by Amelia Jade
“That sonofabitch!” he roared, the sound bouncing off of buildings and echoing out into the night. “He planned it. All along. He wanted to get into a fight with me. He needed to keep me here, so that he could go after Angela. To threaten her. Chase knew that I would respect the order, and that I would stay here. He followed me to her place nearly a week ago. I chased the slippery bastard, but he escaped. He knows where she lives!”
Gray was just staring at him.
“Just check on him, dammit,” he urged. “Please. Something is wrong. Even if I’m wrong, it means they crashed and she could be in danger.”
“Call the cab company,” Gray said. “I’ll go knock on Chase’s door. I’m still not sure what’s going on with your whole spy thing, but if he’s left the embassy, he’s going to pay for it.”
Noah cursed himself for not calling the cab company himself before bothering Gray. He should have thought of that. There were only two companies in town. The first, as he found out, was closed. An operator picked up the second after several rings.
“Hi, you sent a cab to the Cadian Complex on the south side of town. It arrived there about an hour ago. Have you heard from the driver since?” he asked in a rush.
The operator had him repeat the information. “Um, I’m not sure, sir. I can’t really divulge that.”
“Just call your cab driver, dammit!” he shouted. “I think they’re in trouble. My mate is in that car. I need to know if she’s okay. I know where she was going, I’m not trying to get anything secret from you.”
The woman, audibly shaken, put him on hold. She came back several minutes later. “No, I’m sorry sir, I’m not getting a response.”
Noah saw Gray leap over the railing and land on the first floor. He looked through the glass at Noah and shook his head.
“Oh my God,” he whispered.
Chase had Angela. His entire world started to crumble in on him.
“Sir. I am tracking the car, however. Are you…are you with the Cadian embassy?”
Noah looked at the phone like it had been the voice of God. “Yes. My name is Noah Landeau, I am embassy guard number four, assigned to Andrew Raskell.”
“I, okay.” The woman wasn’t sure what to make of that, but she seemed to believe him. She gave him the coordinates for the car, naming the street it was on and the nearest intersection.
Noah ran back inside, shouting the coordinates out loud as he searched for them on the map.
“Here,” Gray said, stepping forward and slamming his finger down. “Go get her.”
No further encouragement was needed. He was out the door and headed down the street as fast as he could, accelerating hard, not caring about his own safety in the ugly weather. At one point he simply leapt up and over an oncoming car, the headlights of which failed to penetrate the falling snow with enough warning for him to move aside.
He ran as fast as he could, arms pumping. It was only after a bit that he felt his right hand go numb. That’s odd. Glancing at it he realized it wasn’t tingling because it had gone numb, it was the phone vibrating in his grip. His heart soared as he saw that the number was Angela.
“Hang on,” he said, answering the phone as he ran. “I’m on my way, Angela. I’m coming. Just hold on—”
“THEY TOOK Cooper!”
He skidded to a halt, stunned. “What?” The question sounded inappropriate, but he didn’t know what else to say.
“A polar bear, it came out of the snow, hit the car. They took Cooper, Noah. They took my son!”
A furious growl ripped from his throat, powered by the anger of two thousand pounds of bear that came ripping out from beneath his flesh, all red-rimmed eyes and bone-white teeth, limbs the size of a telephone pole and covered in far more muscle than something ever seen out in the wild.
Noah no longer cared about the rules. Someone had threatened his family. His mate, her child. They were his entire world, and someone had taken one of them. No, not someone, he thought. Chase. A shifter that until recently he’d trusted completely.
The giant bear the color of beach sand leapt forward, quickly reaching a pace even Noah in his shifter form couldn’t match. The huge claws on each paw served to give him extra traction in the wet, slippery winter-covered streets. He reached his destination swiftly, tucking and rolling into a ball as he saw the car ahead of him. Noah came up out of the roll in human form, having used it to shed his forward momentum far easier and with less effort than skidding to a stop.
“ANGELA!” he shouted, coming upon the black town car and noting the missing rear left door.
“Noah?”
“Oh thank God,” he said, peering inside and seeing her there, curled up with the cab driver.
Jealousy overcame him, but he beat it down with vicious abandon. The night was cold, and they had been lying there for God knew how long. They’d needed the warmth. A quick glance showed him the cab driver had a broken leg, which was why they hadn’t gone anywhere. The car was on its side.
Angela extracted herself from the driver and with his assistance came up out of the half overturned car with ease. He held her for several long heartbeats before looking back inside.
“We’re going to need more hands to get you out of there,” he said to the cab driver, whose face was white with pain.
“We’ll handle that,” a voice said from behind him. “You get her back to the embassy.”
Noah whirled to see Gray, Hector, and Braden all descending into the ditch. Hector and Braden spread out to secure the perimeter while Gray came over to him.
“Go,” he urged. “We’ll discuss this once everyone is okay and inside.”
He didn’t wait any longer. Before she could say anything, he lifted Angela clear of the ground, one hand around her body, the other underneath her legs. Holding her close to him, he summoned his full shifter strength and jumped up out of the ditch in two quick bounds.
