Greg tossed Harvey’s now-empty gun away and picked up the guns from the two guards. Blake searched the room for Bree again, but he had lost her. The laboratory was cluttered with bodies of both CASO agents and a few shifters. Blake swore under his breath.
“We have to get downstairs!’ he shouted to the others. ‘We have to keep any more from coming inside until we’re ready for them.”
“On it, boss man,” the gorilla said and leaped across the room landing in front of the open door that led down the steps.
“I’m the alpha here,” Greg growled.
“I’ll believe that when you learn to fight without guard weapons,” the gorilla laughed.
“This isn’t the time for a pissing contest! If you want to take the group downstairs and secure things – go for it!” Blake pushed Greg towards the door. “We’ll settle things down up here and get everyone else out of the cages. Those who can fight we’ll send down to you.”
“Everyone who can fight downstairs, now! Don’t let any more fucking CASO people up here!” Bree shouted. “Eat their livers if you have to!”
A stampede of shifters rushed the stairs. The sickening sound of the battle echoed around the room. Blake surveyed the lab. Most of the scientists were dead or at least unconscious. They would need at least one alive to defuse the drug that stopped the others from shifting. He lifted one that was still breathing over his shoulder and tossed him into a closet. He slid a heavy desk in front of the door and turned as another guard rushed him. Two quick jabs to the ribcage brought the man down and blood bubbled over his lips.
Bree and a few others were unlocking the last few cages. Everyone else had already made it downstairs. When the shifters were all freed, Blake and Bree met in the center of the room. Bree was sporting a nasty bruise across her face and a deep scratch on her neck. Blake pulled her in a close for a quick kiss.
“I can’t believe this actually working!” Bree grinned and kissed him again.
“Come on, let’s get downstairs before Greg shoots them all,” Blake laughed and took Bree’s hand in his own.
Together they dashed across the room. Blake’s legs were longer, but Bree’s small size and speed allowed her to easily keep pace with her larger mate.
“You fucking morons!” an angry voice echoed over the intercom system. “Lock the fuckin deck down! Never mind, I’m doing it myself!”
The sound of metal scraping against metal made both bears growl in displeasure. A thick sheet of bullet proof glass framed in steel began to slide down and block the doorway to the stairs.
“Come on,” Bree jerked Blake forward. “We have to get down there to help them, Blake!”
“NO!” Blake said and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Bree!”
“Let me go!’ Bree kicked at his shins. “Blake, my family is down there! The people who have saved my life again and again! Let me go!”
“We’re not going to help them by dying with them!” Blake said and tightened his grip.
“Blake, we have to do something!” Bree said and kicked his shin.
“Come on,” Blake said and turned her to face the crawl space. “I have an idea. It might get me shot to death, but it’s the best I have. We have to go back through the crawl space!”
“We can’t leave them, Blake!”
“Look at me, Bree!” Blake aid, putting a hand gently on either side of her face. “We’re not leaving them. We’re not retreating! This is a game of human politics and though it doesn’t make any sense to us we have to play by their rules if we’re going to win! I love you! Please just trust me on this! It’s the best thing we can do for everyone down there and for ourselves!”
“Okay,” Bree nodded.
Blake wiped a single tear from her cheek and pressed his lips hard against hers It was a hot desperate kiss that Blake prayed wouldn’t be their last.
“Come on,” Blake said and lifted Bree up to the crawl space.
She quickly crawled inside. Blake pulled himself inside and followed Bree through the dark tunnel. It now smelled like gunfire and blood. Blake held his breath. The metallic taste dancing on his tongue only angered his bear more.
“Seven minutes until the release of the gas,” the voice said over the intercom. “I would like to take this time to thank each of my employees. You served me well and fought bravely. Your families will be taken care of. Do not fear our experiment will be safely moved to another location and restarted.”
“Seven minutes!” Bree cursed under her breath.
“It’ll have to do,” Blake said.
Their knees busted against the concrete crawl space as they moved. Blake’s shoulders scraped against its side, but he ignored the stinging scrapes that he suffered. The journey out was passed much quicker than the journey in. Hand-in-hand the mates ran towards the elevator. Bree hit the button several times, but the light wouldn’t come on.
“Damn it!” she cursed and punched the door.
The metal bent with a sickening screech.
“Come on, the stairs!” Blake said pulling her in a different direction.
Blake climbed the stairs two at a time until they reached the top.
“Go find the door they’re using to get into the basement! There has to be an outside entrance!” Blake said and gave Bree one last hard kiss.
“What are you going to do?”
“Blow CASO’s cover,” Blake said and turned on his heels.
He didn’t look back, but he could hear Bree running in the opposite direction. The bear within roared and growled in protest at being separated from his mate at such a dangerous moment.
“Almost time!” Blake said stopping right inside the exit of the Empire State Building.
He punched the wall to hold his other form back for as long as he could. Timing was more important than ever. Blake kicked off his sneakers and pulled the ‘I Love New York” shirt over his head. Next, he quickly stripped his jeans off and kicked them aside. Across the street the press van sat surrounded by camera. They were interviewing a spokesperson of a popular restaurant that had recently failed to stay up to the city’s health code.
