Ella and the Beast (More Than Human Book 1) (22 page)

Ella turned the lock before turning to look around the room. She needed to put as much distance between herself and Isabella as possible while trying to find a way out of the building. She hurried across to a closed door and opened it.

Quickly peering into the hallway, Ella stepped into the corridor at the same time she heard a loud bang at the door that she had locked door where Isabella was trying to escape. The sound of voices coming from the left drove her to the right. She ran down the hallway. She didn’t stop until she reached a narrow door near the end of it. Twisting the handle, she slid through the opening. Her breath caught when she heard the gorilla man’s low, urgent voice.

“We’ve got company. The girl must have a tracking device on her,” he said. “

“Find the device and the girl,” Isabella snapped.

“You need to leave. I’ll find her and bring her to you,” the gorilla man replied. “Hyde is securing the bottom floors. It will take them a while to get in. All the bars have been activated on the bottom floors. You’ll need to go out through the upper level to escape.”

“Abe, break her legs so she can’t run again,” Isabella instructed.

“No worries about that, I already warned her I would,” Abe replied.

Ella pulled away from the door and looked up and down. She was in a stairwell. Her heart pounded. The other man was downstairs and it was sealed off, that left her with no choice – she would have to go up if she wanted to escape.

Theodore threw the last remaining papers he would need into his briefcase. He glanced around his home office one more time. Isabella’s promise to retrieve the human might not be the best solution, but it would be the most cost effective. He had very little that he needed or wanted to take with him here in his small townhouse.

He hadn’t wanted to take a chance on losing the priceless artifacts that he had gathered over the years. Instead, he tookhad shipped them out of the country and placed them on theto his island. His small inheritance, combined with the lucrative income from the sale of black market antiquities and his good investments, had enabled his purchase of the island.

He glanced around the room one more time to be sure there was nothing to implicate him in any way with the human’s disappearance. He reached up and ran a hand down his tired face. Theodore winced when he brushed over the bruise on his cheekbone where Ty Bearclaw’s elbow had caught him. It would heal in a matter of days. He planned to be long gone before anyone here could ask him about it.

He picked up his briefcase, strode over to the door of his office, and pulled it open. A shiver shook him when a touch of chilly air from the living room swept down the hallway. That was another thing he would not miss – the damn cold! He was sick of it.

A single lamp illuminated the living room with a soft glow. He stepped into the room, fumbling in his pocket for his keys. He paused when his badger growled in warning. Stiffening, he paused and cautiously looked around the room.

“Going somewhere?” A cool voice asked from the shadows.

“What…?! Who are you? How did you get in here?” Theodore demanded, glancing at his front door, the only door into his townhouse. The series of locks and chains were still in place. His gaze swung back to the figure. “What do you want?”

“Where is the girl?” The man demanded.

Theodore’s gaze narrowed. He couldn’t see the man’s face. It was hidden behind a black mask. There was something about him, the way that he moved that had his badger frantically urging him to run.

“What girl?” Theodore asked, walking slowly around the couch and placing his briefcase on it. If he could get to the gun he had tucked at his waist, he could find out more about his masked intruder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The Collector does not like making business arrangements and having them fall through, Mr. Badger. It is bad for business,” the man calmly stated. “I wouldn’t reach for the gun, if I were you. I want to know where the human is.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Theodore stated, folding his arms and scowling. “Now, I suggest you leave before I call the authorities.”

“Go ahead. I have a copy of the security disk from the Observatory that they would be very interested in receiving. It is amazing how easy it is to hack into a security system nowadays,” the man said with a cruel grin that quickly faded. “Tell me where the girl is, or not only will they receive the disk, but they’ll be picking up body parts and putting you back together for identification.”.”

“Like hell they will,” Theodore growled, throwing the small knife he had held in his hand. “If you live, you can inform the Collector that I will no longer be doing business with him.”

The figure across from him grunted as the blade bit into his side. A muted snarl ripped through the air and Theodore knew he had just made a serious mistake. Reaching for the gun at his waist, he reeled backwards when a massive gray wolf hit him in the chest.

