Bear My Baby (Shifter Squad Six 1) (18 page)

“Oh my God, my baby! You’re back,” she gasped, covering his cheeks with kisses. “I was so worried about you! Connor, thank you so much for getting my baby boy back,” Cassie said through tears, putting one hand on Connor’s arm and looking up at him.

She wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms as well and just stay there forever, but she was far too aware of the people in the room. Dutch was laid out on a cot in the corner, sleeping off the painkillers as they waited for the return of the second team. Tex was sitting in a corner on a chair, fiddling with something that looked like a detonator, and the other three men in the room looked like they were seconds from calling a nuclear strike on their position.

Connor smiled as he handed over Monroe to her, but his expression quickly cleared when he saw Colonel Hemingway giving him a look that could ice over the Pacific. Grim, Thatch, and Grant piled into the room after Connor and all of them became just as somber as Connor one by one when seeing the amount of brass in the small, musty room.

“Connor McLaughlin, do you wish to explain yourself or are we to make our own assumptions?” Hemingway asked, his words dry and his tone betraying no emotion.

“I imagine you know exactly what we were doing if you’re here, sir. I can trust that Spade gave you a thorough overview of the situation at hand,” Connor said, putting one hand on Cassie’s shoulder while giving the tall, wolfish looking man to one side of Hemingway a glare.

She felt him leaning on her a bit too heavily as she cradled Monroe in her arms, but she knew that he had taken some serious injuries that evening. She was more than happy to mask his injuries, even just a little.

“Spade has given me an overview, yes. I wanted to give you an opportunity to explain. See if there was anything you could say for yourself to excuse the fact that you practically blew up half a city block in San Francisco and declared war on one of the most dangerous and influential shifter terrorist groups in the world,” Hemingway growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

“To be fair, that was me blowing things up,” Tex quipped, smirking as he stood from his seat.

“That’s another thing. Not only have you risked your own career, but those of every man on your squad. This is more reckless than I could ever imagine you being, Connor. I thought we had trained you better.”

The note of disappointment in the colonel’s voice cut right through Cassie and filled her with irritation. Who the hell was he to talk to Connor like that? She bristled with annoyance, pushing her shoulders back and standing up a little bit taller.

“Hey, for your information, Connor and his squad are the bravest men I have ever met. They went above and beyond for me and my child in a way that you never did,” Cassie growled, annoyance clear in her voice. “They were the only ones that ever showed me any kindness the last time I needed help, and I bet that if it hadn’t been for them, my baby boy would still be in the hands of some maniacs and you wouldn’t lift a finger.”

Connor squeezed her shoulder, urging her to hush. She glanced up at him and he gave her a little smile, which quieted her, though she had plenty more to say.

“We decided to do this, colonel. Lieutenant had no say in the matter,” Grim noted, his drawl even thicker than usual.

Probably the exhaustion talking.

“No, the colonel is right. I asked my men for help. As much as they had free choice, I knew none of you would say no, because of the team. It is my responsibility and I accept that. But I could not let my mate and my child be put in danger without doing anything about it,” Connor said, standing up tall. “It was my choice and I will accept any responsibility accordingly, but I ask that I be given the full brunt of it. My squad did as they were told. They were following orders.”

Hemingway shook his head, clearly disappointed. It baffled Cassie how he could be so cold. Would he not do the same when his child was put in danger? She couldn’t believe that these people could really get so stuck in a world of arbitrary rules and regulations when the life of a defenseless child was at stake!

“Sounds like you’re heading for a tour in the lower Arctic circles,” the third man said, standing next to Spade.

“I’m pretty sure we already dealt with the
lower
Arctic circles today, sir,” Tex grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Did we ever,” Grim added, smirking.

Even Connor cracked a smile at that.

“I’ve had enough of your attitudes. None of you will be going on missions for the foreseeable future until we figure out how to deal with the mess you’ve created,” Hemingway said sternly.

Thatch was the one who let out a small groan, shaking his head.

