Storm Bear

by Bianca D’Arc

  Better for them that he was knowledgeable in ways to circumvent human authority. They needed to get across the border, and they needed to do it quickly, before the Venifucus could call in even more operatives. The last thing Ace wanted was to be caught in some kind of standoff—or worse, a pitched battle. Especially without his brothers to back him up.

  Lucien had a small cargo plane that was large enough to carry their bikes, which was a relief. He gave Ace detailed directions that led them to a grassy meadow, deep in the mountains. He claimed he could easily land his plane there and pick them up. In fact, he was willing to hop down there and meet them just before dusk that very same day.

  Flying across the border in the dark of night at an obscure location was, he assured Ace, the best way to go. All they had to do was avoid the Venifucus and get to the landing strip on time. Piece of cake.

  Until Ace saw the back-country roads they’d have to traverse. It could be done, but it would take every last minute of their allotted time. And every last ounce of skill Sabrina had at riding. Ace knew he could handle the rough ride, but he wasn’t so sure about her. He hadn’t seen enough of her skill set on the motorcycle to know for certain whether or not she would be able to handle it. He just had to hope for the best. He’d be there to pick her up if she fell, and encourage her every step along their path.

  She was a trooper, that was for sure. She’d been a steadfast companion all along their journey. He couldn’t have hoped for anything better from a woman he’d only just met. A human, at that.

  Sabrina felt that uncomfortable feeling of her magic building up to a critical point. Being around Ace had helped dissipate the static charge somewhat, but it was still there, just building more slowly. She could feel it gathering, just below her skin. This was a new thing that had started happening since her power had morphed into something that refused to remain under her control. The charge would build until it drove her crazy—an itchy feeling all over her body—and she just had to release it.

  Ace kept turning them onto increasingly difficult roads. Switchbacks, tight corners, rough road surfaces and narrow lanes kept her on her toes. They didn’t stop, but their pace was kept to a crawl, at times, by the challenging roads. She wondered if they would make the rendezvous. Ace had explained to her about the pilot that would meet them, the timing and location. He’d kept her well informed once the plan was set in motion. She appreciated that.

  He always looked out for her, making sure she understood what they were doing and that she would be prepared in case they got separated, somehow. He wasn’t just leading her somewhere blindly. He was making her part of the mission. Allowing her to participate in her own rescue, as much as possible. He was teaching her things, planning for every contingency, including the worst-case scenarios that her own mind shied away from.

  They stopped for lunch in a copse of trees just off the side of the road, where nobody could see them. He’d packed food in both their saddlebags, and they pulled out what they wanted and had an al fresco picnic. Neither spoke much, but the silences were companionable, even if she was still worried about what was to come.

  “Do the roads get any better up ahead?” she asked around a sip of water from one of the bottles that had been in her bags.

  “Not really,” he told her. “At least, they look pretty much the same on the map. We’re in a part of the world people don’t regularly travel. There are locals, here and there, but this valley that we’re heading toward is part of a large, privately owned reserve. We have permission to use the landing strip. The Lords cleared the way with the Clan that owns the territory.”

  “Shifters?” she asked, surprised, though she probably shouldn’t have been.

  This wild country was perfect for many different species of shifter. It was quiet and rugged, without a lot of people or human impact. It was easy to see why shifters would gravitate toward this part of the world.

  “Yeah, there are a few different Clans, Tribes and Packs that own a lot of the land around here. The Lords have influence with all of them and have been making calls on our behalf. That’s why we’re not really seeing any of the sentries. They’re there, but they’re not objecting to my presence in their territory as they normally could. Instead, the Lords have gotten us free passage and scouts to watch our back trail. If anybody is following us, we’ll find out sooner or later. The scouts will report to their leaders, and the leaders will report to the Lords. One of them will call me if there’s anything we need to know.”

  “You make it sound so easy,” she said, impressed.

  Ace shrugged. “We’re pretty resourceful,” he teased. “We’ve been doing this sort of thing a long time.”

