9781631054747HerstoBearHoffa

by Tamara Hoffa

  The sun was rising high in the sky now. It was almost noon. What time had Jacob been taken? They didn’t even know that. How many hours head start did the kidnappers have? They could be a hundred miles from here by now. What direction were they travelling? There had to be a clue somewhere, Bern just had to find it.

  He texted Jenna.

  Campsite abandoned. Found tracks to abduction sight, but lost them from there. Search continues. Will advise. Love you.

  Sebastian walked up and laid a hand on his shoulder. “We have tire tracks. Is anyone in your clan good on computers?”

  “Yes, Guiles is a genius on computers. Why?”

  “We might be able to determine what kind of vehicles they are driving from the tire tracks. I’ve seen it on those crime shows on TV.”

  “Brilliant! I’ll get Guiles over here straight away. At least then we could be on the lookout for the cars!”

  * * * *

  Jenna did her best to put on a smiling happy front for the children at school. They didn’t know what was going on, and weren’t supposed to know. She couldn’t let on that anything was wrong. She was going to deserve an Academy award for her performance today.

  At lunch she checked her phone and saw the text from Bern. Not good news, but something at least. She texted back.

  Praying for Jacob’s safe return. Love you too.

  Because of the kidnapping Hans wasn’t content to guard from outside as usual, and insisted on being in the classroom with her. Jenna had worried it would disrupt the children, but they seemed to take it in stride. After the announcement this weekend, they all now knew she was the Sippe’s mate and the extra security didn’t faze them.

  Though Jenna worried constantly, the afternoon passed quickly. Twenty five-year olds kept you on your toes. When afternoon pick-up started Jenna’s phone rang.

  “Jenna, it’s Julia. I’m so sorry, but I’m over at Margo Schmidt’s house. She is a basket case. Dagmar is going to come and pick up Sarah, but she’s running a few minutes late.”

  “No problem, Julia. I’ll take her out on the playground until Dagmar gets here. We’ll be fine. I feel so badly for Margo. You take care of her. Are you sure you don’t just want me to take Sarah home with me?”

  “That’s so kind of you, but no. Dagmar is already on her way. Thanks.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.”

  Sarah looked up from her seat, bless her soul and shifter hearing. “Mommy’s going to be late, again!” she said.

  Jenna laughed. “Well, technically, your Aunt Dagmar is going to be late,” she said.

  “Yeah, whatever.” Sarah sighed.

  “Am I so bad?” Jenna asked.

  At that Sarah smiled. “No, you’re terrific!”

  “Okay then! As soon as everyone else is picked up, we’ll go play on the swings.”

  “Cool!”

  It only took about ten minutes for the room to clear out and leave only Jenna, Sarah and Hans. Jenna extended a hand to Sarah. “Okay, little girl, let’s go!” Swinging hands, Jenna and Sarah walked ahead of Hans out to the playground.

  Hans took up his usual spot on the bench and watched as Jenna pushed Sarah on the swings. “Do you want to sing a song?” Jenna asked.

  “I don’t know. What kind of song? I don’t really know any songs?”

  “How about Five Little Monkey’s Swingin’ in a Tree?” Jenna tickled her, and Sarah laughed. “Because you’re a silly little monkey.”

  “Am not,” she squealed. “I’m a big ole bear!”

  Jenna stilled and stopped the swing, something was wrong, she could feel it. She turned to look at Hans and saw him slumped on the bench. “Hans!” she shouted and he didn’t respond.

  She grabbed Sarah and started running toward the school, whispering in her ear. “Something is wrong. If something happens to me, you get to the school. Lock yourself in my room. Hide. Stay safe.” Jenna could feel the tiny body in her arms trembling.

  Claws sprouted from the ends of Jenna’s hands, well that was new. Footsteps sounded behind them, thundering closer. Senses on overload, Jenna heard something whistle through the air and then a thunk and a sharp pain in her neck, she fell to her knees, Sarah still clutched in her arms. “Run, Sarah, run,” was all she managed before everything went black.

