The Awakening: Britton (Entangled Covet) (24 page)

petty theft.

They weren’t going to go down without a fight, so Val and Britton’s best bet was to get the situation

handled as quickly as possible.

As they neared the cabin, the first hint of fresh-cut grass hit his nose. Until now, he hadn’t picked up

any scents. Placing a finger to his lips as he glanced at Val, he slowed his pace. She nodded. He inhaled

deeper, locating the sage and orchids. Closing his eyes, he concentrated hard, sifting through the propane

smell that covered the area, finally catching the faintest whiff of the other three scents.
Fuck
.

“They’re not together,” he whispered.

“How far apart do you think they are?”

“The kid and the young couple are closest to us. The others, I would say, are fifty, sixty yards away.”

“Oh man, that’s too far.”

“They don’t sense our approach yet. You get the kid and the couple, and I’ll take the other group. Get

into position. You’ll know when to move in.”

He loathed the idea of splitting up, but if they went after one group, the others would hear the

commotion and escape. They would have to ambush both at the same time. At least this way, Val would be

in less danger, which was enough for now.

When she started forward, he grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Stay. Alive.”

“You better do the same.”

Their gazes held for a brief moment before they reluctantly let go and started to creep in opposite

directions. The distance between them had never felt greater…or more perilous.

Shaking off the ominous sensation, Britton concentrated on keeping his footsteps silent as he worked

his way around the perimeter of the cabin. Val had been right—neither of them could worry about the other

right now. They had to trust they each had their part in the takedown under control. If one of them made a

rash decision based off emotion, both could wind up dead.

The suspects were smart. Splitting up made everything harder for Val and him. Clearly the kidnappers

were expecting an ambush, and had prepared. Which was why Britton’s goal was to do this quickly. With

three shifters, four if he counted Charlie, beasts were going to make an appearance.

When the scents spiked, Britton spotted his targets. He knelt behind a tree trunk, brought out the

tranquilizer gun, and squinted through the scope, aiming between the son and the father. To somewhat even

the playing field, he had to take one out now before they became aware of his presence. If things went the

way he hoped, he’d get off both shots and this would be over before it had even begun. But this first shot

was crucial. He’d need time to reload, which meant the shifter left standing would have time to react.

He focused the crosshairs on the son. The guy was built like a brick shit house and the young could be

unpredictable. Britton reaimed at the father. About thirty pounds smaller than his boy, weaker probably, he

would be easier to subdue—
if
his mate weren’t sitting right beside him. His protective instinct would roar

forward, which made him a more formidable opponent than the young punk.

Britton squeezed the trigger and hit the father in the chest. The man jerked, looked down, and yanked

the dart out before he rolled over and collapsed. The woman jumped to her feet, shaking him. “John!

John!”

Britton leaned back against the trunk of the tree as he reloaded the gun. Intent on taking the son out, he

came back around and aimed. The crosshair lined up in the middle of the son’s back. At the same time he

squeezed the trigger, the son shifted. The dart missed.

A sudden scream came from Val’s area. And all hell broke loose.

…

Val lowered her tranquilizer gun, pulled out her service pistol, and crouch-ran from behind the tree.

Keeping her gun trained on the trembling woman, Val knelt beside the unconscious shifter. The tranqs

she’d used would be enough to keep him out for at least a couple of hours, but she couldn’t use a dart on

the half shifter. The dose would kill her. Either way, the half shifter wasn’t a threat now.

Or so Val had thought. Two seconds later, the enraged mate screamed, an I’m-going-to-kill-you sound,

and charged her. Val jumped up, fisting the gun in both hands. “Don’t make me shoot you. Do you want

the first thing he feels when he wakes is the lack of you flowing in his blood?”

Her words had the intended effect. The woman froze. The good ol’ bond. Worked every time. The

couple was
fewsed.
The shifter wouldn’t have awakened to darkness inside him as he would have if his

mate hadn’t reciprocated the bond, but even a completed bond did change after the death of mate, and Val

had no qualms about using that threat against mated criminals to keep their asses in line.

Motioning with her gun, she inched forward. “Turn around.”

The woman did as she was told, and Val snapped a cuff on one wrist and yanked her over to a tree.

“Hug it.”

Giving Val a look that would’ve rendered her dead if looks could kill, she put both arms around the

trunk and Val secured the cuff on the other wrist. Once she had both suspects detained, she finally allowed

herself to look at the little boy, who was sitting against another tree, covered in dirt, but thankfully unhurt.

When she’d come upon the scene, the child had appeared so helpless and frightened that she’d wanted

to rush to his side. She’d made herself cut off all those emotions and cautiously eliminated the threat

surrounding the boy first.

“Are you the good guy?” he asked, gazing up at her with wide brown eyes. Her heart clenched at the

sweet, innocent question.

“Yes.” Kneeling before him, she ran her hand over his hair. “I need you to listen to me, Charlie. There

are still some bad guys out there.”

He brought his knees to his chest. “They said they’d take me to my mommy. They didn’t. They made

me say bad things about my home. They wouldn’t give me dinner if I didn’t say bad things.” Tears slipped

down the child’s cheeks. “Can I go home now?”

A burning sensation scorched the back of Val’s eyes and she blinked against it. “Soon. Just a little

longer, okay? I have to take care of the bad guys first, and make sure they never make you say bad things

again. But I need for you to hide first. Can you do that?”

The little boy nodded.

Motioning for him to follow, she moved to a large tree that was close to the clearing around the cabin.

