable. After a moment, I said, You know what would make this moment perfect?
<
br />   What?

  A whole gallon of milk. Just for me.

  Sam snorted before he turned me onto my back and started bathing me with his tongue. My eyes rolled back, and the purrs rolled out from me.

  Sam?

  Hm?

  Changed my mind. This is perfect like it is.

  And it was. Surrounded by friends and my mate, life couldn’t get any better.

  More from Chris T. Kat

  Alliances: Book One

  Spunky commander Berit Turner is known for two things: his huge libido and his lack of a filter—he says what he thinks. Berit sets his mind on being part of a mission to Ligador to make sure the planet is habitable for humans. He’s ecstatic when his team is assigned to the task force. A delegation of Nadisc, a humanoid alien race, accompanies them, and passion ignites between Berit and their commanding officer, Tom. But Berit is determined that Tom is just another notch on his bedpost, as he doesn’t do relationships.

  The excursion to Ligador goes wrong from the beginning, when they discover Ligador has been established as a breeding station by their worst enemy: the Tash’Ba. Dinosaur-like creatures become the team’s worst nightmare, and staying alive is going to take everything they’ve got… and then some.

  In a future where man’s ability to reproduce is severely compromised, humanity has adapted to survive. Breeders—male and female—have become precious commodities, and they are strictly guarded and subject to limitations.

  Luca Walker is a breeder. Though he knows what’s expected of him as the youngest son of the Northern Confederacy’s Vice President, he’s held out against the pressures of an arranged marriage because he longs to marry for love, not duty. But he’s been promised to Colonel Liam Smith and there’s little he can do about it, no matter that Luca is secretly in love with his bodyguard, Marcus Gray.

  When Luca finds himself pregnant with Marcus’s baby, Smith is furious and vows to take what is his—by force, if necessary. Now Luca must fight for his life and the life of his unborn child… as well as the love of Marcus and the happily ever after he’s always dreamed of.