Dragon Passion

by Amelia Jade

  “And in other news, the location of a suspected terrorist base was given to the police today. They haven’t confirmed its location to use just yet, but they have given us some pictures. Rest assured we are trying to identify the location. The pictures are posted on our website.”

  Nadia didn’t have to wait for the pictures, however. She knew what they were of. Her heart sank.

  She wasn’t sure how, but something told her that she had it all backward. Behind her, a truck raced from the exit ramp of the building that had contained her hopes and dreams for the past six months.

  “This is not good,” she said, driving recklessly through the streets, breaking any number of laws.

  Perhaps the police will stop me.

  Without a phone to call them, she was on her own. She could try and make it for the police station. But they would expect that. If they were this intent on pursuing her, Nadia got the sneaking suspicion she would never make it to the police office.

  There was only one place she could go.

  “You’re crazy. Stupid. This is literally the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. Even worse than running out on your new job before you even started it, all on a feeling. Don’t do this Nadia. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself involved in.”

  That was the truth, but it was about time she started finding out. Nadia offered up a prayer to whatever deity might be watching, and headed for the last place she thought she would ever go.

  Chapter Three

  Jared

  Two days later, he still couldn’t shake that foreboding feeling.

  Something is wrong.

  He didn’t say anything out loud, because he knew it would distract the others. They were all standing around a wall devoid of anything except paper tacked to it. There were nine sheets, each four feet on a side. The blue paper was filled with a crazy pattern of white lines that slowly resolved themselves into shapes as his eyes refocused.

  Blueprints.

  Not just any blueprints either. These were the plans for the building that the Agency now occupied and called their headquarters. Because the building had been constructed before they bought it, the plans were public property, and the Underground had been able to procure a set. It was likely that the interior had been changed to a degree, but they all agreed that any changes would likely not be to the fundamental structure of it.

  So now his team was poring over them, studying them, committing them to memory at the same time they devised various strategies to assault the building as a whole, and the individual floors.

  “How high is the nearby buildings?” Josh asked. “Could we rappel down to the roof?”

  Justin shook his head. “No, it’s only seven floors aboveground. The other two are well over thirty. There’s no way that would work; it’s far too steep. No balconies or other such things either.”

  “Could we parachute in over the city?” Connor asked. “It sounds stupid, I know. I’m just throwing anything out there that might be better than a ground assault.”

  The others didn’t poke fun at him. Jared had instilled the mantra that no idea was too stupid a long time ago. Sometimes the most outrageous ideas spurred other thoughts that led to successful plans. He didn’t want to have anyone not commit a thought, just in case that was the one that worked.

  “I don’t think so,” he said aloud instead. “Too risky, tight confines, and the wind shear could slam us into any of the nearby buildings. We don’t have the experience for that.”

  “What about from below?” Madison asked. “If we can’t come from the sky, what about underground? Sewer or other access points?”

  “Not a bad idea. We’d have to survey the tunnels around it, find access, and see what we’re up against. I can’t believe they wouldn’t have either placed guards or fortified it in a way that makes it near impossible for us to get in,” he said. “But still worth checking out.”

  He frowned. “Let’s move past that. Let’s assume we make entry. What are our goals?”

  “Bring it to the ground.”

  “Burn it.”

  “Blow it up.”

  “Eliminate anything that would allow them to rebuild.”

  Jared nodded as the answers were shouted back at him. He looked around the table at the pairs, noting the way they stood close to each other. It brought warmth to his heart to see his team so happy. All of them had found mates that in some way or another had complemented not only them, but had brought something to the Underground as well.

  It also made him ache not to be able to experience the same feelings and emotions himself. But that didn’t seem to be on the table for him just yet, so in the meantime he would be content with being happy for the others, and ensure he did everything he could to get them home safely into each other’s arms.

  “All valid points. I don’t think we really have the capability to blow it up,” he said. “But smashing everything and burning it, making it unusable, is definitely right at the top of our list. As is rescuing anyone they may be holding prisoner there. We know they’ve done it before. I’m not going to risk leaving anyone there.”

  There were approving nods around the table at his words. Leaving someone to be experimented on by the Agency was not an option. The Underground had done its best to get vulnerable shifters out of King City before the Agency found them, but they hadn’t always succeeded. That knowledge ate at them, and the idea that they might be able to rescue even one of those that they had failed before was popular.

  “So how do we go after this?” Josh asked. “Let’s say we get inside. Are we all going via the sewer? Do we split up once we’re inside?”

  Jared nodded. “It will be confined quarters, which should work to our advantage, as they won’t be able to bring their greater numbers to bear. So splitting up will allow us to inflict more damage, I think. We should have a few reinforcements. Ajax and Arianna will be coming by on another tour, and I hope to get them to stay and help out with the assault.”

  “So that brings us to what, eleven?” Madison asked, doing some quick mental math.

