Jared
The plastic bags hooked over the fingers of both his hands just didn’t seem as enjoyable to him as entwining his fingers between Nadia’s, their arms swinging slightly as they walked. It had shocked him just how much he’d enjoyed their banter and closeness. It had started off as a reluctant act, but very quickly her wit had risen to the surface, and he found himself enjoying her company immensely.
She’d always been beautiful in his eyes, and the long locks of brown hair that bounced slightly as she strode along next to him captured his attention as effortlessly as the green in her eyes. She was strong and powerful of personality, in a way that he had only ever known among shifters. Yet despite the relative frailty of her physical body, what it contained was a core practically bursting with strength of will. It was addictive, and he found himself wanting more.
Then there was that other little thing they’d shared.
A kiss.
He’d gone along with it because he understood what she was trying to do. People didn’t stare at others sharing a kiss, even if it slipped into the realm of passion that theirs had. They would glance, some would smile, and some would frown in disgust. But otherwise the eyes of those around them would slide off as they witnessed something normal in the world. People would go about their everyday activities and forget all about him and Nadia.
But Jared couldn’t forget. Not after what the soft press of her lips to his had awoken inside of him. His bear, previously understanding and willing to be patient—practically unheard of for bears—was now awake and restless, a constant press on his brain that told him to do whatever it took to kiss her again in private and see where it went.
All those thoughts came to a screeching halt as they turned off the busier street onto the side road that the safe house was located on.
“What the hell?” Nadia said before he could get in a word.
Down the street, almost out of sight, a crowd of people wearing uniforms and driving cars with blue, red and white flashing lights were milling around. Mixed in with the uniformed officers were other men, dressed in more military-cut outfits.
“Agents,” he hissed. “How the hell did they find us?”
His eyesight allowed him to see that they weren’t at the safe house, but they had closed off the street at the far end.
“They’re searching all the houses,” Nadia said at the same instant he realized that’s what they must be doing.
“Okay, well, we’re going to have to move on from this one,” he said, cursing under his breath. “We might all be compromised now. Come on, this way.” He crossed the street, heading for the closest house to them, hoping that anyone watching them might not think twice if they didn’t come any closer.
He took one last glance over at the group as they continued to move up the street. A closer figure caught his attention.
“It’s the same damn cop,” he said angrily. “He must not have fallen for our ruse.”
“Damn,” Nadia swore. “I was positive it would work.”
“We need to move though, and quickly,” he said as they disappeared into the backyard of a random house. “If they’re working with the police, they’ll be setting up a perimeter as soon as they find the safe house, and we need to be on the far side of that. They have more manpower now if they’re outright working together, and I can’t kill the police officers. They just think they’re doing their jobs.”
Nadia nodded sagely, stopping to drop her groceries. He did the same, snagging a package of dried meat and shoving it into his pocket, just in case.
“So, where to now?” she asked, looking around.
“Up and over,” he told her, pointing to the fence.
He helped her into the next yard and they cautiously moved out onto the next street, which ran parallel to the one they had just left behind, keeping an eye open for any patrolling police vehicles or Agency SUVs.
“Where’s the next safe place we can go?” Nadia asked, her voice pitched low.
“It’s a bit of a trek,” he told her. “But I have an idea, follow me.”
He led her up the street they were on into the busier section. They cut between stores where they could, and moved casually through the more populated sections, until they came to a parking lot.
“Is that the SUV we stole the other night?” she asked as he walked her up to a vehicle.
“It is,” he confirmed. “We’ll use it to get most of the way to our destination, then travel the rest on foot.”
His nerves were at an all-time high as he guided them through the city, but for once, everything went smoothly. They weren’t stopped, and there were no close calls. Everything just seemed to work out in their favor.
“This was too easy,” Nadia said several hours later as he gestured her into an apartment building, entering a code that unlocked the front door.
“I know,” he said, glancing behind them just in case life had decided to throw them a curveball.
But there was nothing, no people or anything to cause suspicion.
“It means we’re going to pay for it later,” she joked.
He didn’t respond, though his thoughts were mirroring hers. Things should not have gone that smoothly.
They reached the fourth floor, going right out of the elevator and to one of the doors down the hallway. He stopped and made sure he had the knock code correct. He knocked four times, paused, and then rapped on it twice more. Then three times.
“Password?” came the muffled reply through the door.
“There is no password,” Jared said.
The person on the other side made a buzzer-like noise. “Incorrect. Password is, ‘Connor is the greatest.’”
Jared looked ready to kick the door down, but it opened before he could. He gestured for Nadia to follow and they moved inside.
“How do you let him get away with that?” he asked Madison, ignoring the other bear shifter at the door for the moment.
She shrugged. “I let him win that little battle, and I get anything else I want.”
“That is not true!” Connor protested.
Madison looked at him.
“That’s mostly not true!” he rephrased.
She looked harder.
“It’s only partially true!”
Madison shrugged and nodded. “Fair enough. Sometimes you win at other things.”
Connor finished locking the door behind them. “That’s right. Why, just last night, I picked what we had for dinner.”
Nadia turned her laugh into a cough quicker than Jared would have thought possible.
“Speaking of food,” he said. “Do you have anything good here? My place was stocked with a bunch of crap. We got busted making a food run, and never really got to eat. We’re starving.”
