Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
Race wasn’t sure what was up with Connal.
The bear ran hot and cold, and every time he tried to step one way or the other, Con was there, proving he didn’t understand the big grizzly’s brain.
At all.
He closed his eyes and focused on the job. He could wonder about the weirdness that was Connal Price forever.
They had cold pizza for breakfast but left the rest in the mini fridge in the hotel. He had to admit, he’d gotten a better roadside place than he normally would have just for himself so Con could be comfortable.
He was so fucked with this guy. Con was nothing but trouble.
Con seemed his normal sunny self this morning, the weirdness last night forgotten.
“So what are we doing today? Reconnoitering?”
“I have to try to find the omega in question. We’ll make contact without disturbing the situation.” Which periodically was harder than it seemed.
“If you want, I can just go and fuzz out and scare everyone away.”
“Even if grizzly bears are not at the top of the food chain?” See? This was what he meant. Harder than it seemed.
“Who’s higher than us?”
He blinked at Con. “Tigers? Hippos? Wolverines? Sharks?”
Con blinked right back. “Sharks?”
“Well, yeah. Unlikely in the desert, I realize, but deadly, nonetheless.”
Con started making Jaws music, fake swimming around the hotel room. The big guy just popped out with whatever was in his head, and it amazed and amused Race equally.
“I don’t know. Bears are more flexible. We can be in the water and on the earth. We can eat fruits and berries, salmon and meat.”
Race looked at Con. “Berries are fruit.”
“What?”
“You said berries and fruit. Berries are fruit.”
“Are they?” Connal gave him the stink eye.
“Yes.”
“Have you ever heard a person say anything about berries when you’re talking about vegetables?”
“What? What are you talking about?” He could chase Con’s train of thought for days and not catch it.
“I’m just saying, berries are in a class of their own. For bears.”
“I am a bear, you know.”
“When do we leave?” Con came to give him a giant hug, lifting him off his feet.
“We leave when we get a hold of the rabbit. I told you that, right? There’s a bunny shifter who needs our help?”
“You mean we’re hunting wabbit?”
He had a tick in his left eye. “I’m going to hurt you.”
Connal beamed at him. “No, you’re not. You like me. I’m interesting.”
He wanted to argue, but there wasn’t any sense in it, because he did think the son of a bitch was interesting, so he went with it. “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I don’t also think you’re irritating as fuck.”
“Irritating? Interesting? Six of one, half a dozen of the other. It means you’re paying attention.” Con gave him another firm squeeze, swaying him back and forth like he weighed nothing. “It’s cool. I’m paying attention too.”
He breathed deeply, taking in Connal’s scent. God, he always smelled so good. Why did he have to feel like heaven too? That big body radiated heat. Like one of those lizard rocks.
Race wanted to curl up against it and just bask something fierce.
“Bunny.” He struggled free of that dangerous embrace. He didn’t need to feel things right now. He smacked Connal’s ass. “Get dressed.”
“Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy.” Connal matched deed to word, and that taut ass bounced all to hell.
“You are—” Race stopped, taking a deep breath. “Connal. Can you try to help me with this rescue now? You can go back to taunting me once he’s safe.”
Con seemed to ponder that, pursing his lips. “Yes.”
“Good. Now, get dressed.”
“Okay.” Con went to his bag to grab some faded jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, the look casual. It would blend.
Con’s bike would not. The guy was a custom motorcycle mechanic, and his bike was flashy. So they would share his bike riding to the area of town they needed to look over.
If they actually got the bunny in a place where he could rescue him, Connal would just have to call an Uber. Or steal a car…
He dressed quickly, making sure he was ready for whatever situation they might find themselves in. Connal had stopped teasing, stopped driving him crazy, and oddly enough, it felt like a loss.
They walked outside, and Race frowned at the sight of three bikes in row, his, Con’s, and an old workhorse Harley he didn’t recognize. “Who’s here?”
He didn’t need bonus trouble, for fuck’s sake.
Connal shrugged. “No one. I called in in a favor. A friend of mine let me borrow it. I figured it’ll be easier than me riding bitch behind you and—” Connal shrugged.
“—if we need to make a quick getaway with three, one bike doesn’t work.
I can always come back and get my baby. In fact, if I’m not back to pick her up in the morning, someone will take her somewhere safe. ”
Well.
This was a side of Connal that was unexpected and disturbing, because he didn’t forsee planning from the big grizzly.
He expected enthusiasm, absolutely. Unpredictability and quick thinking. He would totally go with quick thinking, but planning?
That was new.
“Okay, cool.” He kept it light, but he wanted to ask who this alien being was and what he’d done with Con. Which was not fair.
He knew Con and his brothers helped Quin with omega rescue. He’d just assumed Warrick and Ryder did the heavy mental lifting.
“Give me the coordinates in case we get separated. I don’t want you getting in a bad spot, and me to have to go wandering around hollering really loud.”
Race snorted but dropped him a pin. “You ready?”
