Theo wasn’t listening. His head had swung toward cat woman and his nose twitched. She could tell he wanted to chase the villains, but it was too dangerous. Cat woman had both guns and who knew how many other men were waiting to shoot.
“You’re fine. Stay here. I need you here.”
Theo paused, his nose drawing him one way, his mind pulling him the other. She wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but then the noise from the other direction grew exponentially louder. Suddenly more guys with guns burst in from the near door, and these guys looked coordinated. They had a leader barking orders and three others following in a clear retreat. Which would have been fine except Theo was standing there in full grizzly form.
The first guy pulled up with a gasp. The others flanked out and two of them aimed their weapons. There was no time to react. Theo didn’t have more than a split second to rear up. And in that frozen moment, she realized he was about to die. These guys were going to shoot.
She screamed. It was all she could do.
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.”
