by Becca Van
“Why not?” Jett asked.
“Because the guy who broke in wore a ski mask and gloves.”
“Shit!” Brooks rubbed the back of his neck.
“I fucking hate the law sometimes,” Declan said. “Not our law enforcers, but our actual laws. Why can’t someone be arrested even if they don’t get their prey? There should be an addendum which allows the cops to arrest someone on intent alone. The only time that law applies is with terrorism acts.”
“I agree as long as the evidence is strong and not circumstantial.” Emmy nodded.
“Do you have a name, love?” Jett caressed a hand up and down her arm.
“No. Without that I can’t get a restraining order, but even if I did I don’t think it would make any difference. As the leader was being led from the courtroom he was glaring at me with such hatred and vengeance in his eyes. He looked toward the back of the room and nodded at a someone sitting in the last seat. I tried to see who it was, but none of the men back there were looking in my direction and I couldn’t see all of them. The people in front of them blocked my view, but I know Dwayne was giving an order to someone. I could feel it in my gut.”
“That’s the terrorist’s name?” Brooks asked. “You knew him?”
“I used to see him every day. He was an employee of the hotel.”
“Fucking bastard.” Declan rubbed at the back of his neck, and a low rumbling growl emerged from his mouth. “Did the cops try and find the people this asshole associated with?”
“I’m sure they did, but I never thought to ask.” She sighed. “Detective Ryan Brocard was very thorough. He would have ripped Dwayne’s life apart trying to find his associates.”
Brooks nodded. “There were only two arrested, charged, and sentenced?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll bet this fucker had more people working for him.”
“Maybe, but the police would have arrested them if they’d been found.”
Brooks nodded and squeezed the bridge of his nose as if trying to relieve a headache.
Emmy tensed and frowned toward Declan.
Jett glanced at his friend as he rose to his feet and then prowled the room restlessly. When he saw fur sprouting on Declan’s arms, Jett realized he was losing control, and while that worried him, having Emmy see Declan this way scared the absolute shit out of him.
“How long, love?” Jett drew her attention away from Declan so his friend could get a hold of his angry bear.
“How long what?” She frowned at Jett.
“How long were you working together?”
“A couple of years.”
“Why was he planning on blowing the place up?” Declan asked after he was no longer struggling with his inner beast.
“Dwayne was an Army veteran, and though he came out the military physically unscathed, he had PTSD.”
Brooks nodded. “We know what that’s like, but that’s no reason to plan to hurt innocent people. There has to be another reason.”
“There is, was.”
Jett tightened his arms around Emmy when she shuddered. When he met her gaze, it hurt his heart to see tears pooling in her eyes.
“His brother served as well.” She paused when her breath hitched. “He ended up having an arm and leg amputated. Apparently, he didn’t deal well with the loss of his limbs, and six months after being medically discharged, he committed suicide.”
Emmy shook her head. “I feel for Dwayne and his brother and what they’ve had to endure, but I can’t condone what the security guard and his henchmen were planning. I get why Dwayne was angry at the military leaders and governmental powers, but there was no need to target the innocent. The way our retired military personnel is abandoned is atrocious, especially after what they’ve sacrificed to keep our country and the people in it safe.”
Jett swiped his thumbs under her eyes when the tears she’d been holding back welled over her lids and trickled down her face.
“You’ve been living in hell, haven’t you, love?”
Emmy shook her head before shrugging and then nodding. “I’m so tired,” she wailed. “I haven’t stopped moving or looking over my shoulder for twelve months, but I’m scared if I stop he’s going to find me and kill me.”
Jett started rocking her when Emmy began to cry hard. Her shoulders shook with each sob, and she pressed her face into his neck. His polar bear chuffed happily to have his mate in his arms, and while he savored having her slim, lithe body against his, too, he hated that she was in so much pain. Hated that she’d spent the past twelve months running.
That had to stop.
If he, Declan, and Brooks could convince her that they could keep her safe, she might agree to staying with them and they could start wooing her.
* * * *
Declan couldn’t believe he’d fucked up so royally. If it hadn’t been for Jett, he had no doubt Emmy would have been screaming hysterically right now. Thankfully, he’d been able to wrestle his polar bear back, and when he could breathe again, he joined the conversation once more. However, he wasn’t certain Emmy wouldn’t start asking questions. Right now, she was more scared for her own life, but he had a feeling that once she had her emotions back under control, the questions would start.
And that terrified him.
Would she laugh in their faces or scream her head off? Would she think they were feeding her a line of insanity? Declan tried to put himself in her shoes, but it was hard since he’d known about his bear as far back as he could remember.
Finally, her sobs slowed until she was hiccupping. She’d turned on Jett’s lap until she was straddling him with her arms wrapped around his friend’s neck. Brooks was caressing her back, and Jett was rocking her.
She lifted her bloodshot eyes up to Jett’s. “I should leave. If he finds me, y’all could be in danger.”
“You don’t need to worry about us, baby,” Declan said. “We can take care of ourselves.”
“That may be, but what about everyone else in town? What if this guy knows how to shoot a long-range rifle? I couldn’t live with my conscience if one of you, or any of the others, got hurt because of me.”
