by Kim Fox
Amélie shuddered. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
Chapter Twelve
Grant
Grant took a breath of relief as the security guard closed the doors and sent them on their way. They almost lost their chance before they even started.
Amélie drove the van for a minute and then she parked, shutting it off. “We’re here,” she whispered when she opened the back doors.
It was so bright out in the afternoon sun. Maybe we should have waited until dark. But it didn’t matter. Grant knew the place was probably crawling with mercenary shifters who could see in the dark.
They quickly climbed out of the van and looked around. They were in the back of a tall twenty-story or so building. There were no doors, only a metal fire escape that zigzagged up the side of the building to the roof.
“Where do we go?” Logan asked, looking around. “Up there?”
Just as they were about to climb onto the fire escape, two military soldiers came walking around the corner.
“Hey!” one of them shouted. “What are you doing on there?”
All seven of them froze and turned around.
The two guards came rushing over with their hands on their guns. Grant hoped there were bullets in the cartridges and not the anti-shifting serum that would put their animals to sleep.
“Keep your hands where we can see them,” the other guard shouted. “Let’s see your passes.”
Amélie turned around with the sweetest smile Grant had ever seen. “I’m afraid we don’t have any passes. General Hunt has requested our presence immediately and there was no time to print them.”
The younger guard’s hard face melted under Amélie’s smile. Grant didn’t blame him, his was doing the same thing.
“I love your accent,” he said, instantly warming up to the girl. “France?”
“Quebec,” she said, batting her eyelashes.
Grant’s lion growled inside of him, jealous at the show. Easy, boy. You’re not helping.
“I love French girls,” the guard said with a grin. “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”
“J’aimerais mieux couper tes boules avec un couteau à beurre,” she answered with a smile.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
She shrugged her shoulders and grinned. “I’ll come see you after I meet General Hunt and you can find out.”
The guy’s eyes widened as his cheeks blushed. “Well, let’s get you to your meeting,” he said, waving her forward. “Take the elevator. Come.”
Amélie flashed Grant a nervous look and then followed the guys. They had preferred to take a more discreet path inside, but they didn’t have much of a choice now.
Grant stayed close to his girl as they walked around the building and into the front. The entire first floor was enormous glass panels and they could see into the lobby of the building where people were scurrying around. Grant immediately sized up the security. There was a large desk along the right wall with about a dozen security guards that he could see. They all carried pistols and at least two of them had long automatic weapons slung over their shoulders.
If things got violent, it was going to get ugly.
He glanced over at Amélie who had both of the security guards eating out of her hand. She was flirting pretty hard and it took everything Grant had not to rip the lust-filled eyes out of the heads of the two guys who were gawking at his girl.
“Thanks, guys,” Amélie said with a flip of her hair. “I think we can find it from here.”
“Nonsense,” the young one said, not wanting to let her go just yet. “We’ll take you right up to his office.”
She swallowed nervously and nodded. “Okay.”
The young guard opened the door and held it open for them. Grant was the first one through, but stopped dead when the elevator binged opened and he saw who was inside.
The shifters from Amélie’s old crew—Hardy, DeMarcus, Caelum and Irish—we’re walking out. Their eyes met and they stopped short, staring at Grant’s crew in disbelief.
“Grab them!” Irish shouted as they exploded forward.
“Shit!” Grant said as he turned and punched the young guard, cracking him on the jaw with a hard roundhouse. Man, that felt good! The guy dropped unconscious as Grant turned and rushed back out, pushing Mack who was behind him.
Just as Grant left the doorway, the alarm started blaring and huge metal bars dropped down, covering the windows.
Amélie knocked out the second guard with a punch as her old crew reached the large panes of glass. Hardy shattered a pane with one punch. Mack rushed forward and punched the grizzly bear shifter in the nose as they all grabbed onto the bars, trying to break them.
“We can’t get in this way,” Amélie said, grabbing Grant’s arm. “The door on the roof should be open.”
Grant looked back at the four shifters who were desperately trying to break the military grade metal bars that were blocking their way. They weren’t even making a dent in them.
“Let’s go!” Grant shouted to Mack who was already picking up where he left off with Hardy, fighting him through the bars.
He reluctantly let the grizzly bear shifter go and followed them around the corner and up the fire escape.
Grant was leading the way, charging up the fire escape as his crew followed closely behind him. They climbed onto the roof and Grant headed straight for the only door.
It burst open as he arrived and DeMarcus, the large black man who had a vicious polar bear hiding inside him, cracked him right in the nose with a hard punch.
He stumbled back as blood poured down his face and into his mouth. He gritted his teeth, tasting metal as the three others came rushing out behind DeMarcus.
Amélie immediately jumped between them. “Guys!” she shouted, trying to prevent the inevitable fight that was about to go down. “They’re here to help! We’re on the same side!”
DeMarcus had his eyes locked on Tempest. “I’m getting that wand and freeing my son.”
His son? General Hunt had his son captured?
“We’re trying to free everyone!” Amélie cried, trying to make them see. “We’re trying to free your families too!”
