“No, they’re here,” another man said. “Look, there’s a loft. Let’s look upstairs.” Lily held her breath as the ladder’s rungs started creaking under the pressure of someone’s shoes. The sound was impossibly loud in the otherwise silent, small cabin. Bash trained his gun so it was pointed right at the spot where the man’s head would appear, and Lily closed her eyes. She didn’t want to watch.
A few moments later, she heard a loud bang as Bash shot the gun. The bang was followed almost immediately by a loud thud, and then a shout. Chaos followed. The air filled with the sound of boots stomping across the floor wildly, along with shouts of “He’s dead” and “There’s someone up there!”
“Let’s torch the place,” someone yelled.
“No,” another voice answered. “The boss wants her alive. He wants to test her DNA and verify the medicine.”
“Just tell him we didn’t have a chance, goddammit! Let’s set the building on fire!”
“No! We take her alive!”
The din continued and became louder. Bash was right—these guys didn’t know how to fight. Even Lily could tell that.
“How are we going to get them down from there?” someone yelled.
“Throw a grenade up,” answered another voice.
Lily felt Bash tense up at the mention of a grenade, but his face remained as stoic as ever.
“No,” yelled yet another voice. “That’ll kill her. He wants her alive, remember? Let’s just rush up there all at once.”
Lily bit her lip has the fighting downstairs continued. But then she heard it: the distant whirring of a heli-hover. She looked over at Bash to see what appeared to be an expression of relief on his face.
“Juno,” he mouthed over to Lily. Lily had no idea how he knew it was Juno, but if he thought it was someone friendly, she definitely wasn’t going to complain. She could use a little friendly right now.
It only took a few moments for the men downstairs to hear the heli-hover, too.
“Shit! Let’s move!” someone yelled. Then, suddenly, there was a pounding on the ladder. Bash readied his gun again, but this time the guy appeared with a bulletproof shield of some sort. He held it up and stormed forward, and Bash calmly handed the gun to Lily without a word. Lily’s hands shook with the weapon in them, but just when she thought the moment couldn’t get any more intense, a rush of energy filled the room. Lily’s eyes widened and she watched the scene in front of her in amazement. Bash’s human form started to morph and change, and his head became the fearsome giant head of a grizzly bear. His hands turned to giant paws, which ended in long claws. His clothes were shredded on the floor, and he quickly swiped at the man’s shield while letting out a loud roar. The man with the shield stood frozen in horror, and Lily squeezed her eyes shut once again when she saw Bash bare his teeth and go straight for the man’s throat.
The next few minutes were chaos. From below someone shouted, “Fire! Fire! Start the fire!”
More men rushed up the ladder, shooting wildly at the giant grizzly bear who deftly dodged their bullets and swept their guns out of their arms. Lily was frozen to her spot in the corner, terrified that she was going to be hit by a stray bullet. She lost count of how many men came, but there were still more coming. Bash was easily taking them out, but he was getting lucky, too. He might be strong as a bear, but he still wasn’t immune to bullets. Lily couldn’t watch, for fear that she was going to see him get shot to death.
Smoke filled the air, growing thicker and thicker. But then, it happened: one of the bullets hit Bash, and he let out a howl of pain. He kept fighting, but one of his front legs was hit. Lily could see the blood flowing down it, and she could hear the evil laughter of the man who had hit him. Bash was moving slower now, and another bullet hit him. It grazed his back haunches and he let out another roar of pain, but he kept fighting. The room was full of smoke and blood. The noise of gunshots, roaring, and screaming was deafening. Lily cowered in the corner, covering her ears with her hands. No one seemed to notice her. They were too fixated on the deadly bear in front of them. More shots sounded, and more men fell under the agonized, angry swiping of Bash’s paws. Lily had never seen a bear in person, and Bash was so giant that it took her breath away. Her heart pounded, and then nearly stopped when Bash fell. The loss of blood was finally affecting him. He roared and tried to raise himself up, but he was too weak. The roar of the heli-hover was getting closer, and the men attacking Bash seemed to have noticed it now.
