Black Market Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Genesis Valley Book 2) (14 page)

“I would agree,” the other shifter said. “Too organized and efficient, not to mention ruthless, to be government-operated. I was the only one in this prison until earlier today. Or yesterday. I’m not really sure what time it is. But the way they hustled in additional cages, wired them up, and filled them with prisoners was scary. These guys are professionals. They might have government backing financially, but they will have some sort of plausible deniability I’m sure. We’ll never know the truth there.”

Ajax nodded. That explanation made sense, as did the information that whoever they were up against was using the current location as a newfound central staging point.

They waited for the others to take the elevator.

“We’re not going with them?” Benjamin asked.

“First we have to make a side trip to the control center. I intend to shut this place down.”

“Sounds like fun.” The other shifter rolled his shoulders to loosen them up. “It’s been a bit since I’ve been in a good old-fashioned fight.”

***

The elevator doors clanged open with a much louder noise than they did on any other floor.

With a glance at Benjamin, the pair exited the elevator.

It took Ajax all of two seconds to realize something.

The guard lied!

The elevator didn’t open into a hallway. It opened
directly
into
the control room!

Heads turned to face the pair as both sides looked at each other in shock.

Ajax recovered first and with a shout he charged into the room, calling forth for his bear.

The massive beast announced its presence and glee at being set free with a earth-shattering roar that was amplified tenfold by the gray steel that formed the walls, floor, and ceiling here, like everywhere else.

Ajax charged amongst the men, swatting them left and right, trying to get to them all before any could pull their guns. There were more men here than they had seen anywhere else in the complex. He let his bear do its thing, his human mind almost taking a back seat to the action as massive paws reached out and crushed people with disdain.

To his right he saw Benjamin’s bear doing the same thing. His fur was a silver, almost metallic in color. Very unusual, he noted.

The pair made quick work of the place, and then set about using their size to destroy the panels and computers in the room.

One thing caught his eye, and Ajax shifted back as swiftly as he could.

“Wait!” he shouted at Benjamin. “Just hold on a second while I read this.”

He didn’t want the other shifters’ efforts to end up killing the power or anything to the terminal in front of him. It was set apart and above the others he noticed, looking around the room.
This must be the command console.

There was a note on it.

Levante,

The Order may be no more, but they gave us the funding to continue this project for decades, and I intend to see it through to the end. If you think the money we have now is something, imagine what we could sell these formulas for on the open market. Keep setting up our new base as ordered, and hunt down those two that escaped. I want them in our program. They must not be allowed to tell others that we exist. I am sending four more teams of men to join you, including our first Extremis squad. Do not fail me again.

J

“Come read this,” he said, waving Benjamin over.

The other shifter ambled over, not bothering to shift. The bear tilted his head and it was clear he was looking at the screen. A moment later the eyes turned back to Ajax, and he tossed his head agitatedly.

“Okay, smash it. I think we’re done here anyway,” Ajax said. He backed up while Benjamin reduced the computer terminal to pieces with two swipes.

The pair swiftly got back in the elevator and then jogged the hallways until they exited at the loading dock. Andre was waiting for them, a pained look on his face when he saw Ajax.

Ice formed instantly in his stomach. “Arianna?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

Andre shook his head. “Truck’s gone, so is she. Rubber on the floor. I’m guessing she took off when someone spotted her.”

“Okay,” Ajax said swiftly as his heart began to break into pieces. “We need to get these men to safety first. Get them in the truck, and let’s get aboveground. Once there, call Flint. He’s going to have to find a place to stash everyone.”

“What about Arianna?” Milos asked from nearby.

“What about her?” he asked angrily.

“What are you going to do?”

Ajax snarled. “I’m going to get these men to safety like I promised. Hopefully she managed to get away and will make her way back to Flint’s club on her own.”

“What if she didn’t?”

“Then I’m going to find the men who took her, and I’m going to kill them all one by one until they tell me where she is,” he promised, his expression dark.

A shout from Benjamin, who had gone ahead to the cargo truck, drew his attention. He heard the engine try to turn over, but it didn’t start.

“What is it?” Ajax asked, drawing alongside.

“This thing is toast,” Benjamin told him, sliding out of the driver’s seat. “We aren’t using it to get out of here.”

Ajax swore. “Okay, well there are two pickup trucks over there. We should be able to fit most of us into them. Some of us will have to go on foot.” He shrugged. “Assuming we can get them running.”

