Federal Paranormal Unit Bundle: Shape Shifter Paranormal Romance (29 page)

TWO

Tony had a bone to pick, and after ten years, he was finally going to pick it. That didn’t sound very good, but that’s what he was going to do. Heading up the interstate toward the address he pilfered, with permission, from Jane’s “file,” he buried the fear and anxiety that woke him that morning.

He didn’t understand why these emotions battered them, but he trusted his tiger’s preternatural ability to sense danger. He didn’t realize the emotions were for Jane until he got to the FPU office and found she was on vacation for the week.

The overwhelming need to protect her wouldn’t let him focus on anything else. Fucking hell. He already had a hard enough time not constantly thinking of having Jane in his bed, on her back, giving him a dazed and aroused look with her gorgeous red hair all over his pillows. Why did the image seem so real?

He didn’t get why he had such a strong attraction to her. It wasn’t like she was his mate. That strange phrase ran through his head, the same one he heard every time he pictured Jane as his:
Oh, and you’re certain Jane isn’t your mate.

It was as if someone told him that line instead of the thought being organic to him. His tiger didn’t understand it either. But the oddest part was he always flashed to the same visual: a second slice of pizza on the other bedside table in his bedroom. He never did figure out why it was there. He didn’t even remember ordering pizza. He must’ve had some weird reaction to the liquor that night before he left the bar. Shifters didn’t get drunk, but somehow drinking enough for a buzz was the least of the things he’d done to cope over the years.

For an entire decade, Jane had refused to go out with him, or do anything with him. Christ that was so damn aggravating. He wanted to be with her. To sit with her. He was like a fucking teenager wanting to sit and stare at her beautiful face. Group casework didn’t count as together time, as far as he was concerned. Her continued rejection of him, and Buchanan, became a running joke in the office. He used that as his cover for everything with her. And that’s what he planned to do again.

His excuse for driving hours was to get Jane to go on a date with him. No doubt she’d shoot him down, but by then, he’d be with her and could keep her safe. That would do him fine.
Do her
is what he really wanted, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with him. Damn, all this thinking about
doing
made him hard. Again. Thanks to Jane, he was pretty sure he was a top contender for Blue Balls, the series. He repositioned to be more comfortable. Not happening.

He let out a frustrated sigh. How had he managed all these years to keep his hands to himself with her always around, and not take her on the floor, or the desk, or the wall, the conference room…dammit, he was getting hard again. It was her fault for having such attention-grabbing green eyes and pouty lips that made him think of them wrapped around his dick. Another flash of her doing just that darted through his mind. It was surreal how much it felt like a memory instead of a daydream. She was so beautiful and smelled so good, when she let him get close enough to have a whiff. Which wasn’t often.

Not that he scented anything about her that indicated she wanted him with the burning need he wanted her. It was crazy to feel this way for a woman and not have the feelings returned. He wanted her near him always, wanted her to have a brood of children; but what happened if he met is true mate?

Buchanan and Erica were true mates. They were still on their honeymoon. He noticed how Brock looked at Cyn: pure lust, love, and possession. A sure sign of true mates. Plus, they went out of town together over the weekend. Brock didn’t go anywhere on the weekends. He didn’t even answer his phone. That said it all.

So where did that leave him? He wanted a family, children. A pack of cute little tigers to call his own. He wanted Jane but damn it all to hell, what if Jane wasn’t the one for him?
Oh, and you’re certain Jane isn’t your mate.

The first morning in the FPU office when he was introduced to everyone, as soon as he laid eyes on her, he knew there was something between them. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. His tiger wasn’t much help either. Her avid avoidance of him made him think she was naturally a cold fish. But his manly-man woman skills would have her on his rod in no time. Well, shit. Did it again. For his ball’s sake, he really needed to stop with the sex innuendos.  

But in the last year, those innuendos had kept him from busting out a fang in public when they worked together. Before Buchanan and Erica mated, he and Buchanan had a friendly competition to see who could be the manliest man. They talked of all the women they’d taken home, all the bedroom acrobatics they’d done, all the panties left under the bed. Erica and Jane, even Brock sometimes, would roll their eyes, or laugh, then whatever tension had built up would subside for a little while.

Tony didn’t know about Buchanan, but after he moved to start work with FPU, he nor his tiger hadn’t been interested in sleeping with any woman except Jane. If he did take a woman out, she always ended up at her own home by eleven o’clock, untouched. Not even a goodnight kiss. That was probably the reason he had few second dates, even if he wanted a second date, which he never did. He was tired of keeping up the image of a player he tried hard to maintain.

