Shifted Temptations (25 page)

I thrashed as I was pulled upward shar
ply. Instead of falling, I was lifted into the air. I glanced up at my rescuer and smiled at Hawk. He squawked and I barked out a laugh.

“My hero
,”
I teased at him with our mind link.

“Hi, Foxy. How’s it hangin?”

I snarled at the nickname.
“Not funny! Take us down!”

We landed behind a din
er a couple of blocks away from the action. Once on the ground, Hawk let me go and stood beside me.

“Whew! That was close! Thanks Hawk.”

“No problem. I saw the cats, what happened?”

“They snuck up on me.
”

“You didn’t smell them?”

“No, I didn’t. What the hell does that mean?”

“They’re using a scent eraser like the one we have.”

“We’ve got to get to Jordan. I caught sight of someone sneaking up on him when those three got in my way.”

I started heading around the building to go he
lp Jordan when Hawk stopped me.

“Wait, it’s too late.”

“What do you mean?”

He ruffled his feathers and shook his head.
“They took him down and carried him away.”

“Why didn’t you help him?”
I shouted in my head.

“Hey! I had to choose between catching you
and helping him and there is no way I could have taken on three jaguars by myself. We have to go find the rest of the team and regroup. This is a total FUBAR.
”

Fucked up beyond all recognition was right.

“It was an awful coincidence that they knew where I was. Do you think this was a trap?”

“Hell if I know, but yeah, probably. Someone had to have told them we were coming.”

“You think we’ve got a traitor?”

Hawk flew up into the air.
“Yes, let’s go.”

Shit! That
was screwed up. I hadn’t wanted to believe Hawk was right. Our team trusted each other more than family. To have a traitor would have been all kinds of fucked up.

My eyes narrowed.
When I found out who they were, they were going to wish they were going to be in a world of hurt.

~ 27 ~

Alex

The house was quiet and dark. In fact, the whole neighborhood had a creepy kind of silence that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I shook my head and called out to Leo.

“The back is clear
.”

Leo had taken the front while I check out the back yard. We were supposed to meet at the
back door when Jordan signaled.

I had not
wanted to think about what he was doing. I admitted, I was pissed when I found out I would not be helping find my father. It still burned knowing I couldn’t talk to him before we took him out, but really what was I going say? Why? That was a stupid question.

My father did what he wanted, when he wanted, and damn the people he had to step on to do it.
I was sure his answers wouldn’t have surprised me, but it would have pleased me to no end to see his face when he was caught.

The fact that Jordan wo
uld be the one to take him down eased some of my anger. My father would know I was a part of it. It had always been a well-known fact, wherever Jordan was, I was right behind and vice versa.

“Clear, no one in sight. Where do you think they all went?”
Leo replied.

“I don’t know, but keep your eyes peeled. This doesn’t feel right.”

No sooner had the thought cleared my head, than I heard Leo let out roar. I took off around the side of the house and was greeted by Leo being held down by an extremely large black jaguar. At first, I hesitated. Leo should have been more than fine handling the cat one on one, but for some reason this time was different.

Leo’s jaws opened wide as he tried to clamp down on the jaguar
’s shoulder. The jaguar took it like a love bite and continued slashing into him. They were both covered in blood and it became pretty clear that he needed help.

I leaped towards the fight, ready to rip the asshole off my teammate, when I was tackled mid-air. I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of me
for a second before I figured out what happened. Another jaguar had attacked me. Where in the hell had they come from?

I was able to flip over and get away, but he was still coming. We jumped at the same time and ended up locked on each other while standing on our hind legs. The sounds of roaring and growling filled the night as we clawed and bit into one another.

I shoved, pulled, slashed, and lunged. Nothing I did got this guy to back down. He was unusually strong and I was struggling to stay upright. My shoulder throbbed from where his fangs had taken a chunk of flesh. My sides burned from multiple slashes and I was beginning to tire.

One last swipe across the jaw had him flying off to the side and landing heavily on the ground. He laid still and I
thought it was finished. I needed to help Leo. I could hear him still struggling behind me.

Remarkably, just as I started to turn around, the jaguar leaped back up on his feet and stalk
ed towards me.

I couldn’t stop my paws from backing away as I took in his feral appearance. His golden coat was covered in blood and showed raw
meat from where I ripped a large piece of flesh from his body. I knew I probably looked the same, but it was the other features that had me itching to run away.

His eyes glowed bright red and
pinkish foam dripped off his snarling lips. What in God’s creation was that thing? My answer was obvious. God had not created it. No, someone had been playing with something they shouldn’t have and I had a good idea who that someone was.

Just as the cat leaped towards me, two
gunshots went off. The jaguar slumped to the ground, the top of his head a ruined mess. I turned around to see Paul with his gun aimed at two unmoving lumps of bloody fur.

I
limped over and pushed the jaguar off of Leo. He was barely recognizable; he was cut up so badly. His large golden mane was soaked red, as was the rest of his fur. His eyes were closed and I leaned in closer to see if he was breathing. His chest rose and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I
swiftly shifted into human form. The change would stop some of the bleeding and I needed to talk to Paul. Once the transformation was complete, I stood naked, covered in drying blood and heaving as I caught my breath.

