Chasing His Bunny (12 page)

"Uh, Steele?"  He ignored
Eli.

"No.  I will not."
 Bethany glared back at him, her blue eyes growing darker -
not from anger, he realized, but because her own animal was
surfacing.  Whatever.  He was not going to back down from
his tiny mate who was way too fucking eager to throw herself into
the danger zone.

"I'm not letting my mate run
around-"

"Then it's a good thing I'm not your
mate!" she yelled back at him, cutting him off.  He snarled at
her.

"Uh, Bethany? 
Steele?"

"What?" They both spat the
word out at the same time, turning to glare at the phone where
Eli's tiny face was looking back at them.  He coughed,
smoothing his hand over his mouth and obviously hiding a
grin.  Steele scowled at him.

"Steele... ah," Eli's eyes
flicked to Bethany's throat.  "Is that what I think it is on
her neck?  And on yours?"

Smugness swept through him.  He'd
let Eli tell her.  She might not believe him, even if he told
her about the bites, but she'd have to believe a third party. 
Ha.  Then, once she'd accepted that she was his mate, maybe
she'd shut up and let him do his job of protecting her sassy
ass.

"Yes." He said as Bethany's eyes
widened and she brought both hands up to her throat, feeling
it.

"What is it?" she asked, almost
panicked as she turned towards him.  Immediately he reached
out to tug her against him, holding her reassuringly, as she looked
at his throat.  "What's on my neck?"

"A mating mark," Eli said,
coughing a little.  Hiding laughter.  This time Steele
found that he didn't mind.  "You and Steele are already
mated."

"WHAT?!"  The shriek
his mate let out shredded his ears, making him wince.  Who
knew a person's voice could actually hit that decibel?  But
like the manly male he was, he didn't relinquish his hold on her,
despite the urge to cover his poor ears.  "What mating mark?
When did it happen?!  You're joking right?"

"Nope," Steel replied this time. 
She looked up at him with wide, panicked blue eyes, and he tilted
his head so that she could see the bite mark on his neck that was
still there.  That would always be there.  He grinned at
her as her eyes somehow managed to get even bigger.  "You bit
me first, Princess, just remember that."

******

Bethany's knees collapsed and she sat
down heavily in her chair, which didn't help make Mr.
Tall-Dark-and-Looming any less intimidating.  

Okay, she remembered biting
him.  She'd never pictured herself as a biter, but it had felt
right in the moment.  But had it felt right because of human
her or because of the thing
inside
 her?

"Congratulations!" Bailey sang out,
utterly oblivious to the devastation that had just been wreaked on
Bethany's world.  She actually sounded happy.
 

"Thank you," Mr.
Way-Too-Happy-About-This replied, grinning at Bailey.  "And
don't worry, I'll take good care of both you and your
sister."

Bailey snorted.  "I hope you
don't think this means I agree with you about us staying
inside."

Steele scowled and Bethany
swiveled to face her sister, happy for the distraction from this
whole mating thing.  She believed Eli when he said that she
and Steele both wore a mating mark, but... well, she just didn't
have enough information right now.  Was it permanent?  He
wasn't going to be able to make her do anything using the mark, was
he?  It was too much for her to think about right now, on top
of everything else, so she focused on the one thing she could
handle - keeping her little sister safe. 

Smiling back at them were
guileless, blue eyes, the same sweetly, innocent blue that Bethany
saw in the mirror every day... but purer, without the cynicism and
violence that Bethany's held.  That her brothers' held. 
Bailey was the only member of their family to remain unsullied by
their time in the lab, and Bethany didn't want her to lose that.
 

Plus, she'd been protecting Bailey for
so long, she didn't know how to do anything else.

"
You
are going to the bunker,"
Bethany said, in very much the same tone Steele had tried to use on
her.

That sweetly innocent aura around
Bailey didn't falter for a second.

"Nope."

Chapter 6

"Steele?  Are you sure you're
okay?"  Kasim whispered, looking worried.  As he had
every right to.