He signaled and pulled off the interstate to the back highways leading to his home town. When he googled the location of Jane’s getaway spot, he couldn’t believe how close it was to the place he’d grown up. What were the chances of that happening? Two people from the same Podunk area working for the same FBI unit. He wondered if she was a shifter also. She didn’t smell like any shifter he’d met.

His town seemed to have a large population of older paranormals. Actually, the whole region of the Blue Ridge Mountains had an overabundance. As the younger generations grew up and moved away, the towns seemed to be more run down, nature slowly reclaiming its home.

As he signaled and exited the interstate leading to the rural highways, a bolt of fear electrified his body. Then a debilitating pain shot through his head and he swerved across lanes, trying to focus his vision. The car came to a screeching stop at the base of the exit ramp. Sweat covered his face and rolled down his back. What the fuck was that about?

He rested a bit and thought about stopping to get a soft drink or coffee.

His phone rang through the SUV’s speakers, startling the shit of him. “Ramirez here.”

“Tony, this is Cyn. Brock is with me.”

“Hey, bosses.” His brows drew down. “You sound worried. What’s wrong?”

“How far out are you from Jane’s?” He heard the fear clear as day in Cyn’s voice.

“At least an hour with the curvy rural roads. Why?” He heard a sigh come across.

“I was talking to Jane on the phone a minute ago. She had just gotten to the cabin. She said something about a dead body on her kitchen floor. I heard a scream and her phone cut off. It goes straight to voicemail now. We can be there in two hours, soonest. We tried to get a chopper but it would take longer than driving.”

Dread-filled adrenaline raced through his body; his foot pushed the gas pedal. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

Twenty-five minutes later, with half the tire tread he began with, Tony tucked his gun into his holster after clearing the cabin. The kitchen looked like a battle zone, but there were no bodies. His heart froze and his stomach took a nosedive when he realized something else - there was no Jane.

THREE

Jane’s head was going to split, and not in dual mode, but stabbing pain. Her hand found a bump on the back of her head and she sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. That was the point of contact, all right. Motherfucker! Some asshole had really taken out his frustration on her head.

Realizing she was lying down, she slowly sat up and looked around. Very dark, pitch black actually, and smelled like a musty cave or cellar. Cool air tickled her arms. The ground felt like damp concrete that hadn’t ever been swept. She brushed her hands together to get debris off her palms.

Maybe there was a light switch somewhere. Getting to her feet, Jane skimmed one hand along the rough wall while the other stretched in front of her. Slowly shuffling, she came to a metal door. She tried the handle, just in case, then patted the wall on the opposite side. Switches were usually on the wall adjacent to the knob. Her fingers touched a switch and she flipped it up. Bingo!

A dangling forty-watt light bulb did little to increase visibility. The walls were cinder blocks and the ground concrete, as she thought. Turning in a slow circle, she took in the sparse room. In fact, there was nothing until she got all the way around. Curled up in the corner sat a little girl with pink hair. Oh, god.

Knees tucked under her chin, arms around her legs, this little one had to be the same child her mother mentioned was kidnapped.

She bit her lip and took a tentative step forward. “Hey there, kiddo.”

The girl’s eyes widened and she shrank farther into the corner.

Using the softest tone, she tried to reassure her. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. I’m stuck in here just like you.”

The girl began to shake. Screw slow. This child needed someone now. Jane rushed to her, arms outstretched. With a squeak, the child buried her head against the nook, little hands covering the back of her head. Her small body heaved from panicked breaths.

Instinctively, Jane put her hands on the pink curls. In a flash, her mind was in a room with expensive furniture and artwork. Men in black clothing, covered faces, were viciously tearing into a man and woman on the floor. The woman’s throat was ripped out. A red stain inched along the white carpet, growing bigger. The man’s torso was split open as if with a knife, his insides hanging out. One of the killers looked her straight in the eye.

Another flash and she was staring into the faces of growling, teeth-baring dogs. Their breath blew on her face. One snapped his jaw inches from her nose. Deep laughter came from beyond. Good god.

Another flash. Immense pain racked her body, making her cry out. Men she’d never seen beat on her with fists, then kicked when she fell to the floor. Over and over, despite her cries, until Jane forced her hands away from the pink hair. She leaned against the wall, shocked into a stupor. The horror this child lived through recently explained her cowering for her life. Jane couldn’t let the little girl suffer any longer.

