by Jade,Amelia
Now she was contemplating leaving town, starting over again with a brand-new life somewhere else, all with the people she had just met? She didn’t know any of their names besides Jared!
Her eyes flicked over his lovely features once more, noting the strong jaw, day-old stubble, and in the middle of it all, two piercing eyes of a glacier blue that seemed to reach out and see into her soul, no matter how hard she tried to guard against it.
The whole thing was crazy. She still didn’t know if they were terrorists or not. The same hunches that had guided Nadia away from the men this morning told her that they weren’t, and that despite knowing them no more than a handful of minutes, she could actually trust these people. If they gave her their word, they would see it through. It was a weird feeling—one she wasn’t entirely sure she could describe to anyone around her if they asked—but it rang straight and true within her. It had never failed Nadia in the past, even if she wasn’t sure how it worked.
Perhaps I’m not entirely human. Maybe I’m part shifter?
It wasn’t the first time the thought had run through her brain, but as far as Nadia knew her parents had been completely human. If they weren’t, they had hidden it well from her.
“This is where you escaped from this morning?” Jared said in a deep voice full of suspicion.
She nodded. “Yes. Yes, I’m positive.”
He frowned. “What can you tell me about their security?”
Nadia thought frantically, trying to get her brain to replay the morning’s events. “I’m not sure about video cameras or things like that,” she prefaced. “I wasn’t paying attention to them. But there were two large men,” she looked him up and down, trying not to lose herself in the ripples of his muscles, “not as big as you, but still large and intimidating. They were in the basement, guarding the elevator to the lobby.”
Her eyes closed as she thought back to the lobby. “In the lobby, on the ground floor, there were five… no six. Six men that I could see in plain sight, but I did not explore everywhere. There were at least two places obscured from easy vision that could have hidden more, for all I know.”
“Anything else?” he asked, his gaze unwavering as he looked at her.
“No… wait, yes. When the elevator opened, there were two more men in it, and that was only one of four elevators. So there could have been as many as eight more men hidden inside them, just waiting to come out,” she said, standing up straight and flashing him a smile, proud of herself for recalling all of that.
“Good to know,” he said, then pulled a lighter from his pocket and lit the paper-covered wall on fire.
“What are you doing?” she cried out.
“We’re leaving,” he said. “Can’t let them know what we’ve been up to.” Behind him, the flames rolled up the highly flammable paper, quickly erasing any hint of what might have been there.
Nadia saw more flames begin to emerge from the tunnel that led deeper into the warehouse.
“Oh,” she said in a small voice.
“Time to go,” he said, his voice once again the surprisingly pleasant tenor she had encountered when ramming the door upon entry.
His big—and very warm!—hand enveloped hers and tugged her back toward the final remaining truck. That must be their ride she surmised. Jared pulled the door open for her.
“Thank you,” she said politely, shocked that despite the obvious hurry they were in, he would stop and take the time to open the door for her.
Jared simply nodded and hurried around to his door, flicking the engine to life before he’d even seated himself. The truck shot forward and she fiddled with her seatbelt, the connector clicking into place just in time.
“Shit!” he said angrily and slammed on the brakes.
“Who are they?” she shouted, trying not to turn it into a scream as he threw the truck into reverse and gunned it back inside, just ahead of a stream of big black SUVs entering the parking lot.
“Bad guys. Lots of them,” he said with a grunt, slamming the brakes once more and bringing the truck to a halt. “Ride’s over. End of the line,” he said, bailing from his seat.
She followed suit and looked for him.
A shadow crossed over her as he vaulted himself clear over the truck bed, landing next to her.
“Come on!” he said, his hand once more enveloping hers.
She struggled to keep up as he led her deep into the warehouse. Around them the smoke was getting thicker, making it hard to see. She tugged her hoodie up over her mouth, trying to filter out the fumes. It would be just her luck to die from smoke inhalation after getting this far.
“Where are we going?” she asked as he began to slow.
The area they were in was dark; not much light reached them there. Racks of crates surrounded them, rising high into the sky. She wondered what they contained, if anything.
“Here,” Jared said, crouching down and plunging his fingers into the ground.
Nadia was left dumbfounded for a moment, until she heard the sound of metal dragging on concrete, and realized there was a hole in the ground.
A moment later, she saw the outline of a large circle of something in his hands.
“A sewer,” she said, not bothering to hide the disdain in her voice at the idea of going for a swim in sewage.
“Storm drain actually,” he said.
His head snapped around at something she couldn’t hear.
“Go,” he said. “There’s a ladder on your side.”
“Where are you going?” she asked, tentatively reaching forward to try and find said ladder. Her fingers encountered a cold steel rung just below the lip of the opening.
Footsteps sounded from nearby, and wordlessly Jared tensed his legs and flung himself at the man. Nadia could only make out shadows as she lowered herself into the drain, until only her head was visible above.
