Sentinel: Bravo Bear: (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (The Agency Book 1)

by Amelia Jade

  If anyone was the traitor, she would fit the bill the most.

  “Great. So one of our senior members has sold us out,” Connor said, sitting back into the chair, his arms crossed unhappily.

  “So it would seem,” Flint said. “Who should we start with?”

  He wished Maddy were there. She had a knack for reading people. Connor was out of his element and he knew it. He was no spy, no interrogator. He had skills, and was among the best of the best at what he did. But this was not something he had much in the way of training for. He made a mental note to look into fixing that.

  “I’m not sure. I can’t spend too long here either. I want to start hunting tonight.”

  “Right. Shall we start with Deanna then?”

  It seemed Flint had the same suspicions that he did. Connor nodded his agreement, even as his mind wandered. Maddy would be arriving at her destination shortly, if she hadn’t already done so. Connor had asked how she was getting out, but she had smiled and said she wasn’t spilling. It was better that way.

  He smiled now as he remembered the way she had kissed him after refusing to tell him where she was going. Connor had told her he was proud of her. She was developing a proper sense of paranoia finally.

  Then he had hugged her tight, for a long, long time. There hadn’t been an opportunity to sneak away, but he had promised her that he would be the next one sent to Genesis Valley. It wouldn’t be long before he saw her again. Jared would be back in less than twenty-four hours. Justin and Josh a day or two after that.

  The Agency had caught them at the worst possible time. In a few days his team leader would be back, with the full power of the four of them against any comers. When that happened, the Agency would be forced to scale back its aggressiveness. For now, however, Connor couldn’t be in two places at once. He was limited in what he could do to fight back.

  His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. It swung open and closed with a smooth grace very contrary to his own entrance.

  “What do you want? I’m busy.”

  Connor turned in his chair. Deanna was medium height, perhaps five and a half feet tall, with shoulder-length red hair that matched her personality. Hazel eyes blazed with distaste as she surveyed the pair of men sitting in front of her. Connor eyed the loose-fitting black pants and flowing blouse, wondering how she thought that was a good choice of clothing. Was that the clothing of an Agent in disguise, perhaps?

  He shrugged mentally, focusing on the angry stare, watching for any sort of change of reaction.

  “Take a seat,” Flint said calmly. “We have something to discuss.”

  A single eyebrow arched at the formal tone. “Cut the bullshit, Flint. What the hell do you want?”

  “Sit. Down.” Flint’s voice suddenly became unyielding, the tone of authority threaded through his words.

  Connor kept his face still. He hadn’t known Flint to possess that sort of ability. Where had he been keeping that, I wonder?

  Deanna obviously thought the same thing, because she stiffly walked over to the chair next to Connor and sat down, looking at neither of them as she did.

  This is a waste of my time. I should be out doing something. Making a difference.

  Protecting Maddy.

  It ate at him that he knew she was safer without him, that he would just draw attention. Part of him wondered if he could have gotten in the limousine with her and used the cover of darkness to go wherever she was going.

  You don’t know if there was even an extra space available for you.

  For the first time since he had come to the decision to get her out on her own, Connor wondered if he had made the wrong choice.

  With a snarl he grabbed Deanna’s chair, picked it up with her in it, and slammed it against the wall. “Why?” he snarled.

  The woman’s calm façade shattered the instant he had moved, displaying his awesome power for her to see.

  “W-Why what?” she asked.

  “The Agency. You put them on our trail, you told them where to find me and my team. You sold out our safe house to them. Why? What did they promise you?” His huge, angry, snarling face was inches away from hers. He let all of the anger and impotence he felt at being unable to protect Maddy flow through him and into his visage, making himself into a thing straight out of a nightmare.

  Deanna’s eyes flew open in terrified surprise. Then they narrowed.

  “Put me the fuck down, right now,” she spat. “How dare you accuse me of being a traitor?”

  Connor saw the anger in her as she defended herself.

  “Tell me why!” he snarled, pulling the chair back and slamming it against the wall again. Something in the chair snapped under the impact.

  “I told you, you idiot, I didn’t betray anyone. I’m loyal to the damn Underground, same as you are!”

  “ENOUGH LIES!” he shouted, slamming the chair back against the wall. Parts of the frame shattered, sending wooden chunks flying across the office.

  “I didn’t fucking do it! What the hell do you want me to say?” she shouted, doing her best to stay angry.

  But she couldn’t. Her fear was shining through as she realized that Connor wasn’t going to stop. He saw the recognition in her, and all of a sudden she crumpled.

  “I didn’t do anything,” she whispered. “Please, you have to believe me. I may hate him,” she jerked her head at Flint, “but I’m no traitor. I would never sell anyone out.”

  Connor stared at her for a moment longer. Then he lowered the chair to the ground. Deanna slipped out from under his arm before the legs even touched down. In hindsight, it was a smart move, because the instant Connor let go, the chair tipped over, unusable.

  “I don’t have time for this,” he snarled at Flint. “She didn’t do it. Find the damn rat, Flint. That’s your job. I’m going to do mine. I’m taking Andre and Milos.”

  “Very well,” Flint said curtly, pointing to the door.

