The Coming Storm
Authors: Flynn Eire
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal, #paranormal romance
A Supernatural Script Inc. Book
A Supernatural Script Inc. Book
Shifting Reality 1: The Coming Storm
Copyright © 2013 Erin R. Flynn
E-book ISBN: 978-1-940036-04-5
First E-book Publication: September 2013
Cover design by Sloan Winters
Editing by Jae Ashley
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. It is fiction so facts and events may not be accurate except to the current world the book takes place in.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Bambi
: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Expedition
: Ford Motor Company
H2 (Hummer)
: General Motors LLC
Imagine Dragon's (Radioactive)
: Reynolds, Daniel; Sermon, Daniel; McKee, Ben
iTunes
: Apple, Inc.
James Bond
: Danjaq, LLC
Lord of the Rings
: The Saul Zaentz Company DBA Tolkien Enterprises
Marriott Corporation
: Marriott International, Inc.
Navy SEALs
: The Department of the Navy
Six Flags
: Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc.
SNL
: NBC Universal Media, LLC
Supernatural
: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
1
“
I’ve got the way to get us out of trouble, guys,
” my eldest brother, Seattle mimicked with a growl. I grabbed the handle on his 2013 Ford Expedition when he flipped a bitch fast enough there was a loud squealing of tires, and I swear we were only on two of them for a few moments. “
I can get us in and out without anyone
ever
knowing we were there
.”
Just then the back window shattered, shards of glass flying everywhere as a bullet went through it.
“How’s
that
plan working out, Chicago?” I met his eyes in the rearview mirror, the LA street lights shining in and reflecting off the windshield making the normally handsome lines of Seattle’s face harsh, especially given how pissed he was.
I knew his anger wasn’t actually directed at me but the situation. Even if the shit we were neck deep in
had
been my fault, Seattle wasn’t the type of person to blame others or rub their noses in their mistakes. No, he was just
pissed
and scared for all of us… And that’s when his pretty, pretty sarcasm came out in spades.
“Should I have not grabbed the proof?” I snapped right back as the fingers of my left hand dug into my thigh. I wasn’t exactly having the best day either and it was my first time getting shot at. Though I was fairly impressed the way my two oldest brothers were handling themselves. I started to suspect Seattle and Boston had been in a situation like this in the past. “Just left it there and pretended I didn’t see it?” He threw me a look that clearly said to not be stupid. Well then? It wasn’t my fault.
“We’ve gotta lose them,” Orlando shouted as he glanced behind us while ducking behind the seat as his shoulders went tight. “We need help.”
“No
shit
!” Seattle and Boston shouted together, both in the front. Then I suddenly felt light-headed as my already adrenaline filled blood took off towards my heart and it started beating fast enough to jump out of my chest as I watched Boston pull out a handgun. My brother hit a button on the door of the vehicle and heaved himself
out
the window as soon as it was down.
“Hold his legs,” Seattle ordered. “I’ve got another turn coming up to get us onto 10. He’ll go flying.”
I tucked the thumb drive that held the reason we were being chased and the future of millions in my jeans pocket before practically diving onto my brother’s legs to support him.
I was blasted with the humid heat coming in from the outside air, making me sweat worse than I already was under the circumstances. Scrambling and clawing to get a hold when my arms started to slip against the cotton of his black cargo pants, I gripped him tighter. I suddenly saw black spots and couldn’t help but feel a giggle build in my throat, wondering how I’d know if they were black given the color of his pants.
Burying my face against his legs, I hoped I could just hold on and not lose him as I had so much already. As the gun went off, loud and echoing in my ears, I wished I could wake up from this nightmare.
“What the fuck happened, Chicago?” Phoenix asked me again. I glanced at Seattle. He’d told me not to tell anyone what I’d found. “This was supposed to be a simple snatch and download. You promised us you could do this, baby brother. Now you’ve fucked us with the PP and the NSA. It was bad enough that the PP were pissed at us before, but if they find out about this, we’re dead—if the humans don’t kill us first.”
“It’s not my fault!” I heard a loud crash behind us after Boston fired his gun a few more times. His leg twitched as a signal to get off him, and I darted back into my seat, clicking my belt in place just in time so I didn’t go flying when Seattle once again took a corner too fast.
As he did I caught a glimpse of the dirty underpass with garbage cans off to the side that looked as if people had been using them to light fires in to keep warm. Prior to Boston rolling back up his window and as Seattle made another turn onto the on ramp, an acidic, nasty scent hit my nose and I winced when I realized it was old piss. Sometimes having an advanced sense of smell wasn’t the best thing. But if bums were living beneath that underpass, yeah, made sense they’d go there too.
