Bears' Claim [PUP Squad Alpha 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

West stepped into the tunnel and was pleasantly surprised to find the drop to the ground only a few inches and not the several feet it could have been. He nodded his thanks to Darian as Eric stepped out of the tunnel and
didn’t
break his leg.

As soon as the tunnel closed, West glanced around the area, glad to see that Darian had bounced them into the space between two buildings. If anyone had been walking past the end of the alley, it was unlikely they noticed anything.

“Where to?” he asked as Darian led them out of the alley.

“Third floor.”

West stayed alert as the three of them walked up the steps to the front door of a building without security or a doorman.

A quick glance at Eric showed that he was disturbed by the location of Hannah’s apartment. The elevator had a dust-covered out-of-order sign glued to the door, and it was obvious that it had been that way for some time. They managed to locate the stairs and climbed the three flights quickly. It wouldn’t have made a difference to a pixie assassin where Hannah lived, but the vulnerability of Hannah’s home had them all moving much faster.

A soft knock, a louder rap, and a pounded fist didn’t get a response. Either Hannah wasn’t home or she was refusing to answer the door. Considering his cousin’s emotional attachment to the human, West didn’t even want to consider possibility number three.

“Can you open a bounce tunnel into the living room?”

Darian pressed his face against the frosted glass pane beside the door. “I can’t see well enough to know where I’m going. It might be best if you two wait here.” West checked the corridor for witnesses and then nodded. Within moments Darian was through his bounce tunnel and opening the door from the inside. “You need to see this,” he said as he turned and walked back into the living area of the apartment.

The place was a mess. At first glance it looked like someone had been frantically searching for something, but upon closer inspection it looked more like Hannah had packed in a hurry. But not the sort of packing one would expect if a person were running late for a plane to a vacation destination. No, this was more like grab everything of value and leave the place quickly. Hannah’s closet was trashed. There was a pile of discarded clothes on the bed, but they looked like someone had sorted through them quickly, making instant decisions of what to take and what to leave behind. Even her dresser was empty, the discarded drawers giving the impression they were tipped directly into a suitcase. Whatever Hannah had done here, it wasn’t the kind of packing one would do for a four-week vacation.

The nurse had left in a hurry, and every piece of evidence pointed to her not planning on coming back.

“Was she upset when she went on leave?” Darian asked Eric, obviously having come to some of the same conclusions as West.

“She was stressed,” Eric said, “but that’s not unusual for the nurses working in any hospital.”

“Stressed how? Do you remember anything specific?”

Eric started to shake his head, but frowned instead. “About a week before she went on vacation I found her standing frozen in the corridor. It was as if she couldn’t take a step further. At the time I just thought she was tired, maybe distracted.” He shook his head almost as if he couldn’t believe he was saying the words out loud. “But, well I did wonder briefly if she was spooked by something. She didn’t seem to want to go into room five, and I’m pretty sure I saw other nurses attending to that patient for the rest of the week.” He breathed out a self-deprecating half laugh. “It could just have been coincidence, though.”

“Who was the patient in room five that week?”

“It’s a pediatric ward, so it would have been a young child.” He seemed to search his memory for a few moments before adding, “A young girl suffering severe tonsillitis, I think. If it’s the patient I remember, then she spent most of her time sleeping, before and after her surgery.”

“Did she happen to look like a pixie?” Darian asked.

All the color drained from Eric’s face, but he shook his head. “She wasn’t a pixie. She was a very sick little girl. I would have noticed an indestructible paranormal in my hospital.”

“I’m not saying she was a pixie. Only suggesting that maybe she reminded Hannah of a pixie.”

West didn’t like the direction Darian’s thoughts were taking, but it did seem a very plausible explanation for Hannah’s panicked behavior. But the answer only brought more questions. How would she know what a pixie looked like if she’d never seen one? If she’d already been attacked, how had she gotten away long enough to pack her bags and run? Most paranormals had no defense against a pixie assassin. A human would have zero chance. But if Hannah hadn’t seen a pixie, how had she known about them?

