The Last Warrior: Shifters Unbound Book 13

by Ashley Jennifer

  “Are you Shifter?” one of the men in the back asked Ben.

  Before Ben could answer, the leader turned around from the front passenger seat. “I know about him. Ben Gardner. He’s a friend to Shifters, but he’s not a Shifter himself. Which means, no, we can’t trust him.”

  Ben contrived a hurt expression. “Gee, and here I’ve been trying to be good for so long.”

  “Yeah, well,” the leader answered. “It’s what happens when you hang out with Shifters.”

  “What is wrong with Shifters?” Rhianne asked. “They seem to be quite civilized.”

  The men stared at her as though she’d gone completely mad.

  “Civilized,” the guy in the back said. “Shifters kill people with teeth and claws, and they hump anyone they can find. How is that civilized?”

  Rhianne’s gaze didn’t soften. “You are very rude.”

  Ben couldn’t help chuckling. They really, truly, did not know.

  * * *

  The SUV driver turned into a compound not far from the park. A huge iron fence surrounded the place and an electronic gate slid open as the SUV approached. A guard in a gate house waved them through, then the gate rolled closed again. The quiet click as the electronic lock reengaged was ominous.

  Ben did not want to be separated from Rhianne, but Bureau men marched them to different cells. Rhianne, surrounded by guards, strode on without looking back, her head high.

  The interrogation room Ben was taken to wasn’t bad as far as interrogation rooms went—a small space with a bullet-proof glass window, a few chairs, a table, and a bottle of water. He hoped Rhianne had the same or better accommodations. If they put her into a cage, he’d have to kill someone.

  They’d taken Ben’s cell phone, but they hadn’t searched him, so Lady Aisling’s crystal still reposed deep in his pocket. She couldn’t do much to help from her side of Faerie, but she might be able to contact Jaycee who could alert Kendrick, who could put plans in motion to get them out of there.

  Ben would resort to the crystal if he had to, though he’d rather not betray that he had means of communication. The not-so-discreet cameras around the room told him he was being watched.

  He was thirsty but decided not to drink the water. It was in a sealed bottle, but Ben wouldn’t put it past Shifter Bureau to inject a drug into it to make him pliant and communicative.

  They kept Ben in the room long enough for him to be worried, then bored, then resigned. He’d probably be stuck here overnight, and hoped the house would understand.

  Ben was toying with ideas of how to lure the Shifter Bureau goons out to the house and let his unpredictable abode deal with them, when the door opened, and the leader of the pack entered, half a dozen guards covering him from the hall.

  “Well, you got your wish,” he said. “Danielson’s here.”

  “Oh goody,” Ben said. “Did you put out the tea and fancy cakes for him? He likes that.”

  “Shut up,” the man growled. “Come on.”

  “You mean he’s not coming into my parlor?”

  “Just get out here.”

  As soon as Ben stepped outside the room, the six guards surrounded him. They all had guns of some sort. Ben wasn’t an expert on guns, but basically these were black, shiny, had triggers, and probably spit bullets pretty fast.

  The guards ushered Ben down the hall, which was lit with overhead fluorescent lights. One of the lights flickered and couldn’t quite stay on. Places like this always had that one bad fluorescent bulb that sputtered and hummed. The Bureau dudes must deliberately change a good bulb for a bad to maintain the effect.

  They took Ben into a larger room at the end of the hall that looked the same as the one he’d been in except there was space for more guys.

  Walker Danielson, a tall human man with very pale hair and light blue eyes, stood behind a table. Danielson’s skin was darkened by the sun and lined with white creases from his military tours in far-off lands. His hard face had taken on a gentleness and a sort of wonder ever since he’d moved in with a large bear Shifter who was the love of his life.

  Next to him, to Ben’s immense relief, stood the giant form of Tiger.

  * * *

  Rhianne’s cell was an improvement over the one Walther had dropped her into—it had clean walls, a window, a table and chair, and no chains or old bones—but regardless, her body itched with her confinement. She sensed the impatience of the eagle inside her—its need to roam without fetters.

