A Hippogriff for Christmas

by Zoe Chant

  Beau shot her a grin as he opened the door. “Nope. A unicorn.”

  A unic—

  Annie quickly tried to get her surprise under control as Beau’s colleague – Declan – stepped in through the door. Well, he didn’t look like a single-horned horse, she thought as she looked at him – and she wondered when she’d stop being surprised by that kind of thing.

  What Declan did look like was a man who was almost as tall and broad as Beau was, with the same air of quiet strength. Annie wondered if he already had a fated mate – Christina would go nuts over him.

  Just as well I’m already nuts about Beau, Annie thought, swallowing down a smile. Or I might too.

  But for all Declan’s good looks and strong build, Annie found she couldn’t muster up even the slightest bit of interest. Whatever it was that bound her to Beau – this mated bond – it apparently meant other men left her completely cold.

  “So, what’s the situation?” Declan asked, eying off the wolf-man where he sat in his chair. He glanced at Annie a moment later with obvious curiosity, before he frowned. Then a look of complete surprise bloomed across his face. “Are you – Beau, you never said –”

  “I’ll explain it later,” Beau interrupted him, nodding to Annie as if to reassure her. “I promise. But right now, let’s focus on the job.”

  Declan looked as if he wanted to press Beau for more information, but then he nodded. “Okay. Sure. But you better keep that promise to fill me in.” He reached out one massive hand for Annie to shake. “Declan Reed – nice to meet you. Beau didn’t say he’d found his mate.”

  Declan had a kind of strange, clipped, classy-sounding accent, and Annie found herself warming to him immediately.

  “Annie Shaw,” she said, taking his hand. “And believe me, we only found out ourselves a few hours ago.”

  “Well, I look forward to hearing that story once things have been sorted out here,” Declan replied. He looked across at the man in the chair, his eyes narrowing. “Wait – I know you. Pete Sangraves, isn’t it? You were mixed up with something last year in Vegas.”

  From the way the man bowed his head, baring his teeth in an annoyed grimace, Annie knew Declan was right.

  “Pete Sangraves,” Beau repeated. “He’s been cagey about his name and I decided not to press it. I guess this is why, if he’s been under our feet before.”

  “He informed on a bunch of his higher-ups who were running a scam operation last year,” Declan said. “He arranged a very nice deal for himself in the process.”

  “Ah. Well, I guess you’re trying to do the same thing again now,” Beau said to Pete. “Not sure it’ll work out as well this time, though. I’m guessing last time there wasn’t any attempted arson involved.”

  Pete shook his head vehemently. “Like I said, I didn’t even want to –”

  “All right, all right, noted. We’ll deal with that later,” Beau cut him off. “Right now, we have bigger issues. Like getting a human civilian out of the hands of some dangerous shifter criminals.”

  “Hardwicke is sending a specialist team, and they’re on their way now,” Declan said. “I could just get here the fastest.”

  “Whatever we do, we have to get the human they’ve got hostage out of danger first.” Beau grimaced. “It might be a little tricky, but we can’t risk him being in danger if they intend to charge in and make arrests.”

  “I agree,” Declan said.

  Annie could barely breathe as she listened to their quiet, tense conversation. It was clear they both knew exactly what they were doing, and naturally she didn’t feel any need to interrupt.

  “Well whatever you do, it’ll need to be fast,” Pete cut in. “The boss is heading off to warmer climates after tonight – this is the last big party of the year before the whole entourage clears out for Majorca.”

  Declan and Beau exchanged a glance.

  “Well, that’s all right, since we need to deal with this now anyway, and the team is already on its way,” Declan said. “So no issue there as far as the sting is concerned. What do you suggest we do about the human hostage?”

  Annie blinked as Beau cast a quick glance in her direction. “I can deal with that,” he said. He pointed at Pete. “You said there’s a big party on tonight, right? I can go undercover as a guest, find him, and get him out before the team goes in. I can get you some layout info of the house too so you won’t be going in blind.”

