by J. D. Light
"Shit," Cowan said, sighing. "We already knew there were people in positions of power taking advantage of their position to gain access to chosen, but we thought we caught those after the whole bunker fiasco in Crossville."
"Those were just the little guys," Hollyster sneered. "The guys who would have done anything for a buck. Now we're looking for the other guys."
"You realize this thing has been ping-ponging back and forth, right? People are selling their loved ones to people who are selling them to other people, who are running auctions backed by people with lots and lots of money and have FBI ties," Pierce said, starting to get worked up the more he spoke. "Over yonder, we have men working for the FBI, who are using their resources to play games where people who fancy themselves hunters are getting a chance to hunt chosen and then turn them over for a profit, and they're backed by powerful men and women who have money and influence in the FBI. I just feel fucking crazy trying to keep up with all the different people who are willing to hurt innocents to get the money, power, or even immunity they can get from the chosen. It just seems like no matter what we do, there is always going to be someone out there trying to get their hands on chosen for their own gain."
"Unfortunately," Carter said, reaching out to place a hand on Pierce's forearm, his cold eyes intense as he looked at his friend. "That is the fact of life. Human-trafficking is hardly a new thing. Sex, money and power will always be the driving forces for awful, awful people."
Boyce cleared his throat, turning to look at Cowan. "You said you have names?"
"Yeah," the man said, sighing she opened the file and slid it closer, fanning out the pages across the top which were the picture and a brief report of the financial records and the different organizations the four men and one woman were all a part of.
"Oh shit," Flynn said, as my mouth flopped open.
"Yeah," Hollyster said, pursing his lips.
Every person on those five pages were as high up on the social ladder as a person could get. Two political figures, one major software company CEO, and two celebrities who'd branched out into several different avenues of business. They weren't people that would be easy to take on, especially given the fact that they couldn't just disappear without someone noticing and discrediting them with their actual crimes would mean potentially exposing chosen and shifters.
"What do we do now?" Ridley asked, looking just as shell-shocked as the rest of us.
"First things first, I think we've come to the point where protecting chosen is now a big enough job, we're going to need a department dedicated to just that. Which means we are going to need someone with high ties in the FBI that we can actually trust to say it's okay…" Cowan said, trailing off with a cringe. "Or we are going to have to start something without them."
"Shit," Boston said, letting his head drop back slightly. "You mean vigilante-type shit? We're going to stoop to their level?"
Carter turned his cold gaze on Boston, and the big tiger shifter cringed as he made eye contact with the little blond chosen who tended to make people uncomfortable with his frosty blue eyes, because you were never really confident that he wasn't going to kill you. "We might not have a choice, but until the time comes that we have to decide that, we have names of men who think, just like we do that Clay is dead, and won't be in hiding. I think it might be our turn to go hunting."
I shuddered, not sure what to think about the creepy curl at one corner of his mouth.
"Damn it, Syn, we're late," Bennett said, carrying a giggling little baby boy like a football as he marched through the open door.
"You're actually going to try to blame me for that?" The bear growled, his scowling face matching the tiny scowling face of the little baby girl he was holding, turned around and facing out on his hip.
I'd swear she had her arms crossed over her chest as she glared everyone in the room down, making her oddly adorable.
Thompsyn bent forward at the waist, booping the still giggling little boy on the nose, making his gurgled laugh even louder. "Mr. Hunt here was the one that shit in his diaper… and all over the changing table."
"It would have been a much easier clean up if he hadn't kicked the shit out of… the shit and splattered it all over the wall and his daddy," Bennett grumbled, bouncing the little boy and making him squeal.
The blond leopard yelped when a strong little baby hand reached out lightning fast and latched on to the hair on his head when Papa got to close to Daddy, and Lexington gave a hard jerk, nearly pulling him off of his feet.
Bennett reached up and grabbed the little wrist with his free hand while Thompsyn sighed, unwinding his daughter's fist from his mate's hair, and my eyes widened as the little beauty actually looked like she might be smiling.
Bennett glared at his daughter, leaning close. "You're mean to Daddy."
She responded by reaching out and grabbing his face with both hands, pulling him close to place her open drooling mouth to his eyebrow, making my face scrunch up in disgust, but Bennett melted, pulling back with one eye closed because drool was running down into it, though he looked oddly happy.
"Daddy loves you too, Angel," he said softly, turning to walk away just as she reached out and snatched another handful of his hair, nearly jerking him off of his feet again.
Chapter Five
"If you move into my house, we won't have to install a doggie door," I argued reasonably, thrusting deep into Wynn's tight, sexy body.
