Hunter galloped straight for the nearest door. Joss had been taken that way, and he wouldn’t be put off her scent now. He ran through the halls, crashing into walls as he slid on the slick floor. With any luck, the agents subduing human buyers would think he was one of them and not try to stop him.
Joss’s scent grew stronger as he ran, but so did the fighting. His bear raged at him to push harder, go faster, save their mate.
Why there were so many humans, he didn’t want to contemplate. They weren’t the dirty, stinking hunters that lurked in the backwoods. These ones were cleaner, more streamlined and uniformly armed. They were protecting someone, and he hoped their shit got fucked by the end of the night.
He rounded a corner to the force of a blast in his chest. Another volley rat-tat-tatted in his direction and rained bits of wall over his body. Hunter scrambled backward and crouched low to the tiled floor. Blood dripped from the wound, but he kept to his bear form. Idiots didn’t even use silver bullets.
Step by step, the gunman neared. Hunter tore his focus into two. The gunman needed to be tracked, but the sounds of more fighting coming up the hallway were equally important. Hunter didn’t want to be pinned down between two groups wanting to fill him full of bullets, silver or not.
Then there was a clattering of nails against tile, and a flash of fur over his head. A burst of gunfire abruptly ended.
Hunter didn’t wait to see what happened next. He still had Joss’s scent in his nose. He wouldn’t leave her alone in the fight.
Two more hallways took him to where her scent was strongest. The door was sealed shut, so he placed large paws on the wood and pushed.
And pushed.
Metal inside groaned in complaint. The bear riding him hard wouldn’t give up so easily. Claws and fangs dug at the wood and pushed at the metal until something inside sprang loose and he tumbled through the shattered opening.
Andre sat with his back to the wall, a gun slung across his lap. At the sound of approaching steps, he made a token effort to lift it, but the barrel drooped.
Sweat dotted his forehead and he cradled his arm close to his chest. Blood colored his shirt. Hunter doubted he had much longer. Pity someone else got to him first.
Hunter shrank back into his human form with a smattering of pops and cracks. Adrenaline pumped through him and kept the pain of the sudden back and forth at bay. He had demands to make of the man before he departed the world.
“Where is she?” He lifted his lip in a snarl.
“You want her back? Get me out of here,” Andre wheezed.
“You’re fucking insane. After what you did?” He shook his head. “You used her to get to me. How’s that working out for you?”
“Everyone has a price. Get me out.”
Hunter approached the man. He felt a pang of guilt when Andre’s face turned to show his scars. What would the man’s life have been if he’d never put those there in the first place? Same asshole path, or would he have made his money in more honorable ways?
The what-ifs didn’t help anyone. Andre made his choices, just as he made his.
“My price is my mate’s safety, which you already took. My bear wants to rip you limb from limb for taking her from us, but I’m trying to be better than I was. For her. She deserves someone who thinks before they lash out.” Hunter craned his head at a noise from down the hall and smiled viciously. “You’ll get out of here, but I won’t be the one helping you.”
A team of six SEA agents streamed through the open door. Hunter stepped back, hands laced behind his neck to show he wasn’t the immediate threat. They could have Andre, blood loss and all.
“You motherfuckers won’t get a word out of me.” Andre snarled, and with a last burst of strength, raised his gun from his lap.
Bullets peppered him from the SEA team. The gun clattered to the floor and sightless eyes stared back at him.
Hunter expected to feel something for the man. Pity, maybe. Hatred. Relief surprised him, as did the tension fading from his shoulders.
It was over. Truly over. He didn’t need to look over his shoulder for the ghost of his past. Joss wouldn’t ever again be a target because of his fuck ups.
She was safe.
His bear rumbled in his head. She was safe, and now the only thing left to do was claim her properly.
Once he had her back.
“Shaw! The fuck are you doing here?” Crewe growled in a low voice.
Hunter threw his arms wide and shrugged. “Just thought I’d take an evening stroll. Nice of you rat bastards to drop by.”
