Noah

He eyed the phone, pressing the button that lit up the screen.

No new phone calls. No next messages. Nothing.

“She should have been there by now,” he said, the words sounding almost petulant to his ear.

It was snowing out. Who knew how long the cab could have taken to get to her place, and then to drive through half the city to take her to Rachel’s. With the storm as bad as it was, they were probably doing no better than crawling along. He was panicking for no good reason, and he knew it.

That didn’t help him calm down, however. So he sent her a text message.

Noah: I know you’re going to roll your eyes when you get this and sigh, but how is it going? Everyone okay?

He tossed the phone onto the bed next to him and lay back, taking one deep breath, trying to steady himself. Even before he was finished exhaling he snatched up the phone and lit the screen up, checking to see if she’d replied while he was breathing and he’d missed the noise over his own breath.

Nothing.

“Come on Ang, let’s gooooo,” he urged, hoping his words would magically make the phone work.

Impatient, he bounced up from the bed and began walking back and forth along the length of his apartment. His pacing was interrupted every five or six strides as he reached the end and was forced to turn around, which certainly didn’t help his mood.

He wasn’t going to be able to wait much longer. There was no way the trip should have taken this long! They should have been there by now. Something was wrong. He needed to go out looking for her.

Noah looked behind him at the door. At the moment he was under house arrest, but Gray had taken him at his word that he wouldn’t leave the embassy, and would stay in his quarters other than to eat or during an emergency.

“This qualifies as an emergency,” he muttered. “It has to.” He justified it because he wasn’t leaving the embassy, and was in fact going to see the very man who had said he couldn’t go anywhere.

He headed down the hallway and then down the stairs.

“What are you doing here?” Gray asked, looking up from where he was seated at the front desk with Braden.

“We need to talk,” he said firmly, motioning with his head toward the conference rooms at the back of the embassy. Somewhere private, the look said.

Whether he understood or not, Gray didn’t seem to care. “I’m busy. Say your piece here.” Almost before he’d finished speaking his head had turned back to the paper he was going over with Braden.

Noah gritted his teeth. He wished Gray would extend him a bit of trust, that perhaps he might believe in him just a little more than he did. Of course, that was a dangerous slope, and if he did that, maybe he slipped up and said something he shouldn’t have.

“Are you sure you want me to talk about this in front of Braden? You might not want him hearing it.”

Gray looked up sharply. His eyes narrowed as he took in Noah’s facial expression, stance and mood. “Very well,” he said, standing up. But instead of walking to the conference room he headed out through the front doors, motioning for Noah to follow. They waited for the doors to close.

The entire time Noah kept checking his phone, hoping he would see something, anything to indicate that Angela was okay, that she’d arrived at Rachel’s safely.

“Speak,” Gray said without preamble as the door closed firmly behind them.

“I know,” he said bluntly. “I’ve been to the north of town. I’m aware of all that.”

He could see Gray tense, getting ready to attack him, to ensure that he couldn’t report back to Cadia.

“I’m not the spy,” he said firmly, staring directly into his superior’s eyes, hiding nothing from him. “Though I’m aware of the fact that one exists.” He took a deep breath in. “And I’m fairly positive I know who it is.”

Gray didn’t say anything. “What are you talking about?”

“I figured you would say that. Not admitting anything till the end. Though, I can see you ready to leap at me and kill me. I wish you wouldn’t. For my sake, and for Angela’s. She can tell you that I’m on your side. That I’ve known for several days now, and haven’t said a word to anyone.”

He looked at his phone again. “Or at least, she would tell if she was able to respond.” Noah looked away. “Gray,” he said, using his boss’s first name, something he rarely did. “I think something is wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

Fiery anger sprang into life somewhere deep within him, fueled by a rage he’d never known before.

“Chase is the spy,” he said. “He threatened Angela if I didn’t reveal to him what I know. That’s why I hit him in the lounge with the bar. I asked Angela to go to Rachel’s, so that she wouldn’t be alone.” Noah pulled out his cell and showed that he had no messages. “The cab arrived over an hour ago. Something is wrong. Either they crashed, or—”

He broke off as pieces suddenly fell into place.

“That sonofabitch!” he roared, the sound bouncing off of buildings and echoing out into the night. “He planned it. All along. He wanted to get into a fight with me. He needed to keep me here, so that he could go after Angela. To threaten her. Chase knew that I would respect the order, and that I would stay here. He followed me to her place nearly a week ago. I chased the slippery bastard, but he escaped. He knows where she lives!”

Gray was just staring at him.

“Just check on him, dammit,” he urged. “Please. Something is wrong. Even if I’m wrong, it means they crashed and she could be in danger.”

“Call the cab company,” Gray said. “I’ll go knock on Chase’s door. I’m still not sure what’s going on with your whole spy thing, but if he’s left the embassy, he’s going to pay for it.”

Noah cursed himself for not calling the cab company himself before bothering Gray. He should have thought of that. There were only two companies in town. The first, as he found out, was closed. An operator picked up the second after several rings.