One of them glanced up, and called out to his buddies below. “I’ve almost killed him, but we’ve got company.”
“Get out of there, man,” someone yelled from downstairs. “The place is on fire. It’s about to blow.”
“Let me kill this bear first,” the man yelled back in a gleeful voice. Bash tried to move, but he was weak and his eyes were rolling back into his head. Suddenly, with a roar and a large burst of energy, he shifted back into human form. This seemed to take the attacker by surprise for a moment, but only a moment. Bash was not in good shape, lying there on the floor naked in a pile of blood, with several bullet wounds. With a sinister laugh, the attacker raised his gun and trained it directly on Bash’s head. Time seemed to stand still as Bash looked over at Lily, his eyes full of pain.
“Lily,” he mouthed, unable to actually say the word aloud.
Lily suddenly found her feet.
“No!” she yelled. “No!”
Surprised, the man with the gun turned toward her. Then he laughed.
“I almost forgot about you,” he said. “The boss will be happy to see you.”
“Be brave,” Lily yelled out loud. She might have sounded like a crazy person for shouting this out loud, but she didn’t care. She was reminding herself to be brave. Bash’s life was on the line. He had saved her, and now she would save him. She raised the small handgun he had given her, and found the courage to do what she never thought she could do. In one swift movement, she pointed it at the attacking man’s head and pulled the trigger. He fell in a crumpled heap, his face registering shock as the bullet hit him. Lily felt her stomach turn, but she forced herself to keep her wits about her as she ran over to Bash.
“Bash! Bash, are you okay?” she asked. His only response was a moan. Lily looked around wildly. She didn’t see anyone else, but she knew there were still more attackers downstairs. She picked up the gun again and pointed it in the direction of the ladder. Moments later, she jumped when the skylight window above her came crashing in under the weight of someone’s heavy boots. Lily swung around and pointed the gun toward the window, only to see that this was not one of the Hook Labs cronies. He looked like a soldier.
“Easy, easy,” the guy said. “I’m with the United States Marines. The President sent us to rescue you. Set the gun aside and let me take you up to the heli-hover.
“No,” Lily said, shaking her head and pointing at Bash. “I’m not going unless you take him first.”
“Come on, Lily,” the soldier said. “We don’t have a lot of time. This place is burning, and there are more guys down there trying to get to you.”
“I’m not going unless you rescue him first,” Lily said, her arms crossed over her chest. Her heart was still pounding and she was still terrified that one of the attackers might appear on the ladder at any moment. But there was no way she was leaving without Bash. The soldier weighed her words, and seemed to decide that she was serious.
“He has no clothes,” he observed, looking over at Bash with a raised eyebrow.
“Long story,” Lily said. “I’ll explain later. Get him out of here and then I’ll come. But he has to go first.”
The soldier nodded in resignation. Then he lifted Bash up in a rescue hold and grabbed the rope that would pull him back into the heli-hover. While he was being pulled through the skylight, another attacker from Hook Labs appeared right above the ladder with his gun pointed toward the skylight. He looked like he was about to pull the trigger on Bash and the soldier as they were lifted through th
e skylight.
“No!” Lily yelled, and then she kicked the attackers head as hard as she could. He yelped in pain and fell down from the ladder, then let out a string of curses as he fell and his gun discharged into the ceiling.
“Shit,” Lily said. “He’s gonna come back and get me. She scrambled to get her gun and held it pointed toward the top of the ladder. Moments later, when the attacker’s head appeared again, Lily squeezed her eyes shut and shot. She heard a yelp of pain, and then silence.
Moments later, the soldier returned, his boots landing on the floor next to her with a thud.
“You’re a plucky one,” he said. “We were told that the girl we were rescuing was pretty shy, but you don’t seem to be timid at all.”
“Who told you I was shy?” Lily asked as the soldier grabbed her into a rescue hold and reached for the rope that would pull them up to the heli-hover.