“My story is much more fucking interesting,” Blake chuckled and stripped out of his boxers.
Taking a deep breath he pushed open the door and dashed into the street. The site of a nude man caused several cars to honk and an elderly woman to cheer.
“Run, sweet cheeks!” the elderly woman shouted from across the street.
Not wanting to miss the moment the camera turned on him.
“What are you doing?” the journalist demanded. “We’re live! You can’t broadcast a nude man on live television!”
Blake grinned. It was even better than he had hoped.
“No naked men, you say?” Blake chuckled stopping in the circle of cameras. “What about naked bears? Are they okay?”
“What?” the journalist backed away clutching her microphone to her chest.
Blake closed his eyes and allowed the bear within to take control. Fighting the transformation could be painful at times, but embracing it evoked a sense of freedom that Blake had never found in anything else. Tufts of brown fur spotted his body. His hands and feet shifted into paws and he dropped down onto all fours. When he opened his eyes the streets were nearly empty.
The journalist was watching from afar. He cocked his head to the side and looked at her. It was her job to cover the juiciest stories and this could be the juiciest one of her career. A sudden burst of noise sounded and a stampede of foot and paw steps followed. Blake twisted his large furry body in the direction of the sound.
“Bree!” he roared.
“We did it, Blake! We got everyone out right as the gas began to spray out!”
“I’ll pay big for exclusive books rights!” the journalist rushed towards Bree and Blake.
“Back off, lady!” the man who had been a gorilla roared.
“She’s not the enemy!” Anne scolded.
Officers of the NYPD quickly covered the s
treets. Independent agencies arrived to confirm the news. Advocacy groups weren’t far behind. Whenever a skeptic arrived another shifter would break into or out of their animal form.
After giving their original statements Bree and Blake sat on the edge of the crowd surrounded by their friends. Slowly the other shifters migrated towards them in groups of two and three.
“What comes next, big guy?” the gorilla asked Blake.
Sighing, Blake transformed back into his human body. It was quiet as comfortable lounging on the concrete sidewalk in this form, but his bear form lacked
“He doesn’t have the final say,” Greg spat.
“I don’t want to be king of the shifters,” he laughed. “We have to try to live normal lives. We have the same rights as every other citizen.”
“What’s normal?” a wolf shifter asked from the edge of the crowd.
“That’s what we all have to find out for ourselves,” Blake said.
Bree moved into his lap and kissed him softly.
“Where did you leave your pants?” she sighed. “I don’t want every shifter this side of the state eyeing what’s mine.”
“Inside the building,” Blake chuckled. “I didn’t want to ruin another pair of jeans.”
“I’ll get them,” Anne darted away.
“We did it,” Blake kissed Bree again.
“Yes, we did.”
“Geo Marcello hasn’t been arrested yet,” Jesse cut in. “He’s the one we have to worry about. He’s the head scientist and if he’s not caught this will never end.”
“Then we’ll keep fighting. Wherever he sets up we’ll find him. We won’t count on the human police. We’ll have to form our own units for safety,” Blake said. “We have to unite if we’re going to live free.
CHAPTER NINE
Blake yawned and stretched his arms high above his head. He turned to his side to find Bree had transformed in her sleep. He wrapped his arm around her and she wiggled closer to him. Her large furry head rested on his chest and he played with the fur behind her ears.
She opened her eyes and slowly her body shrank down into its human form. Rising up on her elbow, she gave him a soft good morning kiss. Blake ran his fingers through her long black hair and his lips lingered on hers.
“We have a meeting to get to,” she said and wiggled away from him.
“They can wait,” Blake said and wrapped his arms around her waist.
He pulled her on top of him and kissed her again. Their tongues met in her mouth and she pulled away nibbling his lower lip.
“Then there’s that press conference after lunch,” she laughed.
“They press can go to hell,” Blake laughed. “They’ve gotten all the story I’m going to give them. It’s been six months since I streaked out of the Empire State Building. They need to find a new story.”
“It’s not about that anymore,” Bree sighed. “You’ve become the face of our community. It’s not every day that so called supernatural creatures receive their official citizenship.”
“That’s a hoot really,” Blake rolled his eyes. “Questioning our citizenship, because some government-sanctioned mad scientist fucked with our DNA.”
“We won, though,” Bree kissed him again.
“Bear man,” Lucas, the gorilla shifter called through the door. “Greg’s going to chew his own paws off if you don’t get your ass down here. We’re not going to start the meeting without you.”
Lucas was just one of the many shifters who had stayed with Bree and the others after the fall of CASO. Blake had surrendered his apartment to a group of them after moving in with Bree and the others. Some of the others had found their own apartments or bought homes of their own. Some stayed together in groups at different locations, but some, such as Lucas, remained at the house that had been dubbed the headquarters of the shifter’s rights movement.
“Tell him to polish his gun again while he waits,” Bree laughed.
“I say you should have never given him the antidote to the anti-shift drug,” Lucas laughed. “He’s been restless since that night.”
“Prick or not, it’s his right as a shifter. Besides he has to be able to keep up with fox-breath,” Blake chuckled. “He’s one of us just the same. We all have bad days.”
