There was a minigun mounted on its belly, and it whirred as it rotated toward Asher. He shifted back to bear form for maximum speed and rushed away, searching for cover.
The shots never came, but by the time he realized Andrei had no intention of shooting him, the helicopter was too high up to hit.
He looked up in bear form at the copter, and when he turned back, he saw Violet, right in his face.
He shifted back.
“So,” she said. “When were you planning on telling me that you can turn into a bear?”
***
“That was a shitstorm!” Metin said. “A total fucking shitstorm!”
The squad members hung their heads in silence.
Violet and the other hostages were being checked out for wounds and signs of trauma. He was at the debrief simply to turn in his weapons and call it quits with SHIFT. Violet was safe, and Andrei was not his problem.
“You let the chopper get away,” Alex said.
“And you didn’t shift,” Asher said. “What the fuck good is a snake for if not to pin down a guy with superhuman strength? Why did you just have your gun out like it was your dick in your hand?”
Alex snarled at him. Since when did snakes snarl?
“You let him go,” Metin said. “Not Alex.”
“One of Andrei’s guys was still alive,” Demian said, “and Asher spotted him. Saved god knows how many hostages.”
A vein bulged on Metin’s forehead. “The objective was to bring in Andrei, not to protect hostages at all costs. You were not to harm hostages, but I did not tell you to let Andrei slip from right out under your paws while a helicopter landed.”
“Well,” Asher said, “I’m done anyway, so I’ll get out of your hair. The hostages are secure, and I did the best I could. Andrei’s your problem now. Deal with the monster you created on your own.”
“You’re just going to quit on us, man?” Haller asked.
“I didn’t join with you in the first place,” Asher said. “This was a one-time thing for me.”
“Ah,” Alex said. “That woman. I saw how you looked at her.”
Haller huffed. “So you rescue your lady, and just say good luck to anyone else’s lady that Andrei puts in danger?”
“I’ve done my time,” Asher said. “And I’m out now. Good luck to the rest of you.”
CHAPTER 10
VIOLET
She sat shivering despite the heat in the makeshift tent outside the museum. It was swarming with military personnel, nurses, doctors, and what she just thought of as ‘suits.’
One of the suits shoved a clipboard loaded with a thick stack of papers in her face.
“Special non-disclosure agreement,” he said.
She flipped through it. “So you’re asking me to sign a thing saying that I didn’t see anything here. That any ’paranormal happenings involving wildlife’ that I think I might have seen were the result of...”—she read from the sheet—“‘intense stress and trauma?”
“We’re not asking you to sign it,” the suit said. “We’re telling you to.”
“What if I sign it and suddenly remember what I saw?”
“You’ll be arrested and thrown in a black site.”
“I thought those places didn’t exist.”
“They don’t,” the man said. “So sign.”
She got ready to sign but then asked, “What if I were to, um, date a man who was involved with paranormal happenings involving wildlife?”
“There’s a special NDA for that.”
How romantic.
She signed, and he left. She was unhurt, but exhausted and terrified. And Asher was a fucking grizzly bear commando of some kind. What a fucking day.
She saw the tent peel back, and Asher stepped in. He was glistening with sweat, and his hair was wild and in disarray. His muscles were as big as ever, and he still had on that weird vest.
“Violet!” he said.
She wasn’t quite sure she was happy to see him.
He crouched down in front of her, and she looked down at him from her chair.
“I’m sorry I didn't tell you,” he said. “I wasn’t sure when the right time was.”
She sighed. They had just re-met. They hadn’t even been on a date yet. She hadn’t exactly expected him to say, “I see you have a popped tire, and by the way, I am a werebear.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I guess all this kind of kills our plans for tomorrow. Our thing.”
“Thing...” he said. “I had meant to clarify earlier. I intended for it to be a date.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling heat rising in her cheeks.
“Oh?” he said. “Did you not?”
“No,” she said. “Sorry. I was hoping it was a date too.”
“Good!” Asher said. “Then we’re still on!”
“I was just taken hostage...”
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s move it to Sunday then. I probably need to sleep off this giant knife wound anyway. I wouldn’t want it to stain my nice shirt.”
***
Violet slept through most of Saturday, and she had thought it was totally weird that Asher still wanted to go out on a date as if nothing had happened, but by the time Sunday rolled around, she was ready. She was seeing shadows in the corners of her eyes, and staying at home by herself had become scary. It would feel good to get out, and to have someone to talk to about what had happened.
She supposed she could talk to Laurence or other co-workers who also had signed the NDAs, but Asher had experience with traumatic situations like this. He could help her get through it.
They met near the museum and planned to just walk to a restaurant that Asher had picked out. They’d get drinks afterward.
Asher was wearing a sweater over a button-up shirt with nice, dark jeans and dress shoes. The look did little to mask his size or strength, and after seeing him go full Navy SEAL on Andrei, she couldn’t help but see him as a soldier playing at being a normal guy. Either way, he looked hot as hell.
“Are you feeling Thai or Italian?” he asked.
“Thai,” Violet said. “What about you?”