“Your friend Juno,” the soldier said as they started lifting up into the air. “She said you’re a nice girl, but that you didn’t have a lot of courage. But you seem pretty courageous to me.”
Lily couldn’t hold back a proud smile as she rose above the burning cabin. It was lighting up the night sky with an orange-yellow glow, and Lily smiled as she and the soldier were pulled into the heli-hover. She scooted toward Bash, who was unconscious but was being worked on by a paramedic. It looked like he was going to be okay.
“It’s amazing how much courage you can have when you find something worth fighting for,” Lily said, before leaning over to kiss Bash’s forehead.
Chapter Eleven
Bash opened his eyes to find himself in a sterile, white hospital room. The walls were bright, and several machines beeped softly in the background. He had no idea exactly which hospital he was in, but the events that had landed him here came back like a flood. He could still smell the smoke in the house and hear the shouts of the attackers. He could still see Lily as she reached for the handgun and held it shakily up to fend off the man who wanted to kill him.
Lily.
Where was she? Bash looked around the room, but there was no one here but him. He sat up quickly, wincing slightly at the pain in his left arm. He looked down to see a bandage covering it, and another one on his stomach. Under the thin white sheet that covered him, he was wearing a pair of generic gray sweatpants, and he didn’t have a shirt on at all. How had he gotten here? Was Lily okay? He felt his heart beating faster as he thought of her. Then he saw a call button on the bedside next to him, and he pushed it. A soft beep sounded, and moments later he heard footsteps coming down the hall. A petite nurse in a crisp white uniform stuck her head into the room.
“Mr. Rowe, you’re awake,” she said happily. “How do you feel?”
“All right,” Bash said. “Please, call me Bash. Where am I?”
The nurse smiled kindly. “You’re in the President’s secret hideout. It’s where he’s been staying to keep away from the bear flu, and it’s where he brought you to help you recover from your gunshot wounds.”
“What about my girlfriend, Lily? Is she here, too? Did they rescue her?”
“Of course,” the nurse said. “Don’t worry about her. She had some bumps and bruises, but that’s it. They said she put up quite a fight, and wouldn’t let the Marines rescue her until they took you up in the heli-hover first.”
Bash’s eyes widened. “Really? She did that?”
The nurse laughed. “I’ll go get her and let her tell the story herself. Sit tight for a minute.”
A few minutes later, Bash heard the sound of footsteps running down the hall, and then Lily burst into the room.
“Bash!” she said. She ran across the small room and threw her arms around him. He winced when she hit the sore spot on his arm, but he wouldn’t have traded that hug for anything in the world.
“Lily!” he said kissing her face, her neck, and her hair. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling great, but I’m a little confused as to what’s going on. You want to fill me in? What’s this I hear about you refusing to be rescued until they rescued me.”
Lily’s face turned bright pink. “Well you were hurt, and I wasn’t sure if they were gonna take you. They were clearly coming for me, because I’m the human cured of bear flu.”
“So it was the President’s men in the heli-hover,” Bash said.
“Yeah, you were right, Bash. Somehow, Juno saw your message and contacted the President’s office to let them know they needed to speed up their rescue mission. So they did, and they sent in the Marines to get us. Supposedly, they were going to come in the morning, but when they heard we are being attacked and that the area was not secure, they came right away. And just in time, it seems. You did a great job of fighting off most of the attackers, but they were eventually too much for you. I shot one of the last attackers and then told the Marine who tried to rescue me that I wasn’t leaving until they got you. I don’t know what came over me. I just got caught up in the moment and started fighting for you.”
Bash chuckled and smiled, closing his eyes momentarily before opening them again to look at Lily.
“Yeah, it happens to me a lot,” he said. “There’s this adrenaline rush in the moment. You don’t even think—you just act. You just do what needs to be done. I knew you had a little daredevil in there somewhere.”