“You have something to say, Corporal Crawley?”

“Yes, sir. With all due respect, this is bullshit. Sir.”

“How do you figure, corporal?” Hemingway asked, getting slightly red in the face with annoyance.

“Way I see it, we were just continuing a mission that was never really finished. The mark wasn’t safe, the danger was the same, and we were here at the right place at the right time, sir.”

Cassie had to frown at that. She hadn’t really sat down to think about it, but Thatch was right. They
had
been there just at the perfect time. What were the odds of that?

“This mission was over the moment you handed the mark off in Chicago,” the third man commented dryly.

“I have to respectfully disagree, Lieutenant Fawkes,” Grant said.

“Excuse me, this
mark
has a name,” Cassie snorted, moving Monroe onto one hip.

“Apologies, Miss Campton,” he said, though it sounded about as sincere as a bullet to the brain, forcing the words out through gritted teeth.

“You
should
be sorry. I’ve had to change my name, leave my family, and start all over again, and even now I can’t feel safe. You’ve never even figured out what it was that made these guys come after me,” she spat, getting more and more irritated.

The impassive faces of the colonel and the two men by his sides told her that they either didn’t care enough to react, or they just didn’t have anything to tell her.

“You know, I bet I know what it is The Arctics want from you,” Grant suddenly said in his quiet, reserved voice.

All eyes were on him suddenly. “Well, speak up then,” Colonel Hemingway said.

Grant pulled a scalpel from his kit and holding it in his hand, approached Cassie.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, glancing at Connor before to let him know that he knew what he was doing.

“Um, I… yes. I trust all of you,” Cassie said, deciding that if she couldn’t trust Connor’s squad, she really wouldn’t have any hope of trusting anyone.

“Good. Give the baby to Connor for a moment, please, and turn around.”

Frowning, Cassie did as she was instructed and turned her back to Grant. Gently, he pulled her hair to her right shoulder, exposing the skin behind her left ear.

“This will sting,” he said, disinfecting the site with an alcohol swab and then cutting in.

Cassie hissed in a breath as the blade cut in, going deeper than she expected. She felt him prying into the flesh and yelped, grabbing for Connor’s hand, who squeezed it tight. She felt something being tugged, a moment of pain, and then a round of gasps as the pressure subsided and Grant pressed the swab back to her ear.

“Hold it there,” he said softly as she turned around and looked at what seemed to be a tiny, white, almost fleshy looking pill-shaped thing between the tongs of a pair of tweezers.

“The hell is that?” Connor asked as Cassie pressed the swab to the spot behind her ear that was still oozing blood.

“That’s what they wanted,” Spade commented with a wry smirk, shoving his hands in his coat pockets.

He looked impossibly pleased with himself at that point, and Cassie had to wonder if he hadn’t seen this coming all along.

“How did you know?” Grim asked, voicing everybody’s question.

Grant snaked a small plastic bag out of his kit and placed the white object in there, zipping it up and handing it over to Spade. They exchanged a curt nod between one another, no love lost there.

“I looked into Robertson’s methods from his earlier career. He taught a lot of classes about future compounds that could mimic their master’s DNA, effectively hiding things like implants and body modifications. He always thought it was the future of his field,” Grant said, shrugging. “And why there? Well, maybe you haven’t noticed it yourself, Cassie, but you tend to touch that spot behind your ear a lot. I figured it would be a likely site. The body still fights against foreign objects, whether we pay attention to it or not. He must have inserted it to hide it. What a goddamn gentleman,” Grant said, shaking his head.

“Good job, Grant,” Connor said, grinning. He turned his attention to the colonel and Fawkes. “Now the mission is over. Whether by a freak coincidence or not, I don’t care. I stand by what we did here today.”

“It wasn’t exactly an accident,” Spade said.

Now it wasn’t just Cassie who was confused.

“The fuck do you mean?” Connor asked sharply.

“You think you’d just
happen
to be in San Francisco with your whole squad for a week of leave and run into the same woman you slept with on a mission more than a year ago? You should know by now, McLaughlin, we don’t deal with coincidences.”

