Bruce was still yelling, but he had also started to sob. With disgust, she handed him over to one of the State officers.

  “Please secure Mr Carter,” she requested formally.

  He nodded and took Bruce’s arm.

  Savannah grinned at the other officer. “Let’s get started.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Kurt crouched next to Cain from their vantage point across the street from the house they were watching. Cain had been able to determine that the house directly across from the one that Carter was hiding out in was empty. They used that to their advantage.

  He and Cain were watching the front, while Clint was keeping an eye out behind Carter’s, hidden in the alley between dumpsters. Gray and Tony were at the sides of the house. They had all four sides covered as long as they weren’t spotted.

  Gray had brought along a bag of goodies for the five men to use. They had headsets so they could talk to one another, along with flak jackets they hopefully wouldn’t have to test out.

  Cain had been right about the security. Cameras were mounted on all sides of the high fence. But it was a chain-link fence so they could still see through it to the house.

  It was a large structure located on the corner of the street and, since they had to stay out of camera view, it would be a challenge to figure out how to get in. But the position of the house on the street was in their favour. There were no guards—human or canine. That boded well for their mission.

  They were watching for any sign of anyone. They could wait until dark and all go in shifter form. Their wolves would give them the speed and strength they would need. But they really needed to know how many were inside first.

  They’d only been watching for about twenty minutes when they heard an alarm going off. “What the…?” Kurt exclaimed. None of their men should have been close enough to set off any alarms.

  Cain tapped the communicator in his ear. “Report!”

  “Wasn’t me,” Gray responded.

  “Not me,” Clint also replied. “Wait, I have movement back here. Holy shit! Get here now!”

  Kurt hopped up, and he and Cain vaulted the fence they had hidden behind.

  “Hey!” Clint yelled. He hadn’t turned off his communicator. Kurt put on a burst of speed to get to his friend. He heard more shouts and some arguing.

  They raced around the house to meet up with Clint and almost ran into Tony coming from the other direction. Down the alley, he saw five men sprinting towards him. Gray was even farther behind coming from the side of the house into the alley.

  “Go! Go, go, go!” Clint hollered, waving wildly at them. “Back to the car!”

  “Is that Colt?” Kurt squinted in the bright sunlight.

  Cain grabbed his shoulder. “Back to the vehicle. Everyone split up!” he ordered through the communicator.

  Kurt turned and took off. Cain and Tony left in opposite directions.

  Colt had been running on his own, without assistance, on his own two feet. Kurt didn’t know who else was with him, but obviously they all had the same goal. To get away.

  Kurt darted down an alley that would take him close to their vehicle. He glanced over his shoulder but didn’t see anyone following. He still kept up his steady pace, unsure what exactly was going on.

  When he reached the rented SUV, Cain, Tony and Gray were just arriving. Cain jumped in the driver’s side and started the vehicle.

  “Where are they? Where is Clint?” Kurt demanded.

  “That was Colt,” Tony said. “He was okay. God, he was okay.”

  “Get in,” Cain ordered and they complied. Cain was right. They would have to make a fast getaway.

  Kurt strained to catch a glimpse of Clint. There was still no one around. When his cell phone rang, it startled him enough that he jerked.

  “It’s Clint,” he told the others. “Where are you?” he asked as he answered.

  “Headed out,” Clint answered. “Everything is fine. Head south, out of town, turn west at Junction 520—it’s about forty-two miles from here. We’ll be there waiting.”

  “We who?” Kurt insisted. Cain already had the vehicle moving.

  Clint laughed. “Oh, you’re gonna love this. See you soon.”

  Kurt cursed and slammed his hand down when Clint hung up on him. “I’ll kill him,” he promised. “I don’t care if Sara comes after me. I’m going to beat his ass.”

  Gray laughed next to him. “I’ll hold him down.”

  * * * *

  Kurt slammed the door closed and stalked towards Clint once Cain had stopped their vehicle next to a dark blue SUV.