“Do you want to stop running and hiding, darlin’?” Brooks asked in a gentle voice.
“Yes,” Emmy sobbed.
“Then stay here with us,” Jett whispered against her ear, but Brooks and Declan had no trouble hearing him.
“But…how?”
Declan gazed at first Jett and then Brooks with a raised brow, asking the all-important question without actually verbalizing it. When his friends nodded in agreement, Declan sucked in a deep breath and hoped what he was about say to Emmy would come out right, but first he needed to hold her, feel that gorgeous, sexy feminine body against his.
He shoved the coffee table out of the way and then lifted her into his arms. She gasped with surprise but didn’t reprimand him or ask him to put her down. Declan carried her over to the big armchair and sat with Emmy on his lap.
“Everyone in this town is special, Emmy. You don’t have to worry about us or any of the other men because we’re very hard to kill.”
Emmy frowned up at him before lowering her gaze to his chest. She lifted her hand and began caressing over his left pectoral muscle, but Declan didn’t think she was aware of what she was doing. She was thinking real hard, and he could practically hear the cogs in her mind turning.
She licked her lips and lifted her gaze to his again. “Does this have anything to do with you growing white fur on your arms?”
Declan’s bear huffed out a breath and began rubbing up against his front as if he was trying to get his scent on Emmy.
“How did you do that? Are you all part of a government experiment and black ops team? Is that why you all live far away from the rest of society?”
Declan shook his head and bit his lip to hide his grin. Their mate was smart and while she was way off base with her hypothesis, it wasn’t as far-fetched as it sounded. How could it be when shape-shifters exist
ed? For all he knew vampires weren’t the stuff of legends either.
“No, baby. We live here because we don’t want any humans to see us in our other forms.”
“Other forms? What are you talking about? You’re not aliens, are you?”
“No, we’re not aliens, love,” Jett answered.
“What Declan is trying to tell you…is that we’re all shape-shifters,” Brooks stated.
“What?” Her voice came out a strangled rasp. “Like in werewolves?”
Declan hated the way her heart slammed against her chest and then pounded hard and fast against her ribs. She was panting as if she’d been running and she was as tense as a bowstring. He squeezed his eyes closed and waited for her to jump off his lap and start screaming, but when she remained frozen, he opened them again.
Emmy was staring at him with shocked, wide-eyed amazement or horror. He wasn’t sure which.
“There are a few wolf shifters in town, yes,” he finally answered.
“There are also three lions, three panthers, and three polar bear and Kodiak bear shifters, as well as a few others,” Jett said.
“Are you…what are…where…” Emmy shook her head. “That can’t be. Why would you lie to me?”
Declan’s heart twinged with pain. For some reason, he thought Emmy would believe him, and while he knew he was asking too much of her, it hurt that she was questioning his sincerity.
When she scrambled from his lap, he didn’t stop her, but when she started backing away from them, he slumped in his chair. Despondency encroached through him, and his polar bear began snarling and clawing at his insides as it tried to get to his mate. Declan wasn’t sure he ever wanted to move again.
Brooks stood and held his hands up when Emmy eyed him with wary, fear-filled eyes. “Do you really think any of us would hurt you, Emmy? If we had wanted to, we could have done so while you were sleeping in our spare bedroom last night.”
Jett leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “We would give our lives to protect you, love.”
“Why? Why would you say that, do that? You only met me yesterday. For all you know, I could have told you a pack of lies.”
“You didn’t,” Declan said.
“And you know this how?” She threw her arms up in the air before dropping them back to her sides. She shifted from foot to foot and then she started wringing her fingers together.
“Our senses are far more advanced than a normal man’s. We have enhanced smelling abilities and eyesight, exceptional hearing, and we’re really strong and fast,” Brooks explained.
“You know y’all sound crazy, right?”
Declan nodded and then stood. He gripped the back of his T-shirt and yanked it over his head, before dropping it on the chair behind him.
“W-what are you doing?” Emmy licked her lips as she eyed his chest over. When he saw her shiver, he inhaled deeply and almost groaned when he smelt the beginnings of feminine arousal. She smelled sweet and musky and amazingly sexy. Declan’s mouth watered for a taste, and when he felt his half-hard cock twitch in his pants, he pushed his lascivious thoughts aside. However, there was no way to stop his body’s response to his mate’s desire, and he hoped she didn’t freak out when she saw his hard cock.
“I’m going to prove to you that we’re not lying.”
“And how are you going to do that? Change into an animal?” she asked facetiously.
“Yes. A polar bear to be exact.” Declan tugged his jeans open while toeing off his boots. He bent down and removed his socks before hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his jeans and boxers and shoving them down.
Emmy gasped and covered her mouth, but at least this time she didn’t try to back away from him. Her gaze tracked over his body, and when she got to his groin, her eyes widened. She uncovered her mouth and her lips parted as she stared at his erect dick.
They were all proportionately big men and Declan hoped that her seeing his hard cock didn’t intimidate her, but when he inhaled through his nose again, the sweet musky aroma of her cream grew stronger and he realized she was far from intimidated. In fact, she was getting more turned on by the second. Her pupils had dilated, and her eyes were glazed over with desire.
