by Amelia Jade
Thankfully for him, he and the other Sentinels had been doing a lot of anti-knife training lately, in response to this very threat. As the Agent drew the knife back to try again, Justin stepped in close, getting inside the man’s slash range, even as his big meaty hand closed around the Agent’s wrist. He used his other arm to block the blows from the Agent’s free hand. Justin’s lips pulled back in a snarl as he began to tighten his fingers like a vise, squeezing harder and harder, until he felt something snap.
The Agent screamed and the knife fell away. Justin smiled triumphantly, but the look died as the Agent slammed his forehead into Justin. The shifter reeled away, caught off guard by the blow. At the same time, the first Agent finally re-entered the fight. Justin dodged to the side, avoiding a fatal blow, but the wickedly sharp knife still cut a long slice along his side that began to bleed almost immediately, the warm liquid soaking his clothing. He tasted the metallic-iron tang of blood in the air.
Justin danced back and forth as best he could, landing blows aimed to disable as he backed down the alleyway, trying to slow the Agents down long enough for him to escape. He heard Shay behind him, staying out of the fight, but not leaving either.
Everything changed when the one with a knife still in his hands went after Shay instead while Justin was tangled up with the other Agent.
Her scream filled the alleyway, and something inside him realized with a sigh that he no longer had a choice. He had to end the fight here and now before Shay got hurt. Even if that meant showing her his true self.
“Look away!” he shouted, power surging through his body as he called forth his bear, letting the feral, beastly side of him take over.
His limbs lengthened and joints reversed themselves. Thick charcoal-gray fur sprouted across his body, providing him with a thick layer of protection. His fingers became four-inch-long claws and sharp teeth jutted from his face as he grew a long snout.
The first Agent was trapped under him as he fell forward, his one paw landing on the man’s stomach. Something crunched inside and he screamed in pain. The cry was cut short, however, as Justin’s bear leaned down and swiftly tore the man’s throat out. Blood pulsed out like a jet, splashing Justin with the warm sticky liquid even as he stormed over the man, intent on running the second Agent down before he could harm Shay.
The burgundy-haired woman he cared for turned to flee, but she was too slow. The Extremis Agent snagged the back of her shirt, slamming her to a halt. He raised the knife high, aiming to bring it down in the middle of her back.
Justin roared and his bear surged forward with superhuman speed. He hit the Agent full on, and the pair went down in a pile. The knife was deflected from its fatal course. Instead of burying itself in her back, it simply tore a jagged line up and over her shoulder blade, ripping shirt and flesh easily. Blood welled up, but to his relief it was a very shallow cut. Only a few droplets fell from the wound.
The motion did spin Shay around, however, sending her to the ground where she ended up with her back against another garbage dumpster.
As Justin finished mauling his victim, ensuring that he would never hurt another person again, he turned and found himself staring into a pair of horrified greenish-blue eyes.
Immediately he shifted back into his human form, so as not to terrorize her any further.
It wasn’t until he felt the blood of his victim dripping from his face that he realized she probably saw him as some sort of crazed cannibal murderer, covered in the blood of his enemy after he finished ripping their throats out.
“Shay,” he said softly, trying to wipe his face, upset with himself for what he had done, despite knowing that he had done it for her.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
“Shay, it’s me, Justin,” he said slowly. He wanted to go to her, to be near her, but any sudden move just then was likely to startle her.
She shook her head, shoulder-length hair flying back and forth. “You killed them,” she said at last.
His heart broke.
“Shay, it’s not like that. They’re not the good guys.”
“Murderer,” she whispered, beginning to back away from him.
“No, Shay. Wait!” he shouted, reaching out to her, but it was too late.
She turned and fled down the alleyway.
***
Justin collapsed as she left him.
For just a moment, despair threatened to overwhelm him, leaving him lying there. But then his bear’s anger washed that away and he flung himself to his feet, angrily lashing out with a foot at the nearest corpse.
“Why did you make me do that?!” he growled. “Senseless. Fucking. Death.”
Knowing what he had to do now, Justin set about his task with little in the way of respect for the two dead Agents. He flung the one side of the dumpster lid open so hard it snapped off. He followed this up by grabbing the Agent’s ankle and bodily hurling him up and into the bin.
The man’s partner swiftly followed, along with Justin’s shirt. His pants were stained as well, but the shirt had been white. His bike wasn’t too far away. He could make it there with just the leather jacket and his pants without drawing too much attention. Hopefully.
He wanted to chase after Shay, to tell her the truth about who he was, who the men he had just killed were, and why it had happened.
But he needed permission to do that. Justin felt that at this point he would finally get it. If anything Connor would argue in favor of him, he felt confident about that. Shay meant too much to him. She was important, he knew that know. The big shifter wasn’t sure how he had come to care in such a short period of time, but the image of her running away from him would haunt him forever, that much he knew.
