by Jade Alters
To my relief, Eve was in the same van. We bumped back onto the highway. I fought the tranq as long as I could, but darkness descended, and my eyes fell shut.
Eve
“Where are you taking us?” My voice was steady, but my pulse wasn’t. Mostly, I was grateful they’d dumped Owen in the back with us. Seeing the gun pressed against his head had shattered my illusion that I had any control over this situation.
I wanted to scream, cry, punch everyone in that car. But I didn’t want them taking my reactions out on Owen.
“It’s nothing you need to worry about, omega,” the bigger guy said.
I bit down on the inside of my lip. My blood pressure spiked.
Do not engage, do not engage. Owen is in the back. They could kill him. His life is worth more than your feelings.
In my career, I’d had many men try to belittle me. Some were colleagues. Some were defendants sitting in a jail cell. I’d always had options on how to respond. Today, I had very few options.
I focused on the facts. There were three shifter males in the car. Their scents were subtle, as if they’d taken a large does of suppressants one time, but not consistently. That had likely been to evade Owen’s notice. Number one, the largest, was driving. Number two, the smallest, was sitting next to me. He had a gun. And number three, in the passenger’s seat, was silent. He also had a gun.
“Why is your boss interested in me?” I had to ask.
The driver chimed in with an answer. “Didn’t like an omega rising above her station, trying to put him in the slammer.”
Above my station? Were we in 1820 and I didn’t notice?
“Surely he wasn’t angry that I was doing my job.”
“Only a little. He likes omegas. They’re hard to find, these days. He collects them. Wants you as part of his pretty little crew.”
My blood ran cold. This was far worse than I’d anticipated. I’d imagined Bull wanted to eliminate me because of my relentless pursuit of ending organized crime in Denver. Prosecutors were targeted from time to time. But if he wanted me because I was an omega…
“Kinda big for an omega aren’t you?” That comment came from the smaller one. I assumed he was jealous. I was bigger than many human men, but it was very rare for me to be larger than a shifter male. It must be giving this one a complex.
“Kinda small for a shifter aren’t you?” I said back without thinking. Shit. It had just slipped out.
The smaller one growled, but the driver howled with laughter. “Jeez, dude, she got you.” He turned sideways in his seat to point at the smaller shifter beside me. “Keep your paws to yourself. Boss said she needs to be alive.”
The complicated feelings surrounding my size had not been left behind in the shifter world. Owen had always claimed he loved that I was taller and curvier than most omegas. Most were slight, petite, little wisps, with thin, wan faces and skinny arms and legs.
I was 5’9”, and twice as wide as some of the tinier omegas. The rational part of me was glad for my size. I couldn’t be pushed around easily.
But as a consequence, I’d stood out among omegas. And even among human women, whose size varied a lot more, I was on the larger side. And I liked to eat. This has not gone unnoticed by human dates, or human friends. In the shifter world, eating heartily was a necessity. We needed the fuel to keep pace with our metabolisms in a way that humans did not.
How many times had I finished off a steak dinner only to get a side eye from a date? More than I could count. I could also lift heavier weights than human men, and out-play them in sports. I could also shoot a gun and throw a knife, not that I’d allowed any human man to glimpse that side of me.
Now wasn’t the time to fixate on my hang ups. I needed a plan to deal with these shifters. Maybe I could overpower the smaller one, and grab his gun?
The truth was, I’d gotten lazy. I was able to defend myself against humans, but I’d let myself go concerning other shifters. I had stopped honing my senses.
However, now that I’d spent time around him again, I was tuned into Owen. And speaking of Owen, his breathing had changed. I focused on him as his breathing sped up. I didn’t dare turn my head to look. I sucked in a quick breath as I heard a slight scraping sound from the back of the van.
With a roar, Owen burst from the back.
In the blink of an eye, he’d shifted into bear form.
In one powerful leap, he was next to me. His bear swiped across the throat of the goon in the back seat. Blood sprayed across the vehicle as the body hit the floor.
