by Eliza Gayle
Dean closed his eyes and savored the companionable silence between them, pushing out thoughts of where they were headed. The calming effect of her presence on his cat amazed him. After the fallout with his brother he'd doubted his ability to trust another female, yet here she was. Her arrival in his life had put a lot of things in perspective and he'd realized what a huge mistake he'd made with Brenda. It was easy to see the differences. The other woman had been beautiful no doubt, but she'd never roused the animal like Niki did and the difference astounded him.
He felt the cat inside stretch and then recede. His contentment had not been at this level since his mother died and he and his brother had to start their lives over in a new place. With his thoughts lost in the past, their peaceful ride ended quickly when Niki turned off the highway onto a much smaller stretch that wound around the lake. After several more miles, she turned onto an unmarked dirt road that barely accommodated his vehicle. With no visible residences and overgrown shrubbery it looked like a rarely used area.
"This is as close as we can get on wheels," she said. "After we stash the vehicles we'll have to make the rest of the trip on foot."
"Do I want to know how you know this area so well?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Probably not."
Layers. The woman had them in spades and he looked forward to taking the time to learn them all.
With the sun barely visible through the trees now, it would soon be dark. They'd have the cover they needed to make their way onto the semi-protected pack land. They'd had very few guards when he'd recovered Niki from this area, but that stunt may have left the wolves on higher alert.
Niki stood on the brakes and swerved off the road.
Dean jerked forward. "What is it?"
She killed the lights and engine before she spoke. "They're closer than I expected." She lifted her head and her nose flared. "Maybe half a mile."
He opened his door and slid out. He signaled to his brother to park on the other side of the SUV to keep the vehicles hidden from the road.
Niki stepped up next to him. "I don't like this. Too many people means too many things to go wrong. It's hard to keep the scope of the job narrow."
"This isn't just some job." He was getting annoyed that she didn't get the driving need to do this. "They're going to be expecting us and you'll be surprised how effective Bhric and his crew can be." The one thing he didn't doubt about his brother was his commitment to retaliation. He'd seen it in action more than once. "If we'd tried to leave them behind they'd have followed anyway. At least this way we all work together without any wildcards throwing things out of whack.
"If you say so." Niki turned around and started pulling off her shirt and pants. Underneath she wore a black brief tank top and matching shorts. He swallowed, hoping his brain would reengage soon. She looked stunning standing in the setting sun. Her skin glowed and she might as well have been naked considering how his body reacted.
Before he could recover, the other three shifters joined them. They took one look at Niki and turned away. "We're going in ahead. We'll try the building where they kept Niki captive first. Meet us at the edge of the woods behind the main building.
Dean nodded and the three men disappeared into the woods.
"You trust them?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess I do. If I didn't trust him he wouldn't be here."
"So before we go in there I have to ask." She looked determined with her arms crossed and the rest of her body rigid.
"Okaaay." He wasn't sure what was coming.
"Tell me about your animal. He's strong inside you, but he's different and I can't put my finger on it. A little wolf, a lot of cat and something else..." She leaned forward and sniffed him, putting her curves well within reach. He smelled her too. Exotic, curious and aroused. Damn what a combo.
"Bear." Might as well put it out there.
She reared back and locked gazes with him. "Seriously?"
"Surprised?"
Niki took another step closer and pressed her nose against his side, his stomach, his chest and ended at his crotch.
"Jesus hell, Niki. What the—?"
His cock twitched with her face pressed so close to it. The beast roared to life, urging him to take his mate. They both wanted her more than breath. But Dean couldn't have her right now. They were already trespassing on Pickwick land and Bhric and his crew were waiting on them.
Although, knowing that almost wasn't enough. She'd gone straight for the jugular so to speak. "Niki, please," he said. He took hold of her arm and pulled her away from his groin. "Niki, we have to go right now."
She looked at him with confusion. "Calder is the only bear shifter I've met but you don't smell anything like him."
"I do not want to know about you sniffing other males. You're asking for trouble." His words came out on a rough snarl. "As for the bear, I don't know what to tell you. No one I know of can scent it. I think instinctively other shifters know something isn't quite right, but they just chalk it up to the DNA cocktail that conceived Bhric and I."
"It's hard to describe," Niki said. "I get a sense you have an extra reserve of unleashed power. Something wild inside you that you keep reigned in."
He had something wild inside him all right and if they didn't go now she'd be bent over the hood experiencing it first hand. Fire licked through him. He couldn't get the image of her face in his crotch out of his head.
A sound in the woods caught both their attention. A strange combination of a bird call and cat yowl. Thank fuck for Bhric right now.
"Time to go, babe. We're being summoned."
13
Niki inhaled. "Oh shit. We need to move fast." She took off running in the direction of the warehouse with Dean right behind her. She knew he'd be by her side, so she focused her attention on the pine trees in front of her, dodging them with practiced precision.
She could shift, but they weren't that far away from the building and she preferred to be in her human form when they captured the wolves. Before Dean and Bhric killed them, she wanted to find out what they knew.
