Chloe nodded. “And we can’t call you Appy. You’re not an iPad.”
“Loni could work.” Heather handed her purchases to the woman at the register. “Sounds sexy as hell.”
Apollonia examined her nails. Like a lot of the feline shifters, she could produce claws at will. While they were in public she kept them hidden, but the gesture spoke more than words could. “Punting you into the parking lot could work too.”
“I like Apollonia. It twerks.” Chloe grimaced. “You know what I mean.”
Heather bit her lip to keep from laughing. Chloe’s aphasia was nothing to laugh about, but sometimes the wrong words she spoke were absolutely priceless. She could just picture Apollonia shaking her booty in the clothing store.
“I do. Don’t worry about it.” Apollonia followed them to the registers, keeping watch over them while they bickered amiably about who had the better purse.
It was a good day. No, a fantastic one. Chloe smiling, laughing, acting like nothing had ever happened to her made this the best day Heather had spent in the longest time.
They made their purchases and headed into the parking lot. They were going to Noah’s for lunch, something Heather had been looking forward to all day. This lunch was on Apollonia, who’d decided she was tired of Frank’s and wanted a change. They’d offered to go to one of the other places, like Heather’s favorite taco place or Chloe’s sushi place, but Apollonia had refused. She’d decided Chloe needed a treat, so she was going to get one.
Heather wasn’t going to complain. Noah’s was one of the best restaurants in town, a popular date spot for those who could afford it. As an apprentice tattoo artist, Heather only ate there when someone else took her, usually her parents. Having Apollonia treat them was just the icing on the cake.
“Thanks for taking us to Noah’s.” Heather tucked her bag in the trunk of Apollonia’s car alongside Chloe’s. She hadn’t been able to afford much, but she’d enjoyed the day nonetheless. “I can’t wait.”
Apollonia smiled. “See? Don’t listen to anything Barney says. I’m really a good person.”
Heather’s brows rose. “As good as homemade gnocchi?”
Apollonia wrinkled her nose. “Nah. No one’s that good.”
Just as Heather started to laugh Chloe screamed. Heather whipped around to find a strange man standing there, his arm around Chloe’s throat and a gun pointed at Heather and Apollonia. He began to slowly back away from them, Chloe helpless in his hold. “I just want the white Fox. You two stay still and nothing bad will happen.”
“You know I can’t let you take her.” Apollonia’s claws were out. She took a stance that looked remarkably like something from a martial arts fight. “She’s my responsibility.”
“You want the reward?” The man tilted his head and eyed Apollonia appreciatively. “I guess we could split it.”
“I don’t think so.” Apollonia’s eyes had turned greenish gold. “It’s just not my style to share.”
The man backed up, still holding Chloe. Chloe was pale, her eyes wide in terror. “Tiger, huh? Haven’t seen one of you in a while.”
“You know us cats, we like to be fashionably late.” Apollonia began to circle toward the man. “Heather, get in the car, please.”
Heather stood there, shaking like a leaf. One wrong move and Chloe was gone. “I…”
“Go.” One of Apollonia’s clawed hands pointed toward the car. “Now, Heather. I don’t need you getting hurt too.”
Heather’s eyes went wide. Too? So Apollonia was expecting that someone would bleed before this was over.
God. No. No no no. Not again.
The man waved his gun toward her, making her cry out. “You heard the nice Tiger lady, kid. Get in the car and let me walk away.”
That must have been what Chloe was waiting for. He screeched as Chloe bit down on his arm, her fangs digging deep into his flesh. He shook her off, lifting the gun and shooting her as she ran toward Heather.
