by Amelia Jade
Shay stayed quiet though, eager to let him explain. This was the most she had gotten out of him about his personal life, and she wanted to learn more about what made the big shifter tick.
“The shifter gene is generally present in a child if one or both of the parents are shifters. Female shifters are rare, but male shifters born to human females happens most of the time,” he said, explaining shifter genetics to her. “The other option is a half-breed. Part shifter, part human.”
“Okay, I’m following you so far,” she said in response to his questioning glance.
“Both of my parents were blackbloods,” he explained. “Neither of them were full shifters, but they managed to conceive me, a full-blooded shifter out of it. That,” he said with a wry grin, “is a genetic oddity that I’ve never encountered before.”
“Wait. Blackblood?” she asked. “What’s that slang for?”
“Another way of saying half-breed,” he told her with a shrug. “I think it’s a little easier on the ears than half-breed.”
“I agree,” she said, her lip turning up at the other phrase. “Half-breed makes me think of animals, not intelligent beings.”
“Why thank you,” he said. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” she replied quickly, sticking her tongue out at him.
“Noted,” he laughed. “Anyway, as I was saying, my family were all human, despite having shifter blood in them. I’m not sure how well I would have been able to connect with them after my bear manifested.” He shrugged, his gaze focused on the sidewalk ahead of them. “I’m sure they would have loved me, and I them. But it’s such a life-altering event when your animal first manifests. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it weren’t for my family out in Genesis Valley. Being among my own kind, and able to be comfortable with going out in public while young was probably lifesaving.”
“What do you mean by that? Going out in public? Everyone knows shifters exist, even if we don’t know much about you.”
A sad smile crossed his face at her words, and a new, harsher tone entered his voice as he responded.
“The Outing, as it’s called, hasn’t exactly been beneficial for us. Most shifters consider it a mistake, you know.”
She stopped in her tracks, stunned by this revelation. “What? Really? How come? I’ve never heard of such a sentiment before.”
“We don’t exactly advertise it to humans,” he said coldly, though she could tell his ire wasn’t directed her, but her species as a whole.
Shay wasn’t naïve. She knew that there were many humans out there that would do despicable things to one another. Although she shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that they would do the same to shifters. Perhaps it was the fact that they all seemed so big and strong, impervious to the stupidity of humanity. Judging from the tone of his voice, however, that was not the case.
“How bad has it been?” she asked softly, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
Justin looked away. “Worse than the witch trials during the medieval ages.”
Shay gasped in horror. “No, you can’t be serious. How can it be worse?”
He snorted. “Now that it’s been confirmed that we do exist, and our abilities revealed, governments and greedy men want to take what we have and give it to themselves. So they experiment on us, try to take our powers and make them transferable to humans.”
Words failed her as she took in what Justin was telling her, trying to understand how people could conduct such experiments on other human beings.
“That’s just in our country,” he said angrily. “In less civilized places in the world, we’re hunted because many consider us to be abnormalities in the face of their gods, as monsters and freaks to be feared, and thus eliminated.”
“That’s barbaric,” Shay stated firmly, feeling her rage growing. “Anyone who would do such a thing isn’t worth the skin on their back. There should be laws against doing that, if there aren’t already.”
He smiled sadly at her again. “There are, but when those in power agree with the general sentiment, then it’s unlikely that any will face punishment.”
Shay thought he looked like he was about to say more, but his expression suddenly changed.
“Why don’t we start looking for your father?” he suggested, pulling her after him into the closest store.
“Uh, okay?” she said, caught completely by surprise. “In a dry cleaner?” she asked after a moment, surveying the small shopfront.
Behind the counter, a short Asian woman was looking at them strangely while shaking her head. A rack of clothing covered in flimsy plastic bags made a loud clanking noise as it rotated behind her in an endless stream.
“Ticket?” the woman said in accented English, holding out her hand.
“No ticket,” Justin said, looking past her into the back of the shop.
“What is going on?” Shay said, pulling on his shoulder.
“No ticket? Need ticket!” the woman shouted, oblivious to the conversation going on between them. She pulled an empty hanger from the rack as it went by, barely even looking over her shoulder as she did. The woman brandished it like a weapon, first at Justin, then at Shay when the big shifter didn’t respond.
“Did you mean what you said?” Justin asked, taking her by the shoulders as he looked into her eyes.
“What are you talking about?!” she asked, shaking her head in frustration. “Did I mean what?”
“What you said, about the people who do things to my kind being worthless?”
Shay frowned in confusion. “What? I mean, yes, of course. But what does that have to do with dragging me in here?”
Behind her the rack continued to clank and chatter, each scrape of metal on metal ratcheting her nerves up another level, threatening to overload her.
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
“I promise I’m going to tell you everything I can, as soon as I can.”
Her brain clicked to something Justin had said.
“You need to go, don’t you?”
The big shifter nodded, even as something flashed behind his eyes. Something dangerous that she had never seen before.
