Silver Bullet Bear (Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Agency Book 3) (14 page)

The shifter mercenary screamed as the force of the blow sent him through it and into a three-story plunge below.

Josh turned and darted up the stairs, but he paused at the next floor when he heard a sound from outside that didn’t sound like a body hitting concrete. He glanced outside and then cursed under his breath as he raced up the rest of the stairs.

The pool
would
be right there.

With an angry scowl he burst into their room. The sudden violent moment flung Hannah from the bed as she dropped into a crouch, prepared to defend herself. He raised an eyebrow at both the reaction speed and her nakedness.

He hadn’t even opened his mouth before she began to hurriedly pull on clothing.

“I’ve lived a life on the run,” she said. “I know what that entrance and what that look means. Now watch the door until I’m ready.”

“I’ll get Chad. I’ll shout if I see anyone,” he said, spinning and going to the room next door, where he hammered repeatedly on the door.

There was no answer, so he pulled back and drove his shoulder into it, splintering the frame as the door gave way under his blow.

Chad wasn’t there.

“He’s not here!” he shouted.

“I’ll call him,” Hannah said as she came from the room, cell phone already in hand.

“Elevator,” he said.

Hannah looked at him like he was crazy.

“We go up a floor,” he explained. “They won’t be on it going up, and they’ll still be searching for us here.”

She shrugged and followed him to the far stairwell where they went up a floor and punched the button to summon the elevator.

“This seems insane,” she remarked as soothing jazz music played softly from the speaker above their head.

“Which is why it’s going to work,” he said.

“He’s not picking up,” Hannah snapped, shoving her phone back into her pocket after sending him a text message.

The door opened to reveal an empty car.

Josh smiled and waved her inside. “Ladies first,” he said with an over-the-top formality to it.

Hannah smiled and walked in, using the two steps to let her hips sway wildly.

“You minx,” he purred as they pushed the button for the first floor parking garage together.

Hannah just held his hand in response, her fingers entwined in his.

***

It only took seconds, but the elevator ride was a moment that would last an eternity in his memory. A pool of calm surrounded by the chaos. An unknown hit team of mercenary shifters were after Hannah, most likely because of what she was, though nobody seemed to know for sure. Still, that time of serenity was some of the happiest he had been in a long, long time.

Certainly he had never felt giddier holding a girl’s hand than he did with Hannah’s.

The doors dinged open to reveal an empty parking lot, increasing his hopes that they would make a clean escape.

“This way,” he said, tugging her hand in the direction his truck was parked. He took off at a low run, trying to stay hidden behind the cars if at all possible.

The pair weaved their way around vehicles and concrete support poles, but at one point Josh came to an abrupt halt. His ears were tingling. Pausing, he listened carefully, then saw the same look cross Hannah’s face.

There were people up ahead. He was tempted to look over or around the car they were hiding behind to see if he could see them, but knew that might make too much motion. Hannah was ahead of him though, and she slid under the nearest car and slowly inched her way to the front. She stopped for a moment, then shuffled backward and rolled out from under it. Taking a moment to brush dirt from her hands and knees, she looked at him and shook her head.

She held up two fingers, then pointed at both of them and pantomimed shifting and animals.

He nodded, then pointed at him, and raised his hands as if to ask “Do they look like bear shifters?”

Hannah nodded.

So, at least two more bear shifters, unless these just so happened to be the ones who he had encountered earlier. It seemed unlikely, since to his knowledge most of the shifter merc teams out there operated in squads of five. He needed more firepower.

Josh pulled his phone out and sent a text, shoving it away after he ensured the volume was off. The last thing he wanted was to be given away by something as stupid as a ringtone.

He tapped Hannah on the shoulder, and pointed up at the exit sign that hung almost right above them. She nodded and he turned and headed back into the cars.

Where he kicked a piece of metal that went flying across the floor before bouncing off a concrete pillar and into the air and hitting the side of a car, making a metallic
clunk.

“What was that?” a voice from near his truck said, and seconds later footsteps pounded their way.

“Run!” he shouted, pushing Hannah in front of him as they made a mad dash for the ramp that led up to the street level.

More shouts and cries came from behind them as their pursuit followed them. Soles slammed against the concrete as they raced out into daylight and through the traffic of the street, dodging moving cars in their attempt to get away.

