Landon
I’m surprised to see Tina calling, but I pick up the phone on the first ring.
“Tina? Is everything okay?”
“He took my baby, Landon. What the hell do I do? He took him. He couldn’t even wait the next two days. He just took him.”
“Tina, what happened?” I grab my keys off the desk and head to the front of the house. I don’t even bother telling anyone what I’m doing, but my colleagues are fucking good. Their ears perk up at the first sign of trouble and when I head outside, all three of them are following me. “Tell me everything.”
“I’m at Blake’s daycare, Landon. I just got here. The police are coming now, too. Chester came in and had a note from me saying he could pick up the baby. He took him. Holy dragons, Landon. I feel sick. He has my baby.”
I take a deep breath but inside, I’m fucking pissed.
This asshole couldn’t wait two more days for the custody hearing?
Oh, I think I know why.
Tina and I have gone out together on more than one occasion, and I’m not exactly a low-profile lawyer. People know me, know my face. If Chester happens to be the jealous type of ex, which I suspect he is, he probably follows her sometimes. He probably saw us together and knew who I was. Now he knows there’s no chance in hell he’s going to get custody of that kid.
So he just stole the child.
What is he going to do now? Blackmail her? Get her to give him ransom money? Trick the judge into saying she’s an unfit mother?
It’s wrong, and I’m not letting him get away with it.
Fuck the law.
I’m saving Tina’s son.
“Where does he live?” I ask her. I’m in my car now. Joyce, Casa, and Lyon are all in my car, too. They’re not saying a single thing and I know they’re listening to every word Tina says. Though the call isn’t on speaker, it doesn’t matter. Their hearing is good enough to know exactly what she’s saying.
“Landon…what are you going to do?” Her voice is a whisper.
“Address,” it’s not a request.
“He lives at the Riverdale Apartments,” she says. “I think…on the first floor, I think. I don’t know which number, though.”
“I’ll get your child back,” I tell her. “Don’t you worry about a thing.”
I’m about to hang up when Tina says, “Wait! Landon! You need to know something about Chester.”
“More than the fact that he’s a huge piece of shit?” I’m driving now, heading directly for the apartments. I’m sure the police will be sending someone shortly to question Mr. Chester, but I plan to beat them there. I plan to beat them there and get that baby back, and I’m going to make sure Tina never has to deal with Chester again.
“He’s…oh shit, how do I say this?” I’m surprised because Tina rarely swears and she rarely struggles to speak her mind with me these days. We’ve gotten very close and very comfortable with each other, but the fact that she’s not just blurting it out speaks volumes.
“Just say it, baby.”
“He’s not human, Landon. Do you know what a shifter is?” I hear Joyce chuckling from the backseat, like she knew it the entire time.
“I’m familiar with the term,” I say dryly.
“Well, Chester’s a shifter, Landon. He can change into an animal. I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but if you’re planning on fighting him, you need to know he won’t fight fair. He’ll shift into his animal form. He’ll shift and he’ll try to kill you and I just can’t lose you, too.”
She’s crying now and I need to calm her down.
But I also need more information.
Chester is a shifter? I had no idea. Tina never mentioned it before, never mentioned her son is going to be a shifter, never mentioned she’s familiar with animals. For weeks now I’ve been debating on whether to admit to her that I’m a bear, but I wasn’t sure how to tell her, wasn’t sure how she’d take the news.
Apparently, I needn’t have worried.
Apparently, Tina is one tough motherfucker.
“What kind of animal is he?”
“He’s…um, some sort of big cat…” I hear Lyon growl, and I know what he’s thinking: not all cats are created equal. My buddy is a tiger with the heart of a lion. He’s a damn good man, but he’s not above letting another cat get away with something evil.
We’re shifters, and we protect our own.
Even before I knew Blake was a shifter, too, I considered him and Tina to be a part of my family. I consider them to be under my protection. As far as I’m concerned, she’s my mate whether we ever get married or not, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life protecting her.
I’m going to spend the rest of my life taking care of her.
I’m going to take care of that woman.
I’m going to fucking cherish her.
But first, I’m going to beat the hell out of her ex.
“A jaguar,” she says, finally. “Yes, that’s it. He’s a jaguar.”
“Have you seen him shift?”
“Yes,” she whispers. “I’ve seen it.”
“And what did you think of that?” It’s not the time to ask if she was scared of him. It’s not the time to ask if she thinks shifters are big and bad and mean. I’m almost to the apartment building and I’ll be getting off the phone soon, but I can’t help myself.
I have to ask.
“It was beautiful. He’s beautiful, Landon, but he’s evil. Not all shifters are, babe. I don’t know if you’ve ever met one before. Most of them are pretty cool, but not him. Not Chester.”
“Don’t worry,” I tell Tina. “I’m going to get our baby back, sweetie. I’m going to get our little boy.”
I hang up the phone then and push the gas down.
“Whew,” Joyce says. “When did things get so serious between you two? I mean, I thought you didn’t even believe in mates.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why did you say our little boy?” Lyon asks from the backseat.
