“Guys, as entertaining as this is, we need to get moving.” Nolan poked Milo, and before any of them could even blink, War had freed the rest of the bears with big swipes of his paws, breaking cages and chains.
He picked up Milo in a giant bear hug and rumbled toward the door like a freight train.
Connal met Race’s eyes, his dark brown bear eyes glinting with mirth.That’s interesting.
Totally. But you know what? I think at this point we just need to get the fuck out of here.
“Agreed.” Nolan started herding bears toward the exit. “Come on guys. We can take you to safe places. Please stay with us and don’t run unless, of course, you’re bad guys, then run away because Con’s gonna hurt you.”
Surprisingly nobody ran. This was going to be a nightmare of logistics, but they would call in Quin and his people, and they would get everybody to a safe place, dispersing the bears all across the southwest to keep them safe.
He had to give props to the bunny. He’d really turned them on to a hardcore ring of smugglers.
He didn’t want to look too hard at the remains of what was in the living room though. That seemed excessive.
Necessary, but excessive.
They slogged out to the yard to the vehicles, and Rye roared up in a big half-ton pick-up. Well that would carry a lot of rescues. They got all the bears loaded up, and he and Con were returning to their bikes, ready to make a run for it when someone stepped out of the shadows, raising a gun and pointing it at Con, who had just shifted back to human and was a little disoriented.
“Motherfucker,” the guy snarled. “You ruined everything.”
Oh, fuck no, Race didn’t think so. No one was gonna shoot his mate again. So he stepped up and hit the guy’s arm hard, sending it flying up into the air so the gun went off harmlessly. He really hoped it was harmless. Sometimes bullets came down and hit things.
He punched the guy right in the nose, hearing a very satisfying squelch. “You’re lucky you’re not fucking dead like all the rest of your cronies, you asshole. We’re taking you back to the authorities so they can have someone who will sing like a bird.”
Energy gathered around the guy as if he was going to shift, but Race just stepped up again and smacked both hands over the guy’s ears, letting him have a concussive blow. The guy dropped like a stone, and Race snorted, staring down at him, nudging him with one foot to make sure he was actually unconscious.
“Tranq him, Con.”
Connal chuckled but he did just that. He shot the guy at point-blank range with a dart. That was going to leave a mark. Then Con grinned at him. “That was super-hot, baby.”
“I was not about to let him hurt you. Not again.”
“See? We save each other. I love that for us.”
Warmth swelled in his chest because his mate was right. This had always been a solo act, but working with Con satisfied something deep inside him, in his soul. “We make a pretty good team,” he said casually, understating everything completely.
But he knew Con got what he meant. He could feel it between them along their mate bond. The pride, the love, and the desire for him that was never far from the surface.
“Hey, let’s get a move on.” War called. “The sooner we get all these bears dropped off, the sooner we can go home.”
He and Con shared another grin as they got dressed again and straddled their bikes. “Odds that War and Milo hook up?” Con said.
“Exceptionally good odds, I would say, but I will take him out if he hurts Milo.”
Con nodded seriously, pressing his lips together. “I bet War would rather chew off his own arm than hurt your brother.”
“Either way it’s going to be a hoot to watch. Come on, baby, let’s go home.” Race got his engine going, and then got moving, him and Con leading the convoy of bizarre shifter-carrying vehicles. They probably had a long couple of days stretching out in front of them as they got all of the logistics taken care of,but then they were on their own and maybe they would get that vacation.
Chapter
Thirteen
By the time they got the extra bears to the rescue organization that Quin ran and got back to the cabins War and Ryder and Connal owned, everybody was so exhausted that, basically, they hibernated for two days. So it was a while before Race got a chance to talk to his brother, Milo. They’d paired off, him and Con going to Connal’s cabin, Rye and Nolan going to theirs.
He thought Milo was at War’s place, so he grabbed a bunch of shit out of the fridge, made a big salad with salmon and mixed berries, and pulled a brownie mix out of Con’s overloaded pantry so he could take something chocolate with him too. Milo had always loved chocolate.
He found Milo in the kitchen, sitting at War’s big granite countertop bar with a cup of coffee in his hands. War was nowhere to be seen, but Milo looked worse for wear, skinny and tired and pale.
