by Amelia Jade
Even now fire lapped at the walls around them as the blaze built.
Somewhere behind her she heard a noise. Turning, she saw Chad get to his feet. Wood and other bits protruded from his skin in numerous places, but most of them came out easily as he brushed himself off. Little streaks of blood flowed down his skin but stopped almost immediately as his body healed the minor wounds.
“Find the others!” she commanded, reaching down to see if Josh was still alive.
The body seemed to cough, and then a long groan came out from it. Hannah flipped him onto his back, feeling some of the burnt flesh come off in her grip. To her amazement, his front side was in much better shape. There was a metal pipe through his bicep, which she pulled free, ignoring the cry of pain from the form.
Between her and Chad, they accounted for the five of them. Madison was the least injured, having been about as far away from the blast as anyone. Still, everyone except for Hannah and Chad had been hit by the blast, and they were in very bad shape. It took her several minutes to get them to the hallway, and then into an elevator.
“Come on,” she said, trying to urge them along. “We need to go. Now. Before the Agency finishes what they started.”
Madison shook her head from where she was sitting against a wall. “The Agency doesn’t use explosives. Not their style.”
“Except, judging by the fact we had to fight them to get in here, J bought off the mercs. He could have told them to get rid of us, knowing we wouldn’t expect it.”
Madison was forced to concede that point, but Hannah didn’t feel victorious. Things were looking grim. Even Hannah could feel her body protesting in pain. They shouldn’t have survived that. Only the fact that they had been clustered closer to the door than the middle of the room had saved them. Justin was in a bad way, having been closest to the blast. His right leg wasn’t working and he’d lost a lot of skin from his back and arms, along with receiving a face full of metal pipe when he was flung forward through a wall. They only survived because they were shifters.
It was still going to be touch-and-go for several of them, including the man she cared for. The lobby was empty, the building having been evacuated, though no firefighters had yet shown up.
“They’re not going to fit in one truck,” Chad said as they emerged from the elevator.
Madison was still worse for wear, but she helped remove the others from the elevator. Jared tried to stand, but his leg snapped and gave way beneath him. Hannah gasped as she realized he was missing a huge chunk from his calf that must have been ripped away in the explosion.
Chad was right. Then an idea occurred to her.
“The mercenary van!” she said.
At that moment Shay appeared inside. “Oh no. No no no,” she said, dropping to Justin’s side. “Justin, can you hear me?”
There was no response.
“We need to get them into the merc van,” Hannah told her.
Together, the three women and Chad loaded up the four savagely wounded Sentinels. The fire-suppression systems had kicked in, and the thin coating of water on the tiled floor was stained red by the time they were done.
Thankfully the military-esque vehicle had plenty of room for them in the rear.
Shay got in the driver’s seat without hesitation and the vehicle rumbled to life.
“Back to base,” Hannah said from the back, where she stood a nervous watch over Josh and the others.
It could have been her imagination, but was that pink skin forming on Josh’s back?
“No,” Jared croaked as the van began to move. “They’ll be following us. Can’t lead them back.”
He collapsed into unconsciousness.
“Where the hell do we go?” Hannah asked, trying not to panic.
“We’ll have to use a safe house,” Madison said, then started giving directions to Shay, who simply nodded and drove them out into traffic. The big van was so immense and official-looking that other cars moved aside to let them pass. Their progress was remarkably swift.
To no one’s surprise, the police didn’t follow them.
By the time they arrived at the safe house, the Sentinels were beginning to show signs of healing. Neither Justin nor Josh had awoken yet, but Hannah could see their skin healing. The burnt skin was falling off them as they moved them into the house as quickly as they could, and beneath it there was fresh pink skin. She just hoped he hadn’t sustained some sort of brain injury, if that could even happen to a shifter.
“Chad,” she said before closing the door behind them.
“Yes?” he said from just inside.
“Look over my right shoulder and tell me if that big black SUV doesn’t look suspicious at the end of the street.”
Her brother looked quickly and then ducked back inside. “Yes, I would say it does,” he agreed.
“Shit. They followed us,” she said. “The other merc team must be here to finish off the job. They probably know as well as we do that J isn’t someone to piss off by screwing up.”
“What do we do?” her brother asked, looking around at the savaged Sentinels. The bear shifters were in no shape for a fight. They needed more time to heal. The only ones who were mostly whole were him and the two women.
Hannah frowned. “Are you ready to make up for what you’ve done?” she asked, as behind them the sound of a vehicle rumbling to a stop outside reached their ears.
Moments later they heard doors open and close.
“Yes,” Chad said.
She snarled. “Then let’s show them why they were right to fear werewolves.”
Around them the Sentinels struggled to rise. She thought better of telling them to stay down, though they weren’t really making it off the ground yet.
Just as she and Chad headed for the door, Madison hot on their heels, she saw Josh begin to stir.
Buoyed by the knowledge that he would survive, she lowered her shoulder, letting her wolf flow into her. The increase in strength washed over her at the same moment she hit the door. The wood disintegrated under the blow and she charged out to meet the men who dared threaten the one she loved.
