by Jo Penn
A muffled screech halted Tripp. Spinning around, he sprinted back to the truck where the sound came from with Drax and a few others right behind him, but they were too late. Doors were hanging open, a computer lay smashed on the ground, and Adrian was gone.
“Shit!” Drax sniffed deeply. “Who the hell would take Adrian?”
“I don’t know, but this feels wrong. Renegades and Hunters don’t set up in these neighborhoods, too many people home during the day to notice them. This is a setup.”
“Yeah. Call for backup, Tripp.”
Tripp was already on that, using the app Trekk placed in their phones a few months ago. All he had to do was put in the code and his location would be traced, and backup sent. As great as that was, Tripp was more concerned with Adrian’s disappearance. Aside from being a pack member and a valued computer technician, Tripp liked the nervy little part shifter, and didn’t like the thought of anyone harming Adrian. He scanned the surrounding area and listened, everyone silent as they did the same. He saw what he missed before, the setup. Someone had drawn them out and snatched Adrian. Either because the shifter was by himself and defenseless, or because he was the actual target. Could this be an elaborate ruse to draw him out? Seemed a bit over the top, with a lot of luck on their side. Not a good plan.
Tripp frowned, realizing Adrian had only left pack grounds once since arriving, and that had been with a group. Was someone after the pack’s newest techie? Shaking his head, Tripp fixed his focus on the scene. He was responsible for Adrian, no one snatched the man and got away with it…and he liked the bouncy creature.
The ground was disturbed. Scuff marks and shoe prints. He followed the tracks through a narrow footpath between properties to another quiet street and found tire marks on the side of the road with fresh blood droplets that smelt like Adrian.
“We checked out the house.” Gwen Delacourt, one of the Enforcers from the Durand coven, joined them and held a small device in her hand. “A receiver. The house is clear.”
Sebastian Sanchez jogged over. “Baron has a car abandoned down the road. They’re on foot.”
“I’ll shift and hunt them down.” Tripp frowned, stilling.
He could feel Trekk through their triplet connection. His brother was furious, worried, and injured, Trekk’s right arm causing horrific pain. Tripp could feel Tredd now also, his brother was making his way home to Trekk, strength pouring through their link, feeding Trekk what their brother needed to keep conscious and stay alive.
Tripp shifted, clothes tearing and falling off his body in shreds, thick short brown hair replaced skin and deadly claws sunk into the ground as he ran toward his home to save his brother. And his mate. Trekk was protecting Eddie with his life.
Tripp roared, enraged. He would kill anyone who threated his mate and brothers. He was bear and on a murderous rampage.
* * * *
“Look, you’ve got it all wrong.” Edward stood very still and spoke calmly and quietly to the maniac holding him with a gun pressed against his chest. The man had introduced himself as Abrafo, the executioner. “I made a mistake. Tripp isn’t my mate. I don’t mean anything more to him than that of a casual boyfriend.”
“It is admirable you wish to protect your mate, Mr. Nelsen.” Abrafo the Creepy was the man who broke into Edward’s apartment a week ago. “But far too late. If you move, Mr. Croggen, I will shoot you in the knee caps next, then begin putting holes in your brother’s mate.”
Trekk bared huge fangs at the man holding Edward hostage, the bear shifter’s body in an aggressive stance, but not moving. He snarled, a nasty little noise that would have even the fiercest predator pausing. It didn’t do more than amuse Abrafo though.
Edward was doing his best to remain still. When he’d moved and fought after first being grabbed walking into the living room to join Trekk, he received a few whacks with the brass knuckles on Abrafo’s other hand. It hadn’t tickled. What alarmed Edward was this creep shot Trekk when the shifter moved. And it had been in such a cold-blooded way.
“What do you want?” Edward snapped. He tried being polite, reasonable and quiet. Now he was ready to fight back for he sure as hell didn’t believe for a moment that the gunman had any intention of letting either Trekk or Edward live.