Because it was fucking
crystal clear that no, no Steele was not fucking okay.  He was
ready to explode into a giant rageball of... well, rage.
 

He still didn't understand how he'd
lost the argument to Bethany.  Or, even more astounding, how
they'd both lost the argument with Bailey.  

Glancing over at the
sisters, he felt his backbone soften.  Just one iota. 
There was something really sexy about seeing his mate decked out in
combat gear - well, shifter combat gear.  That was, gear that
was easy to lose if they needed to shift into their animal, but
that would protect them in the meantime.  Bailey was just as
covered up.  They were sitting in the center of Steele's
command center in the movie theater lobby, with a small group of
his men.  The last line of defense.  He had three snipers
up on various roofs nearby and the rest of his soldiers - three
squads led by Jordan, Jacqueline, and a bear shifter named Robert -
were spread throughout the town, ready for action.

Steele should have been
leading the third squad.  Not that Robert was a bad soldier or
even a bad leader... but that was Steele's spot. Normally he had
Kasim, who has an amazing tactician, running the main show. 
Instead, Steele and Kasim were both stuck back here babysitting
Bethany and her sister, because they wouldn't go down to the
fucking bunker and both Doc and Dr. Phil refused to sedate them so
that Steele could force the issue.  Fucking traitors. 
Doc said she was doing him a favor, since Bethany would never
forgive him for taking her choices away like that, but at least
she'd be fucking safe.  And he'd be leading his squad, the way
he was supposed to. 

Hunting.  Finding the
enemy.  Engaging.  

Not sitting here waiting. 
Distracted by the sweet scent of his mate and his wolf's frantic
need to do something proactive.  Like taking her into one of
the movie theaters and solidifying their bond a little more with
some -

"Steele?" Kasim whispered again,
nudging him. 

"I'm fine," he growled, focusing on
the maps in front of him again.  He was waiting on the call
from Raoul, who was going to let him know where The Company's mercs
were coming in from.  So that he could deploy his
squads.  While he sat here, unable to leave the command
center.  Which was where Jordan would normally be, because
Jordan had the patience for waiting and keeping track of
communications between the squads. 

The movie posters on the
wall were mocking him, both the romance and the action ones. 
He wanted both and wasn't getting either right now.  Instead
he was stuck behind thick steel walls, reinforced doors, and
bulletproof glass.  Not a natural state for him.  He'd
never expected to actually have to use the theater for this when
they'd had it built as a last stand location - and he sure as hell
hadn't pictured himself in it.  Even now he was sure that his
squads would keep any of The Company's assholes from penetrating
this deep into the town, which meant that it was unlikely he'd see
any action at all.

Dammit.

His wolf growled at him, not
understanding his impatience or his desire to leave their
mate.  Not that he wanted to leave Bethany.  
 

Glancing over his shoulder at her
again, he couldn't help but think that her expression was
remarkably similar to his, as she looked at her recalcitrant
younger sister.  Bailey had been just as stubborn as
Bethany.  More.  She'd been the one to look at him
tearfully, begging him not to let her sister shut her up in a
closed-in space with no windows so soon after their escape from the
lab.  So now they were both sitting in his command center,
Bailey looking entirely too pleased with herself and Bethany
looking nearly as pissed off and protective as he felt.

"Try to focus, Steele," Kasim
whispered loudly, obviously not caring that everyone in the room
would be able to hear him.  "You gotta keep your head in the
game - and I don't mean your little one."

Steele snarled at him, but the big
dumbass just grinned beatifically, a flash of white teeth in
his dark face.  He was way too amused by all of this,
especially Bethany and Bailey's presence. 

Luckily for Kasim, before Steele could
tear him a new one, his phone rang.  Finally! 
Action!

 
"They're coming?" he
asked as soon as he answered, not bothering with a greeting. 
It didn't seem to bother Raoul.

"Four squads of six men each," Raoul
replied, his voice hard.  "They're coming in on Water Street,
Centerway, Briardale, and Main.  Heavily armed."