“Are you warm?” he asked, his breath coming out in puffs of condensed moisture. The temperature was dropping, and rapidly. What had started out as a wet, miserable snow storm was quickly turning into something worse.
“Yeah. The wind is chilly on my face, but I’m okay,” she said, tucking herself deeper into her winter jacket. “I have a personal heater that I appear to be attached to. It’s making a big difference. Much better than I was.”
Noah glanced down at her in pride. Despite everything that was going on, despite the fact that Chase had attacked her and taken their son, she was still able to crack a joke. Her internal fortitude was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. How she remained calm he wasn’t entirely sure.
Yes you are. She’s in shock. The only thing keeping it at bay at the moment is the fact that you showed up and rescued her. Once you get to the embassy, she’s going to crack.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Angela
Her brain started to re-engage itself once she was settled into one of the big leather La-Z-Boy-style chairs in the shifter lounge at the Cadian embassy. Noah wrapped her in blankets and had just stepped away to fix her some hot chocolate when the tears started.
At some point he returned, his form more of a blur behind the liquid than anything tangible, but his arms enfolding her into a hug were real enough. Noah simply held her until she’d cried herself out.
“It’ll be okay,” he said. There was no false reassurance in his voice, no empty words and necessary lies.
Only truth. It rang loud and clear, like a bell in the watchtower on a clear summer day, radiating strength and conviction through her. Angela heard it. Felt it. Could almost see it. But she couldn’t believe it.
“They have Cooper,” she whispered. “Noah. They took him. My son.”
Her entire body reverberated from the growl that sounded deep in his chest. “I know. I’ll get him back, Angela. You have my word. Chase is going to pay for this. He doesn’t know who he’s messed with.”
She met his eyes, seeing the killer within for the first time. The trained soldier and
bodyguard, veteran of the Cadian-Fenris war and numerous smaller fights before and after that. The scars on his body came back to her, the ones she’d seen and felt with her fingers as they made love, the marks of wounds too horrific for even his shifter healing to completely do away with.
Before she’d always seen him as mostly docile, but with great strength and old injuries he’d suffered at the hands of others. Now she saw them differently. Now they appeared as badges of honor, as marks of someone who knew when to fight, and who wasn’t afraid to back down when necessary. Of someone who would do whatever it took to win.
Angela shivered at the sight of a warrior of death, someone who would stop at no limit. He was here, before her now, revealing himself like a boxer throwing back his hood as he entered the ring. Chase had awoken something dark within her mate, and she had a feeling he was going to regret having done so. Noah was ready to kill, and all he was waiting for now was the target to reveal itself.
“How do we make him pay?” she asked, barely recognizing her own voice as hatred filled it, oozing out of every word.
Noah’s smile could have frozen the devil’s heart. “We wait for him to reveal himself. Then we make him believe he’s won.”
Eyebrows narrowed as she stared at him. “And then?”
His smile somehow grew frostier. “Then I rip his fucking throat out.”
She shivered. Never before had Angela wished death upon someone. It was a new sensation for her. But this was also the first time she’d ever had her child threatened. All of a sudden she saw animals in the wild in a new light, those who defended their offspring. She would have done anything to stop Chase from taking Cooper if she’d been awake. It would likely have been futile, due to the strength differences, but that wouldn’t have stopped her from trying.
There was a polite cough from the doorway interrupting her thoughts.
“Come in,” Noah said, his arms still wrapped tightly around her. She reached up to lay one hand on his arm, then rested her head on that. Right now his touch was the only thing keeping her sane and indoors. She needed as much skin contact with him right then as possible, lest she run out into the night searching for Cooper.
Gray appeared in front of her, squatting down until he was face-to-face with the two of them. “Angela, I need to know what happened,” he said gently. “I’m sorry to ask you to relive it, but I have to.”
“It’s fine,” she said. “I didn’t witness anything traumatic, besides the bear attack. I hit my head on the seat in front of me pretty hard and blacked out. Once I came to, he was gone.” Her voice caught, but she grimaced and pushed her way through it. “And he had taken Cooper with him.”
“Who, Angela? Who took your son?”
“I never saw his human face,” she admitted. “But it was a polar bear. I know they’re fairly rare, right?”
She saw Noah and Gray exchange glances.
“I think I owe you an apology,” Gray said to Noah. “It would appear you’ve been telling the truth all along.”
She felt her mate shrug. “It’s okay. Now that I know what’s at stake, I don’t blame you.”
Gray spoke to Angela once more. “Chase is the only known polar bear currently in Cloud Lake. He’s also supposed to be confined to his room like Noah here, but is suspiciously missing.”
“He took my son,” she hissed. “What are you going to do about it?” Her voice became panicky. “The bag was still in the car, Noah. He didn’t take the bag. Cooper wasn’t wearing his snowsuit, only some warm clothes. He’ll be freezing.” She looked around frantically. “What time is it? He’s going to need to feed soon. His food is in the bag. He didn’t take the bag. Are they going to starve him?” she asked, trying to fight back the panic and losing.
“No,” Noah said firmly. “Chase would have taken Cooper for ransom only. I doubt he wants to keep him. He’ll trade him for the information he wants, I’m positive of it. The only question,” he said, looking around, “is how we’re going to handle it?”