  Clint laughed and danced out of the way. “Man! You should have seen your faces when you came around the house and saw us.”

  Kurt growled. Clint held his hands up in surrender.

  Tony brushed by Kurt and into Colt’s arms. Colt looked a little beat up but better than Kurt had expected.

  “Let me introduce you to my new friends,” Clint told him and waved at two of the men who’d exited with Colt.

  “Guys, meet the rescue team,” Clint introduced. “Cody Johnson and Zak Lewis.”

  Kurt shook hands with the two men. Shifters obviously. They had the animal scent. But they weren’t wolves. Gray and Cain came over and Gray sniffed. Kurt was glad it was Gray and not him who had to figure it out.

  “Tiger?” Gray questioned.

  The large blond, Zak, nodded. “You’re a wolf, but I smell…bobcat.”

  Gray grinned. “My mate.”

  Zak’s mouth dropped open. He glanced between Gray and the others as if to see if Gray was messing with him. He cleared his throat. “Oh.”

  Gray laughed and slapped his back. “I know, man. I get that reaction a lot.”

  “Wait!” Zak snapped his fingers. “You’re the wolf mated to a bobcat in Coyote Bluff? That makes you part of the Royal family!”

  Gray flushed. “Well…” he said, shuffling his feet. “Yeah.”

  “Royal family?” Kurt asked, shocked. How had he missed that?

  “It’s no big deal,” Gray said, waving it off.

  Cain laughed. “Gray’s mate is the sister of the Feline Prince’s mate.”

  “Wow!” Kurt managed. He didn’t know what else to say.

  Gray’s embarrassment was obvious, though, so Kurt didn’t press the issue. He turned to Cody and lifted a brow.

  Cody smiled wide. “Falcon.”

  Kurt was impressed. He’d never met a flying shifter before. “Wow, again.”

  “But what are you doing here?” Cain interjected.

  Zak nodded towards the back of the SUV where another man was slumped in the seat. “Our buddy Jamie. He was being held in the same room as your friend.”

  Colt and Tony joined the circle. “And I can’t thank you guys enough,” Colt told them. He still had an arm wrapped tightly around Tony’s waist. “I don’t know how much longer they would have kept us. Dan Carter was not happy having shifters around him. He really does believe we’re evil.”

  Tony brushed his hand over Colt’s bruised cheek. “It was too long as it was.”

  Colt nodded and captured Tony’s wrist. “I know. But Jamie had been there two days longer than me.” He nodded towards the figure in the vehicle. “He took a pretty brutal beating.”

  Zak growled. “The fire should keep them busy.”

  “Fire?” Kurt asked.

  Cody inclined his head. “I’ve always enjoyed a good bonfire.”

  Everyone laughed at that.

  “We need to get Jamie to a safe place to heal,” Zak said, growing serious.

  “Do you have somewhere to go?” Tony turned to him.

  “We’re based in Arizona. We want to put some distance between us and that house,” Zak replied.

  “We have a plane. Come back with us. We can get the entire story and we have a Pack doctor who can look at your friend. You’ve helped us—let us return the favour.”

  Zak and Cody exchanged a quick glance. Cody nodded his agreement.

  “Sounds good.” Zak motioned back to the vehicles. “We should get going then.”

  Everyone separated and climbed into the two vehicles. Kurt and Clint moved to the new shifters’ vehicle so Tony and Colt could have the back seat of their SUV. Kurt climbed in the back and looked over at the man who had his head tipped back with his eyes closed.

  The big dark-haired man peered at him through swollen eyes. Colt was right. The man had been badly beaten.

  “You okay?” Kurt asked him.

  “Yeah, I’ll be all right. I just need to shift and rest.” His voice rumbled deep through Kurt. The man had to be at least six foot three. He was heavily muscled and broad-shouldered.

  “Kurt Moore,” Kurt told him. “I guess you’ve met this clown.” He pointed at Clint.