  Connor stormed from the room, taking the steps three at a time.

  “You two, with me,” he said angrily as he passed by the room where Andre and Milos were lounging.

  Connor was angry at himself. He had let his own rage become a tool, and he had probably scarred Deanna for a long time with his rash actions. He realized now that she didn’t deserve that. She had—to the best of his knowledge—been telling the truth.

  He needed to get Maddy off his mind. Thoughts of her were pleasing, but just then, they were a distraction. Bursting through the back door, he stalked over to one of the big trucks that would comfortably seat four. The keys were where they always were, tucked up on a small hook above the front right wheel well. He grabbed them and hopped in, firing the engine to life, trying to lose himself in the throaty roar.

  Instead, all he could think of was Maddy and her big brown eyes. He longed to stare into them just then.

  “Where the fuck are they?” he asked aloud. Andre and Milos should have been right behind him, but he looked around the parking lot. They were nowhere to be seen.

  Finally, after several minutes of waiting, the door opened and they appeared. The pair of them looked a little skittish.

  “What the hell took you so long?” he snarled as they both hopped in the back seat. He frowned. That was slightly unusual, but perhaps they just didn’t want to deal with his anger just then.

  “Flint stopped us,” Milos said. “Told us where we were going, and to be safe.”

  Connor nodded, filing that information away. If either of them were the traitor, the Agency would now be forewarned of his coming, and would be out looking for him. Great.

  “Well, wasn’t that just kind of Flint,” he snapped, throwing the truck into gear as he peeled out of the parking lot.

  He thought of Maddy, trying to use his memories of her to soothe the raging anger of his bear as it battered against the cage inside of him, trying to be set free. It wanted to go after her, to find her. It wanted to proclaim to all the world that she was his.

  For once
, Connor and his bear were in complete agreement with their desires.

  ***

  Connor had made a mistake.

  He should have gone with Maddy. How the hell had he decided that sending her out into the clusterfuck of a city was a good idea? He raged internally, needing to know that she was safe or not.

  An idea hit him as the truck sat idling in a parking lot near the Agency headquarters building. Connor had no intentions of attacking the building, but being four blocks away, he knew it would be mighty easy for him to coax an Extremis Agent into the open. For the moment, he was just waiting to make his move.

  But there was something he could be doing in the meantime. He grabbed his cell and dialed a number.

  “Lionshead Mining Consortium.”

  “Valen please,” he said.

  “I’m sorry, he’s not accepting any calls right now,” the secretary said.

  “Caia, it’s Connor, S-2. This is urgent.” He gave her his designation. S-2 meant he was a Sentinel, and the second-in-command.

  The line went silent.

  “This is Valen.” The smooth voice that came across the phone belied the power and intelligence that its host possessed.

  “Valen, Connor. I need to know if you’ve heard from tonight’s evacuation team yet.”

  “No. I wasn’t aware there was one.”

  Connor swore. “It was last minute. They’ll be calling soon then, I hope.”

  Every evacuation team was given a number that bounced around before being redirected to Valen Kedyn’s office. He and his twin brother Marcus owned and operated Lionshead Mining Consortium, the company that effectively owned Genesis Valley. It was also the company that was providing the funds, and personnel like Connor, to assist Flint’s Underground.

  When an evac team was clear of the city, they were supposed to phone it in. Connor had made sure there was a phone number written on Maddy’s information card. She hadn’t told him what it was, but she had confirmed there was one.

  “Okay. I will let you know the moment I hear from them,” Valen said.

  “Thank you,” he said with a sigh.

  “This one is important to you?” Valen asked after a moment.

  Connor hesitated, but only briefly. Valen had lived a long time. He was only asking because it was polite. “To both of us,” he replied.

  “How so?” Valen asked, sounding genuinely confused.

  “She’s important to me. What she’s carrying is important to all our kind.”

  “What is she carrying?” Valen asked, very, very carefully.

  Connor frowned. “The serum samples. The ones Flint told you about, including the new ones, the unknown, and the one that stops a shifter from healing.”

  “Connor. Be very, very specific here. What new serums? What serum can stop a shifter from healing?”

  He froze. “Did Flint call you?”

  “No,” Valen replied. “Connor, what is going on?”

  Headlights appeared in front of the truck a split second before they appeared behind it. Connor glanced in his rearview mirror, seeing the tense, nervous expression on Milos’s and Andre’s faces.

  “I have to go, Valen,” he said slowly, and hung up.

  “So, what did Flint tell you?” he asked calmly.

  The pair glanced at each other, then slowly Andre opened his mouth. “He told us that you were the traitor among us, and that the Agency had promised you superpowers in exchange for betraying the Underground.”

  Connor snorted. “Tell me that sounded as flimsy to you as it does to me?”

  Andre shrugged. “I don’t know. Why are there Agency men around us now?” he asked.

  “That should be obvious, I would think,” Connor replied, looking in front of the truck again.

  Several men had climbed from the vehicle in front of them. There were two of them, both lounging with the dangerous body language that indicated an Extremis Agent. Behind him, he saw two more pairs of booted feet illuminated by the low-lying headlights.