  * * * *

  John and Kyle chased after Jenna and Sarah, John stopped and took aim with the tranquillizer gun, he shot the dart into Jenna’s neck and she dropped to her knees and then fell forward to the ground. Sarah jumped from her arms and continued running toward the school. John aimed another dart and shot the child, she fell immediately.

  Kyle was already scooping the child into his arms when John reached them. Jenna was prone on the ground with her arms stretched toward them. Claws extended from the ends of her hands.

  “What the hell is that?” Kyle asked. “I thought the school teacher was human? We’ve been watching them for weeks. She was documented as human. How the hell does she have claws?”

  John walked over and examined Jenna’s neck, he found the fresh bite mark. “Look at this. She has a bite mark on her neck. She must have mated with one of the bears. This could be the break through we’ve been looking for. The rumors may be true about shifters being able to change their mates. We’ll take the teacher too. Elizabeth will be over the moon. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  John threw Jenna over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and the two men took off at jog for the van. Once both Jenna and Sarah were secured in cages the van began the journey toward the laboratory in the Smokey Mountains.

  John was feeling very self-satisfied. Not only did they have the two bear cubs, but a shifter’s mate too. He couldn’t wait to dump them with Elizabeth and get the hell out of Dodge. He needed a vacation, he was taking ten days in Aruba before he headed to Arizona and the lion pride. He needed to decompress.

  Three hours he drove southwest, out of the Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia and into the Great Smokey Mountains in North Carolina. His captives slept peacefully in their cages, never stirring. Kyle rode shotgun, splitting his attention between the rearview mirror and the inert captives in the back.

  “Do you really think shifters can change people?” Kyle asked.

  “I don’t know,” John answered. “But it certainly is something interesting to explore.”

  “Did you call ahead and let Dr. Montrose know we were coming?” Kyle asked.

  “No, I wanted to surprise her with our little shifter mate,” John said.

  Kyle laughed. “How long until we get there?”

  “I forgot you haven’t been to the compound before. We’re almost there.”

  Kyle looked around. “You’re kidding. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Exactly,” John replied.

  Kyle sat wide eyed as John drove them into the mountain. Now that they had arrived John used the intercom system to call down and have three gurneys sent up to transport their captives. Elizabeth arrived with the equipment.

  John was opening the van doors when she walked up. “Why three gurneys, John? Did you bring an extra child?”

  “Something better, Liz. I brought you a shifter’s mate.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “A human teacher at the school where we snatched one of the kids must have recently mated a shifter. She has a bite mark on her neck.”

  “You kidnapped a human! What the hell were you thinking, John! We don’t harm humans!”

  “Hold your horses, Liz. She was with the kid when we grabbed her and before we could tranq her she sprouted claws.”

  Elizabeth sputtered. “She what? Claws, let me see?”

  John went to pull Jenna from her cage, but the woman was now semi-conscious. “Where am I? What do you want?” she mumbled.

  John pulled her from the vehicle and placed her on one of the gurneys. Her hands were now completely normal. Jenna’s head flopped from side to side and she mumbled constantly. “Sarah? Where is Sarah?
Where am I?”

  Dr. Montrose crossed to her and held her head in place, she looked at John. “What is her name?”

  “Jenna Raynes.”

  “Jenna, try and clam down,” the doctor said as Jenna was strapped to the gurney. “You are safe and Sarah is unharmed. Relax, rest and when you wake up I will explain it all to you. Just rest now.” Elizabeth stroked her hair and Jenna closed her eyes and appeared to go back to sleep.

  Elizabeth crossed to John. “What the hell have you done? You can’t take humans! Humans aren’t like shifters, her parents will call the police. You are a blithering idiot!”

  John grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “You think the police are a problem? God, how can you be so naïve, when your father practically runs this program? We can do anything we want. No one will stop us. No one will question us.”

