by Amelia Jade
“Motherfucker!” he cursed, the word slipping out before he could catch himself. Josh didn’t want to curse so crudely around Hannah, though he knew it wasn’t the first time he had.
“What?” she asked as they slowed their headlong flight.
“Security has been compromised. The men with your brother aren’t actual security guards.”
The first of the four men reached Josh and jumped at him. The huge shifter rolled his eyes, and grabbed the man by his neck. Using the force of the man’s jump, Josh pivoted on his rear foot and spun a full 180 degrees before letting go, adding his own strength as he flung the man thirty feet clear of them. The man hit the ground and rolled several times before his hips smacked against a smaller tree, spinning him around. Then he lay still.
A fist thudded into Josh’s back and he roared, more in irritation than pain. Turning, he flicked out a hand, crushing one man’s nose. The unfortunate target of his ire collapsed to the ground, blood spewing everywhere as he screamed in pain.
The third man pulled a knife and stabbed at Josh. The big shifter danced aside with a fluidity and grace that belied his size, while his right hand darted out, closing around the man’s wrist.
“Drop the knife,” he rumbled.
“Fuck you!” the man said and swung a fist at him.
Josh squeezed. Bones shattered into pieces as he crushed the man’s wrist, forcing him to drop the knife. The punch never landed as he also fell to his knees.
The fourth man just stared up at Josh in horror.
“Boo,” he said in a deep, thunderous voice.
The last man backed away, shaking violently as he raised his hands up. “S-S-Sorry man. I don’t want any trouble.”
Josh snorted. “You’re already in trouble. Get out of here, and don’t ever let me see you again.”
“R-Right, of course!” the man said and took off back across the stage.
“I thought you said the men in the crowd were going to be trouble,” Hannah said, surveying the damage around them.
“I did. I was wrong,” he said, taking off at a jog once more. “The real ploy was your brother. They must not have been counting on me being here.”
The pair rushed around the far side of the band shell, just in time to see Chad being forced into a vehicle against his will.
The shifter’s eyes narrowed. “Those men. Those are trouble,” he said, recognizing their coordination.
“We have to help him!” Hannah said, lunging forward.
“No,” he said firmly. “My job is to protect you. I intend on doing my job. I’ll get you to safety, then we’ll worry about your brother.”
Hannah stared at him as if he were mad. Then, with an abruptness that startled him, it disappeared, replaced by a different look.
“Please,” she said, stepping closer to him.
Josh swallowed hard as she inhaled deeply, the movement stretching her shirt tight against her chest, amplified by the slight arch in her back. He knew she was using her sexuality to try to persuade him to do something he shouldn’t.
“No,” he said, regretfully standing his ground as she gently rubbed her breasts against his chest. Blood rushed through his body, the flow amplified by the adrenaline of everything going on around them.
Hannah bit her lip seductively as she reached out and put her hands on his sides. He noticed she carefully avoided any of his exposed skin.
“First I get you to safety. Then your brother,” he said, his neck muscles bulging as he stared straight ahead, looking over her.
“I’ll be safe with you,” she said, exhaling up at him. The warmth of her breath washed over him and he closed his eyes, shuddering.
Hannah jerked and then she was gone.
His eyes snapped open to see her taking off at a run for his truck.
With his keys jangling from one hand.
“Clever girl,” he growled, leaning forward and accelerating after her.
He caught up with her in half a dozen strides, and snatched the keys from her hand.
“Dammit, Josh. We need to go after him!”
She turned to run at the car with Chad in it, which was trying to leave the parking lot by making its way through the throng of people. The driver was slamming on his horn, but he hadn’t yet resorted to hitting people. Josh knew it was just a matter of time before he did. He made his decision.
“Hey,” he said, reaching out and grabbing her. “We will. Follow me.”
She frowned at him, but didn’t resist as he tugged her along. Tires squealed and the sleek four-door sedan with Chad in it raced out of the parking lot in a cloud of smoke. The acrid scent of burnt rubber hit his nose a second later. The dissipating gray cloud washed over them while they made a beeline for his truck.
The big V-8 engine roared to life. Even before they were secured Josh was accelerating, fumbling with his seatbelt as he tried not to lose too much ground to the other vehicle.
“This is your plan?” Hannah asked skeptically as they raced through the city. Her hands were braced against the dash as they slipped through a red light, narrowly avoiding the traffic.
“Not quite,” he told her, reaching over and punching a series of buttons on the dash panel. “We need to catch him first.”
She nodded jerkily as he slid through a turn, heavy-footed on the gas. Wheels shrieked as he held the wheel tightly.
“You know, this is the first time I think I’ve chased them, instead of it being the other way around,” he told her conversationally. His voice was light, but his eyes were locked on the road in front of them as he tried to keep the sedan in sight, despite the traffic in the city.
“Them?” Hannah asked, turning to look at him.
“Yeah, them. The Agency, the guys conducting the war on shifters here in the city.”
“You mean to tell me that the men who have my brother are the same ones who you’ve been trying to prevent from conducting a wholesale slaughter of shifters?”
“Yeah,” he said angrily, though it was directed at his foes, not Hannah. “That’s them.”