“I don’t know where my son is, but he isn’t here,” DeMarcus said. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the wand sticking out of the bun in Tempest’s hair. “There’s only one way to free him and it involves getting that red stick.”
“You want it?” Tempest asked, pulling it out of her hair and pointing it at him. “Come and get it. I dare you.”
DeMarcus let out a low growl as he narrowed his eyes on her.
“But we’ll free them!” Amélie said, looking desperate. “If we can work together we can—”
“There’s no freeing any of them, Frenchie,” Caelum the skin shifter said, looking at her with sadness in his eyes. “There’s nothing I want more than to see my girl Holly again, but it ain’t ever going to happen unless the General releases her. There are facilities like this all over the country. She could be in any one of them.”
“But…” Amélie gasped, looking around as the hopelessness of it all dawned on her. All of these people were her friends, but there was no stopping them from tearing each other to pieces. It seemed to be inevitable.
“They’re not going to help,” Mack said, slapping his shoulders as he pumped himself up for a fight. “They’re weak and afraid.”
“Who you calling afraid?” Hardy the huge grizzly bear shifter said as he stepped forward with his massive arms flexed. “Let’s see how you react when they take your whole family.”
“I wouldn’t join them,” Mack said with a snort. “I’ll tell you that much.”
“Easy to talk big,” Hardy said as the two mountains started to approach each other. “Maybe it’s time to shut you up.”
“Guys!” Amélie said, bursting between them. “Stop! Please!”
Caelum rushed in and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifti
ng her up and pulling her away. “You’re standing between two colliding trains, Frenchie.”
Grant’s lion surged forward in a frenzy when he saw the skin shifter’s arms wrapped around his girl. “Drop her,” Grant hissed as he glared at the man.
DeMarcus rushed Tempest, taking advantage of the fact that everyone was distracted. He lowered his shoulder to plow into her, but Ryder cut in front of her at the last second, taking the brunt of the hit. DeMarcus slammed into him and he flew back, slamming into Tempest and all three of them went down.
Then it all exploded into chaos. Grant rushed Caelum, grabbed a leg and took him down as the skin shifter landed hard elbows on his head.
Logan and Bryce jumped on the wolf shifter Irish, and Mack and Hardy started exchanging heavy blows once again.
Grant fell to the ground on top of Caelum and the two of them were throwing punches as they grappled on the roof. He was fighting hard, but his mind was only on one thing. Where is she?
Grant lifted his head and got an uppercut to the chin because of it, but he didn’t care. He had to see that Amélie was okay.
He saw her just as she disappeared through the door into the building.
“Wait!” he shouted. “Amé—”
His vision went dark as Caelum landed an elbow to the side of his head.
You have to fight back. You’re not going to help anyone if you’re unconscious.
“Hand over the red stick,” Caelum said with a grunt as Grant wrestled with him on the ground. “Someone is going to get hurt.”
“The General is powerful enough,” Grant said as he punched him in the ribs.
Caelum grunted. “These guys won’t stop at anything to get it. Just hand it over so we don’t have to hurt you.”
Grant rolled on top of the skin shifter then took a quick look around at the brawl that was erupting all around him. These guys were fighting like their lives—or the lives of their loved ones—were depending on it.
Hardy and Mack were all over each other, exchanging powerful shots that Grant could feel in his chest, Tempest was trying to zap DeMarcus with the wand while Ryder fought with him, and Logan and Bryce were fighting Irish’s wolf.
Easy, Bryce.
The young lion was out and fighting recklessly against the wolf. They were thrashing around dangerously close to the edge of the tall building. He had to be careful because a fall from up there would kill anyone, even a fast healing shifter. There would be no healing from a fall from that height.
“Argh!” Grant grunted as a sharp needle slammed into his stomach, spilling burning liquid into his blood. He grimaced as he looked down and saw a gun in Caelum’s hand. He had pulled it out and shot him when he was distracted with his crew.
Grant slapped the gun out of his hand and it bounced along the roof, disappearing over the edge. “Fuck,” he grunted as he wrapped his hand around the dart that was sticking out of his stomach and yanked it out. He could feel the anti-shifting serum he had just been shot with, searing its way through his bloodstream, putting his lion to sleep.
Come on, buddy. Fight it!
He pushed his lion and tried to pull him to the surface, but the cat was as heavy and lazy as Sloth and sunk down into a deep sedated sleep.
It was a bad time to lose your fiercest weapon.
But Grant was pretty fierce himself. He arched up and squeezed his hands into fists as Caelum looked up at him with wide eyes. With gritted teeth, he let his fists fly, slamming them into the skin shifter’s face until Caelum’s eyes rolled in the back of his head, knocking him out.
He pushed up to his feet and turned around, trying to see who needed help when he gasped. Logan was on his knees, looking dazed as he held his head while Bryce’s lion fought the nasty wolf. Tempest and Ryder had their hands full with DeMarcus, but it was Mack’s lion who needed the most help.
The lion had his head lowered and was snarling at Hardy’s enormous grizzly bear. One eye was swollen shut and his golden mane was matted with sticky red blood. Grant hoped that it wasn’t Mack’s blood, but he wasn’t too sure. That grizzly bear was huge.
