For Shift's Sake: Paranormal shapeshifter alpha werebear soldier BBW romance (9 page)

“Now, now,” he chided, wagging his finger at her. “There’s no need to be like that.”

She didn’t bother answering, just harrumphed under her breath and looked around. Conrad’s usual bully boys were in attendance, slimy grins making her shiver. She was careful to hide the movement. The last thing she needed was for them to see she was afraid. Like pack animals, once they scented fear, she was done for.

“Hey, Andy… Chris, how’s it going?” She spoke directly to both, a half-remembered line from some TV show telling her that if they saw her as a person, she had a chance of getting out of this unhurt. Or at the least, alive.

“Going good, Ms. Bradbury,” Chris grinned back at her. “’Bout to get a whole lot better, though.”

“Oh?” She shouldn’t ask, she knew she shouldn’t ask, but the question slipped free anyway. “Why is that?”

His grin grew sickeningly wide. “Because when the boss is finished with you, you’re all ours, sweet cheeks.”

Bile rose in the back of her throat, blood drained from her face. Ignoring Chris’s cackle, she turned her attention to Conrad standing over her. His blue eyes were emotionless and hard, but still she mustered a smile.

“Not exactly what I expected, but I do like a man who takes charge… Seems you like to take charge, don’t you, Conrad?”

His chest puffed out a little, even if she did feel sick sucking up to him, and he smiled. “Well, I’m a take charge kind of guy, not that it matters that much to you.”

His expression flatlined again and he snapped out a hand and grabbed her by the throat. Her heart rate tripled, panic flooding her system. Like this, she couldn’t stop him. Couldn’t think of any way out of this situation…

“You let that... animal touch you, took him to your bed... Let him fuck you.” He laughed, high-pitched with a hint of mania and looked at his henchmen. “She probably can’t handle a
real
man, eh, boys?”

Their chuckles of agreement rolled around the big empty space and Bobbi saw how her life would end. At the hands of three cruel men somewhere no one would hear her screams, and even if they did, no one would go against Conrad Jackson.

“You fucking disgust me,” she dropped her act to sneer. “You wanna talk about real men? Reese is more man than you’ll ever fucking be. Ever.”

“Bitch!” Conrad drew his hand back, murder in his eyes, and she smiled. Perhaps she could get him to land a killing blow before any of them got a chance to whip their dicks out. The moment stretched out into a small eternity. She’d been so stupid, should have seen this coming, how vile and depraved Conrad really was.

She closed her eyes and Reese’s face filled her mind’s eye. A wave of tangled emotion washed over her. Regret that they’d argued that morning mingled with something else, something deep. A small kernel in the center of her heart spread rapidly.

Love. A moment before her likely death, she realized she was head over heels in love with Reese Connor.

A tear silently tracked down her cheek. She always did have shitty timing.

***

“What is it with bad guys and abandoned warehouses and mills?” Reese grumbled as he and Louise hunkered down in the undergrowth to study the building in front of them. Out of town and on its own dirt trail behind another property, it had the unmistakeable air of neglect.

“Dunno.” The woman next to him shrugged, her black hair dancing over her shoulders. “Perhaps they’ve got some kind of directory. Like… A for abandoned? S for secret lair, that kind of thing?”

Her eyes, previously blue, were dark with her bear as she watched the mill. They left the bikes a ways back and approached on foot. Her silence as she moved impressed Reese, who’d had to look back a time or two to check the female was still with him. Not many, even other weres with military training, could move silently enough to fool him, so the fact one civilian shifter could, took him by surprise. Not as much as finding both his own mate and a female werebear in Banford had surprised him, though.

“You sure you haven’t had any military training?” he asked again, rolling to his back against the small rise they’d hidden behind to check his weaponry. As usual, he carried his main sidearm, a full sized SIG, but he had a smaller size backup weapon strapped to his ankle. Reaching down, he pulled it free and offered it to Louise.

She shook her head, pushing the weapon away. “Nope, never been anywhere near a uniform, and I can’t use that.”

He frowned. “Don’t tell me you’re a damn pacifist?”

Some shifters were, and it was a mind-set Reese couldn’t understand. They bleated about being more human than the humans or some such crap. They eschewed violence to prove they weren’t ruled by the base nature of the creatures inside them, creatures often capable of immense feats of destruction and mayhem.

