'Roo and the Angel

by Eve Langlais

  A reminder that she’d almost died, too.

  She mouthed a thank you, but he didn’t lose his grim look. He tapped his ear, shutting off his mic and said, “Don’t thank me yet, Angel. We still need to get you out of here because you are right. If anyone sees you, they will take you into custody.”

  “One prison for another.” Her shoulders slumped.

  “Not if I have anything to say about it.” He moved to a window set in the wall and peeked out. He gestured to her.

  “I’ve got to go help my brothers clear this place. In the next few minutes there will a lot of chaos. Perhaps even enough to hide the fact you’re escaping to those woods over there.” He pointed to a scraggly copse of trees.

  “You’re leaving me?”

  “I don’t have a choice. You can’t come with me.”

  She almost asked why not. He was the first person she’d met since her change to treat her normally. To not look at her wings and wonder how to use them. “What am I supposed to do in the woods?”

  “Wait until dark to move.”

  “Move where?” She didn’t mean to say it out loud.

  “Somewhere safer than here.”

  The look she tossed him? Totally deserved, as was her stinging retort. “Safer? Where am I supposed to go? I’m a freak.”

  “You’re beautiful.”

  Of the pair of them, she couldn’t have said who appeared more surprised. She ignored the compliment and chose to remark on her reality. “I have nowhere to go. No way to hide what they did to me. Maybe I should just turn myself in.”

  “No!” he barked. He softened his next words. “Do you trust me?”

  She didn’t trust anyone.

  He read her expression and for some reason appeared angry. “I’m one of the good guys, Angel. Kind of. I promise I won’t hurt you. Give me a chance to help you.”

  “Help me how?”

  “I don’t know yet. For the moment, stay in the woods and wait for me.”

  “What if you don’t come back?”

  “I’ll come. But you gotta go now. Before someone sees you.”

  Leave?

  He thrust his gun at her. “Take this to protect yourself.”

  A gun? “I don’t know how to use it.”

  “Point it in the general direction and pull the trigger. But only if you can’t run.”

  “Thank you. But I can protect myself.” She shoved the gun back at him. Then, on impulse, she pressed a kiss to his lips. An electrical embrace that had them both gasping.

  She drew away, and he quirked his lips. “Now that’s what I call incentive. Stay safe, Angel. I’ll be back soon.”

  Then he took off for the far end of the room and the door. A door that led to the main part of the building and the chaos she could still hear.

  How was she supposed to escape? The way behind them was full of poison. The door he’d used would result in her getting caught, leaving only…

  She eyed the window and sighed.

  I hate heights. Always had. Took drugs to knock her out before every flight. She couldn’t go to sleep now, and she didn’t have much of a choice.

  A nearby chair provided a handy tool to smash the window. Crash. She couldn’t help but wince at the noise. A subtle peek outside showed no one below.

  She spent a moment picking out the shards in the frame, gearing herself up for the next step, which involved perching on the windowsill, trying to not lose the contents of her tummy as the ground appeared dizzyingly far below.

  It’s only one floor.

  People broke bones at smaller heights.

  I have wings.

  That she’d never used to fly.

  The gunfire got closer. As did the shouts of men.

  Are you going to let them capture you again?

  Hell no.

  I have wings. How hard can it be to fly?

  She jumped out.

  Turned out flying was harder than it looked. Crunch.

  2

  Leaving the angel—Holy shit, I found an angel!—wasn’t sitting well with Jeb. What choice did he have? He couldn’t take her with him because she was right about one thing. If anyone saw her, they’d lock her away under the guise of keeping the secret of shapeshifters safe.

  The people he used to work for—the shifter version of special ops military, aka FUC—weren’t known for being compassionate when it came to keeping the truth of cryptids from humans. Which meant if they couldn’t hide what she was, they’d eliminate her.

  I can’t allow that to happen.

  Since he no longer technically worked for them, and was here as a brother and independent contractor, Jeb felt very few qualms about telling her to escape. How could he do anything else once he saw those vivid violet eyes?

