by Lia Davis
A bout of bad weather had delayed their first jump by a day, but the extra theory lessons had not been able to endear Eric to the idea.
This was going to be infinitely more difficult than anything they had been through so far, and that was by design, as Eric had learned from Janine's memories. This was perhaps the last chance for the team to truly fail, if they did not get their nerves under control.
As the cargo plane took off, Eric and Adam stared at one another. This was well outside their comfort zone. The New Alliance didn't have any budget for airplanes, and the brothers had not traveled much outside the country either. This meant that right now was the first time they were going to be in the air.
Bentley, of course, looked smug. Cooper didn't seem too fazed, and Blackwood was excited as usual. After weeks of physical dominance by the two bear shifters and Blackwood, perhaps now the tables were going to be turned.
The demonstration and theoretical training they had undergone leading up to this point had explained exactly what they were supposed to do. But theory was a lot easier than practice.
The military plane had no windows, so Eric had no idea how far off the ground they were already. This was probably for the best.
Eric's ears popped a couple of times before the plane seemed to stabilize. He instinctively checked the straps on his parachute harness. They had calculated things properly, right? He could hardly believe that this little contraption would be able to hold him once the time came.
It's going to be fine, he said to himself.
The door leading to the cockpit opened and Janine appeared. Eric noticed she was wearing the same harness and backpack combo as everyone else.
They were all going to jump? The realization sent his imagination into overdrive. What if something went terribly wrong?
"Listen carefully. In a minute, I will open the hatch and we will jump out one by one. You will keep an eye on your meters and engage the parachute by pulling the strap, just like I demonstrated earlier. If you fail to do so, or something goes wrong with the main parachute, the backup will engage automatically. Understood?" Janine said.
What if the backup fails?
But Eric didn't say that out loud. Instead, he merely nodded.
"Yes Ma'am." Blackwood all but cheered.
Bentley nodded curtly as well. Of course, he already knew everything as usual.
"Then, when your parachute opens, you will navigate to the large X on the ground. Callahan is already waiting on ground, and I will meet you there as well."
Adam folded his arms and tried to look tough, but Eric could see in his eyes that his brother was scared. As was he. But his ego didn't allow to show it in front of Janine especially. Of course, if she was listening in on his thoughts now, she already knew…
He rested his hand on Adam's shoulder and stared straight ahead.
Janine walked up to the hatch and opened the levers, which seemed to groan in protest. As soon as she finished, the outside noise became deafening. It was like a hurricane passing by.
Bentley jumped up. "I'll go first," he shouted.
Janine pursed her lips and smiled, then she gestured at him to sit back down. "You're the most experienced one here. You'll go last."
As soon as she finished her order, she adjusted the strap of her helmet and stepped up to the exit.
Don't do it! Eric's inner bear screamed. But she seemed oblivious to his protests—or perhaps she just ignored them—and took the jump a split second later.
He jumped up and followed. No way was he going to sit around here wondering whether she had made it down in one piece. That was not how he functioned.
"Oi!" Adam shouted behind him. He shrugged it off.
With his woman hurtling toward the ground below, it was every man for himself right now.
Plus, he wouldn't have a hope in hell of ever impressing her if he didn't step up and do the job. Eric paused for a moment at the door, but then threw himself headfirst into the noise. All or nothing.
The feeling of free-falling for what felt like an endless thirty seconds was unlike anything Eric had felt before. He closed his eyes for a bit to get used to the sensation, but that did not help. There was no getting used to it. It was alien, terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.
He pulled the cord exactly when he was supposed to; the chute deployed and caught him with almighty jerk.
This had to be something of a record. Never before had he heard of any bear shifter jumping out of an airplane before. And today, provided he didn't chicken out, there would be two. And a wolf.
He looked down and saw the X Janine had referred to, and a chute, presumably hers, navigating right toward it. Up above, a couple of figures appeared at lightning speed; the others, whose chutes had not opened yet. One by one, they seemed to stop in mid-air as their backpacks released the carefully folded up lengths of fabric. It was mesmerizing to look at. They floated so elegantly, navigating left and right to get the hang of how things worked.
It was magical and exciting. He felt invincible.
Then, Eric noticed one obvious odd one out. One team member whose flightpath had no elegance or control to it, and who seemed to just spin around his own axis again and again.
Adam!
Eric's heartbeat went into a frenzy as he watched his little brother falling just a bit faster than the others, despite his chute being out. Something had gone very, very wrong.
As Adam came closer and closer to his altitude, Eric could see the problem. He wasn't in human form anymore. Great big furry paws tried to hold on to the reins of the parachute, but were unable to operate them with the finesse required to steer properly.
That was when it happened to Eric as well. He felt the change overcome him so quickly he could do nothing to stop it. His protective instincts had disabled his conscious decision making processes. His brother, his flesh and blood, was in trouble, and his bear reacted.
