by Amelia Jade
Josh and Jared followed hot on their heels with the two women not far behind.
Hannah wondered why none of them had commented on the fact that she was fighting with them, without being at a disadvantage. Could they know her secret somehow? Things were going to get awkward after it was all said and done, but for the moment she ignored it, trying not to worry until after her brother was safe.
Inside the fight was swiftly over, the remaining enemies going down quickly.
“Chad!” she shouted, seeing her brother in the middle of a room, strapped to a chair.
A needle was stuck in his arm, the tube connected to it red as his blood ran out of it and into a big vial at the chair’s side. Her brother was looking dazed and out of it. He wasn’t dead or unconscious that she could see, but his eyes weren’t focusing. His words, if he was indeed trying to speak, were so slurred as to be one long noise.
Hannah reached out to rip the tube from his arm, but something entered her vision first. It was too swift for her realize what it was, but the next thing she knew, the room spun around her until her shoulder slammed into a wall, stopping her momentum and dropping her to the floor.
“It’s J!” someone shouted.
Well that makes sense, she thought woozily. They said he was dangerous. Ow.
Hannah had never been hit that hard before, nor that casually. As her mind replayed it, she realized it had been nothing more than a slap of his hand. The power he had displayed in that blow was astounding. She watched as he snatched the vial of blood, whipped a knife out, and opened her brother up from waist to collar. Blood began to flow freely almost instantly.
He laughed and darted from the room. Jared moved to intercept him, but the man in the gray suit simply lowered his shoulder into the big bear shifter’s chest. Jared’s eyes went wide as he flew back through the air, slamming into and through a wall in the hotel room from the force of the blow.
And just like that, J was gone.
“Chad!” she screamed in horror, pulling herself across the floor toward him.
Josh moved past her, dropping to his knee at Chad’s side.
Hannah cried out in horror. Josh had a knife in his hand too! In her dazed state, she realized he was going to kill her brother!
Inside, her wolf rose up unbidden. Hannah couldn’t fight it. Not when her brother was in danger.
She opened herself up to it.
Chapter Fifteen
Josh
“Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck,” he swore constantly as he ripped back Chad’s shirt.
Josh had seen the knife J had used. It had been covered in a thick green film. Taking stock of the wound, it was just as he feared: it wasn’t healing.
“Hannah, get over here!” he shouted, frantically scraping at the sides of the wound, cleaning as much of the gunk off as he could. The blood was everywhere, making it hard work.
There was a thud behind him, followed by a roar and then a squeak. Josh wanted to know what the hell was going on, but he didn’t have time. He had to get the wound cleaned and then somehow press it together while cleaning more.
“I need help!” he shouted, having cleaned a few inches so far. It was healing, but far too slowly. Chad would bleed out if someone couldn’t press the flaps of skin together.
Then a second set of hands was there, holding the cleaned area closed. With a renewed effort, Josh cut and scraped the jagged bits of flesh clean of the gunk. It had been a long time since anyone had been badly hurt by the stuff. Ever since they learned what it was, the Sentinels had been much more careful of knives when they got into a fight. That often meant closing quickly before it could be brought into play, but either way, nobody had been hurt as bad as Connor had when the Agency first debuted it.
“Where is Hannah?” he grunted as they worked.
Connor didn’t reply, but his fingers continued to move, shuffling up the wound and holding it together as the skin stitched itself shut. The flow of blood was beginning to slow, giving hope that Chad might actually make it. The floor and both of the shifters were covered in red now as they worked to save the man who had gotten them all into this mess.
Chad’s eyes were beginning to refocus, and he gritted his teeth in pain. The drugs must have either worn off, or been purged enough with the blood loss to allow him to recover, Josh thought. He wondered what the man was going to say when he became coherent enough to answer questions.
“How’s it going over there?” Justin asked from behind them. His voice sounded oddly strained.
“Almost finished,” Josh replied. “I think the bastard might actually make it.”
There was a sort of scuffling noise at that comment as well, which spiked his curiosity to new levels, but he was still intently focused on the last several inches of skin. The blood flow had all but stopped now, and with his increased ability to see the wound, Josh made quick work of any remaining gunk, wiping it all on the ground around him.
“There, done,” he pronounced. “He’s either going to make it through, or he’s done for.”
He stood up, and turned around.
“Shit,” he muttered at the sight that greeted him.
Jared was in bear form, jaws casually on the neck of Hannah’s werewolf while he sat on her. Justin was poised with a spiked piece of wood, held inches from her skin as a backup.
“You knew about this,” Connor said as he stepped up beside him, wiping the blood from his hands with a towel. He passed it over to Josh.
“Yeah,” he admitted, seeing no point in hiding it.
“You brought a werewolf into our midst,” Madison said from where she stood at the back of the room.
“Yes.” This time Josh’s voice had a bit of an edge to it, challenging anyone who would dare to accuse him of anything. “You can get off her now. She’s not going to do anything. Are you?” he said, looking sternly at Hannah.