  Everything about her struck him like a fist to the gut. From her shoulder-length, red, bobbed hair framing a pixie-ish face—and yes, a man could use the word pixie-ish—to her short toned legs peeking from under her gown. When you’d lived in the outback all your life, you got to know about more creatures than they taught in school or on television specials. The angel possessed a tiny frame, one that seemed too light to carry those massive wings, and yet her every movement was graceful. She was utterly beautiful.

  And obviously not human.

  Despite him urging her to escape, the reality was she wouldn’t make it far. The place would soon be crawling with FUC operatives—short for Furry United Coalition—who would leave no experiment—even the angelic-looking ones—to wander. She would be caught and put in a cage for processing. There was no way of avoiding it. Jeb just didn’t have the heart to tell her. What he could do was ensure someone else took her into custody. At least it won’t be me.

  Maybe he’d be allowed to visit her. Surely, she’d like that. She had, after all, kissed him. He wouldn’t mind kissing her again.

  Something to worry about later. There was still a mission to complete.

  He ran into his brother Jeremy in the next hallway.

  His older sibling, a darker-haired version of him with a scowl, asked, “Where the heck you been? We located Jax and his birdie.”

  “They’re safe?” Jeb asked.

  “Yup, but we haven’t laid eyes on Kole yet. He might have already flown the coop.” The wily koala kept evading them while continuing his devious plans that involved experimenting on living people. The Jones brothers were determined to see Kole fail.

  His earpiece came to life as Jaycon—another of his brothers—barked from the other end. “Get your arses outside. A helicopter just landed in a nearby field. We think Kole is about to make a run for it.”

  Jeb tapped his earpiece and replied. “We’ll make our way outside, but doubtful we’ll get there in time.”

  “Good thing I’ve got a bird on its way to your location. ETA, two minutes. So haul arse.”

  “We’re moving.” He and Jeremy jogged down the hall toward the opposite end and another set of stairs. Jeb ignored the bodies on the way. The time spent in the shifter special forces meant he understood sometimes lethal outcomes couldn’t be avoided. On the contrary, when it came to keeping their secret, he—a veritable kangaroo that human scientists would drool over—couldn’t show compassion.

  Which was why he could so easily lie to Angel. Truth was, he didn’t want anything to happen to her. He really didn’t. But he had a duty to not only the Shifter Council that regulated the actions of all shifters but his family. He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize them.

  Most of the time.

  Hitting the main floor, they ran into Jakob and Uncle Kendrick. The first with even more scars for chicks to dig, and the second a grizzled version of themselves later in life.

  “Jaycon says to get our hairy butts outside,” Jeb stated as he kept moving past them, looking for a door out of the building.

  “We heard. Something about a helicopter and a field.”

  “Which is this way, numbskull.” Uncle Kendrick jabbed his finger in the opposite direction Jeb had decid
ed on.

  “I knew that,” he mumbled.

  It didn’t take long before they made their way back through the doors they’d blasted open. The institute with its illegal experiments had stiff security, but nothing the Jones boys couldn’t handle.

  Heading outside, Jeb heard the distant sound of the whirring blades. As he turned the corner of the building, the wind whipped at his hair. More astonishing was the sight of a bird, no a lizard, no a...

  “What the heck is that?” he asked as the giant creature on two legs with a long neck and a ridged crest atop its head chased after a small man.

  Jeremy snickered. “It’s Jax’s girlfriend.”

  “I thought she was an ostrich.” Jeb couldn’t help his confusion.

  “Only until she gets mad. Then she’s prehistoric and deadly. Lucky bastard.”

  “Is that Kole she’s chasing?” Jeb asked, tracking the movements of the man, wondering if he changed into his ’roo, could he catch him in time? Not likely given he made a sudden move toward a waiting helicopter. Shots fired veered the prehistoric bird away from the metal machine. It lifted from the ground, and as it did, a face peeked out of it.