  * * * *

  About half a dozen men were gathered around Guiles’ laptop in the Schmidt’s kitchen. They had determined that one of the vehicles was a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and another was a large cargo van, but they couldn’t determine what make or model. The third was an SUV, with fifteen inch tires, but it appeared they all used the same type tires, so it could be any make or model.

  This was getting no closer to finding Jacob. Bern started to pace the confines of the room. His patience was wearing thin. A sudden stab of terror hit him, like nothing he had ever felt in his life. He fell to his knees. Run, Sarah, run! Screamed through his mind and then total silence.

  A broken roar swelled from his throat and rattled the windows of the house. Fur sprouted from every pore and fangs filled his mouth, his clothing split and tore. He stood, no longer human, an enraged ten foot grizzly bear tearing hell-bent for leather toward the front door and escape.

  His mate, he had to get to his mate. Sebastian raced ahead of him and opened the door before he could tear it from the frame. He ran blind with rage and fear, he kept calling to Jenna in his mind and she didn’t answer. Nothing. Their connection was gone. Blank. The hunters had never killed before, please God, don’t let them have killed his mate.

  He raced toward the center of town and eventually Sebastian’s word’s reached him through their mind link. Calm down, my friend. You can still feel her life force. I can feel it through our link. She only sleeps.

  Sebastian had shifted and followed Bern in wolf form. Several others in the pack followed in SUVs. Bern took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart. Yes, there it was. He could feel his mate. She lived. They were after Sarah, my niece. Oh God, Bastian. What will I tell my sister?

  One crisis at a time, my friend. Let’s find your mate and determine what happened.

  They reached the school and crashed through the front doors, Bern headed straight for Jenna’s classroom. He shifted back to human as he reached the door, clasping the handle he threw it open and was greeted with nothing but an empty room.

  Nothing was out of place, no signs of a struggle and no Jenna or Sarah. The scents of dozens of shifter and human children mingled with the scent of his mate and Hans. He followed the fresh scent of Hans and Jenna to the playground and discovered his guard, unconscious on a park bench with a tranquillizer dart still embedded in his neck.

  Bern left Sebastian and the newly arrived Martin to deal with Hans while he frantically searched for Jenna. It was an open area, where the hell could she be? He shifted back to bear so he could more easily follow her scent and tracked her from the swing set along the trail back toward the school.

  He found the area where she fell. He sat on his haunches in his big bear form and scratched his chest. They took her. That was the only possibility and it was their first and last mistake. Bern stood and roared again, but this time it was a roar of triumph. Victory was in their hands. HUNTS didn’t know it, but they had signed their death warrants. They could mask their scents, hide their tracks, they could travel from here to Timbuktu, but they could never hide a bonded mate from a shifter.

  It was true that Jenna hadn’t completed her first shift yet, but Bern already held her in his heart. He knew her thoughts and her feelings and he could sense where she was from anywhere in the world. They would be able to find them now. All they had to do was pray to the God and Goddess that the HUNTS crew kept Jenna with the cubs.

  Bern shifted back to human and stood panting hunched over with his hands on his knees for a few moments. Three shifts in less than an hour had him worn out. “Toss me a pair of pants,” he called to Martin, and a pair of sweat pants sailed through the air in his direction.

  Bern sauntered back toward the crowd gathered around the groggy, but slowly waking Hans, an injection of Yohimbine reversing the effects of the Ketamine. “They have taken Jenna,” Bern said.

  Sebastian looked up in shock. “Why the hell would they do that?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, but it’s the first mistake they’ve made. We’ll be able to track them now. Get everyone together. We need all the firepower we can get. Do you have anyone good with explosives in your pack?”

  “Explosives? Are you fucking serious?” Sebastian balked.

  “You bet I am. If we find their laboratory there will be nothing left of it but smoke and ashes,” Bern replied in a voice as cold as ice.

  “I have two men who are former Navy SEALs. One is a demolitions expert, but I don’t know if he has any explosives on hand,” Sebastian answered.

