She closed her eyes and waited for the killing strike.
But it never came.
A whoosh of air preceded a quite hard nudge to the side, and her body went flailing. Her pissed-off grizzly shot right past her and attacked the guard with the red hair. One savage roar bellowed into the human’s face. Caleb’s sharp claws disemboweled the man with one swipe. One guard down. The team had better be in place because this was going down fast.
Her grizzly turned to her and gave a low whimpering growl before turning to advance on the next asshole. The bald guard who’d been laughing until thirty seconds ago.
How was it possible? Caleb was fighting the very thing which had made her into Bossman’s slave. She didn’t have time to process it now. They had to get out of here, save the rest of the shifters, and get those drugs out of Caleb’s system before he succumbed. What if he wasn’t hurting her because of his mating call? Would he fight Sam or Ida or any of the other good guys? She couldn’t take a chance. She had to get the antidote into him asap.
The bald guy was crying and begging for his mama as Caleb advanced on him.
She sprinted to the other side of the wall and closed her eyes as the horrifying sounds of a grizzly doing what it did best came from behind her. A shriek, a gurgle. Then a thump as a body hit the floor. “My name is Isabella Werner,” she whispered shakily. “You pissed off my mate. Prepare to die.”
Come on, get a grip, crazy woman, her wolf said in frustration.
Can’t help it, she giggled. I’m trying not to go into shock.
You’ve got to dart him before he goes too feral. We don’t know how long he can hold off from coming at us, her wolf said.
Two big things collided. And it wasn’t just her and the wall. She got her back against it and opened her eyes. Caleb was roaring and grappling with a much smaller, darker bear. The brown bear was half his size, but it wasn’t backing down and had placed itself firmly between Caleb and Isabella.
Isabella took in a deep breath through her nostrils. Black eyeliner, lipstick, and the residual scent of the special alloy used for piercings that would allow the shift from human to bear. And this bear was very close to going into heat. Sam. The goth chick best friend of Jane, and cousin to Caleb. The female who disliked her and had said not to trust Isabella from the get-go, was now giving her a much-needed distraction.
Isabella grabbed her bow and positioned herself in the farthest corner from him. Yeah, it cornered her even more—with a pissed-off grizzly bear—but she had only one shot at this. The special dart Ida had given her should counteract the effects of the chemicals in his system. But how long would it take?
She placed the dart over her thumb along the groove where a thinner arrow would have been positioned. Pulling her right arm back, she slowed her breathing and focused on her target. Ten feet of distance between them. It should have been a cakewalk, easy shot, pie, whatever. But if he moved the wrong way, she could hit Sam. And then they’d both die. This was her one chance.
Sam turned her brown snout to her and met her gaze. Isabella inclined her head to the left. Please let her understand. Caleb started to turn back to Isabella and her ready arrow, and fear spiked up her spine. Smack! The smaller bear had slapped him across the snout, diverting his attention back to her. He roared and raised his paw.
Isabella lined up her shot, one eye closed, the other focusing squarely on Sam’s head. The arrow would release straight into Sam’s right ear unless…
Isabella released the string from her right fingers and said a prayer as the dart slid across her thumb and straight toward Sam. At the same time, Sam backed up. Their grizzly stepped forward to deliver his killing blow, his right hand swinging down. The dart struck. Squarely in the left side of Caleb’s neck.
Pie, her wolf said, celebrating with a howl.
Not yet, she told her wolf and watched as the bear she had pierced took the dart out of his neck and examined it. He shattered the thing in his paw and roared at her before crashing through the wall and into the room next door.
Oh crap. There weren’t any more darts.
A gun went off, and Sam went down with a grunt. Two more guards entered the room.
“Kill both females, but cage the male!” Bossman shrieked from farther down the hall.
Uh oh.
Now can we please get furry? her wolf growled.
She ducked as the spray of bullets crashed over her head into the wall behind her. Isabella rolled behind the fallen counter, tearing off her shirt and jog bra. Another shot pinged off to her left. Let’s get wolfy.