  Her magic had recharged overnight, and training with Ben, not to mention the explosive sex afterward, had definitely helped restore her. She could blast out the window with one word of power, spring into the corridor, and hunt for Ben. If they’d dared put hands on her mate …

  The only thing that kept her in place was fear of what would happen to Ben if she caused problems. Would they kill him for her disobedience? For all she knew, those pristine-clothed men might even now be torturing him in a dank cell.

  Ben could turn into a goblin and break out if he wanted to—perhaps he was worried about what the Bureau men were doing to her.

  Then again, maybe these humans had found a way to subdue him. They’d seemed to know Ben. What kind of magic did they have, or would they resort to their deadly projectiles? Ben wasn’t indestructible. He’d mentioned being stabbed and nearly dying.

  Rhianne stilled as the word that had formed unthinkingly in her head struck her.

  Mate.

  The thought pounded at her, and she gripped the table for support.

  Shifters took mates. They bonded, as had Jaycee and Dimitri. Rhianne had seen the bond settled on Liam and Tiger when she’d spoken to them, though Dylan had been more difficult to read.

  Tuil Erdannan did not form the bond. They married, they loved, they bore children, but they did not refer to their spouses as mates. She’d told Ben that most creatures of Faerie could experience the mate bond, which meant everyone but Tuil Erdannan.

  Her people were too self-centered to be joined to another wholly, in true surrender. Rhianne had always thought the mate bond a beautiful idea, but Tuil Erdannan refused to contemplate it.

  As Rhianne stood in the tiny human cell that smelled of old coffee, sweat, and fear, the certainty grew inside her that Ben was her mate. The one she would sacrifice all for, in order to find the shining, magical threads that bound them together.

  Tuil Erdannan did not form the mate bond. She wasn’t wrong about that.

  But Shifters did.

  Rhianne’s heart thudded until it blotted out all other sound. She grew lightheaded, her eyes unfocused, her breath short. She gasped, trying to breathe, and coughed.

  The door banged open. A Shifter Bureau man she hadn’t seen before stood outside, a tranq rifle aimed at her. He wore baggy black pants tucked into boots and a black shirt, his dark eyes cold over the gun’s barrel.

  If he shot her, Rhianne doubted she’d feel it among the sensations pouring through her.

  “Come with me,” the man said.

  Rhianne walked around the table, but she had no conscious idea of directing her legs and feet to move. She barely glanced at the man as she stalked out of the cell, he backing away so she’d not pass within striking distance.

  Rhianne knew without understanding how that she could take him down before the gun could go off. She’d be that fast.

  Once again, the only thing that stopped her was the worry about what they’d do to Ben if she threatened any of these people.

  “This way.” The man motioned with the rifle down the hall.

  Rhianne walked slowly and obediently, outwardly calm. Inwardly, she was seething turmoil. She’d been a mess since she’d watched Ben fall into the abyss of mud and roots, the wild thing inside her knowing exactly what she must do to rescue him.

  To rescue Ben. Her mate.

  The inside of her mouth tasted like ash. The only way she could think these thoughts about Ben … No, she didn’t think them. Rhianne knew them with exact certainty.
/>   The only explanation was that her entire life to this point had been a lie.

  The guard guided her with an abrupt command around another bend in the corridor. This building was bizarre, with sharp angles and maze-like hallways, designed to keep prisoners confused.

  Foolish if they wanted to confine Shifters. Shifters would know instinctively where they were at all times and the location of all the exits. As Rhianne did now.

  Rhianne nearly collapsed in relief when she saw Ben through the window of the room at the end of the hall. Standing upright, alive, unhurt. His dark eyes held warning, but Rhianne didn’t care about anything except seeing him again.

  She barely noted the others as she and the guard entered the room, until a knocking at her brain registered them. One was a blond human man she hadn’t seen before, possibly another Bureau agent.