  Just at that moment, his phone rang. Ace reached for it, checking the screen with a bit of a frown when he saw whoever it was that was calling. He moved off a few paces to accept the call, and she cleared up the little debris they’d created, readying both of them to take to the road, again, while trying to give him at least the illusion of privacy.

  As it turned out, he didn’t say much, but his expression had changed to something closer to a grin with more than a bit of bemusement thrown in when he walked back to her, tucking his phone into his pocket. He thanked her with a nod for cleaning up and secured his saddlebags before mounting his bike. Damn, he looked sexy doing that.

  Of course, he looked sexy doing just about anything. Her little heart went pitter-pat every time he looked at her with those deep chocolatey brown eyes.

  “Looks like we’re going to pick up some additional help,” Ace told her as she mounted her bike, beside his. “That was my contact in Washington. He’s called in a favor from a mutual friend who happens to be working on a case up this way. He’s going to detour and give us a hand. I’ve worked with him before. Good man. Hawk shifter.”

  Sabrina gasped. “You mean, there really are bird shifters? I thought that was just a myth.”

  Ace smiled at her. “Not a myth, though they’re somewhat rare. The man you’re going to meet is a private detective, and his ability to fly gives him certain advantages when it comes to aerial surveillance.”

  “I bet.” She thought about the implications. “Is he already ahead of us or is he flying in to meet us?”

  “Not sure, but I’d bet on flying in. There’s really nothing where we’re headed but a big flat meadow high enough in the mountains and deep enough in shifter territory that nobody else should be around to bother us.”

  That sounded ideal to Sabrina. Deep inside shifter territory, strangers should stick out like sore thumbs. With any luck, the bad guys wouldn’t be able to stop them before they got to the landing strip.

  They got back on the road—though, at this point, it was more of a trail. The path was only wide enough for one car and was laid with gravel, not pavement. The going was slow, but the towering trees all around and the deep forest made her feel…sort of…welcome. She didn’t know how else to describe it. It felt like, if bad guys found them, the forest itself would try to help her…somehow.

  When the road ended in a small clearing, Ace halted, and she stopped beside him. What now?

  Then, a man stepped out from behind a large tree. His chest was bare, and he had the most amazing set of shoulders she’d ever seen. He wasn’t massively built like Ace. He was more on the slender side. He had a body shaped like the famous Olympic swimmer she’d watched on television the previous summer. All shoulders and back. Long and streamlined.

  Could this be the hawk shifter Ace had mentioned? He was dressed only in a pair of baggy grey sweatpants. He didn’t even have shoes on his feet. He had to be a shifter, newly emerged from his animal form. But where’d he get the pants? A giant hawk with a pair of grey sweatpants in its beak flying overhead was bound to be noticed, right?

  During her musings, she caught the barest flicker of Ace’s hands making some kind of motion. The man in the sweatpants made an answering gesture, and Ace seemed to relax. He got off the Harley and went to meet the other man a few feet
away. They exchanged a bro hug and some low-voiced words that she couldn’t hear before they both turned to look at her. Caught staring, she suddenly felt very conspicuous.

  “Sabrina, come meet Collin,” Ace invited, smiling in such a way that made her tummy flip. He really was the most attractive man she’d ever known.

  And that included the good-looking hawk shifter she was about to meet. Though he had sandy hair and a unique profile, the hawk man did nothing for her. Not the way Ace did. He was bigger, more approachable, if a bear could actually be approachable. He soothed her where the hawk man made her feel as if he was studying her like a bug.

  “Sabrina, this is Collin Hastings, Private Eye,” Ace introduced them. She held out her hand, and there were no tingles when she touched Collin’s hand. Not like the way she tingled all over whenever her skin made contact with Ace’s. “Collin, this is Sabrina.”

  His smile was handsome. It transformed his face from striking to downright sexy, but it was nowhere near as warm as Ace’s toothy grin. Yeah, she was ruined for all other men, just as she’d feared, but Ace was really something special, even among shifters.

