Blackjack Bears

by Amelia Jade

  Right now his only concern was Mila. Her ponytail bounced gently as she walked backward, her arms at her sides. He was worried for her, of course. But there wasn’t a trace of fear in her mocha-colored eyes, and even the red flush of her cheeks showed more embarrassment at her predicament than anything else.

  “And just what is that?” Director Burnatawiz asked, sarcasm dripping from every word.

  Clearly he thought he had the situation well under control. It was time, Pierce decided, to disabuse him of that notion.

  “That the woman you think you’re holding hostage was the leader of one of your elite strike teams. Do you really think she’s that helpless?”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Mila

  Her lips peeled back in a snarl as Pierce told the old man just how wrong he was about her qualifications and therefore also her helplessness. Or lack thereof in the latter’s case.

  Mila felt the old man jerk in surprise as his head moved from Pierce to regard her. She couldn’t see him to be sure, but the body language all added up. That’s when she made her move. The gun barrel was placed with some force on the top of her left temple.

  She did three things all at the same time. First was drop her head as far to the right as it could go. Second was to drop her right hip as well. The third and final thing she did was bring her left arm flying up toward her head.

  Because the director didn’t know how to truly handle a gun, instead of keeping his left arm in tight to his body, he had it out to the side and bent at a sharp angle to point it at her head. It was a classic amateur mistake.

  One moment he had her in his sights, the next she was dipping out from underneath it, while her left hand slammed into his elbow, pushing the gun past her head.

  The gun went off, the sound a deafening roar that made her ears ring as the bullet exploded from the chamber. The old man shrieked in pain, but Mila had no time to figure out why. He still had the gun in his hand, and she needed to fix that.

  Her dip to the side became a half spin and she was suddenly facing him. Her arms came up and quickly twisted the gun out of his grip and hurled it toward Pierce, away from the human guards. Then she grabbed the stunned director by the shoulders and tossed him into the path of the two humans acting as his bodyguards.

  As they stopped their charge to grab him, she saw the wound in his side. The gun had grazed his right hip, leaving a trail of red.

  Good.

  One of the guards grabbed the director and hustled him off, retreating down the corridor with him while the other advanced on Mila, clearly meaning to buy time while he escaped.

  “He’s getting away!” she shouted, hoping that Pierce might hear her.

  But from behind her there came only grunts and the sound of punches and other blows landing. Whatever was going on, Pierce had no time to help her. It was up to Mila if they were going to stop Burnatawiz from escaping.

  Face set into a neutral expression, she went to meet the final human. The drug-addled one had disappeared down the hallway with the director she noticed. It was one-on-one, only him standing in her way.

  Mila strode forward confidently, arms raised in a guarded position. The guard, clad in all black with gray markings, stood his ground and waited for her. She ducked to the left and tossed a quick jab to test his defenses. The man didn’t move—instead he simply slapped her hand out of the way with casual ease.

  She followed that up with a lightning-quick one-two combination, but once more he simply used superior positioning and strength to move her arms away from their intended target paths. Mila was no slouch in close combat, but she was also no expert. This man clearly was.

  That was okay though; she’d had training on how to take bigger, stronger men down before. The first principle she intended to use was to make him overconfident. That included letting him toss some punches, ones that she narrowly avoided. Then she left herself open to a devastating blow to the head.

  The guard didn’t miss the opening and his left fist came driving in at her head.

  Except her head wasn’t there anymore. Mila let her knees go weak as she wrapped her hands over her head, creating an O-shape with them. The guards arm punched right through the middle of the circle, and her linked hands came down on his arm, splitting at the last second to grip it tight.

  Then she used the slight forward momentum this imparted in her to kick out with the heel of her foot. Hard.

  “Argh!” the guard screamed in high-pitched agony as she slammed the entire foot into his crotch with as much force as she could muster.

  Trying not to notice whether anything had given way under her blow, she let go of his arm, falling to the ground. Unlike her opponent though, Mila rebounded and scrambled right back to her feet. The guard tried to overcome the pain, but she darted back to one of the other bodies, snatched a tranq gun from it, and pumped him full of three darts.

  “And stay down,” she spat, turning back to the shifter fight.

  A quick count showed five of the unknowns against the five Koche brothers.

  “Time to end this,” she muttered. “Pierce, give me a target!” she hollered into the melee, hoping someone would hear her.

  Someone bellowed and an enemy shifter flew across the hallway and hit the wall, leaving him momentarily clear of the others. Mila smiled, raised the gun and sent a dart into his arm.

  The shifter batted it away carelessly and pushed off the wall. He made it two steps, then faltered as the tranquilizer raced through his system, aided by the fast beating of his adrenaline-fueled heart.

  “Another!” she shouted.

  One of the Koche brothers was grappling with his target. He spun on the spot, presenting the broad back of his foe to her. Mila used two darts, and down he went. With the odds now five on three, it was only a short matter of time before the others all went down with darts in their bodies as well.

  All five of the Koches were breathing hard, as was she.

  “Pierce,” she said in alarm, rushing to his side as she saw the massive opening in his skin along his face. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded, gave her a thumbs up, and then tapped his wrist, as if wearing a watch.