She scooted closer and pulled the small body into her lap, fighting the weak resistance she offered.

“Shhhh, everything’s going to be all right.” She pressed the girl’s head to her chest, again resting her splayed hand on the girl’s skull. Her heart hurt for the child and maternal instincts she’d never felt before crashed into her. “Here’s what we’re gonna do. All the memories of your parents’ killing, you’re going to put into a box in your mind. Can you do that for me? Make a strong box made from steel that can hold even an
ula
beast. You’ve seen a picture of one of those, haven’t you?”

The girl gave a slight nod and Jane’s eyes filled with tears for her.

“The only thing you’re going to remember about your parents’ death is that they were killed by the men who took you. None of the scary stuff will ever get out of the box, not even in dreams.” Jane’s mind traveled the girl’s brain wiring, searching for the specific neurons to turn off. The tiny body in her lap stopped shaking, but remained tensed.

“Now, we’re going to do the same with the scary memories of the dogs. There’s no need for any of those thoughts. Shove them all in the box. And when those men hurt you, put those in the box, but you will remember their faces as bad men. You will feel only a little fear when you think of them. You’ll know to run away if they come after you.”

After guiding the child to hide those boxes in a closet deep in her mind, Jane deactivated the last thought. The girl slumped into her arms. Terror no longer etched into her face. Jane heaved a sigh of relief and rocked side to side to comfort them both. Her mind rushed back to thoughts of Ramirez. Now was not the time. But her brain yelled at her that if he were there with her, he would help her in this situation. Maybe she should stop pushing him away.

When her adrenaline and fear settled, she asked the girl, “What’s your name, little one?” The child didn’t answer. Jane looked down at her face tucked against her. “Don’t you want to tell me or are you not talking at all?” She remembered a case several years ago where a child was traumatized to the point he didn’t speak for days.

“Okay then, how about I call you Sariana. That’s a pretty name, isn’t it?” She felt a slight head bob from the child. “Do you know where you are?” No movement. Being so young, the child had probably never been outside the district on the home planet. “What a great surprise for you! We’re in the Earth district. It looks really different, but not far from home. We’ll have you back in no time, okay?” A tug on her shirt indicated the girl understood. She hoped.

Jane had to push down the urge to kill someone for not only traumatizing the little girl, but for hurting her. Anyone who put their hands on a child in such a manner deserved to be torn into pieces. Jane lifted the girl from her lap and set her on the floor. “Now, let’s see about getting out of here.” She stood, dusting off her hands on her jeans. Male voices floated through the wall, getting louder. Jane turned to the girl. “Keep quiet, okay?” Then she hurried toward the door, switched the light off, and stood with her back against the wall behind the door.

Metal on metal screeched like nails down a chalkboard, then the door slowly opened and a light came on. She took a breath to calm her nerves. The first thing Jane saw was a hand holding a gun sliding from the other side of the door.

With one kick, the gun was out of his hand, then she delivered a one-two punch to his face, sending him careening into the wall. One down. She turned to the other man holding bottled waters and a few snack type foods. Her foot quickly found his crotch. He doubled over, dropping everything in his hold. The first man growled and came after her. A simple side kick to his middle sent him back into the wall.

Her attention whipped back to the second guy. Surprisingly, he threw a well-planned punch, but she still dodged it. She’d learned from the best in the galaxy. Did he really think he could surprise her with a jab to the face? Hand-to-hand combat ensued. Slaps, hits, grunts. She was glad she’d had so much training. Not just on her planet, but with the others from the FPU, although the training on Earth was nowhere near as tough as the one on her planet. From the corner of her eye, she saw the other guy reach for his gun. With only her against two, the battle would be short lived.

When the guy stretched to pick up the weapon, it slid away, just out of his reach. He stared at it a second then stepped forward and reached down. Again, the gun slid away. His face shaded red from frustration and anger. “What the fuck?” This time he lunged forward. The gun slid between his feet to stop by the door. She lifted her lips in a grin. Idiot. But she wondered how the gun moved on its own. Something to worry about later.

With Jane’s man down for the count, she turned to the other guy focused on the weapon. A roundhouse kick put him down with his friend. A rectangular object fell from the man’s pocket. Jane scooped up his badge ID. That would probably come in handy. Jane snatched up the pistol and glanced toward Sariana and gave a weak smile, “Let’s go,” then headed out the door into the narrow hall.

She dragged her back against the wall to the corner then peeked around to see clear passageways. She reached behind for Sariana, but felt nobody. She glanced over her shoulder. Sariana stood examining the locking mechanism on the doorframe and badge reader device next to the door. “Sariana, what are you doing? Shut the door and come on.”

