by Amelia Jade
He must have sensed the same thing, however.
“Stay close to me,” he said, transferring the knife to his right hand and switching positions, so that he was now between her and the upcoming building.
“Of course,” she said robotically. “As close as I can.”
Jacen shot her a look.
Kelly never got to figure out what was on his face. Even as she turned her head to see him, her eyes widened and she inhaled to scream. From behind Jacen a huge figure lunged out of the alleyway. It wrapped itself around the arm that contained the knife.
Jacen was caught completely off guard and his arms went limp, releasing their grip on her. As a result she wasn’t pulled along as the pair went rolling across the gravel roadway between buildings. A thundering rumble filled the air like the herald of a storm. Only it came from the figure currently attacking her captor.
She blinked in astonishment as the same shifter roared in pain again. It was Gray! He was here to save her! Kelly shouted in excitement, only to have it shift into a scream as Jacen regained his grip of the knife and slid its razor-sharp edge against Gray’s side. Blood immediately began to flow, staining the plain white T-shirt he wore and leaving a darkened spot on the ground as they rolled away.
Gray may have gotten the drop on Jacen, but that didn’t mean it was going to be a quick victory. Jacen was tough and skilled, even in his delusional state. Gray still had to be hurting from being knocked out earlier too. She was scared for him, not entirely sure how it was all going to play out.
Her mate roared in pain and renewed his attack. A savage twist of an arm and Jacen yelped in pain. The knife skittered across the ground, out of reach of both combatants. Kelly ran across the street as the pair split, Jacen knocking Gray back with a vicious elbow to the chin that rocked him hard.
Then something happened. Something she’d never seen before. Jacen laughed, threw back his head, and shouted a single solitary word.
“Don’t do it!” Gray bellowed, but it didn’t matter. The other man wasn’t listening.
Kelly watched in amazed horror as ivory-colored fur sprouted from Jacen’s body, absorbing his clothes into it as the thick hair emerged from his skin so quickly it looked like magic. Even as it was happening though, the rest of him changed too. His legs grew and thickened, along with his torso, until he was too large to stand upright, his hips having altered their alignment as well.
The massive beast fell forward, shaking the earth and spilling her to her rear as it landed on all fours. It was easily six times the size of Jacen, all thick muscle and fur. A massive snout jutted forward from his flat face, filling with razor-sharp teeth. Revealed in his full glory, the polar bear bellowed a call.
A call which, to her amazement, was answered.
Kelly hadn’t even seen Gray change, too mesmerized by watching Jacen, the first shifter she’d ever witnessed shift into his animal form.
Gray’s bear was an auburn color, the reddish-brown fur mottled across his body in smooth flowing patterns, alternating from more brown to more red and back again. He was also fully equal in size to Jacen, except for a large slice in his fur on one side, where blood was already matting his fur down.
The two animals wasted no time, charging together. They rose up on their hind legs just before they hit, huge paws slapping violently at each other. Claws the length of her hand sliced and tore at one another, leaving huge gashes where both fur and skin had been torn away. Blood flowed easily on both of them, but Gray seemed to get the better of the exchange. It happened so fast, but at the end she saw him take a particularly brutal strike to his chest, but it left him open to rake his left paw across Jacen’s face.
Kelly looked away, but not before she saw one claw hook into and rip out the polar bear’s eye in a welter of gore and blood. The polar bear screamed, a sound she hadn’t realized it could make, but still it came onward, fueled by Jacen’s deranged state of mind most likely. He probably thought he was winning.
But he was wrong.
Gray’s bear danced back and forth, moving surprisingly agilely for a creature that had to weigh nearly two thousand pounds. The earth trembled and jumped under her, moving her and everything near her around as the two bears went at it. She saw something on the ground and picked it up, even as Gray struck from Jacen’s blind side, his paw ripping Jacen’s stomach open.
Gray pushed himself forward at that moment and toppled the polar bear onto his back. He didn’t follow, instead slicing at the now exposed flanks, leaving them looking like they’d just lost a contest with a meat grinder. Shreds of skin hung limply, and blood flowed freely, soaking the ground around him.
Jacen tried to get up, but he couldn’t. Gray had ripped apart too many of his muscles, and his body just didn’t respond. It was over. They both knew it now. Jacen even returned to his human form, the battered and bloody remnants of it appearing in a second.
Gray backed up and did the same. He eyed the wounded man suspiciously, and then came over to her, where she was just getting up off the ground.
“Are you okay?” he asked, taking her by both arms and dusting her off. His eyes never left hers.
Kelly stared at the glittering gemstones in his face. She’d never seen him look so…hard. It was an entirely different side of him than the gentle, caring soul he shared with her.
And yet, to her surprise, she found it suited him. He rarely became like this, and he’d only let it out in an attempt to save her life, nothing more. Even as she watched, the gems in his eyes softened, losing some of their icy, arctic touch and returning once more to the seas of blue she remembered.
“I am now,” she said, her meaning clear. She was unharmed by Jacen, and also better now that he was returning back to himself.
Gray got it; she could see the understanding in his eyes. He nodded and closed his eyes. Kelly got up on her tiptoes to kiss his check.
