Wild Mate: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (5 page)

“
Just because you have a
hunch that something is going on or is about to go down, you send us
running blindly into a bar, or an alley, or some far flung part of
the city. We could be doing something more productive, instead of
chasing after some—” Zymfer gestured wildly. “—phantom,
or the bogeyman. Maybe you had a nightmare, so you slept badly and
the next day, you're in a foul mood and you stomp into the office and
send us all on a wild goose chase. We're Enforcers, senior
Enforcers,” he emphasized. “Not your scrappy underlings
in a street gang, or bumbling, inept human police officers in the
NMPD.”

There were some gasps, but
Jett's face remained straight. His lips slowly curved up in a
lopsided smile.

Zymfer was breathing heavily,
his chin jutting out belligerently. Jett calmly stepped back and
uttered just five words.

“
Mia will kick your
ass.”

Before Zymfer could react, Mia
had charged straight at Zymfer. Her screech was like a battle cry as
she tackled the demon around the waist and wrestled him to the floor.

Mia was a whirlwind of fists
and teeth. Her well-aimed, well-timed kicks were deadly, and the
young demon stood no chance against her. He tried to fight her off,
and even attempted to gore her with his horns. That was a mistake.
There was a sharp snap, and Zymfer staggered back, howling. “No!
Not my horn!”

He clutched at his right horn.
There was a deep crack snaking from the tip all the way to the base
of his curved horn. Mia stood up from a crouch, panting. She
glowered at him, looking not the least bit apologetic.

“
You...you damaged it,”
Zymfer yelled, feeling his horn gingerly with his fingertips. Zymfer
lowered his hand to see a piece of his horn lying in his palm. His
eyes became completely red. “You broke it! You! You damaged
my demonhood!” he wailed.

“
Oh, get over it.”
Mia shrugged and dusted her hands. “It'll grow back.”

“
Yeah, but it'll take a
long time!” Zymfer was practically hopping on one foot in
helpless rage. “In the meantime...”

“
In the meantime, you'll
learn to respect humans and the NMPD,” Mia answered with a
scowl. When Zymfer glared at her, she added, “Or I'll break
your other horn.”

With that, Mia huffed and
returned to her spot between Levi and Scott. Levi could smell the
anger and adrenalin coursing through the woman's veins. He was
standing beside one very flammable human. No wonder Mia got along
with Jett so well. Those two humans were both highly explosive, but
they were also fiercely loyal and brave. Levi knew that they would
protect the team, the PAC and the city with their lives. They were
quick to anger, but they were also quick to forgive. They didn't
hold grudges, and he knew that Mia would probably take Zymfer out for
a beer after this and give the young demon a few pointers on how to
deal with a boss like Jett. Levi had heard quite a few hilarious
anecdotes about Jett from Mia. “If you think Jett's a pain in
the butt now, be thankful you didn't work with him in the NMPD!”
she had quipped.

Jett frowned at the demon's
broken horn, and turned disapproving eyes on Mia. “That was
excessive force, Mia. He's right. You did damage his demonhood. A
demon's horn is very important to a demon, especially a male demon.
It's like...” Jett paused, and his eyes met Levi's.
Help
me out here. How am I going to explain this to a girl?

Levi kept his mouth firmly
shut. He wasn't stupid, suicidal or insane. He was not getting
between two hot-headed humans.

He put up both palms.
Leave
me out of this, Jett. You're on your own.

“
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get
it.” Mia rolled her eyes. “Men, and their...phalli.”

“
What?” The male
Enforcers all choked and sputtered. “What!”

“
Oh come on. Isn't that
what it is?” Mia said. “Horn—long, hard,
protruding. What is it if it isn't a phallic symbol? You boys are
just...”

The other female Enforcers
tittered, and promptly shouted out a few more outrageous and very
naughty observations with enthusiasm.

Jett stared at Zymfer, and the
two gaped at each other.
What the hell have we started?