Her spine straightened.
“We have to get him,” she urged.
“We will,” Josh told her, slipping out from behind one car into oncoming traffic, just dodging back into his own lane in time, having closed the distance by two car lengths with his crazy maneuver.
“Tell me more about this ‘Agency.’ Why are they such a threat? I thought you shifters could do just about anything?”
There was a decided edge to her voice, which surprised him. He wouldn’t have pegged Hannah as one to have any anti-shifter sentiments, especially considering what her brother did for a living.
There’s more to it than that. Maybe a shifter broke her heart once?
Josh was surprised at the rage that welled up from his bear at that thought. It roared angrily inside his head, wanting to hurt whoever had done such a thing to her.
“They’re well funded, well organized,” he explained. “They also have benefited from some mad science.” He pondered how much to tell her. If he explained everything, it would make its way to her brother eventually.
“What kind of science?”
Josh licked his lips, still considering his answer. “I’m not sure I should tell you,” he explained. “If I do, your brother won’t be able to refrain from trying to spin it to his advantage.”
Hannah snorted, then jerked forward as Josh was forced to slam on the brakes, avoiding a near-accident before picking up speed once more. Up ahead he could see the sedan fly through a red light and take a left, narrowly avoiding being T-boned by an oncoming car.
“Contrary to what you might think, I can keep things from him,” she said as they followed the car through the turn. The light had become an advanced green, making it easier for them to gain ground.
“Very well,” he said, relenting without much argument. “The Agency has somehow managed to derive a serum that, if injected into a half-breed human, will grant them all of the abilities of a s
hifter, except one.”
Hannah looked at him sharply. “Which one?” she asked intently.
“Shapeshifting,” he replied without hesitation, deciding against mentioning how Madison had taken two types of the formula, which had granted her the ability to shapeshift. “Everything else will manifest, though. Faster healing, increased strength and reaction time. Everything.”
Hannah swore. “How do they make such a thing?” she asked, stunned by his revelation.
Josh grimaced unhappily. “They drain all the blood from a shifter, and then do something with it. We don’t know what, but it requires a lot of blood in a very short period of time. That’s all we’ve been able to discover.”
She gasped, horrified. “That’s why they’ve been going after all the shifters here, isn’t it? It’s not because they want to kill them, but they want their powers!”
Her hands trembled so violently Josh could see it despite his focus on the road. He longed to reach out and reassure her, but he couldn’t. Something about his touch seemed to set her off. He wasn’t positive about it, but that was the only thing he could come up with that would have made her flee from the restaurant the day before.
“Exactly. Trust me, the men they inject it into aren’t exactly the peaceful sort either. If they get enough of them, there will be open warfare, not just the shadow warfare going on now. If it becomes widespread, the death I’ve seen so far will pale in comparison.”
Hannah went white at his words. “We need to get Chad away from them,” she said tightly, rocking back and forth in her seat as if that would urge them on faster.
Josh didn’t answer, but his eyes narrowed as he pushed the pedal down just a bit harder.
Chapter Six
Hannah
“There,” he said, closing the gap with the car, following its path until they were almost bumper-to-bumper.
“Now what?” Hannah asked, sitting back and crossing her arms. “Do you expect me to just jump over there and rescue him?”
He glanced over at her. “Can you?”
Her jaw dropped open at his tone. “You’re serious.”
Josh shrugged, giving her a calm, relaxed wink. “Not entirely.”
Out of the corner of her eye she stared over at Josh, evaluating him, not caring that he could see her. Then she shrugged and reached to undo her seatbelt.
“Whoa, hold on there,” he said, his hand snapping out and closing around hers. “You don’t have to do that.”
Even as he said those words, a violent burst of electricity shot up her hand, leaving it tingling and numb as it passed. It reached her shoulder and spread across her core. Hannah hissed in surprise and snatched her hand back, the hair on the back of her neck standing up.
Hannah stared at him in open-mouthed shock as Josh flexed his fingers in and out of a fist.
He must have felt it too.
Josh looked back at the road after a brief pause, leaving Hannah to her own devices for the moment as he tried to keep them close with the fleeing car.
Hannah closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and holding it before exhaling slowly. The pressure wasn’t as great this time. Her failure to keep her composure the day before must have left it weakened. This time she fought it back, holding herself together, and after several minutes of tense, focused breathing, she was able to believe she would succeed.
“What. Now?” she asked, her voice taut with nerves and effort. She needed to focus on something else. To distract herself from the war being waged inside her.
His eyes narrowed.
Does he suspect what’s going on? He can’t…can he?
Josh was incredibly smart and quick as a whip. There were very few things he missed, but could he have an inkling in the right direction? Hannah doubted it. If he knew, or even suspected, his attitude would be very, very different. Still, she would have to keep herself on guard around him.
“Now,” he said, trying to force a smile onto his face and act as normal as possible. “Now you get to see what happens when my team and I go to work.”
She looked around, suddenly wondering if she had missed someone else in the truck. But it was still just the two of them. “I don’t get it,” she said plainly, completely confused.
“Watch,” he said, creeping closer to the rear bumper of the car.