The wolf, despite the jaws on its neck, shook its head in an awkward mimicry of a human.
“No,” Justin protested. “We need to kill it!”
“Shut up,” Josh said.
“What?” The shifter whirled to look at Josh, but the stake didn’t waver in his hands. “How can you say that? She could infect us all!”
Josh rolled his eyes. “You’re wrong. They aren’t sick, and they definitely aren’t crazy.”
“I’m assuming that he’s a werewolf too,” Justin said, jerking his head at Chad. “That’s why you were able to save him? A wound like that should have killed a human.”
“Yes, he is one too,” Josh said. “Now get off her, and let Hannah explain the truth about the werewolves.”
Jared’s bear looked at Josh levelly for a long moment, then he released his hold and shifted back to his human form. The Alpha Sentinel was still wary of the werewolf and kept himself ready to move at any moment, but he backed away, shaking some more plaster dust off him from the wall he had gone through.
Justin looked back and forth at them all. “You have to be kidding,” he said.
The shifter was having a hard time accepting this change. Madison walked up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” she said, and reached out for the stick. It may have looked like she was asking him, but everyone in the room knew it was an order.
Finally the big man relented and handed over his stake, throwing his hands up in the air as he walked into the far corner of the room. Josh looked around. The room was square, with the entry door at one side. The hole in the wall from Jared’s entry was only a few feet in near the door to the hall. Most of them were all clustered there, which gave Justin his space in the opposite corner. He shrugged and gestured at Hannah, but she just got up and slinked out into the hallway.
“Oh no you don’t,” he said, going after her. “You get back in there and explain to them what you told me. I don’t care if you’re embarrassed,” he said in response to the look the wolf gave him. “Nobody told you to shift. Hell, I don’t know why you did. So come on back, and go back inside.”
/> The expression darkened on the big wolf, but then it stood up, and then Hannah was there. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“Yes, you can,” he encouraged. “They aren’t going to kill you. They would have done so already if that was the plan. Trust me.”
“It’s not that,” Hannah said, turning away from him.
“What is it?” he said, turning her back around.
She took a deep breath in, then looked up at him. “I’m ashamed of myself,” she said bluntly.
He frowned. “Why?”
“Because,” she told him, looking away so that he couldn’t see her beautiful hazel eyes as they clouded over with unhappiness. “When I saw you first go to Chad with a knife, I thought you were just going to end his misery. I know you better than that,” she said angrily. “But I’m so used to us being persecuted and threatened, that my first instinct was something that I knew was totally against your nature.”
“Hey, come here,” he said, gathering her into his arms.
She resisted him at first, but he tugged on her again, and this time Hannah let herself lean into him. He allowed himself a moment to enjoy the closeness of it, then he spoke once more.
“These things can take time,” he explained. “Just like it’s going to take time for my bear to get over its reaction to the fact that you’re a wolf. It won’t be instantaneous. These things have been practically bred into both of us. We’re going to have to actively work at it, to undo what has been done. The same goes for the rest of my team. They’ll learn, but it will take time. And first, you’re going to have to explain everything to them. It’s not like you have much of a choice either,” he added suddenly. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”
He saw a tear form and quickly fall from her eye at that.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice slightly unsteady.
Josh just smiled, and then kissed her, his lips touching hers ever so lightly. “Now go tell them what you told me,” he said, putting his hand on the small of her back and pushing her ahead of him.
He stood against the door jamb and listened as Hannah began to speak. Even Justin paid attention. Josh looked over at Chad, but the werewolf shifter was still passed out. The skin on his chest was healing nicely though, a hopeful sign that with the green gunk gone, he would recover. His system could regenerate blood at a quick rate, though it would probably be a bit before he was fully recovered. Josh didn’t know much about werewolf physiology though.
Hannah had just finished her story when Chad stirred.
Josh watched with a happy smile on his face as Hannah walked over to him.
And slapped him across the face.
***
Josh jerked upright and moved to her.
“What the hell were you thinking?” she said, her voice a mixture of anger and fear-induced sadness. Josh could see liquid well up in her eyes, but this time she fought it down, trying to hold it back.
Chad worked his lips. “Sorry,” he said, his voice no more than a rasp.
Josh shot a look at Connor out of the corner of his eye, and the shifter went to the washroom and got a glass of water. After taking several small sips, Chad began to speak. His voice was still weak, but it wasn’t as pained-sounding.
“Was trying,” he had to pause to catch his breath, though even as Josh watched color began to return to his face. Slowly, but visibly. “Trying to do the right thing.”
Hannah shook her head in disbelief. “The right thing? What right thing, you imbecile? You went to work for the mercenaries and then tried to what, bribe the Agency? You need to explain yourself,” she said sternly, trying to hold back the anger in her voice so much that Josh could see her shaking with fury.
He moved up next to her, and regardless of what the others saw, gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze.
“I was trying,” he cleared his throat and downed some more water. “To save our species.”