“I didn’t mean to get you involved,” he said, gritting his teeth.
“Ticket or leave!” the little lady behind the counter said, her voice rising.
“If they come in here, just pretend to argue with the lady,” Justin said.
Shay’s eyes narrowed. “If who come in—”
Her greenish-blue eyes flew open in astonished surprised as Justin dipped his head low and kissed her. Time seemed to slow as she felt warm lips pressed against hers, his hands slipping off her shoulders and around her back, one of them even making its way up to her neck to send a shiver down her spine.
Shay had a split-second decision to make. Did she fight him? Or did she accept it?
Just as she began to melt into him, her eyes closing with a flutter, ears tuning out the huff of the woman behind the counter and the clanking of the clothing rack, she knew it was over. Justin began to pull away, no matter how hard she grasped at his clothing, trying to pull him in close.
“I’ll call you,” he said, moving toward the counter where the little lady stood.
“I don’t have a phone.”
That’s what you say? Really? Not “be safe” or “come back to me”? Good job, brain.
“I know. I’ll call your hotel this time,” he said with a wink, and then vaulted over the counter, narrowly missing the shop owner, who started yelling louder than before. She threw the hanger in her hand at Justin, but it bounced harmlessly off his back as he disappeared, heading toward the rear exit of the shop.
Well that was uneventful—
The door behind her opened, a gust of outside air rushing through the place, whipping some of the clean clothes on the rack into a frenzy.
Shay whirled to see two large and clearly in-shape men enter the store, dressed in all black, looking very aut
horitative and official. Their utility boots clumped on the floor as they strode up to the counter.
“Where is he?” they asked, looking back and forth between her and the little lady behind the counter.
“Uh, where is who?” she asked, trying not to shake.
Who were these guys? Why were they after Justin? They had the look of law enforcement officers about them. Not the street cops either, but the special teams that were called in when something extra bad was happening.
A thought raced through her system. Was Justin a criminal? Is that why he had to run so often? Was his “team” just a bunch of common crooks? Nausea flooded her stomach as she reached for the counter to steady herself.
“Big tall male. Very short-cut hair, wearing a leather motorcycle jacket. We saw him duck in here,” one of them said, his partner peering over the counter to see if Justin was hidden back there.
The little lady at the counter was looking back and forth. So far she hadn’t said a word, but Shay had her doubts about how much longer that would last. Gathering her nerves, she prepared to lie.
“I didn’t get a good look at him,” she said. “But a guy did open the door and start to come inside before leaving. I remember because he ducked and ran out of here still in a low crouch, looking really weird and scared.”
The pair looked at each other, and turned to head back out the front door.
Shay sagged, relieved that they had bought her lie.
The door opened, but this time there wasn’t a big gust of wind to accompany it.
“You notice that?” the first one said to his partner.
“No wind,” the other replied immediately.
“Back door,” they said together and turned, clearing the counter easily, sending the little lady sprawling out of the way.
Justin!
Thoughts cascaded through her head as she tried to understand just what was going on. Had she lied to the police or a government agency? Why were they after Justin? Who was he?
Curiosity and a desire to know the truth got the better of her, and she jumped over the counter herself, helping the little lady to her feet before following the two men out the back door.
Something was going on, and Shay needed to know what.
She only hoped that it wouldn’t bring her world crumbling down for the second time in only a few weeks.
Chapter Eight
Justin
You got Shay involved! That was the one thing you were supposed to ensure never happened.
Justin continued to curse himself as he walked down the alley behind the dry cleaner. He could still feel the taste of her lips upon his, a faint hint of cherry left behind from her lip gloss. His entire body was yelling at him to go back there, to kiss her fully again and to let the natural order of things take over.
His brain was telling him to get the fuck out of there before the Agents showed up. Then it switched to telling him to go back, because Shay was in danger because of him, and he needed to ensure she was safe.
“Argh!” he screamed, inarticulate frustration boiling over as he slammed his fist into the side of a garbage dumpster. The green-painted metal dented under the blow, though he paid for it as pain shot through his knuckles.
Finally he came to a decision. Shay needed to stay safe. He didn’t think the Agents had seen her over the rest of the people around, but he couldn’t take that chance. He needed to ensure that he led them away himself.
Turning, he went to jog back down the alleyway, but his strides faltered before they barely even started as two men dressed in standard Agency black exited the rear of the dry cleaner, spreading out into the alley as they saw him.
Shit.
He glanced around. Garbage and other refuse lined the walls. Three-, four-, and five-story buildings abounded in this section. Another block in three directions and they were surrounded by towering skyscrapers that would provide no refuge for him. The fourth way led him toward more low-lying buildings, many of which were occupied by owners trying to make a living in King City. The buildings were often decorated with a multitude of colors and flashing signs. It would be the perfect place for him to lose his tails—if he could get there.
The Agents jogged down the open path toward him as Justin looked around for what he needed.
There!
