by Amelia Jade
Her mood brightened almost immediately. “Now you’re talking my language,” she said, though she still didn’t smile.
He frowned at that, but let it slip. She had been through quite a lot in less than twenty-four hours. It was perfectly okay if smiling wasn’t at the top of her list of priorities.
Pulling the little table in the room closer to the couch, he laid out the contents of his haul from Myles’s. Two breakfast sandwiches, along with a donut, and two coffees with a handful of sugar packets, a little pre-sealed cup of creamer or two, and stir sticks.
“You’re all right,” Madison said.
That’s what Connor interpreted her half-formed words to mean as she took several big bites from the sandwich, without touching anything else.
“I’d like to say it’s because I’m a nice guy, but I just know the sandwiches are damn good and I was hungry myself,” he laughed, then dug in to his own meal.
“You know what I don’t understand?” Madison asked, taking a swig of coffee as she swallowed her first bites.
He raised an eyebrow in answer, not wanting to speak with a full mouth.
“You shifters, you heal fast, correct?”
He nodded slowly, wondering where she was going with the conversation.
“So why does this super-secret Agency kill so many shifters? Why don’t they just keep them hooked up and constantly take their blood?”
Connor nodded, understanding her point now. He finished his bites, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, ignoring the crumbs that fell onto the floor.
“Couple of reasons,” he said, beginning to elaborate. It was a valid question. “First, we don’t know for sure, but we suspect they need a lot of it in short order, and fresh. That’s why they basically take everything at once. We’re not sure, but it seems to fit. That may not have been the way they started—” He paused. “In fact, we’re almost positive that’s not the way they started. But that’s how they do it now.”
Madison nodded. “And second?”
He took a quick bite of sandwich, eyes becoming slits as he relished the savory mixture of flavors. “The second is because they don’t want to keep housing all the shifters while they continue their search.”
“Their search for what, exactly?”
“We believe,” he said, pausing to take a drink. “That they are searching for an Alpha.”
Madison frowned, thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t get it. An alpha what?”
“Capital A Alpha,” he said. “It’s a sub-strain of shifter. It can manifest itself in any race, though it is more prevalent in some than it is in others.”
“There’s different types of bear shifters?” she asked, confused. “What’s the difference?”
“We’re bigger, faster, stronger, and most of us are a bit more feral,” he told her, only hesitating for a moment over the particular words he used.
He watched as her eyebrows shot up. “We?” she asked simply.
Connor nodded. “Yes. Me, my team, most of the shifters in and around Genesis Valley—we’re all of the Alpha strain. Some take more prominently toward it than others, but it’s present in almost all of us.”
Madison was quiet as she digested this bit of information, taking several bites of her food. He mimicked her, constantly reminded of the truck out front. They would need to be going. Soon.
“So what happens if they get an Alpha?” she asked at last.
He shrugged. “We don’t know. But their serums are improving. The man I fought last night was a handful. I’ve been training for close to a decade in all manner of combat, in addition to increased physical training. I don’t mean to brag, but I’m good, Madison. I’m damn good. And he almost beat me. I probably would have gotten the better of him without your help, but it wasn’t a sure thing. That’s without the blood of an Alpha to distill,” he finished, the ominous implication of what might happen if the Agency did get an Alpha clear for all to see.
Madison sat back, looking thoughtful once more. His eyes flicked over, noting a hint of troubled thought this time as well. Each time she glanced over at him, that seemed to increase several fold, until she looked away.
She was wearing small silver hooped earrings, he noticed. Connor was about to comment on them when she opened her mouth. Sensing that this was something important, he stayed quiet.
“Call me, um, call me Maddy, okay?” she asked haltingly, her voice full of indecision.
Connor nodded slowly. “Okay, Maddy, I can do that.”
She smiled weakly.
“Those are nice earrings,” he commented. “Where did you find those?”
“Oh, these?” she said, looking relieved at the change of topic as she reached up to finger them gently. “I almost always wear them. I guess my dad knew about this, and so he had some packed away in the bag he made up for me.”
He didn’t ask when she had gotten up to put them on, figuring that she must have not slept well. She had been quiet enough not to wake him, which was both a good thing and bad thing. It meant he had recovered mostly from the day before, but it meant he needed to be aware of that in the future. He normally woke at the smallest sound. If he couldn’t be trusted to do that, he was going to have to change some of his patterns and habits.
“Have you, ah, heard, anything?” she asked cautiously. “From my father, I mean. Are they okay?”
Connor and the rest of the team purposefully did not take their phones with them on a mission, in case they were captured. That meant, however, that unlike many of their peers in the modern age of cellular technology, he actually knew certain numbers by heart. This included the direct line to Lionshead Mining Consortium, the company that operated out of Genesis Valley and was funding the shifter underground here in King City. The number would connect him directly with Valen Kedyn, one of the brothers—twins—that owned the company.
“Let me find out,” he said, grabbing the cordless landline off the table and punching in the number.