Her wolf surged to the front, and her boots and pants fell to the floor as she leapt over the counter. Zip left, feint right. Bullets zinged past her, but they didn’t touch her. Isabella and her wolf, in tune with each other as the Goddess had intended. Her wolf scented the gunpowder and heard the click of each round as it was fired. Isabella’s human side watched the man’s eyes for the trajectory. They knew exactly how to stay out of the path of each bullet, and all it took was a bunch of really cool wolf parkour. Short leap here, roll there, duck here, soar through the air… She barreled into the man’s chest, knocking him onto the floor. His gun clicked madly at her muzzle. Empty chamber, a-hole. Yeah, she was good at counting still. One quick swipe across the man’s throat, and he was gone. She didn’t look at the blood or his eyes as the life seeped out of his body. She might be half animal, but it gave her no joy to kill another living being. She jumped away from the dead man and trotted over to Sam. The female shifted back into human form and slumped to the floor with a loud groan.
Isabella shifted back and helped Sam to her feet. “You okay?”
Sam winced as she rubbed at the bullet wound in her shoulder. “Fucking peachy. I’ll live. Let’s go get your mate and blow this shit-hole up.”
“He’s not my mate. At least, he doesn’t want to be my mate.”
“Yeah, right.” Sam rolled her eyes and grinned at her. “He goes all man-killing grizzly on everyone else except for a chick from a casual fling.”
“Let’s discuss this later when we’re both clothed and not bleeding.” Isabella shifted back into her wolf form and suppressed her laughter as Sam flipped her the bird and shifted into her bear. Bear paw one-finger salutes were not the same as in human form.
The sounds of guns firing, guards shouting, and animals attacking met them when they got into the hall. Isabella led the way. They needed to find Caleb, and her nose was telling her he’d gone to the right. Plus, the string of bodies lining the hall. She frowned as the stench of blood and urine met her nose more strongly. These were the times she hated being a royal. She would have nightmares from the smells alone.
As they followed the long hall, she knew exactly where Caleb would be. She led the way through the flickering lights, past empty rooms. Her original cell door was open, and the scents of her, Caleb and death wafted from it. She shuddered but continued through the doorway.
“Stop.” The agony in his voice froze her in place, head in the doorway, bushy tail in the hall.
She turned to Sam and inclined her head toward the end of the hall with a low whimper. The brown bear nodded and continued on her own in search of prisoners, leaving Izzy alone with the large, broken man.
Caleb had shifted back into human form—probably after killing the guard who lay in his own blood on the other side of the cell—and now sat naked and shattered on her old cot. The remorse in his eyes tore at her soul. He wrapped his beefy arms around his bare chest and shuddered and wheezed. She remembered the harsh moment when Ida’s herbs had kicked in, and her body had been wracked with more pain, and her mind reeled in confusion. What was reality, what was truth?
Shifting, she walked barefoot and naked into the cell.
“Stay away from me!” he roared. “I don’t want to hurt you!” His eyes flashed with his bear, but his tight, raised fists did not grow claws. His heavy arms and fists were in defensive—not attack—posture.
“You’re not going to hurt
me.”
“You…don’t know…for sure.” He winced and doubled up with coughs and dry heaves. He flailed his arms around as if to strike her away, but she continued forward. When the back of his hand brushed her shoulder, she still moved forward. His heavy fists could do some serious damage to her in human form, but her heart would not yield. It had a goal. Reaching Caleb.
The soft sounds built up from her chest, and she released them. A low hum built quickly into melody. Then words. Then chorus. She didn’t even know what she was singing; the notes came from her soul. Each melodious note, harmonized in her head by her wolf. The music, at first haunting and devastating, mourning the loss of their beloved. Then the glorious sounds came tumbling out, like a full orchestra amping up to deliver the defeat of the enemy, the glory of the win, the beauty of love soaring all around them. Her love for Caleb flowed into each note, pouring out of her as she desperately ached for him to listen. To truly hear her. To accept her love. True, honest, heartbreakingly beautiful love.
