Green Bearets: Garrin

by Amelia Jade

  “What the hell is going on?” she said, taking another step back as more animals of the forest thundered by.

  The heat rose another level.

  A sinking feeling entered her stomach as the flow of forest creatures slowed, a rumbling warthog the last to trot on by.

  Then there was only silence.

  “Garrin?” she called again.

  A dull roar sounded in the distance, but it grew louder swiftly.

  Mia took another step back.

  Without warning fire swept through the forest.

  “Shit,” she swore, and turned to run as it bore down on her, the air rapidly getting uncomfortably warm as the forest was consumed.

  Up ahead she saw the cliff to the left, and then the plain stretching out before her straight ahead. Most of the animals were running straight.

  Something tickled her subconscious, and for an unknown reason Mia angled sharply to the left, aiming for the sole tree growing up next to the edge of the cliff.

  Behind her the fire raged on, consuming the forest, turning into a vast, towering conflagration. The heat beat against her, and was making the air hard to breathe. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see flames rush down the hill after them. They spread across the grass with a rapidness that stunned her.

  “Please let me have gotten this right,” she mumbled to herself as the tree came near.

  The edge of the cliff was nearing quickly. But instead of slowing, Mia put on another burst of speed, just as the fire reached out for and consumed the tree. But she didn’t stop.

  She ran straight at the edge of the cliff and hurled herself over.

  The landscape disappeared and she fell perhaps five feet onto a black floor. All around her there was blackness.

  She shook off the shock of an abrupt, hard landing, and got to her feet, organizing her thoughts.

  “That was the fever then,” she said, understanding now that she was in her own mind, going through the steps of the Turning. Garrin had told her what would happen first, that some sort of fire or heat issue would confront her, and that she would have to find a way out.

  Then she would come up against something else. Her brain was hazy, trying to remember what. What was it he’d said to her? Something about—

  The ground shook underfoot.

  “Right. The bear.”

  A massive paw the side of a house slammed down out of the black, inky abyss, barely visible in the soft circle of light that surrounded Mia. The ground shook so badly it spilled her to the ground.

  “Garrin warned me about this too,” she said, her lips twisting upward in a snarl. “He also told me how to beat you.”

  The bear roared, the sound deafening.

  Mia rose to her feet, bracing herself against the physical shockwave of the titanic bear’s sound.

  Then she very simply raised one finger up at where she guesstimated the head was.

  “No.” Mia said the word with all the firmness and conviction she could muster, and shook her index finger back and forth, while keeping the rest of her hand still.

  The bear roared again.

  “Fine,” she snapped when it didn’t agree. Mia concentrated hard. In her hand appeared a little glass box, with a lid on top. “If you yell at me one more time, you’re going in here,” she said up at the huge beast that was trying to take over her mind, not letting any of her fear show through.

  The bear roared and stamped its foot. It wasn’t going to obey. Mia wasn’t sure how she knew that, but something in her mind made it clear it wasn’t going to do as she commanded. It was almost as if she could hear the animal in her head, and understand it, in a general sort of way.

  “I warned you,” she said quietly, and then snapped her fingers.

  Abruptly the bear seemed to shrink.

  But that, Mia had been told, was impossible. She couldn’t physically alter the bear.

  So instead she did something else. She altered herself. Her body grew, and grew, and grew.

  Seconds later, the bear looked up at her, no bigger than a toy car. With care Mia reached down and plucked it from the ground before depositing it in the glass box and closing the lid.

  She lifted it to her face and smiled. Her voice started off light. “I warned you,” she said with a smile. Then her tone hardened into something unbreakable. “This is my mind, and you are not in charge.”

  Mia blinked and suddenly she was awake.

  “Ow,” she complained as pain lanced at her from her neck.

  “Mia?” Garrin appeared, hovering over her as he helped her into a sitting position. “How do you feel?”

  She took a deep breath in, feeling the power strumming through her body. She looked up at the man she loved and grinned. “I feel good.”

  The giant, implacable bear shifter heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness. I was so worried about you. You were out for close to an hour.”

  Mia shrugged, then frowned as pain—now diminished—washed up from her neck once more.

  “That’ll fade,” Garrin told her. “Just the marks from my teeth.”

  “Ah, right,” she said, the memory of him shifting into his bear form and biting her neck returning to her now that she was awake.

  “”How did it go?” he asked.

  “Um, actually, it was surprisingly easy.”

  “Really?” he asked in mild disbelief.

  Mia nodded. “It wasn’t bad at all. I just remembered what you told me, about how the fever will manifest, and then the bear. It gave me no trouble.” She frowned. “I thought you said I’d be fighting for my life. I was expecting way worse.”

  “Me too,” he said thoughtfully. “But the other women who went through it were all in really bad shape, or already dying. So they would have been weaker, and not nearly as prepared as you. Their minds were already under siege from other things. So perhaps that had something to do with it.”

  She shrugged, rising to her feet, her eyes half-rolling back into her head as she felt the odd presence of her bear tucked away into the back of her mind.

