The Bear and the Unicorn (Supernatural Enforcers Agency Book 6) (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Zane picked at his collar and Juliet slapped his hand.

He hated suits.  Even more so the floppy wig and glasses Juliet forced on him.  He looked like a nerd. 
Suck it up
growled his bear. 
Find Sky, then rip the damn suit off… and crush the glasses.

Juliet managed to find herself a decent red dress and a blonde wig.  In his opinion, she looked like she’d just stepped off a stage in Las Vegas, but she looked passable.  He looked like a gorilla stuffed into a suit designed for a chimpanzee.  Like he’d dressed and brushed his hair in the dark.

Just outside the turn off for the arena, they managed to detain a couple of the guests – a couple of millionaires from Texas with extremely bad taste.  The husband was large enough that Zane didn’t look too stupid in his suit, and the wife slender enough that Juliet didn’t look like she was playing dress-up in her mother’s closet.  They had to let four cars go before they found a decent enough sized couple.  It had been kind of a struggle getting the couple out of their clothes, but Cutter snarled at them until they hopped to it, and actually kind of believed their spiel about the radioactivity in the area affecting their clothes…
kind of
.  Juliet was an excellent liar.

Wayne was driving the couple back to the SEA headquarters to be detained for a while, under the purview of checking them out for radiation poisoning.

For some reason, Juliet kept make-up and wigs in the back of her car – so they were on hand.  There was a long pause when she announced it, but nobody thought to question it.  Juliet was… old and somewhat mysterious.  Undoubtedly she had a good-ish reason for the strange things she did.

Juliet spritzed herself in perfume repeatedly, making him cough.  Then spritzed some over him for good measure – just in case anyone in there already had their scents.  She checked her bright red lipstick was gaudy enough and slanted a look at him.  They had a heated argument about who exactly was going into the arena.  She had been plumping for either Gunner or Wayne, but Zane insisted.  More like threatened to try and storm in if she didn’t let him sneak in with her.

He didn’t know what she was worrying about.  And calling him a bear shifter-shaped disaster was a little strong.  But, hey, so far he’d managed to get past the checkpoint on the gate.  He managed to drive up to it in a gold colored Hummer with zebra print seat covers – yeah,
extremely
bad taste - get the window down, flash the Texan couple’s invitation at the surly guard and then drive through the gate after being grunted at – all without incident.  The invitation they found in the car simply stated the date, arrival time and directions on how to get to the arena – it didn’t specifically mention what was happening in there.  Which
really
would have helped their case.

“Do I have to worry about you in there?” asked Juliet.  “Can I trust you to behave?”

Zane stared at her for a few moments.  “Well, I’m not going to lie to you… shall we go?”

Yes, to get our mate
howled the bear. 
Rawr
.

*

Sky scowled, and her unicorn snorted as a middle-aged man leered at her.  She didn’t know what was more offensive.  The look on his horny face or the rug on his head masquerading as hair. 
Amazing
.  All the technological advances in the world and still they couldn’t make a decent and natural looking toupee for men.  The words ‘nice rug’ danced on her tongue, dying to be flung at him.  But she restrained herself.

Under the interested looks from the goon squad, she had awkwardly washed herself and then donned the embarrassingly small bikini they provided her.  To their disappointment, she managed to do it without flashing any skin.  She was hardly ashamed of her body.  She was more than happy to strip down and shift to go running as her unicorn, but she wasn’t going to give the buttheads who kidnapped her a cheap thrill.

Now she was standing in her cage like a damn animal, trying not to cover her body whenever a perv leered at her, and forcing herself not to hurl insults at them.  A few of them asked her questions and through gritted teeth she replied. 
No, she did not eat sugar cubes!

Her unicorn wasn’t thrilled, but she didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because of her.  The large penguin shifter, Georgie already seemed fragile enough as it was, visibly shaking as the parade of ‘buyers’ walked past her.  Sky wasn’t sure how she’d hold up to that guy Booker really hurting her.  Plus, there was Zane to think of.  She’d rather him be safe and enjoying a life without her than for him to be hurt.  As long as he didn’t enjoy his life without her
too
much.  Hey - she never claimed to be a saint.

As far as she could see, the people checking her out were rich dimwits with more money than brain cells.  They appeared to be shopping for exotic pets or worse.  Sky was trying not to dwell on the ‘or worse’ part.