A quick glance over his shoulder showed him that their friends had picked up a third, the man he had tossed in the pool earlier. Revenge burned in his eyes, spurring Josh to move even faster. He didn’t like their chances in a straight-up fistfight, and they couldn’t just go shifting in the middle of public. Although shifters were a known commodity, that sort of thing still brought about unwanted attention, and wasn’t overly accepted.

“Where are we going?” Hannah puffed as they darted along the sidewalk, weaving in and around the pedestrians out doing their normal business.

“City Center Park,” he replied. “Forty acres, downtown. We can either lose them, or deal with them,” he told her, his blood flowing swifter at the feral look that crossed her face.

Fuck she’s so sexy. I may have outdone myself here.

Their pursuers picked up the pace, as if they realized where the pair were headed. Josh and Hannah had built up enough of a lead that they were able to duck into the park and through a copse of trees ahead of them.

“Now!” Josh cried and opened himself up to his bear.

The beast came roaring forth as it split his skin, emerging with an earth-shaking landing as he leaned forward, four massive paws digging huge furrows in the ground as he spun to face the entrance.

Beside him, Hannah had thrown herself into the air, the transformation taking place as she flew. She landed next to him, darting wide, ready to hit them in the flank.

The pair didn’t have to wait long before the first mercenary came barreling through. Josh hadn’t expected him to shift, but the bear that emerged had its teeth showing and came at him like a freight truck. Josh charged to meet it. He needed to figure out if these men had been taught to fight like a human while in bear form, or if they relied on brute strength.

The ground trembled as the two titans collided, rising up on their rear legs to battle each other.

Josh grinned internally as his foe just tried to swing his paws.

Amateur.

Between that and the way he had emerged before his friends, it doomed the bear. Hannah dove at him from behind and her abnormally powerful jaws ripped at his hind leg, going for the Achilles tendon. While a normal wolf would have no business fighting a bear, werewolves were anything but normal. Hannah’s animal had to be four feet high at the shoulder and easily more than six feet long. Her jaws snapped closed tightly and the bear roared in agony.

Josh slashed open his opponent’s belly as he tried to turn to deal with Hannah, and then a giant paw slapped into the merc’s head, dropping him.

There was no time to finish him however, as the other pair emerged from the trees in flanking maneuvers, moving wide to try and separate them.

Without thinking, Josh and Hannah turned and went after the nearest bear, charging at it. The third shifter roared and came after them, but it would take him precious seconds to catch them.

In that time, the pair opened half a dozen wounds on the shifter, working in tandem together. Blood dripped from his claws as they moved past the mercenary and into the open before his friend could arrive.

They continued the dance across the open field as pedestrians scattered from the battle. The third shifter tried once to get back into the battle, but Josh broke his front arm and then Hannah found the same rear leg, this time ripping his Achilles in half. With one down, they worked to isolate one of the remaining two.

Josh roared with anger as the enemy shifter landed a solid blow into Hannah’s flank, sending her tumbling. The werewolf woman was hard to put down, and even as Josh charged into a brawl with both of them, she kept them distracted enough for him to use his skills to overwhelm them. Using his bear’s body as a finely-tuned machine of destruction was not something many shifters trained for. They often relied on numbers or brute strength. Josh’s blows were exacting and precise, aiming for the most pain or where blood flowed profusely.

He took hits in return, and was pretty sure one of them had broken something inside him, but eventually the attackers broke and ran in the direction of the hotel.

Hannah nudged him as he stood looking after them, motioning behind them to the big forest that occupied the middle of the park. He nodded and they ran off. Hannah was limping, but she didn’t let it slow her down.

They lost themselves in the forest, taking a dip in a pond to cleanse themselves of blood before shifting back.

“Wow,” he said as they sat back against a tree, taking a moment to recover.

“Yeah,” she panted, her chest heaving from the exertion of the run and then the fighting.

Josh always marveled at what he called “fight time.” The entire thing had taken maybe a minute or three, but to him it had felt like an hour. His muscles screamed for oxygen even now, driven to their breaking point by his desperate actions.

“Remind me to take those guys on with backup next time, okay?” he said with a laugh.

Hannah smiled, rolled over to him, and kissed him full on the lips. “Let’s go my ferocious protector, before they come back with friends. The others can’t be far behind.”