As a bear, Owen was so big that there wasn’t any extra room left, but I was able to reach down and grab the gun from the dead shifter’s hand while Owen pushed forward, biting the driver on the neck until he slumped over.
Blood poured out, coating the front seat. While Owen shoved his way behind the passenger seat, I flung myself into the space beside the driver’s seat and grabbed the wheel. The driver’s leg was still pressing the gas down. I shoved it off the gas pedal, and yanked on the emergency brake. The van lurched sideways and skidded to a stop.
The bigger shifter, the only one left alive, opened the door and threw himself out. Instead of shifting to run from Owen, he stayed human, clutching his gun.
Owen followed. But he was still sluggish.
I checked the pulse of the two left in the car. Both dead. Outside, thirty feet away, the shifter held a gun pointed toward Owen.
Owen could survive a single gunshot as a bear, but that was not ideal. He wasn’t going to die on my watch, not if I could help it.
Owen might not be my mate, but I had loved him. And before I’d loved him, he’d been my best friend. We’d shared everything at one point. He’d pulled the first tooth I lost. I taught him how to dive into the lake near our home. And when it was time to try kissing, we’d practiced on each other. I would do anything to save him.
On the other side of Owen, the guy’s arms shook. His skin was a washed-out gray. Blood flowed from the gashes on his head. The guy fired his gun at Owen, but he missed.
Here goes nothing. I peeled my shirt and pants off. For the first time in ten years, I shifted. The usual pain rushed over me. My bones snapped and popped.
Exhilaration reigned as joints realigned themselves. I reveled in the sun on my fur and the dirt beneath my paws. Unlike all the other times I’d shifted in my life, today I truly appreciated the power harnessed in my bear’s body. Two bears, against one shifter that was in human form? Even one who held a gun? No contest.
I approached slowly. The idiot didn’t realize I’d shifted.
When I was close, I opened my jaws. I let out a thundering roar. I sank my teeth into the back of his neck and pulled. Blood filled my mouth. As the life drained from goon number three, I shook his limp body from side to side. Owen jumped on him from the front, and within seconds, it was over.
Owen butted his head against mine. And to my surprise, I let him do it for a few minutes until I itched to speak to him. I shifted back to human form, panting from the exertion.
I wiped the back of my hand over my mouth. I’d just killed someone.A fellow shifter. I’d always heard humans say that having to kill someone, even in self defense, was traumatic. Something that stayed with them forever. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but I didn’t feel bad at all. I didn’t like that I’d taken a life, but Bull’s shifters had forced my hand. I felt capable, and strong for having been able to handle them.
Maybe it was because I was a shifter. Maybe we viewed it differently. Traditionally, our bad guys didn’t go to jail. They were exiled, or they were killed. And exile for Bull or his men? That would just be sending the problem to another clan. Honestly, I’d done the world a favor by getting rid of him.
Or maybe I just had a ruthless streak. I’d have to ask Owen later how he and his team viewed having killed a fellow shifter.
But for now, Owed had shifted back as well. He stood there, naked. I couldn’t get enough. I stared openly at his body, at his ripped muscles an
d gorgeous skin. Growing up, seeing others naked had been a part of life as a shifter. I had forgotten what it was like.
I let my gaze travel over his body, his defined chest, his broad shoulders, his firm, flat stomach. A flush came over me; I could feel my neck and cheeks get warmer.
He pulled me toward him. “I hate that you had to fight. I shouldn’t have ever let them get close enough to you to take you. But that was fucking hot.” Just like he had last night, he put his hands on my face. He leaned in and kissed me on the lips.
“There’s blood in my mouth,” I said.
He dropped his mouth to my jaw, where he kissed down to my neck. “You’ve been with the humans too long if you think that’s a turn off for me.”
“I’m glad that you think that was hot, but we are naked, covered in blood, and standing in a field near a highway.” I cocked my head. “Sounds like the start of a movie.”
