Chapter 22
Usually the waiting is the worst part. Carl had had to wait during the drive to an abandoned salt mine near Saginaw.
That had been hard enough, but once they’d seen his truck parked near the opening, Tonya had tried to make him wait while local law enforcement mobilized.
This was out of her jurisdiction and she—appropriately—didn’t want to rush blindly into an underground facility.
He’d nodded and told her she had ten minutes to cover the legalities and whatnot.
Then while she was on the phone, he’d started “reconnaissance,” checking things out as stealthily as he could.
He hadn’t been stealthy enough. In his defense, there weren’t a lot of places to hide in a salt mine.
Plus the place was supposed to be abandoned.
Twenty yards inside the opening, he was confronted by a paramilitary guy with an automatic weapon.
Questions were asked. Vague answers given. And then a gun was raised.
Oops. But at least it had given him the excuse to proceed more boldly.
He’d knocked the man unconscious and rushed farther down the huge space. Five minutes later he’d smelled her. Becca. He knew her scent and the spike of her fear. Which is when he’d started running. She was here and he would find her. Now.
He didn’t remember shifting to his grizzly form.
For the first time ever, he and his bear were completely unified.
The grizzly form was faster and could cover more ground in this massive place, not to mention it had the better nose.
All he had to do was follow Becca’s scent as it grew stronger and louder in his mind.
And then he’d heard her cry out, the words indistinct.
He’d roared in response and tore faster through the shaft only to be met by more guys with guns.
He was lucky. They were shit shots. Or they just hadn’t expected a furious grizzly to tear through their ranks.
Either way, he’d made mincemeat out of them.
It helped that Tonya had joined him a few breaths later, adding confusion and more noise to the mix.
But it had cost him time. And a few bullet hits to his arms.
That’s when he learned the worst part of a battle wasn’t the waiting. It was the certain knowledge that he was too slow, too far, and too late to stop whatever was happening to Becca.
He knew she was close, but there were all these bastards in between him and her.
He could hear her yelling and there might have been gunshots.
He redoubled his fury until there were just four guys left.
Then they did an organized retreat toward a door.
A second later, he heard her scream, this time in terror, while he was still yards away.
He took off. She was there. She was in danger. And when he rounded the corner, he saw the worst sight of his life.
Becca in a cage, screaming for her life.
A young grizzly standing tall before her, his battle cry aimed at the guys with guns. Big target there. No way the bastards would miss. Carl did the only thing he could. He roared his own challenge, trying to startle the shooters, but they were too well trained.
Two spun to face him. Two fired at the kid.
And all the while, Becca was screaming.
Carl charged, knocking the two nearest him aside like they were bowling pins.
The other two had taken down the young bear and were now scrambling over the body, where it had crashed against a cage with an unconscious werewolf in it.
He smelled the acrid scent of blood and wondered how much of it was his own, how much the young’s.
Then he made it to Becca’s cage and ripped at it with all the strength in his claws. She was screaming something, but it was hard to understand the words. He had to get to her. He had to make her safe.
Fortunately, the two shooters had made it over the young and out a far door. They’d run like rabbits and were no longer a threat. The bowling pins were still unconscious. That left this cage his only obstacle. Just the bars that separated her from him.
He decimated them.
She scrambled out as soon as he’d cleared room. Her words were making sense now. She was repeating the young’s name over and over.
“Theo. Theo.”
She touched Carl as she moved past, using him to scramble out. And as she went, he made sure she was whole. No blood. No pain scent. Just the fear for her child. That soothed him as nothing else could. She was safe. Now it was time to save the young.
He saw immediately what had happened. The young wasn’t dead, thank God.
He had taken bullet wounds to the shoulder and arm.
The bear needed to become boy, but that wasn’t always easy for kids.
Especially not in high stress situations.
Like after getting shot. The bear was coming back to consciousness, thrashing in his pain.
Carl kept an eye on Becca to make sure she didn’t get too close.
“You have to be human, Theo,” Carl said, his voice taking the sharp bark of command. “Turn back into you.”
When had he shifted into a man? Once again, the change had been seamless. This form was easiest for communication, so he became a man. The other form was no longer expedient.