She started to speak again, but before she could, her phone started to buzz in her pocket.
Three sets of eyes watched as she pulled it out, the screen showing an unknown number.
“It’s him,” Noah said harshly, reaching for the phone. “It has to be.”
Angela didn’t try to stop him as he grabbed the phone, and, with one last violence-promising look, lifted it to his ear.
“Hello?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Noah
“Hello Noah,” came Chase’s voice. “I must admit to have been expecting Angela’s voice. After all, this is her phone.” The snarky tone of his voice made Noah’s blood boil. The knuckles of his fingers went white as he squeezed, imagining Chase’s neck between them.
“Well, she’s not interested in speaking to you right now,” he returned icily. “I’m certain you understand just why that might be. So, you’ll have to content yourself with me.”
“Such a disappointment you are. You could have been an excellent loyal son of Cadia,” Chase spat. “But instead you had to go and fall in love.” He said the word like it was something to be abhorred and avoided at every opportunity, as if one was weak simply for being in love.
Noah almost felt pity for him, that he would never know the love of his mate’s touch. Almost.
“What do you want?” he asked, struggling to keep his anger reined in. Now was not the time, he repeated, focusing on the next steps. Once Cooper was safe, then he could unleash hell. But not before.
“Do we really have to play that game?” Chase sighed. “I’d hoped we could just get to the point. Like professionals.”
“So why don’t you answer the damn question then, instead of beating around the bush and trying to act like a fourteen-year-old who thinks they have an IQ of a hundred and fifty and just learned to use the thesaurus to sound smart?” he shot back.
Chase hissed, but it wasn’t clear whether it was humor or anger, and by the time he responded his voice was under control. “Very well. I want it all. Names, addresses, bank accounts, mortgage holders, acquaintances. Anyone and everyone that has helped set up this community, shifter or human, along with all the information to go with them.”
“There’s nothing you can do to humans,” he stated.
“Correct. But I can ensure that they never interact with Cadia in any meaningful way again.”
“You intend to blacklist them.” It wasn’t a question.
“Of course I do. Did you seriously think it was going to go any other way? We can’t have people aiding and abetting fugitives.”
Noah snorted in derision. “They aren’t fugitives, you ignorant panda. They’re just living away from Cadia itself. Among humans.” He figured at this point there was no harm admitting that the shifter community in question existed. They were going to have to give him the information in order to get Cooper back. It was just up to him to ensure Chase never made it back to Cadia with it.
He heard the anger in Chase’s voice at the insult he’d delivered. Not many knew how to effectively insult a shifter, but comparing them to their least intelligent cousin in the wild was almost a surefire way. He needed to get under the other shifter’s skin. Make him angry, but also play to his arrogance, ensuring he was overconfident about the entire situation.
“Where do you want us to send the information?” he asked, playing directly to that tactic now by pretending to give in.
“You won’t send it anywhere. You will have Angela hand-deliver it to me.”
Noah growled. “Not happening. Do you think I’m stupid enough to give her up to you? I mean, give me a little credit here.”
Chase laughed. “Well, you obviously are stupid enough not to realize that there is no way she won’t be at any exchange that involves her child. So perhaps I should reevaluate my intelligence estimate of you.”
Shit. He’s right. Angela isn’t going to trust anyone, not even me, to be there to get Cooper back. She’ll want to be there. Okay, time to
adjust the plan accordingly.
“Where and when?” he asked sullenly.
“Cloud Park. One hour. She comes alone, or I kill the child and her. Don’t test me on that.”
“You hurt the child, and I’ll rip your throat out,” he replied levelly.
Chase laughed harshly. “I don’t want the child. The thing won’t stop crying. Bring me the information I need, and I’ll gladly give the child back. This is a business deal, Noah. Nothing more.”
The line went dead. He looked at the phone for a second and then handed it back to Angela. “You all heard that?”
Both she and Gray nodded.
“I guess we’d better start assembling as much information as we can. He’s going to check it over before he hands over the child. At least the names and addresses part. Bank accounts and shit we can forge.”
“We’re just going to give it to him?” Angela asked. “I mean, I can’t believe I’m saying that. He has Cooper. But that just seems like you’re giving everyone up for my son. You guys are planning more, right? That’s not all there is?”
Noah smiled. “No, that’s most definitely not all, my love.” His eyes went flat, and when he spoke it was with the ringing tone of authority that ensured anyone who heard him knew he was making an oath. “Nobody threatens my family and gets away with it. Chase isn’t going to succeed today, mark my words.”
“How are we going to do that though?”
He looked at her. “You’re going to do exactly as directed. We’re going to give you the information, and you’re going to take it to Cloud Park and deliver it to him in one hour.”
Angela blinked in confusion. “Um. Okay. But then he’ll have the information, won’t he?”
“Precisely. We need to get Cooper back. That’s the first priority. To do that, Chase needs to think he’s succeeded, without problem.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “Once you two are safely out of harm’s way, then, and only then, will we ensure Chase doesn’t get away clean. But the less you know, the less you can give away,” he said apologetically.