  “Thank you for helping, Mr. Hastings,” she said politely, retrieving her hand after a quick shake.

  “Call me Collin, please. I’m just glad I was in the area. I was following a lead on a cold case that didn’t pan out, but at least, now, my trip up here wasn’t wasted. I flew recon over the entire area, and there’s nothing suspicious for miles,” he told them. “There are signs of pursuit further south, but they’re being led astray by the local shifters. I doubt they could get anywhere near before you guys leave.”

  “You’re not coming with us?” Sabrina asked, unsure of the plan at this point.

  Collin laughed. “I have my own transportation. Lucien’s plane is larger than most bush planes, but with the bikes, it’s still going to be a tight squeeze.”

  “You know the pilot?” Ace asked.

  “Yes, top man. I’ve used him before. He’s a little funny about staying in Canada these days, so chances are he’ll drop you just on the other side of the border and head back, right away. Don’t be surprised if that’s his plan,” Collin warned.

  “That’s okay. Just as long as we can get across without anyone seeing us, I can take it from there,” Ace assured the other man.

  The sound of an engine in the distance made them pause. “That sounds like him,” Collin offered. “You best get down to the landing strip. It’s just through these trees. I’ll fly recon after I return these loaner pants.” He made a gesture toward the grey sweats and grinned.

  “Thanks for making the effort. Sabrina’s not used to being around shifters, and I’d have had to claw you if you showed up swinging in the breeze in front of her,” Ace put in with a growling laugh.

  Was he serious? He sounded a little serious there, to Sabrina’s ears. She didn’t know what to make of that.

  “We’ll walk the bikes in,” he told her, putting action to words as he nodded a goodbye to the hawk shifter.

  Sabrina smiled and thanked the man as she passed him. He grinned and waved back, watching them go with a bemused smile.

  The little plane that landed a few minutes later had fat wheels and bounced along until it came to a rolling stop not too far from them. The man who got out of the tiny cockpit looked like a lumberjack, but maybe that was just because of the red and black check wool jacket and fur-lined hat with the ear flaps down that he wore.

  “Lucien,” Ace said, stepping forward. “I’m Ace.” He offered his hand and was rewarded with a handshake and a tight smile.

  “Nice to meet you,” the man replied, his words faintly accented with a French tone. “And you, miss,” he said, nodding politely to Sabrina. “I don’t want to stay on the ground long,” he said. “So, we’ll just load up your wheels in the back and get you both settled in, and we can be off.”

  “Just one last thing,” Ace told Lucien, stalling him a moment while Ace turned to gaze at the tree line. Sabrina turned, too, just noticing Collin striding closer. “You remember Collin Hastings, don’t you?”

  “Mon ami!” Lucien’s face lit up as Collin approached and they shared a warmer greeting than she and Ace had received. “You have more work for me?”

  “Actually, I do,” Collin replied with a smile. “When you get back from dropping these two off, we should talk.”

  Collin moved back and gave Ace a quick nod. Sabrina realized Ace had been reluctant to board the plane until he was certain of the pilot’s identity. Ace knew Collin, and Collin knew Lucien, so as long as Collin gave the nod, Ace would go with Lucien. That’s how shifters did things, she’d learned, all based on who knew who.

  Ace began to move toward the plane with his Harley while Lucien and Collin made plans to meet up the next day. She followed Ace, and a moment later, Lucien was there, opening the hatch to allow them to roll the bikes aboard, using a small ramp he pulled out from the hold. Lucien took charge of Sabrina’s bike, thankfully. It was a little too heavy for her to roll up the steeply inclined ramp herself, but the shifters made it look easy.

  When she looked around for Collin, he was gone. A few minutes later, while the men were still fussing with securing the bikes just so, she saw the flash of an impossibly large wing, and then, the rest of the giant hawk came into view. He perched for a moment, as if posing, in a tall tree just ahead, and she got a good look. It had to be Collin. The sheer size of the bird was astounding. It had to be a shifter.