Con grabbed his helmet. “Let’s do this.”
Wild. It was genuinely wild. Con simply started up the bike, and they headed out.
No chatter over the headphones, no anything. Just silence.
Race wasn’t going to ponder the fact that it had felt good to have somebody distracting him with chatter. It was amazing to have something to listen to that wasn’t the nonsense in his own head.
That shit could be loud and fucking depressing.
But Race bit his cheek and kept quiet, running scenarios through his head. The bunny was in deep with a couple of alphas who were known traffickers. They sucked in omegas with promises of a job and place to stay and made nice to begin with.
But then things would get ugly.
They had someone on the inside, and they didn’t have much longer to get the rabbit out, he was afraid, before the omega was stuck in a cage and shipped overseas to be eaten alive by a wolf or a tiger or something.
They pulled up to the warehouse district, the buildings rundown and seedy, the air of the place seeming to suck the sun out of the sky.
Race killed the bike, wanting to come in as close as possible so that they didn’t have to run so far with the bunny, but also keeping things quiet.
Connal followed his lead, and the guy could be super-silent for someone who took up so much space and attention. It felt a little unnerving to be honest. He was used to bouncy, loud Con.
And he liked that one best, if he was honest.
But he could work with this. He held up a hand, then pointed Con toward the back of the building while he took the front.
Got it.
Race blinked. What the hell was that?
What’s wrong?
There was no way he could be hearing Connal in his head.
No fucking way.
He was just projecting. It was nerves. He didn’t have time for nerves.
The bad thing about these buildings was that the windows were made to keep thieves from burgling the place. That meant they were high up and challenging to get to.
Good thing he knew how to climb, and he was damn good at it.
He got himself up, scaling the building with as little noise as possible, and peered through the dirty window.
He could see a single rabbit shifter, white hair seeming to glow in the dim lighting, wearing an old pair of jeans and a faded T-shirt. He was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, bound hands in his lap. Not fuzzy at all.
Race didn’t like that. Why would anyone just be sitting in the middle of the room with nothing around him? That screamed a trap.
I don’t like this.
What’s wrong?
He’s just in the middle of the space in a chair in an otherwise empty room.
Ah, booby traps, my favorite.
You just like saying booby.
You know it, Race.
He refused to acknowledge this nonsense — if he was actually speaking to Connal with his mind, it would mean something he wasn’t ready to face up to.
It was very handy, though.
So what do you want to do? I’ll take your lead on this.
That was a first from Con. Okay, I’m gonna try to get his attention, see if he can’t let me know if there are people in there without being too obvious.
All right. I can tell you that it stinks around here in the back, and I don’t mean from the dumpster. I mean predator. Maybe scavenger.
Dammit. He knew it, of course, but that meant they were here, right now.
Be careful, Grizzly. Watch your six.
I got this. You just keep the bunny safe and tell me when you need me to come roaring in and take heads off.
Again, somehow that was super-handy, having a point-and-shoot grizzly.
In fact, he would deploy that early and often, as needed. The thought put a feral grin on his face as he crept into the warehouse, trying to keep to the shadows. He needed to deal with this situation, then he could deal with his Connal issue.
He lifted his head, nosing the air. Like all bears, scent was his strongest sense, and he used it to locate people and danger zones.
There was fear pouring off the bunny, and Race’s spidey senses were buzzing.
Something’s off, Con. Something’s really off.
Yeah. Yeah, this has the smell of a trap, Race. But we can’t just leave him here. You want me to just barrel in and create a diversion?
Not really, but we have to get him out.
I’m better able to take a big hit than you, and you’re way faster, Con pointed out.
Just don’t get dead.
Con’s mental chuckle was like a caress. Never. I want to eat onion rings with you.
Onion rings.
Yes. Onion rings and banana splits.
Mmmm. Damn. Yes.
Okay, I’m gonna get big and roar. Be ready to run. Connal hit the door like a semi truck, the huge grizzly blocking out the light.
Race ran in, heading for the little bunny. “Can you shift?”
The bunny shook his head. “They drugged me.”
“‘kay. Then we’re going to run together.” He busted the chair as Connal just went to town, destroying things.
Bunny leaned hard on him, and they staggered like a three-legged racer toward the door.
Gas started filling the building as they crossed the floor, and he pushed harder.
Connal made this incredible noise, and the sound of a gunshot rang out loud. Then Con was rushing up behind him and the bunny, picking them up in one giant, furry foreleg and gallumphing outside.
Connal grunted and ran, the big body hurtling toward his bike.
He grunted when Con plopped him and the bunny down. Go! I’ll be right behind you! The mental growl made his head throb.
Are you all right?
JUST GO! Connal roared.
He went. They didn’t have time to argue. The building might just go up in flames if the gas went up in there, which he was surprised it hadn’t when the gun had gone off. He got the bunny on the bike, then kicked it into life, squealing out of the area as quickly as he could.
He hoped that Connal would be right behind him.