“Stay back, Becca,” he ordered. “The last thing we need is another patient.”
“He’s been shot,” she said, a near hysterical edge to her voice. She had to get that under control now, so he looked at her calmly.
“He’ll be fine if he turns human. The shots will fade.” Well, the arm one would. He wasn’t so sure about the shoulder. But a human boy would be easier to control and certainly easier to haul into the nearest ER.
Becca nodded, then pulled herself upright. “Theodore Weitz, you turn human this instant!”
A good try, as the young’s eyes shifted, focusing on Becca. It’s possible the rational was gaining control, but it was hard to tell. All they could do was keep talking and hope that they reached the human mind underneath the immediate pain.
“Remember what it’s like to be a boy, Theo,” he ordered. “Eating cheeseburgers and skateboarding.”
“Video games,” Becca chimed in. “Playing Warcraft with Tom and Willy.”
“Come on, Theo!” Carl barked. “We’ve got pie at home.
Picture yourself sitting and eating it. With ice cream.
Think of the cold, wet sweetness of it all.
” Food had always been a great way for him to mentally shift back to human.
At least when he was that age. And where the mind went, the body usually followed.
“That’s not the way to do it,” a female voice said from behind them. Tonya’s voice was dry as she stepped past the sprawled bodies and waved Carl aside.
“Tonya,” he said. “He’s been shot. We need medical—”
“Theo!” she interrupted. “Look at me! Look at me right now!”
Theo did. His grizzly eyes swerved and then focused on her.
Carl watched the young bear’s eyes widen and his ears go back.
And then suddenly, the snout started shrinking and the fur started receding.
Becca gasped and murmured, “Thank God,” but that was all she managed.
No one wanted to interrupt the shift back to human.
A moment later, Carl heard two dull pings as the bullets slid from the grizzly onto the floor. Soon afterward, there was only a naked adolescent boy cringing at a seeping wound in his shoulder.
“I’ve got you,” Becca said as she rushed forward. “You’re safe now.”
He was, though damned if he knew how Tonya had done it. He turned to ask and only then realized she was smirking. Well, he realized she was naked and smirking.
“You have to give him a real reason to be human,” she said. Then she gestured to her body. “This is what motivates teenage boys.”
He couldn’t argue with her there. He also knew that Tonya was absolutely, completely not the woman for him, because his only thought was for Becca. He barely even noticed Tonya’s nudity.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Who knows how many others might still be hanging around.”
“We can’t leave Caleb,” Theo said, looking down at the cage he’d been sprawling on. Inside was the unconscious werewolf boy.
“Police are on their way,” Tonya said. “We can hole up here until they arrive.” Then she glanced at Carl. “I’ll get your clothes.”
“Get yours, too.”
“You sure?”
“Yes,” answered all three of them at once. Which is the exact moment that he finally caught Becca’s eye. She was pale and shaky, but he saw strength in her as she tried not to fuss over her boy.
“You okay?” she asked him.
“Only if you are.”
“Yup.”
“Then I’m fine.”
“How many times did you get shot?”
He frowned and tried to take stock. Now that he focused, he could feel the raw burn of pain across one thigh and another high in his belly.
Oh, hell. That was going to suck. The thing with shifting back to human is that sometimes the wound healed with the bullet inside.
Fortunately, they knew a surgeon who was clued in to the whole shifter world. He’d take care of it.
“I’ll be fine.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
He grinned. He loved it when she used that snippy tone. “I’ll be in the bed right next to Theo. I promise. So long as you’re on my other side.” He still wasn’t sure she was okay. There might be hidden injuries.
“All he did was take blood from me.”
“He might have done something else—”
She raised her hand to stop him. “I promise to get checked out anyway.”
“Good.”
She smiled. “Good.”
Then Theo grumbled at them both. “When were you going to tell me you two are dating?”
“Um…,” began Becca.
“Oh, look,” Carl said, his voice a little too cheerful. “Here comes Tonya with my clothes.”
“Don’t rush on my account,” murmured Becca. He looked at her, startled by her frankly appreciative gaze. Then he felt himself flush hot red, but that was nothing compared to the color she turned when Theo groaned.
“Gross, Aunt Becca! Don’t put images in my head!”