  Annie realized now why Beau had glanced at her before he spoke.

  A mission like that – it could be dangerous.

  She felt her heart pick up the pace a little in her chest.

  The thought of Beau in danger was not one she enjoyed at all.

  As if he could sense her thoughts, Beau looked at her again, his dark eyes meeting hers.

  “I promise you, this isn’t too serious of a mission,” he said reassuringly. “I can see how it looks that way, but I’m not a risk-taker. At all. And I’ve had years of training for this. I’ll be in and out before they know it.”

  “Not likely,” Pete piped up again. “Not by yourself, anyway. You won’t get in the front door.”

  Beau glared at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “Tonight’s ladies’ night,” Pete said, ignoring Beau’s glare. “It’s women only on the gaming tables. The boss likes to throw these kinds of parties once in a while. So unless you’re planning on putting on a dress and wearing a wig – which I doubt would be all that convincing, no offense – you’re not getting in. No single men allowed.”

  Beau frowned. “Are you serious?”

  “You can try it and see, but yes, I am,” Pete shot back. “Ask your friend Declan here – I never tell a lie.”

  Annie doubted that very much, but nonetheless, Declan nodded. “Everything he told us about the Vegas scam was correct.”

  Beau sighed. “All right. No biggie. Are there any female agents in the specialist team Hardwicke is sending?”

  Declan swallowed. “Uh, no. Sally’s on leave, and she’s the only one in that squad.”

  Annie held her breath, clenching her fists at her side.

  “I guess we could send word, but a female agent wouldn’t arrive until much later, and the clock’s ticking here,” Beau said. “Sooner or later they’re going to come and check if Pete here has done his job, and if they figure out we’re onto them they’re going to clear out fast.”

  And who knows what’ll happen to Scott then, Annie mentally added. To her, ten thousand dollars seemed like a lot of money – but to people running a gambling den, it was probably an acceptable loss to escape justice.

  “I can –” she said softly, before cutting herself off.

  What am I doing?!

  “Anyway, can any of our agents even play poker or anything like that?” Beau asked. “I mean, long enough to allay suspicion.”

  “No idea,” Declan said.

  Annie took a deep breath. She might be about to do something crazy, but she also wanted to help. And as douchey as Scott was… his father had been good to her. If she could do something to help to spare him pain, then she knew she had to do it.

  “I can play poker,” she said, her voice louder and firmer this time.

  As one, Beau and Declan turned to look at her.

  “I’m not saying I’m some kind of genius at it or anything, but one of my foster dads taught me,” Annie continued on, speaking quickly. “He played professionally, but it turned out he wasn’t reporting his winnings to the IRS. So when they caught up with him I had to go back to the orphanage. But for a while I got pretty good at it. I can remember enough to keep it up for a while.”

  Beau’s eyebrows were drawing together. “Annie, if you’re saying what I think you’re saying –”

  “What other choice do we have?” Annie asked, interrupting him. “It’s like you said – we don’t have much time. And as much as I don’t like Scott, I owe his father a lot. He helped me out when no one else would, and gave me a job and helped me get my life o
n track. If I can help him, there’s no way I can’t do it.”

  Her heart sank as Beau shook his head. “I can’t have you in danger, Annie,” he said. “These people, we don’t know what they’re like –”

  “You said yourself there’d be no danger,” Annie insisted. “In and out before they knew it – that’s what you said. If all I’m doing is providing a way for you to get in, then I won’t even be in danger. I’ll just be sitting and playing poker for, what, an hour at most?”

  Beau hesitated, but she could see he was still reluctant.

  “And besides which, what kind of danger would I be in with you there?” Annie said.

  “She’s got a pretty good point,” Pete spoke up after a moment’s silence. “If you want to get the boss and save this Scott guy, I’d listen to her.”

  “No one asked you,” Beau growled at him.

  Annie held her breath, waiting while Beau thought it over. She could see Declan agreed with her, though – he was nodding in thought at what she’d said.