She loathed leaving the child, but she had to make sure that the wanted shifters were no longer a threat. If

something happened to Britton, she’d need all her wits to take on the beasts and she couldn’t worry about

the child. After she had him nestled in the tree hollow, she quickly shoved branches and leaves around the

opening until he was obscured from sight.

“If you see anyone, stay still. If they find you, scream, and I’ll come running,” she whispered.

Though she doubted she’d have to worry about that. She had a feeling there was a beast that would love

to attack the people who’d traumatized its human. The fact that the kidnappers were still in one piece

showed how many tranqs they’d gone through while they’d had Charlie.

Seeing she had this part of the situation under control, Val inched toward the cabin—just in time to see

the other half shifter barrel out the woods on the far side.

“Freeze!” Val yelled, sprinting into the clearing.

The woman stumbled, lost her footing, and slammed into the ground.

“Hands on top of your head!” As the woman followed orders, Val ran over and braced her knee

between her shoulder blades. Just as she had the secured the woman to the steel pipe of a rusted

waterspout, a mountain lion and a jaguar came brawling out of the woods, all teeth and claws.

Val froze where she stood. She didn’t want to distract Britton…and she didn’t want the suspect to see

her. Inching backward, she hid behind the rotted wood of the water basin. Raising the tranquilizer gun, she

took aim. When the mountain lion whipped its head around and tried to take a bite out of Britton’s side, her

heart jumped into her throat. But Britton evaded the attack and lunged on top of the animal.

Val held steady, waiting for an opening, but she could not get a good shot off without possibly hitting

Britton. If she hit him first, she doubted she’d have time to reload before the mountain lion was on her.

Then she would be SOL. What could she do?

If she gave away her location, the beast would consider her, as a half shifter, the weaker threat and

charge to eliminate her first. She could shoot then, but the probability of miscalculating the animal’s speed

was too great, and either he’d be on top of her before she even got the shot off, or he could make a sudden

switch in direction and she would miss him completely. Both outcomes ended with the beast on top of her

—and with his back to Britton.

A clean shot.

She had to trust that Britton understood her intention, and wouldn’t let his emotions cloud his

judgment.

Still holding the tranquilizer gun in one hand, she pulled out her pistol with the other. Not that she had

any intention of using it. The High Council wanted them all alive. Though shifters were hard to kill, they

weren’t immortal. If she nicked an artery, the suspect could bleed out.

Taking a steadying breath, she leaped up from behind the basin, and yelled, “Freeze!”

Both beasts froze. Then the mountain lion caterwauled, spun, and charged her. Holding steady, she

made herself wait until the shifter was practically on top of her before she tossed the tranq gun toward the

jaguar. The next thing she felt was a Mack truck hitting her and sending her flying backward. She landed

hard on her back, the air
whoosh
ing out of her lungs, as sharp teeth snapped at her face. She shoved against

its muzzle and screamed. Then the animal’s body jerked and collapsed on top of her.

She pushed it off and rose on shaky legs. When she finally looked up, Britton was standing about

twenty feet away, all color leached from his skin, his gun hanging limply in his hand. He blinked, staring at

her, then he stumbled forward. The closer he came the faster he moved, and she was suddenly in his arms,

crushed to his chest.

“What the fuck, Val? What the fuck?” It was all he said as his arms tightened around her even more.

“Sorry, I couldn’t get a clear shot.”

“I thought you were dead. Thought I’d shifted too late. Fuck, woman, don’t do that to me again.”

“It’s over now, Britton.”

A growl sounded to their right and he immediately went rigid against her. She glanced toward the trees.

It was a wolf. The animal had its head lowered, teeth bared. Britton started to shove her behind him, but

she shook her head, “Don’t.”

As she stepped out of his embrace, he grabbed her arm. “Val.”

“
Shh
. It’s okay.”

She went down on one knee and held out her hand. “Charlie. Come here.”

The wolf closed his mouth and stared at her for a moment before trotting over. She rubbed behind his

ears. A wet tongue licked her cheek, then a moment later thin arms wrapped around her neck. She gathered

the little boy in her embrace and stood, looking over at Britton.

Smiling through her tears, she told them both, “It’s over. Everything’s going to be okay now.”

Chapter Twelve

Everything
wasn’t
going to be okay.

Britton had called Harwood to let them know he and Val had found the child and captured the suspects.

The High Council had two vans out to them in under a half hour, which hadn’t been surprising. Most likely

they’d had the transports positioned nearby for hours.

One vehicle was to transport Charlie back to World Shifters, and the other to take the prisoners to

appear before the High Council. Charlie had refused to let go of Val, so she rode with him to the compound

and said she’d meet Britton at the council building for their debriefing.

But there hadn’t been a debriefing—at least not for him.

As soon as the van had pulled through the back gate of the High Council, six guards had exited the

building. Four had flung open the back of the van and shepherded the prisoners in for arraignment. The

other two had waited for Britton to get out of the passenger seat before escorting him inside and straight to

a service elevator.

When the doors slid open to reveal the deep cherrywood of the High Council’s chambers, unease had

immediately twisted his gut. As he was ushered to the lone chair positioned before the long table, he stared

straight ahead, avoiding the gazes of the council members watching him march to his fate. He thought of

Val and how he’d wished he’d taken the time to kiss her once more, no matter who had been standing

around. Wished he’d gotten to feel his beast stir within him as he pressed his lips to hers one last time.

Damn. This was too soon.

The guards locked steel cuffs around his wrists and he tensed. Next his ankles were secured to the

wooden chair. Growling, his beast paced, agitated, obviously knowing what was about to happen.