  “What do you mean?”

  Connor could tell that neither of the men relished any thoughts about fighting him, but that their loyalty to Flint was still strong. Considering that they had been friends for several years before Connor had ever entered the picture, he could understand that.

  “Flint, who is the real traitor by the way, sold us out. He told the Agency where to find us. This way, no matter who survives, you two, or me, the Agency will kill the remaining party. Flint says that proves I was the traitor, and so begins the downfall of the Underground.”

  The pair frowned at each other. “Why send us with you then?” Andre asked.

  “Because I wasn’t leaving without you before I knew his real leanings. It would have looked too suspicious to the others. This way he gets rid of all of you, and there is no one left at the club to stop the Agency when they go after it.”

  Connor steadfastly ignored the other aspect of the sudden realization that Flint was an Agency spy. He had to force it from his mind, to forget about it, until he was out of this situation. Because if he allowed himself to dwell on the fact that it was Flint who had made Maddy’s evacuation arrangements, he didn’t know what he would do.

  “So, there are two options here,” he said calmly to the other occupants of the truck. “You can try to kill me, at which point I’ll probably kill both of you. Then I’ll go out there and probably die fighting the four of them.”

  The pair in the backseat exchanged unhappy glances. “Or?” Milos asked.

  “Or we can get out of the truck and fight them together, and get out of here.”

  The pair didn’t move.

  “So,” Connor said, unbuckling his seatbelt. “What’s it going to be?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Madison

  The door eased open under her touch at first, before suddenly opening all the way. A tall man with serious eyes stood in the archway, waving his hand for her to come in.

  Maddy jumped back in surprise, her hand slipping to the knife she had hidden near the small of her back. Connor had given it to her, making her promise to carry it. She had protested, but his arguments had been persuasive. In the end, she had caved. Just then, she was glad she had.

  “Whoa,” the man said, throwing up his hands. “I’m no threat.”

  She looked him up and down, evaluating that promise. He was taller than her, and had an athletic build to him. He stepped back from the doorway as she looked at him, motioning once more for her to come in.

  Maddy glanced over her shoulder, looking up and down the street. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for. It wasn’t like there would be a big sign saying It’s a trap! With that in mind, she made her decision.

  “Did Flint tell you I was coming?” she asked, nervously stepping inside and looking around.

  The drab gray walls were the first thing that caught her eye. They were so…plain. Normally plain walls didn’t stand out, but there was something about the material or color that just screamed at her. She still couldn’t shake the feeling of how military-esque the whole place looked.

  The man nodded slowly. “Yes, Flint informed me that you would be stopping by.”

  She eyed his clean-shaven face, short hair, and lack of beer gut. While Maddy would be the first to admit that she didn’t know any fishermen, the man in front of her did not fit any stereotype she knew of fishermen.

  “And you’re a fisherman?” she asked skeptically.

  “Sure am,” he said boastfully.

  Too boastfully. Why was he so enthusiastic to agree? Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. They walked along the hallway until they reached a door at the end. The man opened it and gestured for Maddy to go through first. Not seeing how she had much of a choice, she walked out of the building into the dark.

  The first thing that struck her was the lack of lights. She would have expected it to be busier, with a few people moving about perhaps, or spotlights illuminating ships, or the shipyard itself. There was none
of that, however. Simply darkness, with the faint glow far in the distance that was the opposite side of the harbor. In the distance she could hear the low roar of the waves as they crashed into the pier.

  Maddy looked around until the man stepped up to her side. Still feeling nervous, she looked up at him. “Where’s your boat?” she asked, carefully phrasing the question.

  “Over this way,” he said, pointing into the darkness.

  Maddy couldn’t see any lights where he pointed. For all she knew, there could have been a fleet of trawlers docked here. But that wasn’t what bothered her the most. She had asked him where his boat was. The man should have corrected her, told her that it was a ship. She knew that from watching far too much TV. But he hadn’t even flinched at her wording.

  Something was very, very wrong. She was convinced of that now. This man wasn’t a fisherman. Flint hadn’t said that she was being evacuated by fishermen, she thought. All he had told her was that a fishing trawler was going to take her away. Madison had filled in the blanks herself, assuming that it would be manned by fishermen. Perhaps this was just a cover then, for a team of mercenaries.

  The pair walked into the darkness. The farther they walked, the more she became convinced that somehow, something had gone sideways. How? And who was this man next to her, if not the man Flint had arranged for her to meet? The only possibility she could come up with was that he was part of this mysterious Agency that had been so stubbornly after her and Connor.

  She had talked about that with him. Maddy wasn’t a shifter; she wasn’t valuable to them in the same sense that he was. Connor had just laughed and explained it to her. The Agency was headed up by a man named J. They didn’t know his full name. What he and his team had found out, however, was that he was extremely vain.

  It was simple. Maddy had escaped him not once, but twice now. J couldn’t allow her to escape the city completely. It wouldn’t be good for his ego, so he would move heaven and hell to capture her.

  Part of her was flattered that she could upset such a powerful man. Most of all though, she was terrified that she had just walked into a trap. Somehow the Agency had found out the plan, and done something to the team that was supposed to help her.