Together they navigated the narrow trail they'd used in her escape. She scented all three shifters and the wolves who lived in this area. Beyond that she only identified ordinary wildlife evident in this region. There were no signs of any other shifters.
Not that there would be. If her family had betrayed her, they had the skills to keep their presence completely hidden. So then why did the hair on her nape stand on end the closer she got to the compound?
When she got close, she spied the hulking form of a shifter she scented as Bhric. Now she understood why he and Dean were so much larger than other shifters. Bears were massive. She picked up another nearby form and guessed it was Greer. She didn't see the bear, but he had to be close.
Then she saw what she'd smelled back at the car. The warehouse she'd been held in was on fire. She skidded to a stop, open mouthed. Orange flames shot from all of the windows and lit up the compound. Shit. It wasn't just the one building. Every building within view was in the same condition. But where were the wolves?
"Don't worry, Niki. They're coming. That had a decent surveillance system so by now they've been alerted we set their compound is on fire." Bhric spoke as if he'd read her mind.
"This is going to bring the humans too," she said.
"Doubtful at this point. This placed is isolated enough that it will take quite a while for anyone miles away to notice a fire, if ever. It's possible these buildings will burn to the ground without notice."
She pursed her lips. Maybe. Goddess, she hated that word. Yes or no, black or white. Never maybe. "You're being foolish. All of you. There might have been evidence in one of those buildings."
"Evidence of what?"
Dean shoved Bhric out of the way and stood next to Niki. "She's right. As usual your rash actions are going to screw up everything."
The shifters behind Bhric snarled. "Is there something you're not telling us?" Bhric asked.
&n
bsp; "Niki doesn't believe these wolves were able to mastermind her kidnapping on their own."
"They were just pawns," Niki said.
"Pawns? For what?" Bhric's shifters moved closer when a howl pierced the night air alarmingly close.
"Looks like we'll have to chat later." Bhric began shifting and Niki watched with utter fascination mixed with a little horror as the magic overtook him. She took a step back. Seeing him at a distance was one thing. Up close and in her space he'd grown larger than any shifter she'd ever encountered, with the exception of Calder. With light and dark fur he represented both wolf and jaguar. How many animals were in his DNA?
Niki snarled. With this many animals shifting at once, it pulled on her to follow suit. One or more of them was more alpha than she was used to.
"Damn it, Bhric. You're fucking this up." Dean grabbed her by the fur covered wrist and pulled her away from the shifters. "Focus, Niki. Look at me. Do. Not. Shift." The compulsion to obey overwhelmed her, pulling her in two directions.
More ear splitting howls grabbed their attention. "Something's wrong," she said, her voice harsh from fighting her shift.
Dean faced Bhric and his friends. "Go. Hurry." He wrapped his hands around both of her arms and held fast while the three shifters disappeared into the night.
"Dean, what are you doing? You've got to let me go."
"No."
Niki hissed. She bared her long, sharp cat teeth. "Do not manhandle me." Without warning, she leapt on him, sending him staggering backward.
"Dammit, Niki. You aren't going to charge into a fire. Seriously, never going to happen. Whatever is going on, Bhric can handle it."
The noise from inside the warehouse kicked up as snarls and screams tore through the night. "They're going to get killed. I can help."
"Trust me, babe. If I didn't think they could handle this, you and I would be crashing through there now. Don't forget he's got that darn bear with him. The odds are so far in his favor it's ridiculous.
"Fuck," she said. "I'm going to want to kill you for this."
"I know. We can figure that out later."
Before she could respond, the building several thousand yards away exploded. A flash of light brighter than the midday sun lit up the sky and temporarily blinded her. The blast was so strong, it knocked them both off their feet. Heat roared in the air around them, followed by debris from the building.
"Shit." She felt Dean pull her underneath him, a growl warning her not to argue with him. Niki took shallow breaths, trying to fight her rising panic. Somewhere along the line she'd lost complete control and the world around her had gone to shit.
"Dean, where is Bhric?" He didn't answer, but she heard his heart beat faster. They both scrambled to their feet. Thick, black smoke billowed around them making visibility almost impossible.
"Can't see a fucking thing," he said. He ripped a piece of his shirt off and handed it to her. "Put this over your nose and mouth."
No argument from her. Her eyes were watering and her throat was starting to hurt. She grabbed the scrap and held it over her face. If those shifters weren't dead, she was going to kick every single one of their asses for this crap.
Start a fire. Fucking brilliant.
Next to her Dean started growling.
"What is—"
The deep roar of a bear boomed through the empty night, vibrating the air around her, followed by the deep cry of two wild cats. Moments later, three animals crashed through the brush and skidded to a stop in front of them. Niki sighed in relief as each one shifted back to human.
"We've got to go now. All the wolves are dead. That explosion is going to draw a damned crowd."
Niki lifted the covering from her mouth. "Ya think, Captain Fucking Obvious?" She whirled around and ran for the vehicles. What a cluster. Sirens went off in the distance, making her pick up speed. She had no clue if the men were behind her and she no longer cared. Every last one of them deserved to be left behind.
