***
The protesters slowed as they came close to Chad’s supporters, no more than a yard or two between the two groups. On stage, Chad was pleading with the newcomers to disperse peacefully.
“This isn’t going to work,” he told Hannah. “Can I get you out of here yet?”
“How?” she asked. “They’re between us and the car.”
Josh swore as he realized she was right. More and more of the red and black clothed protesters were appearing from behind his field of vision. They chanted “No More Freaks!” and “Humanity doesn’t want your insanity!” Many of them had profanity-laced signs that indicated their distaste for his kind.
“This isn’t random,” he said, hearing several voices stronger and clearer above the general din of noise as the two groups hurled insults at each other.
“What do you mean?” Hannah asked, standing behind him, her hand on his arm. He realized she wasn’t nervously clinging to him, though she wasn’t against putting him between her and the crowds.
“You can hear some voices better than others,” he said. “They have a military level to them, like a drill sergeant. These people are being used,” he said. “There’s going to be a group in this crowd that isn’t what they seem they are.”
He took her arm and started pulling her out onto the stage. They would collect Chad, and then make their escape on the far side. It wasn’t much of a plan, but for the moment it was all he had. His hand flew over the buttons on his phone before jamming it back into his pocket as the noise level increased again.
Chad was still pleading for peace, but he was fighting a losing battle. Out of nowhere, a bottle soared over the crowd and hit someone standing in the second row of the protesters.
“Shit,” Chad said dully, the single word evident over the speakers.
The protesters roared in anger and charged at Chad’s followers. The Shift First crowd wasn’t ready for violence, however, and as Josh watched in horror, they crumbled under the attack. Here and there he noted people fighting back.
So there are some hardline types in Chad’s crowd as well. Interesting.
The tide of red and black swept across the open space, and a tightknit group of them rushed the stage.
“Get him out of here!” he yelled at the security guards now running for Chad on stage to escort him away from the danger.
“Time to go,” he told Hannah, this time prepared to haul her away if need be.
To his relief, she didn’t fight him this time. Instead, she actually led the way, her flat-bottomed shoes slapping across the stage. Heavy footsteps quickly followed them. Glancing over his shoulder, Josh realized he was going to have to fight if they were going to escape. A knot of four men had caught them. The others were chasing after Chad, who had been taken down a ramp at the back of the stage to a door marked Exit.
He frowned. That would expose them to any protesters on the far side though! Idiots!
“HEY!” he roared, his voice cutting through all the din. “Not that way, you fools!” One of the men glanced over his shoulder at Josh, smiled, and then pushed Chad through the door.
“Motherfucker!” he cursed, the word slipping out before he could catch himself. Josh didn’t want to curse so crudely around Hannah, though he knew it wasn’t the first time he had.
“What?” she asked as they slowed their headlong flight.
“Security has been compromised. The men with your brother aren’t actual security guards.”
The first of the four men reached Josh and jumped at him. The huge shifter rolled his eyes, and grabbed the man by his neck. Using the force of the man’s jump, Josh pivoted on his rear foot and spun a full 180 degrees before letting go, adding his own strength as he flung the man thirty feet clear of them. The man hit the ground and rolled several times before his hips smacked against a smaller tree, spinning him around. Then he lay still.
A fist thudded into Josh’s back and he roared, more in irritation than pain. Turning, he flicked out a hand, crushing one man’s nose. The unfortunate target of his ire collapsed to the ground, blood spewing everywhere as he screamed in pain.
The third man pulled a knife and stabbed at Josh. The big shifter danced aside with a fluidity and grace that belied his size, while his right hand darted out, closing around the man’s wrist.
“Drop the knife,” he rumbled.
“Fuck you!” the man said and swung a fist at him.
Josh squeezed. Bones shattered into pieces as he crushed the man’s wrist, forcing him to drop the knife. The punch never landed as he also fell to his knees.
The fourth man just stared up at Josh in horror.
“Boo,” he said in a deep, thunderous voice.
The last man backed away, shaking violently as he raised his hands up. “S-S-Sorry man. I don’t want any trouble.”
Josh snorted. “You’re already in trouble. Get out of here, and don’t ever let me see you again.”
“R-Right, of course!” the man said and took off back across the stage.
“I thought you said the men in the crowd were going to be trouble,” Hannah said, surveying the damage around them.
“I did. I was wrong,” he said, taking off at a jog once more. “The real ploy was your brother. They must not have been counting on me being here.”
The pair rushed around the far side of the band shell, just in time to see Chad being forced into a vehicle against his will.
The shifter’s eyes narrowed. “Those men. Those are trouble,” he said, recognizing their coordination.
“We have to help him!” Hannah said, lunging forward.
“No,” he said firmly. “My job is to protect you. I intend on doing my job. I’ll get you to safety, then we’ll worry about your brother.”
Hannah stared at him as if he were mad. Then, with an abruptness that startled him, it disappeared, replaced by a different look.
“Please,” she said, stepping closer to him.
Josh swallowed hard as she inhaled deeply, the movement stretching her shirt tight against her chest, amplified by the slight arch in her back. He knew she was using her sexuality to try to persuade him to do something he shouldn’t.
“No,” he said, regretfully standing his ground as she gently rubbed her breasts against his chest. Blood rushed through his body, the flow amplified by the adrenaline of everything going on around them.