Cassie could see Connor’s expression getting tight, just like it did when he was going into battle. She grabbed him by the arm quickly, tugging at it.

“You son of a bitch. You just didn’t want to risk this being an official mission so you’d have plausible deniability if something went south. You didn’t even try to hide her from them. You
wanted
The Arctics to find her so you could get to the virus,” Connor spat, teeming with anger.

Spade shrugged good-naturedly. “Guess we’ll never know.”

“That’s enough, lieutenant. This is not over. You and your squad are grounded until further notice. And for God’s sake, try to keep your nose clean for a while,” Hemingway barked, silencing all the grumbles in the room and making the team stand up straighter.

Hemingway, Fawkes, and Spade marched out of the bunker, with Spade wearing that knowing smirk on his lips that Cassie wished she could wipe off. When the door closed behind them, everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief. Grim came to Cassie, reaching out for Monroe.

“Come on here, littlesailor. Let’s get a look at you,” he said, grinning.

For once, Cassie didn’t have to worry or fret about letting someone else take her baby. She would trust every man in this room with her life as well as Monroe’s. And that knowledge alone made her feel heavenly.

Connor pulled her into him and squeezed her against his side, crushing her in the most delicious way.

“It’s all over, honey,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head.

But Cassie knew. It was just starting.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Connor

Connor McLaughlin would have never figured himself to be a family man.

Not only did he have a short fuse and a tendency to overreact, but up until now, he couldn’t even imagine the concept of staying in one place, with one woman. But Cassie had changed all of that.

Being put on temporary leave had been a blessing in disguise. It meant he wouldn’t be shipped off into some spirits-knew-what location to do unspeakable things, but instead he would be given time to get to know his mate and his child. And Cassie was
definitely
his mate. If there had been any doubts before, then the way she handled herself in that fight in her house had shown him that he was everything he would ever desire in a woman.

Confident, smart, gorgeous and willing to go the distance for her love and her family, she was the perfect woman. What else could he possibly ask for?

So it was
incredibly
hard to deal with the fact that she was keeping him at arm’s length.

The first thing Connor had wanted to do when they got out of that cramped bunker was to fuck Cassie senseless, his injuries be damned. But she’d said no. That he’d need to rest. And when he’d rested, she’d said no again. The excuses seemed to be endless and by this point, when a few days had passed, it was as if Connor was walking on hot coals.

That woman is driving me crazy,
he thought grimly, marching up the two flights of stairs that led to Cassie’s little temporary apartment that The Firm had gotten her.

She’d told him that she needed a few days to decompress and really digest everything that had happened, and that he would have to respect her wishes. Of course he did, but it didn’t make it any less hellish to bear.

Speaking of which, his bear had been surprisingly content with how things were moving. Connor had expected the grizzly to be driving him to scale walls and go to any distance to make her his, but the big bear was calm and collected, lying in wait. It was beyond peculiar for his human side to be more restless than the animal within.

They had still gone out for lunch every day and spent some time together, giving Connor time with Monroe as well as Cassie. But it was always public places where he would have to behave. The furthest he could get was to steal a kiss or two from her when she wasn’t prepared to tell him to behave, or when he’d worn her down by whispering dirty things in her ear.

He knew that she could blush the most beautiful shade of scarlet by now. He wanted to see that color on her more.

Connor knocked on the front door, his shoulders tense under his black leather jacket. Wearing a white T-shirt and jeans that fit just right, he looked like some rugged 80s bad boy coming to call on his favorite girl. When Cassie opened the door, his heart beat double-time. Seeing her pretty, sweet face always made it damned hard for him to control himself. How was a bear supposed to think calmly when his cock was rock-hard with the thought of making his mate moan his name?

She smiled and her hazel eyes twinkled. There was a spark to them that he hadn’t seen in a while—since the night he’d run into her at the bar. It was mischief. It was telling him that she was out for trouble. And he was good at trouble.