Realizing that his thoughts were only taking him in circles, West poked around the bedroom hoping to find some sort of clue on where Hannah had gone.

“Does Hannah own a car?”

“I believe so.” Eric rubbed his forehead tiredly. “It was a little white one. I’m not sure what model.” Darian grimaced, and Eric chose to take it as an insult. With no small amount of irritation he growled, “I’m a doctor, not a mechanic.” Darian seemed surprised by the attack, and held his hands up in a sign of feigned surrender. Great, the last thing West needed was his cousin and his mission partner at each other’s throats.

“Look, Eric, why don’t you head back to the hospital. I’ll call you when we find her.”

“What? No. I need to find her.”

“Eric,” West said, feeling way more tired than he should have, “you just said it yourself. You’re a doctor, not a mechanic, not a soldier. Go back to work. I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”

“No,” he said, sounding more angry than West could remember hearing from his cousin. “You don’t understand. She’s my mate.”

“Your mate?” West asked, his own heart squeezing in his chest. For bear-shifters, finding one’s mate was a rare and precious thing. Losing Hannah before he could claim her would be devastating for Eric.

“How long have you known her?”

“Three years,” Eric said with a low growl. “Three years that I should have spent coaxing her into my arms. Instead I tried to give her space, to give her a chance to know her own mind. She’s only twenty-seven. In shifter terms she’s still very young.”

“But she’s a human,” Darian said with a frown. “I thought bear-shifter mates were other bear-shifters.”

“Not always,” Eric said with a sad smile. “It’s harder to tell when they’re still human, but I’ve always known Hannah was mine. From the moment I met her I’ve felt the connection.” He cut off, looking embarrassed to have expressed his inner thoughts in such a sappy way.

“So, you what? Slapped the salami for three years while you waited for your bride to grow up?”

“Enough,” West said angrily. “Go report our findings to Ronan. I’ll meet you back at the motel.” Darian nodded stiffly, opened a bounce tunnel, and left quickly. He was usually pretty laid-back, but the past six months he’d been different. Uptight, angry, less predictable. It had the potential to make him dangerous to work with, so the conflict with West’s cousin was even more annoying. At least by being the senior partner on this mission, West had final say on what they did and when they did it. He turned to his cousin. “We’ll find her. I can’t promise to bring her back to you. There’s more going on than I can explain, but I’ll figure it out.” He stepped closer, placing his hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “I need to know everything you know about Hannah Long.”

Hannah pulled her car into the parking spot furthest away from the front door of the bar and grill. It wasn’t exactly a place she would have hung out with friends, but she hoped like hell to talk the owner into giving her a job. She hurried across the parking lot and stepped into the lunchtime rush.

“Just take a seat anywhere, honey. I’ll be with you in a second,” the waitress said with a pleasant smile as she balanced several plates full of food.

Hannah stayed out of her way, but didn’t take a seat. “Actually,” she said as the waitress finished delivering the meals and turned her attention to Hannah, “I was hoping to speak to someone about getting some work.”

“Do you have any waitressing experience?”

“Yes,” Hannah said, hoping the woman wouldn‘t ask for references. She’d done some bartending and waitressing to get herself through college. Hopefully it wasn’t a skill she’d forgotten. In fact after several hectic years working at St. Alfred’s hospital, she might even be better at it. How ironic? All those years training to be a nurse, just so she could end up a better waitress.

“Job pays minimum wage plus tips.” Hannah nodded her understanding, her heart pounding harder now than it had her first time performing CPR on an actual patient. It would almost be funny if she weren’t so desperate to replenish her fast-dwindling cash. Four weeks on the road had only proven she hadn’t saved enough money to survive any length of time without working—even when she slept in her car.