Hannah bit her lip seductively as she reached out and put her hands on his sides. He noticed she carefully avoided any of his exposed skin.
“First I get you to safety. Then your brother,” he said, his neck muscles bulging as he stared straight ahead, looking over her.
“I’ll be safe with you,” she said, exhaling up at him. The warmth of her breath washed over him and he closed his eyes, shuddering.
Hannah jerked and then she was gone.
His eyes snapped open to see her taking off at a run for his truck.
With his keys jangling from one hand.
“Clever girl,” he growled, leaning forward and accelerating after her.
He caught up with her in half a dozen strides, and snatched the keys from her hand.
“Dammit, Josh. We need to go after him!”
She turned to run at the car with Chad in it, which was trying to leave the parking lot by making its way through the throng of people. The driver was slamming on his horn, but he hadn’t yet resorted to hitting people. Josh knew it was just a matter of time before he did. He made his decision.
“Hey,” he said, reaching out and grabbing her. “We will. Follow me.”
She frowned at him, but didn’t resist as he tugged her along. Tires squealed and the sleek four-door sedan with Chad in it raced out of the parking lot in a cloud of smoke. The acrid scent of burnt rubber hit his nose a second later. The dissipating gray cloud washed over them while they made a beeline for his truck.
The big V-8 engine roared to life. Even before they were secured Josh was accelerating, fumbling with his seatbelt as he tried not to lose too much ground to the other vehicle.
“This is your plan?” Hannah asked skeptically as they raced through the city. Her hands were braced against the dash as they slipped through a red light, narrowly avoiding the traffic.
“Not quite,” he told her, reaching over and punching a series of buttons on the dash panel. “We need to catch him first.”
She nodded jerkily as he slid through a turn, heavy-footed on the gas. Wheels shrieked as he held the wheel tightly.
“You know, this is the first time I think I’ve chased them, instead of it being the other way around,” he told her conversationally. His voice was light, but his eyes were locked on the road in front of them as he tried to keep the sedan in sight, despite the traffic in the city.
“Them?” Hannah asked, turning to look at him.
“Yeah, them. The Agency, the guys conducting the war on shifters here in the city.”
“You mean to tell me that the men who have my brother are the same ones who you’ve been trying to prevent from conducting a wholesale slaughter of shifters?”
“Yeah,” he said angrily, though it was directed at his foes, not Hannah. “That’s them.”
Her spine straightened.
“We have to get him,” she urged.
“We will,” Josh told her, slipping out from behind one car into oncoming traffic, just dodging back into his own lane in time, having closed the distance by two car lengths with his crazy maneuver.
“Tell me more about this ‘Agency.’ Why are they such a threat? I thought you shifters could do just about anything?”
There was a decided edge to her voice, which surprised him. He wouldn’t have pegged Hannah as one to have any anti-shifter sentiments, especially considering what her brother did for a living.
There’s more to it than that. Maybe a shifter broke her heart once?
Josh was surprised at the rage that welled up from his bear at that thought. It roared angrily inside his head, wanting to hurt whoever had done such a thing to her.
“They’re well funded, well organized,” he explained. “They also have benefited from some mad science.” He pondered how much to tell her. If he explained everything, it would make its way to her brother eventually.
“What kind of science?”
Josh licked his lips, still considering his answer. “I’m not sure I should tell you,” he explained. “If I do, your brother won’t be able to refrain from trying to spin it to his advantage.”
Hannah snorted, then jerked forward as Josh was forced to slam on the brakes, avoiding a near-accident before picking up speed once more. Up ahead he could see the sedan fly through a red light and take a left, narrowly avoiding being T-boned by an oncoming car.
“Contrary to what you might think, I can keep things from him,” she said as they followed the car through the turn. The light had become an advanced green, making it easier for them to gain ground.
“Very well,” he said, relenting without much argument. “The Agency has somehow managed to derive a serum that, if injected into a half-breed human, will grant them all of the abilities of a shifter, except one.”
Hannah looked at him sharply. “Which one?” she asked intently.
“Shapeshifting,” he replied without hesitation, deciding against mentioning how Madison had taken two types of the formula, which had granted her the ability to shapeshift. “Everything else will manifest, though. Faster healing, increased strength and reaction time. Everything.”
Hannah swore. “How do they make such a thing?” she asked, stunned by his revelation.
Josh grimaced unhappily. “They drain all the blood from a shifter, and then do something with it. We don’t know what, but it requires a lot of blood in a very short period of time. That’s all we’ve been able to discover.”
She gasped, horrified. “That’s why they’ve been going after all the shifters here, isn’t it? It’s not because they want to kill them, but they want their powers!”
Her hands trembled so violently Josh could see it despite his focus on the road. He longed to reach out and reassure her, but he couldn’t. Something about his touch seemed to set her off. He wasn’t positive about it, but that was the only thing he could come up with that would have made her flee from the restaurant the day before.
“Exactly. Trust me, the men they inject it into aren’t exactly the peaceful sort either. If they get enough of them, there will be open warfare, not just the shadow warfare going on now. If it becomes widespread, the death I’ve seen so far will pale in comparison.”
Hannah went white at his words. “We need to get Chad away from them,” she said tightly, rocking back and forth in her seat as if that would urge them on faster.
Josh didn’t answer, but his eyes narrowed as he pushed the pedal down just a bit harder.