Figure of Speech (Halle Shifters) (15 page)

Man, it was a
great
day.

He stepped outside into the sweltering heat of the parking lot, almost gasping at the sensation of stepping into a broiling oven. He was glad Chloe and Spence had chosen to remain home today rather than try and do the grocery shopping. While both were doing better healthwise, he’d worry far too much about them in the heat without being there himself.

A shadow moved up behind him, and he sniffed, automatically scenting the air.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he smelled the unfamiliar shifter.

When the shadow lifted what looked to be some sort of stick or bat into the air, Jim moved into action. He spun, his elbow tucked into his side to protect his ribs, his other hand raised to try and catch the arm of the shifter.

The shock on the shifter’s face didn’t stop him from taking a swing at Jim. Jim stepped in close, managing to grab hold of the shifter’s arm at the biceps and elbow, blocking the baton from hitting him. He grunted a bit as he took a hit to his abdomen, but now that he had the man’s arm locked, he pivoted, using his attacker’s momentum to put the shifter on the ground. He kept hold of his attacker’s wrist and twisted, managing to grab hold of the baton as his attacker moved under him.

The shifter was surprisingly fast, jumping to his feet with a canine growl. Without missing a beat, he threw a punch at Jim.

Jim expected something like that as soon as the shifter got up. He parried the punch, then moved his free hand up to grab his assailant’s wrist. He then used his elbow to drive his opponent back, staggering him. As he stood back up, Jim got his first good look at the guy.

He was easily three to four inches taller than Jim, with massive shoulders, huge biceps and a thick jaw. The man was a tank with legs, and he was staring at Jim with sheer determination.

“Let me guess.” Jim kept his voice low, his stance easy. He watched his opponent’s eyes and body language, aware the guy was going to attack again. “Someone from the Senate sent you.”

“You’re rogue, and need to be brought in.”

Jim shook his head. “Use your senses. What do they tell you, Hunter?”

The man grinned viciously. “I’m not a Hunter.”

What?

Before Jim could process that, the man barreled toward him, looking to take Jim to the ground. If that happened, Jim would be damn near helpless against the larger man’s body mass.

Instead of dodging, Jim took a step forward and did an overhand punch to the man’s jaw, knocking the shifter sideways and disrupting his momentum. Jim pivoted and jabbed the shifter’s stomach, then quickly followed it up with a roundhouse kick to the guy’s groin.

The shifter somehow shook the jewel shot off and swung, but Jim was turning out to be faster than his opponent. He barely dodged out of the way, the man’s beefy knuckles clipping his jaw.

Chloe was going to be pissed if he came home bruised.

“Thought I’d be easier to take down, you son of a bitch?” Jim smiled grimly. “Should have done more homework on your target, dick breath.”

The shifter rubbed his jaw, not rising to the bait of Jim’s insult. “I guess so.” The shifter glanced behind Jim. “Looks like we’re gathering an audience.”

“Maybe you should give up, then. I’m sure James Barnwell will go easy on you.”

The man grimaced at the sound of Barney’s name. “Why the hell is he in town?”

“Ask him.”

Instead of responding, the shifter threw a punch that nearly knocked Jim on his ass. He barely managed to block it, but his training kicked in, and he reverse punched the asshole right in the solar plexus. He then jabbed his palm toward his opponent’s eye, forcing the shifter’s head back.

It was time to take this asshole down.

He allowed his Wolf senses to come to the fore, his vision changing, losing the red-green spectrum. His sense of hearing became sharper, his nose twitching as he smelled his opponent’s rising frustration.

That was good. If the other shifter was becoming sloppy Jim would be able to use that to his advantage. Jim went after his opponent, cursing to himself when the guy dipped and Jim’s attack missed by barely an inch. The follow-up punch rocked Jim’s head back, causing him to see stars. He barely had time to block the next attack.

It was a reminder not to get cocky or the other shifter would win.

The sound of sirens had his attacker backing off, his attention split between Jim and the street. “This isn’t over.”

“Not by a long shot,” Jim answered. He stared as the shifter ran off, sliding into the copse of trees just behind the clinic.

Two police cars pulled up as Jim tried to pull his Wolf back. He needed his eyes to return to normal before he gave his report to the cops. Neither of the cops who got out of their cars were shifters, but Jim had seen them both around town. “Hey, Doc. Everything okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I think the guy wanted to rob me and I put up more of a fight than he expected.” He couldn’t exactly tell the two that he was a target of a shifter.

One of the cops loped into the woods after Jim’s attacker. While he wanted to call the officer back, he couldn’t, not without raising some suspicions he couldn’t answer. So he prayed the shifter had gotten far enough away that the cop wouldn’t find him.

