by Bianca D’Arc
“You gotta come to more briefings, man. Sabrina has Venifucus heat on her trail, and while Urse’s ward has kept them at bay, they know Sabrina is here, and they’ve been thinking up crafty ways to get at her. They’ve cooked up a giant hurricane, or something equally ferocious, that’s about to drift over the ward because, you know, weather itself is neither good nor evil, so it can pass right through.” Zak’s summary was surprisingly accurate. “Come on, Sig,” Zak told the fishing bear. “Help me get everyone inside.”
Sig jumped into action and went with Zak to warn the others. Ace would have done the same, but his first priority had to be Sabrina. She might need him, and she appeared to be the best defense the town had against what was coming.
“What do you need?” he asked her, ready to do anything she asked.
“I have to go outside. I need to see it. To feel the winds against me,” she replied.
Ace understood. He took her hand and led her through the milling crowd. Lots of people were headed inside, but he pushed his way through the incoming stream, making way for Sabrina, who followed right behind him. The others made room for them, apparently, well aware of who they were and what Sabrina could do. There weren’t many secrets in this town where outsiders were concerned, which he supposed was only right since this was their town, not Ace and Sabrina’s.
Not yet, anyway.
Although he was leaning more and more toward seeing if they’d let him settle down here. If Sabrina was willing. He’d go anywhere in the world she wanted to go, if only she would consent to them being together as mates. It was his dearest wish. And his greatest fear, at this point in his life. He had to pluck up the courage and ask her, but he was waiting for the right time. Whenever that might be.
He knew one thing, for sure. It wasn’t this moment. No, right now, they had bigger fish to fry—pun intended. There was a deadly storm rolling in from the east and a sea full of monsters in the west. He hoped Sabrina had figured out a way for the storm to pass by the town without hurting anyone. He didn’t know what she had planned, and he wouldn’t ask. He had to trust in her, and in the Mother of All who had put Sabrina in this place, at this time.
Ace sent a prayer up to the Goddess as he got his first clear look at the sky. The street lights of the town were reflecting off angry dark clouds, which were roiling with what almost looked like anger—if a cloud could be said to have emotion. Perhaps it was reflecting the emotions of the people who had caused this storm to gather? Ace didn’t pretend to know how it worked. He only stood back in awe as Sabrina prepared to do battle with the most hellacious looking storm he had ever seen.
And this was only the leading edge of it.
Wind whipped, quickly stirring all the patio furniture around, but Sabrina held out one hand, and suddenly, there was calm. At least on the patio where the tables and chairs had been only mildly disturbed. Ace sensed the winds were still howling higher up, above the roof of the restaurant.
Sabrina was doing that. He was certain of it.
“I’m holding the winds above the town, for now,” she told him, breathing a little faster than normal, but she didn’t look strained. Her hands were at shoulder height, palms facing upward, as if holding the wind up somehow.
“It’s working,” Ace told her.
She nodded quickly. “It is here, but I’m not sure about the rest of the town. Can you get information from the outlying properties? I’d like to be certain I’ve got everyone covered.”
“Can do,” he told her, already thinking through who he could ask.
He looked around, somewhat unsurprised to find John and Urse watching them from near the door to the patio. He beckoned John over, unwilling to leave Sabrina’s side. Thankfully, the Alpha bear jogged over without hesitation.
“Can you get reports from your outliers?” Ace asked, explaining the situation quietly to John.
The Alpha nodded and moved back toward the building, already on his phone. The roar of the storm above made talking on the phone out here a matter of yelling into the mouthpiece. He’d have better luck inside. Ace trusted him to gather the intel they needed and report back to Sabrina, so she could adjust her magic accordingly.
“You know, it occurs to me that I can protect the town—or most of it, I hope—but there have to be regular folk living in the area that will be affected by this storm.” She bit her lip, worrying over those people she didn’t even know.
Ace had heard there was an Indian reservation just to the south of the town. She was right to be concerned. Those people wouldn’t have her protection from the whipping winds…or whatever came next.
John came back out at a fast jog. “You’ve got all of the town and some of the reservation covered, but the storm is pretty massive,” he reported with a frown. “There’s hail and lightning after the wind and massive amounts of rain.”
Sabrina frowned, and Ace wanted so badly to help her, but this was her battle. Her territory. She knew what she could handle and what she couldn’t. He wouldn’t push her. He wanted her safe, as his first priority.
“I’m going to try something,” she said, shouting now to be heard above the wailing winds aloft.
She turned to face the east, the direction from which the storm was coming, and then, she began to lift into the air. Just a few feet, but she was definitely levitating. Ace stood directly below her, to catch her should she fall.
She rotated her arms in the opposite direction of the winds, and they seemed to diminish slightly. Then, she reached out her left hand toward the east and crooked her finger.
All was still, for a moment, and then, lightning lit the sky, followed by a quick burst of small hail, followed by a somewhat longer dousing with rain. She rotated in the air to face the west and made some gestures with her fingers that Ace couldn’t really see from his vantage point. Then, the rain was merely a gentle drizzle, and she lowered her arms.