He didn’t agree.

Shifters and most other naturally occurring animals were dangerous; there was no question of that. But they didn’t often react based on anger, or cruelty. Most of the time, if they lashed out, it was in self-defense or through fear when cornered. Their intentions were often pure.

The only creatures he’d encountered who attacked without provocation, or caused pain and suffering just because they could were humans. Yes, he let his bear out to cause havoc, and had used the creature’s strength in combat for years. He was a nasty son of a bitch when it came to his job. He’d been trained to be one of the most lethal men to walk the face of the planet, a natural ability backed up with a stubborn, vindictive streak a mile wide.

But that wasn’t his bear…

That was all down to his human half.

He slid the gun away, heart sinking as he anticipated her answer. Great, why had she argued to come along? She could have pointed him in the right direction and stayed with the damn bikes. It wasn’t even as if he wanted her to fight. There was no way he’d put a female of any species in danger, but he hoped she could at least defend herself.

Bobbi would have taken the gun, he knew it. She’d probably have snapped his hand off in the process, and with how clumsy she was, probably shoot herself, but she’d have taken the gun.

“Fuck no.” Louise grinned to reveal a mouthful of way too sharp to be human teeth. “I just prefer natural weaponry. Now, you finished talking so we can rescue the damsel in distress?”

Reese gave her a flat look.

“If you plan on calling Bobbi that to her face, let me know…I’ll bring beer and popcorn,” he chuckled, then shoved Louise down into cover with a large hand on her shoulder. Despite the fact she was a werebear who could play chicken with a semi and come out the winner, compared to him she was an itty-bitty little thing. “
We
are going nowhere.
I
am going in there to kick some arse.”

“But—”

“No buts,” he kept his bear out of his voice, just, and managed to hide his smirk at the mutinous look that flashed in her eyes. Hell, the male who took her on would have a fight for dominance on his hands. For a split second, he wondered if Danny knew there was a female bear in his hometown.

“I’m trained for this kind of thing,” he explained. “You’re not. Which means you could make a move I’m not expecting and get one or both of us injured. Worse, you could get Bobbi killed. She’s not like us. She can’t take a stray bullet and keep on kicking.”

Understanding flashed across Louise’s face and she nodded, sitting with a grumble that had to come straight from her bear. “Okay, makes sense. But you get her killed and I’ll rip your throat out. Clear?”

She wasn’t joking. Her eyes were jet black. He could see into her bear’s soul and shivered. She-bears were mean as fuck and twice as dangerous. He certainly didn’t want to get on this one’s bad side.

“As crystal.”

Reaching into his inner pocket, he pulled his cell free and slapped it into her hand.

“If the shit hits the fan, call for backup,” he ordered. “The last contact is DB. Call it and explain the situation. He’ll get someone here fast.”

She nodded, the emo-goth act gone as though it had never been. “How will I know if the shit has hit the fan?”

He paused at the top of the rise and looked over his shoulder.

“Believe me, you’ll know.”

Without another word, he turned and made his way down the incline toward the mill. His movements were stealthy, barely disturbing the leaves as he passed. Birds continued to sing overhead. Another advantage of being non-human, wildlife in the area didn’t view him as a threat. Instead, all they saw was the creature hidden within and since bears tended not to bother birds, they carried on tweeting their little feathered hearts out.

His boots hit the dirt parking area in front of the building and he paused for a moment to listen. His senses extended beyond the range possible for humans to pick up the sound of voices within the structure. Within. There was no movement outside. No sounds, no scents, nothing that indicated there was anyone out there.

He frowned, SIG in hand as he closed the gap between him and the building at a light jog. There were no guards. Shit on a stick, Conrad Jackson really was a dumb fuck. Reese slowed his steps as he neared the big double doors, realizing the personnel door in the left one was slightly ajar.

Extending his arm, he nudged the door open with the muzzle of his pistol. Before he’d finished the movement, the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting flesh reached his ears. Whimpered cries followed it. The sound of a woman in pain.

Bobbi.

Rage poured through his veins, his bear charging from deep within to under his skin. Fur poked through his pores, he called back as he barrelled through the door into the darkness within.