  Clint stretched his legs out as much as he could in the crowded back seat and snorted.

  “We almost ran him over when we made a break for it,” the man replied. “Jamie Ward.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Kurt said sincerely.

  Cain pulled out from next to them and Zak followed.

  “Tony should have the plane ready once we arrive at the airport,” Kurt told the men. “We’ll be able to get off the ground pretty quick.”

  “California, right?” Cody questioned.

  “Lovington, in Northern California,” Kurt supplied. “Our Council is located there.”

  “I’ve heard about them,” Zak said. “Our Prince worked with them when my Streak went public.”

  “Streak?” Clint asked.

  “A Streak is like your Pack. A group or family of tigers,” Zak answered.

  “Huh, a Streak,” Clint huffed. “I didn’t know that.”

  Kurt hadn’t either.

  Zak gestured towards Cody. “A group of Falcons is a Cast.”

  Cody chuckled. “He loves telling people that.”

  “That’s not the best one, though,” Zak commented, laughing. Kurt glanced between the two men. Zak was almost shaking with laughter.

  Cody sighed. “Jamie is a black bear.”

  “Don’t go there, man,” Jamie warned, but there wasn’t really any threat.

  “A group of bears is called a Sloth,” Cody finished.

  Jamie grunted next to him. “Every time,” the bear shifter complained.

  Zak waved one hand. “Anyway,” he said, “Prince Zachary has always spoken good things about your Council.”

  It made Kurt proud that the Feline Prince had respect for his Council. It would make things easier for the proposal he was figuring out in his head. An alliance with other shifter species was needed in cases like this.

  “How’d you get Jamie and Colt out?” Kurt asked.

  “We were following Jamie’s trail,” Cody told him.

  Jamie groaned as he shifted in his seat but sat up straighter.

  “We all work for the Phoenix PD. I work in missing persons. I had a young woman that was reported missing by her employer,” Jamie provided. “It turns out she’d met a man who was a member of the Church for Humanity.” Jamie shook his head. “I couldn’t believe it. Once I tracked her down, I questioned her in the Church, made sure she was there by her own choice. She was. But there was all this propaganda about shifters on the walls.”

  “He told us about it, but we just thought they were some harmless humans,” Zak added. “It wasn’t until we started to really dig deep after Jamie disappeared that we found out they were so well organised.”

  “And funded,” Cody muttered.

  “Yeah,” Jamie agreed. “They must have figured out I was a shifter somehow. I was coming home off shift one night and bam, I got struck on the head and woke up in that room.”

  “Jamie had already started researching the Church and had dug out information on the main guy, Dan Carter,” Zak continued the story. “We tracked him to that house.”

  “I was able to fly above the house to recon it,” Cody told them. “I didn’t know anyone was with Jamie. I could just tell there were two scents in the room. I was able to disconnect one of the cameras and get Zak in. Then it was just a matter of breaking them out and setting the fire. The fire was so they wouldn’t come after us. Although, I’m not really too concerned about it,” Cody stated with a smile. “The alarm should send in the cops and with a tip we left, Dan Carter will have some questions to answer from the local cops.”

  “That’s incredible,” Kurt declared with admiration.

  “Yeah,” Clint agreed. “We were lucky you guys were there. Even if you did get to have all the fun.”

  “We were glad to help,” Zak said sincerely.

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Kurt mentioned. “I have to talk to my bosses, but we need a way to communicate with the other species. We could have warned you all about Dan Carter before this happened.”

  Zak met his gaze in the rear-view mirror. “I’m with you.”

  Kurt nodded back. He already knew how to present it to the Council.

  Chapter Twelve

  Savannah peered through the peephole and saw Kurt standing on her front porch. She yanked the door open. “Kurt.”

  “Hey, baby,” he said with a small smile. He looked tired.

  She reached out and grasped his hands, pulling him inside. The bitter cold night air came in with him. It was past midnight. That meant he’d been awake and working for over twenty hours.

