by Anya Nowlan
His blood boiling with rage, he swung his body back and forth for a moment as the Arctics shot again. Just as the man squeezed the trigger, Thor came barreling through the window the werewolf had shot at, making it cave in inside as he fell through.
“You should really stop runnin’,” Thor snarled as he landed practically on top of the werewolf in the cramped space, kicking the gun out of his hand.
The werewolf didn’t say a word, but simply raised his fists, bared his teeth and attacked with all the viciousness of a cornered dog. The cable car jumped up and down and shuddered wildly as the two of them went at one another, the werewolf altering between punching Thor in the face and sides, and trying to grab his pistol.
Thor blocked where he could, but he had to be more discerning with his hits. The bag he was after was on the left side of the werewolf, strapped over one shoulder. Every time The Arctics’ agent could land a hit in Thor’s ribs, he felt like the air was going out of his lungs. His panther roared within him, demanding to be let out, but that was a slip of self-control Thor could not allow.
With the wind blowing in through the broken window and the city getting closer and closer, he was running out of time.
“Just give up, Firmy. We’ll be at the station soon and you should know that you won’t be getting out alive from there,” the wolf snarled, making Thor glance up, feeling the tangy taste of blood in his mouth.
He hadn’t even noticed, but the werewolf had managed to split his lip and get his nose as well, making it spew blood. At the same time, the werewolf was favoring his left side now after a few decent haymakers into the gut from Thor and his left eye was swelling up. Considering that they were fighting in something that was no bigger than a can of tuna, it was somewhat surprising that either of them could get a punch in as well.
Shit.
The werewolf wasn’t lying. Thor could already see the tall building that housed the station up ahead and the motion he could see on the platform confirmed what Dice had said as well. There was a welcome party waiting for him and Thor was damn sure they weren’t interested in letting him walk out of there with the LH89.
“I never run from a gun fight,” Thor sneered, suddenly grabbing his gun as he twisted the werewolf’s arm out of the way, and blew the locks off of that cable car’s door as well.
Grabbing the werewolf, Thor dropped his sidearm. He dragged the man up and the werewolf realized what Thor was doing a split-second too late, when they were both already flying through the air, plummeting towards the ground.
All Thor could think about was staying alive long enough to get the sample from the werewolf. As long as that got to Nia, he’d be perfectly fine with dying.
As long as she and the baby are safe, he repeated in his mind as they fell through the night air.
“What the fuck!” the man screamed, Thor working as hard as he could to remain on top of the man as they fell.
The impact came like a brick wall to the face at a hundred miles an hour. Thor felt everything lurch within him as he fell, rolling off the Arctics as they hit the ground together. They landed on a small, grassy knoll just a couple hundred feet from the station building.
“Lynx Four, we’re out,” Thor wheezed into his headset, scrambling to get up on his feet though every part of him ached and protested.
He was damn sure he had at least a few broken bones, though he wouldn’t venture to guess which ones. It felt like he might have just broken all of them.
As he heaved himself up, feeling around for his rifle that was still strapped on his back, he was suddenly thrown back by a knee to the face. Falling on his back, the adrenaline mercifully kicked back in. He’d hoped that the werewolf would be knocked out cold by the fall but apparently he wouldn’t even have that much luck.
“Lynx One, acknowledged, Lynx Four. Stay put.”
Sure, because I was plannin’ on takin’ a fuckin’ walk, Thor thought as he rolled out of the path of the Arctics’ boot, coming straight for his head.
While he managed to avoid getting his skull caved in, the strap of the rifle still slung over his body got snagged on the Arctics’ boot and as Thor yanked himself away, the clasp cracked and broke. Before Thor could get to it, still down on the ground, the Arctics had grabbed it and trained it on Thor.
“Think you should have run from this one, buddy,” the Arctics said, standing over Thor, the rifle trained at his head and a grin on the man’s face.
