Shifters Forever The Boxed Set Books 1 - 6 (36 page)

I
n camouflage
, his face completely marked up to hide his flesh, barely visible even to the fauna in the forest, Joe surveyed the men with the scope. He was high up in a tree, one of the many spots in the forest that he’d identified over the years, growing up here, making his way around with his grandfather.

He pulled the scope into a tighter focus. Four men. All the men who had been there. All dead. None remained alive to interrogate or to follow. Joe had killed them from about as far away as he used to shoot when he was in the military.

Haven’t lost the touch.

Killing wasn’t something he was proud of, but it was something he was good at. He knew they’d been up to no good. He’d watched them follow Sara’s tracks. Shooting them wasn’t a tough decision to make. He’d shoot damn near anyone to protect Sara and Ivan.

Finding them had been easy. He raised his eyes skyward, thankful for the gifts he’d received from his grandfather. The ability to read the forest and be in touch with its creatures was something he’d never taken for granted. It was also something he’d never appreciated as much as he did now.

Joe had studied the men. The way they’d carried themselves and the way their clothes were creased and tucked gave away a military training.

All of them had been armed with pistols. Clearly not your average hunters. They were hunters of men. Or in this case, a woman and a child.

Silly, he thought, for them not to have something more powerful. In her bear form, those pistols wouldn’t even be able to slow Sara down, not in the least.

Unless the pistols didn’t have rounds in them. Unless they had whatever it was that had made her unable to shift or move. He sneered, a look of disgust curling his lip and marking his handsome face.

Anyone who would do that to a woman was beneath contempt. Yes, he’d find them. All these men who came to his territory and tried to hurt the ones he loved.

A security team, surely sent from Crossroads.

He’d find out more about Crossroads and its location and those in charge of it later. Right now he’d take care of the issues at hand: the men in his territory.

There were more of these men. He hadn’t found a vehicle, not yet, but he would. He’d find the others and he’d take care of them. Then he’d return to his cabin and make Sara his. He’d take good care of her and Ivan, give them the lives they deserved.

He shouldered his rifle and climbed down the tree he’d been in, making his way down with the ease of one practiced in maneuvering in trees and forests.

Making his way through the densely treed forest with stealth, Joe kept his awareness heightened. He wasn’t sure if the others were hiding or tracking. He let nature show him the signs of their path in the form of broken twigs, displaced leaves and an occasional missed boot print. Police issue, it looked like.

Joe’s extra senses picked up a sound. Controlling his pulse, he leaned against a bush and made himself one with the forest while he waited for the source of the sound.

Half a dozen men marched by, more interested in their conversation while the head man tracked Sara. They were headed for his cabin. Not good.

“I’d like to find her before dark,” one of the men said.

“We will. These tracks aren’t old,” another said.

That completely summed it up for Joe. They were after Sara.

Would he take all of them on with a rifle? That wouldn’t do. His rifle was better from a distance. He only had one pair of tomahawks, and there were half a dozen men here.

These odds suck.

He wasn’t stupid. He’d wait. Biding his time had always been one of his strengths. He let the men get ahead of him. They wouldn’t be a problem to keep up with. He could intercept them and take them out one at a time before they arrived at his cabin.

“
I
don’t like this
,” Sara muttered. She wasn’t crazy about the idea of Joe wandering about in a forest that might have Crossroads goons in it.

She heard a noise, then felt heartbeats, and froze. Sara held her breath. She was prepared to kill and even be killed if it would put an end to the hunt. If it would keep her son safe. If it would keep Joe alive.

She shifted into her bear and stood in between two large pine trees. The wind teased the pine needles near her ear, but she didn’t let it interfere with her concentration. Low, rustling sounds came from the left: soft steps in the soil and an occasional leaf being crushed. Her bear’s intensity was riveted to whatever was approaching.

Sara poised, mighty bear arms raised, claws ready to deal lethal blows.

“It’s us.” Kane’s voice.

She shifted into her human form quickly. “What are you doing here?”

Kane, Teague, and Doc appeared from between the trees.

“You’re not serious.” Teague frowned. “You’re one of us.”

A burning in her eyes made her curse the response she had to his words. Damn Teague for saying the one thing that would make her emotional. She bit the tears back and the burn migrated to the bridge of her nose.

“Plus, Ivan needs his mama.” Teague smiled. She could see what Kelsey saw in this man, though no man had the same effect on her that Joe did.

Joe. Damn that hardheaded man. “We need to find Joe.”