Heather screamed, her Fox demanding she find a place to hide, to stay safe. It was the same thing that happened when those men had cornered her when she was a child. Her Fox, desperate to protect her, had tried to force her to hide, but she’d been surrounded by huge men and too young to shift. She couldn’t get away, couldn’t find a safe place, not even in her own head. She was terrified, desperate to keep her soul intact as the adults tried to force her Fox out. If that happened, if she was forced into premature puberty…
What they wanted to do to her once she’d changed hadn’t sunk in until she was older. Instead, she’d been terrified by visions of her cousin Alex decimating her attackers, leaving her with years of nightmares. But the real horror had been in the men he’d beaten nearly to death. She could see them now, all of them, bigger than life and laughing as they tore at her clothes, taunted her Fox to come out and defend her. She’d cried out, screamed in terror, but nothing had stopped them. She’d been trapped, unable to defend herself.
The gun went off again, waking her from her nightmare.
She opened her eyes and looked around, horrified at what she saw. Chloe was on the ground, Apollonia was fighting with the gunman, and Heather was still standing there doing nothing. She had to do something, to help in any way she could.
She ran forward and began tugging on Chloe, trying to get her cousin to the cover of the car. Chloe helped, but she was bleeding from her shoulder, her arm hanging uselessly at her side. Heather helped Chloe up, shoving her into the car as the sound of fighting continued behind her. She didn’t dare stop to look. She had to get Chloe out of there. Apollonia could handle one man, but Heather and Chloe weren’t Hunters like Apollonia. Their best bet for survival was to take away what the man was fighting for: Chloe.
She scrambled into the driver’s seat, her limbs barely obeying her commands. Her hands were shaking so hard she couldn’t close the door. She’d get Chloe to the hospital, or better yet, to Julian. Julian could heal Chloe, no problem. Julian could handle anything. He’d saved Chloe once before.
“Ja ja ja ja ja ja.” Chloe’s hand slammed into the back of the passenger seat.
“Jim?” Heather slid behind the wheel, fumbling to see if Apollonia had left the keys in it.
Chloe nodded furiously, tears in her eyes, either of frustration or pain. Or both.
Heather was near tears herself. “I need to get you to Julian first, but we can call Jim on the way.” Damn it, where the fuck were the keys?
Another shot rang out. Chloe screamed just as white-hot agony ripped through Heather’s arm. She shrieked at the pain, clutching her arm and sliding sideways, praying the gunman didn’t fire off another shot.
A Tiger’s roar was all she heard before the sound of flesh hitting flesh sounded once more. Heather closed her eyes and prayed that Apollonia would get them out of this. Without the car keys, Chloe and Heather were totally boned. Everything was going dark, the world around her tilting sickeningly as she tried to stay conscious.
She lost track of time or consciousness, she wasn’t sure which, but Apollonia was gently shaking her. “Kid, I need you to sit up, okay?”
“Uh-huh.” Heather lifted herself up with Apollonia’s help. Her arm was throbbing fiercely and was coated in blood. “Chloe?”
Apollonia helped her into the passenger seat, but even with the help Heather’s vision kept going in and out of the dark. “Out cold in the back.” Apollonia slid into the driver’s seat, ignoring the blood Heather had left behind. “He got away.”
Heather sighed wearily. “Shit.”
“Yeah. Got distracted by the sirens and the hot sheriff. Someone in the mall or the parking lot saw what was happening and called the cops.” She shook her head. “Stupid amateur. This was the last place he should have tried his shit.”
Hot sheriff? “You mean Gabe Anderson?”
Apollonia grinned. “Is that his name?”
“Shit.” Apollonia’s grin disappeared. “I swear, all the cute ones are taken.”
Heather’s vision began to darken once again. Her heartbeat was heavy sounding, her pulse running a mile a minute. She began to shiver, cold creeping over her like fog.
“Wait.” A familiar figure, one white streak in his hair, came to the window. Julian was there, his dark eyes glancing over both Chloe and Heather. “She’s losing a lot of blood.”
Apollonia snarled. “I’m getting her to the hospital if you’ll move.”
“Hi, Julian. We’re gonna be on YouTube.” Heather chuckled. Her teeth were chattering, her limbs beginning to shake with the cold.
“I can’t fix that, but I can do something about the cold.”
She didn’t know how or when he’d gotten in the car with them, but they were already moving and Julian was doing something that felt really painful. “Owie.”