The child did as she was told and they rushed down the hall. Jane had no idea where they were, so one direction was just as good as the other. Too bad she couldn’t see through walls. That would so come in handy right about now. They passed several closed doors with badge reader access only. High security place. Interesting. After slipping past a door labeled “Armory,” she stopped. She slid the plastic holder over the scan pad to the door’s side. A beep made her look at the small display:
Access denied
. She tried again.
Access denied
.
Damn.

Sariana grabbed the door lever. Jane heard a grinding then a quiet
schnick
. Sariana turned the lever and the door opened. Jane looked at the locking mechanism, then at the girl, then back to the lock. “Did you do that?” The child just shrugged and stepped into the room. This child was special, something her mom forgot to mention.

Jane stepped in behind the girl. She thought the FBI had a cache of ammunition. This was enough for an army. “What the hell?” Metal shelf after shelf held automatic rifles, grenade launchers, ammo containers…and then she saw something that turned her blood cold. Weapons and technology from her home planet. Each piece looked shiny and new.

Supposedly, her planet destroyed all weapons years ago to cut back on deaths. With only hand-to-hand combat, with an occasional knife-like instrument, the homicide rate dropped drastically to almost nothing.

Apparently, someone from her planet lied, or weapons were being made here. Earth’s technology wasn’t advanced enough to create these weapons. Nowhere near advanced. What the hell was going on?

Into her pocket, she shoved the gold pencil-like thing--an exdiv, her planet’s version of a grenade, three times as explosive--grabbed Sariana’s hand, and headed for the hall. She was getting the fuck out of there. One way or another. And she’d get Sariana to safety.

More and more doors, each with a badge reader. They turned a corner to see a bank of elevators. Her hand slammed on the down button, then she noticed the number three between the elevators. The girl looked up at her, dusty rose eyes tearing. Jane went to one knee and laid her hands on the little girl’s shoulders.

“Everything will be all right. I promise.” She met the girl’s scared gaze with her own, which she hoped was calm and conveyed reassurance. “Hopefully this elevator will take us to the first floor where we can get out. Okay? There’s no need for tears, baby girl.” Jane grinned for the child. “Stick with me, kid, and we’ll go places.” The girl continued to stare at her. Jane realized the child had no idea what she referred to. She was probably confusing her more than anything.

With tears held back, the small body stepped toward her and wrapped her thin arms around her neck. Jane stiffened with surprise. Since coming to Earth, she’d had very little physical contact: no hugs, no pats on the back, no dancing. Except for the occasional handshake, Jane had forgotten how good it felt to be hugged. Her arms and heart melted around the slight form clinging to her for life. Her maternal hormones raged to life. Sariana was in such trouble. This little girl was already taking over her heart.

The sound of a door opening in one of the hallways and voices reached them. Jane snapped to her feet, child embraced, and hurried around the corner to the other long hallway. She set down the girl and flattened against the wall. The voices stopped at the elevators.

“That’s odd,” said a man’s voice.

“What?” asked a female.

“The down button is lit up and no one’s here. And we’re not allowed on the fourth floor. No one is, that I know of.”

“So? Just push the up button. I’m ready to get the hell out of here. We’re leaving for the home planet tonight. Finally. I hate this place. I hate what we’re doing. As a mother, it kills me every time one of the experiments goes wrong. These are still lives we’re dealing with.”

“Relax.” The man tried to sound reassuring. “It’s been rough on me, too, but we’re just starting. Give the process some time to kick in. If these creatures are successful, then we will be able to bring peace to our planet.”

“At what price?” the female debated. “We’re at peace. Who says they’re going to attack? They haven’t yet.”

“The longer we wait, the stronger chance they will.” The sound of doors swishing open was followed by the fading voices. After a few pounding heartbeats, Jane came back to the doors and pushed the up button. That meant she and Sariana were underground. What kind of place this huge would be hidden? The human government? Conspiracies about this kind of thing peppered the Internet.

But those workers weren’t human.

The doors opened and Jane prayed this wasn’t a bad decision. They hurried inside and stared at the button panel. Her finger pushed the
one
button. Now she wasn’t so sure this was a good idea. Sariana slid her hand into Jane’s. Beautiful, haunted eyes looked up at her. Jane melted again. Great time for her biological clock to make itself known. Her hormones wanted to hurt whomever hurt the child and at the same time, keep her for herself.