My entire body was on fire already, my balls tight even though I was trying hard to take it slow, to distract myself with the argument, so I could stay inside him longer. It was always like this when we made love. I wanted nothing more than to stay inside him for hours, but as fast as my body ramped up, I was there less than two minutes, losing my mind with how amazing he felt.
"True..." he gasped, clutching at the back of his couch where I had him with his face practically pressed into the back, while his knees were on the seat and I stood behind, gripping his hips and slowly sliding in and out of him from behind, doing my best to control the spasmic twitches that sometimes had me jerking forward, my thighs slapping against his as I struggled for control. "...but if you move into mine, we'll be closer to the daycare."
The tiniest whimper left my throat, and I didn't even bother to hope that he didn't hear the pathetic noise, since he was a shifter, but I cleared my throat. "By fifty yards," I reasoned, finding that distance too insignificant a reason to make me move everything.
"But sex feels so good here," he said huskily, pressing his face into the crease between the cushions on the back of the couch. "Fuck," he muffled into the material and batting making me smile as I stroked back inside at the same angle.
"It feels good at my house too," I reminded him with a snap of my hips.
He called out, lifting his head to yell at the wall and his ass convulsed around me, milking my cock, and I called out too, shouting an I love you into the back of his neck.
I slowly eased from his body, too exhausted to hold myself up anymore as I flopped to the couch, and he rolled and flopped back on top of me, smiling up at me blissfully.
"Yeah, our sex is amazing," he said in a happy whisper, lazy eyes raking my face.
We sat there for a moment, trying to catch our breath. I swallowed hard, somehow having too much saliva in my mouth and not enough in my throat.
"I love you too," he said, when I thought he might have fallen asleep.
I turned my head to look at him, a small smile on my face. "I know. You told me the other day when you fell asleep on the couch and I had to move you to bed. I put you in bed and started stripping you down to your underwear and you sat up, kissed me, told me you loved me, and then slumped forward on me like you didn't have any bones.
"I told you the other day and you're just now getting around to telling me?" he demanded, sitting up tall and glaring over at me.
"I wanted to wait until the moment was right, and we've been pretty busy lately between the daycare and trying to help org
anize this new unit.
"And you decided while you were coming into me, that it was the right moment?"
"It felt right."
He pursed his lips, but I could see the slight tick of his at the corner of his mouth, as he tried to hide a smile. "Fair enough. I love you too."
***
I was putting the last of the boxes on the dolly to walk across the street when I heard the yelling, followed quickly by the sound of a gunshot, and I was already moving, my hand on my gun at the small of my back. I peeked through the front window, and my blood froze as I saw my mate stumble sideways holding his right shoulder while Mr. Bradley held a gun on him.
I couldn't hear what the man was saying, but I opened the front door and aimed, giving a quick glance around to make sure there wasn't anyone who could potentially get shot, but it looked as if everyone had cleared out at the sound of the gunshot.
Hitting what you were aiming at from this far away with a pistol wasn't easy, but I'd practically lived at the gun range during my time with the FBI, and I went about twice a month now to make sure I didn't lose it.
It happened fast. Something that didn't get any less surreal no matter how many times it happened. I squeezed the trigger, and he was already hitting the ground, the back of his knee completely obliterated.
The gun in his hand hit the ground and I ran across the street as fast as I could, scooping the weapon off the ground and tossing it aside as I rushed over to my mate.
He looked pissed, leaning around me to glare at the man on the ground as he talked on the phone that he was holding between his good shoulder and his ear. "Yeah, he's down and crying," he growled. "Boyce shot him in the back of the leg."
"Are you okay," I asked, my breathing not coming nearly as easily as it should be as panic started to settle hard on my chest, even though I could tell by the way he was holding his arm that it wasn't a life-threatening injury.
The sound of a siren had us both turning to find a police car sliding around the corner, and I finally registered the sound of Teddy whining and clawing at the front door, clearly agitated.
"He's here. Thanks, Gabriel." He let the phone fall to his lap where he was sitting on the top step and turned to nuzzle my hand when I reached up, cupping his face. "I'm fine, Boyce. Just probably a broken arm."
"That's not fine," I whispered, a tear spilling over the rim of my lower lid. "Fine means no scratches, no bruises, and definitely no broken bones."
He kissed my palm as the man on the grass let out another loud scream, drawing our attention to the writhing Mr. Bradley who looked like he'd tried to get up and move.
"Did you lock Teddy up?" I asked, turning back toward the door when the dog let out another long, pathetic sigh.
"Yeah. I saw Mr. Bradley stagger up the sidewalk and I didn't want you coming outside and getting shot, so I rushed outside, shutting the door behind me so Teddy didn't get shot either."