“Valen,” came the response.
“It’s Connor, in King City,” he said briefly. “Did they arrive yet?”
“Not yet, but they have made contact. All seems clear. What’s your status?”
Despite the short sentences, there was a genuine compassion to Valen’s questions. He truly cared about all those in his care, even if he wasn’t particularly loquacious about it.
Connor looked over at Madison. No, Maddy, he corrected. Thinking carefully, he prepared his response.
She doesn’t need to know how bad it is.
Chapter Six
Madison
“Still in the field. Going to arrange extraction today.”
Something about the way he glanced at her before speaking set off warning bells in Maddy’s head. She could hear the other end of the line. So why was his response bothering her? She knew that the plan was to find an alternate route out of town today. They had already talked about that yesterday. So why was his answer bothering her?
Because he never stated that we were going to be okay. He only reported what we’re going to do. He thinks we’re screwed.
The unsettling thought raced through her mind, sinking its claws in deep before she could ignore it, forcing her to acknowledge the reality of things. Basically they were trapped with nowhere to go.
Connor hung up the phone and turned to face her. “They’re okay,” he said without preamble.
“They got there safely?” she asked, perking up.
He shook his head. “Not quite. They’re still en route, and should get there later today. But they haven’t had any issues so far, so all should go well.”
She nodded. “Okay, well, they’ll call to let us know they get there safely, right?”
Connor frowned. “No,” he said. “They won’t. We can’t have anymore contact with them. I really shouldn’t have done that, truthfully.”
“Why not?”
“In case the lines have been tapped,” he told her. “We don’t want them
knowing more about our organization than they have to.”
It was her turn to frown, eyebrows furrowing together as she looked up at him. Even sitting on the couch he was much taller than her. “How would they have these lines tapped? I thought you said this was a safe house.”
“That’s what I thought,” he replied. “I got this food from a place a block and half that way,” he said, pointing. “Across the street, there was a big black SUV with an Agent leaning up against it.”
Maddy bolted upright, looking around in a panic. “What? Why didn’t you tell me that? If they know where we are, we need to get out of here, don’t we?!”
His hand closed around her wrist. He didn’t squeeze tightly, but she could sense the restrained power in his fingers anyway. With a gentle tug Connor pulled her back into a sitting position.
“They don’t know where we are exactly,” he said, but even Maddy could sense his lack of absolute certainty in the statement.
“How can you say that?” she asked, bewildered. “They’re a block down the street!”
“Block and a half,” he corrected lamely, giving her a wink.
She stared daggers at him for a moment, then relented. “Still, that’s a little too close for my liking. We should go.”
Connor nodded. “On that, we agree. How long for you to pack?”
She walked over to where several things were strewn on the floor next to her bag, picked them up, dumped them inside, zipped it up, and threw it over her shoulder.
“Ready.”
The big shifter laughed, his chest muscles bouncing with the effort. “Okay, well, why don’t you go use the washroom, freshen up and such while I finish eating, and then I’ll do the same. Then we’ll get out of here.”
Maddy frowned but did as he suggested. Although she had mixed feelings on the current situation, that didn’t make his suggestion any less of a valid one. Even as she washed her face, she tried to decide whether his calm or her instinct to flee were more pertinent.
“Why are you so calm?” she asked after pacing back and forth while he finished getting ready. “Isn’t it likely that they’re closing in on us already?”
Connor shrugged. “I doubt it. If they knew where we were, then we’d have been taken in our sleep.”
“That’s…not entirely logical,” she said, waiting by the door as he put his shoes on. He double-knotted them she noted, so they wouldn’t come undone. She bent down to do the same to her shoes, just in case. “I mean, what if they found us just now? If we’d left ten minutes ago, we could be safe.”
Connor gave her another uncaring shrug before opening the door. He peeked out, ensuring no one was there, then jerked his head for her to follow. They moved down the stairs quickly. He paused, but Maddy continued to head around the corner to the front of the house.
A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, stopping her progress.
“Not you,” Connor said firmly.
No, that wasn’t just him saying it. That was him commanding it. That was the Alpha in him.
She shivered at the realization as the authority in his voice locked her spine straight as she turned to face him.
“You’re going that way,” he told her, pointing through the yard and into the neighbor’s property behind them. There were no fences in this area of town.
“What?” she tried to keep her voice down, despite the shockwave that ran through her at his words. “Why the hell are we splitting up?”
“Because I’m going to draw them off,” he said plainly.
Maddy began to protest, but he gripped her shoulders tightly, holding her still. His blue eyes blazed as they bore down into her.
“Madison.” He used her full name. She knew he wasn’t going to take any argument.
“Yes?”
“Go that way. Get on public transit. Go to a restaurant on Emperor Avenue, near Royal Street. The Limp Noodle. Order the Spelunker’s Delight. They’ll take you to meet a man named Flint. He’s going to take care of you till I return. Did you get all that?”
Maddy shook her head. “What? No? Why are you leading them off? I thought you said they wouldn’t be here yet!”