Exhausted, he nodded but forced himself to his feet. He realized the phone in his pocket was vibrating and pulled it out.

“It’s Jared,” he said, answering it as they began to move on.

“Josh, where are you?”

“City Center Park,” he breathed. “West side along Empress street. Hurry up.”

“Connor is near your position. Get to the road and wait for him.”

The line went dead. If either side had needed to say more, they would have.

“Come on,” he said, taking her hand once more. “Our ride is this way.”

The pair took off together.

Hannah

Despite the frantic morning, Hannah found herself in a happy mood as Josh pointed to a truck pulling up to the side of the road. She climbed into the front seat at his insistence, saying hi to Connor. She had met him briefly, but didn’t know him well.

The big shifter sniffed at the air and frowned. “You smell like wet dog.”

Hannah sat bolt upright and stared at Josh in horror. He was giving her the same look back.

They had forgotten about the fact that nobody else knew she was a werewolf!

“You can smell that?” she asked in dismay, trying to pretend like she knew about it.

Connor nodded as he eased them back into traffic. “Yes, it’s not exactly…subtle.”

She laughed, embarrassed. “We jumped in a pond, and there was a dog there. I love dogs,” she said, fabricating the lie as she went. “I gave him a hug. I thought it had dried off by now. Josh hadn’t said anything about it,” she said, turning a glare at him.

He shrugged. “Not my place, ma’am,” he told her formally, dropping back into the bodyguard role with ease.

Hannah frowned internally, but a quick wink reassured her that he was only acting.

Connor looked back and forth between the two of them, as if he didn’t buy what they were selling, but in the end he and Josh shared a look, which was enough to silence him.

“What do we do now?” Connor asked, moving on from the subject. Hannah sensed he wasn’t done with it, but was willing to leave it for now.

“My brother is still out there,” she said, checking her own phone, but there was still nothing from him. “I think they may have gotten to him. It’s not like him to take this long to get back to me.” She frowned.

“Let’s go take a lap of the hotel,” Josh suggested.

Hannah sat back, her phone held tight in her hand so she could feel if it went off to notify her of anything. Something was going on, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“The others are behind us now,” Josh told her, giving her a pat on the shoulder as he pointed in the sideview mirror from the back seat.

She longed to reach out and grab his hand, to hold it, to nuzzle it against her cheek. But she couldn’t. She just smiled at him instead and looked behind them to see two more trucks and a bike following them, almost in a convoy.

“Why are you all in separate vehicles?” she asked.

“Didn’t know where you were,” Connor explained. “Easier to split up just in case you need a ride ASAP. Turns out you did.”

She nodded, sitting back in the seat as they approached the hotel. It was on the corner, a big building that followed the road. The building was shaped like an L, with the back corner open for the pool, patio, and other outdoor areas, which were hidden from the street.

What was in plain sight, however, was a black van.

“That doesn’t look very pedestrian,” Josh muttered under his breath.

Hannah was forced to agree. “That looks rather…military.”

The big shifter grunted an agreement. “I’m almost surprised it only has two axles. A third would fit on there just fine.”

“The street-legal versions aren’t allowed to have them,” Connor said quietly. “Only the military versions have three axels. But otherwise, it’s going to be mostly the same. Bulletproof armor and glass, reinforced everything. Those things do not play around. What the fuck is going on, Josh?”

Hannah looked at the driver.

“There’s a group of mercs after her,” he said. “Shifters too, and good ones.”

“You didn’t tell us that before,” Connor said tightlipped, pulling the truck to the side of the road. It was marked as a no-parking zone, but they didn’t expect to be long. The other vehicles followed suit.

“I didn’t know that they were either of those things myself,” Josh said. “But I found out the hard way.”

Hannah was distracted by what she saw at the door.

“Chad!” she cried, hand going for the door handle.

“Hannah wait!” Josh cried, his arms snaking around from behind the seat and holding her in place.

“But they have him!” she protested. “We need to go help. Come on! With all of you, we can easily take them on. They won’t know what hit them. Please?” she said, struggling to break free, but the big shifter was just too strong for her. Plus she didn’t dare use her strength just yet. Surprising the other members of Josh’s team like that would not be a good way to earn their respect.

“Hannah,
look
,” Josh urged.

“What?” she said.

“He’s not being taken against his will, Hannah,” Connor said softly.