“What are you worried about, Sara?” Doc frowned at her. “Who could be a threat to Joe out here? This is our forest. Our land, our territory. No shifter in his right mind would challenge that.”

“It’s not a shifter that worries me.”

“Then…?”

“Can we get to Joe first? I’d rather save the explaining for later.”

“Sure, but—”

The sound of a shot interrupted Kane.

Then another. And another.

Sara flinched with each shot.

Doc’s face grew serious.

“Shit,” Teague hissed.

“Fuck,” Kane added.

“Shift,” Doc said. “Now.”

All four of them shifted immediately, and began at a loping pace in the direction of the shots.

Sara found that she couldn’t breathe. She was too worried about Joe. She backed up and surrendered her body to her bear, if only for a moment or two while she tried to grab control of herself.

They found the first four bodies. Dead for a few minutes at least. Sara looked at them closely and pawed at one, turning him over so she could see his face. She knew that face from Crossroads.

These men had been dead a lot longer than the brief time since the shots rang out.

There were more.

Was Joe okay? How many more were there?

Doc growled for them to keep on the move. The four of them started to move quickly through the forest. Doc took lead, Kane was next, then Sara, while Teague brought up the rear.

A few moments later, they found another body. And another. Pistols were in their belts, blood still pouring out of their bodies.

They all shifted back to their human skin with the slightest creaking and crunching sounds.

As soon as he’d shifted, Kane put a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t know how to sync?” he asked.

“What?” Sara was confused.

“We were trying to sync with you and couldn’t. Have you never done that?”

“No. I don’t know if I can. No one ever taught me how, though.”

She’d have to find out more about that one day.
Wait. What the hell am I thinking? There won’t be that one day. Ever. I need to get away from here.

She heard a branch crack. Evidently they all did at the same time, for they all turned toward the area it came from.

A camouflaged, face-painted Joe came down from the tree, landing softly near them. “Guess it’s easier than I thought to hide from shifters.” He smiled, but Sara could tell his smile was strained.

“Had to kill them. Or they’d go back to Crossroads.”

“I’m not mourning.” Sara drank in his appearance. She had to contain her thoughts for fear the other three shifters would know what she felt for Joe.

“There are four more,” Joe added.

That had the opposite effect of an aphrodisiac on her. Sara’s blood ran cold.

“We’ll get them.” Kane began to shift.

“
H
ey
. No one invited you three—four—to my party.” Joe hitched the rifle over his shoulder.

He couldn’t take his eyes off Sara. Her dark hair was wild, like it had been when he first met her, first talked to her, that day, in her gloriously naked skin. Her face was flushed from running, she was panting, and he couldn’t help but remember the sex.

Damn if that didn’t work.

His cock twitched. Christ. Bad time to get a hard-on. This woman had some crazy kind of hold on him. He shook his head to clear it.

“Your party?” Her dark rose lips curled into a smile, but beneath the smile was a measure of melancholy. She was leaving him.

He wasn’t about to let that happen. Clearly she had no idea who she was dealing with.

“The last four are mine.”

“There are five of us,” Kane added. “Sucks to be them.”

Teague smacked him in the shoulder.

Sara’s smile vanished. “I think I deserve the pleasure, after everything I’ve been through.”

Knowing her story, Joe couldn’t argue with that, but what if she were hurt?

“I don’t want you hurt.”

“It’s my battle. I think I should be able to claim the pleasure of taking them out.”

“I’ll be right behind you,” Joe told her.

She nodded.

“We will too.” Doc shifted.

Kane and Teague shifted too.

Sara shifted into her bear and took off searching for the scent of the men. She could smell their fear. She could smell each one individually, and her bear recognized their scent. Their block must have worn off, because the first ones Joe had killed had had no scent.

Their scent was getting stronger. She was getting closer. Joe was behind her, moving almost completely silently through the undergrowth.

Behind him Kane, Teague, and Doc were taking no measures to hide their approach.

There. She saw one. He was the last one in the line. Then the others came into view. They were heading toward the cabin.

They were heading toward her son, her innocent little boy, and her two unprotected new friends.

She roared her anger and took off for the men, her vision focused on killing them. Her rage made everything appear in shades of red.

All four men turned on her, drawing pistols. Her bear laughed inside at the threat that pistols would pose.

They fired at her. Then she realized those weren’t bullets.

At the same moment, four darts sank into her flesh, stinging.