He tried his best to get close to Adam, but it was no use. There was no way he would be able to help him like this.
Eric closed his eyes and forced himself with all he had to push the bear back into its cage. For Adam. Oh please, I can't let him down!
It worked, just about. He found himself somewhere in a half state that at least allowed him to get closer to his brother.
"You've got to focus, Adam!" he tried to shout, but it sounded more like a growl.
"It's not working! I'm going to crash!" Adam screamed.
"Trust me. Shift back."
"How?"
"Don't argue. Just do it!" Eric urged.
"I'm going too fast!"
"Pull both the cords at the same time," Eric said, remembering their briefing just before take-off.
Adam did so, clumsily, and sure enough, he slowed just a little bit.
Eric did his best to match his brother's speed, but he wasn't exactly an expert himself. Then, from the corner of his eye he spied Bentley, who started shouting instructions of his own. They could barely hear him over the sound of the passing air.
"Left!" Bentley seemed to say.
Adam turned his head, looking at the middle-aged human. "What?" he barked.
"Pull left!" Bentley repeated, louder this time.
Eric shook his head. "Shift back. You'll be able to do it if you shift back. Clear your mind."
It was Bentley's turn to look confused. The problem wasn't that Adam was unwilling to operate the chute properly, it was that he simply couldn't like this. It was hard to be delicate when you had paws the size of dinner plates.
"Clear your mind, dammit!" Eric shouted again.
Adam finally stopped flailing around and closed his eyes. The change was subtle at first, but when the fur started to vanish from his hands and arms, Eric could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Bloody hell, you were right, bro!" Adam shouted, when finally the chute reacted to his much more subtle inputs. "It's working!"
Eric exhaled sharply. He knew in his heart that a lot could still go wrong.
At least Adam was on the right track.
"Aim for the X," he said, and followed his own instructions.
It only took a few minutes for the bears to reach solid ground. They had landed surprisingly near the X, all things considered.
The major and private Callahan were already waiting.
That was too bloody close for comfort. Eric ran his hand through his hair and let out a nervous laugh.
Are you OK? Her voice, no, her presence, entered his mind, just like it had done up on the hill during the survival exercise.
Fine, but perhaps let's not do that again, he thought, then he diverted his attention back to Adam, who was still trembling, even though his feet were firmly planted on the ground now.
Eric scrutinized his brother's uniform, which was completely ruined and hanging off his now fully human body in tatters. That was when he noticed that Adam was looking back at him with an amused grin on his face.
"Made it. But I think we both need some new clothes."
Eric looked down only to find his own gear in much the same condition.
Then he looked up and saw that Callahan was stealing glances in his and Adam's direction. Awkward. Janine glanced up once before taking the clipboard from Callahan's outstretched hand and making a few notes. Had she taken a peek herself?
I'm so sorry, the same voice said.
He wasn't sure what she was sorry for, exactly, but at least he seemed to have gotten her attention again. His inner bear rejoiced at the thought of her checking him out, even if his human side still felt a bit embarrassed.
He hadn't shifted involuntarily like this in a very long time. In fact, not since that initial incident that had forced their family to move to East London when he had only just developed the ability to transform.
Perhaps now Janine would decide that she'd had enough time to think and let him get closer to her.
Chapter 11
That image.
No matter what Janine did or how much she tried to distract herself, that image of Eric post-shift was etched into her mind. What a sight he’d been. She'd sent him and his brother off to get changed, of course, as she waited for the rest of the team to land.
As it happened, she had done her best not to react openly; surely, the entire episode had been embarrassing enough as it was. Private Callahan had not been so subtle, though; as soon as the King brothers had made it to the ground and shifted back into their human form, her eyes had come close to popping out of her head.
They were beautiful men, so Janine could not blame her.
It had been a close call, though. Adam's jump had very nearly resulted in disaster.
When General Stone had ordered her to step up the training, she had never once considered that anything like this would happen. It occurred to her that there was a lot more to shifters that she didn't know anything about. She owed it to everyone on the team to find out.
Sadly, neither the military nor any other arm of the public sector had any guidance available on shifter behavior yet. Before they did anything else, she would have to devise some sort of training on these topics for Phase Three. Not just to educate herself and prevent any more accidents, but also to educate the human element of the team.
This was completely new to them all, but still she blamed herself for not realizing it sooner. As she'd watched the two men lose control in the air, one persistent thought had wormed its way into her mind and stuck there. What if I lose him?
Just thinking about the possibility hurt, like she would lose a part of herself in the process if anything happened to Eric. Not that that made any rational sense.
Then again, if anything happened to Eric's brother, or even anyone else on the team, she would never be able to forgive herself.
Perhaps in her feverish attempts to ignore Eric and maintain her professionalism, she had unfairly ignored the needs of the bear shifters. She had not allowed herself to be open to their concerns or understand the differences between them and the humans and endangered her recruits in the process.