Hannah rocked back on her heels. “Oh, this ought to be good,” she said with a harsh laugh.
“I was,” he said, his voice stronger. He reached over and undid the restraint on his other arm, and then his legs. He winced as the still-healing wound on his torso stretched and moved, but the healing powers of a shifter were remarkable, and he managed to make it through until he was standing on his feet.
“I met the man who cut me up at our last stop,” he said to the assembled group. “He said he could protect us, all of us,” he said with a look at Hannah, meaning werewolves. “That he could bring awareness to our plight and help to stop the persecution of werewolves. He showed me some of the resources at his disposal. It was impressive. I had to take a chance.”
Hannah frowned. “How did he know you were a werewolf?”
Chad shrugged. “I don’t know, but he did. He laid that fact out as soon as he introduced himself, and wasn’t fooled by my acting at all.”
“Do you know who that is?” Josh chimed in.
“I suspect that he is not who he said he was,” Chad said wryly. “He told me that to make this work, public support for me needed to be drummed up. Not just the speeches, but people had to believe that I was under attack just for speaking out about shifters being equal.”
“Holy shit,” Josh said as another piece of the puzzle fell into place. “You hired the merc squad.”
Chad winced. “Um. Sort of.”
“What do you mean, sort of?” he asked dangerously.
“Well, I hired the mercenary squads.”
“Great,” Jared said, chiming in. “Just how many more out there are there?”
“There were two initially,” he said. “Judging by what you’ve done, I’m going to guess there is only one left.”
“Unbelievable,” Hannah said into the stunned silence. “You hired men to attack us. Then what, this guy was going to step in and protect us, and reveal to the public the real reason why we were being attacked? Do you understand how stupid that sounds?” she asked harshly.
Chad nodded. “When you put it like that, it does sound rather ridiculous.” He looked around the group. “I’m sorry. I truly am. I thought I was doing the right thing.” His head dropped as he looked at the ground. “After a lifetime of living on the run, fearful of being attacked just for existing, I thought I had found a way to fix it. Not just for us,” he said with a gesture at Hannah. “But for the rest of us out there. Maybe werewolves could one day drop off the endangered shifter list.”
Josh felt sympathy for him. It had been a stupid choice in hindsight, but at the time, if someone had stepped up and presented him with a way to undo centuries’ worth of wrongs, that would have been a hard offer to resist. Josh could say he would say no now, but if he were put in that situation, he wasn’t sure what he would have done.
“Well, just so you know, that man was J, the elusive and brutal head of the Agency here in town,” Jared said.
“Yeah, I figured something was up when he and his goons overpowered me and strapped me down. They hit me with a tranq dart too. Bastards.” Chad looked up at them. “What is he, by the way? He’s not human, that’s for sure.”
Josh shrugged. “I have no idea. All I know is that he leads the Agency, and hates us with a passion. He would do anything to be rid of all of us.”
Chad’s head snapped up, and he paled.
“Oh my God,” he whispered.
Hannah’s eyes narrowed. “What have you done?”
Chapter Sixteen
Hannah
She looked fiercely at her brother. He needed to speak, and speak slowly.
“At one point, J mentioned that he expected all of you here. I don’t think he was ready for it to be as quickly as you did, but he was ready for it. Could this whole thing have been a setup for him to have a chance at getting all of you?”
Jared’s head snapped around, as did the others.
“It’s a trap,” Josh said.
Hannah was looking back and forth wildly. “What is?”
“Hey guys,” Justin said from his spot
in the corner. “This box just started making a beeping noise.”
“EVERYONE OUT!” Josh bellowed.
Hannah screamed as he grabbed her and Chad, holding them aloft as he ran for the door. Justin was right next to him.
They didn’t make it.
Time seemed to slow as Hannah looked over Jared’s shoulder as he hurled them and himself toward the exit. The crate in the back beeped loudly, and then seemed to balloon outward to twice, then three times its size. She gasped in amazement as the seams came apart, yellow-orange fire now visible as the box containing the bomb came apart.
The wall behind it simply ceased to be, the force of the explosion pushing it back and away. It had enough strength in it to ensure that most of the blast was directed out, and into the room.
Toward her and the others.
Hannah ducked her head behind Josh as the giant ball of flame reached out for them. Time then seemed to accelerate. The explosion ripped through the room in the blink of an eye, picking up the group and throwing them through the wall already weakened by Jared’s passing, and through the wall beyond that. Fire licked at their exposed skin and singed hair off. Bodies tumbled left and right, colliding with things and being forced through others like a brutal version of a ping pong game.
Josh was between her and the brunt of the force, and she heard him grunt in pain and his body jerked multiple times as they were flung around like ragdolls in a hurricane. Someone cried out in pain, and Hannah screamed as she landed on a bed of what felt like glass.
Her ears were ringing from the blast, making hearing anything very difficult. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to refocus. When they did, she wished they hadn’t.
“Josh!” she screamed in terror. The figure in front of her was burnt to a crisp. In some places the skin was so dark it was black.