The eyes burned brighter as the rest of his expression clouded over. Using his grip on her shoulders, Connor brought his face closer to her. “Repeat what I told you.” He didn’t acknowledge anything she had said.
She ground her teeth angrily, looking up at him and meeting that stare head-on. Madison wasn’t going to back down that easily.
“Repeat it,” Connor said. There was a hint of desperation to his voice.
That caught her attention. Why would he be desperate for her to do as he asked? Why not mad and angry, trying to force his will on her? It was almost as if he was worried, or scared perhaps, that she wasn’t going to do what he asked. Now, why would he be scared that I might insist on us sticking together?
Because, her inner voice answered, he doesn’t want to see you get hurt, and he’s willing to sacrifice himself for you to get to safety, if that’s what it takes.
Her expression softened as that realization rocked her brain. Could that really be the case? Did she really let him do this?
“Now, Maddy,” he said as she still didn’t reply.
There was no harm in repeating what he had said, she thought. “Limp Noodle. Emperor and Royal. Spelunker’s Delight. Flint is a friend. Got it. But I—”
Her eyes flew open as Connor pulled her to him, kissed her full on the lips, and then turned and raced off into the street without another word. Two minutes later she heard what sounded like tires screeching.
Connor!
Without meaning to, Maddy’s legs took her several steps down the driveway, toward where he had disappeared and where she had heard the noise. Her mind finally reengaged after a second though, bringing her to a halting stop.
I can’t just let his efforts go to waste. If I go out there and get captured, then he’ll have to come rescue me—hopefully—assuming that he doesn’t get caught as well. That would just be doing something stupid to satiate my pride.
“Not worth it,” she muttered, using logic and reason to overwhelm her emotions.
Maddy hated when she had to do that to herself, but she knew that it just didn’t make sense. She needed to run. In the opposite direction.
With an angry snarl she turned and took off, heading into the backyard. Although the yards didn’t have traditional fencing, there was still a single slab of wood supported by posts that spanned most of the far end of the yard. She took it in one hop before scrambling up the three-foot incline along the back of the property.
She emerged into another calm residential street. But behind the row of houses in front of her, she could hear vehicles going by at a fairly steady pace. All she needed to do was get there. The road on her right continued straight for some length, without a break in the houses. To the left, it actually curved back the way she had come. Maddy didn’t see any sign of a path.
Behind her, she heard shouts. She spun, crouching at the same time. There was a fairly clear viewpoint from where she was to the backyard of the house behind her, and from there to the backyard of the house she had stayed in overnight.
The yard was crawling with men in black.
With a hiss of surprise she slowly duckwalked to the side, until the house closest to her blocked her from view. Then, without a second thought, she turned and peeled across the street, flinging open the gate to the closest house and barreling across the yard to the fence. It was a solid eight-foot-high wood fence, but in the corner was a compost bin. Breathing a sigh of relief, Maddy hopped onto that, and then threw herself over the fence as fast as she could.
The ground below rushed up to meet her, and she grunted in pain, landing awkwardly on all fours, but all it did was send a jolt through her body. She would feel that impact tomorrow, but for now she was okay. Trees lined the fence, but they were only a single planting wide, just a noise-dampening layer for the houses to block off sound from the street. She
darted through the low-hanging branches and emerged onto a busy street.
Eyes looking back and forth, she hoped to see a bus coming just then to whisk her away to safety.
Nothing.
Except…
“Taxi!” she called, stepping to the curb as the vehicle slowed.
It wasn’t until the door closed behind her that her brain decided to remind her of something that she had somehow pushed aside.
Connor had kissed her!
“Where to, miss?” the cab driver asked.
Right. She had forgotten to tell him that, and they had just been sitting at the side of the road. Behind them, a car honked.
“Royal and Emperor,” she told him, sitting back into the seat.
She’d just been kissed. By a rather attractive man as well.
A tingle ran through her stomach. Interesting.
Despite it all, a smile threatened to break out on her face.
Chapter Seven
Connor
What the fuck was he thinking?
Connor pulled down his mask, keeping his features concealed. It garnered him some looks from civilians, but it was worth it to keep his identity safe from the Agency. His size normally gave him away, but without his face they couldn’t put him on any of the wanted billboards, as they had done to some others. It allowed him to move normally through the city when he wasn’t expecting to confront them, at least.
Kissing Maddy? His thoughts strayed back to her.
No. Madison. Her name is Madison, he forcefully corrected himself, trying to keep thoughts of her in his mind formal. That would also mean ignoring the way she had felt, pressed against him for that brief second. If he closed his eyes, Connor could still remember the heat of her skin as it touched his.
For just a moment, in the barest of instances, he let himself bask in that sensation once more. His steps slowed along the sidewalk, and he came to a halt.
A glow started from within, expanding rapidly until it enveloped his entire body, holding him within that trancelike pleasure state as he remembered her lips, soft skin staying firm as he kissed her.