Sabrina sank gently back to the ground, landing on her feet. She was soaked, but her expression was triumphant as she turned to Ace and launched herself into his arms.
“It worked!” They were both soaked through, but her joy was contagious. He held her and squeezed her tight, sensing the danger was past from her exuberant reaction.
Urse and John came over. The Alpha male was only slightly damp, having gone back to his mate before the heavens truly opened up. Urse was grinning.
“What did you do?” she asked in a conspiratorial tone when Sabrina stepped back from Ace.
“I sent it out to sea. Just over the protective barrier Mellie created. Right down the gullet of the leviathan and its minions.” She sounded so proud of her accomplishment. Ace felt true joy for her. She’d come so far, so fast. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the smaller creatures washed up in pieces tomorrow. That was some storm they cooked up.” Sabrina sighed and pushed tendrils of her wet hair back from her face. “We’re going to have to come up with a more permanent solution. They can keep throwing that kind of thing at us, and all I can do is steer it somewhere else. That’s not really the best thing for the environment. You can’t mess with weather like this on a long-term basis without doing harm to the balance of nature.”
“They’re trying to damage the town and force you out,” John said, his expression grim. “But you’re under our protection, and we won’t let that happen. Don’t worry. We all know a showdown has to occur. The sooner, the better.”
“How about tomorrow?” Sabrina said, surprising everyone. “They might possibly think I’m weak after what I did tonight. That I have to recover. We could set a trap and spring it while they’re still planning their next move.”
“I like it,” John said decisively. “We’ve been scouting their movements from covert positions ever since they showed up. We have a good sense of where they are, now, and where they’ll be tomorrow morning. I was going to suggest we send out one of the female shifters on your bike—”
“Hold on,” Sabrina interrupted him, holding both of her hands up, palms outward.
“I don’t think they’ll fall for that. They’re looking for my energy. Or whatever it is that attracted them to me in the first place. I’ll have to be the one.” She reached for Ace’s hand. “Me and Ace. It can look like you’re throwing us out of town after the trouble tonight.”
John frowned. “I don’t like the idea that anyone would think we’d throw you out of our town, or the idea of putting you in that kind of danger.”
“I appreciate that, Alpha. I really do,” Sabrina said gently. “But Ace and I have been through a lot in a short amount of time. I trust him to look out for me. I don’t think I’ll be in that much danger, as long as I’m with him.”
She squeezed his hand, and Ace felt emotion well up in his chest. She trusted him with her safety. Would she also trust him with her heart?
They all went back into the restaurant to make plans. Zak and his staff served pots of steaming coffee and snacks to fortify them while a detailed plan was devised. The core group of ex-military bears were gathered around that giant table in the center of the main dining room as the place was turned temporarily into a war room.
Sabrina leaned against Ace. She was weary, but she wanted to hear at least part of the planning before she fell asleep. After all, she would have a central part to play in tomorrow’s events, and she needed to know how it was all going to go down.
At least, that’s what she thought…right up to the point where she fell asleep.
She woke the next morning in their bed at the hotel. Ace was already up. She saw evidence that he’d been in bed with her. His pillow was dented, and the area where he’d slept was still faintly warm, but he was gone. Hm.
She sat up and looked around, suddenly remembering that they had work to do that morning. A plan to put into action and a trap to spring. She was both apprehensive and oddly excited. She wanted to stop the evil people who would put together a storm of such fury and unleash it on an unsuspecting world, trying to flush out one person. That was just wasteful, disrespectful of the Earth and downright mean.
She got out of bed and took a quick shower. She was dressed and ready by the time Ace returned with take-out bags from the bakery.
“Breakfast for milady,” he intoned, like some kind of butler from a British television show.
She giggled and reached for the bag he held out to her. Opening it, she found it contained one of the delicious egg sandwiches from the bakery she’d come to love, along with a sweet treat. She opted for protein over carbs, knowing the honey bun would still be just as delicious after she’d done her part in the sting operation they had planned for today. The eggs wouldn’t keep, so she ate those, enjoying every bite.
Feeling decadent, she ate her egg sandwich while sitting cross-legged on the side of the bed. Ace was checking his phone. It looked like he was reading texts.
“Sorry I conked out on you last night. Did you guys finalize all the details?” she asked facetiously. Of course, they had. These men wouldn’t have stopped planning—especially not John—just because she’d fallen asleep.
Ace just looked at her with one raised eyebrow. She giggled. She couldn’t help it. Things might be serious, and she might be going into danger in an hour or two, but she felt invigorated. Revitalized. She was finally using her talent for something important. She was helping, which was something she always enjoyed doing. It might be dangerous, but she honestly felt that, with Ace by her side, no harm could come to her. He made her feel invincible—within reason, of course. She wasn’t going to be taking silly risks. Not when she’d only just found him. She didn’t want to scare him off or lose him to some foolish gamble. Not when she still had a shot at making him want to keep her forever.
And the more she was around him, the more she wanted that. Forever. With him.
She nibbled her egg sandwich while he tapped out messages on his phone. She supposed he’d already eaten. He’d probably gotten up way earlier but had opted to let her sleep, which was nice. He was a very thoughtful partner.
