Bear's Baby (Bear Heat Book 4) (9 page)

The city was teeming with
people. Baxter knew he had to move very quickly and carefully. One
wrong move, one mistake and the streets would be slicked with blood.

Quietly, he urged his bear to
the surface. He didn't shift fully into bear form, but he let his
animal senses take over. His bear peered out of his eyes and he
growled softly as his senses heightened. The heady mix of city
scents swirled around him. The smell of vehicle fumes mingled with
the scent of human sweat and expensive perfumes. The rush of feet
and the cacophony of voices droned insistently in his ears. As
passers-by jostled past him, he could scent their underlying beasts
and emotions. He could make out human and shifter scents. There
were wolves and lions, cheetahs and even a crocodile under some of
those human skins. The air shimmered with the rise and ebb of their
emotions. Worry, frustration, excitement, anger and the occasional
spark of joy. Nothing out of the ordinary. These were all the usual
scents, sounds and sights of the city.

Baxter continued prowling the
streets, determined to find the blasted demon and destroy the fiend
before he caused more mayhem and destruction. The Black Bears had
assisted the dragons in their fight against the demons before, and
Baxter had seen firsthand how devious and brutal the demons were.

He had seen some of his
comrades die in battle, and he didn't want to think about what the
demons could do to the humans. If they could rip a hardened,
well-trained Black Bear to pieces, they would no doubt be able to gut
an adult human single-handedly in less than thirty seconds.

Baxter let his bear out a
little more and felt his claws push out from his fingertips. His
bear vibrated with impatience and frustration under his skin. His
bear didn't want to be boxed in and hindered. His bear wanted to go
all out and hunt down that cunning demon.

“Soon,” Baxter
snarled to his bear. “Just a while more.”

He would keep his human form
and mind for a while more. He trusted his bear, but a good tracker
needed to think and plan as well. His human brain was more agile
than his single-minded animal brain. He needed to outthink and
outsmart the demon, and predict and anticipate his movements.

Outside of the demon realms,
the demons could increase their power by spilling innocent blood. It
wasn't the blood per se that empowered them. It was the destruction
of innocent life and goodness.

Baxter stopped in the middle
of the street and let the scents and sounds pummel him. He had to
think. What did the demon want and what would he be looking for?
The demon wanted power, and he was looking for blood. Blood of the
innocent and the righteous.

The escaped demon was both
hunter and prey. He was being hunted, but he was also hunting. The
demon was hunting for victims, and these victims had to embody the
goodness and courage of the city. They would be good people who
fought against evil and terror.

Baxter opened his eyes with a
gasp.

He knew where he had to go.

His bear growled but not in
protest. His beast backed him up a hundred per cent this time.
Every instinct kicked in as he took off at a dead run. His killer
and predatory instinct was out in full force. Kill and destroy,
protect and defend.

Even as he bulldozed through
the crowd, fear clutched at his heart. Why didn't he think of this
sooner?

He punched at his watch as he
charged ahead. The Black Bears would pick up on his signal and they
would be able to home in on his location.

At this moment, he didn't
care if he had backup or not. He just had to get there first.

He couldn't be too late. His
heart and gut tightened as he hurtled through the never-ending wave
of busy, oblivious people.

Having someone, not just
something, to fight for. Yeah, it did feel different. It felt
fucking terrifying.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Lindy snapped on her seat
belt as Dr. Ross Manolo started the car engine. Ross turned to smile
at her before revving the engine and peeling out of the car park.

Lindy felt her skin prickle.
That smile didn't look warm and friendly. It wasn't the smile from a
trusted, respected colleague. The smile was taunting, leering and so
very cold.

Lindy gulped and fought to
keep her voice steady. “R-Ross, um, maybe we should do this
another time. You can show me your daughter's letters in my office.
I...I really have to get back. T-there's just so much to do...”

“There's always so much
to do,” Ross said smoothly. “So much to do, so little
time.”

“Yeah.” She let
out a nervous laugh. “If it's okay, I think I'll take a rain
check on that coffee. I'll like to go back and work on that profile.
Y-you did make some very good points, Ross...”

“You've changed your
mind. You're not going to help me,” Ross said accusingly,
gripping the steering wheel.

“No, I...of course I'll
help you. It's just that...”

“Good.” Ross
smiled. “I knew I could count on you. You have a good, kind
heart, Lindy.” His face twisted suddenly. “So much
goodness and kindness in you.”

Lindy shrank back when Ross
turned to face her.

“Ross, you...”
she stammered. Choking back a scream, she turned and tried to open
the door but she was a second too slow. The locks engaged with a
click, and the tinted windows darkened to pitch black.

Lindy was flung back in her
seat as Ross stomped on the accelerator and the car shot forward like
a bullet.

“Ross...” She
shook her head and swallowed repeatedly. “You're not Ross,”
she said slowly. “W-who are you?”

Ross turned his head and
Lindy shrank back with a scream. His eyes were changing. His soft,
brown eyes were turning full black. The whites of his eyes were
slowly being swallowed up by that ominous, drowning darkness.

Lindy yanked desperately at
the door handle again, but she knew she was trapped. The glass was
shatterproof and soundproof. She couldn't escape. She couldn't even
throw herself out of the speeding car. And no one could hear her
scream.

“Who are you?”
she whispered. “W-where is Ross? What have you done to Dr.
Ross Manolo?”

“Ross Manolo is dead.”
The voice was still Ross's mellow voice, but the face had changed
completely.