She snarled and pulled at them with her claws, dislodging them. But it was too late. Her vision started to blur, then close in, slowly, like a black kaleidoscope.

J
oe resisted
the urge to run to Sara. First he had to eliminate the danger. He took the two tomahawks from his belt. Like his grandfather had taught him, long ago, he took aim and released the first one. It landed soundly in the skull of the nearest thug and felled him immediately. He released the second one with equally deadly intensity and knocked the second one off his feet, at the same time killing him.

Behind him, Kane, Teague, and Doc roared and ran forward.

Roars and growls filled the air as the three shifters rushed the two remaining men while they were reloading their drug-carrying pistols.

Joe pulled his rifle and took aim at the man who was too close to need a scope for anyway. With an ear-deafening shot that was louder than the bears’ roars, the man fell, his shirt quickly blossoming with red.

The three shifters were on the last man before Joe could turn on him. They swung, digging claws into the thug, ripping his arm off. His scream was cut short as Kane bit down on his neck, severing his spine and arteries.

The man collapsed, dead, shredded, bloody.

S
ara’s world was groggy
. She wanted to rub her eyes but couldn’t. She opened them. She couldn’t shake her head. Was she back at Crossroads? Why couldn’t she move? What about Ivan?

“Where…” She couldn’t even get the words out fully to ask where she was.

Ivan. Where was he? What had happened to Ivan? She couldn’t breathe. She fought to get air into her lungs.

Her bear roared in her head. Sara couldn’t hear anything else because of her bear. She tried to ignore her, and finally her bear stopped.

“Sara.”

Joe’s voice? She couldn’t turn her head to see.

“Joe.” Her voice sounded like a frog’s croak.

“Sara. You’re with us. You’re fine. Ivan’s fine. He’s sleeping next to you. They shot you with drugs. They’re going to wear off. Doc said you’ll be fine within a few hours. All of the Crossroads team is dead.”

Sara’s vision became blurry. She knew it was tears. She felt Joe wiping them away from her cheeks. He leaned in, close, and his mouth alit on hers in the most tender, lightest of touches.

“You’re both safe.” He brushed her hair off her face.

Until the next Crossroads team decides to arrive.
Now, more than ever, she knew she had to get out of the area. She couldn’t endanger the shifters here. They’d be captured and taken to Crossroads.

She couldn’t keep her eyes open. She allowed them to close. She’d think of things later. Right now her head was too fuzzy.

S
ara sat up
. She recognized Joe’s home. The same room they’d… She shouldn’t think of that. Joe was sitting across from her in the chair. This was like déjà vu. “How long was I out?”

“Few hours.” He looked haggard.

She felt guilty for his strained and pale expression. “You look like hell.”

“Been through it before.” His face was stoic, not giving away any emotions. “Still going?”

He wasn’t wasting any time jumping to the subject on his mind, was he? “I have to.”

His jaw worked, the muscles clenching, the tendons stretching clear to his temples. “You can’t protect Ivan alone.”

“I can’t put you all in danger, and I don’t want anyone to have to fight my battles.”

“What’s yours is mine.”

“Nice in theory. I’m leaving in the morning.”

“So all I have is tonight.” Joe’s eyes were hooded, his emotions hidden.

She nodded and looked away, at the picture of him and his grandfather. At the intricate carving on the bedposts, at the knickknacks on the dresser. She looked at anything but him. Looking at him would destroy her resolve.

She threw her legs over the side of the bed and put her feet on the floor. Once she was certain she was able to stand on her feet without losing her balance, she made a slow, deliberate pace toward the bedroom door. “I need to see Ivan.”

“He’s in the front room, on the sofa. Kelsey’s watching him.”

Sara made her way to the living room, managing to gain lucidity with every step. Ivan was stretched out on the couch, a blanket over his legs. Kelsey was sitting next to his head, her fingers in his hair, her own head flung back as she catnapped while he slept.

She opened her eyes when the board Sara stepped on creaked.

“Sara. You’re awake.” Kelsey’s smile was sleepy. “He’ll be happy to see you.”

“We’ve never been apart as much as we have the last few…” Had it been days or hours? It was a blur for Sara. “It’s been difficult.”

“I can only imagine.” Kelsey rose. “Take my spot.”

Sara impulsively hugged her before she sat down. “Thank you for caring for my baby. You have no idea how much it means to me to know he was safe with you.”

“We love him. He’s such a darling.”

Sara held him and closed her eyes. She’d need the rest. She had a long journey to face.