“Just a little bit more, okay?”
“Hurts.” Hell, his healing hurt just as bad as the gunshot.
“Can’t heal it all. Too many witnesses,” he muttered. She opened her eyes (when did she close them?) to see him talking to Apollonia.
“Agreed. Just make sure she lives, okay?”
“She will. I’m going to check Chloe now. Heather was worse off, but she’ll make it to the hospital now.”
Heather didn’t hear the rest. It was all just murmurs and lost words as she sank into the cold darkness once more.
Chapter Eight
Barney was scared shitless. While he was in Arizona meeting with Carl, his mate had been shot, gone into shock and had to have surgery to repair the damage. Now he was back in Halle and ready to pound someone’s head in. His Bear was in a rage, ready to tear apart anyone who got between him and Heather.
Fuck this shit. Fuck it to hell and back again. Heather was his to protect, and no one would lay a paw or claw on her again. He’d been an idiot to leave her behind without proper protection. He should have had Apollonia assigned to Chloe and Artemis watching Heather. But no, he’d foolishly believed Heather was safe so long as he didn’t mark her as his.
That was about to fucking change. Heather would be his before he headed back to Sedona.
The overriding need to be near her and confirm that she was safe had driven him to the airport, leaving Casey Lee and Derrick to continue the investigation in Arizona. They would get back to him at some point, but for now his place was here. They were more than capable of working with Carl while Barney dealt with the threat to Heather and Chloe. It was the only option open to him. Leaving Heather alone and hurt?
Not gonna happen. He didn’t care how many of her clan surrounded her. She’d been hurt while with a Hunter and the white Fox. If they couldn’t keep her safe…
Grr. His Bear was riding him hard, eager to find the one who’d made Heather suffer. If he had the fucker’s scent, he’d be out there right now, making sure he’d never hurt anyone else ever again. Ripping the guy’s head off was his number two priority, number one being Heather.
He strode through the hospital doors like death himself rode on his coattails, ready to send the Smith twins through a wall. They were the ones who had been tasked with guarding Chloe, and they’d failed him miserably. He was going to skin them both for making Heather bleed, and then he’d kill them for almost losing the white Fox.
Barney tried to smile at the receptionist, but it was damn near impossible. From her reaction, a terrified lurch, he’d failed miserably. “Heather Allen?”
“One of the gunshot victims?” She blinked. “Um, are you a relative?”
“Fiancé.” His voice was beginning to turn, to pick up the rumble of his Bear. That wasn’t good. He understood now what Ryan Williams had gone through when Glory Walsh had been shot. No wonder Ryan had gone on the hunt for her attacker. Barney’s Bear was ready to do the same thing. Considering he had far more experience than Ryan, he had no doubt he’d be covered in the blood of his enemy in no time.
The tapping of keys forced him to focus once more on the receptionist. “Room 311.”
“Thanks.” Past the receptionist, take a left, and he was at the elevator. He’d spent more time in this hospital than he cared to remember, but never before had he been this pissed off.
He strode through the open elevator doors and punched the number three, scowling so fiercely that an elderly woman actually backed away from the doors. “I’ll take the next one.”
He felt bad for, like, two seconds before the memory of Gabe’s voice floated through his mind. “Heather’s been shot.”
Heather’s been shot. Those three little words had sent him scrambling so fast even Carl had been stunned. They were going to echo in his mind until he saw for himself that Heather was whole, that she’d suffered no lasting damage from her brush with death.
Getting off the elevator was no better. He stomped toward Room 311, his gaze stuck on two people who seemed to be guarding the door. One of them was going to decorate the floor of his apartment. “Apollonia!”
“Shit,” he heard her mutter. She straightened up. “I tried, boss.”
“Not hard enough.” He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off her feet. His claws were extended, his fangs dipping over his bottom lip. “She nearly died.”
Odd. Apollonia wasn’t fighting him at all. If anything, her head lowered, almost like a subordinate shifter to an Alpha.
“Put. Her. Down.”