When he took a step toward her, he realized he was seconds away from ravishing her, but he couldn’t.
He still needed to prove to Emmy that he and his friends were what they said they were. Plus, they hadn’t told her that she was their mate. They were going to have to lay all the cards on the table and then give her time to process. Maybe after all was said and done, she would agree to be with them, would agree to stay and live in Ambrose, in their apartment, and have a long-lasting, loving relationship with them. However, Declan was too scared to hold his breath, too scared to hope.
It would be devastating if she decided to leave, but more so if he’d gotten his hopes up.
Chapter Five
Murphy felt as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head. He’d managed to hack into the city’s CCTV cameras, and after relentless hours, weeks, and months of watching security footage, he’d finally found the bitch.
Weeks after Dwayne had been sentenced, Murphy had finally resorted to planting a tracking bug on the lead detective’s vehicle. It had been hard to be patient, but his patience had finally paid off, three months ago.
Everywhere the detective went was recorded on his laptop, and every night Murphy spent hours going over the detective’s day. When the pig had detoured out to the edge of Houston, to a seedier side of town, he’d known he’d just been given a break.
In the wee hours of the morning, Murphy had driven to the where the detective had stopped his car, parking his own vehicle a few blocks from the location, and then he’d bound in on foot. When he’d seen the cop sitting on the sofa watching TV, he’d realized he’d just found a safe house.
Murphy had scouted the street looking for cameras and had almost laughed when he’d spotted one on the top of some traffic lights, a hundred yards from the safe house. He’d known instinctively that this was the break he’d been waiting for. It might take him a while to hack into the traffic cam, but when he did and he found that bitch, he would be able to follow her direction. He wasn’t stupid enough to think he’d find her overnight, but find her he would.
Emmy Warren was going to pay for ruining their revenge and their lives.
* * * *
Emmy felt as if she was about to go insane and though she knew she should be running for her things so she could leave, she couldn’t take her eyes off of Declan’s long, thick, hard cock. There he stood without a stitch of clothing on, but he didn’t seem self-conscious or uncomfortable at all. He was standing straight and tall as if he was proud of his body.
And he had every right to be.
His collar-length black hair was gleaming in the light streaming in through the second-story living room window. His shoulders were broad and muscular as were his arms and pectorals. She could even see the delineated muscles over his ribs and his abs. Emmy licked her lips as her gaze wandered over his eight pack and she wondered if his muscles were as hard as they looked. His hips were slim, his thighs strong and thick, and his legs were long. The sac between his legs hung low as if the weight of his testes was great, and his engorged cock was jutting out, the broad, bulbous, ruddy head pointing straight at her.
When fur began to sprout on his thighs, she glanced up to his face and gasped when she saw the irises were a much lighter color. More amber than brown. Declan groaned and dropped down to his knees before falling forward onto his hands.
Muscles and sinew moved under his white fur-coated skin, and while it looked painful, other than the first groan, he never made another sound. Emmy had read quite a few shape-shifter erotic romance novels, and in each book the author had depicted the transformation as noisy when bones broke before reforming again. That wasn’t the case with Declan. Other than his heavy breathing there was no snapping or breaking sounds, and for that she was grateful. She wasn’t
sure she’d be able to watch if those torturous noises had been involved.
Even though Declan was on all fours, his body grew bigger. He gained more height and breadth and his head broadened as his snout elongated. She had no idea how much time it took before the transformation was complete. It could have been hours, minutes, or seconds, but she didn’t think it took too long.
Emmy startled and squeaked when warm muscular arms wrapped around her waist from behind, and she glanced back over her shoulder to see Brooks was standing behind her with his front pressed against her back. She’d been so shocked and mesmerized with what was happening to Declan, she hadn’t even noticed he’d move.
Jett came to stand at her side and clasped her hand in his.
“How can this be…possible?” she whispered so she didn’t startle the massive polar bear in the middle of the living room.
When the animal turned his head to look at her, she held her breath, and when it took a step toward her, she tried to step back.
“Don’t be scared, darlin’,” Brooks murmured in her ear. “Declan won’t hurt you.”
“But what if his bear takes over?”
“Just because we can change into an animal doesn’t mean we’re wild ravening beasts,” Jett said. “Declan is aware of everything we’re saying and he is the one controlling whatever he and his bear does.”
“So, the…human side of you is still…cognizant?”
“Very much so, darlin’.” Brooks rubbed his chin over the top of her head.
This time, when Declan took another step toward her, she held still. The closer he got, the more she panted, until she felt as if she was hyperventilating, and yet Emmy wasn’t terrified. She was nervous and in awe, yes, but she wasn’t scared out of her mind.
Declan stopped a couple of yards away from her, and she studied the huge animal. Even while on all fours his head was still higher than hers. She gazed into his amber-hued eyes and felt as if she was drowning, as if she was falling into his gaze or maybe under his spell. There was a wealth of emotion in those amber orbs, and while she couldn’t discern what they were, all her fear and trepidation waned to be filled with wonder, with amazement.