“Oh yeah,” Connor said. “We have lots. Best part about living here is there are a dozen different grocery-delivery companies that we can get to bring groceries. They only see Madison, who isn’t very well recognized. So we’re fully stocked.”
He heard Nadia’s stomach rumble loudly at the same moment as his.
“Make with the food then,” he all but growled.
Madison laughed and got up from her seat, coming to give them both a hug.
“You need to send out a note to the others. My location will eventually be compromised.”
She nodded and moved to a desk nearby that had a very similar laptop in a silver case sitting on it, and began typing.
Dishes rattled from behind him as Connor began to prepare a meal. Jared didn’t even care what it was. At that point, anything would be better than the near-vomit-inducing globs of food they’d had in the past few days.
“Which place did you go to anyway?” Connor asked as he worked.
“The old basement hideaway,” he said.
Connor wrinkled his nose. “I always hated that place.”
“Well, now our feelings are mutual.”
The four of them continued to chat as a meal of fresh chicken, potatoes, and some green vegetable-ish looking things came together. Jared wasn’t sure about the last one, but a side comment to Nadia earned him a look that said he should probably eat them.
At one point, he caught Madison looking at him. He arched an eyebrow questioningly, and she shifted her glance to the side where Nadia was sitting, then back.
Translation: Are you sweet on her?
He shrugged his shoulders.
I don’t know what to think.
A further questioning look.
Can we trust her?
His lips formed a line, then he tilted his head.
I’m not sure, but I hope so.
Madison nodded. Whether she understood the conversation the way he had interpreted it was unknown, but she seemed satisfied for the moment.
Jared had asked himself the same question. Could Nadia be trusted? Her story was a little flimsy, and she hadn’t seen fit to expand on it just yet. But she hadn’t given him away when he’d gone to get Justin. If she was a spy from the Agency, they could have easily swept him up, and no one would have been the wiser. Now Justin was free, and he and Madison could begin to plot out the next steps.
“Dinner is served,” Connor said, passing plates to them.
Jared wisely did not mention that it was barely three in the afternoon, a little early for dinner. He grabbed the two plates and set them down on the table while Madison grabbed some cutlery for them. She and Connor sat on one side, while he and Nadia ate in silence on the other.
He caught Connor giving a similar, questioning look about Nadia, but he ignored it for the time being.
“That was delicious,” Nadia said from his side, having already downed her entire plate.
He eyed her speculatively, shoving the last few bites into his mouth. How had she managed to make that all disappear so quickly? Had she upended her plate and just swallowed it all whole like a duck? He made an agreeable noise and sat back himself.
“Thanks,” he said, meaning it wholeheartedly.
As he removed the napkin from his lap—an old habit of his—he felt something brush his hand. It was only when a shock ran through his body did he realize it was Nadia’s leg. The look on her face was one of surprise, nervousness, and even a bit of what he thought was desire.
When his fingers didn’t immediately pull away, she reached down and placed her hand over the top of his, ensuring it would stay. Jared didn’t fight it, not sure that he could have at that moment either.
Across from them, Connor and Madison rose, taking the empty plates to the kitchen, where Connor tossed them in a half-sized dishwasher.
Jared looked over at Nadia again, finding her staring back at him, green eyes unguarded, waiting for him to decide.
Was he going to kiss her?
Was he not?
His bear voiced its opinion, and in the background he saw Connor and Madison engaged in conversation with their backs turned, seemingly oblivious to the goings-on.
Oh hell.
Jared leaned in, his head tilting to the side as he kissed her full on the lips before he could change his mind or come up with a list of reasons not to do it. Her reaction was swift and immediate as she leaned into him, her mouth opening slightly as their tongues caressed each other before closing again. His free hand touched her jaw and he dragged his fingers across it, down her neck, and around to the back of her head, where he pulled her tightly to him.
Her hands swept around and up his back, fingertips digging into his muscles as they kissed furiously. His blood began to boil, pounding against his head with fierce intensity. The animal within him howled in ecstasy.
Behind him someone coughed. It was neither polite, nor soft.
Nadia pulled away abruptly, looking thoroughly embarrassed as she adjusted her shirt and sat back into the couch.
Jared turned his head slowly to look behind him, where Connor was standing in the kitchen, doing his best not to grin. He yanked his head to the side, indicating the door out onto the balcony. He wanted to talk.
“I’ll be back,” he said to Nadia, brushing his fingers against her knee before he got up and followed his friend outside, closing the door behind him.
“Yes?” he asked, turning to face Connor, not waiting for his friend to speak first. “Could this not have waited?”
Connor shrugged. “Probably. But if you’ll recall, my courtship had moments as well where I couldn’t exactly have what I wanted.”
He couldn’t fault him on that one. “I suppose.”
“Besides, we were done talking and didn’t have anything more to say, and so basically we were just watching you two make out. I figured you’d rather be interrupted than put on a show.”
Jared couldn’t help but smile at that one. “Okay, okay. I get the point. But why am I out here now?”
“To talk,” Connor said with a shrug.
“About?”
“Whatever we want while Madison talks to her, and forms her opinion of her.” His tone became serious. “To see if she deems Nadia trustworthy.”