It was no longer Ross in the
car with her.

With a stab of pure horror,
Lindy realized that it had never been Ross in the car.

Ross was dead. And he had
probably been dead for some time. Ross had been more than just her
colleague. He had been her friend and her mentor.

Lindy blinked back her tears
and howled in fury and fear. “You killed Ross!” she
screeched. “You murderer! Just who are you?” She
curled her fingers into claws and launched herself at him.

A large hand snared both her
wrists, and she cried out when she felt claws digging into her flesh.
“W-what are you?” she wheezed.

The mouth curved in an ugly
smile. The face rippled so that she saw what was truly beneath the
mask of Ross's benign face.

“You...you are...”
Her voice sounded faint.

“A demon.”

Lindy struggled to free
herself from that crushing, vice-like grip.

“Don't make it harder
for yourself, Lindy.” The demon held her with one hand, and
expertly steered the car with the other. He allowed his human skin
to rip apart so that she could see his full demon form.

Lindy swallowed her horror
and tried to remember her training. It didn't matter what he looked
like. What mattered was his thoughts and intentions. She had to
find out more. She had to keep him talking.

“I can see you're a
demon,” she stuttered. “W-what's your name?”

“Palli.” She
heard his pride as he said his name. He layered his voice with his
demon power so that it hissed and echoed in her mind.

“Okay, Palli,”
she said, letting herself go limp. “I won't struggle.”

The demon released his grip a
little. Immediately, she wrenched her hands free and lurched for the
steering wheel.

“You killed Ross!
You're going to kill me too. Fine, we'll die together!” she
screamed, trying to force the car off the road. She would rather die
in a car crash than at the hands of a demon. She didn't know if the
crash would kill the demon as well, but it was worth a shot.

“Stupid human!”
the demon hissed. He closed his clawed hand around her throat.
Lindy gasped and scratched at him but she was no match for him.

He slammed her head on the
dashboard and Lindy heard a sickening thud. Blood spurted from her
forehead and down her face. As blood dripped into her eyes, she
flailed weakly and tried to hold on to consciousness even as she felt
everything slipping away from her.

She didn't want to die. She
couldn't die. She had a date this evening. She finally had a date.
And she liked him a lot, more than a lot in fact.

She would like to see him
again.

She thought she had time.
Time to take it slow, time to grow older, wiser.

She thought of Baxter and
wished she could have told him what she'd truly felt the moment he
touched her.

So much to do, so much to
say, so little time.

His name escaped on a painful
breath as she slumped down in the passenger seat. “Baxter...”

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Baxter felt the sharp,
searing stab of pain as Lindy's voice whispered in his head. She was
calling his name.

“Lindy!” he
roared as he neared the building that housed the offices of the
Behavioral Analysis Department. But even as he ran, he already knew
that she wasn't in the building.

She was gone.

His Lindy.

Baxter stumbled to a stop at
the bottom of the steps leading up to the imposing office building.
He squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to block out all the
noise and that terrible roar in his head. He had to grab on to her
voice. Her voice was fading, but it was there. The echo of it. He
could still hear her, feel her, feel the pull of her.

“Thank fuck,” he
muttered to his bear. His bear had been right to claim and mark her
last night. He had stupidly tried to wrestle his bear down when he
took Lindy last night but the bear would not be held back from his
mate. His big, stubborn bear had done the right thing.

His bear had saved his life
on numerous occasions, and now, his bear would save his mate. He had
claimed Lindy as his, and there was a mate bond between them. His
bear would be able to track his mate to the ends of the earth and
beyond. He could still feel her, even though her voice had faded in
his mind. He could feel her heartbeat, her pain, her fear. She was
hurt, but she was alive.

A Harley motorcycle roared up
to the side of the curb. Two Black Bears leaped off the bike and
removed their helmets.

“Bax!” Aidan and
his brother waved and hollered to him. “We were on patrol two
streets away when we got your alert. What do you need?”

Baxter glanced down at his
watch. He had punched in a Code Red and activated the tracking
function on his watch. His Black Bears had found him in under two
minutes.

“I need your bike,”
he yelled, running to them.

“You got it!”
The two brothers stood aside as Baxter jumped on the Harley. Baxter
caught the helmet Aidan tossed at him and revved the engine.

“We'll call for backup!
Keep your tracker on!” Aidan shouted after him.

Baxter only nodded over his
shoulder as he roared away.

His blood was roaring louder
than the motorcycle engine as he zipped between cars and trucks and
raced up the steep highway. The mate bond tugged him unerringly
towards Lindy, and he could feel himself moving nearer and closer to
her.

He could feel her and now, he
could scent her.

Her scent made something
fierce rise in his chest. The predator and protector rose to the
fore, as Baxter gunned his bike towards a tall, secluded condo
building.

The condo was an expensive,
upscale development and was nestled in a very quiet part of the city.
Baxter circled to the back of the development and killed the bike
engine.

With a running leap, he
scaled the wall surrounding the condo building and landed among the
manicured trees and bushes soundlessly. He had the strength of a
bear, but he could move like a cat.

Crouching, he ran along the
wall, staying hidden behind the trees and flowering shrubs until he
reached the condo building. He pushed through a narrow door into the
stairwell and bolted up the stairs, three at a time.

He knew exactly where Lindy
was. His bear guided him, and the mate bond pulled him towards his
mate. That, and the overpowering scent of her blood drove him
faster, harder up the stairs, towards the corner unit on the tenth
floor.