  “I also have a demolitions expert in my clan. Former Special Forces. We have Semtex and detonators, timers, everything we will need.” Bern nodded and turned striding toward one of the SUVs.

  “Martin, gather the inner circle. Sebastian come with me. We will rendezvous at my home, sixteen hundred hours,” Bern tossed over his shoulder never breaking stride.

  Sebastian followed him, but in his mind he heard. It is a good thing I like you, my friend. I am not used to taking orders. You would do well to remember that.

  Bern’s step faltered for a moment and then he continued on, but he nodded his head in acknowledgement.

  “I better call Alice,” Bern said.

  “I do not envy you that task, my friend,” Sebastian chuckled.

  Bern called as they careened out of the school parking lot, Alice answered on the first ring.

  “Hey big guy, are you holding up my girl again? I thought she’d be home by now.”

  Bern cleared his throat. “Um, there is a small problem, Miss Alice.”

  “Problem? Whutz up? Your crazy sister late picking up her kid again?”

  “Um, well…”

  “Spit it out bear. You’re makin’ me nervous,” Alice barked.

  “Did Jenna tell you about the missing cub from last night?” Bern queried.

  “No, she didn’t say shit. You got my girl keepin’ secrets from me, already? What the fuck is going on, bear?”

  “Another cub has been taken, my niece, Sarah.”

  “And let me guess, Jenna was with Sarah when she was taken? Am I warm?”

  “Yes, Jenna was taken too.”

  “Fuck a duck! I’m getting Louie!”

  “Louie?”

  “My Louisville Slugger, I’ll kill those bastards!” Alice screamed.

  “That’s my mate,” Sebastian whispered.

  “I appreciate your sentiment, Miss Alice, but we have it under control. I assure you I will have Jenna home safe and sound by supper tonight.”

  “You better, bear. I’m calling her parents!” With that the line went dead.

  Great. Just the way Bern wanted to meet the in-laws.

  * * * *

  Ten vehicles and fifty shifters set out from Bern’s house less than thirty minutes later. Jenna was awake, but groggy. Bern could feel her anger and frustration. She was trying to figure out where she was and what her captors wanted.

  He caught only glimpses of what she saw in his mind. A huge underground cavern, lights flickering above, white coats. Sebastian drove because Bern wanted to be able to concentrate on Jenna and any images he received from her. T
he words he’d heard when Sarah had been taken were the first time she had communicated telepathically with him and he didn’t know if she’d be able to do it again.

  Bern reached for her with his mind. Little one, can you hear me?

  A startled gasp sounded in his head. Oh my God, Bern, is that you? I won’t tell you to get out of my head this time. How are you doing this?

  I told you we would be able to communicate telepathically once we were fully bonded.

  But, I haven’t shifted yet.

  No, but you are obviously gifted.

  He heard her laughter in his mind. Not gifted enough. I got caught by these jag offs and they got Sarah. Bern, I’m scared.

  I know, little one. Be strong, we are on our way.

  On your way? How do you know where we are? I don’t even know where we are.

  I can sense you. We are following your trail. Is Sarah still with you?

  Yes. Sarah and Jacob are both here. We are at some kind of lab I think. Underground. The doctor was really mad that the guy brought me because I’m human. She said it would cause problems, and the guy said it wouldn’t. That they had government backing.

  How many people have you seen?

  We are still in the parking area. Only the men who brought us, three, and four lab guys, plus the doctor. The doctor and the guy, I think his name is John, are still arguing.

  Pretend to sleep, so they don’t drug you again.

  I’ll try. They stopped talking and the doctor walked away. They are taking us somewhere.

  Okay, don’t try to talk now. Concentrate on breathing slowly and evenly. I know you are scared, little one, but I am coming. I promise you I will be there soon. I love you.

  A feeling of warmth and love touched Bern’s heart. He could feel her fear, but she was keeping it under control.