Love.
The word echoed around in her head as she brought the first mercenary down, catching him completely by surprise as her powerful wolf lunged up and closed its jaws around his face.
A hammer-like fist caught her in the midsection and sent her flying, but she took a chunk of his face with her, leaving him looking like a puppet that was falling apart from neglect.
The man had just long enough to begin to smile before he was hit by a freight train named Madison. The woman entered the fight, and Hannah saw what she was capable of for the first time.
The mercenary’s bones turned to mush where she hit him, the sheer force of her bodycheck snapping his head back and sending him flying through the air. The man landed limply in a heap.
Hannah’s wolf lips peeled back in a fanged snarl as she skittered across the grass. Giant paws found purchase and she sprang back to her feet, charging at another shifter across the front lawn of the house. The man turned to face her and she saw the shift begin to occur in him.
But he was used to fighting loners. Most bears worked by themselves. Werewolves on the other hand, hunted in a pack.
Chad’s sleek, lethal form landed on him, bearing him to the ground. Incredibly strong jaws closed on the mercenary’s neck and ripped a huge chunk free. Blood sprayed out, coating the grass in a dark layer around him. The mercenary was forced to shift back immediately, clamping his hands over the wound.
Hannah and Chad were already gone though, attacking another target. The element of surprise was gone, and now the mercs were working against them. Three huge bears stood nearby, growling and swatting at anyone that dared to come near them.
The two wolves tried to use their speed to separate one of them from the others, but their efforts netted them nothing but more opened wounds from paws that barely missed landing a full blow on them.
The trio retreated across
the lawn, past the remnants of the front door and toward the driveway. Hannah was out of ideas. Though it was three on three, a bear was more than a match for a wolf one on one. That was why she had used surprise, and then had fought with her brother in tandem. That was how they would win.
The bears prepared to go in for the kill.
A loud, bestial roar sounded, and suddenly the rest of the door frame blew apart as one bear after another charged out from within the house. They were ragged, bleeding profusely, skin hanging off them in places, and missing fur all over. They were slow and ungainly looking. But there were four of them, and each of them weighed close to two thousand pounds.
And they all concentrated on the nearest bear.
Hannah and Chad reacted instantly, and Madison was only a step behind as her bear shot forward. She, Hannah knew, was more than a match for a single bear.
The Sentinels didn’t have much fight in them, and in moments their opponent had them laying strewn across the lawn. But he was hurt, and they had served as a distraction for the others. Almost at the same time Hannah and Madison delivered the killing blow to their foes, turning to face the last bear.
It was over in moments.
Chapter Seventeen
Josh
He blinked, slowly coming back into consciousness.
The first thing he saw was a pair of very concerned-looking hazel eyes peering down at him.
“Hi,” came a voice from just below the eyes, the sounds emerging from between a pair of beautifully plump lips. Sandy-brown hair hung down the one side of her head, framing her facial features perfectly on that side.
Hannah.
“Hello, beautiful,” he murmured, surprised to hear his voice actually work.
The face above him blushed and pulled back slightly.
“I think he’s going to be okay,” another voice said dryly, gathering his attention.
Josh tilted his head slightly to the side to see a familiar face.
“Ajax?” he mumbled, the words coming out thicker as he tried to speak with some volume.
The big bear shifter smiled. “Well, his memory is intact as well. That’s a shame.” Then to Josh he said, “Yes, it’s me, alive and well and back in King City.”
There was laughter around him. He blinked sleep from his eyes as best he could and craned his head. Everyone was there.
Ajax and his mate Arianna. Jared, Connor and Madison, Justin and Shay. And of course, the most beautiful of all.
Hannah.
“Why does it look like I just spoiled someone’s funeral?” he asked.
A warm hand caressed his cheek, bringing a sigh of contentment from him.
“Because that explosion messed you up big time,” Hannah said.
“Really? Other than needing some water, a shower, and some time alone with you, I feel fine,” he said, gathering himself and sitting up in the bed, ignoring the laughter and look of embarrassment on Hannah’s face.
“She’s telling the truth,” Madison said, stepping forward. “The bomb drove a piece of metal into your skull. The exterior wound closed over it however, and your damn head is so solid that it was embedded within it, so it didn’t get pushed out. We finally took you to a hospital for some scans when you didn’t wake up, and that’s when we found it.”
Josh looked around, wide-eyed. “No shit,” he said slowly with a whistle. “How long was I out?”
Madison looked over at Hannah.
“A week,” she said.
“Bullshit,” he scoffed. “Shifters don’t fall unconscious for that long.”
Then he saw the look on Hannah’s face.
“Hey,” he said, cradling her head and bringing it close to his, until their foreheads rested against each other. “I’m fine,” he told her, ignoring the others as they filed from the room to give the pair some time alone.
He felt a tremor run through her body, then she pushed herself up onto the bed next to him without saying a word.