An older gentleman was perusing her body.  His expression was cold, certainly not holding the lust of the other men who’d shown interest in her.  He licked his lips and Sky had the horrible feeling he was interested in eating her… and not in the good, sexy way like Zane did.

Terrific
.  So either she was looking forward to being a pet, a sex toy or a meal.  None of those options was enticing.

The large penguin shifter was now openly sobbing.  Some of the mercenaries growled at her to stop but she wouldn’t.  She was on her knees in her cage, weeping into her hands.  Bernard, the male in the cage next to Georgie was trying to comfort her. Sky was impressed to find out he was a mammoth – she read it on the side of his cage - they all had an information sheets giving details about them like in real zoos.  The fact that he had a crush on the penguin wasn’t on the sheet.  Sky discerned that from his snarling fits when any male looked at her.

The penguin’s outburst didn’t seem to be causing any problems.  The buyers really didn’t pay any attention.  They still inspected her body and read her information, as if she wasn’t having a meltdown.

Palaeeudyptinae – extinct species of giant penguin.

In fact, if Sky didn’t know any better, she’d say Georgie’s wailing actually attracted more buyers.  Perhaps some of them wanted a submissive shifter.

Her unicorn shook her head. 
Monsters
.  All these people were monsters.  How could they even conceive of buying another living being?

The sabre-tooth tiger was perhaps the calmest captive in the room.  Or at least as far as Sky could see – there had to be more than a hundred cages in total, snaked around the room.  Yeah, it was kind of an eye opener about how many rare shifters there were in the world.

The tiger just smiled nastily at anyone who dared approach him – and a lot of people did, almost as many who approached her.  It wasn’t conceit – she knew she was the star attraction.  There was also the possibility for her that she might actually be bought as a plaything for a spoilt child.  What little girl doesn’t love unicorns?  Perhaps if she was very lucky, that might be the case for her.  Yes, she could be the pampered and put-upon pet of a spoiled child… woohoo!  Her unicorn rolled her eyes at her sarcastic thoughts.

But the tiger just smiled like he knew something, and his dark, mocking eyes told everyone who dared get close to his cage exactly what he would do to them were it not for the bars separating them.  He didn’t answer their questions and stared at them until they backed away slowly.

A lot of people actually made a wide berth of his cage.  The bravest actually seemed to be women, who admired his impressive physique and clearly had no sense of self-preservation when it came to predators.

A female leopard shifter smirked at the tiger and told him, “See you soon, sweet cheeks.”

His smile hardened, but his knowing look never left him.

Perhaps he has an escape plan
suggested her unicorn.

Yes, that would be great.  One that she could piggy-back off, because she had come up with zilch.  Honestly, seven years as a yoga instructor really did not prepare her for any of this.

So far all she had was shifting when she got out of her cage and running like hell.  But in spite of how scared her unicorn was and desperate to get out of there, she really didn’t think they were up to running into a hail of bullets.

She needed an idea with a hell of a lot more juice!

*

Juliet pulled on Zane’s arm as she dazzled the security bear.  He had a face like a slab of granite, but even he melted just a little under Juliet’s attention.  The bear let them in without even bothering to ask for identification.  He barely even looked at their invitation. 

She gave their names in a husky and frankly awful Texan accent, and he couldn’t give them their security passes fast enough.  Well, that wasn’t accurate; he actually lingered over slipping it onto Juliet’s wrist, damn near feeling up her hand…
if that was a thing
.  Zane grunted at him for good measure – given that he was actually supposed to be her husband and all.  The bear nodded them through the metal detectors and deflated a little when it didn’t sound for Juliet – clearly, he was hoping for a chance to pat her down.  Course, he was thoroughly relieved when it didn’t make a peep for Zane either.

Zane hesitated slightly at the entrance of the arena.  The parking lot was lit by floodlights, but beyond that was darkness, and where the rest of the SEA lurked potentially waiting to breach.

Get in, get our mate and get out.  Kick and claw some ass if there’s time. 
Grrr
.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sky tried to emulate the sabre-tooth tiger's
don’t fuck with me
stare.  It probably wasn’t working.  Actually, considering that she’d just been called cute and/or adorable by three different people, it was safe to say it wasn’t.

Okay, focus, find a way out.