“Any idea who it might have been?”

Jim was able to answer that one honestly, at least. “Never seen him before in my life.”

“Anyone have a grudge against you?”

Jim shrugged. “Not that I’m aware of. It’s not like snipping Rover’s balls off is going to make me an enemy for life, right?”

The cop laughed. “I’d ask Rover about that if I were you.”

Jim grinned, the adrenaline rush beginning to wear off. His hands were beginning to shake, and he was getting nauseous. If he hadn’t seen the shifter’s shadow, he was pretty sure he’d be, if not dead, then at least kidnapped. “I’m pretty sure Rover is pissed as hell. Want to question him?”

“I think I’ll pass, Doc.”

The other cop jogged up, panting. “He’s gone.”

Jim sighed in relief.

“Come down to the station and let’s get a report, Doc.” The cop patted him on the shoulder. “You’ve got one hell of a bruise coming up on your chin.”

“Great.” Neither Spencer nor Chloe was going to allow him out of the house by himself ever again.

Chapter Fifteen

When Jim walked in the door three hours late Chloe was ready to jump out of her skin. What the hell had happened to keep him from…?

“Jim?” She limped to his side, sore from unpacking. His face was bruised and he was clutching his stomach. “What happened?”

“We need to call Barney, Ryan and Gabe.” He put his bag down with a pained grunt, greeting George with a few pats. “Seems we have a new player in the game.”

She bit her lip as Jim walked past her. He was hurt, and there was little she could do about it. Unlike her brother or her cousin, she couldn’t heal his wounds or ease his pain.

But she could dial the damn phone. She plucked her cell from her pocket and dialed Ryan first.

“Road Kill Café, you kill ’em, we grill ’em. Chef Billy Beau Bubba speaking.”

She didn’t even blink at her brother’s weirdness. “Ryan, someone attacked Jim.”

“Where is he?” All of the humor had left Ryan’s voice. He was all Hunter now.

There was a pause as Ryan spoke softly to someone else, probably his mate. “I’m on my way. Bunny’s coming too.”

She sighed in relief. “Can you get hold of Gabe and Barney? Jim wants them here as well.”

“Will do.” He hung up, and Chloe turned to follow her mate.

She found him in the living room, talking to a worried Spencer. Poor Spencer looked bad, his face pale and his hands shaking. “So he just swung at you?”

“Yeah.” Jim sat on the sofa with a wince. “I saw his shadow, so I was able to block the blow, but he got a few good ones in before the cops arrived.”

Chloe ran to the kitchen and bagged some ice, wrapping it in a dish towel. She took it back to the living room and handed it to Jim to put on his jaw. “Did he say why he attacked?”

Jim nodded. “He called me a rogue, but he also told me he’s not a Hunter.”

“I don’t understand.” Why would a non-Hunter be after rogues? That didn’t make any sense. Of course, the fact that Jim wasn’t rogue, but was still being hunted as one, also didn’t make much sense.

“Maybe Barney can shed a little light on it, but it sounded to me like the Senate sent this guy out to bring me back to them.” Jim grabbed hold of her arm as she swayed, forcing her to sit in his lap. “Careful, Chloe. I won’t let them take me anywhere, I swear.”

Spencer, his expression grim, wheeled away without a word.

“Shit.” Jim watched his brother leave but continued to stroke Chloe’s arm. “He’s lost so much. If he loses me too I don’t know what will happen to him.”

“Shh.” She kissed Jim softly. “Neither of us will lose you.”

He glanced at her, startled, his expression softening. She must look as scared as she felt, because suddenly he was hugging her so tight she could barely breathe. “Of course not.”

She whimpered, aware the sound was far more canine than human. Her vision shifted, the warm tones of Jim’s home cooling. She could almost feel her furry tail tucking between her legs and her ears lying flat against her head. She burrowed against her mate, sticking her nose in the crook of his neck. Not even his scent could calm her.

Her Fox was terrified that Jim would be taken from them.

“Do you need to change?” Jim’s question was barely a whisper, as if he was afraid that if he spoke any louder she’d spook.

She nodded. Maybe if she let her Fox out she’d be calmer. The knowledge that she could more easily protect her mate and their den in her Fox form had her yipping.

“All right.” Jim helped her stand. “Spence? Stay in the other room until I call for you, all right?”

“Okay, but if you’re getting funky in there I want that sofa shampooed before I sit on it again.”

Chloe, against all odds, giggled.

Within moments she was naked, the heat in Jim’s gaze almost making her change her mind. What was a little sofa cleaning compared to having her mate buried deep inside her?

