Coyote's Kiss (18 page)

“Is everyone else okay?” she asked when they’d gone out of view. He was making his way over a small hill.

“Yes, we’re coordinating our attack now so we’ll be able to get Cole out and still capture whoever did this,” he told her.

“I can’t wait for this to be over,” she said.

Flynn chuckled. “I bet. Now what happened to you?”

She explained about being locked inside the container. Flynn continued to stroll along with her as if her weight had no bearing on him at all. When she had finished her story he was frowning.

“What the hell are shifters doing here?” he asked.

“That’s what I was wondering,” she admitted. “I thought we were up against the agents who wanted to take Cole out, but now we have a sniper and a shifter.” She spotted the van and was grateful. Even being carried was putting a strain on her body.

“Well, I guess we’ll find out soon,” Flynn told her.

The back door of the van opened and Sam ran out.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked when he reached her.

“Yes.” She smiled. She really did like the young agent. He might have made some mistakes when it came to his partner, but he was doing everything he could to make up for it.

Flynn strolled to the vehicle and gently put her down on the bench seat. “Ambulance should be around the corner. They are supposed to wait until we call them closer. As far as they know, this is an active crime scene,” he explained. “We’ll get Cole back here as soon as we can.”

“Thanks.” She captured his hand. “And you be careful too.”

He grinned before turning and jogging back toward his partner and Luca. Jade hated not being involved in the takedown but she knew that she would only be in the way. She looked back at the three occupants with her in the van.

Patrick sat across from her wringing his hands. She still didn’t like the guy, but she didn’t want to see anyone stressed. “You okay?” she asked him.

“Me?” He jerked back with a look of shock. “You’re the one that was hurt. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know any of this was going to happen.”

She believed him. Patrick might be a coward, but she didn’t think he’d had anything to do with the attacks. He was just a pawn, like so many. “It’s okay,” she told him. “We’ll get this figured out and everything will go back to normal.” She hoped so anyway. This was more excitement than she had counted on when she and Cole had been assigned to the task force.

The entire mess was pretty unbelievable. Someone at the FBI had lost their mind. To take on the Coalition and the ATF just to take out an agent of their own? Jade couldn’t wait to see who took the fall for this. And someone had better be held responsible. It made her sick to think about all the friends she’d made along the way who could now be involved in the plot to take out her partner. Why was being a shifter such a problem? She didn’t understand the reasoning. A shifter couldn’t help their transformation any more than a human could pick their skin or eye color. She’d have thought that in this day and time people wouldn’t be judged as harshly as they once were. If faced with the same decision she didn’t know what she would have chosen to do. She would want to be one of the shifters brave enough to come out but it was easier to say that when she would never have to deal with the consequences.

Could she stand in front of others and take all that hate? She hoped that she would be strong enough but she just wasn’t sure. She respected Cole so much more now. She also wondered if he would be able to return to the FBI. Jade wasn’t even certain that
she
wanted to anymore. Maybe she should take early retirement and concentrate on lobbying for shifter rights. She’d set out to help people, but now that she knew that her agency was drowning in hate and deceit, she didn’t know if she could pretend every day that she enjoyed her job while looking over her shoulder to see who would stab her in the back next.

She knew that a decision didn’t have to be made right away and she would talk to Cole about it before she made up her mind, but it was a subject that would have to be brought up.

* * * *

Luca glanced over his shoulder and saw Flynn running back to them. Knowing that Jade was safe would help him concentrate on what he needed to do.

“Everything okay here?” Flynn asked as he joined them.

Luca nodded. “No sign of anyone else.”

“Maybe one of us should go under the containers to have a view of the next aisle,” Flynn suggested. “The more area we can cover should help.”

Sal nodded. “Why don’t you do that?”

“Be careful. That is definitely close to being in sight of the sniper. I still don’t know where he is, but he almost took me out when I ran from Zak to here.”

“Got it,” Flynn said before he darted down.

“It’s a good thing you weren’t shot,” Sal muttered. “I would have been really pissed off.”

Luca grinned. His brother really did love him. “It’s a good thing only you and I went into law enforcement. If you had to be this worried about the others you’d already have a head full of gray hair instead of the few strands you have.”