Electronic locks, silver bars, lots of mean looking guys with tranq guns and what looked like real guns, too. 
How did the A-team make this look so easy?

Sky crossed her arms, trying not to pout as a small, petite vampire sauntered her way followed by a beast of a man with a terrible, shaggy hairdo.  She sighed as they practically made a beeline for her.  Great, more potential buyers to not spit at.

Except… was that… her unicorn bounced up and down with glee.

Zane
.  In spite of the tight, constricting suit and strange new hair do, and admittedly sexy glasses, she recognized him.  That was
her
beast of a man!  Damn, he looked silly and yet he’d never been so handsome.

Sky tried not to bounce up and down too.  Her heart pounded.  He was here for her.  He came for her.  He was going to save her.  And in spite of her pacifist nature, she hoped he was there to kick some ass.  She was kind of hoping for a little action herself.

He shook his head in warning before she could say anything - before she could run to him and demand a smooch through the bars.

Yep, play it cool. Probably the best way to go.

He tried to look nonchalant, but he couldn’t hide the hungry, angry look on his face.

“You okay?” he breathed, his dark eyes searching her, narrowing at but then appreciating the tiny bikini.

“Fine,” she whispered, eyeing the vampire with speculation. 
Where did he pick her up?
wondered her unicorn jealously.  “They’re auctioning us off.”

Zane unobtrusively watched the guards prowling between the cages.

“We gathered,” said the vampire in a low voice.  “I’m Juliet, by the way – we’ll exchange pleasantries later when we’re in perhaps a little less danger.  They took our phones at the entrance so we can’t contact anyone.”

“You need to get us all out of here – lord only knows what they’re going to do to us.”  Sky cast a furtive glance at a tall, thin male vampire smiling benignly in her direction.

“We need to arrest the people doing this as well, preferably with minimum casualties.”  Juliet gave Zane a significant look; he smiled grimly at Sky.  “I’m going to take a look around to get a better idea of this place, you just… just try not to kill anyone yet.”

Zane nodded as she sauntered away, swinging her hips, pretending to peruse the other species for sale.  At least she distracted the guards.

“I love you,” Sky murmured.  Her unicorn whinnied in happiness waiting for his response.  What she didn’t expect was the fury in his eyes.

“How dare you?” he growled throatily.

Sky frowned at him.  “What?” 
He was really mad that she loved him?

He balled his fists as he struggled to maintain his temper.  “How dare you tell me that?!”

“But…”  Surely this was where their relationship was heading?  She was sure he loved her too.  How could she be so wrong?  Her unicorn whined pathetically.

“You said that because you think something bad might happen, and you might never get another chance to say it.  So no, you take that back right now.”

“I’m sorry, but…”

“You can tell it to me later, in bed, preferably while my mouth is on your pussy.”

“Oh, I’d like that,” she admitted, pressing her legs closer together.  She really shouldn’t be getting turned on right now – given the situation she was in.

“Baby, we are getting out of here.  No way am I letting you get away.”

“Okay.”  She believed him.  Just like the day they met.  She believed he’d do anything to keep her safe.

“And this may be bad timing, but you look amazing in that bikini.”  His gaze roved over her approvingly.

“Maybe we can go to the beach when this is over.”

“Or you can just wear bikini’s around the house – I’d go for that.”

“I’ll bet.”

Zane growled as a woman in a fur stole tried to approach.  She quickly scuttled away, leaving Sky wondering if the fox around her neck was a wild fox or a shifter.  The thought was horrifying.

“Some of the dicks with guns mentioned a control room.  Maybe if you find it, you could turn the power off.  Maybe the locks will open.”  Long shot maybe, but something needed to be done.

For a moment he looked lost.  “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”  She tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a wheeze.

He looked at her for a few beats before slumping slightly.  His suit let out an ominous creaking sound.

“Fine.  You just stay in your cage.”

“You got it.”  Not much choice in the matter.  “You be careful, I lo…”

Zane glared at her.

“I can’t wait to feel your tongue in my pussy.”

He nodded.  “That’s my girl.”

*

Juliet swished past the guards.  She was confident and cool, and nobody tried to stop her.  Eventually, after trying numerous doors – most of which were locked – she found a small, messy office.  With –
yay
– a phone.