Benjamin turned to the crowd. “Harry, you ever hotwire vehicles before?”

The small shifter looked uncomfortable. “You know I’m not proud of that time in my life.”

Ajax snapped, worry for Arianna pressing on him. “We don’t have time for that shit right now. Can you, or can’t you get them started?”

The shifter nodded unhappily and jogged over to the vehicles. Less than a minute later they were both running. Ajax and Benjamin, with Andre and Milos to help, loaded up their injured and wounded. The trucks didn’t have crew cabs however, and so the four of them were left without a spot. Andre gave directions to Harry, and the trucks screeched out of the parking garage.

“Well gentleman, I guess we’re on foot,” Ajax said, and he started to jog up the ramp where the trucks had disappeared.

They had just reached the top of the ramp when a van pulled out of oncoming traffic and screeched to a halt. The four of them looked apprehensively as twelve men piled out. They were dressed very similarly to the guards that he had dispatched earlier.

Something about them was different, but he couldn’t quite identify it.

“Not shifters,” Benjamin muttered.

“They don’t have guns,” Milos said happily.

Ajax noticed that, but he was seeing something else.

“They aren’t nervous though,” he said slowly, comprehension dawning on him. “These men believe they can take us.”

As the four watched, the squad of black-clad men fanned out in a shallow arc in front of them. The newcomers had arrived too late to block them into the ramp, and as they advanced, Ajax and the others continued to back away. Around them, pedestrians scrambled back, aware that some sort of showdown was going on.

“Benjamin,” he said softly.

“Call me Benji, will you?” the other shifter said as he stepped closer.

“What do you want to bet this is the Extremis squad that note read about?”

“No bet,” Benji replied unhappily. “Nor do I really want to find out how they earned that name.”

“Agreed,” Ajax said, as they continued to back away.

He wasn’t sure whether the men facing them had different priorities, or if the eye of the public on them became too much, but whatever it was, they seemed reluctant to pursue Ajax and company.

“They’re stopping,” Milos said.

Ajax didn’t waste any time. “Benji, fastest way to get back to Flint’s club. Now.”

“The subway. This way!” he shouted. The four of them turned and ran.

Although Ajax was happy he didn’t have to tangle with the Extremis squad yet, he had an unhappy feeling that he would have to at some point. He just hoped they weren’t what he thought they were.

Arianna

The doors burst open as she flung herself through them, letting her body carry her forward. The floor came up to meet her as she finally collapsed with exhaustion.

“Miss? Miss? Are you okay?” A concerned voice shouted and footsteps pounded on the floor as they approached.

“Flint,” she tried to shout, but it came out as a hoarse whisper instead.

“Just relax, I’ll call for help,” the voice said from above her, then, “Oh my goodness, you’re covered in blood!”

“Not mine,” she managed to get out. “Flint,” she repeated.

“Just stay still and I—”

Arianna’s hand shot up to the unidentifiable person’s neck, her fingers wrapping around the collar. She dragged him down until they were face to face.

“Get. Me. Flint. Now.” She said in very carefully controlled tones.

The move took a lot out of her, and she collapsed back to the floor as the person nodded jerkily and took off, shouting for Flint at the top of his lungs. She wondered how long it would take for him to get over to her. They didn’t have much time.

Arianna had been on the run for several hours now, most of it a blur. She remembered being hit with the first dart, and the sluggish effects it had on her system. There was also the surprised look on Levante’s face as his gun didn’t go off the second time, followed by his shout of horror as she threw herself into him.

With his death, and her shooting of the guard who had snuck up behind her, Arianna had thought she was free. She was wrong. There was a big ditch at the side of the road, and she had been halfway through a sewer drain under the freeway ahead before the final man caught up with her.

That fight should have been it for her. He had thrown punch after punch, opening cuts all across her face as she tried to escape. At one point his boot into her side had sent her into a particularly sharp piece of metal, slicing a big gash down her forearm. That mixed with Levante’s blood had turned her into a gruesome figure of death out of some sort of B-level horror movie that the unlucky person inside Flint’s club had seen.

“Arianna?” Flint asked as he walked swiftly to her side. “What happened to you?”

A vision of the last man pursuing her flashed through her head. Of her feet connecting with his chest, sending him stumbling backward. Of the sudden spike of red-stained steel that sprouted from his chest as he impaled himself on a twisted piece of the sewer piping.