His eyes adjusted within seconds and he stormed around the corner into the main area of the mill. Jackson stood over Bobbi, in the process of hauling her up from the floor, the remains of a wrecked chair around her. The fragrance of blood hung on the air, teasing his senses until he saw the smear of scarlet at the corner of Bobbi’s lips.

“Get your fucking hands off her,” he snarled, Conrad’s head dead center in his sights.

“Reese, no!” Bobbi screamed as Jackson hauled her in front of him like a human shield. “He’s not alone!”

Reese nodded. He’d already clocked the two goons from the diner in the shadows behind Conrad, knew both were armed, but all his attention was on the couple in front of him. His bear snarled at the concept of them as a couple. Couple did not enter into it. That was
their
woman he was holding.
Theirs.

“Let her go, or you’re a dead man.”

He couldn’t get a clear shot at Conrad. The coward had tucked himself behind Bobbi, using her smaller frame as a shield. The dim light flickered on the edge of a blade as Conrad held a knife to Bobbi’s throat. Her dark eyes went wide and fear perfumed the air. She was terrified but didn’t break. There were tears in her eyes but she kept it together, and locked her gaze on his face.

That’s it, darling,
he urged her silently,
look at me. Don’t think about it.

“Oh, I don’t think so. Pay attention, Bobbi, I wouldn’t want you to miss this.” Conrad’s smug tones filled the air. “You see, our friend here has a little bit of a dilemma, don’t you, English?”

“What’s that? Which eye to shoot you through?” Reese snorted, his attention widening to their surroundings.

Was there anything he could use to change the odds here? At the moment, they weren’t good. The goons had him right in their sights, and that knife was too close to Bobbi’s throat. One wrong move and the woman he loved would bleed out on the floor in front of him.

Loved. He loved her. The realization hit him right in the center of his heart. He loved Bobbi, not because she was his mate and his bear recognized her as such. Not because she was the other half of his soul, born to complete him, but he loved
her…
Loved the woman herself, from the top of her messy dark curls, right to the tips of her delicate toes and everything in between, including her sassy mouth and sharp mind.

“Really?” Conrad laughed, gesturing to the two men behind him.

Both had assault rifles. Not heavy duty enough to take Reese down permanently but enough to fuck him up…if he stayed in human form. Suddenly he realized what Conrad was playing at. He was trying to force Reese to change. In front of Bobbi.

She doesn’t know about us.
Danny’s words rang in his ears.

Shit. He moved a step to the side, pistol still raised as he tried to get a bead on Conrad. Just a little more to the left… The asshole must have been reading his mind because he moved, ducking behind Bobbi.
Fuck.

“Lover boy here is hiding a secret, Bobbi, one he doesn’t want you to know. He’s a monster and he doesn’t want you to see what he really is.”

He didn’t, he really didn’t. He needed time to ease her into accepting his dual nature. Some humans had trouble comprehending a world that contained shapeshifters. The human personnel in his old team had all been brought in carefully, psychologically assessed before, during and after a reveal. It was never just laid out there without planning.

Reese’s heart sank, all emotion leeching out of him, as he knew what he had to do. The odds were bad and the chips were down. Bobbi was in danger and the only way he could save her was to reveal what he was…even though he risked losing her.

“Fuck you, Conrad. Whatever it is, I don’t care,” Bobbi hissed, and incredibly, gave Reese the opening he needed. Moving suddenly, she shoved her hand between the blade and her throat at the same time she slammed her foot down over Conrad’s.

Everything happened at once. Conrad bellowed in pain as the smell of blood blossomed on the air. Bobbi’s blood. A river of red flowed down her chest and Reese lost it. His roar rattled the rotten rafters above as he charged, throwing the SIG aside. One step, two…and he was in mid-air.

Bullets peppered the air around him as his bear burst from his human form in an explosion of fury and fur. Bobbi screamed, rolling to the side in a ball to leave Conrad exposed. Reese caught a fleeting glimpse of the guy’s face as he lunged, jaws wide, then clamped around his soft human throat. They snapped shut, spraying the inside of his mouth with hot, coppery blood. He growled, teeth scraping spine, and shook his prey like a cat. Jackson’s gurgles stopped with the crunch of bone but someone was still screaming.