It was the only thing that allowed her to see what was happening. Behind Gray, Jacen had gotten to his feet quietly and was coming at them. Gray must have sensed her stiffen, because he reacted immediately, shoving her gently to one side while he went the other way.
He never made it. Jacen was too close. He took Gray down, hard, his arm snaking around his neck and tightening quickly. Gray tried hard, but he had no chance. His arms went up over his head and he plunged a thumb into the empty socket where Jacen’s right eye had been. The other man screamed and let go, his spine straightening as he clamped both hands over the wound, sitting straight up on his knees.
Which is when Kelly took the knife she’d retrieved from the ground earlier and without thinking ran it across his throat. Blood spurted forward, drenching the ground. Gray had seen it coming and rolled out of the way, avoiding the spray. Jacen made a sort of gurgling noise as he clutched at the mortal wound, and then he fell to the ground. He shook several times as he bled out, but he never turned over, remaining facedown away from her.
The knife clattered to the ground and Kelly stumbled backward.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Gray
He stared in shock for all of two seconds, then his reflexes kicked in.
“Come on,” he said quietly, taking Kelly by the shoulder and turning her away from the body. He escorted her back to the nearest unit and hammered on the door until someone answered.
“Ye—” The poor woman didn’t get a chance to finish. The blood-drenched figures in front of her must have shocked her silent.
“Take her inside. Keep an eye on her at all times; do not let her out of your sight. Do you know the number to the embassy?” he barked, command infusing his tone. He spoke like someone who simply expected to be obeyed.
The woman, responding to the iron in his tone, nodded. “Yes.”
“Good. Call it. Tell whomever answers what your unit is, and that Gray said it’s all hands on deck, Priority One. Got it?”
She nodded.
“Repeat it back,” he ordered, nodding once when she got it right. “Go!”
<
br /> He turned and headed back to the body, and with only a minor bit of hesitation and dissatisfaction at the way things had gone down, hauled the corpse out of the way back between the two buildings, where it would be much harder to spot. He didn’t do it because he was afraid of someone finding it and coming after him, but because the buildings were all full of pregnant women who simply did not need to see a dead man bleeding out in the middle of the roadway.
The dark brown gravel made the pool of his blood look almost like an oil stain or something similar, much to his relief as it soaked it up into the dried ground. That job done, he raced back for the unit and let himself inside, moving over next to Kelly.
“Hey,” he said, taking both of her hands in his and holding them tight. He’d hated to even leave her for that long, but it had to be done. Now though, he promised himself he was never going to leave her side.
“Hi.” Her voice was surprisingly strong and clear.
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt at all? How’s the baby?”
Kelly shook her head. “I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” She paused, then there was a little scared-sounding laugh. “I feel like I shouldn’t be able to answer that. That I should have a list of things to tell you about what’s wrong. But seriously, Gray, I don’t feel bad at all. No problems with the baby either. All feels normal. Other than my heartbeat being a little elevated.”
She snorted at the word “little,” knowing it was an understatement.
“Okay,” he said, feeling uncertain about it all, but not wanting to push. “It’s over now.”
“I know it is,” she said. “I killed him.”
He frowned at the steadiness in her voice.
“Am I in shock?” she asked, looking up at him at last.
Gray looked her in the eyes, taking note of her pupils, her breathing, and the calm demeanor she had about her. “I…don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “You should be, but you don’t seem like it.”
“I see.”
“How do you feel?”
“Honestly?”
He nodded.
“Relieved. Almost even a little bit happy, though any time I feel that it’s drowned out by guilt about feeling happy that he’s dead.”
Gray held her tight, but she kept speaking.
“It just solves so many problems,” she said. “Which is why I’m feeling guilt over being happy about it. Things were so much simpler when he was already ‘dead.’ To have him now be officially dead just means I don’t have to worry about him coming back to haunt me again, like he had been doing.”
His jaw hung open slightly. She sounded like a shifter. Upset that someone had to be killed, but coldly logical about the reasoning behind it, and not feeling any remorse.
“You sure are acting rather logical about all this,” he admitted.
“I…I feel like I should be feeling distraught. Horrified. And I mean, part of me is upset. But I’m more upset about the fact that I was forced to kill, not that I actually did.” She frowned up at him. “Is that normal?”
“For a shifter,” he said quietly.
Kelly nodded. “I never knew my parents, I told you that, right?”
“Yes. You were an orphan, adopted as a babe.”
“Was one of my parents a shifter?”
“I…I don’t know,” he said. “But it seems possible, doesn’t it?”
Kelly nodded. “I’m thirsty.”
Almost immediately their host was there with a glass of water. Then she realized there were two of them, and came back a minute later with one for Gray.
“Thank you,” he said.”
She nodded nervously. “I’m Rachel, by the way.”
“Gray,” he rumbled, then nodded his head toward his mate. “This is Kelly.”
“W-What happened?” she asked. I heard noises and kind of hid in my bedroom when the building started shaking.
“Smart move. Um, there was a rogue shifter,” he said, deciding on telling most of the truth. “Unfortunately I was forced to fight him.”
