Chapter Eighteen
Boone pushed his weary head against Nina’s hand. His tail was the only other body part he could move, and it thumped weakly.
Mate, his wolf hummed, joyous in spite of the throbbing pain. Nina. My mate.
They’d both survived, and Hunter and Cruz were all right, too.
A shot of bile rose in his throat. Kramer was dead — good riddance — but so was Tammy. Boone took a deep breath, wishing those two had never come along and pushed things to the breaking point. He hadn’t wished Tammy dead so much as he wished to erase her from his past. That would have been enough.
“Boone,” Nina murmured, stroking him between his shoulder blades. The perfect spot to ease the troubles out of his mind — for now, at least. God knew he’d have hell to pay when Silas returned to Hawaii and demanded an explanation. But everything had turned out all right, hadn’t it? Nina was okay, and the enemy hadn’t stolen the Spirit Stone. Silas couldn’t complain about that.
Boone eased his head back to the ground and closed his eyes. Everything is okay. Everything is o—
The earth rumbled, and an engine hummed over a bump in the driveway.
“Uh, Boone?” Nina’s voice was alarmed.
He blinked, wondering what was with red and blue lights flashing in his eyes.
Nina’s warm body left his side as she rose to her feet. What was going on?
He caught a glimpse of a police car easing down the driveway, half hidden by the trees. Apparently, someone had heard the fight and reported it. At first, Boone’s groggy mind pitied the officer who would have to file the report on this scene. But then it hit him, and he scrambled to his feet. Shifters had to protect the secret of their existence from humans at all costs. If they didn’t, disaster could ensue. The couple of times in history that humans had discovered shifters had resulted in riotous hunts that had nearly driven his kind out of existence. Dragons had been decimated to a pitiful few. Entire wolf packs had been exterminated by angry mobs. Any surviving bear shifters had taken refuge in the mountains, and tigers — well, Cruz’s family was the most recent example of the havoc humans could inflict.
Shit. He’d had a vague plan for calling in a couple of shifter friends to help erase evidence of the fight, but there was no time for that now.
Although it hurt like hell, he managed a quick shift back to human form. He was naked, but that would be easier to concoct a cover story for than explaining a wolf. Kramer and his mercenaries had shifted to human form shortly after taking their last breath as all shifters did, resuming their dominant forms. Cruz executed a lightning-fast shift, too, while Hunter had lumbered somewhere out of sight.
Boone limped over to the Jeep and pulled a pair of cargo pants out of the back.
“Good old Hunter, always prepared,” Cruz muttered, grabbing a pair for himself.
Boone looked around. Where was Hunter? And how the hell was he going to explain all these bodies to the police?
“Now what?” Nina murmured when he stepped to her side.
His mind spun, trying to think up a plausible explanation. The car door squeaked open, and an officer jumped out, holding a gun.
“Freeze!”
Boone stuck his hands up, and Nina yelped. “Help!”
Help, he figured, was a good place to start.
“These men tried to kidnap me and…and…” Nina tried.
Boone stared at the cop. The sun was behind the squad car, but when he squinted, he could make out glossy black hair, soft features, and a feminine figure. Shit. Of all people, did it have to be her?
“Officer Meli,” he groaned.
From the corner of his eye, Boone caught a hint of a movement, and he prayed Hunter was still out of sight. The bear half of his friend didn’t like relinquishing control once it took command of Hunter’s body. As a human, Hunter was a pussy cat. As a grizzly… Well, it was a good thing he was on Boone’s side.
“No!” Nina screamed, spinning when she caught the motion, too.
“Freeze!” Officer Meli cried, turning her gun to the right.
Boone’s weary mind was half a step behind. He looked on in horror as a wolf leaped at the policewoman — one last wolf they had assumed dead.
“Stop!” Boone yelled, though his legs buckled instead of running to intercept the foe.
Cruz’s reaction time was slow, too, and Boone assumed the worst. Officer Meli would shoot the wolf, but a regular bullet wouldn’t stop a shifter. It would tear her throat out before Boone could intervene.
The policewoman fired and took one shocked step backward, but the wolf raced on with Cruz and Boone two steps behind.
No, Boone wanted to scream. No, no, no!
