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Theo
Talking about my sister and relationships has me grinding my teeth. Which sets Theo off laughing more. Well, two can play this game.
“So, you’re fine with all the other male shifters seeing Rebby naked?”
Tristan growls, “No more than you are. I can smell your anger at the idea.” He stops talking as we come to a set of stairs. “Huh, I was thinking this would lead to a secret exit into the woods, not stairs.”
“Same. Let’s go.” I start up the metal stairs, using all my senses to try and anticipate what we will come upon. Fourteen steps later we are standing at a metal door. No sound makes its way through the door, but a small camera is positioned up in the corner. I look at Tristan, wanting to make sure he is ready for whatever we find behind it; whoever is behind that camera knows we are on our way.
Carefully I pull on the handle, swinging the door out into a hallway and utter chaos. Naked shifters fight in hand-to -hand combat, throwing and kicking each other across the wide hall. I recognize some from our briefing last evening. My wolf wants to shift and tear into the enemy, but I won’t let him have control yet. We need to stick with our goal and find Rebby.
“Let’s go! They have this!” I say to Tristan and lead the way down the hall, avoiding getting pulled into the various fights. Rebby’s scent leads us up another set of stairs. A glance down the hall shows the damage the shifters caused as they made their way down from the roof, bodies strewn across the floor. Surprisingly, I can only see one dead shifter. But there are three dead men with guns lying next to them.
We follow the scent up another flight of stairs that ends at a closed door. Something tells me that this is it. I hesitate until I hear a loud metallic creaking sound. Pushing the door open I run, only to be buffeted by a strong wind.
It takes a minute to understand what I am seeing. A helicopter sits in the middle of the room, its rotors spinning. The metallic groaning continues as the roof opens up above us. The helicopter slowly starts to rise an inch at a time. The side door is open, with Arlin holding onto Rebby. A claw rests against her carotid artery, the threat apparent. Behind him I can see a young girl and another man, sitting.
Rebby shakes her head slightly, a small red scratch appearing where she accidentally pushes her neck against Arlin’s claw. “Don’t!” She yells.
Arlin snarls and grasps her arm tighter. “Stay back!”
My wolf growls, pushing to be let out. “Arlin! Let her go!” I move towards the helicopter. It is now a foot off the ground.
“No! She is our insurance that you won’t harm us.” Arlin moves deeper into the helicopter.
I hesitate. Rebby means more to me than I had imagined, but letting these monsters get away rubs me wrong. Then there is the innocent child in there. She didn’t ask to be pulled into this life. That hesitation costs me any advantage I might have had as the helicopter lifts higher. A blur passes me as Tristan runs and jumps into the helicopter.
A shot echoes through the space. Tristan falls to the floor of the helicopter. The man who had been behind Arlin steps forward to kick Tristan out of the helicopter.
“NO!” I scream as Tristan falls the eight feet to the ground.
“Get rid of the girl,” the man says. Arlin glances at him. He whispers something to Rebby and then tosses her out the door as if she is a piece of garbage.
I ignore the helicopter as it moves away from the house. They are now James’ and Bane’s problem. My whole focus is on my best friend and Rebby.
Rebby groans, “Help him! I’m ok.”
I can see that she isn’t okay, but I don’t want to argue with her. I saw her fall, saw her knee give out as she landed. But Tristan isn’t moving and a pool of blood is forming under him.
Heart in my throat, I roll Tristan to his back. His leg is bent at the wrong angle, so I straighten that. His nose is gushing blood, but there isn’t much I can do about that. The real concern is the hole in his side. With no exit hole, I have to get that bullet out before he can have a chance to heal. Good thing it looks like it missed all his vital organs, or at least I hope it did. As long as it didn’t hit his heart or a major artery he can heal from it. Just the more damage, the longer the healing.
Grimacing, I extend a claw and carefully slice along the wound so that I can open it up a bit more. “Rebby, can you help me? Your fingers are smaller than mine.”
“Yeah, give me a minute,” she pants. I feel bad asking her to help me, but her smaller hands will be able to reach in better than mine. I flinch with her as she slowly scoots herself the five feet to where Tristan lies.
“I’ll hold it open, just find the bullet.” I spread the wound as open as I can. “He hit you?”
Her cheek is bruised, her neck scratched. “No, I fought and hit my cheek on one of the guards’ shoulders.” Her fingers are buried in my friend’s side, covered in blood, and we are talking as if nothing odd is happening. Life certainly has gotten weird.
“I didn’t know Arlin was involved or that he had a daughter.”
“That was how they knew we were at the diner. Arlin called them. There got it.” Rebby pulls her fingers out, a small silver bullet in her hand. “We need to flush it out, now. I don’t know how much silver is in his system.”
I look around, but the large room we are in is empty. It obviously was meant as a getaway with the helicopter. “I’ll carry him. Can you walk?”
Rebby shakes her head. “No. Go take care of him. I will stay here. Promise.”
I look at her then at Tristan. I don’t have a choice but don’t like it. Moving so that I am sitting in front of her, I place my hand on her cheek. “You know what you teased about in the diner? Were you serious?”
Her eyes go wide, and she licks her lips. My eyes focus on her lips, noticing how pink and full they are. “Um...I was kidding, sort of. I like both of you.”
I cut her off there. “Think about it. We have.” I lean in, kissing her softly. “Not how or where I thought our first kiss would be. I have to get Tristan taken care of. Once I leave sit against the door and don’t move unless it is me coming in.”
“Okay.” Rebby’s fingers are on her lips and she looks...surprised.
“I mean it.” Picking Tristan up, I walk over to the door. I had noticed a red button next to the door and hope that it is used to close the roof. Hitting it as I open the door, I am happy to hear the metallic grinding noise and see the room darkening as the roof closes.