“What did you find that Seattle had us immediately destroy anything that could be traced?” Milwaukee asked loudly, the noise from losing the back window and the vehicles still after us deafening. “We all just got new phones and you know how cheap he is. He wouldn’t have us smash and leave them unless he
knew
someone would be looking.”
“Wait, so you didn’t screw up?” Boston shouted, glancing back at me with his head tilted to the side before searching my face as if it would hold the answers he wanted.
“No, baby bro might have just saved the lives of every paranormal in the world,” Seattle said proudly. “If we can live to get it to the PP.”
“You want to go to Washington, DC, to
see
the Paranormal Parliament who is pissed at us and will want our heads after they hear about this?” Boston’s eyes were practically bugging out of his head as he stared at Seattle. When our eldest brother just nodded, he let out a litany of cuss words. “What the
hell
did you find out, Chicago?”
I swallowed loudly before meeting Seattle’s eyes in the rearview mirror again. “That we’re all very fucked.” And that’s when another bullet hit the SUV… And one of my brothers shouted in pain.
36 Hours Earlier…
“You can go fuck yourself,” Seattle growled to the wolf looming on our doorstep.
“Should I convey your sentiments to our leaders,
mutt
?” The man smirked as he rocked back on his heels, letting us know he would no matter what Seattle said.
“No, of course not.” I let out a sigh of relief. At least my brother wasn’t going to start another massive fight. We were in enough trouble already. “
Please
tell them to go fuck themselves, sirs and madams.”
“
Seattle
!” Boston shoved him out of the way and took over the conversation as the second oldest. “Look, we get you’re here on PP orders. That’s great, but it’s not happening. You’re a wolf and we’re not. We’re not in your territory. There is no sane reason or law that should have to make us move and join your pack.”
“Besides you want to fuck our baby brother,” Phoenix added. All five of them were blocking me from the wolf. Hell, I could barely see the man. “I don’t know how you got the PP to agree to this or what you had to do for it but—”
“Oh no,” the Alpha chuckled. “They wanted you in my pack and I said no fucking way. I wasn’t taking a bunch of mongrels in with my
wolves
because they want everyone consolidated. They asked me what they could give me to make it happen. After I laid eyes on the little one when I first came to discuss it with you, that’s what I told them. They said sure. He’s mine.”
“Not gonna happen,” Seattle snarled. “And
that
I’ll tell the PP myself. They can’t just fucking hand over my brother to be one of your goddamn toys.”
There was a pause where I tried to see around Phoenix but to no avail. Damn tall and wide men. I was five-ten, but around a bunch of malamute shifters, I was a shrimp. At least Milwaukee was shorter like me.
“Yeah, we know about the little harem you keep. How you fucking got to be Alpha astounds me,” Boston drawled. “You’ve run the pack into the ground because you don’t do anything but pay attention to your dick. So head back to San Jose and do everyone a favor and drive into the ocean on the way. Our final answer is
no
and you’re not touching Chicago
ever
, fucker.”
“Bold words. You’ll have other ones when the PP guards show up and force you to follow their decree. When that happens maybe I’ll just take him in front of you over and over again anyways to teach you how to obey an Alpha.”
“That won’t be possible,” Seattle said easily, and I shook my head, knowing he had on his evil smile that could scare the shit out of grown men.
It wasn’t the only amusing thing right then actually. There were six grown men crammed in the entryway of our house… A very inviting one at that, that my mother had decorated to always make guests feel welcome, and here my brothers were doing everything in their power to tell the Alpha and authority figure who wanted to come in and become
very
friendly with me to ignore that vibe.
“How so?” Sure enough there was a slight quiver in the Alpha’s tone before he cleared his throat.
“Because you or they get Chicago over our dead bodies so if you have him we won’t be here to witness shit. Now get the fuck off our property before we call the cops.” Then as one, Boston and Seattle stepped back and slammed the door in the man’s face.
“Guys, just give me to him,” I said, shaking my head and trying to ignore the floor feeling as if it was dropping out from under me.
“
No
!” Five angry growls echoed through the entryway. I hung my head, completely jumbled inside. Part of me was touched how much my brothers loved me and thrilled they would go to such lengths to protect me. The other half of me felt like a rat bastard that I was going to be the reason they got themselves killed or worse. Because for them ending up in a PP prison would be a fate worse than death.
PP or Paranormal Parliament was the ruling body of all supernatural species. A long time ago, way before any of us were born, it used to be complete anarchy. Different races and species just came in and took over wherever they wanted and only the strong survived, wiping out some breeds of paranormals altogether. And we all know the strong aren’t always the most moral. Not that the two are mutually exclusive, they just don’t always fit either.
Like selfless and kind-hearted. Those are two characteristics that fit well together and people normally assumed were a package deal. Strong and moral? Not so much.