Jared was the bigger of the two, but the pair fought in near silence. The only sound was that of flesh hitting flesh with enough force that she thought they both should have been beaten to a pulp much easier.
Her protector—could she really call him that?—finally overwhelmed his foe. There was a loud snap, and then the attacker limply fell to the ground. Jared stepped over him and came back. His body language seemed to tell her that he was frowning at her, but Nadia couldn’t stop staring.
“Is he—?” she began to say, but couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Why are you still here?” Jared growled, all kindness gone from his voice as he crouched down in front of her.
“But did you…”
“Nothing that he wouldn’t have done to me if our positions had been reversed,” Jared said angrily, then jabbed a finger. “Down. Now,” he ordered.
Something in his voice changed, and that same something reached out and practically slapped her into motion. Before she even knew what she was doing, Nadia was halfway down the ladder, and seconds later her feet hit the bottom. She paused for a second, but sounds above her forced her into the water. Thankfully it was only ankle deep and she scrambled out of the way.
Moments later Jared dropped through the hole. His legs flexed as he hit the ground and water splashed up everywhere, including across her.
Nadia stood and sputtered for several seconds, but his hand taking hers once more snapped her out of it almost instantly. The bolt of electricity awakened her nerves all over again, and suddenly she was running down the sewer with him, unseeing in the dark, trusting that he would warn her of any obstacles. Despite all that, she knew she wasn’t moving fast.
They hadn’t gotten too far before the sound of loud splashes echoed down after them. Shouts followed, and even as they ran on, the noises never seemed to go away.
Their pursuers were gaining on them.
“We’re moving too slow,” Jared growled, coming to a halt. “Okay, give me a moment, then climb on my back, okay?”
“What?” she asked, not entirely positive she’d heard him.
“When I’m ready, clim
b on my back and hold on tight. Understood?” He grabbed her shoulders, his face level with hers. She could feel his warm breath wash over her.
“I… I guess?” she said.
“Just do it,” he commanded and stepped back.
Nadia couldn’t hear anything, but she suddenly felt like there was something extremely large nearby.
A low, animalistic growl filled the sewer, coming from right near her.
“A-A-Are you ready?” she asked, swallowing nervously.
An affirmative-sounding grunt emerged from Jared’s throat. At least, she thought it was his throat. It didn’t sound entirely like him.
“So, climb on your back now?”
There was an exasperated sound.
She reached out tentatively, then yanked her hand back as she encountered thick fur, and lots of it.
Another growl, this one sounding impatient, and slightly louder than before.
“Right, climb on your back,” she said with a small laugh, and reached forward again.
She felt the fur, patted a rough outline, her nerves ratcheting even higher as she realized just how big he was.
“You’re a shifter,” she said suddenly, realizing what had happened.
The noise that emerged from his throat wasn’t overly polite.
“Sorry, I didn’t know that!” she said, feeling more confident now. She bent her knees and launched herself upward as best she could, using her arms and legs to push her up onto his back.
Jared didn’t wait for her to get settled before he lunged forward.
Nadia yelped and clung tightly to his thick fur as he flowed forward and across the ground. For a bear—she was fairly positive that’s what he was—he moved with a grace she would never have thought possible. Either way, they moved much faster this way than if she had remained on foot.
It was only then that she realized he had been moving at a slower pace so that she could keep up, intentionally putting himself in harm’s way, so that she wasn’t left behind. If Jared had wanted to, he could have left her and made good his escape. But he hadn’t. Instead he’d stayed with her, until it was finally too late and he was forced to make a decision. Even then he had made that decision with her in mind, doing his best to ensure that the pair of them reached safety, not just him alone.
Once more she was thankful for the hunch, the gut feeling that had driven her to seek him out, and to trust him. He was actually one of the good guys, despite what the news was saying.
Thinking of that brought a whole new set of fears, worries, and guilt.
She hadn’t known! If she had, Nadia told herself she would have done things very differently. But until that morning she’d been a mindless drone, not thinking for herself. Now she thought she saw clearly, though there were still a few things she was either unable to see, or had purposefully turned a blind eye to.
Like the fact that Jared killed the man back there. There was no denying it; she just knew it to be true. The big man hadn’t seemed happy about it, but what was it he had said?
Nothing that he wouldn’t have done to me.
Whatever was going on, Jared played it for keeps.
Which means you now play for keeps. So stay alert, and don’t give him any reason to leave you behind. Because if he does that, then the mystery men, whoever they are, will certainly try to finish what they started.
And this time she knew they would succeed.
Chapter Five
Jared
She was shivering. Despite clinging to him as he had raced through the sewers, the cold clothing and lack of light were getting to her. His legs continued to move beneath him, and he looked for the marker once more. At one point they had been forced to take a detour as their pursuers tried to corner them. Jared’s mental map of the tunnel had come through at last, allowing him to double back behind them, and head in a different direction. But he’d gotten lost at one point as he found that construction had been occurring underground, and one tunnel was blocked off.
There!
