by Katie Reus
The male opened the back hatch of the vehicle and they began pulling out plastic bags. Groceries, she guessed. Sitting back against the seat she decided to wait until they’d unloaded everything before she let them know what was going on. She would be laying a lot on them at once and wanted them somewhat comfortable when she did.
Scanning the neighborhood, she zeroed in on an older-model dark van slowly driving down the road. As it slowed even more in front of the Moreau house, Brianna got out of her car. Before she’d taken two steps, the van jerked to a halt and two men wearing black masks jumped out.
Panicked, Brianna raced across the street, ready to intervene. She didn’t make a sound because she didn’t want them to notice her yet.
With a raised gun, one of the men started shooting at Carlton Moreau. There was no warning. There was a silencer on the weapon, muting what would have disturbed the entire neighborhood.
The feline cried out in agony as he slammed back against the pavement. The bags in his hand fell, sending apples rolling down the driveway. His mate, Paige, screamed and tried to run to him but the other male grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back to his chest.
Brianna was sprinting toward them but she didn’t have the speed of shifters or vampires. Calling on the power she did have, she took a calming breath and harnessed her energy in her left hand. Her palm tingled as warmth spread through her body. The one with the gun noticed her right as she raised her arm.
As if she was throwing a ball, she hauled back and let her energy loose. The arc of blue lightning slammed into the middle of his chest, sending him flying through the air, across the length of their yard. He hit a tree that bordered the sidewalk but before he’d made contact with the ground his shoes and clothes had shredded as his wolf took over.
Brianna could easily kill humans but supernatural beings were trickier. Especially with shifters. Their animal took over instinctively when under this kind of threat from her. She shot a blast of energy at him again, but he dodged it, running farther away. She did manage to strike his tail. He howled in pain as the scent of burning fur reached her nostrils.
After releasing a couple of bolts like that she normally felt the drain of her energy but she was completely amped up and she was fairly certain it had something to do with all the sex she’d been having. She’d heard from other fae that sex could increase powers. She really hoped that was the case because she didn’t want to fail.
As she started to blast him again, the other shifter shouted, “Stop!”
She’d been keeping him in her peripheral vision since he had the feline female pulled against him, but she needed to get one of the attackers down first. They were physically stronger and they clearly weren’t afraid to use weapons, so she couldn’t let them get too close.
As she turned to the shifter holding the pregnant shifter, she saw the male she’d blasted stagger, then collapse in a heap of fur on the sidewalk, not moving. Good. She narrowed her gaze as the other male brandished a knife and pressed it to the female’s belly.
The woman whimpered, but Brianna ignored her. She needed to eliminate the threats first. Then she could focus on saving the female’s wounded mate. “How do you possibly think this will end?” she snapped to the stillmasked shifter.
“I’m going to leave with her and you’re not going to do a damn thing about it unless you want to watch her bleed out,” the male snarled.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Without taking her gaze off him, she turned her hand in the direction of the van and sent out a blast of energy. A muted boom ricocheted around the previously quiet neighborhood as the vehicle lifted a couple feet into the air, then slammed back to the ground. Smoke billowed out from the hood where she’d fried all the circuits. No matter what, she couldn’t let them leave with the pregnant female.
Disabling the van was a risk, but there wasn’t an alternative. Now the males had limited options. “Your partner is badly hurt so if you’re smart, you’ll leave with him. Leave the female and run. I can’t catch you. You must know that.” That didn’t mean she wouldn’t blast him apart the second she got the chance. He might not know exactly what she was, but he could guess by her coloring and her abilities. Unfortunately he was using the pregnant female as a shield, stopping her from attacking him.
He glanced over his shoulder where his brother was attempting to stand on wobbly feet. The animal let out a yowl and stumbled farther down the sidewalk out of her blast range. “Yeah, but you’ll blast me the second I let her go.” Without warning he slammed the blade into the female’s upper thigh.
The woman screamed and fell to the ground. Brianna aimed and fired as the male shifted forms. Her blast of energy skimmed over him, hitting a tree instead. It creaked and splintered straight up the middle. As it did, half of it toppled over onto the smoking van. She blasted at him again, barely missing and hitting another tree before he was out of range.
Fighting her urge to chase after the shifters since she knew she’d never catch them, she knelt in between the fallen male and female. They were both stretched out on their driveway right behind their vehicle, side by side. The dinging sound from the SUV caused by the open back door rang out insistently.
The pregnant shifter moaned softly as her eyes closed and she laid her head against the driveway. “Knife . . . hurts.”
Hating to do it, Brianna gripped the blade and pulled it out in one tug. The woman screamed again and in the distance Brianna heard sirens wailing. She only hoped they were coming for them. Normally she wouldn’t remove a blade, but she had to for what she intended next.
Using her healing powers, she placed one palm over the female’s gushing wound and spread her other palm over the unmoving male’s chest. After a few long moments the woman opened her eyes again. She looked at her mate, then at what Brianna was doing to both of them.
The soft green glow of Brianna’s healing energy illuminated both of them. This was more draining than her blasts of destructive energy had been. She was trying to heal not destroy and that took more concentration.