A bird fluttered out of nowhere — an owl? — and slowed the wolf briefly, but not enough for Boone to catch the bastard. Then a roar split through the air, and a huge brown mass hurtled out from the right. A grizzly, terrifying to behold — even to Boone, who recognized Hunter, though he’d never, ever seen his friend move that fast. Hunter hammered forward, unsheathed his deadly claws, and tore into the wolf’s haunches. The rogue screamed in pain as the grizzly fell over him.
Officer Meli stumbled back with wide, disbelieving eyes, and Cruz caught her hand just as she cocked the gun for a second shot. Boone raced up and blocked the view as Hunter finished the wolf off for good. Officer Meli didn’t need to see that. He didn’t particularly want to watch, either. His eyes stayed on the owl that circled once, then flew off, leaving Boone to wonder what that had been all about. He didn’t have time to wonder for long, though, because a moment later, the area went deathly quiet.
Boone turned slowly. Hunter, still in bear form, backed away from the slain wolf. His mournful eyes fixed on the policewoman. He shook his fur, sat back on his haunches, and—
“Oh, shit,” Boone murmured.
Hunter’s bear half had taken over during the fight, but his human side pushed toward the surface at the sight of the woman he loved. He shifted in plain sight of Officer Meli and stood quietly, working his jaw.
The policewoman gasped, lowering her gun. “Hunter.”
Boone bit his lip. In all the time Boone had known them, Office Meli and Hunter had always been painfully formal with each other, keeping their distance in spite of the obvious attraction that pulled them together again and again. Boone had never heard the policewoman use Hunter’s first name. Not that she got much chance to since the bear rarely broke the speed limit, but she’d found a few clever excuses to pull him over from time to time. A broken taillight here, a quick check of inspection dates there — and Hunter had always glowed for days afterward.
Well, he sure wasn’t glowing now. He just gulped and stared at her.
“Dawn…”
When Hunter took a step forward, the policewoman stepped back, and Hunter’s face fell.
“Let me explain,” Nina said, stepping up with her hands in clear view.
Boone whipped his head around. Nina had just found out about shifters herself. How was she going to explain? But her soft, feminine voice seemed like the only thing getting through to Officer Meli, so Boone held his tongue.
“They saved me,” Nina said. “I was being kidnapped, but Hunter, Boone, and Cruz stopped them…” The words flowed off her tongue in a rapid stream.
“But he…he…” Officer Meli stuttered.
“He’s Hunter,” Nina said. “Just like Boone is Boone, and Cruz is Cruz.”
Boone’s heart swelled. God, did he love his mate.
The radio in the squad car squawked, making Office Meli jolt. “I have to report…”
Boone barely held back from cutting her off and raised his hands instead. “Please don’t report this. Let us explain.”
Officer Meli looked at Hunter, who murmured, “The wolf was going to kill you. I had to stop him…”
Boone was pretty sure the policewoman wasn’t too worried about that part. It was the shifter part that made her turn pale. She stared and stared until the radio came alive again.
“I don’t understand it all, either,” Nina said when the cop turned toward her vehicle. “But one thing is clear to me, and I know it has to be clear to you. These aren’t the bad guys, Officer. I owe them a chance to explain. You owe them a chance to explain. Please, let’s hear them out.”
The policewoman slowed but didn’t stop, and Cruz glanced at Boone.
We have to stop her. She can’t report this.
Boone shook his head quickly. Things were bad enough as they were. And anyway, Hunter wouldn’t let either of them touch the woman he loved, even if it meant disaster for them all.
Everyone stared in silence as Officer Meli reached into the squad car and pulled the radio out. “Unit 239, checking in.”
Boone went stiff all over as the dispatcher’s staticky voice came through.
“Please,” Hunter whispered, reaching a hand toward the policewoman.
Boone pulled Nina closer, wondering if he’d won over his mate only to lose her. If Officer Meli reported what she’d seen, half the Maui police force would swarm the place, and he and his shifter brothers would be…well, screwed.
Officer Meli pinched her lips, staring at Boone. His chin dropped in defeat as she opened her mouth to reply to the call.
“Negative,” the policewoman murmured. “Negative,” she repeated, making Hunter’s head snap up. “False report. All units stand down.”
If Nina hadn’t been gripping his hand, Boone would have sat hard on his ass.
“Thank God,” Nina murmured. “Thank God.”