“No time,” she told him tiredly, feeling one step above exhaustion after her rest on the surprisingly comfortable floor. Or was it just comfortable because of how tired she was?

“No time for what?”

“Story. I was followed. We need to go. Now,” she said, trying to haul herself to her feet.

“Followed? By whom?”

She rolled her eyes. “Whoever it is we’re up against,” she said angrily, allowing herself to be hauled to her feet by his strong arm.

“You let them follow you?”

“Thought I’d lost them,” she said as they moved away from the front door. “Saw their truck just before I came inside. I’m sorry,” she said at the end. “But we need to go. Now.”

Flint took one look at her, then nodded. “Danny, tell everyone to go home, now. You included,” he said in firm tones that brooked no argument.

The smaller man, who might have been a bartender, nodded and took off once more.

“Come on, let’s go,” he said, and she began to hobble alongside him toward the rear of the club.

“Where are we going to go?” she asked as he helped her into the front door of a sleek, low-slung sports car.

“To see someone who is missing you badly right now,” he said with a smile.

***

“Ajax!” she said weakly, though with more energy than she had felt earlier.

“Arianna!” he shouted, bullying his way past several others who were standing closer to the door. He stopped short as his eyes took in her appearance. “Are you okay?” he asked, eyes blazing with anger as he looked past her at Flint.

“I’m fine,” she said with a wave of her arm, instantly regretting the excess motion. “I’m really hungry though.”

Ajax looked at her funnily, but didn’t say anything for a moment. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he suggested. “There’s plenty of food here, I’ll get a plate together once we have you in a bath.”

“A bath?” she asked, sagging into him as Ajax’s strong arms picked her up with careless ease and headed toward an open doorway on the far end of the room. “Where are we that we can have a bath?”

“One of Flint’s safehouses,” he told her.

“And who are all those people back there?”

“Those are the people we rescued,” he said proudly.

Arianna went rigid. “Benjamin?” she asked softly.

Ajax frowned. “He’s here. Arianna, who is he to you?” he asked, with what sounded like a hint of trepidation or nervousness.

Why would he be nervous of the answer to that?
It hit her fatigue-dulled brain like a bullet.

“Oh, no Ajax, not like that!” she told him with a sad smile.

“Then what?” he asked, still on guard.

Arianna leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “He’s my half-brother,” she said, admitting a secret she hadn’t told anyone.

“What?” Ajax almost shouted in surprise. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

She blushed. “I don’t know, I guess I didn’t want to put any more pressure on the rescue attempt to begin with? It was already far-fetched that we might find him or be able to save him. I didn’t want you to feel guilty in case this group had already killed him.” She paused, then continued after a moment of hesitation. “Plus, it’s been ingrained in me for so long to be private about my life, not to reveal things to strangers.”

Ajax nodded. “Do you want to see him? He’s standing watch with Milos and Andre at the moment.”

“Food,” she croaked, her throat hurting after talking so much at once. “And water too,” she said.

“Bath,” Ajax told her firmly. “I’ll get you the food once you’re in it. No arguments, miss,” he said sternly, before smiling and planting a kiss on her forehead.

With food warming her stomach and hot water caressing her skin and cleansing her, Arianna felt far better than she had just a short while earlier.

Ajax hovered over her, watching her every move.

“I’ll be okay,” she told him, feeling energized and ready to go as the food hit home.

The big shifter paused in his pacing, looking down at her with a look she had never seen on him before.

“What is it?” she asked him, reaching out to wrap her fingers around his leg.

He dropped to one knee, taking her hand in his, big brown eyes focusing on her. “I thought I had lost you,” he said so quietly she almost didn’t hear him.

The depth of emotion present in his voice stunned her into silence. Her eyes searched his as she poured forth her assurances to him through their locked gazes. Assurances that she was okay, and that he hadn’t lost her. Assurances that, as long as she was alive, he
wouldn’t
lose her. Those startled her, but they were there nonetheless, and she didn’t try to fight it.

“I love you,” she blurted out.

Ajax froze, his body so still he didn’t appear to be breathing. She waited for him to shake it off, to smile. Arianna didn’t know if he would reciprocate her words. They hadn’t been ones she had expected to say herself, so she could only imagine his internal thoughts right then.