Barney shivered as a deep voice rolled over him, forcing him to put Apollonia back on her feet. He’d heard that voice before, been forced to obey it as he was being forced now. His Bear refused to fight that voice.
Julian DuCharme was here and wasn’t going to allow him to kill Apollonia. Damn it.
“Now step away.”
Barney was driven to obey. He did as told, putting a little more than an arm’s length of distance between himself and the Tiger shifter.
“Look at me. Focus on me.”
His feet shuffled him around without any input from him. Terrified, he stared into the silver eyes of the only Kermode Bear in Halle, Pennsylvania.
“Good.” Julian’s hair was pure white, his silver gaze demanding. “Now calm down. Heather’s surgery went very well, and she’s awake and waiting for you.”
He felt his Bear calm at the command of the Spirit Bear. “I fuckin’ hate you.”
Julian patted him on the cheek. “I know, dude. Now go in there and kiss Heather’s boo-boos.” Julian winked, his silver eyes turning their normal brownish-black. “But don’t bite her yet. She did lose a lot of blood.”
At that, Barney’s Bear tried to rise once more, ready to strangle Apollonia.
“She did the best she could,” Julian said softly. “Look at her. She’s beating herself up enough for both of you.”
Barney took the time to really look at Apollonia. Her shoulders were slumped, her usual carefree smile gone. In its place was a weak frown. Her skin was bruised and cut, and there was a powder burn on her right hand. “Who did this?”
She shrugged. “Dunno. Bounty hunter, I think. He offered to share half the reward with me.”
“What reward?” There was a fucking reward now? Jim Woods was going to go ballistic when he found out. Barney wasn’t sure if he should tell him or not.
“Again, I don’t know.” She pushed off the wall and glared at him, her shoulders finally square, anger overriding the earlier despondency. “He got away from me when we heard the sirens. I couldn’t let any humans catch us fighting.”
“Since there was no way for her to know it was Gabriel who would show up on the call, I think she did the right thing. She stayed with Heather and Chloe, making sure no one else got to them except Gabe and I.” Julian got
in-between them, as if afraid Barney would start fighting Apollonia again. “He’ll show his face again.”
“Or another one will.” Barney shook his head and stared at Heather’s door. “This just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?”
Julian sighed. “Tell me about it. Canada is nice this time of year, you know?”
“Thinking of going back?” Since the Kermode Bears lived out on some island in British Columbia, going back there was always an option for Julian since he wasn’t officially a citizen of the U.S. Carl was working on that, but even with the backing of the Senate these things took time.
“Nope.” Julian’s smile was wistful. “Cyn would hate it.”
And that was all the Bear had to say. His mate would hate it, so Julian would stick around this crazy-ass town until hell froze over, because Cyn would never leave her friends. “Gotcha.”
Barney was afraid he was going to share Julian’s fate. He’d stay here for as long as Heather wished, no matter what the Senate said. She would need her family while he was out Hunting, and he wouldn’t take that away from her, or the friends she’d found at Cynful Tattoos.
He opened the door and stepped inside. “Heather?”
She turned, smiling as she saw him. She looked so pale against the white sheets that his Bear rose once again. He could practically count the freckles on her face from across the room. The urge to heal had never been so strong.
The relief on her face when she saw him staggered him. Her sweet, welcoming smile nearly floored him. “Barney.”
He smiled and entered the room. “Didn’t I tell you to keep your little Hobbit ass safe?”
“A girl’s gotta shop when a girl’s gotta shop.” She shot him a weak, yet cheeky grin. “Besides, Apollonia offered to pay for lunch. Couldn’t pass that up, could I?”
He shook his head, reluctantly amused by her. The fact that she was smiling at him was the only thing that kept him from ripping the damn room apart. “What happened?”
“Someone nearly got Chloe. Came up from behind and grabbed her around the throat. He pointed a gun at us and told us he’d let us go if we let him take her.” Heather shuddered, wincing a bit. It must have tugged on her IV. “I…froze.”
Indirect Lines: Halle Shifters, Book 5 Page 6