But her Fox wanted out. It wanted to sniff their den, mark it somehow as theirs. While males were more prone to scent-marking their dens, females were also known to do so. And Chloe was feeling not only territorial, but threatened, and her Fox was demanding that she do
something
to warn others away.

Chloe allowed the change to flow over her.

“Wow.” Jim’s gasp of awe had her wagging her tail. She’d watched her cousins change often enough to know exactly what he was seeing. It wasn’t like the things you saw in the movies. No horrific crunchy bones and pain, but not sparkly jumping in the air and BAM! Foxy time.

Nope. It was more like watching water flow through the person, moving them, bending them, blending them with their animal in a liquid haze of a dream until the man was gone and only the animal remained. If Jim touched her during her shift all he would have felt was warmth flowing through his fingers, like holding out your hand to a comforting fire. The sensation was tingling and airy, and Chloe had been fascinated by it from the first moment she saw her father change into a Bear. It was both sensual and innocent in a way a non-shifter could never understand.

“You’re beautiful.” Jim knelt in front of her and rubbed behind her ears, laughing when her leg began to thump on the carpet. “And cute as hell.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Is that…?”

Chloe turned to find Spencer staring at her, fascinated. He wheeled closer at Jim’s nod, holding out a shaking hand.

Chloe bounded forward, got up in his lap, licked his face twice then jumped down and went back to her mate.

Jim was growling, but Spencer was smiling like a little kid, wide-eyed and just as happy as could be. He looked over at Jim and sighed. “I want one.”

Chloe began sniffing around the house, her senses on full alert. The strong odor of her mate and his brother filled her, soothing her. Even the scent of their puppy calmed her, because George now smelled like home. So far, no strangers had been in her den for the last week or two. While she caught the stray scent of Irene, Jim’s partner, she also caught the scent of Val, mingled so strongly with Irene’s that it was obvious the two were longtime lovers.

She checked upstairs, where Jim’s scent dominated. Her Fox couldn’t detect any scents other than hers, Jim’s and Spencer’s, and Jim’s was strongest.

He’d been telling her the truth about not dating, then. Either that or he hadn’t brought a woman into his home in a long time, long enough for the scents to fade completely.

With a happy yip she headed back downstairs and pawed at the back door. She needed to do a sweep of the outside of the house.

Oddly enough, it was Spencer, breathless with excitement, who answered. “Hold on a sec, I’ll get it.”

A sweep of fur against her flank, the scent of her Wolf, told her why Spencer was the one who was opening the door and muttering about dog gates. Jim had shifted, joining her in checking their den. Spencer held George back, and for that she was grateful. The puppy was far too young to fend off an attacker, especially a shifter.

She allowed Jim to lead the way. While the human in Chloe knew she now lived in Jim’s home, her Fox was giving him the courtesy of having his Wolf show her around their den. Together, they sniffed the sniffs and smelled the smells, marking the edges of his tiny property side by side. Her slight limp from her damaged left paw was barely noticeable as she skipped happily at her Wolf’s side.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Chloe lifted her face to the wind, barking in excitement when she caught a whiff of her brother and cousin. She trotted back toward the house, Jim right by her side.

“That. Was.
Awesome!
” Spencer was sitting by the open door, a towel in his hands for wiping muddy paws. “When do I get to do that?”

Jim’s ears perked up as the doorbell rang.

“I got it!” Spencer took off, followed swiftly by both Jim and Chloe. She wasn’t about to let Jim’s baby brother get hurt, even if she was pretty sure the people at the front door were Alex, Ryan and…

Was that Cyn?

What was Cyn doing here? And where was Julian?

She picked up her clothing, hoping her teeth didn’t do any damage, and trotted up the stairs toward Jim’s bedroom. Once there, she shifted back into her human skin, already missing her tail and ears. At least her Fox was content that there weren’t any threats immediately around their den. She’d be able to sleep a little easier tonight.

“Is your Fox as content as my Wolf is?” Jim’s arms slipped around her. The shift didn’t heal the bruises, but Jim’s tone was quietly happy, the weariness he’d displayed when he first got home completely absent. “It likes knowing you were out there with us.”

“Mm.” She closed her eyes and leaned back against her mate. “We were securing our den.”

He froze for a split second before he laughed and began rocking her. “I guess that makes sense. Even though I shift, I still think of myself as me, not my Wolf.”

“Your Wolf is a huge part of you now. You have instincts you didn’t have before, senses that are sharper and more focused. Your needs and his will overlap, become one.” Chloe was relieved she managed to get all of that out without tripping over her words. Jim was good for her, in more ways than one.

“Like my need to have my mate in my den?” He caressed her stomach, the gesture proprietary.