  Now that was a sensation that would take some getting used to.

  As would the way her body felt. It was so alive. As if she were on some sort of post-workout high.

  “Is this how you feel all the time?” she asked, looking down at her limbs as if expecting them to have changed.

  But they hadn’t. It was still the same Mia she remembered having gone into the Turning. Except she was a shifter now.

  “It worked,” she said, a smile spreading across her face. “It really worked!”

  “It did,” Garrin said, coming up and embracing her.

  She returned the hug until he winced, and then she lightened up.

  “Just teasing,” he joked before wheezing as she pulled him tight once more. “Okay, okay.”

  Mia laughed and kissed him.

  “Over there!”

  The duo spun, their kiss and ecstasy at her health cast aside as voices from farther back in the forest sounded.

  “Shit,” she muttered. “They found us.”

  Garrin smiled.

  “Are you feeling okay?” she asked as he took her hand.

  “I’m feeling great,” he replied, his smile growing bigger. “Especially now that you’re okay.”

  His earlier fatigue seemed to have melted away now, and he was practically bouncing up and down.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked. “Fenris found us.”

  “Uh-huh,” he said, nodding in agreement. “And?”

  “And?” she exclaimed. “And now they’re going to kill us!”

  Garrin shook his head and backed up a step, tugging on her hand. “No they aren’t.”

  She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Why is this so enjoyable? They tried to rip us to shreds earlier!”

  “Because, you silly goose,” he teased. “You’re a shifter now!”

  Suddenly the whole reasoning for why she’d gone through the ordeal came crashing bac
k to Mia. “Oh. Right.”

  Garrin laughed and kissed her on the mouth as the sounds of their pursuit grew closer.

  “Ready to go for a run?” he asked.

  Mia grinned, and without waiting, took off down the hill.

  Or she tried to at least. Her feet moved faster than she was ready for, and three steps later she lost her footing and went tumbling down. She bounced off a tree, barely feeling the impact as she got back to her feet.

  Garrin came over to her side. “Start slow and increase your speed,” he said. “Now let’s go.”

  She nodded and this time broke out into a slow jog. With his guidance, she soon had herself up to a full run. The trees fell away and they ran down the hill.

  Below them the human military troops began to shout, and she heard the sound of their vehicles starting up.

  Which was amazing considering they were still the better part of half a mile distant. Mia was starting to get overwhelmed as she realized the sensitivity of her new self. Only now, looking back up the hill, did she see any Fenris shifters in pursuit. When she’d first heard the voice it had been loud enough for her to think they were barely a stone’s throw away.

  Turns out they were much farther. Or at least, she thought they had been as the first bear shifter burst from the woods and rumbled down the hill far faster than her legs could carry her.

  “Come on!” Garrin shouted as the circle slowly closed around them.

  The human vehicles sprinted across the grass and she saw them begin to take aim with their guns as the distance closed rapidly. Behind them came the heavy thuds as various shifters in their animal forms came in for the kill. It was going to be close.

  She grinned and took his hand. The pair of them altered their course suddenly and darted toward the lone tree he’d pointed out.

  “Do you trust me?!” Garrin yelled as they approached the lip of the cliff.

  The closer they got, the farther she realized the jump truly was. Fear began to enter her body, threatening to slow her down. But with a full-throated growl that would have made Garrin proud, she pushed the fear aside.

  “With my life!” she called back, increasing her speed yet again. “I love you, Garrin!”

  “I love you, Mia!”

  And hand in hand, her heart beating in time with his, they jumped off the edge of the cliff and into the empty air beyond.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Garrin

  “Trevor!”

  Mia broke free from his hand and rushed across the room as the sandy-haired, medium-height man walked through the door.

  Garrin knew Trevor wouldn’t see it, but he saw Mia gather herself just before she reached her paternal twin and wrapped him up in a hug that wouldn’t break the still-weakened man. His condition didn’t stop her brother from hugging her back.

  “Damn, it’s good to see you, Sis,” he said, stepping back and placing his hands on her shoulders. “You look…different.”

  Mia cast a glance over her shoulder at Garrin.

  He saw Trevor’s eyes follow her glance, and then a knowing smile split his craggy features. “Oh, I see.”

  Mia blushed, and for a moment Garrin thought she was going to tell him the truth about her change. But she didn’t, and instead let Trevor believe it was all simply because she’d found Garrin, that them being together was responsible for her difference.

  The two of them had talked about it as they’d made their way home. Ultimately Mia had decided not to tell Trevor right away. Garrin had managed to secure clearance for her brother to recover—at least initially—at Base Camp itself, so that Mia could be near him as she learned what it meant to be a shifter, and how to deal with her bear. Garrin had started teaching her as they journeyed home, but the trip had been interesting enough as it was, so he didn’t push her very hard.

  After jumping down the cliff, he’d had his first exercise in teaching Mia how to set bones. She’d landed awkwardly and the force of the impact had shattered her shin, breaking it in several places.