Jett shook his head at the
girls. “I never knew...”

“
What? Spit it out!
What didn't you know, Jett? Tell us!” Viviena, a statuesque
vampire who looked like a supermodel, boldly called out. Viviena
looked like she belonged on the runway, but she was one of the most
fearsome Enforcers. Rogues stood absolutely no chance against her.
Her looks and her skills were a deadly combination.

“
I never knew that my
Enforcers had their eyes on the streets, but their minds in the
gutter.”

They all laughed, including
Zymfer, and the girls high-fived one another.

“
All right, listen up.”
Jett called everyone's attention back to the issue at hand. “There
is something going on in the clubs around the city. I want you to
step up patrols near the blood bars and keep your eye on the demons.
I suspect some illegal demon activity going down in the clubs. Stay
alert.” He looked round the circle of attentive, serious
faces. The Enforcers joked around and teased one another a lot, but
they didn't fool around when they were on the job.

“
I'm going to break you
up into teams,” Jett told them. Viviena and Aaron, keep your
eye on Blood and Grill. That means you'll cover the area between
Lunar Street and Ninth Avenue.”

“
Yes, sir!”

“
Mark and Ashwari,
Crimson Lips is all yours. You'll be patrolling Red Boulevard...”

Jett went on dividing the
senior Enforcers into pairs, telling them the club and the streets
under their charge.

Finally, he turned to Levi.
“Levi, Scott and Jeanette, you guys take Twenty-Third Street to
Twenty-Ninth Street.”

“
Yes, sir!”

“
And...keep watch on
Club Mate.”

Zymfer spoke up, “How
come there are three of them on that team? The rest have only
two...”

Jett turned and silenced
Zymfer with a look. “I want Levi to protect Miss Rebecca
Rose.” Jett stopped in front of Levi and looked him straight
in the eye. “You will patrol the streets with Scott and
Jeanette, and check out what's going on in Club Mate. But once Miss
Rose leaves the club, you follow her. You're her shadow. Park
yourself outside her house, and protect her. She is your
responsibility.”

Levi stared at Jett for a
beat. “Yes, sir,” he said, holding Jett's gaze firmly.

“
Ah, what about me?”
Zymfer interrupted impatiently. “You haven't given me...”

At this, Jett had smiled.
“Zymfer, you're with Mia.”

As Levi left the PAC
Headquarters with Scott and Jeanette, he could still hear Zymfer
howling in dismay and mortification.

They had laughed, and Scott
and Jeanette had cracked jokes as they started their patrol, but Levi
knew that the cheerful banter was for his benefit. He was getting
kid-glove treatment from everyone, including Jett.

Jett had basically put him on
babysitting duty. Tailing and protecting Rebecca? He was going to
do that anyway. Jett just made it official, so that he could go to
Rebecca while he was on duty, instead of only when he was off
rotation. It was obvious that Jett was ordering Jeanette to cover
him, while he went off to protect his mate.

Jett was a good boss. Tough,
fair and very astute. He hadn't even needed to lift a finger to deal
with an insolent young demon. He had simply let a pint-sized human
woman put Zymfer in his place. And then he had ordered the human and
the demon to work together as a team, cover each other's backs while
on patrol.

No grudges.

He recognized the strengths
and weaknesses of his Enforcers, and he could see past their faults.
He disciplined them, and then he put them to work. Mia had a hot
temper and a loud mouth, but she was an excellent Enforcer. There
was a lot Zymfer could learn from her. In fact, the human and the
demon had a lot in common. They were both brash and brusque, but
their hearts were in the right place.

Levi pushed off from his post
and headed towards Club Mate. “I'll go in and check the
premises,” he told Scott and Jeanette over his shoulder.

“
I'll stand guard
outside,” Jeanette volunteered.

Levi clapped the witch on the
shoulder and nodded. “You be careful out here, Jean.”

Levi could feel Scott and
Jeanette exchange a look behind his back. God, his fellow Enforcers
were treating him as though he was made of glass.