  “You’re okay…time…” she frowned.

  “He’ll be okay, he just needs time,” a voice supplied.

  Mila turned.

  It was the one named Kassian, the one who had almost killed her.

  “It would appear that I was wrong about you, little one,” he ground out.

  Then he turned away.

  “Well, if that’s an apology, consider it accepted,” she said. “Now come on, what do you say we get the hell out of here?”

  There was nothing but agreement. She led the way down the hall toward the underground parking garage. There should be no more than a couple of guards left out there at best, and if they were smart, they wouldn’t interfere with the six of them.

  As they ran on, something occurred to Mila. It tickled the back of her mind, staying just out of reach. She didn’t know what it was telling her, but one thing was clear.

  They were forgetting something. Something important.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Pierce

  Ahead, Mila slowed as they approached the double doors that led out into the underground.

  He moved up alongside her, realizing that she probably wanted him to lead the way, in case there was a trap of some sort.

  Smart thinking. My girl has some brains.

  His girl. He eyed her as he approached. Her fair skin was flush with blood as her heart raced, the adrenaline and excitement powering it to new highs. The close-set cat-like eyes stared up at him, and she extended one lovely arm to block his path.

  “Pierce,” she said, one of her naturally arched eyebrows rising on her forehead as she said his name.

  “Yeah?” he replied, ignoring the tug of pain from the gash now healing on his cheek as he spoke.

  “There’s something w
rong. Something we’re forgetting.”

  He frowned at Mila, noting the way her heart-shaped face was screwed up with consternation. Whatever it was, it was truly bugging her.

  “Um, okay? What?” he asked. “We go outside, get in the vehicle, and then…we leave, right?”

  Mila nodded. “Right. But what are we missing?”

  He thought it over.

  Down the hallway and around a corner there came a loud, bellowing noise. It filled the corridor, making the shifters shake their heads slightly at the level of it.

  Pierce inhaled.

  “Whatever it is, we have exactly zero time, Mila.”

  The roar hadn’t come from a human throat. At least one of the shifters was awake and had taken to animal form.

  “That tranq should have knocked them out for eight hours,” she hissed angrily.

  “Well it didn’t. So, time to go,” he urged as one of the walls shook.

  “Right. Okay, out these doors and into the black SUV. Three of you in the back seat, one in the trunk, Pierce up front with me. Let’s go, no time to waste,” Mila said.

  The others gestured in acknowledgment, and Pierce led the way out into the underground.

  He sensed it almost immediately. The overwhelming pressure of humanity closing in on him, boxing him in. The concrete structure around him weighed down on his shoulders, bowing them slightly until Pierce relaxed, focusing his mind.

  Not anymore. I control you now. I’ve learned. Your power over me is no more.

  He could still feel it there, in the back of his mind, an oppressive rule that he would never entirely shake. But it no longer controlled him.

  “Oh shit,” he said, his eyes meeting Mila’s at the same time that an inarticulate wave of pain swept over his brothers.

  “That’s what we missed,” she whispered as his brothers all staggered and began to hold their heads.

  Pierce cursed mentally. Of course his brothers wouldn’t be able to handle the human city around them. They’d been unconscious when they were brought there. Only now as they exited the building, entering an underground area assaulted with noise from the world above them that echoed down the ramp, would they truly feel it.

  And it was only going to get worse once they emerged into the city streets.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck. Okay, umm, shit.”

  Pierce was panicking. He didn’t know what to do.

  The hallway behind him shook as one of the bears went flying through the intersection and right through the wall, unable to change direction fast enough.

  “I’m getting the car started!” Mila shouted and dove for the driver’s seat. “Get them in the car, Pierce. Now!”

  Right. In the car. That was what he needed to do. Thank you, Mila.

  “Close your eyes!” he shouted. “Keep them shut. Focus on the forest, on home, and take deep breaths. Try to stay calm. You only have to do it for a little while. You can make it. Just don’t lose control.

  He ripped the door off the SUV in his haste as he took Gavin and shoved him into the back row, pushing him across.

  The bear roared.

  Fuck. None of them are in any condition to fight. But I need to get them into the vehicle. Oh hell.

  “Got any tranqs left?” he hollered as he sent Kean following Gavin into the backseat.

  “No, I left it behind. Stupid, I know!” came the return.

  Kassian came next, but he shook Pierce off and staggered himself into the back of the vehicle, groaning, his eyes wild with anxiety.

  Only Maximus remained.

  Pierce looked around.

  His eldest brother was gone.

  Moving around the rear of the SUV to open the trunk, he saw his brother at last. Standing in the opening of the doors, staring down the oncoming bear.

  Pierce recognized the stance. His brother was preparing to unleash his animal.

  “Maximus, NO!” he shouted and dove for his brother.

  The eldest Koche turned and swatted Pierce out of mid-air, sending him tumbling to the side.

  “Go,” he said in a pained voice, his head still staring straight down the hallway. “I’ll hold them off.”

  “Maximus!” Pierce cried out as he got to his feet, the back of his head bleeding from where it had impacted on the concrete wall. “You don’t have to do this.”