“Well, there are many things I want, Mr. Nelson. But I am assuming you are referring to our current situation.” HAP man smiled. “I want a chain reaction that will rock the Milson Valley Alliance and cause a ripple effect throughout the entire world. You see, this pesky Alliance leads humans to believe they actually have rights against creatures. It is absurd, but the notion they have a say via the Human Council that feeds into the Alliance is a good ploy on the paranormals part, and I applaud their ingenuity in devising the scheme. By lulling humans into believing their rights are protected, they are little more than sheep following directions. This must be stopped. Humans require a wakeup call! We outnumber paranormals twenty-two to one. It is time we turned our numbers on them.”
Abrafo nudged the gun into Edward’s side. “You both will make superb sacrifices for the HAP cause, your deaths well remembered.”
“You better put down the gun and get out of here fast…fuck!”
Edward yelled in outrage as Abrafo shot Trekk in the stomach. He pulled away, freeing himself and would have punched the man in the face, but Abrafo was quicker, brass knuckles slamming into Edward’s left cheek, sending pain exploding through his head.
When he regained his senses, Edward was looking up at the ceiling of the living room. Abrafo moved into his line of vision. Edward quickly looking around for Trekk and saw the bear crumpled on the ground not moving.
“Trekk…” Edward grimaced at the pain splintering his head.
Abrafo knelt down beside Edward. “As powerful as Mr. Croggen is, not even he can withstand one of these bullets.”
The creep smiled coldly. It chilled Edward to the bone. He wasn’t sure the man had a soul. Had creatures done something to make Abrafo like this? Or was he beyond hate all by his own making?
“No, not Trekk…” Edward felt his heart breaking.
“These bullets are specially designed to shatter even a creature’s strong bones and organs. It contains a fast acting tranquilizing to help in taking a particularly powerful creature down. It is important to have an advantage over creatures, Mr. Nelson. If you had lived, you would have eventually realized this.” Abrafo rubbed his chin with the brass knuckles. “I have watched and waited a long time. You see, I needed a chain reaction, and I need Trent Sanchez. He is brilliant. No one can outmaneuver him. No one can beat his gift. It will be a useful tool on the HAP side.” Abrafo smiled. “The Croggen’s are unique, did you know, Mr. Nelson? If one dies, the others will quickly wither and perish also. They are strongly linked, feel what the other does, cannot be apart for long. By taking out one of them, I get rid of all of them and remove the bond holding Trent. The Croggen’s are viewed as leaders of the bear shifters and high on their council. By removing them, I eliminate a strong point in the Milson Valley defense and cause waves of repercussions.” Abrafo’s expression became thoughtful, and creepier. “Trent’s strategizing gift will make HAP the most powerful. Creatures will be reduced to nothing more than pets and soldiers at humans command…and Trent will be mine.”
Edward lifted his leg and smashed his foot into Abrafo’s groin. The man turned pale, then red and toppled over sideways and curled up in a fetal position. Edward moved fast and snatched the gun just as the biggest damn wolf he’d ever seen crashed through a wall and into the living room. He raised the gun then dropped it when recognizing Alpha Urian’s gray eyes. Edward scrambled over to Trekk and checked for a pulse.
“He’s alive!” Edward yelled. He jumped up, then rushed to the kitchen and searched for a first aid kit. Not finding one, he grabbed a dozen clean towels used for drying dishes and ran back to the living room.
Unfortunately, in the time he was gone, the situation had changed. There was another man there who let
out a screech just before the Alpha wolf tore out his throat, but another man pointed a gun at Edward. Abrafo had come with backup.
“Shoot him! Shoot them all!” Abrafo screamed.
Edward stared wide-eyed as the gun was pointed at him. This was it, he was going to die! While a part of his brain boiled in anger over that, he wasn’t ready to die yet, there was still so much to do and he was only just finding happiness. Another part was angry at the extremist humans. And that made him angry over just about everything and he forgot to be afraid.
Taking a step toward the gunman and cursing him loudly, he ignored the warning growl from Urian and told the man from HAP off for being a murdering son of a bitch.
“Sacrifices have to be made.” The gunman smirked and fired.