“My kind of movie,” he said. Like last night, I melted against him. I let my head fall back as I moaned. He moved his lips down, from my neck to my chest, where he licked a long stripe across my collarbone.
“What would the title be?” I asked haltingly. I could barely get the words out as his tongue moved down and danced across my breasts.
“The Bear Gets What He Wants sounds like the perfect title.”
Owen thought he was clever. Two could play at that game. “I was thinking more along the lines of, The Alpha Has to Work For It.”
Even as I laughed with him, the space between my legs grew wet as he stroked and kissed my swollen breasts. My knees trembled. I wanted him inside me again. I wanted him to put his cock in me and fuck me.
“I want you,” he said.
Astounded at my own brazen thoughts, I agreed with him. “I want you too,” I said, which was a massive understatement.
I put my hand on his face. His dark eyes, usually piercingly sharp, were a little dim. I smoothed my hand over his cheek. If he wasn’t back to one hundred percent, we didn’t need to be fooling around. And it was probably prudent that we watch out for more of Bull’s men, instead of hanging all over each other. “I’m grateful you are, but how are you even awake?”
“My MASK unit spent about a month ingesting tranquilizers. A little bit at a time.”
I looked at his eyes, trying to see if his pupils looked any different. “I thought that was a myth.”
“Nope. It works like any drug or alcohol. I’m not immune, obviously, but I have a tolerance.”
On impulse, I leaned in and wrapped my arms around him. “You are full of surprises.”
His arms came up to grip me in a full-bodied hug. “This must have been Bull’s B team if they didn’t anticipate something like that.” I felt him kiss the top of my head. “They didn’t even cuff me.”
“Noobs,” I said, looking up at him. “That’s what my boss’s kids say.”
We laughed together.
He pulled back a little. “It’s all I can do to keep my hands off of you. And I would love to have you outside, but not until we’ve dealt with the rest of Bull’s lackeys. They could be surrounding us right now, I’d miss it.”
“Not into exhibitionism?”
“Not with people trying to kill you.” He looked up at the sky, then turned, looking over the road and the woods behind us. “Let’s get going. We either need to shift, and travel as bears, or we need to take this van back to the hotel and get the patrol car. This van could have a tracker on it.”
“How did they find us to begin with?” I asked.
“Bull has infiltrated everywhere. Now that I know he’s a bear, it makes more sense. He’s able to reveal himself to shifters, and gain absolute loyalty. It’s possible he’s had a tracker on your car too. ”
“Ugh. Makes me want to push the car into the Royal Gorge.” I shivered. This wasn’t my first encounter with a smart criminal, but it was the first where I’d been so thoroughly snowed. At least I wasn’t the only one. “What’s your recommendation? Shift or drive?” I asked Owen.
When I saw the smug way his lips turned up at the corners, I whacked him on the arm. “Don’t say a word. Yes, I am able to recognize your expertise.” I coughed. “Every now and then.”
He couldn’t stop the grin from fully spreading across his face. “In that case, we need to shift. That’s the fastest way to throw them off.” He pulled up a map on his phone. “Let me show you where we’re headed.”
He pointed to a tiny spot on the map east of Avon. “My safe house cabin is in Red Cliff. It’s not much of a functioning town now, so we’ll stay there for now.”
“You know, I’m kind of looking forward to shifting again,” I said. “The first time I was so focused on escaping from Bull’s men that I only partially was aware of how it felt. This time I plan to enjoy it.”
“Don’t get too comfortable. I need you to be aware of your surroundings.”
“I know. We’re not out of the woods yet.” I waited a beat. “Literally.”
He shook his head. “I saw that coming a mile away.” He rolled his eyes. “And no, I am not going to make a joke about coming.”
“Too bad.”
He pressed his mouth against mine. “Raincheck once we’re at my cabin?”
“Definitely,” I said, letting my hand pass down his back to squeeze his firm backside before we shifted.
He grabbed my hand. “I’ll be thinking about it the whole way up,” he said with a rumbling growl.