"Right," I growled, narrowing my eyes on him even as more tears rolled down my face. "Because you getting shot is better than either one of those options."
He cringed. "I know, I know. I panicked and forgot that you are not only better with a gun than me, and definitely trained in this kind of thing, but you also basically heal as fast as me too, now. All I could think of was that I couldn't let you get hurt."
"I'm so mad at you," I whispered, leaning forward to press my face to his neck and take a long, deep breath, basking in his scent, relieved he was alright as the band around my chest eased.
"What the hell happened here?"
We looked up to find West smirking down at the whining, crying mess of a man screaming from the ground.
***
"Do you not have a shirt with you?" Gabriel asked blandly, as he looked over at West as the man excitedly paced the floor of my kitchen, while Officer Todd took our statement at the table, Teddy curled up on top of my feet like he was holding me to the spot.
I'd already been splinted, the elder telling me that the bone had been nicked and had definitely fractured, but that it had been such a small crack, that the long splint, with its straps wrapped around my shoulder and torso, should be more than enough to keep my shit together for the next couple of days while it healed. I'd just been thankful the thing hadn't shattered.
West curled his lip at the man, rolling his eyes. "I was out for a run when I heard the shots and then the siren, so I meandered over."
Gabriel turned back toward Boyce, his lids drooping as his eyeballs fluttered behind his lids like he was barely containing the urge to roll those white-blue eyes dramatically.
He cleared his throat, licking his teeth instead. "Did you say you shot from your front porch?"
"Really, B?" West said, a huge grin spreading across his face. "That's at least forty-five yards. Maybe fifty."
Gabriel huffed, closing his eyes. "Agent Dyer, if you are going to keep interrupting this conversation, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"Ask all you want."
"I'll forcefully remove you if I have to," Gabriel growled, his nostrils flaring with anger.
Anger. The Ice King was actually angry. I was unaware he had emotions.
"You are more than welcome to try," West said, tauntingly, echoing what Gabriel had once told him.
I looked over at Boyce, both of us smiling stupidly, both probably thinking the same thing. Whatever the beef was between these too, the chemistry was hot, and with West sticking around to help with the organization of a new group, the whole town of Purdy might go up in flames from the chemical reaction.
Next Up in the Series:
Not that Angelic: Chosen Book 28
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Chosen Series
Just Ridley: Chosen Book 1
Grumpy Old Bear: Chosen Book 2
Sweet Sutton: Chosen Book 3
Call Me Baby: Chosen Book 4
Pretty Angel: Chosen Book 5
Hot Stuff: Chosen Book 6
Blondie's 1998 with a Goat: Chosen Book 7
Precious Boy: Chosen Book 8
Little Sh*t: Chosen Book 9
Parker's Silver Lineman: Chosen Book 10
Awkward Smile: Chosen Book 11
Blood, Paint and Pumpkin Guts: Chosen Book 12
Richypoo, That's Not a Bong: Chosen Book 13
Give Me S'more: Chosen Book 14
Not All Rednecks: Chosen Book 15
King Donkey Dong: Chosen Book 16
Kiss Your Lion Mouth: Chosen Book 17
Stealing the Cowboy's Hat: Chosen Book 18
My Hero, Lincoln: Chosen Book 19
This Grown Up You Speak Of: Chosen Book 20
Not That Kind of Private Investigator: Chosen Book 21
Getting Over the Bully-Sh*t: Chosen Book 22
Dance in the Rain: Chosen Book 23
No Passing Zone: Chosen Book 24
Going Down on the River: Chosen Book 25
Calling in a Recker: Chosen Book 26
Terra Mortis
Corrupting Kross: Terra Mortis Book 1
Forever Young's: Terra Mortis Book 2
Mating Martigan: Terra Mortis Book 3
Hearting Cast: Terra Mortis Book 4
Possessing Ragyn: Terra Mortis Book 5
Hounding Camp: Terra Mortis Book 6
Having Ripley: Terra Mortis Book 7
Tempting Blalock: Terra Mortis Book 8
Riling Cagney: Te
rra Mortis Book 9
Trolling Seeley: Terra Mortis Book 10
Bending Ridge: Terra Mortis Book 11
Harassing Mitch: Terra Mortis Book 12
Frustrating Leighton: Terra Mortis Book 13
Convincing Jensen: Terra Mortis Book 14
Claiming Wright: Terra Mortis Book 15
Training Days
Chandler: Training Days Book 1
Brighton: Training Days Book 2
Jordan: Training Days Book 3
Farris: Training Days Book 4
Mac: Training Days Book 5
Vale Valley
Forging a Family: A Summer Romance (Season 3 Book 13)