  They’d floated down the river, using the fast-flowing water to quickly outdistance any pursuit from the humans, who had never expected people to be crazy enough to try and jump. From there it had been a simple matter to make their way to a place with a phone and call Base Camp.

  The trip home had taken a long time, because the plane was long gone by the time they reached the phone. Garrin didn’t hold that against his team. They’d been told to get out, and with four human hostages in tow, they couldn’t have delayed.

  But the relief he’d felt upon reuniting with his men at Base Camp had been palpable. They had felt terrible leaving him and Mia behind, even if they knew they had no choice but to do so.

  “Trevor, this is Garrin,” Mia said, leading her brother over to him, before coming to stand next to him, making it clear to Trevor that they were together.

  “Pleasure to meet you,” he said, sticking his hand out and making sure not to crush Trevor’s hand in it.

  “Likewise,” Trevor said. “I hear you’ve done a lot to help out my sister. You have my thanks for that, and of course for coming after me and the others.”

  Garrin simply bowed his head. “It was the right thing to do,” was all he said.

  Trevor shook his head. “No, it was more than that. If there is any way I can pay you back, let me know.”

  He waved off the man’s offer. “Unnecessary, but the offer is appreciated.”

  “So I heard some talk about our militaries intervening in your war?” he asked with a curious look at Garrin.

  “Correct. The official war is, for all intents and purposes, over,” Garrin said.

  He’d learned of that on his way back. The new government of Fenris had agreed to immediate cessation of all hostilities.

  “Official war?” Trevor asked.

  Around him the others stirred and came close. They were having a little celebration to mark Garrin and Mia’s return, as well as the nominal close of the war. So all of his command team were there.

  Gabriel and Ethan hung back from the mass, doing their own things. To Garrin’s left Aksel and Nina drifted closer arm in arm with each other. Beside them came Luther and Allix, their hands intertwined in such a casual way Garrin wondered if they even realized they were touching. And to his right Jarvis and Carrie closed the circle. The only one missing was Kiefer, but he was out working with some new recruits just then, and hadn’t been able to join them.

  Duty called, after all.

  “The official war, yes,” he said at last, answering Trevor’s question. “But the war itself isn’t done.”

  “The missing Fenris Wards,” Jarvis supplied.

  “Exactly.” He looked out at the assembled crew. “We never did find out where they went, but they and the old leaders of Fenris have disappeared. Until they’re found, it’s likely we’ll continue to experience attacks, or worse.”

  “That’s why you brought us all back to Base Camp,” Aksel said.

  “Partially,” Garrin agreed. “but we need to recover after that raid, and to do so in safety. Plus with so many of our command team in Cloud Lake, I thought it would be good for the recruits to see our faces a time or two.”

  “Do we have any idea how many Wards are unaccounted for?” Luther asked.

  “Perhaps as many as a thousand,” he replied, letting the figure sink in. “This is by far not over yet.”

  The others sobered, the happy mood of the party dispersing as they realized just how serious things were still. A thousand trained shifters could wreak untold havoc upon Cadia until they were brought down. There was no time to relax just yet.

  “On the bright side, we rescued four hostages from Fenris, all of whom were being used as leverage like Trevor was, to gain intelligence from their human relatives still within Cloud Lake. So now with them returned, we’ve got much tighter security there.”

  There was a round of nods and sounds of approval for that. It had been an unexpected upside to their raid, and everyone wa
s happy to have saved them. None of the shifters present liked the fact that humans were being harmed by shifters and dragged into their war.

  “So what do we do now?” Nina, Aksel’s mate asked.

  “Now? Now we have a few drinks, eat a bunch of food.”

  The assembled group just chuckled.

  “Then we go impress upon our recruits the importance of their training. We then go to Cloud Lake and beef up our security and try to get more support from our allies in the other races’ warrior groups. We defend Cloud Lake and Cadia, until the Fenrisian rebels are brought down.”

  Growls filled the room.

  “What about the humans?” Aksel asked.

  Garrin nodded. “I don’t have an answer on that. We’re still trying to figure out what to expect from them next.”

  He knew full well that Aksel’s mate Nina had been threatened by some unknown government individuals, to keep a weakness about Cadia secret from the shifters. It had almost resulted in the destruction of Cadia and the death of untold amounts of shifters. Nobody knew the reason behind that yet, but her entire family had been brought to Cloud Lake and placed into the protection of the Green Bearets, just in case.

  There was another angle there, but so far nobody had revealed what was going on. Garrin hadn’t had much time to dedicate to it yet, but he suspected that was going to change soon.

  Shaking off the glum that had settled over him, he raised the mug he held in his one hand up.

  “To Cadia. To Cloud Lake, and to the Green Bearets.”

  The others all lifted their drinks.

  “Cheers!”

  He took a long sip and smiled. It was good to be around family once more. Family that had just grown by one more. His eyes swept over the mated pairs, even as Mia sidled up next to him, taking his free hand in hers.

  “We’re going to be okay, right?” she asked, nervousness tingeing her voice.

  Garrin nodded. “Everyone is going to be okay,” he reassured her. “With this group, how could we not be?”