Green Bearets: Garrin

by Amelia Jade

“Could you excuse us?” he said tightly, sweeping an apologetic glance across the room.

  No one protested, and in moments the room was empty save the two of them, the last one out shutting the door behind them.

  “Absolutely not!”

  “Don’t try to stop me.”

  “No way. No how.”

  “I’m going whether you like it or not.”

  “I forbid it.”

  “I belong there.”

  “No you don’t.”

  “It’s not your decision!”

  “Damn straight it’s my decision. My mission, my choice.”

  “Don’t think for a second that I’m not going with you,” she said, crossing her arms and glaring at him as their back and forth tirade slowed.

  “There is no way in hell that you’re going into Fenris,” he returned. “Mia, I like you. A lot. More than a lot. And I respect your strength of person. I truly do. But you’re not a shifter. This is not the place for you.”

  She kept glaring.

  “Mia, by coming along, you will force the rest of the group to have to protect you. To be your bodyguard. You will be a liability for the team.”

  “I’ll keep up,” she said, determined.

  “Listen to me,” he said, his voice dropping a level, but not losing any of its iron. “You could be responsible for getting people killed. If you’re too slow. Or if we need to jump a wall. Or we get into a fight. Or, or, or. The list goes on and on. You put my team in danger by being there, and I cannot allow that.”

  She turned, squaring up to the massive shifter. But Garrin didn’t so much as blink.

  And why should he? The man was a shifter, used to facing down his own kind, and likely worse. What could one tiny human hope to accomplish?

  “Garrin. This is my brother. My twin. I need to be there,” she said, opting for a calmer tone of voice, in hopes that it might get through to him.

  “No,” he said firmly. “I don’t wish to make a big scene of this Mia. Please.” His own voice dropped, softening as well, though it did not reveal any sense of yield either. “But having you along would put my team in unnecessary danger. Some of us are already unlikely to make it back from this. By bringing you along, it is almost guaranteed that more of us will die, simply because you had to be there.”

  She felt like she’d taken a punch to the gut.

  “I need to be there,” she whispered. “I don’t know why. But I’m telling you that I’m coming.”

  Garrin straightened angrily at her last words. “No. That’s final. Stop arguing with me.”

  She snarled and spun around the desk without looking back at him. The door slammed satisfactorily behind her as Mia stormed from his office, muttering oaths and curses about Garrin’s pigheaded stubbornness.

  She saw the other shifters still gathered down the hall, trying their best to be discreet. Mia didn’t care; she headed the other direction, turning the corner and heading for the back door of the motel, into the little courtyard located there. Right then she just needed to be alone, and out from the containment of a building.

  Her furious steps carried her around another turn in the hallway, and she slammed into a person walking there, rebounding off of them in stunned fashion, her limbs flailing as she sought her balance.

  “I am so sorry!” she exclaimed as her senses returned to her and she realized what she’d done.

  The woman, an auburn-haired beauty a few inches shorter than Mia, with pin-straight hair and gorgeous hazel eyes regarded her intently, unfazed by the impact it would seem.

  Next to her were two other ladies, a blue-eyed blonde with legs that seemed to go on for miles, though she wasn’t actually as tall as Mia, and a chestnut-haired woman perhaps a year or two younger than the others. The three of them all wore practical clothing, including skintight pants, button-up blouse with vest, and a cut-down version of the tactical boots the men wore.

  The outfit similarity to the Green Bearets ended there. While all the bear shifters wore white T-shirts, black pants, and dark brown boots, the clothing these three wore was festooned with color. Their pants were all shades of khaki, but their tops were brightly colored and they all had jewelry on as well, the light sparkling from it.

  “Is everything okay?” the woman she’d bumped into asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Mia assured. “Are you okay? I nearly ran you over!”

  The other woman smirked and nodded. “Yes, I’m fine, I promise. Is there anything we can help with? You seem to be in quite a mood.”