She finished the sandwich and rose to tidy up. “So, when are we doing this?” She tried to sound casual, but she knew there was a bit of nervous energy in her voice.
Ace put down his phone and came over to her. He took her in his arms and kissed her breathless, then moved slightly back to gaze into her eyes.
“Are you certain you want to go through with it?” he asked, his tone low and serious.
“Unless you’ve come up with something better while I was snoozing, I think this is our best bet.”
He shook his head slowly. “Unfortunately, we haven’t come up with a better plan, but we all agree we don’t want to put you out there if you don’t want to do it. So, I’ll ask, again. Are you sure?”
Sabrina nodded. “I brought this trouble here. It’s only right I should help put a stop to it.”
Ace chuckled. “Something tells me the bears in this town attract trouble, so don’t feel bad about bringing them a bit more. You didn’t see them at the planning meeting last night. They actually enjoy this stuff. Going into battle seems like fun to them.”
“I can’t believe that,” she told him, giving him a sidelong glance.
“Okay, maybe not fun, exactly, but they definitely seem to enjoy the challenge. If you’d been awake to see them, you would agree. Trust me.”
She smiled and gave him a considering look. “Something tells me you enjoy a good brawl, now and again, too. I mean, you’re a bear, after all, right?”
Ace seemed to consider her words. “Well, if it was just me and my brothers, you’re probably right. Mixing it up, once in a while, helps us let off steam. But having you involved in this…” His words trailed off as he shook his head and his expression got serious. “I have to tell you. I just don’t like it. You’re too important to me to risk lightly. I hate that you’re in danger, and the only reason I’m going along with any of this is that I’ll be by your side the entire time, and at the end of this operation, what little is left of our enemies should back off if they have any sense whatsoever.”
“You mean a lot to me, too,” she admitted, waiting for him to say more.
But they were interrupted by a ringing phone. Ace shook his head and stepped back, reaching for the device that never left his side when he was in human form.
“They’re ready for us,” he said quietly after he ended the short call.
Just fifteen short minutes later, Ace and Sabrina were mounted on their bikes, heading out of town. The plan called for them to ride out, seemingly fleeing the town before breakfast. Careful reconnaissance had told them where the Venifucus had dug in, just beyond the boundary of the permanent ward, alongside the main road, in the forest.
What the Venifucus didn’t know—at least, they all hoped the Venifucus didn’t know—was that before dawn, the ex-military bear shifters of Grizzly Cove had come out from behind the ward and positioned themselves in the most advantageous spots possible. They would come down hard on the Venifucus forces the moment they tried to make a move on Sabrina.
Ace privately thought it might turn into a blood bath. He’d seen some of the equipment the men of Grizzly Cove had at their disposal as they suited up in the wee hours of the morning. Highly illegal military hardware seemed to be the norm among this group, and Ace was just glad they had his and Sabrina’s backs in this mess.
Unless they had some kind of magical defenses that could block conventional weapons, the Venifucus were going to bleed. And, if the weapons did turn out to be useless, the shifters would stash them and go furry. Bears could withstand a lot of magic, and they all had natural weapons—claws and teeth—that could be used to great effect. Either way, it didn’t look good for the enemy.
Ace felt it the moment they left the safety of the permanent ward. They were moving fast. Running like they would be if this was for real. With any luck, that would help them avoid some of what the Venifucus had lying in wait. The bear shifters had done as much reconnaissance as they could without being discovered. They’d found a number of both magic
al and mundane forces arrayed on either side of the road, but there was no way they could sniff out everything without tipping off the enemy.
That was the sketchiest part of the plan. If the Venifucus hit them with something big that nobody expected, this situation could get a whole lot more interesting. And, by interesting, he meant terrifying for a man who had a mate to protect.
As if he’d conjured trouble just by thinking about it, something slammed into him and his bike, sending both careening off the road and into the shrubbery along the side of it. He saw Sabrina do the same. She landed in a bush not too far from him and immediately sprang up, lifting herself into the air with the wind power she could call. Good girl.
With the winds whipping around her, she would be safe from most magical attacks. As for Ace, it was time to go bear and kick some ass. He’d hoped they’d be able to get past the trouble and let the other guys handle it, but if they couldn’t do that, he sure as hell was going to do his best to protect Sabrina. Right now, he would be most effective in bear form, so he stripped and shifted in record time.
He roared out a bear call and was gratified to hear it answered from all around as volleys of magical fireballs streamed out of the forest on both sides, aimed directly at Sabrina. Ace positioned himself directly below her as he saw her twirl one finger, causing the fireballs to swirl around her without touching her at all.
Then, she flicked a finger in each direction, and the fireballs returned to their senders at triple speed, moving so fast the mages who had fired them had no chance to get out of the way. Ace heard one man shout as his coat caught fire and he dropped out of the tree he’d been perched in, rolling on the ground. On the other side of the road, a woman screamed then disappeared in a puff of evil-looking smoke. Whether she was dead or had dematerialized, or something equally bizarre, was anybody’s guess, but Ace thought she probably had gotten fried by her own foul magic. Either way, she was out of the action.