*.*.*

The snowy owl circled the huge mansion several times before landing in a tall Douglas fir among the line of trees at the edge of the back lawn. The Collector didn’t shift – not yet. Caution was bred into the large owl. A slight movement near a lower window caught the owl’s attention. It followed the shadowy figure of the male as he checked the back door to make sure it was secure. Through the glass, the Collector could see the man’s face – the Hyena.

Disgust welled up inside the Collector. Another movement, this one near the road, pulled the Collector’s attention away from the house for a brief moment. The owl’s excellent eyesight picked up the four vehicles that drew to a stop.

Several men exited the three black SUVs. Three men quickly shifted and disappeared into the shadows. The fourth male walked to the truck parked in the lead. Even from over a hundred yards away, the owl could see the face of the woman as she stared out the window – Tracy Bearclaw.

The owl ruffled its feathers. The situation was far more dire than the Collector had originally suspected. The Bearclaws and the Secret Service were already here. That could only mean one thing: the human woman had a device on her that allowed her to be tracked.

A movement several trees over caused the owl to lift off the branch and soar back above the house. The Collector didn’t land again until the lights inside the house flickered. One of the Secret Service men was cutting the power to the security. Wyland’s security personnel must have realized it was an area of potential weakness and modified it to warn of any type of tampering.

Almost immediately, thick shutters closed over the windows of the first two floors. Irritation flared inside the owl. The men were good, but they had just alerted Wyland to their presence. The Collector started to glide down closer to the house when the sound of glass breaking drew the Collector’s attention to an upper level window. Turning in a tight circle, he caught sight of a slender figure gingerly stepping out onto a narrow ledge. The figure could only be one person – the missing human female.

The Collector watched as the female grasped the decorative molding to steady herself when she stepped out onto the narrow ledge. From this height, he could see that she was trying to get to one of the trees. The Secret Service menagents were on the other side of the huge house, unaware that Ella was escaping her captors on this side of the house while they were trying to rescue her.

A cry caught in the owl’s throat when Ella started to slip. Unable to grasp the molding and the lance, she released the lance. The owl instinctively dove for the falling lance, catching it several feet above the ground before soaring back up over the house.

Turning back in the direction of the street, the owl focused on alerting the two waiting near the truck. In less than a minute, the owl swooped down and landed on the nearby streetlight. Bending forward, it released the lance and watched as it spiraledfell to the ground where it landed with a loud clatter in front of the truck.

The owl locked gazes with Ty Bearclaw for just a second before he took off. A quick glance told him that the grizzly knew and understood what he was trying to tell him. With a loud screech, the owl zoomed in on the figure who was climbing into the tree before calling out another warning when a large dark shape suddenly appeared in the window that she had just exited.

*.*.*

Ella’s heart pounded as she climbed onto the thick branch and pulled herself along it until she could stand. The branches were slick from the unusual snowfall. Forcing herself to focus on what she was doing, she worked her way to the trunk of the tree. She had just made it when she heard a savage snarl. Turning, she swallowed when she saw Abe lean out of the window through which she had exited just minutes before.

Ella slid around to the other side of the tree and began working her way down. Her hopes that Abe wouldn’t hear or see her were dashed when he snarled again. She had descended a little over ten feet when the branches above her shook. Glancing up, she saw the massive, black form of the beast gripping the branch.

Fear gave her the adrenaline she needed to overcome her panic. Her mind cleared and she focused on getting to the ground as fast as she could. When she was less than ten feet off the ground, she jumped.

The loud crashing above her head had her rolling to her feet. Her ankle protested, but she ignored it and began running as fast as she could toward the street in the distance. She could see several vehicles through the trees. If she could get there, perhaps Ty would see her.

Ella bit back a cry when she tripped over a root. Rolling, she scrambled to rise back to her feet. The slippery ground seemed to mock her efforts. She twisted in terror when she heard the sound of heavy breathing behind her. Rolling onto her back, her eyes widened in horror as Abe’s massive figure barreled toward her. His eyes were red with rage, his long yellow teeth flashed in the dim light cast by the streetlights, and his powerful muscles bulged as he came closer.

Her fingers desperately searched the ground near her for a weapon, but all she felt was snow. A sob rose in her throat, choking her scream. Inside her, rage and despair fought when he rose up on his back legs. Her lips parted to draw in a breath when another dark shape suddenly barreled out of the darkness and struck Abe with enough force to send him across the driveway.