  Then, he took to the air, and his wingspan almost made her jaw drop. Now, that was a sight. She’d never seen—and would probably never see, again—a hawk that huge. She blinked, and he was gone, flying high, out of sight. Wow.

  She was still straining to see where he’d gone when the men returned. Lucien opened another door—this one closer to the front of the small plane—and climbed in. Ace motioned for her to go next, and then, he joined her in the small passenger area. Lucien supervised the closing of the hatch and then turned back to his instruments while Ace helped Sabrina figure out the various seatbelts. It was a bit more complicated than on a commercial jet, but the shoulder harness made her feel a little safer, for some reason, so it wasn’t that bad.

  Then, the little plane’s propeller started turning, and Lucien taxied the aircraft around to face the length of the mountain meadow he’d just landed on. He started it rolling down the grassy clearing, and the bumpiness just about jarred her teeth out of her head. She started to worry about whether or not they were going to crash into the line of trees at the other end just about the time she started feeling the plane lift off the ground.

  Lucien pulled back on the stick, and they made a steep ascent, just barely clearing the tops of the trees. Sabrina cringed, but they made it. They were airborne.

  Now to get over the border.

  Ace was glad to get off the ground. The sun was setting, and within moments, it would be dark. A perfect time to slip across the border without anyone being the wiser. Or so he hoped.

  Lucien seemed like a competent pilot. He’d asked Ace a few pointed questions about just how much trouble Sabrina was in while they were tying down the bikes. Ace hadn’t liked the questions at first, until Lucien told him that the kind of trouble would dictate at which airstrip they landed. He’d explained in detail, and Ace had understood his reasoning, even if he didn’t like giving out too much information about Sabrina and her problems.

  He had a choice of a few different places to land. Some were closer to human cities and towns and brought with them the risk of magic users in the vicinity—and no way to guarantee those folks were on the right side. Some of the landing sites were in purely shifter territory, which made them a little safer, but also more remote, which meant they’d have to travel farther over rougher terrain to get to highways where they could make better time.

  Lucien didn’t want to spend too much time in U.S. airspace for reasons of his own, so the landing site had to be within a certain range of the spot he chose for cr
ossing the border—high in the mountains, hugging the steep valleys in order to avoid radar and other ways they could be caught. Not only did they have to avoid Venifucus mages, but also human authorities who might object to them breaking the law by sneaking back into the country.

  After hearing what they were up against, Lucien suggested, and Ace agreed, to stick to shifter-controlled areas for their entire flight, as much as possible. Different shifter groups owned or patrolled these rugged parts of the border. Some worked for various agencies and took responsibility for noting border incursions. With a bit of prior notice, the shifters who worked border patrol on both sides of the line would be willing to forego reporting their flight.

  Ace had placed the call to Tim and Rafe before they left the ground, and the Lords had promised to take care of it. Ace got the impression this was something they’d done before, and Lucien didn’t seem all that worried. Apparently, his plane was well known in these mountains, especially among shifters.

  Ace was able to discern that Lucien was some kind of cat, but other than that, the man was a bit of mystery. Of course, cats loved being mysterious, so that was to be expected. Bears were more straightforward. They liked playing, but they didn’t like games in the human sense of the word. Not like cats.

  Cats excelled at keeping people guessing in all their forms and took delight in their own cleverness. Ace just let it go. It wasn’t that important to know exactly what kind of cat they were dealing with. It was enough to scent the feline and just accept the man’s sly humor. It was easier on the nerves that way, even if his inner bear wanted to swat the guy from time to time.

  Sabrina had grabbed Ace’s hand as the small plane rumbled into the air. He had done his share of flying in little planes, so he wasn’t all that concerned. Everything seemed normal to him, and the engine was purring like a well-tended pet. Lucien probably spent more time pampering the airplane than anything else. It was clear he loved the winged cargo hauler. He wouldn’t let anything happen to it…not if he could help it.