  Mia tossed an angry look over her shoulder. “Not unless you can knock some sense into those brutes,” she snapped. Her gaze returned to the three women. “I don’t know how you can spend so much time around them.”

  The blonde with the legs looked at her. “Them?” she asked.

  “The shifters,” Mia said. “The Green Bearets. Those stubborn, oafish, good-for-nothing…” she trailed off as the three women began to laugh.

  Not a polite little thing either. No, the three of them broke into huge belly laughs, their laughter bouncing off the walls as they used each other for support.

  Mia looked from one, to the other, and then the third, as the trio slowly recomposed themselves.

  “Was it something I said?” she asked, and this set off another round of laughs.

  “I’m sorry,” the brunette who had spoken first said. “Sorry. That was rude of us.”

  Mia didn’t respond, unsure of what she should say to that.

  “My name is Allix,” she said, sticking out a hand.

  Taking it, Mia gave it a solid squeeze. The other woman returned the grip, and added a little extra to it. Mia blinked. The power in this woman’s grip was impressive!

  “I’m missing something here, aren’t I,” she said slowly.

  Allix nodded. “We’re shifters,” she said.

  “Shifters?” Mia exclaimed. “But you’re so—”

  “Female?” the blonde chimed in with a laugh, and stuck her hand out. “Nina.”

  “Mia,” she returned, not bothering to go for a grip contest with the woman. “And no, I was going to say small. I’ve seen a few of the Green Bearet women. They’re all huge, bigger than me!”

  The third woman spoke up at last. “That’s because we’re Turned.”

  “Huh?” Mia asked, confused. “You turned what?”

  The thin-faced woman giggled lightly. “No, no. Capital T Turned.” She shrugged. “We’re shifters now, but we were all born human.”

  Mia’s jaw dropped open in surprise. “Human?” It was the only word she could get out.

  “Yeah. My name is Carrie, and my mate is Jarvis. He Turned me. Made me a shifter.”

  The others nodded along.

  “Your mates turned you too?” Mia asked, looking back and forth between the two.

  More nods.

  “I’m with Luther,” Allix said.

  “And Aksel is all mine,” Nina added with a happy grin.

  “And you’re right,” Carrie said. “They are stubborn, oafish, good-for-nothing brutes.” She sighed. “They’re also tender, caring, and utterly protective.”

  Dreamy looks passed over the faces of the other two as well, and Mia saw their eyes unfocus as they went elsewhere for a moment.

  “Who’s your problem with?” Allix asked after a moment, her perfectly straight hair bouncing wildly as she shook her head and refocused on the moment.

  Mia hesitated.

  “You don’t have to answer,” Nina chimed in. “But we’ve all been there before. We can recognize the look on others by now.”

  Caving, Mia told them.

  “Garrin?” Allix exclaimed in excitement. “I never thought he’d find someone to open up to. Oh that’s just so exciting,” she gushed.

  “Too bad he’s treating me like I’m someone’s fine dinnerware,” Mia muttered.

  Carrie smiled. “That’s the way they are. He’s your mate. He’ll do anything to protect you.”

  Mia snorte
d. “True. But go back for a second. You’re now full-blown shifters?”

  Carrie nodded.

  “All three of you?”

  The trio bobbed their heads.

  “How…how does it work?”

  Mia felt her curiosity rise as the three women exchanged looks with each other. For the first time in her conversation with them, they hesitated.

  “It’s…not something to be taken lightly,” Allix said. “It’s extremely, extremely dangerous.”

  “I almost died,” Nina added.

  “Me too.” That was Carrie.

  “First your mate has to bite you while in his animal form,” Allix explained, taking pity on Mia’s confused look. “Right here,” she said softly, touching the smooth skin of her neck.

  “Then the shifter DNA starts to race through your system, converting your own blood. This causes you to heat up, and you develop the worst fever you’ve ever had. If you can’t fight that off, you die.”

  Nina started speaking. “But what happens next will kill you just as well.”