No matter how confusing their exchange up on that hill during the survival training had been, she had to talk to him now. She had to involve the shifters more somehow, to prevent anything like this from happening again. Since Blackwood was too easygoing and Adam lacked relevant experience, Eric was the most logical choice to help her formulate a plan.
Could she trust him, though? She had felt him in her mind and gotten a feel for his intentions and his deepest desires. Her gut told her yes. Whether she could trust herself around him was a whole other matter, though.
Still, there had been no other incidents during their first jump, and even Adam and Eric had made it near enough the large X that she could tick this particular task off her training schedule. If anyone wanted a redo, that was up to them.
General Stone would not be pleased at these updates, but that was hardly her fault. Despite his best efforts, the team had made it through the most difficult parts of Phase Two and there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it.
Janine barely knew what to do with herself when Eric entered her office. She had asked Callahan to summon him, determined to get some kind of shifter awareness training underway, but now that he was actually here…
The tension, the buzz in the air that separated them, was too much to bear.
I almost lost you today, Janine thought.
Eric smiled subtly. Can't get rid of me that easily.
She sighed and shook her head. If someone had told her three weeks ago that she would meet a guy whom she could telepathically communicate with, she would have feared for their mental wellbeing. And yet here she was. And more to the point, here he was.
She had hoped to keep this discussion professional, but with him in her head, that was beyond hope. Although he'd always respected her rank when speaking out loud, this more intimate version of him was unapologetically informal. And it did not even occur to her to correct him on that. In fact, she kind of liked it.
"I called you in here because…" The longer she looked at him, the more she found herself lost for words.
Because?
Why is it easier speaking to you like this rather than out loud? Janine wondered.
Now, what had just been a little smile playing on his lips turned into a full-blown grin.
Because you can't fight it any longer.
Janine folded her arms. He was right. She no longer even wanted to fight her feelings. But it was all so weird, so new to her, and she was unsure how to handle the situation.
Why didn't you say something sooner? Janine demanded.
Eric took a step in her direction, causing her to tense up and hold her breath again.
Would you have believed me if I had?
No, perhaps not. Definitely not.
"So what do we do now?" Janine wondered aloud.
Eric walked up to her in long strides until he stood just beside her chair. As she looked up, she was inexplicably drawn toward him. Before she knew it, she was standing right in front of the broad man who towered over her. How tall he was. And how incredibly sexy.
You tell me, he growled.
Janine closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, even if his musky cologne threatened to overwhelm her senses. Business first. She could not allow herself to get sidetracked now.
"The parachute incident."
Images of the aftermath of the incident, which had resulted in the two men landing in a state of undress which left very little to the imagination, flooded her mind.
Oh, is that what we're calling it? Eric teased.
"You and your brother almost got hurt. I can't have stuff like that happening again," Janine said, opening her eyes again in an attempt to get rid of her visions of Eric's naked body.
Just like that night out in the wild, his eyes developed a warm but noticeable amber glow. Yet another weird shifter thing she knew nothing about. How much else was there to find out?
"If Alpha Squad is going to be of any use, we need to know mor
e about each other."
I'm all for learning more about you. Eric's eyes grew even more intense. It started to look like they were catching fire.
"I mean us humans. We need to know more about shifters. And vice versa."
Eric pressed his lips together, forcing his expression back to neutral and nodded. "Agreed."
God, having his voice in her head as well as hearing it out loud now fanned her desires even further. Let's get this over with, she thought.
"I want you to put together a training program for the rest of us to follow. Covering special abilities, strengths, weaknesses, traditions, whatever you can think of. This will be incorporated into Phase Three of training."
Eric nodded solemnly.
Thankfully, that was done. Then, without warning or sense, she felt herself tiptoe to get closer to Eric. Precisely at that time, he started to lean down and reach out for her face.
She closed her eyes and surrendered. To him. To her own desires.
Their lips connected and time seemed to stand still. It was the most beautiful thing. The firm grasp of his hand around the back of her neck paired with the almost careful, gentle dance their tongues started to perform. With every second that passed like this, their movements grew more deliberate and feverish. It was like this was only the first stage on a journey of pleasure and there was no stopping things before they escalated.
How she wanted this man. How she wished he would just take her across her desk and make her his.
Janine pulled back and shook her head. This was so unlike her. Allowing herself to be this vulnerable with a guy whom she arguably hardly knew. She'd had casual flings before; the army life basically meant that mostly there was no opportunity for anything more, but she'd never given up this much of herself before. Then again, this did not feel casual.
"Stop," she whispered.
Eric opened his eyes and let his hand slide down her shoulder before coming to a stop just above her elbow.
I can't do this. Not now. Not while we're still in training.
She studied his face for any sign of disappointment or anger, but there was none. He seemed relaxed. Though they did not glow anymore, his eyes were warm as they gazed down into hers.