But she couldn’t apply for nursing work without supplying her registration details and employment history and that just made her easier to find. The worst part was that she didn’t even know who she was running from. Only that she had to run. Even the internal realization that she was probably suffering some sort of paranoid medical condition hadn’t been enough to have her running back home to get some help.

“I can’t guarantee how long the job will last,” the woman said with an apologetic smile. “My niece left town unexpectedly a few weeks ago. If she comes home, I want her to know she’s still welcome.”

Hannah nodded her understanding. It must have been nice for the woman’s niece to know that her life would still be there if she came home. It wasn’t a feeling Hannah ever expected to have again.

The woman glanced at Hannah’s comfortable shoes and smiled.

“Can you start right now?”

“Yes,” Hannah said nervously.

“Excellent. Grab an apron and jump on in. It’s only the two of us for the lunch shift, so just serve whoever needs serving. Give me or Leo—he’s the cook—a holler if you’ve got any questions.”

“Will do,” Hannah said, nodding. “Thanks…um…”

“Ida,” she said with a soft laugh. “Sorry, sugar. It’s been a busy day. What should I call you?”

“Annie,” Hannah said, hoping like hell the name was close enough to the one she’d used for the last twenty years that she’d remember to respond.

“Okay, Annie. Let’s get this crowd fed.”

* * * *

Eric couldn’t concentrate. Every time he tried to focus on the budget report in front of him the numbers would blur, and he’d find himself wondering where on earth his mate had disappeared to. It didn’t matter that he was a doctor and West the trained soldier. It simply didn’t feel right waiting for someone else to find and protect his mate.

He grabbed the phone and dialed the number his cousin had left with him.

“West,” he said urgently as soon as his cousin answered. “Why did it take you so long to come looking for Hannah? She’s a registered nurse. She should have been easy to find.”

West hesitated, and Eric got the impression that he was conferring with someone silently. He seemed to breathe out a sigh of relief and then said in a calm voice, “I’ve been given permission to bring you in on the details.” Eric started to thank him, but West cut him off, his voice very serious. “This is only happening because she’s your mate. Do you understand me? Everything,
everything
I tell you is classified information. Spill one word to anyone and we will have a serious problem.”

“I understand,” Eric said, as both relief that he would know what was going on and terror for his mate ran through him simultaneously.

“Are you still alone in your office?”

“Yes.”

“One of my squadmates, Alex, will be there in a few minutes.” And then West seemed to relax just a little. He sounded more his normal self when he added, “You might want to grab some antacids before he gets there. Slip travel is quite unpleasant.”

A few moments later a fire demon stepped into his office, and then Eric got to experience firsthand the nauseating side effects of slip travel.

* * * *

West hid his grin as his rather green-looking cousin stepped into the room. Alex guided Eric none too gently onto the sofa, pushed him down, and handed him a bowl of salt-encrusted crackers. It was obvious that the last thing Eric wanted to do was eat, but Ronan’s quiet “it helps” was enough to get him to do as they suggested.

They gave Eric a few minutes to compose himself before beginning the mission briefing. West glanced around the room as most of his squadmates and several of Ronan’s operatives took their seats at the large table.

From the outside, this building looked like any of the other family homes in the small town of Sugarvale, but that’s where the similarity stopped. Inside was set up as headquarters for both PUP Squad Alpha and Deeks Security. This room alone contained just about every high-tech gadget West could ever want. Even Wilson looked impressed, and when it came to tech stuff, Wilson, being a self-proclaimed technogeek, was notoriously hard to please.

There were several operatives missing—Jason was still on emergency family leave, and it looked like Nathan and Alex were protecting their wives while Brody and Ronan attended the meeting—but the most notable absence was Darian. Considering the conflict he and Eric had earlier, it was probably a good thing, but it did make West wonder about the warlock’s state of mind. He’d had every right to be annoyed at Eric’s careless words, but he’d reacted way out of proportion to the provocation. Many of their coworkers had noticed Darian’s changed behavior, but so far none had been able to learn the reason for it.