  “Ah shit. There she is,” muttered Jakob. “See that woman on the chopper?” He pointed.

  Jeb squinted at the woman in red, clinging to the doorframe of the helicopter. A woman who seemed vaguely familiar. “Who is that?”

  “Mum.”

  The words almost caused him to face-plant. Only his brother yanking him by the arm kept him upright.

  “Mum? But she’s dead,” he blustered as his brother kept tugging him toward a dangling ladder. A second helicopter hovered overhead.

  “Apparently not. That bloke Kole’s got her, and we’ve got to rescue her.”

  The swaying ladder just about slapped him in the face as he tossed another look over his shoulder. Surely his brother was wrong. Their mother had died in an unfortunate outback incident. One that almost took their brother Jaxon, too. They’d found him over twenty years ago in a dingo den with only scraps left of their mother’s summer dress.

  Her body was never found.

  Until now. Alive and well. What the bloody hell was going on?

  Jeb grabbed hold of the ladder and clambered upward to the cabin where a few of his brothers were already waiting; Jeremy and Jakob. His Uncle Kyle piloted it, eyes shaded behind aviator glasses.

  The helicopter lurched to the side as soon as they’d boarded but, before taking off after their target, made one more stop, dangling the ladder over Jax on the ground.

  “Move your fat ass,” joked Jaycon as Jax began to climb, the brothers speeding the process by reeling in the ladder. Then they were off.

  The helicopter dipped, heading full speed after the black one holding Kole—and Mum. The blades were painted crimson and provided a blur of color against the blue sky. Jeb only half listened as his brothers discussed the odd turn of events.

  “…place is a fuckin’ horror house,” exclaimed Jax. “You should have seen what they were keeping in a walk-in freezer. Jars and bags of body parts.”

  “Ha. That’s nothing. You should have seen the shit they were growing in these big cylinders filled with fluid. The one with eyeballs was watching me, I swear.”

  Each of his brothers had a tale to tell, but Jeb kept his mouth shut. The demise of the hybrids by the gas was a sad thing. They’d obviously not asked for their fate. As for Angel… He now wondered if he’d done the right thing. Perhaps he should have stuck with her. Helped her get to safety.

  A slap upside his head snapped him out of his reverie. “Hey, dumbass, what freaky shit did you see?”

  Since he couldn’t tell them he’d found an angel, he stuck to something they’d like. “The blob.” Which set his brothers off on another tangent of horror movies.

  Meanwhile, he wanted to know more about the woman who looked like Mum. He leaned close to Jeremy and said, “Why would Mum be with Kole?” Was she a prisoner? Must be. She’d never leave her baby boys.

  His older brother shrugged. “No idea. And we’re not even sure it’s her. Could just be someone that looks like her. Our primary target remains Kole. We can’t let the furry twerp escape.”

  Except Kole had come to this fight better prepared than them. Their helicopter swerved suddenly to the left, sending the Jones boys sliding and scrambling to hold on lest they fall out the open door. Seatbelts were for pussies.

  Another tilt jerked them to the other side.

  “Uncle K, what the fuck?” Jeremy yelled.

  “They’re shooting bloody missiles at us!” exclaimed their uncle.

  “Who?” Jeremy leaned forward to peer, whereas Jeb peeked out the side and noted that, while Kole’s helicopter still scooted away from them, coming in rapidly on both sides, two more birds in the sky!

  Matte black, military grade, and armed.

  “Shit!” It was pretty much a universal exclamation as their uncle dipped and swerved, dropped and rose, avoiding the converging fire from the other two choppers.

  The boys weren’t idle, though. Jaycon and Jeremy set up in either door, guns braced, their bodies held steady by their siblings.

  Rat-tat-tat. Tat-rat-rat. There was a whoop when one of the enemy choppers began to list, smoke pouring from its tail. Jeb, his hand stuck through the loop of his brother Jeremy’s belt, watched as it sank lower and lower, smashing into the ground. Then it exploded.

  One down.

