Connor
He was flung aside like a rag doll as Maddy collided with Flint. The world spun crazily as he tumbled across the floor.
Connor couldn’t believe how strong Flint was. The war on shifters had just taken a new turn with the discovery that this new serum could be taken multiple times, upping its effectiveness. Did it do so permanently? Or was it just a temporary thing, like a drug? So many unanswered questions raced through his mind.
They were mostly washed away by the pain from his broken body, and the relief as he gasped, able to breathe at last. His lungs worked furiously, sucking down air as fast as they could, replenishing it within his body.
The world began to stop spinning, revealing something else to Connor.
Great, I can see without getting dizzy again, but now I’m fucking hallucinating.
He was so ready for the day to be over.
His eyes were telling him that a massive light-brown bear was currently ripping Flint to shreds, knocking his blows aside as easily as Flint had done to Connor just a few seconds earlier.
Flint screamed as the powerful jaws latched onto his arm. The bear shook its head, and the arm came with it. The screams increased in pitch, until mercifully the man passed out. Connor watched as the bear tossed the severed limb aside and ripped out the flesh from his throat, the blood fountaining down the deceased man’s body.
Then it stepped back and unleashed a roar so loud it made Connor wince in pain.
Shit.
He wasn’t hallucinating.
“Maddy?” he asked carefully, looking around the bear to see if he could find her. His voice sounding pained even to his own ears.
The bear turned, eyes blazing almost red with rage.
“Shit.” This time he spoke aloud.
Connor closed his eyes and called forth his own bear. The animal didn’t protest, despite the pain they were both in. Connor knew that it was hurting just as much as he did. The pain of wounds sustained transferred between the entities. Even though his bear wasn’t truly intelligent, it was a tangible thing inside him. It could communicate with emotions and the simplest of thoughts.
Connor expressed his thankfulness, appreciative that the animal had come just then—even if it had no choice, it could still be unhappy about it. But the beast knew it was needed, so it surged forth, massive furred limbs ripping apart his human skin as he blurred and then dropped to all fours. His bear was gigantic, larger than the one across from him.
Where is Maddy?
The other bear stopped at the sight of one of its own, pausing just long enough for Connor to breathe a sigh of relief.
Then it charged.
Oh fuck. This is going to hurt.
He hurled his bear forward, the entire room shaking as the two titanic beasts collided. Belatedly he remembered that they were in a room suspended above the club. It was the creaking of the floor that reminded him.
Dammit.
The single dull thought echoed through his mind as metal shrieked under the load, reaching a fever pitch just before it gave way.
The two bears dropped twenty feet to the ground below, landing in a tangled pile. Connor quickly rolled away, trying to focus through the haze of agony that washed over him.
The light-brown bear roared in pain. He glanced over to see its rear leg bent awkwardly beneath it. The beast trumpeted again, this sound decidedly less anger-filled, and more of a bleating noise. It looked over at him.
Connor froze as he made contact with it. He would recognize those eyes anywhere.
Maddy.
The thought focused his mind instantly. Connor forced his bear away as fast as he could, the quickness of his shift tearing at his mind slightly, but he ignored the pain. It was just one more bit of hurt on top of all the others he was feeling.
“Maddy?” he asked once he could form human words again, looking at the other bear in disbelief.
The bear growled.
“Madison Rychel,” he said, standing up, looking down at it.
Although the bear was bigger than he was, it wasn’t taller. Connor used his position emphatically.
“You need to take control of your bear. Look into your mind, and envision a cage around it.”
The bear’s growl grew louder.
“You can imagine that cage to be as plush and comfortable for it as you want. But you have to make it go into the cage. It won’t go on its own. You have to be forceful with it, to make it do as you command. You are the boss, not it.”
The growl was so loud it was vibrating the ground underneath him. Connor didn’t approach, but he wasn’t worried. With a broken hind leg, the bear wasn’t going anywhere.
“Take command, Madison,” he said forcefully, using her full name again. “Don’t let it push you aside.”
The bear snapped at him.
A thought occurred to him, based on something he had heard her say before.
“A shifter who cannot control her bear is an outcast.” He paused. “They don’t fit in.” He delivered the last line with as much emphasis on the point as he could.
The bear’s head, which had begun to droop, snapped up at him. Even on three legs it lunged after him, but Connor stood his ground. It limped closer, but he only smiled.
The bear was shrinking. It snapped and snarled, growled and roared as it closed the distance, but it didn’t matter.
By the time it got to him, all that remained was a ghostly pale Maddy, who took one look at him with her gorgeous brown eyes and promptly fell into his arms, unconscious.
He knelt down, holding her tightly as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
It was then that he noticed the crowd around them for the first time.
Of course. It’s night, and this is a club. Connor felt like an idiot as he saw the horrified stares of so many people, people who wouldn’t know what it was they had just seen.
A shocked-looking Deanna finally pushed her way through the crowd.
“Are you okay?” she asked frantically as she came to his side.
“Yes,” he replied, nodding sharply. “But we might not be for long.”
“We?” Deanna asked.
Setting his jaw, Connor nodded. “Flint was the traitor,” he said at last.
“Holy shit.” She grinned humorlessly. “I always did hate that bastard.”
“He was with them from the start,” Connor said hastily. “That means the Agency knows everything.”
Deanna’s face went as white as a sheet. “Oh God,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Get everyone out of here,” he commanded as Maddy began to come around.
“But where will we go?”
“Those without family, go to ground. Everyone should have their own safe house ready. Get to it. Those without,” he paused, then gave her an address.
“What’s there?” she asked, frowning in confusion.
“A place I set up a few weeks ago, when I began to suspect there was someone feeding the Agency information,” he said.
She nodded and took off, pulling a phone from her purse.
Maddy groaned in his arms.
“Come on Maddy,” he said, giving her a shake. “We need to go.”
She blinked, her dazed look so innocent that it brought a smile to his face, despite everything that was going on.
“You look like shit,” she muttered.
“You took us for a rather big fall,” he replied instantly with a laugh. “You ain’t looking so hot yourself.”
Maddy smiled. “Kiss me,” she said, no give in her voice.
He gladly obliged, ignoring the need for them to run, letting himself bask in the moment for a few moments.
“We need to go,” she said, her voice already steadying as they broke apart, pre-empting him from saying the same thing.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “No idea how long until the Agency gets here. Time to split.”
Maddy got to her feet, looking around. The crowd of people was still staring at them.
“Place is closed!” she shouted, her voice strong and clear, startling even him. Connor looked at her wonderingly, amazed at the change in her personality. He smiled.
Nobody moved.
Maddy growled menacingly and took a step toward the nearest edge of the crowd.
People turned and began to flee. In seconds the entire bar was following. It took only a few minutes, and then they were the last ones.
“Time to go,” he announced, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the front. “We’ll go with them, try and escape in the chaos.”
Maddy nodded and they took off, quickly catching up with the last stragglers, and then losing themselves amidst the bigger group of people in the parking lot out front.
“Come on!” he shouted suddenly over the noise, pulling her through the crowd, away from the road.
He had seen three familiar-looking black SUVs pull up in front.
The Agency was there. They had gotten out just in time. They fled into the darkness of the night, her hand wrapped in his.