Over the scent of blood, he picked out the sweet cinnamon that belonged to Joss. She was close, and mad as hell.
Crewe’s eyes stared disapproval at him. He turned his head and spoke into the radio on his shoulder. “I got another shifter in here. Fuckers followed us from our station.”
Something growled and crashed into the door behind Andre’s body. The force banged again and again, each blow harder than before. Guns lifted almost at once, pointing directly at the splintering wood. Howls and hisses grew louder as the frustrated creature fought her way out.
He’d recognize those noises anywhere.
“Stop!” Hunter yelled. “Joss is in there!”
Crewe nodded to a couple of his men, who dragged Andre’s body away from the door. A third positioned himself by the door and placed his hand on the knob. He glanced to Hunter, then to Crewe, then yanked it open.
An angry badger jumped for his throat.
“Joss!” Hunter shouted.
The badger bounced off the SEA agent and dashed past him. Hunter grabbed her around the middle and fell backward. Her claws pierced his skin, but he didn’t feel anything except a full-body buzz at seeing her still alive and well.
Only, she didn’t calm. She didn’t pull back her claws. She twisted and turned in his arms, trying to get loose.
“Stop wiggling,” he growled. “No one will hurt you now.”
Joss hissed. The struggling badger melted out of his arms, turned tail, and ran.
The fuck?
Hunter sprinted after her, skipping from human to bear in an instant.
He streaked by other SEA agents, some in human form and others taken to their fur. Shouts followed at his heels, but they were promptly ignored.
The flash of dark and white fur was all that mattered.
He rounded another corner and skidded to a stop. Joss, still in badger form, had Joyce cornered and trying to climb the walls.
Wide eyes stared at the badger. “Stop, stop, please,” Joyce whimpered. “They were going to do the same to me as you.”
Hunter sat back on his haunches with a huff. Andre, duplicitous bastard, evidently tried to sell two shifters. As much as he loathed Joyce for her part, he wouldn’t wish enslavement on anyone.
Joyce rolled her eyes to him. “Call her off!”
He kind of liked the sight of his mate spitting and hissing her displeasure. He wasn’t about to take her revenge from her. For too long, she’d been pushed down and made to feel bad for being herself. If she needed to keep Joyce on her toes for some minor abduction plot, more power to her.
Hunter chuffed approval. No way was Joyce slipping away from justice.
It wasn’t long before Crewe and a handful of others found them. Hunter winced as he pulled his bear back into himself. His throat worked twice before he pushed the words out.
“She worked with Andre. Doubt she knows much, but you should talk to her anyway.”
Joyce fought, Joss growled, but nothing stopped the determined shifters looking to bring one of their own to justice. Still cuffed, Joyce was hauled away to be processed with the rest of the SEA’s captives.
Which, after a knowing nod from Crewe, left Hunter and Joss alone in the room.
His badger glowered from the corner.
“Shift,” he ordered.
She hissed at him.
“Getting sassy, are you?” He wobbled his head to tease her. Little beast had too
much control over the human side of his mate. He could see how much she didn’t want to relinquish control, but that was too damn bad. He needed his pretty redheaded mate. “I said shift.”
The badger shimmered in an explosion of cracks and pops. Then Joss crouched on hands and knees, red hair covering her face.
Hunter’s heart jumped into his throat. He’d twisted all his worry and fears into fury, but the absence of an enemy brought it all crashing down around him.
He could have lost her.
Joss swallowed audibly. Her face lifted and bright green eyes bored into him.
He crawled forward and pulled her into his lap. His hands shook. By the Broken, he didn’t want to let her go. Couldn’t. Someone would need to pry his hands off her. “It’s over, I promise. You’re safe.”
She wound her arms around his neck, a shiver running through her body. “Take me home.”