She could phone Lake and tell him to call in back up.  There were a few agents outside the fence who had orders to breach if they didn’t hear from Juliet within an hour, but she hadn’t realized how many innocent victims they had in here.  Over a hundred shifters were in cages waiting to be auctioned off like common pieces of artwork.  Disgusting.

She knew Christian Hawk was a sleazy bastard.  He had to be involved with this somehow.  She couldn’t wait to slap some cuffs on him, really make him cry as she squeezed his thin, girly wrists.

Juliet didn’t consider herself to be a vindictive person, but she couldn’t wait to see Christian on trial.

Grabbing the phone she froze as the door opened behind her.  She whirled to find the smug bastard smirking at her.  She squeezed the receiver, wishing it were his neck.

“You won’t get an outside line,” he purred closing the door behind him.

Juliet, in spite of her five hundred plus years –
she never admitted her real age
– and in spite of her awesome vampire strength and speed hesitated.  Christian was far too calm.  She could snap his spine like a toothpick, and yet he seemed to be taking on the role of predator while she was relegated to prey.  She didn’t like it.  He was far too confident and that worried her.

Slowly, she replaced the receiver and pulled the blonde wig off her head.  She shook out her own dark locks, ignoring the way his arousal heightened.

“You’ve been busy,” Juliet said. 
She meant to say ‘I hate you’ but she had a Freudian slip.

He leaned against the door, one hand in his pocket.  “You too, sneaking in here without a warrant.  What am I going to do with you?”  He virtually licked his lips.

“I can’t allow this to continue.  You know I have to arrest you.”

Christian chuckled.  “I love it when you get bossy.  So cute.  But seriously, there’s nothing you can do.”

Juliet’s nostrils flared.  “You’re very arrogant.”

“I’m very successful.”

“How do you imagine you could stop me?  I’m a vampire, and it’s just you and me here.  I’m much stronger than you.”

“Like I said, cute.”

“I look small, but I am fierce.”  Her fangs dropped, and she ran her tongue over them.

Hell if that didn’t turn him on even more.  She could see his erection pressing against his suit pants.  “The fact that you think that is one of the things I like about you… Mary.”

Juliet stiffened.  It had been more than four hundred years since anyone addressed her by her birth name.

He gleamed.  “Don’t look so shocked.  You may have lived a long time, but plenty of others have too.”

No.
  She wasn’t Mary anymore.  She wasn’t that wimpy little girl anymore.  She left her behind a long time ago.  “You’re not stopping me from leaving this room.”

“Actually, I am.”

Juliet screamed as pain shot up her arm, spreading through her body, burning every nerve.  She staggered to him, panting as she endured the third-worst pain she’d ever felt in her long life.  In her defense for the first and second worst, she’d already passed out.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

The pain thankfully stopped, and her legs gave out, dropping her to the ground.  She tried to crawl towards him, uselessly batting at his shoes as he laughed –
the dick.

Christian pulled a small device out of his pocket and waved it at her.  “The security wristband causes pain when I press this button.  Just something we thought we’d need to keep our customers under control in case they decided to do something stupid like try and inform anyone of what we’re doing here, or try and run away without paying.  Given the variety of species of our customers, we made sure it was strong enough to work against vampires.”

Juliet sprawled on the floor, her lungs uselessly trying to fill themselves with air she didn’t need.  “You won’t get away with this, the SEA…”

“Hush now.”

Christian kneeled down and ignored her limp-noodle arms as she tried to slap him.  He picked her up like a ragdoll and carried her over to a couch, settling her against him with her head in his –
yeuch
– lap.

“Yes, I know, your friends.  For a bunch of predators, they aren’t exactly stealthy.”

His fingers glided through her hair.  “Don’t worry; my men will keep them busy, either until they die or we have a chance to leave.  To be clear, they can’t get through my security to stop the auction.  And all their signals are jammed, so help will not be coming.  By the time anyone realizes what’s happening, everyone here will be long gone.  Including you.”

She quivered while trying to regain her senses from the pain, but as he leaned down and sniffed her hair, her whole body tensed.

“I liked you blonde, but I prefer you dark.”

Juliet grabbed at his jacket and made a little mewing sound.

“Look at you, as weak as a kitten.  I like you like this.  After the auction my chopper will pick me up and don’t worry, there’ll be a seat for you.  I don’t plan on letting you go anytime soon.”