  The boys cheered, and yet the danger was far from over. The other chopper harried them, though Uncle did his best to avoid it. His brothers did their part as well, firing on it. Hitting it. The other helicopter wobbled in the air then came straight at them. Which would have been fine, except they were being pinched by a mountain on one side. Uncle yanked the stick and tried to rise, but the other helicopter, more powerful, rose faster and broke even. Jeremy took aim at the cockpit of the other vessel and scored a direct hit, which would have been cause to rejoice, except, without a pilot, the other chopper listed right into them, the blades tangling with a screech of metal.

  Their uncle cursed as they began to drop.

  The Jones brothers didn’t scream and go crashing to their fate. Once again, their special ops training took over. They dove out of the door closest to the mountain and prayed. Jeb’s fingers scrabbled for purchase, scraping and sliding on rock, the toes of his boots searching for even the hint of a ledge. A chunk of rock slid away before he found a spot.

  But it was better than being in the chopper when it landed with a boom and exploded. Smoke rose in the air, a beacon for searchers.

  That was how the FUC found them, clinging to the mountainside, holding onto every branch and rock that would support them.

  A face peered over the cliff edge, bright eyed and entirely too cheerful. She exclaimed, “You boys need a hand?”

  Thankfully the FUC agents who’d been trailing them on the ground, having arrived late to the fight—on purpose because a certain Jones might have given them the wrong time—had some rope in their Range Rover. What they didn’t have was enough room for all the brothers.

  Which was why Jeb volunteered to hop back to the compound. Partially in the hope he could avoid any accusation in Angel’s eyes when the FUC agents found her.

  Only when he finally did make it onto the property did he discover the only people recovered alive had been Jax and Mari. All the other test subjects were dead or gone.

  Including his angel.

  3

  The people searching the grounds came close to her tree. Almost as if they followed a trail, but a shout had them veering before they could find her, and Nevaeh heaved a sigh of relief.

  Free still, for the moment. And alive. Barely.

  While her first attempt at flying had been a colossal failure, she at least didn’t break anything. Bruise herself? Yes. Especially her pride, but she was alive and able to limp to the woods, expecting at any moment for someone to find her.

  Shoot her in the back.


  Taser her, which wasn’t as funny as in the movies. The whole jiggling-body thing really freaking hurt.

  However, she made it to the cover of the trees relatively unscathed and then climbed one, hiding herself among the boughs to watch. From her hidden perch, peeking through branches, she saw the helicopters swooping on the other side of the building then racing off. Wondered if her rescuer was aboard.

  Wondered if he’d ever come back.

  Not that she cared. I don’t need him or anyone else.

  With that stubborn thought in mind, she stayed in that tree for hours, listening as more people arrived, spilling out of cars and trucks, not making any attempt to hide their presence. Curiosity drew her to a tree closer to the edge of the clearing, a tall one that gave her an excellent view.

  Perched amidst the boughs and leaves, she spied, noting the new arrivals were dressed in street clothes, not a black uniform among them. They entered the building, exiting minutes later with arms full of boxes or laden with computers. Emptying the place of its knowledge, to what purpose?

  Are they the good or bad guys? She couldn’t exactly tell, especially since her rescuer didn’t appear among them.

  Not knowing who they were or what they intended, she kept out of sight.

  Darkness fell, and still she huddled in her tree, belly tight with hunger, with nothing to chew on but her own stupid thoughts. Unable to help herself from remembering how it all started.

  I just wanted to make some extra money.

  What person in their twenties, who dropped out of school and preferred a vagabond lifestyle, didn’t want to make a few extra bucks? The offer was printed in black and white in a newspaper. The ad didn’t give any warning of how replying would change her life.

  Are you tired of being ordinary? Do you long to spread real wings and fly? Become something more? Something special…

  Dorky claims. However, it was the small text underneath that intrigued her.

  Chosen applicants will receive accommodations, meals, and generous remuneration for their time.

  Ka-ching. Whatever it was, it paid, and she could use the dough.