Jeanette was a witch, and she
could read emotions. She could see people's emotions clearly in
color. She had explained to them over lunch once, “You think
they're just phrases—
turn green with envy, see red, feel the
blues
, so on and so forth. But they're all true! Your aura
turns bright red when you get angry, and become dull and blue when
you feel sad...”

Levi could feel Jeanette's
eyes on his back as he walked into Club Mate with Scott. His aura
was probably a riot of colors right now.

Club Mate was simmering with
scents, sights and sounds. Levi blinked to adjust his vision to the
dim interior and strobing lights. The club was beginning to fill up,
and it seemed like there were a lot of vampires in the crowd tonight.
He looked up at the screen above the bar, and saw the words “Bite
Nite” dancing across the screen.

He narrowed his eyes. There
had better be no biting here. Hopefully “Bite Nite” just
meant there was no cover charge for vamps and blood demons tonight.
The theme was misleading though. He would have to have a word with
the manager later.

Levi's eyes flicked to the
stage. A demoness in a green bikini was working the pole. What
looked like pieces of jade dangled from the strings of her bikini.
Her catlike eyes gleamed emerald in the pulsing lights, and she
flicked her forked tongue out at the men leaning in towards the
stage. Dollar bills were thrown at her feet, and she deftly
sidestepped them to move sinuously around the pole. Teasingly, she
used a claw to snap a string of her bikini, and her audience went
wild. They whooped and shouted for her to take off more. When she
yanked her top off and blew the audience a kiss, the crowd went
absolutely crazy. Money went flying onto the stage, and she wiggled
her bottom seductively at the crowd.
Want to see more?

Scott touched his arm. “I'm
going to the back to talk to Will. And I need to use the restroom.”

Levi nodded. People always
talked in the restrooms. And talk in the restrooms always yielded
way more information than the talk with the club manager. That was
why Jett had made sure that each team had one male and one female
Enforcer. Covering the restrooms was an essential part of an
Enforcer's job.

Levi let his eyes sweep over
the premises. Slipping between the crowd, he strolled past the dark
booths and propped himself up on a corner bar stool.

The customers were smoking and
drinking in the booths, and it looked like nothing illegal was going
on. No biting. No soliciting. No drugs.

He took a deep breath, taking
in the smell of alcohol, processed blood and cigarette smoke.

And then he whiffed
her
.

Levi's senses went on high
alert. She was near the stage, and he could scent her anxiety and
nervousness. The crowd moved, and he saw her. He saw that waterfall
of straight black hair and a flash of creamy skin as she climbed up
the steps to the stage. Levi almost let out a growl at the amount of
skin she was exposing.

Rebecca was practically naked
up there!

He slid off the stool and
moved nearer towards the stage. Her face was heavily made up, her
lips painted dark red and her eyes framed with long, fake eyelashes.
But beneath all that distracting color and war paint, he saw the fear
in her large, black eyes.

Her skin was smooth and
flawless, not a single mark on her body. There was no sign of what
that bastard had done to her. Jasynta had done a good job. Jasynta
was a dedicated witch doctor, and she was always working hard to
perfect her potions. Too bad she didn't have a potion to restore a
patient's lost memories.

Levi let his eyes rake down
her curvy body, and he scowled at her mini skirt, which was very mini
indeed. Almost every inch of her lush, soft thighs was exposed, and
his claws slid out when he saw all the males in the club stare and
drool at Rebecca as she smiled and winked at them from the stage.
Levi glared at the raven tattoo on her thigh. That was drawing too
much attention. It drew all eyes to the inside of her thigh and
inevitably up her too short skirt.

His hand twitched with fury.
At this instant, he could only think of two courses of action. Claw
out the eyes of every male in the club, or snatch Rebecca off that
damn stage and cover her up with his jacket.

The music started up and
Rebecca started a slow dance around the pole. He heard some
enthusiastic calls from the audience.