  The other was Tiger. He turned his golden eyes on her, and though he said not a word, Rhianne understood that he knew.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rhianne couldn’t speak, could barely breathe. Tiger kept his gaze on her then slowly moved it to Ben. He nodded imperceptibly.

  The Shifter Bureau men were deep in conversation with the blond man, who answered in short sentences, Ben occasionally interjecting. Rhianne could barely hear them over the rushing in her ears, couldn’t focus enough to understand.

  Tiger flicked his gaze to her. You are frightened.

  Rhianne jumped. Had he just put the words into her head—was he a telepath? Was she?

  After a moment, Rhianne realized she hadn’t heard Tiger’s thoughts but had read his body language. Animals didn’t have to communicate with words or even sounds. The twitch of a tail, the tilt of a head, or the snap of an ear could convey a message or an emotion. She’d read that as a child in the tomes written by learned Tuil Erdannan.

  Shifters had honed this silent language to perfection.

  Rhianne didn’t know the technique for responding to him, so she brought to mind what she wanted to answer and hoped her posture would convey it.

  Of course I’m frightened. I’m not Shifter! … Am I?

  We will speak later. Tiger turned away but the line of his back was somehow reassuring.

  Ben scowled at the Bureau agent who’d brought them in, his words coming to her more clearly now. “How many times does he have to explain? She’s registered. Legit. Here on a legal pass.”

  The blond man with the quiet eyes broke in. “I saw the paperwork myself.”

  Rhianne had no idea what paper they were talking about but she kept silent.

  “Well, I haven’t seen it,” the lead agent snapped. “No request for transfer has come through my inbox, and I monitor these things daily.”

  “You handle all requests personally?” the blond man asked mildly. “At my agency, there are five clerks who do the paperwork, and I get a report.”

  “That’s what I mean. I never saw that report.”

  “Sometimes the clerks get sloppy.” The blond man nodded at the agent in confidence. “Check your database—I know it’s there.”

  The agent regarded the blond man with suspicion, but the blond man returned a bland stare and offered nothing more. Ben had his arms folded across his chest, his fists tightly balled, barely containing himself.

  Rhianne had seen Ben’s might. He could break every human in this room in half without trying, and she could use her magic to crash them out to freedom.

  Excitement built inside her at these thoughts. She and Ben could devastate the place, run away laughing, and collapse somewhere private and make crazy love. Rhianne wanted it with her whole being.

  What had Ben called it? Mating frenzy. She closed her eyes, enjoying the waves of heat and need pulsing through her body.

  When she opened her eyes again, she saw Tiger watching her. She flushed, knowing she must be broadcasting her private thoughts to him.

  Patience, little one. Better to placate than destroy. A corner of Tiger’s lip twitched. I had to learn this.

  Rhianne had no interest in placating the men who’d surrounded them, pointed weapons at them, and hustled her and Ben into the large black vehicle, separating them when they arrived. She had no interest in being patient with the agent who’d dared to touch her mate.

  Peace.

  Tiger’s message was like a cool whisper in a lake of fire. Rhianne curled her fingers into her palms and willed herself to breathe.

  How many times in her life had she had to leave a room—or an entire district—to find calm in solitude? She’d attributed her restlessness to her unfortunate birth into a prominent Tuil Erdannan family and having an evil bastard for a father. She’d grown impatient with her mother’s many gatherings both important and frivolous, grown unhappy with the threat of her deadly father always in the background, and sought solitude. Her interest in astronomy, where she could sit long nights in peaceful darkness, had helped, but not entirely.

  Had there been more to it than that? Perhaps the Shifter in her had wanted space to wander, without the scrutiny of her family?

  How the hell had she become a Shifter?

  The answer was obvious, and Rhianne shied away from it, hard.

  “We’re equipped to return her to the Austin Shiftertown,” the blond man was saying when Rhianne focused again. “She’ll be contained there.”

  “The eyewitnesses say she turned into some kind of bird.” The lead agent glared at Ben then the blond man. “I’ve never heard of any bird Shifters in the Austin Shiftertown.”