I lifted my head to the sun, and I let the change flow over my body. Beside me, Owen shifted into his bear. After we changed, he rubbed his nose against my fur, then he looked to the west, asking if I was ready.
I was more than ready. I took off at a slow lope, letting him catch up to me easily.
I’d thought my earlier shift felt freeing, but this shift moved beyond that into euphoria. As I’d told Owen, when I’d been focused on escaping from Bull’s men, I hadn’t been able to fully experience the magic of the transformation. I loved being in my human form, but I wasn’t human. I was a shifter. And I’d denied that part of myself for ten long years.
The vivid green trees on the mountains stood out in stark contrast to the clear blue sky. As a bear, I smelled the sharp pine needles, the fresh dirt, the melting snow. In the distance, I heard the call of a hawk, and the beat of a wild goat’s hooves.
I took off, ready to feel the wind on my face. When I pretended to be human, I was only half of myself. When I was with Owen, I had a connection I’d never find with a human. Had I done the right thing ten years ago by leaving our clan?
Could I have found another way? Could I have done it without walking away from him completely?
Owen
We ran for several hours as bears, farther from the city, and toward Red Cliff. My bear was pissed that I wasn’t taking Eve to my real cabin in Avon. He wanted her in our home.
Give it up, show off. We aren’t going to push her.
“Here it is,” I said as soon as we’d shifted. I’d built the little cabin myself, about five years ago.
For the first five years after Eve left, I’d been unable to stomach building something that I’d always thought we’d live in together. Eventually I moved on, I quit obsessing over her, and I constructed the cabin, board by board. I didn’t live here most of the time, but it was an effective safehouse and weekend getaway.
Avon was my favorite, but Red Cliff was a good place to hide out. It wasn’t even a real town now, so we were safe from all but the most avid backpackers and hikers.
I’d traveled all over the world, but I’d never found a place that was half as beautiful as the western part of Colorado. We had high mountains, but we had trees and green grass too.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
Was it lame that her approval made my heart beat a little faster? I considered offering her a tour, but instead, I was going to act on her earlier interest.
I put my hand on her arm. “You want clothes? I have plenty here.”
She drap
ed her arms over my neck and breathed against my skin. “No, I feel fine just like this.”
I took her face in my hands. After ten years of not having her, I wanted every part of her. Not just sex, but talking, kissing, making out. We were already naked, so my arousal was clear. She tipped her head back and parted her lips for me.
As we kissed, I let my hand wander. I rubbed her back, then let one palm rest on her backside. She sighed, and leaned in closer, which pressed her bare chest against mine. She shifted, standing with her legs apart. I put one hand on the back of her neck. I loved the way her thick hair felt against my arm. I brought my other hand to her breasts, where I gently squeezed her nipple.
She gasped, loud, and rocked against me. The motion brought her wet sex in contact with my leg. For someone who’d been a virgin just yesterday, Eve sure did know what she was doing.
I groaned at the feel of her soaking pussy on my thigh. I grabbed her backside, pulling her tight ass against me. My cock pressed against her stomach. Needing to concentrate on something besides my own impending orgasm, I took one hand and lowered it to her pussy. I carefully rubbed one finger over her clit. She cried out as her knees buckled, and she sagged against me.
She grabbed onto my shoulders and dropped her head on my chest. “Whew.”
I guided her to the couch and sat down, intending to pull her onto my lap, but she didn’t follow. “I’m going to try something,” she said, and she knelt down in front of me.
“Oh god,” I breathed.
I never thought I’d see the day when Eve would get on her knees for me. She took my cock in one slender hand. She leaned her head forward, and a curtain of dark hair hid my view. I scooped her hair into my hand, holding it in a side ponytail. There was no way I was going to miss seeing her mouth on my cock.
She licked all the way up, before closing her mouth over the head. She sucked, and hummed and used her hand to complement the motion of her mouth.
I pressed my hips into the couch cushion, unwilling to do anything to disrupt her. “How--” I squeezed my hand into a fist to keep from coming just from the sight of her. “How did you know what to do?”