“Thanks Paul, but what are you doing here?”

Paul’s dark eyes lifted away from where Leo lay to meet mine. Even after seeing such carnage, his expression remained emotionless.

“There’s trouble.”

My eyes narrowed. “What kind of trouble.”

Jordan’s been taken.”

“Shit! Where’s the rest of the team?”

“I don’t know. There has been no sign of them.”

I went to lift my hand to run it through my hair and hissed when pain shot through my arm. I looked down to see most of my right bicep had been torn away. The white of bone looked startling bright against the raw flesh.

“Shit!” I cursed again.

“We need to get you and Leo out of here.”

I shook my head. “No, you need to get Leo out of here and I’m going after Jordan.”

Paul’s eyebrows lifted. “You can’t...”

His words
cut off at the sound of flapping wings. We looked up to see Hawk circling. He landed, shifting into human form at the same time. After taking in his surroundings, Hawk turned towards Paul and me.

“Shit, Alex! What the hell happened?”

I shook my head. “I don’t even know. They came out of nowhere and if Paul hadn’t shown up, Leo and I would have been torn to shreds.”

“Looks like
he was late, you are torn to shreds,” Terry said from behind me. “What happened?”

Terry ran over to kneel beside Leo as she looked him over
. She was naked as well, but we ignored it. Nudity was a normal part of being a shifter. Not to say it wasn’t pleasant to see a beautiful naked woman, but we tried hard not to look below her neck.

Well, Hawk and I knew better. Paul on the other hand was a newbie and
did not hide his blatant appraisal.

He was lucky Terry’s attention was occupied
elsewhere, because if she knew he was looking at her like that, he would be in a world of hurt. Last time someone’s eyes lowered below her face, she broke their arm. We learned real quick it was much easier and whole lot more pleasant to just look her in the eye at all times.

“I was just telling Hawk, we never saw them coming and their strength was...” I couldn’t find the words for how strong those jaguars
had been.

“
Immense, I know.” Terry nodded, still looking at Leo. “Three had trapped me on the roof. Luckily Hawk came along and we got away.” She looked up at me, her eyes sad. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help Jordan. They took us by surprise and I had no time to get a shot off.”

“I’ve got to get him.”

“Wait, no way man! You need to heal up some first,” Hawk said.

Gritting my teeth,
I straighten my shoulders as best I could and tried not to cry out in pain. I was third in command. With Teij not here and Jordan possibly captured, that put me in charge and they knew it.

“Paul and I will go search for Jordan. I want the two of you to contact Teij. Get
him caught up on the situation. Leo needs a medic, see that he gets out of here.”

Hawk and Terry both nodded and turned away. Terry had shifted so she could communicate with Teij as Hawk lifted Leo in
to his arms and started towards the forest. They would meet up with the helicopter in the fields where we dropped.

I shifted into my jaguar form, hissing as the wounds stretched. Thankfully
, the change actually helped heal some of them and I was walking a lot better.

I started towards the center of town with Paul behind me. I wasn’t sure where they would
have taken Jordan, but I figured starting at the scene would be best. Maybe I would catch a scent.

The two of us walked in silence a
nd as we got closer, the only scent I caught was the metallic smell of blood. The street was covered in it and there was more than one puddle.

I walk
ed carefully, keeping an eye on my surroundings. The town was eerily quiet, reminding me of what happened only minutes before. Something was wrong.

O
nce we reached the four-way crossing, it became obvious that it was where most of the fight went down. Another words, it was where the most blood was spilled. I sniffed the ground, catching the scent of Jordan’s blood and began following it right towards the Town Hall.

“Alex,” Paul said from behind me.

I turned my head to look at him and my eyes widen when I saw his gun aimed at me. I stared into his dark eyes and at first; I saw nothing, but his usual emotionless expression. Then a flash of regret flared before he quickly masked it away.

“I’
m sorry,” he said just before a scuffling sound had me turning my head away from him.

It was too late
, though. Something hard hit me on the side of my head and I was out cold, just like that.

~ 28 ~

Sam

I placed my book on the nightstand and grabbed my crutches. I was tired of lying around and my nerves were shot. As I turned the corner, I saw Bear sitting on the couch mumbling on his cell phone. Without speaking, I continued past him and into the kitchen. I felt his eyes on me as I walked by, but I ignored him.

The first day with Bear was great. We played some board games and talked. He was fun and I instantly felt a connection with him. He would be a good friend and was easy to talk
with.

However,
ever since the night before, he had become tense and closed up. His cell had been ringing off the hook and no matter how many times I asked, he would not tell me a thing.

It had been three days s
ince Jordan and Alex left, and it was finally the day my men should be coming home. I would have been excited, but I had a bad feeling things were not going as planned.

I had a doctor’s appointment the coming week and I couldn’t wait to bring the guys with me. They would get to hear the
baby’s heartbeat for the first time. I thought I might be able to talk the doctor into giving me another ultrasound. I was betting the men would love that. I hoped it all worked out.

I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the milk. The jug was almost empty. I wondered if I should ask Bear to go to the store or if that was impolite. I shook my head. I guessed it didn’t matter if it was polite or not, because I sure as hell couldn’t drive to the store.