Sal turned his head very slowly and glared at him. “I do not have gray hair. I’m only forty.”

“Don’t worry,” Luca teased. “It makes you look handsome.”

“I take it back,” Sal grumbled. “Run out there and get your ass shot.”

“Oh, come on!” Luca chuckled softly. “It’s not that many.”

Sal opened his mouth to no doubt threaten him when a loud falcon cry sounded. That was their signal. Luca looked up and saw three different types of bird circling overhead. A shot broke the silence of the night, and Luca finally saw where the sniper was hidden.

Luca and Sal took off down the aisle to where Cody’s team had an eye on their target. A loud, long howl of a wolf was next. The teams were all moving. They raced past four containers, narrowing the distance between them and the sniper’s nest, when a black shape dropped down in front of them. Luca skidded to a halt. “Shit!”

A black leopard with gleaming white teeth stood in their way.

“Get down!” Sal called just as the feline launched himself in the air.

Luca dropped to his stomach so that the cat flew past him. Damn, they wouldn’t be able to take the shifter in their human forms. “We need to shift,” he yelled to his brother.

A roar, one that could only belong to a bear, echoed around them. It looked as though they wouldn’t be the only ones to transform.

“You first,” Sal ordered. “I’ll keep him off you while you shift then you do the same for me.”

Luca ran toward the train cars to use them as cover. He slid under and started to tear off his clothes. A shift was quick, but in the few minutes the transformation took he wouldn’t be able to protect himself. He started his transformation before he was completely naked. As soon as he was done he darted out straight toward the leopard.

He’d have to watch the cat’s teeth, but coyotes were good at working together. He and Sal teamed up could wear down most predators. He just had to stop himself from being bitten while his brother shifted. He circled the big cat, wishing that Zak was there with him too. The leopard was big but nothing compared to the massive size of Zak.

The feline lunged for him but Luca was able to sprint to the side to avoid the paw with long nails that was aimed for his side. He couldn’t see his brother and hoped that Sal was almost done with his change. He circled his opponent, looking for an opening.

Sal came jumping out at the leopard, and Luca used the cat’s distraction to run behind it and rake his claws down its back. The feline hissed and leaped far enough away from them to show his natural gift. Leopards could also climb damn well, so he and Sal needed to keep him in the open.

A siren and flashing red and blue lights lit up the sky. The leopard looked back, giving Luca the chance to run forward and jump on his back. He sank his canines into his neck and held on with his claws as the feline tried to shake him off. He was relieved when the first Coalition agent in human form appeared. Luca might not be the biggest or baddest of the shifters, but he could do his job. He’d hold on long enough to capture the shifter. But he was damn glad to see backup.

Adam held his dart gun, aimed, and shot the leopard in his side. The cat went crazy. He was trying to bite or scratch his way loose. Adam reloaded and sent another dart into the leopard.

Tired from the fight and with the drugs starting to take effect, the leopard stumbled. Luca released his teeth just before the leopard collapsed onto the ground.

Adam, Brady and Calvin rushed forward. Sal was at Luca’s side, butting his head against his leg. His brother wasn’t happy with him jumping the leopard. He dropped down and allowed Sal to rub his snout over him to know that Luca wasn’t hurt in any way. The cat hadn’t gotten any marks of his own in before their teammates had shown up. Once Sal was seemingly convinced that Luca wasn’t hurt, he allowed Luca to roll over.

Luca strolled over to Adam and leaned his weight against the wolf shifter. Adam laughed as he buried his fingers into Luca’s scruff and tugged gently. “Yeah, buddy, I’m glad I got here too,” Adam said.

Luca opened his mouth to show Adam his sharp teeth.

“Okay, coyote boy,” Adam teased. “You could have taken that damn kitty.”

He nodded his head, pleased with the acknowledgment.

“Do we really have to carry this damn pussy all the way back to the entrance?” Brady bitched.

“Excuse me?” Calvin snapped.

“Oh shit!” Brady jumped away from Calvin. He’d obviously forgotten that Calvin also belonged to the feline species. Calvin glared at Brady but didn’t go after him.