While his aim was wobbly, as was the rest of him from the fall, he was so close that Thor was sure that even an Arctics could make that shot. With a snarl on his lips, Thor raised his hands, feeling his body tense up at even the thought of surrendering. He glanced at the bag on the wolf’s side, relieved that it was still in one piece.
“Yeah? What makes you say that?” Thor asked, trying to sound conversational though he was certain at this point that his left lung had collapsed on itself and there were a few broken ribs poking holes in it.
“Don’t be a fucking smartass. I’ve got the gun, buddy,” the werewolf said, sneering.
The man was swaying so hard that Thor expected him to fall over at any moment. He knew exactly how he felt, being down on his back was sort of a relief in a way. They’d fallen at least sixty feet and while his panther might not have given a crap, the human body definitely was not built for shit like that.
“That ain’t your gun. And I ain’t your buddy, pal,” Thor said, bile bubbling up in his throat.
“Whatever. You’re as good as dead anyway. Do me a favor, will you?”
“Anythin’,” Thor replied with a roll of his eyes, playing along while he desperately searched for a way in which the werewolf would be the one with a face full of lead.
“Since you’re going to hell anyway, tell Spade that Nat says hello,” the werewolf said with a smug smirk.
Just as Thor was frowning, about to ask him what he meant, the man’s eyes went wide as saucers. Thor heard the shot at the same moment as the werewolf stared down at his stomach. Blood was pouring out of an abdominal wound and Thor almost felt like he was observing everything from the sidelines. The werewolf’s finger twitched on the trigger and Thor’s body took over.
He kicked up with his leg, flipping the rifle upward and having the shot go right over Thor’s head. Hauling himself up by taking hold of the rifle, Thor slammed the butt of the rifle into the face of the werewolf. The man was already falling back and with every fiber of his being consumed by rage, Thor couldn’t help himself. He turned the rifle around in his hands and took the shot, blowing the Arctics’ face right off.
“Think you shoulda run instead, buddy,” Thor spat, almost falling down again as he snaked the bag off of the man’s shoulder.
By the time he got himself upright again, Thor found himself staring at the torn-up faces of Dice and Rio.
They’re actually here, he thought, somewhat perplexed by that fact.
He’d long ago given up hope that someone would come for him at times like that, when the shit was so far up the fan that it would take industrial solvents to get it off the walls.
“You two look like shit,” Thor said as Rio and Dice got on either side of him, each putting an arm around him.
“Yeah? You should see yourself,” Rio scoffed back as Thor audibly groaned from being dragged forward.
“Can’t look worse than the two of you,” Thor huffed, knowing that it probably was the furthest thing from the truth.
“You’d be surprised,” Dice murmured, his voice low and dangerous.
The world swam around Thor and when he collapsed in the back of an armor-plated vehicle, all he could do was to cling to the damn bag and his consciousness. The car took off with a howl of the engine and from what Thor could tell through his muddled state, it hadn’t exactly been the easiest mission the squad had ever had to do.
The amount of blood and the acrid smell of it that hung in the air was enough confirmation for that as well.
He let go of his consciousness far before
his grip loosened on the sample bag. And before the world fell into darkness, one thought pounded through his head – he would never fail Nia again.
Twenty-Four
Nia
Nia’s heart was pounding out of her chest and she wasn’t sure whether that was because of the antidote or the fact that she’d been allowed in the same room with Thor again.
He’d been swinging between being awake and almost comatose for the last two days and frankly, Nia wasn’t much better. By the time the sample of LH89 had gotten to her, it had almost been too late. Her symptoms had included severe lethargy, open wounds getting worse by the hour on her skin, difficulty breathing and her heart rate had been going through the roof.
It was mostly the lab techs that did the bulk of the work after the sample got in, with Nia simply ordering them around. While she’d felt fine when Thor had still been in the building, she’d taken a stark turn for the worse the moment he’d left. It took a techie pointing out that sometimes shifters got worse when their mates were too far before Nia realized that that was exactly what had happened.