His bike zipped through the streets, wind tugging at his jacket. The knife cut he had sustained was still bleeding, but it had slowed almost immediately after he wiped away the gunk and pressed the skin together. A proper cleaning of the wound and he would hopefully be okay.
Pulling into the warehouse that served as the Underground’s headquarters, he killed the engine and strode through the hallway to the office area, ignoring the looks given his way.
“We need to talk, now,” he said angrily, but politely, to Madison.
The leader of the Underground looked up sharply at his tone, something flashing behind her eyes as her bear reacted to the possibility of a threat.
Justin was angry, but he wasn’t that stupid. Madison had taken two serums. The normal Extremis version that bonded with her shifter DNA gave her enhanced abilities. But she had also injected herself with an experimental version that bonded with her human DNA. The result of which had manifested itself as a bear within her.
A vicious, powerful bear that, while untrained compared to him or the Sentinels, was easily more powerful than any one of them. She was, by anyone’s knowledge, the first “test-tube shifter” ever to exist. It was just one more reason why she made an excellent leader of the Underground.
Justin dipped his head slightly in respect, letting her know that while he was irate, it wasn’t directed at her.
“Very well,” Madison said, then gestured to a door that led to her office. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said to the other members of the headquarters team. She turned and headed inside, Justin hot on her heels.
“Yes?” she said before the door had even finished clicking shut behind him.
“I need clearance to tell Shay about us,” he said without preamble.
Madison sighed, dropping her head as she did so. “We’ve been over this Justin. We don’t know enough about her. She might not react well to it.” The woman’s eyes sharpened. “What happened to you?” she asked.
“Shay’s father is missing somewhere here in King City. I told her today I’d help her look. She had a picture of him downtown, near the Agency building. Two Agents found us.” He gritted his teeth, the memories still fresh in him.
“And?” Madison pressed.
“I tried to lead them away, to escape. Bu
t they caught me. I was forced to take extreme measures.”
The leader sighed. “I’m sorry, Justin,” she said. “What about Shay?”
He grimaced. “She didn’t react well.”
“What do you mean?”
“I killed the two of them right in front of her.”
“Shit.”
Justin didn’t have to say more. He knew Madison would understand what had happened from there.
Just then the door opened after a brief knock.
“I’m busy,” Madison snapped, but stopped as she recognized the face. “Arianna?”
“Hi,” the other woman said, stepping fully into the room.
Justin nodded respectfully in her direction. Arianna was Ajax’s mate. He had been the first shifter from Genesis Valley to discover what was going on in King City, and the first to fight the Agency, before they had perfected their Extremis serum. He had rescued Arianna from the city, but in the process she had been injected with the then-experimental—now typical—version of the serum. As a half-breed herself, it had the same effect it did now, giving her the powers of a shifter without the ability to shapeshift.
If Arianna was here, that meant Ajax was as well.
Madison seemed to sense this. “Tell Ajax to come in, please,” she said.
Arianna nodded and made a motion outside. A second later a large shape eclipsed the door, and Ajax stepped inside.
“Madison. Justin,” he rumbled, his deep voice filling the room with ease.
“Ajax,” Madison said. “It’s good to see you. You have excellent timing.”
The big Alpha shifter frowned. “Why is that?”
“I think Justin and you need to have a chat.”
It was Justin’s turn to frown as she mentioned his name. Why did he need to talk with Ajax?
The leader took Arianna by the arm and the women headed from the room. They would have much to talk about, comparing experiences with their newfound abilities, so Justin couldn’t fault them that. Still, what was he supposed to talk to Ajax about?
“Also, Justin,” Madison said as she pulled the door closed behind her. “You may tell Shay. It might be the only way to convince her. If she doesn’t take it well though, you’ll have to bring her here until she can calm down.”
Justin nodded his thanks, relieved at finally being able to tell Shay the truth.
That still left him pondering why she had told him to talk to Ajax.
“Have a seat,” the older shifter said, motioning for one of the chairs in the office as he took another.
“I’m not sure why she told me to talk with you, to be frank,” Justin said, declining the seat. He wanted to clean up and go to Shay’s hotel. To make sure she was okay, among other things. He doubted the Agency was able to radio in a description of her in time, unless they had done it before chasing him. So she should be just fine, but he didn’t know that just yet.
“Well, something obviously just happened,” Ajax said, looking pointedly at the blood on Justin’s pants and the lack of shirt.
Justin shrugged, trying to hide his discomfort. “Normal things accumulated while dealing with the Agency. You should know about that,” he said as nonchalantly as possible. “I need to go though. I have other things to do. It was good to see you.” He headed for the door.
“Sit.”
The single word cracked the room with whip-like force, slamming into Justin with the force of command that only an Alpha shifter possessed. His spine straightened involuntarily so quickly he was positive he heard several pops. Without hesitation, he backed up two steps and plunked himself down into the chair.
The idea of defying Ajax any further never even occurred to him. The sharp, emotionless tone of his voice had shown Justin a side of the Alpha shifter he had never seen before. Although the two knew each other, they hadn’t truly been exposed to one another for an extended period of time in a private setting.