“But I killed him,” Kelly said. “Saved the day, really.”
Gray eyed her, wondering if she was in some deep form of shock. But her tone was relaxed. Comfortable. At ease. Maybe she really was part shifter. That might explain her way of thinking, of the anger at her hand being forced, not given the option to save his life. But Jacen had been crazed, and unwilling to give up it seemed, even when he knew he was beaten. Gray was positive he could have gotten the better of him, but Kelly had intervened before that happened. No sense in dwelling on that now of course.
Rachel looked back and forth at them, wide-eyed. Gray decided he was happy he’d left out the part about Jacen being a former Institute shifter. The last thing he needed to do was induce a panic amongst the women, who would all be jumping at shadows, thinking it was the shifter who had impregnated them come back to haunt them. Not ideal.
“Come down to the embassy with us,” he said silently. “We’ll ensure you get looked after. Including some new furniture,” he joked lamely, indicating the blood smears that covered hers.
“Um, thanks,” Rachel said, trying to smile at his joke. It didn’t really work.
Gray just nodded, and the trio descended into an awkward silence as they waited for Andrew and the others to arrive to clean up the body and deal with the aftermath.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kelly
“Hi Hector,” she said as Gray took the three of them in through the front door.
Andrew had already returned, the local coroner’s office having brought the body with him in a vehicle while the others walked. It hadn’t seemed to take them very long at all. No more than fifteen minutes. The walk had been nice as well, allowing her to stretch her legs, and reaffirm that no, she really wasn’t in shock.
That alone shocked her. Kelly had never considered herself to be a killer. Now that she had, she knew she wasn’t. But the knowledge that she’d done it just didn’t bother her. Not in the sleepless night terror sort of way. But more the “Goddammit, why’d he force me to do that?” manner. She regretted taking a life, but didn’t dwell over the actual action of it.
According to Gray, that was a very shifter-esque way of looking at things.
“Hey,” the embassy guard said, coming forward to greet them. His attention was first on Gray, then on Kelly, but the pair of them waved him off.
“See to Rachel, will you?” Gray asked. “Get her a water or whatever she wants, along with maybe a blanket and a comfortable chair.
Kelly’s mind was elsewhere, but she still heard Hector tripping all over himself to help Rachel get whatever it was she needed.
“Did we just…?” she asked with a small laugh, not needing to finish her sentence.
“I have no idea,” Gray replied, but his voice burbled with laughter.
The two of them stopped and looked at each other.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said softly.
Kelly nodded and nuzzled her face into his hand as he reached up to touch her. “Are you okay?” she asked, suddenly remembering the huge cut he’d received on his side. She looked at it, but it was mostly closed now, the flow of blood all but stopped. Another hour perhaps, and she figured it would be gone.
“Amazing. I wish I could heal like that,” she joked.
“It has its ups and its downs,” he replied. “Don’t forget, I feel all the pain of these wounds, and without painkillers either.”
“Oh.” Suddenly it wasn’t so appealing.
“Yeah, maybe don’t wish for it quite so readily,” he replied, then pulled her close and kissed her, his mouth finding hers with a fervent need, a desire to reaffirm the fact that they were both alive, unharmed, and still very much in love with each other.
Kelly met him with the same intensity, needing no encouragement. The moment lingered on and on in the silence, until a throat gently cleared itself behind them. She jerked upright and turned to see Andrew standing there, eyebrows questioningl
y raised.
“I think he wants to know what happened,” she whispered sidelong to Gray.
To her surprise, he began to laugh. It was contagious, and after a moment of staring at him in astonishment, she began to laugh too.
Andrew didn’t laugh.
“Finished?” he asked a few minutes later, allowing them to get themselves back under control. There was no ire in his voice, nor condescension either. Just a simple acknowledgment of what had been necessary, and then back to work.
“Yeah,” Gray said.
“It’s a simple story, really,” she jumped in before he could start to speak. “I’m assuming you’re filled in up to the point where they met and fought?”
Andrew nodded.
“Well, Gray came over last night, we talked, worked things out, etcetera. This morning, we were getting ready to come back here, to fill you in on a few details, when Jacen returned. He burst inside, jumped Gray, and took me by force. Gray recovered from his nap, came after us, and we fought him.”
“We?” Andrew asked, his eyebrows raising a fraction of an inch, the only thing indicating he was surprised.
“Yes, we. Well, mostly Gray. They fought as humans, then Jacen shifted, so Gray did too. He won, and Jacen was down. Gray came to check on me, Jacen got up and jumped him. I took the knife Jacen had been holding on me, and when the opportunity presented itself, I slit his throat.”
She frowned. “I really didn’t want to do that. But I did. He was trying to kill Gray.”
Andrew’s lips formed a line.
“Don’t you dare,” Gray said warningly.
Kelly looked back and forth between them, trying to understand what was going on.
Then air escaped from Andrew’s lips in a rush. She frowned, until she realized he was trying not to laugh.
“You had to let yourself be saved?” Andrew laughed. “Oh my, Gray. My poor Gray. You know you aren’t going to live that one down anytime soon.”