When she wrapped her arms around his body, he didn’t fight her. He collapsed into her embrace. And when his salty tears reached her nose, she cried with him. The words couldn’t come anymore, because of her hiccupped breaths and sobs. So she hummed. And he rumbled against her chest. No, he didn’t rumble. The low vibration from his chest and throat touched every part of his body as he engulfed her in his embrace. She hummed. He purred. All other sounds around them faded until the click of a gun cocking in the doorway shattered the silence.
~.~
Caleb squinted his bleary eyes and focused on the man. He held a walkie-talkie in his left hand, a cocked pistol in his right, and a rifle was slung over his shoulder.
“I’ve got them cornered in human form, sir. Orders?”
“Kill the female. Lock up the male. Then get your ass down to the loading dock. The helicopter is waiting out back. If you don’t make it, you’re on your own.”
“Yes, sir.”
Isabella tensed in his arms, and Caleb released a low growl in frustration. He couldn’t shift yet. The dart had shaken him back to his senses, but it had left him unable to reach his bear. Isabella was vulnerable standing between his legs, her whole body positioned for an easy shot. It didn’t matter if the soldier’s pistol and rifle were loaded with normal bullets. A shot to the head or heart would kill her instantly. And he couldn’t fucking shift to protect his mate. His mate. The rage built within him. He would die before he let this asshole try to hurt his mate.
The man’s gaze hardened. He dropped the walkie-talkie, and it clattered to the ground as he swung his rifle up to aim at the woman Caleb loved. Both weapons fired at the same time, and Caleb wrenched his mate around, so his body covered hers.
Bullet after bullet tore through his skin, and the sounds of Isabella’s shrieks filled the room. Her shrieks turned into howls as his body jerked and seized from all the bullets. Her wolf leapt into the air. Caleb fell onto his side on the bed and watched the wolf as it savagely tore into the guard. His screams, Caleb’s dull, achy breaths, his heartbeat thumping wildly, the wolf ripping into the other man, two loud gunshots, followed by a heavy body falling to the floor. Her growls hadn’t ceased, and she continued to rip into the already-dead man.
“That’s enough, Princess.”
She froze as if in shock at what she had done and released a high-pitched whimper. His sweet mate needed him now more than ever. Isabella needed him to calm her, stroke her, hold her. Tell her it was going to be okay. They could get out of there and be together forever. But they couldn’t be together forever. Look what he had already done to the poor woman. His sweet, young, innocent vegetarian who couldn’t even stand watching Bambi was turning into a bloodthirsty Femme Nikita who’d hate herself down the road. Caleb was the beast who had let her get brainwashed in this place. He had let her fall in love with him even after she said she didn’t want love. He’d tried to kill her in the medical facility a few minutes ago. And, now, she was covered in the blood of a fresh—human—kill. All his fault.
She stepped toward him with another shaky whimper, but he held up his hand.
“No. You saved my life and I appreciate it, but you need to go now. Get yourself and the other prisoners to safety.”
She took another step forward, eyes wide and frightened.
“Don’t you get it, Princess? We don’t belong together. We may be part animal, but no one wants to mate a monster.”
She gave him a quick growl and turned to stalk out the door.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”
She made it all the way out the door before her tail dropped, and she slinked the rest of the way out. Leaving him alone with a couple of dead guys, fallen weapons, and an aching heart that hurt a hell of a lot more than the dozen or so bullet wounds in his body.
He’d been talking about himself, but she thought he’d called her a monster.
You really are a monster. He stumbled to his feet and wrapped the bloody bed sheet around his waist.
He walked out the door and almost ran into Ida pushing a passed-out guy in a wheelchair. Must be some sort of shifter based on the scars and wounds on his body. But he didn’t have Isabella’s nose or ability. And he sure as hell couldn’t ask her now.
“Glad you’re okay.” Ida gave him a quick hug. “The leaders of this place took off in a helicopter. Sorry we couldn’t get to them, but we got all the prisoners. This place is ready to blow. Can you make it out on two feet?”