  Mia heard herself speak. “What happens after the fever?”

  “The bear manifests itself in your brain,” Carrie supplied. “It’s another entity within you. One that you need to learn to control, to keep locked away, except for when you say so.” Her lips quirked upward in a humorless smile. “The bear won’t take well to that, especially the first time, and it will fight your attempts. If it wins, it will control your body. Not you.”

  Mia’s heart was racing now as the three women told her about their own stories, of how they’d been near death, and that only the Turning had saved their lives.

  “And all three of you survived,” she breathed after. “Based on what you’ve told me, that should be impossible. At least one, if not two or even all three of you should be dead.”

  The others nodded. Allix spoke for them all. “We’ve been doing research into that, actually. And it seems that most of the time, it’s not a mate who tries to turn a human. We think that has something to do with it, the bond between mates provides a variable that we’ve not yet been able to track. We’re hoping to speak with others who have been through this, once the unpleasantness with Fenris settles down.”

  Mia tried to clamp down on her emotions at the mention of Fenris, but the sudden narrowing of Nina’s eyes told her she hadn’t completely succeeded.

  “Whatever it is with Garrin that has you so ticked, it has to do with Fenris, doesn’t it?”

  Mia nodded tiredly, and told them about her brother.

  “Holy shit,” Carrie gasped. “That’s terrible, I’m so sorry!”

  “You need to stay firm with Garrin,” Nina said. “Don’t let him back you down. He may have a point, but you do as well.”

  “Yeah,” Mia said as the conversation wound down. “Maybe.”

  She smiled at the trio. “I have a lot to think about right now, but thank you so much for listening and talking to me.”

  “Our pleasure,” Allix said. “We mated need to stick together. Learning their society can be tricky you know.”

  “Yeah…mated,” Mia said, and then bade them farewell, heading off down the hallway at last.

  Mated.

  The trio of Turned women had all along acted like Garrin was her mate. That they were going to be together forever, as if it were a done deal.

  But never once had they mentioned love. Were none of them in love with their mates? That seemed rather unfortunate, to Mia’s point of view. She didn’t want to spend her life with someone that she didn’t love.

  On the other hand, did she love Garrin? Did he love her? There certainly was a connection with him that she’d never felt before. But was it love? Would it ever become love?

  Mia had a lot to think about.

  Chapter Ten

  Garrin

  The door slammed behind Mia’s retreating figure.

  He sighed, letting her go without pursuing her for the moment, and sank back into his chair, resting his head on his fists.

  Why did she have to be so stubborn? Could Mia not see that this was the best course of action? That for her to come along would needlessly put his men in danger? She was smart, and her brain worked quickly. There was no doubt in his mind that she could understand the points he’d raised.

  Yet for some reason she’d simply thrust them aside as an untenable position and declared herself to be in the right. There was something driving her there, and Garrin wasn’t entirely sure what it was. A ghost of a thought whispered to him.

  Family.

  He supposed that could be the answer. That this was her family, perhaps the only family she truly felt she had anymore, and therefore she needed to come along to ensure Trevor made it out okay.

  At that moment though, Garrin could not see an argument that trumped his. Efficiency and safety were the name of the game for the mission, not feelings and emotions. Those would have to be put on hold until they returned, with the mission itself having been accomplished.

  There was a tentative knock on the door.

  “My answer is still no,” he called, trying to modulate his voice to come across as firm, but not angry.

  “Beg pardon?” came the reply.

  “Um, never mind,” he called again, feeling sheepish at having assumed Mia would come back so quickly. “Come in.”

  The door opened and admitted three of the shifters who had been in his office earlier. Asher Owens, Andrew Raskell, and Ava Holmgren. One representative of each of the aerial shifter races.

  The two males were looking at him with what appeared to be undisguised pity, while Ava’s eyes were hooded, concealing her emotions. Garrin got the feeling that she was looking at him scornfully.