Hang in there, Mack. I’m coming!
Grant sprinted toward the two savage predators, leaving Caelum’s unconscious body behind.
Mack’s lion reared back on his hind legs and pounced with a vicious growl, but Hardy’s bear was ready. He let loose a devastating heavy paw that smacked Mack right out of the air. He flew to the side and bounced along the roof toward the edge.
“No!” Grant cried out as he dove toward him. He grabbed the thick skin on the back of the lion’s neck just as he sailed over the edge of the building.
The momentum of the heavy lion threw Grant over as well, but at the last second, he reached up and grabbed the edge of the building with the tip of his fingers.
“Don’t fucking move!” Grant hissed in a panic as he looked down. They were about twenty stories up, dangling over the edge of the building.
He was holding Mack’s lion by the scruff on the back of his neck with one hand and hanging from the roof with the other.
“I said don’t fucking move!” Grant hollered when Mack’s lion started thrashing around in terror.
He didn’t have a strong grip on the roof—only holding on by his fingers—and the lion was heavy as shit!
The anti-shifting serum was still circulating through his body, making him weaker by the second. His arms started to burn as he barely held on.
“Okay, Mack,” he grunted as he looked down at the thrashing lion. God, that’s a long way down to the pavement.
He closed his eyes, trying to push out the terrifying thoughts of what a fall like that would do to them, and focused on the task at hand.
“I’m going to swing you up,” he said as he started to rock Mack’s lion back and forth.
He clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut as he started to swing Mack in a bigger and bigger arc.
“Okay,” he said, once the lion was really swinging. “I’m going to throw you up. Get ready to catch the roof. Now!”
He threw Mack up with everything he had as the lion swung up. “Argh!” he grunted as he released his scruff, sending him flying.
The lion thrashed and flailed around wildly as he sailed up and then landed on the roof.
“Oh, thank God,” Grant muttered to himself as he reached up with his other hand. He grabbed onto the roof and started to climb up. That was a close one.
But his stomach dropped when he pulled himself up and saw what was waiting for him.
Hardy’s grizzly bear and Mack’s lion were standing side by side in front of him like they were best friends. Both of the bloodthirsty animals had their eyes locked on him, snarling viciously as they waited for him to pull himself up.
Grant looked under Mack’s legs and saw the skin shifter Caelum awake. His eyes were clouded over in a white haze.
This situation had gone from Oh-my-God-this-is-bad to holy-fucking-shit-this-is-really-bad. Caelum was in total control of Mack’s vicious lion, and to make matters that much more bleak, Grant’s lion was sound asleep.
He winced as both of the animal’s hot dank breath washed down and struck his face. They both lowered their enormous heads and growled, eager for him to arrive.
Grant had no choice but to pull himself up and face them.
He took a deep breath, said a little prayer, and pulled himself up.
Chapter Thirteen
Amélie
Amélie sprinted down the stairs in a panic as the security alarm blared in her ears. The faster she found her family, the faster they could leave. She hated that her old friends were fighting her new friends, but there was nothing she could do about it now.
Hopefully, they didn’t kill each other.
She felt bad leaving without Grant, but he had his hands full with Caelum and she didn’t have time to wait around. She had to protect her family at all costs, even if that meant leaving the man she was beginning to love.
She raced down the stairwell
onto the top floor and looked through the window in the door. The large room seemed to be some kind of experimental laboratory. Sleeping shifters were hooked up to large white machines and there were scientists in white lab coats walking around and writing down the readings on the monitors.
A cold shiver snaked through Amélie when she spotted a girl who looked to be about her age lying on a bed with no sheets. Her wrists and ankles were strapped to the metal bars and she was thrashing around, trying to get free while some scientists injected her with a red substance.
The whole place had a disturbing ominous vibe from the hair-raising screams of the test subjects to the sinister hum of the machines, and Amélie was glad to keep moving.
She continued down to the next floor and then the next until she stumbled upon a dank floor with a putrid smell. She held her breath as she opened the door and looked down the hall. Several doors lined the hallway like prison cells.
The alarm was still shrieking, keeping the guards on full alert, including the one who was standing in the hall. He quickly drew his gun when he saw her and fired twice without even a word of warning.
One bullet tore through her right shoulder, searing its way through her flesh. She gritted her teeth and grunted as the second bullet cut through her right bicep. The hot pain exploded through the right side of her body as warm blood leaked down her arm.
The guard lowered the gun for a second, but when she didn’t drop to the floor, he raised it to shoot again.
“Not this time,” she grunted as she pushed forward, racing down the hall toward him.
His eyes widened as she came barreling down on him, leaping through the air in a flying kick. Those wide eyes shut real fast once her heel connected with his chin.
He flopped to the floor in an unconscious heap, and Amélie wasted no time grabbing the access card off of his belt.
She ran to the first door and slid the card through the slot. The light beeped on and the door swung open.
“Mom?” she called out as she stuck her head inside. “Elodie?”