“Thai is good. I know a great place.”
They walked side by side, and Violet felt a force between their hands, as if they would clasp together like magnets if they got a centimeter closer. Yet at the same time, Violet was still miffed at his casual tone. “‘Italian or Thai?’ Really? After everything that happened? Is that kind of thing really so normal for you?”
“What kind of thing? Thai?”
“No,” she said. “The turning into a bear, mauling a guy, and then turning back into a human just in time to shoot a dude from like fifty feet away?”
“Oh,” he said. “That was normal, but not anymore. I’m done.”
“Why?”
“I want to live a real life,” he said. “And I hate that you got brought into that stuff. I’d asked you out on a date...even though I’d forgotten to make clear that it was a date, and last night we were supposed to be two normal people going out together. Now it’s all...”
“Well,” she said, “it’s more honest now, maybe? You don’t have to fret about when to tell me about your past, and that you can...” Violet said in a whisper, “That you can turn into a bear. How the hell?”
He sighed. “Well, so much for being normal. The fighting and gun stuff is done, but I will always be a bear, and I’m proud of it.”
“What do you mean by ‘be a bear?’”
“I don’t just turn into a bear,” he said. “I am both man and bear. Even when I’m a man, like right now, my bear is still inside me. It notices things I don’t, sees things differently. Sometimes it talks to me.”
“What does it say?”
He stammered. “Well, uh, it’s useless most of the time, but it spotted the guy who was raising a gun toward you. So for all the dumb things it says, it can be a lifesaver.”
“I see,” Violet said. “Does it hurt? When you transform.”
; “Shift,” Asher said.
Shift...that’s what Andrei had said, but it had made no sense out of context.
“So Andrei was a bear too? Or was he like one of those wolves or panthers?”
“He is a dragon,” Asher said. “Or was.”
A dragon. Everything clicked together in her head. The tooth. Not a dinosaur, not a sea creature...a dragon. And all of mysterious allure she felt from it? Suddenly she realized it may not have been imagined. Andrei was after the tooth, and there was a reason for that.
“Are there unicorns too?” Violet asked to lighten the mood.
“Yes,” Asher said.
She smiled and laughed nervously.
“Like, seriously?” she asked.
“Yes,” Asher said. “They’re usually total badasses too. I think it’s kind of compensation for the My-Little-Pony type reputation they get.”
She laughed, and suddenly Asher’s hand took hold of hers. She kept walking, but she wanted to stop and really feel his hand around hers. Asher Pines had taken hold of her hand. It was a momentous occasion that she wanted to stop and absorb, not just walk on as if nothing had happened.
She settled for slowing her pace and squeezing his hand. Their arms brushed up against each other as they walked hand in hand, and his warmth flowed into her.
Everything was almost perfect, but she still had the tooth at home. It nagged at her. She should tell Asher for sure, shouldn’t she?
She’d tell him...just not now. If she told him now, he might get mad and let go of her hand.
He did let go, though, once they sat down to eat. She had a nice green chicken curry, and Asher had enough food for five men.
“Shifting uses up a lot of fuel,” he said.
“You shift every day?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “If you’ve ever had that restless leg feeling, it’s like that. If I go a long time without shifting, I get that kind of feeling all throughout my body.”
“So you think Andrei is feeling that? Is that why he did what he did?”
Asher sighed. “I don’t know. I’d say I feel for him, but I can’t forgive him for what he did. No shifter should have to go through what happened to him, but no human should have to be taken hostage or held at gunpoint. Andrei of all people should know that.”
“Why not just let him get the tooth then?”
“That’s all ‘need to know,’ which means grunts like me do not need to know. I guess they figure Andrei is too dangerous. There’s few dragons in the world, as far as we know. They are extremely secretive and don’t really mingle with other shifters. Andrei was a big exception. They stopped him from being able to shift for a reason, so they’ll fight to keep it that way.”
“Did they find the tooth?” she asked.
“No,” Asher said. “Thank god. You never want those bastards to get something like that. I hope that tooth is buried in a volcano somewhere. My hunch is that the military wants the tooth just as bad as Andrei does. I wouldn’t be surprised if they even neutered him like this just to drive him to find it. Let him do the legwork for them.”
Violet thought of the tooth sitting in a drawer under her desk. What the hell was she thinking?
***
After the meal they had intended to go get drinks, but they ended up walking aimlessly through the city instead. Violet was perfectly happy with that, because it meant more handholding. They were on some small green space with benches and a fountain, but it wasn’t quite large enough to be called a park.
She had no idea how far this night would go. It had been ages since she’d last had sex, and her last encounter had been less than ideal. She’d fantasized plenty of times about being in bed with Asher, but they’d always been just that: fantasies.
“Why did we never really get to know each other before?” Asher asked. “We lived on the same street, and we even had some classes together.”
“Well,” Violet said, “you weren’t exactly approachable.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t placing the blame totally on you. I was also deathly shy and totally afraid to talk to any boys, let alone hot—erm, let alone you.”