  The blond man didn’t blink. “It’s a new program. There are very few of the raptor Shifters, and our agency is rounding them up to study them. So far we only have the one.”

  “I’ll have to verify this,” the lead agent snarled then trailed off into a mutter. “Always weird stuff going on in Austin.”

  “It’s the city’s motto,” Ben grunted. “More or less.”

  The lead agent didn’t like Ben talking. “I’ll check the database,” he said in a hard voice.

  “By all means,” the blond man answered. “The information will be there.”

  Rhianne could hear, if she strained, a tinny voice somewhere in the room, as though speaking from far away. She cocked her head, trying to listen, and saw as she did that the blond man had something tucked inside his ear. From this the voice came to her.

  Walker, lad, what are you doing to me?

  The voice sounded like Liam’s but slightly different. Perhaps from the same family, Rhianne concluded.

  Hush, Tiger warned her.

  Rhianne acknowledged him. Someone was communicating secretly with the blond man, Walker, and she couldn’t draw attention to that fact. Rhianne had caught the voice because Shifters had fantastic hearing.

  Her day was becoming more and more disconcerting.

  The leader barked orders to his underlings, who scurried from the room. Two of the agents stood on either side of Rhianne, too close for her liking.

  It cheered her that she could very quickly knock them aside, no matter that they had weapons. She could break those. She wanted to laugh.

  She felt Tiger’s gaze on her again, and she folded her lips to avoid a smile.

  Ben would not look at her. Rhianne wanted him to, needed him to. But he kept his head turned, his gaze studiously on Walker and the lead agent.

  Rhianne understood why. Ben did not want to betray, by expression or any of his body language, that she and he were lovers. Mates.

  A lackey trotted back into the room after a time with a square device with a screen similar to the cell phones, only larger. The lead agent stabbed the lit screen with a finger as his lackey held it up to him, his eyes moving as he read.

  “I see.” The lead agent sounded disappointed. “Fine. I’m authorizing her transportation to Austin.” He zipped his finger over the screen and then tapped it so hard that the lackey flinched. The lead agent swept his gaze to Walker. “Be sure you keep her there.”

  Walker nodded once, as though he couldn’t be bothered
to answer.

  “You brought your own transport?” the agent snapped at him.

  “Of course.”

  “Then get her out of my sight. Him too.” He sent a glare to Ben, whose mouth tightened.

  None of the agents looked at Tiger, Rhianne noticed. They’d fix on Ben or Walker or Rhianne, but all avoided gazing directly at Tiger.

  Ben had used the phrase the elephant in the room meaning evading discussion of something obvious and important. Rhianne reflected that the phrase should be the Tiger in the room. She suppressed a laugh with difficulty.

  Walker flicked his pale blue eyes to Rhianne. “If you’ll come with me.”

  Ben gave Rhianne a nod. Trust him, his body language told her. Rhianne started for Walker, pleased she could read Ben so well.

  Tiger fell into step behind Rhianne, and several agents brought up the rear. Rhianne passed Ben, but instead of joining her, he stood still and watched her go. She looked back at him, trying not to be frantic, but she lost sight of him as too many people surrounded her.

  The agents escorted her through the maze of pale corridors with their buzzing lights and out into the daylight. The sky had become overcast, and as Rhianne stepped from the stone building to the smoothly paved courtyard, rain pattered down.

  Walker made for a black vehicle similar to the one that had brought her and Ben here, except this one was mud-splattered, as though it had been driven a long way. Tiger swept past Rhianne and opened the back door for her before Walker could.

  “Wait.” Rhianne swung around, searching for Ben, but he’d disappeared. “Where’s Ben? Isn’t he coming with us?”

  “Probably not,” Walker answered in a low voice. “Ben goes his own way.”

  Tiger crowded behind Rhianne, expecting her to climb into the vehicle. “No,” she cried. “We can’t go without Ben.”

  Walker stepped to her, pitching his voice so he wouldn’t be overheard. “Best get in before the sergeant changes his mind and confines you until he verifies all the bullshit I just told him.”