Ella’s eyes widened when the enraged grizzly bear rose up and roared. Ty! Ty had come. Tears filled Ella’s eyes when she saw his head briefly turn to look at her. Her hand rose and a barely audible sob slipped from her before she could stop it. The loud growl to her left caused her to start in surprise. She rolled to a sitting position just as a slightly smaller emerged from the trees. It charged past her.

Ella struggled to her feet at the same time when Abe swung out and hit the smaller grizzly with one of his massive fists. The bear released a fierce cry as it rolled to the side and collapsed. Ella knew deep down that the smaller bear had to be Tracy.

Her heart was in her throat as she watched Ty charge Abe. He came in low and used both his weight and his sharp claws to strike out at the gorilla. Ella skirted the two as they faced off, each assessing the other. Unable to look away, she kept her gaze locked on the two beasts as she struggled to get out of their way.

Gripping the rough bark of the tree, Ella steadied herself as she worked her way over to Tracy where she lay motionless. She ignored the biting cold of the snow on her hands and the dampness seeping through her clothing when she fell to her knees beside Ty’s sister. Instead, she concentrated on seeing how badly Tracy was hurt.

Ella carefully ran her hands over the soft fur covering Tracy’s head. She paused when she felt a slight sticky wetness that didn’t feel like snow. Lifting her hand up, she saw it was stained red. There was a cut near the temple, but it didn’t feel like it was too deep. Scooping up some snow, Ella pressed it against the cut to help stop the bleeding and to keep it from swelling too much.

Next, she ran her hands down along the grizzly’s side. A slight moan from Tracy told her that her ribs were either broken or badly bruised. She released a sigh when Tracy suddenly lifted her head, shook it, and released a soft growl.

Ella stroked Tracy while her gaze returned to the two males. In the few minutes that she had spent checking over Tracy, the two were once again locked in battle. She bit her lip to keep from crying out when Abe wrapped his arms around Ty and lifted him off the ground. Ty roared out, both of them snapping at each other’s neck. Abe didn’t release Ty until Ty dragged his claws across both of Abe’s shoulders, leaving deep, gaping gouges along the gorilla’s back.

Ella struggled to her feet when Abe struck out at Ty, hitting him in the side with a tremendous force. Ty raked his left claws along Abe’s chest. The incensed gorilla swung his fists at Ty again, missed, then swung around and gripped him from behind. Ella screamed when Ty fell backwards. Abe had his long arms wrapped around Ty’s neck and was squeezing him.

Frustration, fear, and rage swept through Ella. She glanced feverishly around for a weapon. She jumped when her lance suddenly appeared, piercing the ground in front of her. Looking up, she saw a huge, snowy owl staring down at her from the thick branch of a Douglas fir. Whispering her thanks, Ella grabbed the lance and jerked it out of the ground. Now, it was time for her to show the beast what humans were made of, especially when their mates were under attack.

A loud war cry escaped her and she ran forward. Raising the lance, she pierced Abe in the shoulder, then wrenched the lance free. Ella fell back a few steps when Abe released Ty and fell to the side with an enraged scream. Ty rolled to his side, heaving as he tried to draw air into his starving lungs.

Ella watched as Ty struggled to rise to his feet only to fall back to his side. She could tell he was dazed from lack of oxygen and who knew what kind of injuries. She stepped between him and Abe. The gorilla was rising to his feet. His left arm hung at his side.

“You will not harm me or my mate,” Ella sneered, holding the lance in front of her. “I will kill you if you try to attack again.”

Abe snorted and snarled. Ella refused to be intimidated when he flashed his teeth at her. Instead, she showed him hers, hissing at him. Her body tensed when she saw him change his position. It was obvious he was going to attack again. Bracing herself, she refused to move and leave Ty defenseless.

An inhuman roar filled the air when Abe reacted to her challenge. He rose up on his back legs and pounded his chest with his good arm before he charged her. Ella bent down and thrust the lance forward at the same time that two shadowy figures appeared from behind the trees.

She heard the whispering sound of discharged guns. Abe jerked and his body twisted. His injured arm swung out, striking Ella along her left side and sending her flying through the air. She landed with an audible thump almost eight feet away, rolling until she came to a stop against one of the thick tree trunks.