A sudden rumble sounded from behind them, became a full-fledged roar, and without warning two more trucks shot by on the left as traffic eased up around them. The first truck cut in front of the car and then hit the brakes in a breathtakingly smooth and precise manner. Hannah felt her eyebrows raise at the effortlessness of the maneuver.
The car tried to go left—the row of parked cars on the side of the street to the right didn’t make that an option—but the second truck finished the maneuver, leaving the silver sedan boxed in on three sides. As one, the vehicles slowed to a halt. A large delivery truck happened to be blocking the car on the right, cutting off the field of view from anyone outside the circle of vehicles.
“How the hell did you coordinate that?” she asked, looking around wildly as they stopped.
“I’ll tell you later,” he said, exiting the truck before it had come to a complete halt.
More large, dangerous-looking men exited the other trucks almost simultaneously, but they were met by three men clad completely in black who hopped from the car, fanning out to meet Josh and his team.
“Oh, shit,” she muttered as the equal numbers squared off. Josh’s team was shouting commands at the men who had taken her brother, but they didn’t seem to be listening.
She gasped as things went from standoff to vicious brawl in the blink of an eye. Her attention was naturally dragged to Josh. Her fingers wrapped around the door handle.
What are you going to do, go out there and help?
Maybe.
Her grip tightened as Josh rebounded off the front of the truck, shaking the cab as he took a fist to the stomach. He keeled over, and she saw his foe drive a knee up at his face. Her heart stopped as she imagined the damage that could cause to her protector.
But it was a feint. Josh moved with the leg, applying upward force as he lifted the other man clear of the ground and hurled him into the air. Her eyes went wide as Josh pirouetted out of the way. Then, as the flailing attacker passed him on the way down, the big shifter moved. His arm shot out, grabbing his opponent’s face and viciously dropping to one knee, driving the unknown man’s head into the ground.
Hannah swallowed uncomfortably, glad that the front of the truck hid the grisly results of such a move from her eyes. Death wasn’t unknown to her, but that didn’t mean she wanted to witness it either.
With one of the men down, the fighting didn’t take long to subside. Josh quickly moved to one of the other engaged pairs. As the attacker pulled a fist back to strike, Josh dropped his arm through and bent it, locking the elbows together. His teammate didn’t hesitate, unleashing a furious combo of hits that left the luckless attacker stunned. Josh pulled hard with his arm, spinning the man around.
Hannah screwed her eyes shut as she saw the other shifter wrap his hands around the man’s neck and twist violently.
She opened them after a few heartbeats, and it was over. The only men visible were Josh, his team, and coming out of the car, her brother.
“Chad!” she cried, practically jumping out of the truck and rushing forward as he stood up tall, rolling his shoulders.
“Hannah,” he said with relief, sagging into her arms as they briefly hugged each other.
Stepping back, she gave him a questioning glance, hoping he would understand what she was able to ask. It couldn’t be voiced out loud, not with the others around, but she had to know. Her heart thudded as Chad looked back at her, but then he shook his head slightly, and Hannah relaxed.
“Time to go,” one of the big shifters said, his voice carrying authority.
Josh moved close, and before she could stop him his arm wrapped around her shoulder. Hannah stiffened, inhaling shar
ply at the closeness of his presence. Her entire body tingled, and she had to fight against warring emotions within her. Should she lean back into him? Or did she shrug his arm off and risk conveying that she wasn’t interested?
Why did he have to be so damn cute? This would be so much easier if he was a hideous brute!
“Come on,” he said, “Chad is going to go with Jared, my team leader,” he said, indicating the big man who had spoken first. “He’ll be safe.”
Hannah hesitated.
“Hey,” he said gently, tugging her back to the truck. “I told you we’d rescue him, and I was telling the truth, wasn’t I?”
She nodded reluctantly.
“I’m telling the truth here too, but we need to go.”
This time Hannah let herself be pulled along by Josh. As they started walking his arm slipped away, and she allowed herself to relax ever so slightly. They climbed into the car and roared away from the scene. In the back of her head, she had questions about the dead men, and how they were going to handle that, but her concerns were outweighed by the fact that they had managed to get Chad back safely.
She shuddered in her seat at the thought of what might have happened if he had been taken back to their base.
“Everything okay over there?” Josh asked, concern tinging his voice as he glanced over at her.
“I’m fine,” she said immediately, then tried to switch the subject. “How did you manage to organize that? I didn’t see you talking to anyone.” She was referring to the boxing-in maneuver with the rest of his team.
“I had them on standby at the start of the day, just in case,” he admitted. “Each of our trucks has trackers in it, so it was more a case of them figuring out what was going on. We work together a lot, so they knew what I needed.”
Hannah nodded, looking out her window as they came alongside one of the trucks. She sat upright and pressed her face against it.
“There’s a woman driving that truck!” she exclaimed, recognizing the deep blue paint job as the same one that had cut off the car earlier.
Josh chuckled. “Yeah, that’s Shay. She’s mated to Justin, and in a prior life, she was a race car driver. I’m decent behind the wheel, but my God can that girl drive!” he exclaimed.