“You’re fae?” Her question was a bare whisper.
She nodded. “My name is Brianna and I’m here to help you.” The sirens were growing louder, sending a bolt of adrenaline through Brianna. She really hoped they were coming for them and she didn’t dare take her hands off either of the wounded shifters to call the police herself. The male was incredibly weak and while she could do a lot to repair the damage or at least slow the bleeding, the bullets needed to come out.
“Use . . . all your energy on him. Not me.” Paige’s voice was a little stronger now and Brianna could feel the life force pulsing stronger around the female, but she couldn’t stop what she was doing. As a pregnant shifter, the female was much weaker than normal.
“Keep your eyes closed and take deep breaths. An ambulance is on its way.” Or she hoped it was.
When the screaming siren tore down the street, Brianna finally let out a breath of relief. Help was here.
Moments later four men in police uniforms and three in paramedics’ uniforms spilled out of vehicles. She also saw a fire truck out of the corner of her eye, but kept her energy focused on the downed couple.
As the three paramedics knelt down next to them, she started firing information at them. “The female is a feline shifter and has been stabbed with that knife.” She nodded her head to the jagged hunting-style knife lying in the driveway. “She’s two months pregnant and incredibly weak. She can still heal at faster than normal rates, but her pregnancy is draining her energy. The male has been shot multiple times and he’s also a feline shifter. If you get the bullets out of him, he should heal quickly.”
The paramedics nodded briskly, the action telling her this wasn’t the first time they’d dealt with paranormal beings.
Though she didn’t want to move away, she knew the humans had a job to do. She stood while they took over and started talking in a medical language she didn’t understand. She hadn’t taken one step away before two m
en in black police uniforms were right in front of her. They were both at least half a foot taller than she was and their expressions were wary. Probably because whoever had called the cops had told them what she’d done. Either that or they’d seen the green glow coming from her healing energy when they’d walked up. It was different from the energy when she was in battle mode, but probably no less freaky to humans.
As the man on her left opened his mouth, a man behind them shouted, “Harmon, Cardenas, stand down. She’s my witness.” He raced up the driveway.
The two officers shot each other an almost relieved look and immediately strode away as a gorgeous man with mocha skin and bright green eyes stopped in front of her. His suit was rumpled and his tie had been loosened. He held out a hand and though his expression was stressed, she could tell it wasn’t directed at her. “Are you Brianna?”
Surprised, she nodded and shook his extended hand. “How did you know that?”
“Angus Campbell keeps me and a few of my superiors informed about what goes on in the supernatural community. Gave me a bunch of addresses that were being watched by his pack and when I heard a call come through that there was an incident at one of them, I called him. He told me who I should talk to. I’m Detective McCarty but you can call me Colt.” His brief smile was genuine.
She was grateful to be speaking with someone who wasn’t completely clueless about the situation. Fishing her buzzing phone out of her pocket, she looked at the caller ID. She had ten missed calls. Some from Angus and the others from Angelo. The Alpha had probably called Angelo when he couldn’t get through to her. “Would you mind if I sent a quick text before we speak?” She didn’t want Angelo to worry.
He nodded though she could tell he didn’t want to say yes. After letting Angelo know she was okay, she tucked her phone back into her pocket and faced the detective.
As he fired questions at her, she answered all the ones she could. There was no need to lie to the police, especially since she knew there had been witnesses. Someone had called the cops, after all. Either way, the police wouldn’t find the masked men before the shifter community would so it didn’t matter what she told them. Once caught, the men behind this would face shifter justice and it would be swift, brutal, and final.
Erin would have preferred to work with her own pack, but when she went back to LaPomeret’s house she wasn’t going without backup. Unless she made a sneak attack in the middle of the day, invading a completely unknown territory was just plain stupid. And Angus’s warriors were more than willing to back her up.
The Alpha had been beyond livid about Noah being scratched. Because in truth, that’s all the attack had been. Something told Erin that Angus just wanted an excuse to kill LaPomeret. Whenever anyone said that guy’s name it was followed with a curse.
As she started to pace the foyer of Angus’s home, Noah put a hand on her shoulder to still her. They were waiting for two more warriors to finish gearing up with extra weapons. For the most part shifters didn’t need them, but with this vampire they all wanted to be prepared.
Even if she knew in her gut that LaPomeret would be gone by the time they got back to his home, she still had to follow up. There might be a lead or something that could point her to where the missing shifters were being stashed.
At this point she wanted the females safe and home with their families. While she’d love nothing more than to bring their kidnappers to justice and stop them from doing this ever again, she desperately wanted to save these women. Being pregnant was stressful enough but to be used as blood donors for some sickos, to be ripped away from their mates and in some cases, their children—it made Erin see red.
“Let’s wait outside with the others.” Erin nodded toward the front door and Noah opened it.
They stepped out together to be met with six warrior shifters. Four males and two females. Plus Angus. Including the two she could hear barreling down the stairs at the moment, and her and Noah—that made eleven. She wished it was more, but right now Angus’s pack was already stretched thin. And a handful of them were watching the homes of pregnant feline shifters. There was no way she’d ask him to call those guards off.