“Hannah,” he said. “I’m okay now.”
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “I thought I was going to lose you,” she said, and then the tears began to fall.
“You didn’t,” he whispered softly. “I’m here now, and I’ve got you.” He wrapped his arm around her a little more snugly to prove his point.
Hannah let out a deep breath and wormed her way even tighter into his arms, resting her head on his chest.
“Good,” she said. “Because I don’t want to go through this again with anyone else.”
“Me neither,” he agreed. The next words slipped out before he could filter them through his brain. “I love you, Hannah,” he said softly into her ear.
Her hand reached up to brush against his jaw. “And I love you,” she said, tilting her head up so that he could kiss her.
With a growl he pulled her up and on top of him.
“Joshua,” she admonished, a mischievous twinkle sparkling in her hazel eyes. “Are you trying to seduce me already? You’re supposed to be on bed rest.”
He grinned. “Then I guess you’ll have to do most of the work.”
Hannah’s jaw dropped open in red-faced surprise as she sputtered for an answer.
A hooked finger made its way between her thighs, the tip of it pressing just where he wanted it to.
“Oh,” she said, biting her lip in response to his touch. “I suppose, just this once, that I could take pity on you.”
Josh laughed and pulled her face down to him. “You’re not going to get a rise out of me from that comment,” he told her. Then he frowned, and wiggled his hips slightly. “Well, maybe not the rise you had expected.
Hannah’s hand dropped behind her, brushing against his rapidly hardening cock.
“How do you know this isn’t what I wanted all along?” she told him with a wicked smile.
Josh just smiled.
Life was good.
Chapter Eighteen
Hannah
She fixed her hair, tucking a loose strand behind her ear as they walked into the central conference room.
This is it, girl. Speak your piece, and then you’ll have to see what they say.
The command group was already assembled, including some of the Underground she’d only met in passing, who didn’t liaise with the Sentinels much. It was an intimidating group, but Chad stepped up to her side, gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and then they walked inside to address them.
To ask if they could stay.
During the week that Josh had been unconscious, Hannah had asked Madison if she could join the Underground. It felt right to her, where she could contribute in more ways than just words. Where actions could lead the way, to show that she, and her kind, were ready to come back into the fold of shifter society.
That we aren’t crazy.
Madison had been more than willing, but she said that the leaders in Genesis Valley would have the final say, as they funded the organization. So the human-turned-shifter woman had reached out to Valen and Marcus Kedyn, relaying Hannah’s words to them. Although Valen had known what they were, and that they weren’t crazy, he wanted someone there in person to listen and gauge the reactions of others as well.
So he had sent Ajax and his mate Arianna, both of whom already had experience with the Agency and the Underground. He was the one she would have to convince, to prove that they belonged.
At a nod from Madison, she went straight to the front of the room, Chad trailing along behind her. Despite him being the more natural orator between them, they had both agreed that Hannah would be better suited to make this speech.
“Thank you for letting me speak,” she said without preamble. “I’m not used to that, so my apologies if I only have a few sentences prepared. That’s all I can normally get out.”
An awkward chuckle ran through the room at her reference to people normally attacking her once they knew what she was.
“The reason I’m here is to ask that the Underground—and the people of Genesis Valley as a
whole—allow my brother and I to…” Hannah trailed off as she looked around the room.
“Why are all of you still smiling like that?” she asked.
The entire group had big smiles on their faces. Especially Josh; he was beaming at them. Then he coughed to cover up a laugh.
“No seriously, I had this big speech prepared, and now I get the feeling I don’t need it,” she said, shaking her head in confusion.
“That’s because you don’t,” Ajax said from his side of the rectangular table.
“I don’t? Why not?”
“Because I’ve already gotten your story from the others. I was waiting for Josh to come around so that I could speak to him, as he knows you better than anyone else. But your actions in saving them after the explosion at the hotel speak more about who and what you are than any rumor.” The big shifter from Genesis Valley paused thoughtfully. “I cannot say that it will be easy, and that you won’t face any prejudice or dislike. Not everyone who lives among us in the valley is as open-minded as those in front of you. But you are welcome there, make no mistake of that. It may take us time to accept what you are, and hopefully you can find it in you to forgive any automatic reactions we may have. But I promise you, you have a home among us now.”
Hannah barely heard his words through the storm of tears coming down her face. She had been so stressed over the speech she had prepared, knowing it was her one true chance to change things. And now, the others were telling her that they didn’t need to hear her speak. They had heard words in what she did, words enough to welcome her amongst them.
To offer her a place she could call home.
Josh came to her side and swept her up in his arms, allowing her to discreetly wipe some of the tears onto his T-shirt. They didn’t stop flowing, however, even when he kissed her repeatedly.
“You knew about this,” she accused, though there was no malice in it.
“Surprise?”
“You’re going to make up for keeping that from me tonight,” she said, her head bobbing as his chest bounced with laughter.
“Of course,” he said, touching his lips to her forehead.