Edward yelped as his body made contact with the hard floorboards. A loud roar shook the entire house, everyone staying perfectly still. There was an answering roar just as the HAP gunman fired again, aiming for Urian who looked weird jumping around dodging bullets. Edward raised his head a little as a freaking huge bear streaked into the living room and leapt on the HAP man, crushing the human beneath its heavy bulk and using those claws to slice.
Edward winced at the sound of bones cracking and he looked away when blood covered the floor. Another bear ran in and almost casually swiped long, nasty looking claws across Abrafo’s throat before sitting on its big bear ass beside Trekk and making a sad, whiny sound.
Urian howled then shifted back to human. “Pass me those towels, Eddie.”
He managed to push the towels to Urian and roll over onto his back, his head spinning from connecting with the floor when he fell. Frowning, Edward wondered how he had fallen. Had he tripped on something? Glancing down to his feet, he saw nothing. A shadow fell over him and a snout pressed against Edward’s cheek, followed by a rough tongue. He sighed, relaxing. His mate.
There was a lot of activity happening around them, but Edward stayed as he was with Tripp seated beside him, one large bear paw petting gently over his body. His head throbbed, first from being punched with brass knuckles, then making contact with hard wooden floorboards when he fell. And he felt sick to his stomach, not only from the fall and being punched, but with what Abrafo had said and Trekk injured. If Trekk died, so would Tripp and Tredd. From what Edward learnt in school years ago, Trent may very well die, as well. When a creature, or creatures, mated they claimed one another and bonded with spirit and body. It was rare, the teachers had said, for a mate to survive when one died. Either the surviving one did not wish to go on, or their life forces were fused together. Edward had been curious years later and read up that each creature species was different, so what his teacher told him was not technically accurate. He guessed he would have to discover how it truly worked. If he had the opportunity to. Damn, he really wanted the opportunity…Edward had admitted what he suspected this last week when Abrafo was holding him at gunpoint, and all Edward wanted to do was keep Tripp and his brothers safe. He was in love with Tripp, and he wanted to be with the man. He wanted to mate and bond and feel they were connected on that weird, but wonderful, creature wavelength the other mates seemed to have together.
But Abrafo said in the triplets’ case they were linked and would all die if one did.
“Tripp?” Edward studied his bear mate. “Are you going to die?”
Tripp, still in bear form, whined and petted Edward. He saw a light flash to the side and watched in amazement as half a dozen creatures stepped out of a glowing circular portal.
“A healer will help you soon, Edward.” Mason crouched on the other side of Edward. “I’m sorry I knocked you to the ground so hard. It was difficult to see properly looking through the window, and I had to be fast so you didn’t get shot.”
Blinking up at the wizard, Edward sighed. It made sense now why he’d fallen. Mason had used his wizard magic and saved Edward’s life.
“Thank you,” he managed to say.
Mason patted Edward’s shoulder, but quickly removed his hand when Tripp growled, eyes glowing darkly.
“Trekk will be okay. Try not to worry too much.”
Mason moved off and was swept up in Drax’s arms, the big wolf crushing the wizard to him desperately.
Edward didn’t want time to have run out. He wanted his chance, his and Tripp’s, to have that deep bond and love. He hoped like hell they’d get it.
Chapter Ten
The night was long and hard. The bones in Trekk’s arm had been shattered along with tendons, ligaments, and muscles and the stomach wound was severe. The healers worked for hours stemming blood loss and repairing the extensive damage while at the same time flushing Trekk’s system of the drug from the bullet.
A healer had arrived and helped Edward, Tripp’s mate suffering a concussion, bruising and swelling to his face and ribs. Once healed, Tripp shifted back to human and sat on the floor with Eddie in his arms, clinging to one another. He hated that his mate had been hurt and wished to tear each and every HAP member apart, but would limit himself to going after the organization legally and seeing that anyone involved in what happened last night had justice dealt to them.
Tripp took his exhausted mate to bed once Trekk had been helped by the Armstrong coven witch and wizard healers. He and Tredd lay in bear form with Trekk for a while, needing to reaffirm they were together and mended, then he went downstairs to clean up and have time to calm down and breath.