  “Okay, so how many can I expect from each of you?” he asked without preamble, before they could discuss Mia or the argument he was sure they’d overheard.

  “What you saw is what you get,” Ava said, speaking first.

  Garrin considered that for a moment.

  Three dragons.

  Four gryphons.

  Six Pegasi.

  “Thirteen,” he mumbled, half to himself. “A full squad of Green Bearets, and then an extra spot for Trevor. That’ll work out just perfectly.”

  Asher shuffled uncomfortably from side to side.

  Garrin looked at him, curious as to why the dragon shifter would act like that around him. He was well aware that Asher fell outside of his own chain of command, and did not owe him any sort of loyalty or respect.

  “Just say it.” His voice was dry, but tinged with curiosity as well. Clearly the dragon shifter wasn’t completely comfortable with what he was about to say.

  “It wouldn’t be a problem for one of my team to double up,” Asher began.

  “To take more Green Bearets?” Garrin supplied. “I suppose, though two or three more wouldn’t make a huge difference, really, and just gives us more moving parts to worry about.” He pursed his lips in thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No, we’ll go with the standard squad element. We’re used to operating in that size, and the less confusion the better, but thank you for offering.”

  Asher frowned at the response. “That’s…not entirely what I meant, Colonel,” he said at last, using Garrin’s title respectfully.

  “What did you mean?”

  The Frost Dragon shifter sighed awkwardly. “I meant that it would be fairly trivial for one of the dragons to carry both a Green Bearet and a human.”

  Garrin opened his mouth to ask why Trevor would need to ride with someone, when they had an extra shifter available to carry him, when the true meaning of Asher’s words sunk in.

  “No,” he said with a sharp chop of his hand. “Absolutely not.”

  Asher simply raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

  “She’s not coming. It puts us all in more danger to have to protect her.” Garrin frowned. “Why are you suggesting this? You know she’s human, that she would be so unbelievably exposed and vulnerable in Fenris that bringin
g her along is a huge mistake.”

  “Because it needs to happen, Colonel,” Andrew said, stepping up alongside Asher.

  “I’ve yet to be convinced as to the ‘why’ behind this, Andrew. Do you care to enlighten me?”

  The gryphon shifter glared at him, but didn’t respond.

  “Because she’s your mate, and she needs to come along to be there for her brother,” Ava said, her expression unmasking itself as she stepped up beside Andrew.

  For the first time Garrin saw the look in her eyes. It wasn’t one of scorn. But one of furious steel.

  “Why?” he asked her softly, the subtle undertones of his question making it clear to Ava that he wasn’t referring to her reasoning, but her mood.

  The Pegasus shifter’s lips ticked slightly, as if they wanted to smile, but didn’t.

  “We women have to stick together. Especially with you bear shifters. You can be a stubborn bunch sometimes,” Ava said, and this time a smile did flow up the sides of her cheeks.

  Garrin blushed and rolled his eyes, knowing full well she was right.

  “Besides,” Ava continued. “If she’s anything like the mates of the rest of your command team, she’s going to come along whether you want it or not. Mia is strong of personality. I sensed that much without trouble. You would be wise to listen to her.”

  Garrin sat back in his chair, looking from one shifter to the other in line, and then back again.

  “I’m not convinced that her being there for her brother trumps the security of us having to keep an eye out for her,” he reasoned.

  “That is a valid tactical reason,” Asher said. “But something tells me that this time it’s wrong. We need her to come along, Garrin.”

  The bear shifter grimaced. “I don’t like it.”

  Both Ava and Asher burst into laughter.

  “You don’t have to like it,” Ava said.

  “But she’s coming anyway!” Asher finished.

  Garrin looked at Andrew, who only shrugged.

  “You aren’t mated, are you?” he asked the gryphon shifter.

  “No,” Andrew replied.

  “Have fun,” Garrin said with an evil smile, which brought forth more laughter from the other two.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll go talk it over with Mia later,” he said. “In the meantime, let’s plan this out, shall we?”