“We’ll be down in a few minutes, Lucas. There’s some fruit in the fridge in the hall if you’re hungry.”
“Awesome!” Lucas said and shuffled away from the door.
“I can’t believe we had to buy a second and third refrigerator,” Blake chuckled.
He kissed Bree again and trailed his fingers down her spine.
“Let’s skip the meeting and run away to Canada. We’ll stay in bear form for a few weeks. They’ll never find us.”
“They’re counting on us, Blake. We started this movement.”
“I wasn’t trying to start a movement. I just wanted to protect my beautiful mate.”
“Well, you’re beautiful mate and her cubs are starving.”
“Cubs?” Blake blinked.
“That’s what I believe the little pink plus sign means on those damn pee sticks,” Bree laughed and pressed her lips against Blake’s.
Blake pulled her close to his body and kissed her hard. His fingers trailed through her hair and his tongue probed deep into her mouth.
“Really?” he asked breaking the kiss. “When did you find out?”
“Last night while you were doing the security check with Lucas and Greg.”
“We’re going to have to double up on security now,” Blake said sitting up. “Make that triple up.”
“It’s okay, Blake,” Bree laughed. “We’re safe. The only people who want inside the house now are journalist, book writers, and the occasionally crazy that thinks Greg can turn them into a werewolf.”
“Greg should love the attention,” Blake chuckled.
“He hates it. It distracts him from piecing his pack back together.”
“I’m tired of hearing about his damn pack. The wolves that aren’t here are as good as dead. We both know it. He knows it too.”
“He just doesn’t want to give up hope.”
“There’s hope and then there’s foolishness,” Blake sighed.
“Well, he can have both, but I might take a chunk out of your arm if I don’t have breakfast soon. I’m hungry.”
“Come on, she-bear,” Blake said sliding out of the bed
Gently sliding his arms around Bree he lifted her from the bed.
“I can walk, Blake,” she laughed and playfully slapped at his chest.
“I know you can,” Blake kissed her neck, “but I want to be close to you this morning. Believe me, you don’t want to know what he’s thinking this morning. He’s likely to eat any male who gets too close to you. So this way I’m always the closet man to you.”
“Blake, I love you and you’re always the closet man to me. I’m a she-bear and if one of the others were brave enough to hit on me I’d render them tooth and claw.”
“Good, but you shouldn’t have to,” Blake laughed. “That’s my job.”
“I have a feeling the next nine months are going to be very long ones,” Bree laughed.
“For them maybe,” Blake kissed her. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Outta the way,” Blake roared as he stepped onto the stairs.
The group of teenage wolf shifters that had gathered there scattered. No one got in Blake’s way. He hadn’t purposely tried to intimidate them, but they respected him nonetheless.
“Pregnant she-bear coming through and she’s hungry!” Blake teased.
“If you don’t quit announcing it to everyone, Blake, I’m going to eat you!”
“Promise?” Blake chuckled.
“Pregnant?” Vixa scurried into the living room.
“Yes,” Bree nodded. “Now, put me down, Blake, so I can eat!
She pushed at his chest until he sat her on her feet.
“Did you say yes?” Anne asked as she bo
unced into the room.
“Say yes to what?” Bree looked up at Blake.
“Can no one in this house keep a secret?” Blake sighed.
“What’s she talking about, Blake?”
“Well, I was going to ask you to marry me,” Blake chuckled.
“Okay, as long as you take me to Canada for our honeymoon,” Bree laughed and rose to her tiptoes to give him a long hard kiss.
“You do know that most people honeymoon somewhere exotic,” Greg said as he walked into the living room.
“Yes, but I don’t want to cub in the city. I don’t want to deal with doctors and hospitals. What happens if I bite a nurse’s hand off or something? I want a nice cozy cave.”
“You better start taking midwife classes,” Greg laughed.
“As least I’m going to be a father,” Blake said and wrapped his arm around Bree’s waist to lead her into the kitchen.
The kitchen was full of shifters that had been waiting on Blake and Bree to arrive.
“Clear her a spot,” Blake said and several of the shifters scurried away from the table. “She’s with cubs. That means every last one of you better be extra careful around her. No bringing drama into the house. No lacking on guard duty and no rough housing around her. If you decide not take my advice I’ll rip your asses up if she doesn’t beat me to it.”
After a moment of shock everyone quickly agreed and some even offered to play the part of extra security just for the pregnant she-bear.
“Don’t discuss me like I’m not here or I’ll eat all of you. At least then I wouldn’t feel like I’m starving to death.”
A wolf shifter sat a large plate of bacon, eggs, and pancakes in front of her.
“Finally!” Bree said and began to eat.
“Any news of Geo?” Blake asked looking around the room.
“No,” Greg shook his head. “He has to turn up somewhere, though. There’ve been rumors that he left the city, but I don’t believe it. New York City is a big place and provides too many tempting lab rats. Given Geo Marcello’s history he’s not about to give that up. He stayed here after being officially shut down by the government so I don’t think he’s going to skip town this time either.”
Simply Bears: A Ten Book Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance Collection Page 13