“Yes.” Adam pointed between Brady and Calvin.

Brady and Calvin groaned but walked over to pick up the now docile and sleepy leopard. Luca darted in front of them so that he could lead the way and make sure that no one came for them. It sounded as though the fights were over and he was anxious to make sure that everyone had made it out okay. Plus, he really wanted to check on Jade and Cole.

He kept his ears and eyes aware of his surroundings until they reached the fence that someone had busted through. He turned his head as two EMTs following behind Cole as Zak rushed Cole and the bed he was lying on toward the waiting ambulance. Obviously the human EMTs hadn’t been moving fast enough for Zak. If Luca had been in human form he would have laughed.

“Hey, coyote!” Jamie called.

Luca turned his head.

“If you want to go to the hospital with Jade, you better shift. They’re about to leave.”

Shit, he’d forgotten his clothes. He turned to go back and saw Flynn jogging up with his hands full.

“Go ahead and change,” Flynn called. “I got them.”

Grateful, he moved away from everyone else for privacy. Sal followed him, still in his coyote form also, and stood in front of Luca like a guard until he was panting in the dirt, once again human.

“Thanks, bro,” he said as he rose to his feet.

Flynn tossed Luca his pile of clothes. “Go! I got Sal’s back.”

He pulled his jeans on as fast as he could and was off toward the ambulance as he pulled on his shirt.

“I want to see Cole!”

He heard Jade’s sharp, irate voice, and grinned.

“Ma’am, he is going to the same hospital as you are and you shouldn’t be walking until we know if your spine was damaged.” One of the EMTs was trying to hold Jade down.

“If you call me ma’am one more time I’m going to—”

“Let them do their job,” Luca shouted before he jumped in the back next to her.

Her eyes widened. “You okay?” she asked.

“Yes, now be a good patient and maybe I’ll give you a kiss.”

Jade snorted. “You’ll kiss me anyway.”

“True,” Luca told her with a grin and a wink.

Chapter Twelve

Jade was floating in a haze of pain medicine as the doctor finally left the room. After poking, prodding and X-raying Jade, the medical staff had declared her bruised but okay. She turned her head to watch Luca as he held his cell up to his ear and paced. He was keeping her updated on the three arrests that had been made and Cole’s condition.

The Lake Worth Medical Center was one of the best in the country at dealing with both human and shifter patients. Cole had lost a lot of blood but would make a full recovery. Luca noticed her attention on him and stopped beside her bed. “Thanks, Sal,” he said into the phone. “I’ll let you know when we leave here.”

“Everything okay?” she asked when he’d pocketed his cell.

Luca leaned over the side of the bed to kiss her forehead. “Yes, the shifters are still sedated. We still don’t know who they are, but they’re in custody. Their fingerprints are being run to see if they’re in any database. We’re working a hunch so we started with law enforcement. We should have their names soon.”

“Do we need to get back to the office?” she questioned. She could probably make it, maybe, although she couldn’t feel her toes. Maybe Luca would carry her again. She’d liked that. His strong arms around her. She’d felt safe and warm. Mmm, yeah, she should have him do that.

She jerked when she felt his lips on hers.

“I don’t know what you were thinking about, but I think I like it,” he murmured.

“I like you,” she blurted out.
Oops
, maybe the good drugs were affecting her more than she’d realized.

“I’m glad to hear it since I don’t plan to let you get far,” he said. “I’ll be keeping you, just so you know.”

She smiled. “Promise?”

“Yes. And to answer your question, no we don’t have to go into the office. Cody and Sal have it covered. Zak and Jamie are still with Cole so he’s not alone. You just rest.”

“I’m not tired,” she argued. “And I want another kiss.”

He peered down at her. “You look like you do right after we make love. All soft, sweet and sleepy.”

“Well, if you enjoy it so much,” she said, trying to pull him down, “come here.”

“I don’t think your doctor would appreciate me climbing on top of you after he just looked over every inch of you,” Luca teased.

“Doctors are stupid,” she whined. She really wanted Luca in the bed with her.