“Arianna, I...” he started, then fell silent.

She watched as the big, tough, and preternaturally strong shifter collapsed into her arms at the side of the tub. He didn’t seem to care as water washed over him when she moved to embrace him, her arms soaking his shirt as she wrapped them around his neck. He buried his face in her neck, nuzzling his unshaven face gently against her skin as she rocked back and forth slightly, lips kissing the side of his head over and over again. Arianna had no idea what was going on, but instinct told her that just then, she needed to be there for him.

“It’s okay,” she whispered into his ear, pulling him as tight into her as she could. He tensed for a moment, and she felt his head try to rise. “No, just stay,” she ordered.

She felt lips press against her skin as he did as ordered, just relaxing into her embrace for several minutes. The next time he tried to rise, she let him, though her hands stayed in contact with him the whole time.

“I loved her, you know,” he said, strength returning to his voice.

“Loved who?” Arianna knew that he was going somewhere with this point, that it was important to their relationship that he vocalize it.

“Lizzie—Elizabeth,” he said, locking gazes with her once more. “She and I were set to be married. I thought she was my wife. We were even supposed to have a cub. She told me she was pregnant. I...” he hesitated. “I believed her.”

“What happened?” Arianna asked, prodding him gently when he didn’t continue.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. “But whatever it was, she up and left. Just disappeared one day. Left me a note, telling me there never was a baby. No apology,” he explained, his voice growing harder as he spoke. “No explanation. Just that she was leaving.”

“Oh Ajax, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. Instinct told her to pull him in, to kiss him and tell him that she would never do that. He was hurt, and needed healing, healing she could provide. But her brain told her to hold off, to let him come to her, that he needed to do this and discuss his past with her. It obviously still affected him deeply, and she couldn’t blame him. To fall in love with a child, only to be told it never existed and to not know for sure would tear any man apart.

“I’ve gone a long time now without a female in my life,” he said at last. “Just myself. Until you came along.” He smiled at her, and she could see the sad happiness in his face. “I told myself I would never love another, not after her.”

She stiffened at that proclamation, realizing now why he had locked up earlier. He couldn’t give her his love. She would be meaningful to him, but she would never be
that
woman to him. Arianna nodded, letting him know she understood.

Rough, powerful fingers gently caressed her jaw as he lifted her gaze back to meet his.

“I told myself that,” he repeated. “But what I told myself was a lie.”

Her heart soared as she understood where he was going.

“I will love again. No,” he corrected, “I
do
love again. I love you, Arianna. I don’t know how, though I can certainly count a few reasons why, but I do. You’ve awoken in me a need I thought I had extinguished years ago, and I know I’ll never fulfill that need without you by my side.”

Tears welled up inside her eyes as he proclaimed his true feelings for her.

“Oh, Ajax.”

He smiled. “I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he said, pulling her gently to him so that he could kiss her.

Arianna wrapped her arms around him. “It’s okay, I’ll have my revenge,” she whispered, then fell backward into the bath.

Ajax yelped as he landed in the tub of warm water, his landing splashing liquid everywhere as it soaked his clothing. Arianna, on the other hand, dissolved into a fit of howling laughter at his drenched puppy-dog look.

“That,” he sputtered, “was unexpected. And mean. I’ll get you back for it, don’t worry.”

She laughed and pulled him down to her, kissing him again.

“So tell me, my big strong bear of a man,” she said with a wink. “Who are you? Where do you come from?”

“My name is Ajax Templeton. I work for a company called Lionshead Mining Consortium, and I lead a team working in the mines near a town called Origin, in the middle of nowhere. It’s a rough life, but it’s one that’s also filled with more love than you can imagine.”

“So clinical,” she teased.

Ajax shrugged. “I’m not sure what you wanted to know,” he replied sheepishly.

“That’s a good start,” she told him, pulling him deeper into the water next to her, as best they could in the cramped confines.

“Be careful,” he warned after a moment. “I don’t want you pulling open your—”

“My what?” she said, frowning, following his eyes to her arm. “What the hell?” she exclaimed.

The gash on her arm, once bleeding profusely, was already closed and scabbing over.

She looked up at him in alarm. “How is that possible?”

Ajax just shook his head. “I’m not sure,” he said guardedly. “But if you’re feeling better, we should get downstairs. They’ll be waiting for us.”

Arianna blinked. “They?”