“Shut your mouth, cat,” I say.
“Come on now,” he pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. “Don’t be like that. I don’t walk around calling you a teddy bear.”
“You literally do,” I point out.
“Oh yeah,” Lyon smirks. “Look,” he says, pointing out the window. “There it is.”
The Riverdale Apartments building is three stories of garbage. Seriously. The entire place is run-down and worn-out.
“He wants custody of his kid in this dump?” Casa peers out the window and shakes his head. “I’m not even a father yet, and I can tell you right now, I wouldn’t take my kid anywhere near this place.”
I park the car and we all get out and look around.
“Broken bottles on the ground,” Joyce points out. “Watch your step.”
“She said she thinks he’s on the first floor.”
“Let’s split up,” Lyon says.
“Haven’t you ever seen a horror movie?” Casa glares at the tiger. “We go in groups of two. You and Joyce go that way,” he points to one side of the building. “Fee, you’re with me.”
“Hey, that rhymes.”
“Fuck off.”
Somehow, Joyce manages to stride in her stilettos. She and Lyon disappear around the corner of the building and Casa and I head to the main entrance. The entire building smells like smoke and poor decisions.
“Let’s go to the left,” I say, and we head down a hallway. We pause at each door, listening. I know Blake’s scent. When we’re close, I’ll be able to smell him from the hallway: no knocking required. The first few doors are dead ends, but when we reach apartment 1E, I know we’ve got him.
“Here?” Casa mouths, and I nod. He steps back to allow me the honor of breaking down the fucking door, which I’ll do, but first, I shift into bear form.
I should take off my clothes first, but I don’t, and they rip and tear as soon as I shift. The sound alone should be enough to alert Chester to my presence, but something tells me he’s not going to be paying much attention to his visitors.
He’ll be more focused on the fact that he just got away with kidnapping his own son.
Then again, he was fucking stupid enough to come home. If I was going to take my own child, I’d take them far away where no one could bother us. I wouldn’t go back to my own home like a fucking moron.
I growl and kick in the door. It’s made of flimsy material that collapses when I kick, and I step easily into the studio apartment. A man is standing in the center of the room facing the door. He’s got Blake in his arms.
“Back off,” Chester says when he sees me. He looks neither scared nor surprised to see me here.
I just glare at him.
“This is my kid,” he says.
“Really?” Casa steps in the door behind me. He didn’t shift, so he can still speak to the fucker. “Because last I heard, you have a custody hearing in two days, and things aren’t looking good for you, so let’s try again. Hand over the baby and this won’t be a problem. We won’t file kidnapping charges or have you locked away for child neglect.”
“Fuck you,” Chester spits, and I growl uncontrollably. I hate this guy. I hate knowing what he put my Tina through. I hate knowing he hurt her. I hate knowing he’s still causing her pain and grief after all this time. I hate it.
And now he’s holding Blake, the child I consider to be part of my family, and he’s not backing down.
“Put the baby down, Chester.”
“Or what?” He sneers. “You’ll sick Tina on me? Dumb bitch doesn’t want to pay up? Well, I’ll make her pay up. You know she’s been sneaking around with some guy? Her lawyer,” Chester rolls his eyes, and I realize he doesn’t recognize me in bear form. Of course not. He doesn’t know I’m the guy he’s talking about. “What a slut.”
“Watch your mouth,” Casa is losing control and I know he’s only minutes away from shifting on impulse and taking out Chester. We need to get the baby away from him, though. We need to get Blake to safety, and then I can kick this guy’s ass.
“You gonna tell on me? Really? Because I’m planning on telling the judge at the hearing all about her indiscretions: how she cheated on me while we were married, how she broke my heart, how she planned to keep our son away from me.” He tears up a little and wipes at his eyes. He’s quite the actor.
“No one is going to buy that,” Casa says. “Especially after the stunt you pulled today. Tina is going to get her baby back. The cops are on the way now and there’s nowhere to go. You need to hand over the kid.”
“He’s the only leverage I’ve got, fucker,” Chester says, yelling. “He’s mine! And the bitch is going to pay. She thinks she can just keep my kid from me and not pay me alimony? Child support? Forget that. She owes me. I took care of her for years while we were together. Now it’s her turn to take care of me. She’s a whore who’s going to get what she deserves.”
Casa shakes his head. “Wrong thing to say, fuckface,” he looks at me and says, “on three.”
“What?” Chester looks confused.
“One.”
“What the hell are you counting for?”
“Two.”
“Are we in Kindergarten?”
“Three.”
Casa dives for Blake and grabs the infant from Chester’s arms, rolling away safely and easily. I know Blake won’t be hurt at all with Casa’s perfect aim. Chester doesn’t seem to know what happened because he’s looking down at his empty arms, and then at Casa, and then back down at his arms.
“What the-”
But he doesn’t have time to finish because I throw myself at him. Just before impact, I hear the telltale sounds of Chester’s clothing ripping.
He’s shifting, too.
And it’s on.