“Better,” Ajax said, his voice resuming the more gentle, mature tone of someone who had been through it all before. “Now, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
Justin grimaced, thinking of all the time it would take, but one look over at the big man and he began to lay it all out. From landing on his back at her feet, to his being chased by Agents across the building rooftops. Ajax nodded sagely at the key points, then sat back as Justin finished his story.
“I see.”
“Good,” Justin said, “so now you see why I have to get to Shay.”
“You’ll get there,” Ajax said, “but only after you tell me what’s going on.”
Justin felt his jaw drop open. “But...I just…what more do you want me to say?” he asked in disbelief.
“You’ve told me what happened,” Ajax said calmly, waving a hand in the air as if it didn’t matter. Then he leveled a finger at Justin. “But you haven’t told me what’s going on.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Is that why you look more distressed than a dog who can’t find his bone?” Ajax asked softly. “Something is bothering you.”
Something inside Justin crumbled at the knowing tone, as if Ajax knew exactly what it was that was bothering Justin, and that he sympathized too. He just wanted the young Sentinel to give voice to it himself.
“I’m afraid,” he said at last.
“Afraid of what?” Ajax asked gently.
Justin closed his eyes, taking a deep steadying breath. “That if I continue to kill, that I’ll learn to like it. That I’ll lose myself in it.”
Ajax nodded sagely. “You’re afraid it’s already begun.”
He shuddered as tension he hadn’t known he was carrying flowed out of him as he admitting everything.
“I am,” he said, his voice a near-whisper.
Chapter Nine
Shay
The door wouldn’t slam. It closed slowly behind her, air hissing from the contraption preventing her from expressing herself.
The instant the bolt clicked into place she threw the lock across, spinning to face away from it, her back pressing against the cold metal door. As secure as she could be, the tears began to flow. Great heaving sobs racked her shoulders as she slid to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest and hunching over them.
Justin had murdered those two men! Right in front of her!
She barely made it to the washroom before her stomach emptied its contents as she remembered the way he had transformed into that huge animal and ripped the two of them apart. Blood had been dripping from his jaw. Human blood.
Her stomach heaved some more until it came up empty.
What the hell had she gotten herself into? Falling for a man who murdered government or police agents?
Is that truly what happened? You don’t know who those men were.
Shay growled at her inner voice. She knew what she had seen. They wore uniforms. Official uniforms. That meant government. Besides, why would anyone else be trying to go after Justin? No, only the government would do that, and that meant he had done something very bad.
Had he killed before?
The abyss yawned in front of her, opening up to swallow all the hope she had been building. About finding her father. Hope that she might be able to race again one day. That maybe she had something with this mysterious shifter. That she might have found a place in life that she could stay for more than a few days at a time.
It had been a long time since Shay had considered the feasibility of settling down, of living in a city for an extended period of time. Her skills didn’t transfer to that sort of life, but to her surprise, since meeting Justin she had begun to realize she would do it anyway, for him.
Now I’ve gone and opened my heart, only to have it wrecked worse than the time I plowed headfirst into the concrete barrier in Jarkova City. You’d think I would have learned what to avoid by now.
Shay got up off the ground, her disgust morphing toward anger. Anger that was directed at herself for not knowing any better. Glancing u
p from the sink, she caught a look at herself.
Bright eyes overshadowed by puffy redness from crying, runny makeup, and a distant look on her face summed up the day so far. She thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t popped a blood vessel in her eye while her stomach flipped itself upside down. That would have just been the capper on a fantastic twenty-four hours.
First she’d been threatened with a gun for some unknown reason. Now the man she thought was cute turned out to be a murderer.
Do murderers run from their victims first? Do they plead for them not to make them do this?
Shay shook her head, not interested in the philosophical questions that kept popping into her head. It was as if her subconscious or something wanted her to find a way to make it look like Justin wasn’t actually the bad guy.
“My head hurts,” she muttered aloud, and she finished washing her face.
Glancing at the clock to ensure it wasn’t too early, she headed downstairs to the hotel lobby. Just then, she couldn’t care less about her appearance, or if anyone judged her for it.
The hotel bar was empty minus a couple sitting at the far end. Shay marched herself up to the counter.
“Rye. Double. On the rocks,” she said briskly, then added belatedly, “please.”
The bartender, an older woman with gray hair that hung just below her chin, sized Shay up as she made the drink, not needing to watch her hands. They moved on their own, a likely result of decades of experience. Two cubes slid into the tumbler, followed by an extra big splash of liquid. Then the whole thing slid across the bartop on a thick wooden coaster to end up in front of Shay, the movement doing just enough to splash the liquid across the ice.
She picked it up and took an appreciative sip.
“Ahh,” she said, sighing as the liquid warmly burned its way into her stomach.
“What’d he do?” the bartender asked.
Shay felt her eyes widen in surprise, both at the accuracy of the question, and also at the comfort of the bartender in asking it.