  He nodded, grateful that so far she was letting him run the show. Madison was a strong, powerful leader for the Underground, but she was no tactician. Assaulting a building like this was much more his and his team’s strong suit. Her willingness to give him tactical command was appreciated. She could approve or veto the plan, but she would let him make the final decisions on what the plan was. It was a good system that had worked well for them so far.

  “Yes, if we can’t get any more reinforcements from Genesis Valley,” he said. “I think three teams of three and one team of two,” he explained. “That will allow us to hit for maximum damage, while also splitting their forces up and hopefully catching them in some crossfire or other situations partial to us.”

  He opened his mouth to divide them up into teams so they could start planning and train together, but he was interrupted by the sound of shoes slapping against the concrete as someone came along the hall outside and burst into the conference room.

  “You all need to come with me, right now,” Kendra, one of the analysts who worked for the Underground said, out of breath.

  “What is it?” Madison asked, reassuming command instantly.

  “Bad,” Kendra said, her eyes wide as she dashed from the room.

  Jared met his team members’ eyes. They paused for a split second, then as one dashed from the room. Madison and the werewolf siblings were right behind them.

  “She looked terrified,” he grunted to Justin as they ran in strides through the hallways made of canvas slapped over metal framing.

  The other man just grunted. They emerged into the command center to find everyone clustered around the television. There was a newsman talking, but his words didn’t immediately register on Jared as his jaw dropped open at the headline displayed.

  Local King City Terrorist Base Discovered!

  Behind him were images of their warehouse.

  “What. The. Fuck,” he sa
id into the stunned silence.

  “Terrorists?” Madison said in a small voice, equally shocked.

  Jared was the first to snap out of it. “Okay, this is a complete clusterfuck, but it’s out there now. Kendra,” he said turning to the young woman. “How long has this been broadcasting?”

  “I noticed it and came right to you,” she said, her eyes darting left and right nervously. “It may have been on for a few minutes beforehand though.”

  He nodded smartly. “Okay, we need to get non-combatants out of here ASAP. Madison, how long for them to start computer wipes and evacuate?”

  Madison turned to him, and he saw her eyes focus as she got a hold of her shock. “Five minutes, tops.”

  She turned and began barking orders before he could say anything, and the handful of techs jumped into motion. Jared nodding approvingly. They had already been poised and ready to dump everything. Screens started flashing immediately as they gathered paper files and dumped them into a bin. A moment later flames burst from it.

  “Sentinels, to the garage!” he shouted over the commotion.

  They had their own evacuation procedures to follow. As he ran back down the hallway he couldn’t shake one particular thought.

  How did it get on the news before the Agency got here?

  “Somebody fucked up,” he said aloud with a little smile.

  “What do you mean?” Connor asked as they started tossing bags of gear into their trucks.

  “If they know where we are, why isn’t the Agency already here in force?”

  “Hah, good point,” the other shifter said with a laugh.

  The mood went somber as the human contingent of the Underground poured out from the tunnel and headed for a pair of sedans. They purposely did not drive trucks, to better differentiate themselves from the shifters.

  Without a word being said, Jared and his team moved to the big garage door and peered out through concealed holes to ensure the path was clear.

  Justin and Josh both gave him thumbs up immediately. Connor took a moment longer to reach his post, as he was the farthest, but after a brief survey his thumb went up as well. Jared hit the button and the door swiftly opened. They nodded to their comrades, and watched as they departed, driving out into the industrial area and splitting up. The news copter was nowhere in sight, which Jared took to be bad news.

  “Newsies are gone,” he said as the door closed. “We don’t have much time.”

  The sound of frantic honking outside drew his attention. He peered out under the door.

  And threw himself violently out of the way just before a vehicle came flying through the door, bending the metal and ripping it from its tracks. Sparks flew, metal screamed, and rubber screeched to a violent halt.

  ***

  Jared climbed slowly to his feet, staring at the compact crossover vehicle. Not a car, not an SUV, it was a little of both and a lot of neither.

  “Everyone okay?” he called out, though he never averted his eyes from the vehicle.

  Affirmatives rang out, and when everyone was accounted for, he closed on the car. The driver’s door opened, and he heard the sound of pained coughing, following by a very feminine-sounding groan.

  He didn’t take down his guard, but he did relax. The Agency was as old-school sexist as it came. To his knowledge, no one had ever seen a female working for them. It was a strictly male environment. That meant the odds were heavily against the newcomer being an Agent.

  “Stay where you are,” he said firmly as he worked himself through the debris. Madison and the others emerged from the tunnel, eyes wide as they surveyed the crash. He raised a finger to his lips, asking for silence as he finally rounded the vehicle enough to see the occupant.

  Time seemed to stand still as a disheveled brunette who was all thick legs fell from the car, her hair falling in a mess across her shoulders as she shook her head.

  “Ow,” she said clearly to herself.

  Jared let one of his shoes scuff the floor and the woman looked up at him. The huge muscles around the big shifter’s throat tightened involuntarily and his lungs locked up, unable to pump air into his system as he stared at her in wide-eyed surprise.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said, his words echoing the non-verbal assessment of his bear, who growled and pulsed emotions through his mind.