“Mm-hm.” She lifted his hand and kissed the back of it. “Now we have to go see our family.”

He shivered. “My Wolf and I like that too.” He kissed the side of her neck. “
Our
family.”

“It’s like a Pack, but more…” The word she wanted eluded her, but she didn’t care. She was far too happy to allow her disability to rile her up.

“In your business?”

“I was going with crazier than monkeys at a banana convention, but that works.”

“As long as they continue to refrain from throwing poo at me, I think I’m okay with that.” Jim slowly let her go, rubbing his nose against her shoulder before taking a step back. “Let’s get dressed and tell them what happened.”

She nodded, some of her calm evaporating at the reminder that her mate had been attacked. “I hope Barney knows bumping about who went after you.”

“He might.” Jim bent over, pulling his jeans on without underwear, distracting Chloe with the thought that he’d be walking around commando for the rest of the night. “The guy who came after me seemed to know who Barney was.”

Uh-oh. That could be good or bad, depending. “You said he wasn’t a Hunter?” Chloe dressed quickly, eager now to talk to Barney and Ryan.

“That’s what he said, but I’d have no way to tell.” Jim pulled on a T-shirt and waited for her to finish dressing. “C’mon, sweetheart. Let’s go greet the monkeys.”

Jim led Chloe down the steps, silently cursing the fact that he’d had to ruin the easy, happy mood they’d established during their quick run outside. He vowed he would take her out into the woods surrounding Halle at some point. He’d just have to ensure that they went with other shifters as well. He doubted Ryan would let Chloe run anywhere without him nearby, not at least until they discovered why the Senate suddenly had a hard-on for her cute little ass.

“Hey, guys. Thanks for coming.” Jim shook hands with the three male shifters, taking in their grim expressions. Alex’s hazel eyes were brown as he gazed at Chloe, his stance tense. Ryan seemed more relaxed, taking in his sister’s calm demeanor with a small smile. And Barney seemed almost too relaxed. Jim wasn’t fooled for a moment, though. He doubted Barney missed much, relaxed or not.

Jim held out his hand to Cyn, smiling when she took it. “Cyn, how’s Super Bear?”

“He’s good, thanks.” Cyn hugged him tight. She patted him on the back and gave him a toothy grin. “Now, what the fuck is going on?”

Spencer tilted his head. “Super Bear?” He glanced between Jim and Cyn. “Do I want to meet this guy?”

“Oh, yeah.” Cyn twisted one of the pink strands of her hair around her finger. She’d kept the tri-tones going, the blonde, black and pink suiting her personality. “He’s going to want to take a look at you.”

The hope in Spencer’s gaze was heartbreaking.

“I don’t think even he can cure you.” Jim hated bursting his brother’s bubble.

“I didn’t even know that was on the table. I just thought it would be cool to turn into a bear with a huge-ass S on my chest.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and focused on Ryan and Barney. “Jim was attacked outside his clinic by someone boo claimed the Senate sent him.”

Jim took a step back and pulled his mate against him. “He also claimed he wasn’t a Hunter, but he seemed familiar with Barney’s name.”

Barney’s eyebrows shot up. “What did he look like?”

“Big. I mean, fire truck big. Dark hair and eyes, and he smelled canine.”

Barney tilted his head. “Any accent?”

“Nope. He sounded like a news caster, his accent was so bland.”

“Any other marks on him? Tattoos, scars, anything that comes to mind?”

Jim tried to remember if he’d seen anything of the sort. “Nothing that I can think of. Honestly, I was just trying to keep him from putting me on the ground.”

Chloe shivered, tensing in his hold. “This sucks rocks.”

“It also tells us the Senate is aware of Jim now.” Ryan glanced at Barney. “We’ve got to figure out what the fuck is up with this shit before it escalates.”

“I’ve got Francois trying to get a hold of Vaughn, but no one has heard from him in weeks.” Barney sat on the couch, his ankle resting on his knee. His battered cowboy boots looked like they needed to be reshod. “I hate to say it, but I’m worried about him.”

“We need to track him down.” Jim sat in the chair next to the sofa and tugged Chloe into his lap. It was his favorite place now that his mate was in his home. Chloe seemed just as happy as he was with the arrangement, snuggling into him easily.

“What’s this ‘we’ shit, newbie?” Barney cocked an eyebrow at Jim. “You’re no Hunter.”

“Neither is the man who went after him.” Chloe’s tone was low, filled with worry for Jim. “And if the Senate is sending out non-Hunters for so-called rogues? What does that mean?”

Barney’s expression turned grim. “It means we’ve got a cluster fuck of epic proportions on our hands, and it’s all centered around you, Chloe.”