So seeing him opening his eyes now was basically the best thing that could have happened to her.
She smiled nervously as Thor’s lashes fluttered and his muscles tensed. Nia took a hold of his hand and then had to let go almost as quickly. He was squeezing it so hard that he was almost breaking the bones.
“Thor! It’s okay,” she gasped, rubbing her hand for a moment before daring to take his again. “We’re safe.”
“We’re what?” he muttered, groggy.
Even speaking made him wince and Nia did the same as Thor groaned, having tried to sit up a little.
“We’re safe,” she said, a little bit slower this time.
“I don’t think you know the meanin’ of that word,” he grumbled back, and for the first time in too long, Nia dared to smile.
At least the fall, the battle and the explosions hadn’t taken his sense of humor, dry as it was.
“You’re in no state to comment on my understanding of base concepts, soldier,” she said with a sigh as he forced his eyes open finally.
Looking in them took her breath away like it had the first time she’d seen them. They were exquisite and the spark of life and intensity that shined in them couldn’t even be dulled by the endless injuries he’d gotten.
“How bad is it?” Thor asked, his voice solemn.
He was still holding her hand and the warmth that spread through her from that contact was absolutely divine.
“Oh! Well, you’ve got twenty-one broken bones and your l-” she started, before Thor put a finger on her lips, hushing her.
“No, that’s not what I’m askin’. How bad is it?” he asked again, slowly pointing at her belly and then the rest of her.
Nia paused, fighting with herself to keep from licking over her lips where he’d touched her. She lost that battle, gladly.
“It’s fine. It’s okay,” she rushed to add, when Thor frowned at her first comment. “You got the sample in time. The techs managed to figure out an antidote and it seems to be working. At least on me and the other pregnant girl… the others aren’t showing improvements so quickly but I think it just takes more time with them,” Nia rattled, finding herself ranting a little as she tended to do around Thor.
“So you’re tellin’ me you’re both okay?” he asked, his expression still stern and tense.
The smaller wounds were healing fast on him and while he had a slightly more pronounced hook in his nose now from where it had been broken, he was looking like himself again. Nia could happily keep staring at him for hours, looking like that.
“We are,” she confirmed, nodding again before smiling slightly. “All thanks to you.”
“It was nothin’,” he said, looking down at their intertwined fingers.
“Getting shot up, almost blown up, throwing Singapore into a state of emergency and then falling down from a cable car with a terrorist werewolf and finally killing him is nothing? I’d hate to see what something is, then,” Nia said with a laugh, shaking her head.
“You shoulda never been put into that situation to begin with, where stuff like that was necessary,” Thor said, guilt heavy in his voice.
Nia scoffed, forcing down the roll of her eyes that wanted to damn near consume her.
“Stop that. This… this was not something you could have foreseen. Thor, I’m not Ashley. And even if I were, you didn’t fail her,” she said, putting two fingers under his chin and lifting it slightly, making him look at her.
He stared at her like she was a vision, like for once he allowed the fear of failure melt out of his gaze. It made her hold her breath and she could feel her palms becoming sweatier. Even her animal pressed against her consciousness, the sensible fear of being around a predator long ago disappeared when it came to Thor.
He’d never let anything happen to her. That much she knew and believed with her whole heart.
“I won’t argue with you on that,” Thor said evenly, keeping his eyes on her. “We can agree to disagree. But… I appreciate that you’re sayin’ it.”
Nia smiled.
“You came back to me,” she said with a blissful little sigh, feeling her shoulders hunch a little.
“I couldn’t exactly go against a command like that,” Thor said with a bemused snort.
There was a slight blush on his cheeks that she knew hadn’t been there before, so she couldn’t fool herself to think that it was an injury of some sort. No, the big bad panther was being sheepish around her. It was the cutest thing and Nia had to bite her lip to keep from grinning too wide.