“Hi, you sent a cab to the Cadian Complex on the south side of town. It arrived there about an hour ago. Have you heard from the driver since?” he asked in a rush.

The operator had him repeat the information. “Um, I’m not sure, sir. I can’t really divulge that.”

“Just call your cab driver, dammit!” he shouted. “I think they’re in trouble. My mate is in that car. I need to know if she’s okay. I know where she was going, I’m not trying to get anything secret from you.”

The woman, audibly shaken, put him on hold. She came back several minutes later. “No, I’m sorry sir, I’m not getting a response.”

Noah saw Gray leap over the railing and land on the first floor. He looked through the glass at Noah and shook his head.

“Oh my God,” he whispered.

Chase had Angela. His entire world started to crumble in on him.

“Sir. I am tracking the car, however. Are you…are you with the Cadian embassy?”

Noah looked at the phone like it had been the voice of God. “Yes. My name is Noah Landeau, I am embassy guard number four, assigned to Andrew Raskell.”

“I, okay.” The woman wasn’t sure what to make of that, but she seemed to believe him. She gave him the coordinates for the car, naming the street it was on and the nearest intersection.

Noah ran back inside, shouting the coordinates out loud as he searched for them on the map.

“Here,” Gray said, stepping forward and slamming his finger down. “Go get her.”

No further encouragement was needed. He was out the door and headed down the street as fast as he could, accelerating hard, not caring about his own safety in the ugly weather. At one point he simply leapt up and over an oncoming car, the headlights of which failed to penetrate the falling snow with enough warning for him to move aside.

He ran as fast as he could, arms pumping. It was only after a bit that he felt his right hand go numb. That’s odd. Glancing at it he realized it wasn’t tingling because it had gone numb, it was the phone vibrating in his grip. His heart soared as he saw that the number was Angela.

“Hang on,” he said, answering the phone as he ran. “I’m on my way, Angela. I’m coming. Just hold on—”

“THEY TOOK Cooper!”

He skidded to a halt, stunned. “What?” The question sounded inappropriate, but he didn’t know what else to say.

“A polar bear, it came out of the snow, hit the car. They took Cooper, Noah. They took my son!”

A furious growl ripped from his throat, powered by the anger of two thousand pounds of bear that came ripping out from beneath his flesh, all red-rimmed eyes and bone-white teeth, limbs the size of a telephone pole and covered in far more muscle than something ever seen out in the wild.

Noah no longer cared about the rules. Someone had threatened his family. His mate, her child. They were his entire world, and someone had taken one of them. No, not someone, he thought. Chase. A shifter that until recently he’d trusted completely.

The giant bear the color of beach sand leapt forward, quickly reaching a pace even Noah in his shifter form couldn’t match. The huge claws on each paw served to give him extra traction in the wet, slippery winter-covered streets. He reached his destination swiftly, tucking and rolling into a ball as he saw the car ahead of him. Noah came up out of the roll in human form, having used it to shed his forward momentum far easier and with less effort than skidding to a stop.

“ANGELA!” he shouted, coming upon the black town car and noting the missing rear left door.

“Noah?”

“Oh thank God,” he said, peering inside and seeing her there, curled up with the cab driver.

Jealousy overcame him, but he beat it down with vicious abandon. The night was cold, and they had been lying there for God knew how long. They’d needed the warmth. A quick glance showed him the cab driver had a broken leg, which was why they hadn’t gone anywhere. The car was on its side.

Angela extracted herself from the driver and with his assistance came up out of the half overturned car with ease. He held her for several long heartbeats before looking back inside.

“We’re going to need more hands to get you out of there,” he said to the cab driver, whose face was white with pain.

“We’ll handle that,” a voice said from behind him. “You get her back to the embassy.”

Noah whirled to see Gray, Hector, and Braden all descending into the ditch. Hector and Braden spread out to secure the perimeter while Gray came over to him.

“Go,” he urged. “We’ll discuss this once everyone is okay and inside.”

He didn’t wait any longer. Before she could say anything, he lifted Angela clear of the ground, one hand around her body, the other underneath her legs. Holding her close to him, he summoned his full shifter strength and jumped up out of the ditch in two quick bounds.

“Are you warm?” he asked, his breath coming out in puffs of condensed moisture. The temperature was dropping, and rapidly. What had started out as a wet, miserable snow storm was quickly turning into something worse.

“Yeah. The wind is chilly on my face, but I’m okay,” she said, tucking herself deeper into her winter jacket. “I have a personal heater that I appear to be attached to. It’s making a big difference. Much better than I was.”

Noah glanced down at her in pride. Despite everything that was going on, despite the fact that Chase had attacked her and taken their son, she was still able to crack a joke. Her internal fortitude was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. How she remained calm he wasn’t entirely sure.

Yes you are. She’s in shock. The only thing keeping it at bay at the moment is the fact that you showed up and rescued her. Once you get to the embassy, she’s going to crack.