"Snipers?"

He could hear the smirk in Raoul's
voice.  "That would be my job."

Grinning wolfishly, satisfaction shot
through Steele.  These fuckers had no idea what they were in
for.  Even if they'd had snipers, it wouldn't be
enough.

"Any idea who's in charge?"

"The group on Main has some guy with
them that seems to be running the show.  Definitely not a
soldier.  They're supposed to hang back while the others sweep
the streets and clear out any resistance."

"Description?"

"A few inches shy of six feet, about
170 pounds - skinny, indoors type.  Very pale skin, dirty
blonde hair that needs some shampoo, and brown eyes.  I'd
guess in his forties.  Nasal voice.  He stands
out."

"It's him."
 Bethany's voice was full of pure hate, startling Steele with
her sudden closeness.  He'd been concentrating so hard on what
Raoul was saying, his mind flowing with plans, he hadn't even
noticed her creeping up behind him.  Now, her spicy, sweet
scent filled his nostrils and his cock hardened
automatically.  Damned mating call.  Not that he minded
being mated to Bethany, but some of the physical manifestations
were really inconvenient right about now. 

"Him?" Kasim asked, his
eyes flicking over Bethany's shoulder to where Bailey was standing,
her heart-shaped face pale against the dark brown of her hair, big,
blue eyes wide in fear and anxiousness.  Steele's wolf growled
at the sight, feeling Bethany's distress and need to protect her
sister through their bond.  The emotions were distant but
distinct.  

"Dr. Montgomery."

******

Emotions seethed through Bethany,
allowing her to focus her frustrations and anger.  She'd been
a mess all morning - strangely going through all the stages of
grief when it came to her mating with Steele.  Silently, of
course.  She'd even done the bargaining, with the thing inside
of her head.  Of course it had ignored her. 

So she'd accepted it. 

Really, it wasn't the
worst fate in the world, was it?  Okay, so she didn't get to
have lots and lots of hot sex with a bunch of different guys and
enjoy the beef buffet that Steele's pack had to offer.  But
truthfully, she wasn't as attracted to any of them as she was to
Steele, and from the way he acted, she was still going to get lots
and lots of hot sex.  And he was kind of like a beef buffet
all on his own.

It didn't hurt that,
around the time that everyone had been evacuating into the bunker
below the theater, she'd skipped acceptance and had backtracked to
denial, mumbling something to Bailey about how she didn't really
believe Steele was her mate.  Several of the females had
overheard her and that had immediately thrown them into a
starry-eyed tizzy.  One of them had even had the nerve to
flirt with Steele!  

Fortunately for his balls, Mr.
Luckily-Oblivious hadn't seemed to notice - or if he did, he hadn't
cared - and had barely given the woman a second glance.  But
that was all Bethany had needed to push her right into angry
acceptance.  She wasn't happy about it - not like the monster
inside of her - but she could live with it.  What she couldn't
live with was bitches fawning over her man, even if he didn't
notice.  It wasn't just the thing inside her clawing out her
insides with jealousy... she liked him.  She liked the way
he'd treated her last night, the way he'd ended up compromising
this morning, the way he hadn't been able to go out with his
soldiers even though he'd obviously wanted to (she didn't need him
to take care of her, but he didn't know that) so that he could keep
an eye on her, and the way he listened to what she said. 
She'd liked the way he'd crumbled under her sister's plea not to
put them into an enclosed space.  Even though it meant Bailey
was out in the open.  

There were worse fates than being
mated to him.  Still, she had some pent up resentment that she
hadn't gotten to choose him herself - and that she hadn't been able
to at least bang a couple of guys before settling down with one -
and she knew exactly who to blame. 

Dr. Montgomery.

He was the one who had
done this to her.  Who had taken all of her choices away from
her, even the one of whom she would mate, when he unlocked her
shifter genes.  And not even a natural shifter, but a
monstrous one.  And now he was coming to try and take her and
her sister back?  Yeah, fuck that.