At the vehicles, they threw on clothes in a flash and when Dean jumped into the driver's seat, Niki didn't argue. The anger inside her had gone way past simmer to rolling boil. She'd needed those asshole wolves to help her pinpoint who in her family had reactivated the old protocols. She'd started her life as an experiment before finally gaining her freedom only a few short years ago. The last thing she'd wanted now is to become one again. Her child wouldn't either.
These shifters didn't understand shit. They thought they had problems with their mixed-breed politics and peace treaties? Try a twelve by twelve cell with round the clock monitoring and a nonstop barrage of tests at three hour intervals, for years on end. Or the hours of training, that at twelve years old, had left her in so much pain even her hair follicles ached. Until their sadistic benefactor had died, they lived in hell.
Now the game had changed again. Apparently the idea of her bearing a child had been too great a lure for someone still in their midst. Niki planned to do anything and everything it took to prevent the program from starting over. And her only source of intel on the culprit had just gone up in flames.
14
Dean took another swig of whiskey and savored the burn going all the way down. Since they'd returned from their fiasco of a mission, he'd already made his way through three-quarters of a bottle of Jack and still he wanted to strangle his brother.
He'd sat uncaring when Niki had laid into Bhric and his merry band of assholes. All he could see, hell, all he could feel, was the heat of the flames and the gut-wrenching screams from his memories.
His mother and father burning alive with no chance of rescue. The fire had started in the middle of the night and by the time they'd woken, the house had been fully involved, including all of the bedrooms.
Bhric had fought with everything he had to try to get to them. While Dean had been unable to do a damn thing with his leg broken in three places, thanks to being thrown from the upstairs window. After his brother had rescued him, his repeated attempts to get to their parents had resulted in severe third-degree burns on more than half his body.
"What is wrong with you?" Niki asked. "Why aren't you saying anything?"
He didn't look up. He'd never wanted to relive that night, let alone share it with anyone. He did however want Niki's arms wrapped around him, helping him forget. Except he'd never forget. And she had no desire to comfort him. Instead her anger fed the rage.
"Nothing to say. The wolves are dead, that's all that matters."
"All that matters?"
From his peripheral vision he saw her standing next to him with her hand on her hip, practically vibrating with emotion. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he needed to get her away from him before he did something crazy. He curled his hand around the edge of his seat and tried not to think about throwing the table across the room.
"All that matters?" she repeated, her voice rising several octaves. "What kind of bullshit is that? We talked about this. You know there's way more to this than a pack of low-life shifters. What the hell?"
"This isn't a good time." He tried to warn her as he took another swig of the cheap liquor that did little for him. With his metabolism, it would take two to three bottles in a short time to get him drunk.
"Not. A. Good. Time? Are you fucking kidding me?"
Something inside him snapped. He turned and faced her rage with his own. "Jesus Christ, Niki. I need five fucking minutes to get my shit together after that disaster back there and you can't give me that? What the hell is wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with you? I know perfectly well how fucked up this situation is. Take a look around at where you are. You're in a broken down barroom full of dumbass shifters who can't get their heads out of my dickhead of a brother's ass."
Growls erupted around them all of which he ignored. He didn't give a shit what they thought. "All that matters here are the constant power struggles and who comes out on top. They don't care about us. As far as they're concerned we're simply a means to an end. Another way to gain
power amongst shifters."
"You just don't get it," she yelled. "Your egos are so huge you think you're impervious to any real danger. Well, fuck that. You assholes want to sit around here and lord over your bars and your land and whatever the hell else you think is important, you go right the fuck ahead. This isn't about politics or someone's hierarchal rank, you dipshits. This is about cruelty and evil, the likes of which none of you are smart enough to understand. So you can take your bullshit and shove it right up your hybrid asses."
She shoved past him hard enough that he landed back in his seat. The raw pain mixed with violent anger in her voice sliced him open and made him bleed. Somewhere in his brain he knew he should go after her, but he couldn't. Instead he embraced the pain her words nursed. He was half-drunk, angry and bitter with no business being around someone like her.
"That was a dick move, even for you."
At the sound of Bhric's voice, his control snapped. He picked up the whiskey bottle and hurtled it across the room until it slammed into the wall and shattered into a million shards. The table was next. He grabbed the rough edge and hurtled it against the nearby stairs.
His brother was suddenly up in his face, shoving him back. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What I should have done a long time ago." He pulled back and then shoved his fist in Bhric's face. Dean followed him forward and violently unleashed every moment of pent up rage he'd withheld in the past. On his third swing at Bhric's face, his feet slipped out from under him and they both went down hard. "You fucking asshole," he said as he got in a couple more strikes to his head before Bhric twisted and rolled from underneath him.
"I'm not doing this never-ending cycle bullshit with you. She was pregnant and you didn't tell me until she went missing. You were hiding her from me." The all-consuming rage burned out of control inside him. He ripped at his brother's leather jacket and with the extended claws of the cat, ripped it to shreds along with a few pieces of his flesh. "What were you planning to do you bastard?"