She looked again as her brother walked toward the vehicle. A pair of mercenaries walked on either side of him, the sun’s light making it easy for everyone to see exactly what was going on.

“They’re wearing police-like uniforms. Maybe he’s been tricked into thinking they are the authorities?” she said angrily. What were they trying to say?

“Unlikely,” Josh said. “Your brother avoided the police the other night just like we did, remember?”

The hidden meaning in his words was clear. Chad knew better than to let himself be apprehended by the police in King City. With the Agency on the loose and government at various levels in almost outright collusion with them, a shifter—
especially
a werewolf shifter—would be very wise to avoid being taken in by the “authorities.”

Or at least, she hoped Chad knew better.

“And even if he was being taken against his will, he doesn’t look beat up at all. His clothes aren’t disheveled, ripped, nothing. Your brother doesn’t seem like the type to go down without a fight,” Connor told her.

Hannah looked at them all, then back at the scene of her brother and his captors. She was sure they were captors. But as much as she wanted to deny what the others were saying, it did make a lot of sense. Besides, where had her brother been while she and Josh were fighting for their lives to escape? He hadn’t been in his room, and he hadn’t responded to any messages either.

“What if they got him first, and are now pretending that they have me, to make him go along peacefully?”

The bear shifters exchanged a look that didn’t go unnoticed by her. It said, “Maybe, but we don’t think so.”

“Shit,” she swore, still not convinced, but not able to deny it either. “What do we do now?” she asked, sitting back in her chair, making it clear that she wasn’t going to try anything foolhardy, such as charging out at them all alone.

“We’re going to follow them, of course,” Josh said, nodding to Connor who spoke quietly into his phone, before hooking it to the dash.

Hannah frowned. “Okay, so why aren’t we moving then? In case you missed it, they just pulled away.”

Josh rubbed her shoulder gently. Her right shoulder, the one Connor couldn’t see. She smiled to herself at that, and resisted the urge to reach her hand up to make contact with him.

We really need to put this out in the open. I can’t see the others missing it either. They’re all very smart.

Connor started speaking, interrupting her thoughts. “It would be dangerous for all of our vehicles to follow them at once. So we’ll take it in turns. Right now, Justin is on his bike, staying close to them.”

Hannah looked behind them and saw that he was right. At some point the motorcycle that had been parked at the rear of their little convoy had disappeared. Even as she watched, the last truck in line eased out into traffic as well, and in seconds was swept away. Another minute went by, and then the third truck.

Finally it was their turn, and Connor moved smoothly back into the flow of vehicles, listening to a voice through the phone. He nodded, then put it on speaker and set it in the dash. Justin was speaking, updating them on street movements. They followed him, until he switched out and Jared began to follow them.

“Wait,” Hannah said softly, turning to look at Josh. “There are four of you on your team, right?”

He looked at her. “Well, it’s Jared’s team actually,” he looked sheepish.

Hannah smiled. “I know that, but there are four, correct?”

Josh nodded. “Correct. Why?”

She did some quick mental math. “So, two of you are here. Justin is on a bike, and Jared is in one of the trucks. So who is in the other—”

A woman’s voice came over the radio. “Okay, I’ve got them now. We’re headed north on Duke Street.”

“That would be Shay and Madison,” Connor told her.

“Right.” She sat back in her seat, contemplative.

Hannah had met both of them, and had known Shay to be a driver of considerable skill. But she hadn’t actually believed that they were allowed out on missions. Yes, Madison was the boss, but that was still a change that she had not expected.

They let their women go into harm’s way.

No, that wasn’t right at all, Hannah realized as she continued to think about it. It was highly unlikely that Connor and Justin willingly let them go, no matter how competent they knew the pair of them to be. It was far more likely that they respected the fact that if they tried to say no, they would lose. Smart men.

She idly wondered if Josh would continue to allow her to be an active part of things if she stuck around. They had fought together in the park, and fought together
well
, but that had been out of necessity, not by choice.

The idea continued to flit around her head, growing steam as it did. For years now Hannah had accompanied her brother as he made his speeches and tried to raise awareness for the plight of shifters in the world at large. She had thought she was doing her part to help, to right the wrongs that were being committed. But perhaps she needed to be more hands-on. The idea of digging in and
doing
something felt…right.

I wonder…