“So you take well to orders, huh?” she teased.
“The right ones, yeah,” he said with the mildest of nods.
“I’ll remember that,” Nia promised.
“Will you?”
“Well, yeah. I think a guy like you needs to be kept on a short leash,” she laughed.
Thor frowned slightly, though the smile he’d been wearing for a while now didn’t waiver.
“How about we forget the leash and I just promise not to wander too far, huh?”
“I’m fine with you wandering if you keep coming back,” Nia said, her voice a bit breathy.
A moment of silence fell between them and Nia couldn’t fight the desire that had been burning in her for a while any longer. She leaned forward and Thor matched her movement, though when he did it, he groaned slightly. Despite that, he slipped a hand behind her neck and pulled her closer, until their lips met.
Nia melted gladly into the kiss. It was soft, careful, tentative even. There were too many things still between them that needed to be sorted out, but in her heart, Nia knew that now, everything would be okay. It had to be. They hadn’t come so far, fought death and disease and tragedy, only to end up sad and lonely again. She wouldn’t stand for that and judging by the kiss, neither would Thor.
The kiss seemed to go on forever and when Thor finally broke it, Nia let out a little whimper of protest. It made Thor smile wider and peck her on the top of her nose.
“Shh. Plenty more where that came from,” he promised, his voice a soft promise.
“I hope we’ll get to share these somewhere with fewer guns, though,” Nia admitted, The Firm and The Arctics having given her enough of destruction and bullets for a while.
“Sure. Maybe,” Thor said with a slight shrug. “But this comes with the life…”
“There could be another kind of life,” Nia interjected.
“I don’t know any other kind of life anymore.”
“Maybe I could show you,” Nia said, nuzzling her nose against his.
“Maybe,” he agreed with a grin. “But for now… how’s my squad?”
“Not as bad as you,” Nia said, pulling away slightly so she could look at him better, their fingers still happily twisted together. “Price is looking at some rehab and so is Ryker. Prowler got a pretty bad knock on the head and all of them had a few broken bones, a few bullets that need
ed to be dug out… it wasn’t pretty.”
“But they’re alive?” Thor asked.
From the look on his face, Nia could tell that he was not a little bit surprised at exactly how worried he found himself being for these men he claimed to not give a shit about.
“They’re alive,” she confirmed. “They’ve all been in here at least once too, but you probably don’t remember. You’ve been pretty out of it. Spade was in here once as well.”
That seemed to make Thor remember something and he scowled, making Nia tense up for a moment. He rushed to calm her with a hand on her arm and she let out a breath as he shook his head, as if telling her that it was nothing to worry about it.
“It’s nothin’. The Arctics just told me somethin’ about Spade,” Thor said.
“Oh yeah,” Nia responded, perking up a bit. “You kept mumbling about that. That’s why he was here, actually. You kept repeating it,” Nia said, scowling as she remembered the look Spade had gotten on his face when he heard Thor’s words.
“Did he say anythin’ about it?” Thor asked, seeming far too curious about it.
“No, but he looked like he’d seen a ghost,” Nia said. “He got white in the face and then he rushed out of the room.”
“I wonder why The Arctics think he’s dead… or how they know him at all… or hell, the best question… who the fuck is Nat?”
Nia grinned.
“That’s been the hottest topic around here as well. Your squad has some kind of a betting pool. The running theory is that Spade’s some sort of an Arctics double agent.”
“I’m pretty sure everyone in the damn force thinks that anyway,” Thor said, yawning and wincing again.
I can’t believe this is actually working out.
“I think I should let you get some rest,” Nia said, feeling exhaustion blanket her as well.
She stifled a yawn but she wasn’t smooth enough, Thor definitely noticed it. Nia moved to pull her hand away but instead of being let go, Thor tugged on it and pulled her into him. He swung his arm around her shoulders and Nia found herself suddenly tucked away safely next to him, her head on his chest.