Chapter 23
Hunter slid his eyes to Joss for the millionth time since they were given the okay to leave. Crewe and his band of agents had their hands full with the real criminals. A tiny revolt from a clan seeking to help one of their own was small potatoes compared to those that wanted to trade in flesh.
Fuck ‘em, and Joyce, too. He didn’t care what cell they ended up in or for how long. He had his mate back and he intended to never let her out of his sight again. Sure, she might hate it at first, him always dogging at her heels. But he was sure he could be as still as a statue wherever she went. Her own portable, protective gargoyle.
“Watch the road,” she murmured.
Shit. Hunter corrected the slow merge into the empty oncoming lane.
Somehow, they made it back to the ranch without any accidents. She didn’t move when he killed the engine and jumped when he opened her door.
His bear paced through his head and roared at him to fix everything.
Hunter helped Joss from her seat and led her through his door. A flick of a switch turned on a light, but Joss’s eyes stayed dull. Unease skittered over him.
She was there, physically, but mentally? She’d checked out when he told her to shift and had yet to process the night.
The silence weighed down on him. He was always free with a word and a grin, and the heaviness between them made him want to pace as much as his bear. His father’s words came back to him. Show up. Be there. Grab on.
Hunter rubbed at his jaw and tried to put himself in her shoes. She didn’t know this life. Her worst fears were hurting someone in her other form.
His sweet, sensitive mate had experienced true monstrosity at entirely regular, human hands because of him. His past mistakes were taken out on her. How the fuck did he make that up to her?
Images flashed through his head with clear instructions from his bear: never leave her side again.
Maybe Joss wasn’t ready to talk it out, but the floodgates would open sooner or later and he intended to be there when they did.
Hunter jerked his chin toward the bathroom. “Come on. Let’s take a shower.”
She glanced up and blinked. Then his words processed. She pointed at his chest. “You’re still bleeding.”
He glanced down, then stripped off his stained shirt. The place where he’d been shot trickled blood down his chest and side. He gave the wound until morning until it was nothing but a puckered pink splotch. Maybe his bear would stay under his skin long enough to give his body the rest he needed.
“It’s nothing,” he insisted. “Doesn’t even sting.”
Her eyes flicked down his chest. Pupils blown wide, her tongue flicked out to wet her lips.
“You should get cleaned up,” he said in a strangled voice. All he wanted was to sip at those gorgeous lips and make promises to her body he didn’t know how to put into words. Some higher language borrowed from heavenly, otherworldly beings was needed for that. He was but a simple man who only wanted to bring back the smiles to his mate’s face. The troubled frown dragging down her lips was torture.
He grabbed her hand and led her into the bathroom. A fresh shower. Clothes that weren’t borrowed from agents. Those would help set her world to rights.
He hoped.
“Do you want me to leave?”
Joss shook her head, sending her hair cascading all around her. “Stay. Please.”
The plaintive note in her voice grabbed him by the balls. His bear stopped pacing and started ripping him to shreds.
Hunter twisted to the side to turn on the water. A second later, he was back and tugging her close. A hug, that was all he allowed himself while the water warmed. Her racing heart drowned out all other noise.
She let him strip her down. Skies above, she was beautiful. It took everything in his power not to reach for her and carry her to bed.
But that wasn’t what she needed.
Hunter pushed aside the shower curtain and helped her step into the water and mist.
The silence of their ride home was nothing compared to the deafening pings and splatters of water droplets hitting the tiled wall, the tub bottom, or their skin.
And Joss still stayed quiet.
She tilted her face up into the stream and let the water run over her body until she was soaked and her hair clung to her skin.
Hunter stayed back. Emotions ran high in the tight space. He could barely pick out one from another in the intense waves rolling off her. His bear watched with such ferocity, Hunter doubted he’d have been able to move if the house burned down around him.
Then Joss fished a hand behind her and he slipped his palm into hers. A tiny tug pulled him forward.