  “I didn’t think you would make it back so fast,” she said, pulling off his coat.

  “I didn’t think so either,” he replied before he turned and cupped her face. His hands were chilled, but Savannah didn’t complain. Especially not when he dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was brief but enough to show her that there would be more heat later.

  “Hi,” he said simply.

  “Hi,” she repeated.

  “I know it’s late, but I had a hell of a day and I needed to see you.”

  She beamed, grateful that he had felt the desire to come wake her up.

  “Come tell me about it,” she requested, pulling him into the living room.

  Her rental unit wasn’t as spacious as his house, but the living room was comfy and warm. She pushed him down onto the couch and dropped to her knees to remove his boots and socks. Once she had them off and stowed under the coffee table, she grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch.

  She sat close to him and pulled the blanket over both of them. “Are you injured?” she asked even as she was afraid of the answer.

  “No, we didn’t even get to rescue Colt. Someone beat us to it.”

  “What?” she cried. “What!”

  He barked out a laugh. “Yeah, two shifters broke in to rescue their friend who was being held with Colt. We were outside still watching the house when they busted out.”

  “That’s…uh…” Savannah’s thoughts raced. “Then… What does that mean?”

  Kurt shook his head. “We didn’t even consider that other shifters were in danger. We were protecting our wolves but leaving everyone else out there on their own. There is no way to communicate between the hundreds of shifter species.”

  “So what happens now?”

  “I proposed an alliance for all shifters,” Kurt informed her. “I’ll start working on the logistics in a few days. The Council agreed it was a good idea. The three shifters who are staying at the compound said they would help.”

  “And Colt and the other man were okay?”

  “Yes, they were beat up some but will be fine.”

  She rubbed her hands over his. “Good, that’s good at least.”

  “The three shifters are at the compound. They are pretty good guys. I think you’ll like them,” he said as he slid an arm around her shoulder.

  “Oh,” she replied, pleased. “Will I?”

  “Yes, I plan to show you off while they’re here,” Kurt told her.

  “Sounds good.” She cuddled into him. “I would be proud to have you show me off.”

  Kurt laughed at her tone, which was what she’d wanted. He’d had a hard day and it was good to hear his voice lose some of the tension it held.

  “Kurt, what about Dan Carter and the other branches of the Church?” she worried. They might have made a big dent in the local branch, but there was still a danger to Kurt and the other shifters.

  “The Council has called in the FBI.”

  “Really?” She was instantly reassured.

  “It’s time to take all the evidence we have to the big dogs. We have even more now that we have Zak’s, Cody’s and Jamie’s reports.”

  “Zak, Cody and Jamie?”

  “The shifters we met. The ones who rescued Colt. They are detectives with the Phoenix PD.”

  Savannah scrubbed her hands over her face. “God! It’s all so much and for what? Why is this man doing all this?”

  “Hey…” Kurt turned her head and forced her to look up at him. “It’ll be okay. Just wait and see. All this will work out.”

  She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his chest. “I just don’t want to lose you,” she confessed. “I’m pretty sure I need to see you, to feel you, every day.”

  “You will,” he said, and she heard the promise in his words. She tilted her head back and reached up to bring his lips to meet hers.

  She needed him. Had to have him right then.

  She moved and straddled his hips without taking her mouth from his, gripping the back of his neck to hold him close. It wasn’t enough. She needed more. She rocked up into him, trying to get even closer.

  “Hey.” Kurt gripped her chin, making her stop. “It’s okay.”

  Savannah breathed deeply. Her hands were shaking. “Kurt…”

  “I know,” he soothed her. “I know what you need.”

  “Please.”

  He scooted forward, pushing her off his lap in order to stand. He followed her up. “Let’s go to bed.”

  She took his hand and pulled him through the small house to the bedroom. Once inside, she led him to the bed and urged him to sit. Savannah stood between his legs and pulled Kurt’s shirt over his head. She let the garment fall to the ground before leaning over and kissing up his neck.

 

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