  “Beau, we don’t have a lot of choice here,” he said softly after a moment. “I know she’s your mate. But things are on thin ice. We can’t really afford to wait.”

  Beau seemed to struggle for a moment longer, but then he sighed.

  “I know you’re right. And as much as I don’t like it, the mission is what’s important. We risk the whole thing going under, and Scott… well, something happening to Scott if we don’t move fast.”

  He reached out, putting his hand on her shoulder. The look in his eyes made Annie’s heart pound in her chest as she looked up at him.

  “Just… promise me you won’t take any risks,” he said, his voice strained. “Just play poker – win some money, if you can. And after forty minutes, you leave, no matter where I am and if you’ve seen me again. Promise me you’ll keep yourself safe, no matter what.”

  Annie’s throat was so tight she could barely breathe, let alone get the words out.

  “I promise, Beau. I promise.”

  Chapter 11

  Annie wished she could say she hadn’t been impressed when Beau had said he could cover the five thousand dollar buy-in needed to attend the party from his own funds – Who has that kind of money just sitting in their bank account for a rainy day? – even if he’d quickly reassured her that he’d get it back on expenses later. If someone had asked her to spot them a quick five thousand, even temporarily, she wouldn’t have been able to hold back her incredulous laughter before she’d politely declined.

  Everything leading up to now had been a flurry of activity that Annie could barely keep straight in her head. They’d taken a quick trip back to her house to pick up her one semi-decent dress – a hand-me-down from one of her foster sisters who’d decided after one wear that it didn’t suit her. Annie had been allowed to keep it, and since she’d had literally nowhere to wear it since then it still looked almost good as new.

  Beau had found a good shirt and a pair of dress pants in his suitcase, but Annie suspected it wouldn’t have mattered what he wore. He looked achingly good in his white shirt with the collar unbuttoned, as if the slight dishevelment was intentional, rather than the result of having to hurry to sneak into an illicit gambling party.

  She wasn’t sure she could say the same thing about herself – and she wasn’t sure she could trust Beau to be an impartial judge either.

  “You look… wow. Just, uh, wow,” he said, when she emerged from her bedroom after having thrown on her dress – it was floor-length, and made from a material that had just enough shimmer in it to pass for something fancy. Annie had pulled her hair back into a loose bun, fastening it with a clip. One good thing about her curls was that if it looked a bit messy, she could just pull a few bits down to frame her face, and say it was a sexy bedhead look – something she didn’t get to do very often, working in a bakery.

  Despite the fact she wasn’t quite sure how much she believed Beau as to how wow she looked, she still gave him a small twirl anyway, hoping that her hair stayed in place.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said, letting her eyes linger on the hint of exposed chest beneath his open collar. “Someone’ll be trying to take you off my hands if I’m not careful.”

  “Good luck to them,” Beau said, smiling, a moment before his eyes turned serious again. “Annie, you know you don’t have to do this. I might still be able to find a way in –”

  Annie cut him off with a shake of her head.

  “You heard what, uh, Pete said,” she said. She was still getting used to not calling him ‘wolf-man’ inside her head. They’d left him handcuffed in Declan’s custody. “Security will be tighter than a drum there. Sneaking in is too risky. If we can go in undercover and get Scott out before they even know we’re there, isn’t that a better option? You’ll be in far less danger. Aside from anything to do with Scott and Mr. Dearborn, if you think I’ll just let you walk into something dangerous alone when I could do something to help –”

  She stopped talking as Beau took her hand in his, the other reaching up to cup her cheek. He looked into her eyes. “All right, Annie. I get it – I guess I’m not the only one with a protective streak toward my mate.” A smile flickered briefly over his face. “But you have to promise me, Annie – the second anything goes wrong, you get out of there. You don’t need to worry about me. You just go. I can take care of myself. And believe me, it’ll be more helpful for me to know you up and ran out the door. Okay?”