Heat billowed between their bodies as he reached for her. Touch helped. Hadn’t she done the same when he needed her? Joss stiffened under his hands, but didn’t move away. He caressed her shoulders. Tension melted away with every swipe of his hands across her back and down her arms. She bent her head forward and let off a tiny, pleased sigh.
Fuck, what that noise did to him. Energy crackled between them.
“I thought coming here would be different. That maybe I wouldn’t need to look over my shoulder or worry about the wrong people knowing what I am,” she said finally, voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m sorry, Joss. I want this so bad and I can’t seem to stop fucking up. This is on me. You were only a target because of me.” Safe. She was safe now. A growl still trickled out of his throat. “I’m no good for you. You don’t deserve to pay for my mistakes.”
“Your mistakes?” She twisted around to face him. Sternness pursed her lips. “Did you stab me full of drugs and silver?”
“Well, no—”
“Did you tie me up and stuff me in a closet?”
“No, but—”
“Try to sell me to some truly despicable people?” When he shook his head, she barreled on. “You are not responsible for anyone else’s actions.”
“But they only picked you because of me. They wanted to hurt me, so they went after you.”
“Which is a whole load of bull poop on their parts. Theirs, Hunter. They are such small people for what they did. What did you do wrong? Care for someone?”
He crushed her to him. The weight that’d tied around his neck the moment he realized she’d been taken disappeared in a strangled growl. “You’re too good.”
For him, for the world, he didn’t know.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his shoulder. “I was so scared. Not for me. Well, yes, for me. But mostly that I’d never get to do this again.”
A shuddering breath bathed his neck and with it, the last bit of stiffness that remained in her died. She melted against him, molding to his solid frame like she was made for it.
Maybe she was. Maybe true, fated mates were one in a billion. His bear had known she belonged to him from the beginning. She fit better than any of the others he tried to convince himself was the one for him. It was just natural with her. Easy.
Perfect.
“I would move mountains to find you, Joss. Don’t you ever w
orry about being parted for long.”
“I know.” She tightened her grip. “You picked me.”
“I want it all with you. Rings and a wedding to match the marks on our skin, cubs, you name it. I want you.”
“Cubs?” she murmured.
Joss slid back a step and canted her head. Hope glittered in her eyes and Hunter wanted to punch her ex harder than ever. He’d give her everything the man denied her.
Hunter spread his hands over her stomach. “I think you’d look so fucking cute with a big belly.”
“You can’t curse in front of the cubs.”
“Who do you trust to ease them into it—me or my old man?” He sipped at her lips. “We’ll start easy with the four-letter basics. Work up to creative combinations by kindergarten. If they ain’t blistering ears by the time they hit middle school, we’ll know we’ve done something wrong.”
“Hunter!” She hid her laugh in a shocked gasp, but the wide grin that kept appearing on her face gave her away. “You’re going to be a bad influence and, if you’re anything like your dad, a good father.”
Emotion worked his throat. “I’ll be happy if I’m half as good a man as him.”
Joss walked two fingers from his navel up his chest. “I guess you’ll need to give me a mate mark, then.”
It was his turn to take a shocked step backward. A slow smile played across her lips and she peeked at him from under thick eyelashes.
“Joss,” he said slowly, “are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Fucking hell, his bear was going nuts in his head. Victory laps. High jumps and somersaults. Her words were everything.
“Yes.” She nodded. “To all of it. Mates and rings and cubs. I want it all with you, too.”
Hunter slanted his mouth over hers, licking deeply. A hum rose up in her throat. More, the noise seemed to say. So did the arms firmly wrapped around his neck again.
Hunter swung her around and pressed her against the wet tile. Her soft curves welcomed him again as she groaned right along with him. Sexy, noisy woman.
Mate.
His.
Blood rushed straight to his cock with the thought. She wanted him. Not for a fling while she sorted herself out. Arousal flooded his nose and made his mouth water. This was the moment leading to the rest of his life.
Spurred Fate: Book Two: Black Claw Ranch Page 17