  “What?” she asked, blinking at him in surprise.

  The world shot back into focus. Jared shook his head, hoping his cheeks weren’t a dead giveaway to his embarrassment.

  “Who are you?” he asked, trying to sound extra gruff to cover up.

  The woman looked skittish. “I need your help,” she said, trying to pull her lips back into a smile. The fear in her eyes was so thick it was practically flowing off of her.

  “Why are you scared of me?” he asked, squatting down on his haunches. In the periphery he could see his team come to a stop. They didn’t have much time, but something inside of him told Jared that if he didn’t do it now, he would never get another chance and he would regret it forever.

  There was no hesitation in her answer. “Because you might actually be as bad as the news makes you out to be,” she said. “If that were true, you might hurt me.”

  He frowned. “Do I have any reason to hurt you?” he asked.

  “No,” the woman replied, just a little too quickly for his liking. Then, “Please, they’re not far behind me. I don’t know what else to do.”

  “Who is not far behind you?” he asked, letting his eyes narrow, so that she got the hint it wasn’t okay to lie this time.

  “Bad people,” she said. “I don’t know who they are, or what they do. But they look really evil, and I’m pretty sure they tried to do something bad to me earlier.”

  Jared nodded once, sharply. “Come with me,” he said, trying not to let his attraction to her shine through as she stood up, her legs unfolding deliciously. His mouth went dry as she smoothed her hair down and tugged on her shirt, the motion momentarily accentuating the large swell of her breasts under the material. The formal outfit clashed somewhat with the more casual zip-up sweatshirt, but he let it slide.

  “Madison, how long?” he asked, helping guide the newcomer through the wreckage around her vehicle.

  “Almost there,” she said, disappearing back inside after giving the woman a long look, and then directing an equal one his way.

  Jared got the hint. He was in charge of her for now.

  The tension in the building continued to rise. Every second now they were risking assault from the Agency in numbers they might not be able to fight.

  “Start from the beginning,” he told the brunette slowly. “Begin with your name, and then tell me everything that has to do with why you’re here, in as chronological of an order as you can. Okay?”

  “Nadia,” the woman said promptly, sticking her hand out with more confidence than he thought she should possess.

  “Jared,” he said, forcing himself to revise his opinion of her slightly upward. She was in deep shit, doing something that as far as he could tell she thought was crazy, but she was still confident enough to try and shake his hand.

  Interesting. Perhaps there is more to her than crashing down other people’s doors.

  “I used to work for the city,” she said bluntly. “Nothing fancy, just data work. Anyway, I got a promotion yesterday, for helping clean up some long-standing files. So I was transferred to a new division downtown.”

  He nodded along, wondering when it was going to get to the pertinent part. Time was not on their side at the moment, but he held his breath. After all, he had ordered her to tell him everything.

  “The guy who told me he was my new boss was a bit of a creep, but I just brushed that off,” she said, following in his footsteps as he made his way back to his truck and began to toss more gear inside. “I’m used to that. There are creepers everywhere who will hit on anyone. So I reported like ordered.”

  “And then what happened?” he prodded, trying to move it along a tad
faster.

  “I got there this morning, and it all just felt… wrong. Really wrong. All the men were dressed the same. They were rude and acted as if I were practically nonexistent. It got worse as I prepared to head upstairs. Then three big men were in the elevator, and something told me that if I didn’t get out of the building, I never would have left. So I freaked out, got ridiculously lucky and sneaked back into the elevator, and left.”

  Jared frowned. “So what does any of that have to do with us and you coming here?”

  “They started following me. Chasing me really,” she said, and again he got the impression she was telling him no lies, but she certainly wasn’t including the entire truth. “I was never going to make it to a police station. So I came out here.”

  “Let me get this straight,” he said. “Some guys at work gave you the creeps. So you decided to drive out to what the news is calling a terrorist hideout, and hope they could protect you?”

  Nadia’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah, when you put it that way, it sounds absolutely stupid, doesn’t it?”

  Jared barked a laugh. “That’s one way to put it,” he said mildly. He thought about calling her on her avoidance, but decided he didn’t have the time. Or perhaps he was letting her beauty, the little button nose, the slightly thicker swath of freckles below her eyes, or the thickness of her rear push aside his objections. Either way, he knew he wouldn’t be doing it now.

  “So what do you want from us?” he asked, still not positive about that.

  “Protection?” she asked.

  “For how long?”

  “As long as I need it?”

  He snorted. “That could be forever if you’ve pissed off the people that are coming here.”

  “Oh,” she said uncomfortably. “If I get away from the city, will I be safe?”

  “Safer,” he said. “Stick with me, and we’ll see about that.” He left it unsaid that she would have to come clean before that would happen, but the unhappy look in her eyes told him that Nadia picked up on it.

  “Where are you going now?” she asked, grabbing a bag and trying to lift it. “Oh,” she said as the bag barely budged.