He judged the distance, took a few steps back, then ran forward as fast as he could. One foot pushed from the ground, launching him up onto a windowsill. From there he rebounded to the top of a dumpster and then threw himself straight up, his fingers wrapping around the fire escape. This was a simple ladder, not a full metal staircase. Justin pulled himself up hand over hand as fast as he could until there were enough rungs below him to engage his feet. As soon as that happened he flew up the ladder, his limbs a blur.
The entire metal apparatus shuddered, the vibrations throwing off his grip. He slammed to a halt, hanging on by one hand and one foot. Below, he saw both shifters mimic his move perfectly and begin to ascend the ladder as well.
“Dammit,” he muttered. They were Extremis Agents: half-breeds given an injection of a serum that bonded to their shifter DNA, giving them many of the abilities of a shifter, without the manifestation of an inner animal. That was the only advantage Justin would have over these two if they managed to catch him.
“So it’s simple then,” he said. “They can’t catch me.”
The idea of stopping to fight the Agents didn’t even come up as an option. It was there in his head of course; there was no way it couldn’t. After all, it might still come to that. But if it did, it would be because Justin had exhausted his other options. Killing two Agents in broad daylight was not a smart move. Too many people would see them, or hear the fight. He didn’t have his mask on either, so witnesses would be able to describe him.
No, he had to try and escape. The only bright side to it all was that both Agents were following him. Neither had stayed with Shay, so she was safe. Knowing that fact allowed him to breathe a lot easier.
The top of the building neared and with an extra burst of effort, Justin launched himself up and over the lip, expecting to land on the gravel-topped roof with a quick roll.
Instead, he found himself falling amidst a tangle of rooftop clothing lines, full of wet sheets and other laundry strung out to dry. Cursing, he stood, ripping the sticky fabric from him as fast as he could.
A noise caught his attention as the first Agent cleared the lip of the building behind him. Without thinking, Justin grabbed the sheet in his hand and, like a matador, furled it up and around his target, wrapping the Agent in the big purple sheet. While the man shouted his anger, Justin took off, ducking between more lines of clothing that were still standing as he made his way across the roof.
He emerged from the lines of clothing with just enough room to slide to a halt. The next building was a story shorter. Surveying his landing, Justin took a step back and launched himself across the small gap, dropping his shoulder as he went. He impacted the gravel and rolled to his feet, the sting of his landing already fading from his shoulder.
Feet churning, he made for the next building, even as the ground thudded underneath him once, and then twice, to indicate both his pursuers were still close behind him.
“Stop!” one of them shouted, but he ignored them, heading straight for the next building.
They were of the same three-story height, and he didn’t even pause as he approached, simply throwing himself over the lip. The big shifter sailed through the air and landed in a crouch, rising almost instantly as the Agents were already in the air behind him
Damn, they’re quick.
A sliver of fear raced through him that perhaps these Agents had taken a different strain of the Extremis serum. Did they have enhanced speed? Perhaps greater strength than his? If they caught up with him, Justin could be in a world of trouble if that were the case.
Adrenaline spurred him faster and gave him more strength as he worked to ensure they wouldn’t catch him. He approached th
e end of his building, where another loomed up a full story taller than his own. Gritting his teeth, Justin surged forward. He leapt up onto the ledge, and without stopping flung himself upward, arms reaching for the roof of the next building. There was no fire escape; he had to go straight for it.
He glanced down at the nearly four-story drop to the ground below, a whisper of doubt entering his mind just before he slammed into the side of the building, his fingers scrabbling for purchase on the raised stone and brick lip that seemed to surround all the nearby buildings.
His right hand slipped! For just a moment Justin was swaying freely in the mid-morning breeze, held aloft by the four fingers of his left hand alone. Just as quickly as he froze in shock, his reflexes, honed by many years of training with the other Sentinels, kicked in and he swung his right hand back up onto the lip, gaining purchase. His legs kicked and pushed rapidly until he was able to haul himself up and over, onto the ledge.
“Oh come on,” he muttered aloud, his eyes drawn to the building below him just in time to see one of the Agents launch his partner up and toward the building Justin currently lay upon, giving him much more height.
It also meant he was vulnerable.
Justin wasn’t willing to kill them in daylight, and he stuck to that, hoping to find another way to evade them. But the Agent had enough height that he was going to clear the lip that Justin was on and land on the gravel roof two feet down.
All Justin had to do was bunch his legs up, and as the Agent passed next to him, kick out.
There was nothing the man could do besides grab at Justin’s legs, but there was no hope of him finding enough purchase there. The enemy Agent went tumbling across the roof until he connected solidly with the lip over there, his head slamming into the stone.
He had hoped it would buy him some time, but the Agent just shook his head and leapt to his feet, eyes focused on Justin.
Behind him, the first Agent leapt across the distance, following Justin’s path as he grabbed onto the lip and began to pull himself over.
“Oh come on,” he muttered. “Do you guys ever give up?” he asked under his breath before taking off again.