Angus ended his phone call when he saw them. “There was a possible sighting of the two shifters who are taking the women.”
As Erin listened to him relay what two masked men had done and how Brianna had nearly stopped them, Erin wanted to rip something apart. If only she’d been there. They would finally have been within her grasp.
Clenching her fists, she glanced at Noah, then Angus. She hated making this decision, but if she didn’t follow up on this possible lead it would be unforgivably stupid. “I need to see if I can pick up a scent. Can you—”
Angus nodded, cutting her off. “We’re more than capable of ripping LaPomeret’s house apart. If we find anything useful, I’ll call you.”
“Noah, you should go with your father. I can track alone.” She looked him square in the eyes as she said it. She knew he’d fight her, but as far as hunting skills went, they were evenly paired in tracking. “You can help them more than me.”
Noah snorted. “No fucking way.” Then he palmed her car keys and strode down the driveway toward her car. She watched as he slid into the driver’s seat like he owned it. Gritting her teeth, she looked back at Angus. “Thank you for helping with this. Keep me informed of what you find and I’ll do the same.”
He nodded, then started barking orders to his people while she jogged to her car. Getting in, she slammed the door a second before Noah tore out of the driveway.
“You know where you’re going?”
“No, but I’m sure you’ll give me the address,” he said smoothly, as if he had no idea how pissed she was.
She rattled off the address and barely managed to keep the lid on her temper. The rage rolling off her right now was a combination of a whole mess of shit including his blatant show of disrespect for her in front of the Alpha of New Orleans. Didn’t matter that it was his father, she was so angry she wanted to punch him.
After a solid minute of driving she forced her jaw to work. “I can’t believe you did that in front of your father and all those other warriors. If you’d tried that shit with Jayce he would have flattened you.”
“I don’t want to protect Jayce so that’s a nonissue,” he snarled.
She let out a brief scream of rage. Her inner wolf howled so badly right now. All she wanted to do was be set free and kick someone’s ass. Namely the annoying shifter right next to her. “You put me in a bad position and made me look as if I have no authority. It’s hard enough being the enforcer. Add to that I’m also a female . . . damn it, Noah. You embarrassed me.”
He swallowed hard, but didn’t respond. As they pulled up to a stoplight, he looked at her and she glared back. His dark eyes were filled with something she’d never seen before. Shame. “I’m sorry, Erin,” he said so softly she could barely hear him. “Right now I’m . . . confused about us. My wolf is going insane wanting to know why I can’t claim or protect you all the time. The need to mate with you is making me crazy. I should have let you track alone and I know that. I have no doubt about how capable you are. Part of me is afraid that if I let you out of my sight I’ll lose that chance to claim you. And that thought is worth all your anger. I’d rather be fighting with you and have you pissed at me than have something happen to you and know I could have been there to protect you.”
Well, damn. Noah had just taken all the steam out of her rage. How could she stay angry at him when he was doing what came naturally? Her wolf wanted him too. With a vengeance that was hard to deny. If the roles had been reversed she’d have done the same thing. She didn’t know what to say though.
A horn blasted behind them and Noah turned back to the road. She could see flashing red and blue lights a street over and guessed they were close to the sight of the attack. They turned down the street and despite her residual anger, she reached out and squeezed his forearm. “I shouldn’t have said you embarra
ssed me. Everyone there knows why you did what you did.” Because he was a male crazed by the mating need. This was about as close as she could get to letting him off the hook at the moment. And only because his words had been so freaking heartfelt and out of character. Damn him for that.
Noah parked along the curb, barely squeezing her car in between a Volkswagen Beetle and an extended-cab F-150. When she got out she grimaced at the bullet holes in the body of her car. It was a miracle they hadn’t hit her tires. Soon enough she’d get her baby fixed, but for now it didn’t top her priorities. Without looking at Noah, she got out and scanned for Brianna.
The fae warrior was talking to a man in a suit behind a line of yellow tape. As she and Noah hurried down the sidewalk she spotted a worried-looking Angelo hauling ass along the same sidewalk but on the other side of the crime scene. A man in uniform tried to stop him, but as soon as Brianna said something, the guy in the suit let him through.
Erin breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this was the detective Angus was friendly with. Would make her job a lot easier. Not that she planned to stick around for very long. Just enough to pick up a scent trail. If they’d even left one behind. Shifters could mask their scents various ways, though most didn’t. But most weren’t psychopaths who kidnapped and abused their own kind either. She didn’t smell anything yet, but there were a lot of people around and she hadn’t acclimated enough to sift through everything.
Brianna saw them as they reached the yellow tape. Men and women in uniform were milling around and before a woman wearing a black, standard-looking police uniform could tell them to stop, the man with Brianna shouted to let them through also.
Hell yeah, agency cooperation. Ducking under, she and Noah nodded at Angelo who had slung his arm around Brianna’s shoulders and was holding her tight. Erin held out her hand to the man in the suit. “I’m Erin Flynn. Enforcer for the North American Council of lupine shifters. I’m sure you know why I’m in town since you’ve been in contact with Angus.”