  Annie nodded. She realized he was right – it’d be better for her to make a run for it so he didn’t have to worry about looking for her and rescuing her, if things came to that.

  “Having said that, I’m not expecting any trouble,” Beau said. “We’ll have backup if things go south.”

  “Okay,” Annie said, nodding, raising her own hand to cover his where it rested against her face. She shivered as his thumb ran over her cheekbone. “I got it. Now I just hope I can remember how to play poker well enough to not completely embarrass myself.”

  Beau laughed. “Hey, don’t worry about the money – even if my expenses get denied, it’s not the end of the world.”

  “It’s not that,” Annie said. “I have my pride! I was pretty good at one stage!”

  “Well, if it comes to that, you can just distract them with your smile. I don’t see how anyone could concentrate if you turned on the charm with them.”

  Annie could feel her face heating a little, and she laughed to cover up her nerves. “Maybe, maybe not, if all the other players are women – I mean, I guess some of them might be lesbians, but a table full? That’d be hard to come by.”

  “Hey, if anyone could make someone consider it, it’d be you,” Beau said. He swallowed. “Annie, I wish I didn’t have to say this, but we need to go. The clock’s ticking, and we need to get this done.”

  Annie nodded. Anxiety roiled through her stomach, and she firmly pushed it down.

  This was definitely not where I saw this day heading when I woke up this morning, she thought. At some stage, she’d have to make the time to deal with it. But right now, she knew it’d be best to just focus on getting through the next couple of hours, one minute at a time.

  “Pete made this place sound pretty remote,” she said. “Do you think we can drive up there?”

  “Not a chance,” Beau replied. “I don’t think this place is designed to be gotten to by car.”

  “Oh… so we walk?” Annie said doubtfully. “It’s pretty cold out there…”

  She trailed off as she saw the look in Beau’s eye.

  Wait. No. He can’t be serious.

  “Are you scared of heights at all?” he asked.

  “Uh, not last time I checked,” Annie said, but she still wasn’t quite sure she should really believe what she was hearing.

  Is he – is he saying I should ride him?

  She gaped at him, open-mouthed, uncertain how exactly to phrase that question out loud. But apparently Beau guessed what she was struggling to say an
yway.

  “Flying is the fastest way of getting there – and probably the only way,” he said. “I promise it’s not as scary as it sounds. I’d never let you fall.”

  “I, uh, no, it’s not that,” Annie stammered. “It’s just… well, is it… rude? For me to do that? Like, just ride you around like you’re an ordinary, uh…”

  An ordinary hippogriff weren’t really the words she was looking for, and she trailed off.

  Beau just shook his head, grinning.

  “No, it’s fine. Even if other shifters did find it rude, I wouldn’t mind. I promise.” He stepped back, though he kept a hold of her hand. “I don’t mean to rush you, but we better get going. But you’re safe with me, Annie. I swear it.”

  Annie just nodded, before letting Beau throw his heavy winter jacket across her shoulders.

  “You’ll need it – it’s cold out there, and it gets colder higher up.”

  Still not trusting herself enough to speak, Annie let Beau lead her out into the cold of the evening, and she mechanically locked the door and dropped her key into her purse.

  “Now what?”

  “Now, we go up to the roof,” Beau said, turning toward the maintenance ladder on the side of the building. “My boss would kill me for shifting so close to humans, in the middle of a human town,” he continued as they climbed. “But right now, it’s dark enough and cold enough that I think we’re in the clear.”

  He reached down to take her hand again when he reached the top, helping her up onto the flat roof of the building.

  “Okay. You ready?”

  Beau’s eyes were warm even in the darkness. Annie nodded firmly.

  “Ready.”

  Beau searched her eyes for a moment, but he must have seen her steady resolve in them because he stepped back a few paces from her, taking a deep breath.

  “Okay. Let’s go then.”

  Annie held her breath, blinking as the cold wind whipped past her face. For a moment, nothing happened – and then, she saw the same flickering shimmer as before run over Beau’s body from head to foot, like the ripple of a wave.