“I guess I always had my sketchpad out...but I was by myself. It’s not like you had to walk up to me with a big group of friends.”
“Then why didn’t you approach me!” Violet said, teasing. She shoved into him and tried to knock him off balance, but she tipped and started to fall herself. Asher was too solid.
He caught hold of her waist and pulled her closer.
“Because,” he said, “you were always surrounded by a bunch of other girls. If I walked up to you, I’d have them all looking at me and giggling while I tried to talk to you.”
He didn’t let go of her, but she found her footing and stood, still with his arms around her. Cars passed by in the distance, and she felt the warmth of his chest on her face, sparing her from the cold.
“Big tough Navy SEAL, afraid of girls,” she said.
“I wasn’t a Navy SEAL in high school” he said.
“Why did you join up? Recruit talk you into it?” Violet asked.
“When my parents died, there was nothing left. Nothing but debt. I thought about taking out a loan, but going into debt myself to go to art school didn’t feel like the best decision. And then I was approached. The SEALs were actively recruiting...people like me. Shifters. The deal was basically fight for your country for eight years, then you’re set for life. I was naive enough to believe that.”
She risked putting her own hand on his cut waist. She’d touched it before when she’d been on the motorcycle, but that had been out of practicality. This was different. God, he felt good. “They let you out though?”
“Yeah, and not even a few months later, they had me back in. Andrei had the same deal when he joined, and look at him. I should count myself lucky. I was only in the SEALs for a while. For most people the SEALs are the final step, but for me it was just a test. I passed and was recruited into SHIFT.”
“What does SHIFT even stand for?”
“Super Human Infantry Force Tactics. I think it’s one of those acronyms they made to sound good, then filled in what it stood for later.”
She was looking up at him with wide eyes. She hoped he liked the way she was looking at him now. It was a look that showed she was listening to what he said but was more interested in something else.
“Hey, man!” someone shouted. “Got a buck?”
Asher let go of her, reached into his pocket, and pulled out some change. “Here you go. Eat something.”
The man, covered in grime, pocketed the money, smiled, and said, “Thank you, sir! I sure will.”
He walked off with a spring in his step.
“That was nice of you,” Violet said. She’d have given up twenty dollars for him to not interrupt Asher holding her in his arms.
“Well,” Asher said, “Metin did hold up the payment end of the deal. I have more than I can spend, to be honest. If only I could keep his claws out of me and find a way to put it to good use. What’s money if you can’t live your life?”
“So you’re a strong, rich, badass guy who was too tough for the SEALs. Any other secrets?”
“I’m an open book,” Asher said, “though I haven’t had time to tell you everything.... I’m sure I’ll mention something in passing years down the line that will surprise you.”
Years down the line. He was already thinking long-term?
“What about you?” Asher said. “Any deep, dark secrets?”
If she told him about the tooth now, the night would be over. He’d go all commando on her, get pulled right back into all the shit he didn’t want to be pulled into. She would tell him, just not now.
“I have a secret,” she said, not wanting to lie. “It’s not deep, and I’ll tell you soon. I’m having a great time tonight, and I don’t want to ruin that.”
“Fair enough,” Asher said. “But if it’s imp
ortant, you should tell me.”
“How about another secret for now?” she asked.
“Okay,” he said. “Deal.”
She took him by the arm. “Lean down so I can whisper it in your ear. I’m shy.”
He leaned down, and she put her hand on his ear, and when her lips were just inches from his ear, she said, “I really want you to kiss me.”
There was a brief pause, an agonizing moment of still silence. Suddenly Asher grabbed her by the waist and dipped her backward. Suddenly his lips were approaching hers, and she breathed heavily in anticipation. Her eyes closed, and moments later she had her first taste of Asher.
She bit gently on his lip and ran her tongue across it. She wanted to taste more.
But he was strong and less patient. He squeezed her waist with his strong hands, and his tongue fought for ground. Her lips parted, unable to resist the temptation, and the warmth spread across her mouth like electricity. It was just like she’d thought: soothing warmth and electric current all at once.
Their embrace tightened, and Violet’s heart raced. She wanted to feel closer to him, so without thinking, she jumped up onto him.
She wrapped her legs around him, and his hand grabbed hold of her below the thighs while his other hand pulled her upper body tight against his.
She felt her breasts pressing into him. Her nipples became rock hard, and she hoped Asher could feel them through all that cloth.
They kissed like the world was ending, and if a meteor had hit then and obliterated everything, she’d have died a happy woman.
“Damn!” a familiar voice said. “I get three dollar sixty and a show! You guys rule!”
Violet looked over and saw the beggar from earlier with a half-eaten hamburger in hand. Asher put her down, and her face flushed red, more from anger than from embarrassment. Okay, so they were making out in a fairly public place, but couldn’t he just be polite and pretend to not notice?
He stared for a while but walked off when they didn’t go back to it.
“Maybe we should call it a night?” Asher said.
Her heart was on fire, sending red-hot blood through every part of her body.
“You don’t want to...”
Unbearable Arms (The Grizzly Next Door 4) Page 5