  Black fur, the color of darkest night began to cover Maximus’s face, spreading down his neck and across his shoulders, appearing on his arms.

  “This is what family does,” he said, the words becoming mangled as his face changed.

  Pierce saw his nose shoot forward, the entire face elongating as it reshaped itself into a muzzle.

  “Dammit Pierce, we need to go, NOW!” Mila shouted from the driver’s seat, revving the engine to reinforce her point.

  “I’m not leaving him!” he roared, and unleashed his own bear. “Find a tranq!”

  But Pierce didn’t just let the entity flow through him. He grabbed his bear, and forced it forward. The change ripped through his body faster than ever before. Agony erupted along every nerve, nearly blinding him with pain as his joints were reshaped in the span of an eyeblink.

  Two thousand pounds of golden-brown bear charged forward, knocking his brother off stride and out of the doorway just as the enemy shifter struck.

  Pierce trumpeted in pain as he was hit from the side by the enraged smoky-gray bear as it emerged from the hallway at the same moment. The animal ravaged his left flank before the force of its impact sent Pierce spinning away.

  He barely saw the animal, but he did glimpse a second beast charging down the hallway behind it. Things were getting out of control. Pierce needed to end this, and quickly.

  Anger blossomed inside of him as he saw the smoke-gray bear turn on his brother, who was just now completing his shift, having been thrown off stride when Pierce hit him. Recovering his footing, Pierce threw himself forward. It was his turn to take the enemy shifter in the side, and he didn’t waste the opportunity.

  Six-inch-long claws shredded tough fur like paper, and his muzzle latched onto one of the other brute’s legs, ripping muscles and ligaments from it with a mighty heave. Blood flowed freely, making the ground slippery and matting fur. His side ached. His entire body ached.

  But his brother was in trouble. Pierce didn’t relent. He pushed his attack, opening more wounds and systematically dismantling the enemy bear, who couldn’t regain any momentum. More and more of its life was spilled onto the floor.

  Pierce heard a roar, and his head turned just in time to see the second attacker lunging at him. He braced himself for impact.

  It never came.

  Soaring over the engaged bears came Maximus, his pitch-black bear interposing itself between his little brother and the attacker. The huge onyx-colored animal went berserk, attacking the enemy with abandon. Maximus ripped and tore, bit and slashed, employing every weapon in his considerable arsenal as he defended Pierce.

  Pierce’s foe was weakened, and this allowed the Koches to recover first. His jaws latched around the throat of the gray-furred bear and ripped it out. Blood that had been a stream came pouring out as the enemy shifter coughed and sputtered its last few breaths.

  “PIERCE!” Mila screamed.

  He glanced at the car, and saw her working frantically to calm his brothers. They were running out of time. If they didn’t start going now, they would lose control.

  Like Maximus.

  Pierce knew his eldest brother, the most wild and animalistic of them all, must have lost control, his bear working its way free.

  Would he have to fight him to get him to surrender?

  He turned to see the outcome of the other fight, only to find the black bear regarding him. Then as he watched, the bear shrank. Fur retracted into the body and faded from the color of darkest night to a much more lightly-tanned brown. The pointed muzzle became once more a flat, human face, one that Pierce recognized. Limbs shrank
and readjusted their positioning.

  “I have your back, little brother,” Maximus said weakly, then collapsed.

  “We need to go, NOW!” Mila yelled. “More are coming!”

  A quick glance down the hallway showed nothing, but he heard more roars from further in the building, as well as the shouts from human voices.

  Pierce ran to his brother’s side, scooping Maximus into his arms. He deposited the limp shifter into the trunk, and slammed it closed.

  “Go go go!” he shouted at Mila.

  She had the vehicle in gear and it was already accelerating. Pierce broke into a jog, then a run, and finally a sprint as he caught up with the vehicle and slipped inside, only his shifter-enhanced speed ensuring he wasn’t left behind.

  “Whatever happened to finding a tranq gun?” he asked as nonchalantly as he could between heaving gulps of air.

  Mila shrugged. “I looked. There wasn’t one in the vehicle.”

  Pierce almost choked on his slightly swollen tongue. “There wasn’t one…in the vehicle,” he repeated.

  “Exactly.”

  “Did you ever think to look…outside the vehicle? Perhaps…on one of the guards we knocked out earlier?”

  Mila shrugged. “You never told me to look outside.”

  This time Pierce did choke, until he realized she was smiling. “You’re teasing me,” he said glumly.

  “A little. I was too busy dealing with them,” she said.

  As if to emphasize her point, Kassian yelled in pain.

  Then they emerged into the surface-world once more, and all hell broke loose. Mila drove like a maniac, trying to frantically get them out of the city core as fast as she could, without getting them pulled over at the same time.

  Pierce turned around and began to talk to his brothers. Calming them, speaking soothing words. Reminding them of the forests of home, of the chirping of the birds and the sparkle of the sun’s rays as they were reflected by leaves covered in morning dew. The feel of the wind rustling the branches as it worked through the forest on a beautiful summer evening.