His bear wanted to hunt, maim, kill and remark their territory, and Tripp was no different. He also wanted, needed to claim his mate and never let Eddie go. He’d gotten the vibe the last few days Eddie would agree to being claimed and bonding, but after what happened here tonight, Tripp wasn’t certain his mate would allow that now.
And his bear was struggling to hold back.
Drax had called Tripp an hour ago and let him know Adrian was found dumped in the forest tied up. The young techie was fine, just a cut on the head that was healed quickly. Adrian said they didn’t kill him because he was a Halfling and HAP didn’t kill humans. Usually. The man who broke in and threatened Eddie and shot Trekk was a hunter hiding behind HAP, like a lot were these days. Hunters were infiltrating HAP and wanted the group to join with them in their common pursuit against creatures. While HAP mostly stuck to legal avenues and misdemeanors, the Hunters were evil bastards with their own agenda. They basically wanted creatures as their slaves. Tonight was a setup to get soldiers and Enforcers away while that bastard Abrafo and his associates snuck in to kill Eddie and Trekk. Tripp still had difficulty over that. Abrafo wanted Trent Sanchez’s skills and as he said, a ripple effect. Killing Trekk would have slowly killed Tripp and Tredd, and Abrafo was right, Trent would have been free of the mateship. If he weren’t mated to Tredd. The connection the Croggen’s, his type of bear, had with their mates was just as potent as what the triplets had. They would all perish. The only way Abrafo could have kept Trent alive after killing Tredd was to have severed their mateship bond before Tredd died.
The Hunter had a dozen screws loose.
Tripp smelt Eddie before he heard him. Turning, he saw his mate hovering in the living room entrance, eyes wide, and face pale. Tripp sniffed the air, scenting his mate was unsure and filled with heavy emotions. Unfortunately, Tripp wouldn’t be able to sooth right now, far too wound up, his bear on edge and needing.
“Go to bed, Eddie,” Tripp ordered.
“I-I can help –”
“Now.”
Eddie’s chin went up and his eyes lost the haunted, unsure look. “Don’t tell me what to do! You can be as angry and upset as you want that your brother was hurt, but don’t think—”
Tripp was on his human in two steps. Blood pounded through his body, his cock so hard the brush of his jeans made him want to explode. He thrust Eddie against the back of the sofa on his knees face first and pressed his chest to his mate’s back.
“Mine.” He growled, long fangs needing to pierce skin and mark this man as his forever.
“Oh yeah
, do it. Join us.” Eddie groaned, leaning his head back against Tripp’s chest. “Claim me, bond us.”
“Yes.” Tripp snarled and pulled at Eddie’s clothes, removing his shirt and pulling down his jeans and underwear enough to expose the man’s damn fine ass, cock, and balls. “You smell so good, mate. Are you sure?”
Eddie huffed and pushed his ass against Tripp’s groin and rubbed. “Of course I’m sure! I’m not stupid.” Eddie stared up at Tripp with wide eyes. “Claim me, mate me, bond, whatever it is you bear shifters do to make us one. I want to feel you always, Tripp.”
Yes…no. Tripp shook his head, fighting himself. “You need to be certain, Eddie. Once we bond, that’s it for life. No take backs, no regrets. Last night—”
“I know what I want.” Eddie turned his upper torso and poked a finger into Tripp’s chest. “You think I don’t? You don’t think I know what I’m doing? That I haven’t thought about you nonstop since we met? That I haven’t dwelled and agonized and considered every possible outcome of us being together? How my entire life will change and everything I have worked so damn hard for might not end up as I planned? And you think I give a shit?” Eddie frowned. “Well, I do on that count, and let me tell you, no matter if we’re mates or not, you don’t get to boss me around and think I’m a pushover and easily manipulated. Been there, done that, learnt to see through the bullshit.”
Tripp growled and nipped Eddie’s shoulder. “Yes?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said! Geez, maybe you’re looking for an excuse to get out of it—”
Tripp planted a large hand on the back of his mate’s neck and pushed Eddie around so he faced the back of the sofa again and clamped his mouth on the joint between neck and shoulder. Eddie shuddered, breathing heavy. Removing his hand, Tripp reached down and using his claws, removed his jeans, tossing the material aside.