“Yeah. I’ll help push.” He wasn’t really helping push the chair as much as he was leaning on it, but it helped his pride. Why was it the females around him were all such badasses, and he was the one who could barely walk? Wuss.
“You’re riddled with bullet holes and remnants of bad drugs meant to mess up your system, cub.” Ida nudged his shoulder, and he held in the wince. “Try to cut yourself some slack until we get you patched up.”
They got the last prisoner loaded up into the dark SUV and made eye contact with everyone who had gone in as the rescue party. Sam and the feline friends of Stone were in a truck. Zach, Bo, Nissa, and Izzy—who sat with her arms around herself, staring straight ahead, not meeting his gaze—were in the Impala. Stone had a van full of rescued shifters. And he and Ida had the last of the prisoners. They tore out of the compound as the explosions went off. One after another, building upon each other until the whole place was nothing more than smoke and rubble. Thankfully, Stone had gotten all the hardware and software they could get off the systems. Unfortunately, Bossman—Roger?—was still out there. And so was the crazy doctor. But that was a battle for another day. For right now, all he wanted to do was sleep. And get the bullets out of him. Sleep first. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the passenger window while Ida drove. Bullets later. What else was he forgetting? Something about music.
Chapter Eleven
Caleb rolled over in bed with a loud groan. His body felt like it had been hit with a Mack truck. Maybe it had. Had he missed that during the drug and hypnotizing part at the facility? Step one, intravenous medication administered? Step two, crazy music. Step three, beat the shit out of the prisoner. Step four, run him over with five thousand pounds of steel and wheels? Maybe. He struggled to sit up, woozy and weak. His throat was parched and scratchy, like he hadn’t had a drink in days. His vision, blurry. Hell, this was worse than his first time shifting as a kid.
“You done lazing around?” The hard female voice laughed from the other side of the room, and he focused on his cousin.
“How long have I been out, kiddo?”
Sam scowled but got up and quickly grabbed a glass of water and handed it to him. “Here. Sip slowly. You’ve been sleeping for nineteen hours.”
He choked on the bitter liquid and swallowed. “What is this shit?”
She shrugged. “Mom said to give it to you as soon as you woke up.”
“So, no coffee?”
Her grin widened, and she pulled a thermos from behind her back a
nd handed it to him. “I snuck it in when she went out. She left an hour ago to check on a few other patients and said to give you that holistic herb, berry shit. But she didn’t say not to give you…”
Dark roast, hot and black, from the restaurant on the corner of Main street. “You remembered my favorite. Thanks.” The rich flavors slid down his throat, almost making the vile taste disappear. Almost. But it was worth it. “Next time, I pass out for a day, hook me up to an IV of this stuff, and I’ll be fine.” He meant it as a joke.
But Sam wasn’t laughing. Her shoulders tensed, and her brow furrowed as she pierced him with a glare. “We didn’t think you’d make it.”
He winced as a throbbing ache ran through his abdomen, but sat up further to assess her fully. The she-cub had aged gracefully. Most people would see only the harsh glare in her dark eyes, the flashes of emerald when she got angry, the piercings, the tattoos, the dark makeup lining her eyes and lips, the blunt haircut and bright colors in the jet-black-dyed hair. They’d see a punk or a thug or a chick with a death wish. But he saw a warrior, someone who valued life as much as she fought for it. Her heart-on-her-sleeve tank top, as it were. Sam’s eyes filled with sadness and compassion, loss, and something else. Guilt? What’d she have to feel guilty for? He’d been the one who’d almost gotten her killed—twice, now. “Come on. I’m a tough grizzly. I don’t die from gunshot wounds. Or drugs that make me act a little crazy.”
She shook her head, released a slow breath, and sat down heavily as if the past few days had zapped her energy as much as his. “It wasn’t only regular bullets. It was some funky-ass combo we’ve never seen before. Even after Mom got them out, your body wouldn’t heal. Bo had to call on his alpha strength from all our ancestors to force you to shift while you were out.”
Bearly Rescued_A Howls Romance Page 11