It almost went by. It wasn’t a painted symbol, but instead a random-looking pattern chipped out of the concrete that would hopefully look like normal wear to anyone pursuing him.
He slowed to a halt and waited until Nadia slid off him, her feet splashing him slightly with water, but he barely noticed.
“Wait here,” he said softly and moved up the rungs quickly until he reached the top. The particular grate on this storm drain was located in the backyard of a residential house, and was actually of a domed construction to ensure it didn’t get blocked by leaves. This had the added benefit of allowing him to look around to ensure the coast was clear.
It was.
He put his shoulder into it and pushed. The metal protested loudly, but it eventually did as he ordered, rising up and onto a ninety degree angle before coming to a halt. Jared climbed out and then hissed at Nadia to join him. She took longer to make it to the top, and she blinked heavily against the late-afternoon light. After spending so much time in the near pitch-black tunnels, it had to be a hard transition for her.
“Where are we going now?” she asked, keeping her voice pitched low.
He nodded at the house.
Nadia’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but to her credit, she didn’t protest. Yet. Not that he could entirely blame her if she chose to. The house was…less than reputable-looking. Nor was the neighborhood within which it was located either, but that was exactly the point.
Jared smiled and made a dash across the overgrown lawn to the back of the house, the mystery woman hot on his heels. He glanced back at her, amazed at how she still looked like a million bucks despite what they’d been through over the past few hours. There was a depth of strength to her that would keep him guessing for some time he was sure.
He took a key from a hidden spot and thrust it into the lock of the derelict-looking little shed attached to the back of the house. The door slid open smoothly and quietly on well-oiled hinges that were at complete odds with the exterior.
Nadia picked up on that with a curious look, and then moved inside at his gesture. Jared followed and closed the door behind them, locking it from the inside. The locking mechanism was much more advanced than a shed would normally have as well.
“So we just hang out in here?” she asked, unimpressed.
Jared laughed silently. “No,” he said, deciding not to push her. She had already been through a lot and emerged unscathed. There was no need to test her any more. “Over here,” he said, and pulled aside a cleverly concealed door in the floor. A set of steps into the ground was revealed.
Nadia descended first, and he pulled the trap door shut behind them.
“Wow,” she said as he hit the light switch, illuminating the medium-sized room they stood in.
“What?” he asked, removing his boots and moving past her.
“This is, like, some straight-up spy shit,” she said.
The lights had illuminated a rectangular room. The stairs were on the short end, so the room stretched out before them. To the left were two doors, one leading to a fully functional bathroom and shower, while the other was a storage room, containing spare supplies, among which was a change of clothes that he was positive they both would want.
“It’s a standard safe house,” he explained, though he could see where she was coming from. The dilapidated exterior was at complete odds with the interior, minus the fine layer of dust that had accumulated in a few areas. Jared had not been back here since he had set it up several months ago. It was one of his own personal safe houses that no one else knew of except for his team.
“I’m not sure I have any clothes your size,” he rumbled, moving through the room. The near end was occupied by a couch and two chairs, while there was a bed against the far wall, and a desk pressed up against the wall along the right.
“I’m actually mostly dry now after the ride,” she said, pulling her boots from her feet. “Okay, my socks are still a little wet, but otherwise I should be okay,” sh
e said with a shrug. “Is that a shower?” she asked excitedly, peering into the washroom. “I might need that though.”
He reached out to halt her as she moved to go inside.
“What?” she asked with a frown.
“I can’t let you go in there alone,” he said.
Nadia’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Listen, mister, I’ve been showering on my own since the ripe old age of nine. Maybe even eight, but the memories get a little hazy. So thanks, but I think I’ll be okay.”
She started to close the door, but his hand stopped it cold.
Jared grimaced, knowing that if his cheeks were accurately reflecting how he felt, they were as red as a firetruck. “That’s not what I meant,” he told her.
Nadia just stood still, looking at him levelly as she waited for him to elaborate.
“You’re in shock,” he said. “You might not feel it, but you are. You’re jittery, very jumpy and excited, and basically running on an adrenaline high after everything that has happened to you this morning. I’ve seen it before. It’s natural. With me so far?”
She nodded slowly. “I don’t feel like it though.”
“That’s the adrenaline,” he said. “But when it wears off, you’re going to feel very dizzy and faint, with an instant urge to need to sit or lie down.”
“And if I’m in hot water, there’s a good chance I could slip and fall,” she finished.
“Or faint,” he added. “That happens a lot.”
“So you’re saying that you don’t want me to shower yet, not that you need to come in the shower with me.”
Jared smiled and nodded with relief. “Yes. That’s exactly what I was saying.”
Nadia made a small sound, almost as if she were disappointed.
Now what the hell does that mean? Did she want me to join her in the shower after all? He wasn’t necessarily against such a course, though he knew he would have to wait until she came down from her adrenaline spike. Otherwise there was a good chance she would agree then, even if she might not normally.