Lily smiled. “I guess so. I had no idea what I was capable of until I realized that the life of someone I loved was on the line, and I was the only one who could save them.”
Bash took a deep breath. “I love you, Lily,” he said softly, looking deep into her eyes. “I’ve known for a long time, and I was waiting for the perfect time to tell you. But I realize now I should’ve just said it the first time I felt it. I almost didn’t get the chance to tell you. I love you.”
Lily smiled and leaned over the bed to hug him.
“I love you too,” she said. “You brought out things in me that I didn’t even know existed, and I’m forever grateful. You made me realize how brave I can be.
Bash kissed her on the cheek, then on the lips, and then on the forehead.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he said. “When can I get you alone? I mean really alone, away from all of these computers and nurses and call buttons.”
“You’re gonna have to wait a little bit,” Lily said. “The President is coming to meet with me.”
Bash sat up straighter. “Does this mean he accepts the cure?”
“I think so. He wants to meet with me to verify my story, but it sounds like he now believes everything we’ve been telling him. Juno showed him all the documents she decoded, and his advisers verified the translation and the source. They’ve seen what Hook Labs has done, and they’ve already met with Juno, Calum, Mia, and Wyatt, and the President has realized that everything he was told about shifters being dangerous was wrong. He’s even planning to give Juno some sort of Presidential medal of honor for coming up with the cure. This is huge, Bash! He can get this cure out there, and the world’s going to be saved.”
Bash smiled as tears filled Lily’s eyes. “You were a big part of it, Lily,” he said.
Lily shrugged. “Juno made the cure. I was just lucky enough to be the one she saved.”
Bash’s smile deepened. “There’s been a lot of saving going on lately. You deserve a lot of recognition, Lily. It’s been amazing to watch you find your courage and your voice. I know life’s never gonna be the same after all of this, but I hope that at least the experience has taught you something worthwhile.”
Lily laughed. “It’s taught me something worthwhile, and it brought me you. Yes, I had to endure great personal tragedy when I lost my whole family, but at least I found a new one.”
Bash smiled and pulled her into a tight hug. “That’s right, you found a new family. You’re part of my world now. Part of my clan. I’m never letting you go, and I know everyone in the clan is going to
love having you around. Even the ones you haven’t met yet.”
Lily blushed, but when Bash pulled back to look at her, he could tell by her expression that she was pleased.
“Thank you, Bash,” she said. “For everything.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I think were gonna make a pretty great team, don’t you?”
Lily smiled. “I think so. Speaking of team, are you ready to come meet the President with me?”
“You want me to come, too? Bash asked.
“Yeah, since you’re awake. Are you up for it? The nurse can get you some clothes. The President wanted you to come with me, actually, but we weren’t sure if you’d be conscious yet.”
“I’d love to come,” Bash said. “Just get me some clothes.”
* * *
An hour later, Bash found himself being escorted to the President’s makeshift oval office in the giant hideout building.
The moment felt surreal. Bash was wearing a suit that fit surprisingly well for something that had supposedly been found for him last minute. Lily was wearing a cream-colored business suit, and she looked absolutely ravishing. Her hair was pulled into a neat, tight bun. Bash had been given supplies to shave, and for the first time in months he was actually clean-shaven. He glanced over at Lily and smiled. They made quite a good-looking couple, if he said so himself.
They were surrounded by Secret Service agents, who were being led by one of the President’s closest advisers. As they entered the room serving as a temporary Oval Office, the advisor introduced them.
“Mr. President, we have Sebastian Rowe and Lily Young here to see you.”
The President rose and crossed the room quickly to shake their hands.
“Lily, Sebastian,” he said. “Thank you so much for meeting with me.”
“The pleasure is mine, Mr. President. And please, call me Bash.”
The President smiled. “Alright, Bash. Please, both of you have a seat.”
The President was taller than Bash expected—almost as tall as Bash himself. It was strange to have the face he had seen so many times on television now be right in front of him, live and in person.
Courage in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 5) Page 7
