Vega Brothers: Hannibal: BBW Paranormal Romance Pretend Engagement (The Bear Shifters of Vega Ranch Book 4) (10 page)

“Hannibal Lecter and Orange Julius,” Slate said as they approached. “Nice to see you gentleman again.”

Hannibal’s senses heightened as he came to a stop beside his brothers. Thorn, the Clawed Squad’s alpha, was standing in front of the squad with his arms folded over his enormous chest. He had a lollipop sticking out of his mouth, which he always had while in the field for some reason. The other five members were standing behind him, pointing assault rifles at the Vega Brothers.

Hannibal gulped as he stared down the barrel of an M16. The weapons would hurt but they could probably get past the bullets. They had done it before. The Clawed Squad’s real weapons were hiding within.

The Thornado was staring at Hannibal with apologetic eyes. “You guys know that this is just business, right? It’s nothing personal.”

“It’s personal with me,” Stetson said, glaring at Alexander as he clenched his massive hand into a huge fist.

Hannibal gulped as his huge brother, the grumpy polar bear shifter, curled up his lips in a snarl. Alexander and Stetson hated each other. Their two polar bears would always go at it every chance that they got. Normally Hannibal loved to watch; they were both enormous bear shifters and they always put on an entertaining show but now wasn’t the time. Alexander had to watch his temper or things could go south really fast.

“We offered the Ember twins a deal,” Hannibal said, ignoring his brother and Stetson.

“So I heard,” Thorn said, rubbing his thick jaw. “We’re warriors, not cowboys.”

Hannibal’s stomach dropped at his words. That wasn’t the reaction he was hoping to hear.

“You’re slaves not warriors,” Khan grunted.

“Who you calling a slave?” Tyler, or Stumps as his crew called him, said. He stepped forward on his prosthetic foot, heading straight for Khan.

Thorn reached out and slapped his hand onto Stump’s chest, pulling him back. “You’re a slave to me,” Thorn growled. “You got a problem with that?”

“No, boss,” Stumps said, stepping back in line but still glaring at Khan.

Both sides seemed to be looking for a fight. There was so much testosterone and adrenaline in the air that Hannibal could actually taste it. It was time to pour some water on this party before it burst into flames.

“You’ve all served your time,” Hannibal said to the group. “We’re offering you a life of freedom. Of peace. Three thousand acres of land on the north side of the Vega Ranch. It’s yours for the taking.”

“Until the general comes and takes our heads for it,” Royal said from the back. “No thanks.”

Hannibal took a deep breath. “We’ll take care of the general. For good.”

The Clawed Squad glanced at each other with unsure eyes. Thorn just continued staring him down. “You clowns are going to take out the general?”

“Who you calling a clown?” Khan asked in a raspy voice.

“Thank you for the compliment,” Julius said. “I think I’m quite funny too.”

Hannibal stepped forward with a serious face. “He threatened our mates, he threatened our cubs. We’ll take him out.”

Thorn drew his mouth into a straight line and then bit his lip as he watched Hannibal.

“Let’s smoke them, boss,” Stetson said, pointing his gun right between Alexander’s eyes.

“You wouldn’t be talking so tough if you weren’t hiding behind that water pistol,” Alexander hissed.

“That’s it,” Stetson said, tossing his gun on the ground. He yanked off his shirt and flexed his huge muscular arms before stepping forward.

Alexander’s lips curled up into a grin as he tore off his shirt and stepped to the side, away from the group.

“Please, Thorn,” Hannibal said as the two giants got undressed while staring each other down. “Don’t let this happen.”

“What that?” Thorn said, chuckling as he turned to the two polar bear shifters who were about to throw down. “That doesn’t mean anything. Let the boys have a little fun.”

Hannibal glanced to the side as ripping and tearing noises rang out into the night. The two shifters were growing and swelling up as long white hairs sprang out of their skin. Alexander was the first to explode into a raging polar bear, quickly followed by Stetson. They both roared at each other, showing off their massive jaws and long sharp teeth.

“We’ll fight the general to the death,” Hannibal said to Thorn. He could barely hear himself over the snarling and roaring of the two polar bears. “We’ll win. We’re fighting for our mates.”

“I know,” Thorn said, stepping towards him and turning to watch the imminent fight between the two fierce giants. “What’s on the north side of the ranch?”

Hannibal sighed in relief. “It’s gorgeous. Soil so moist that you think you could eat it, acres of prime forest to wander around in for days, elk the size of Stetson, and rivers jam packed with delicious trout.”

Alexander lunged forward and slammed into Stetson with the force of a train. The two bears toppled over, snapping their deadly jaws at each other. They rolled around, with one biting the shoulder of the other. Hannibal couldn’t even tell who was who.

Royal and Slate started taking bets with Julius and Khan. They all threw money on the ground, cheering for their guy.

“What’s your plan for the general?” Thorn asked, grimacing as one of the polar bears, probably Stetson, sunk his teeth into the other’s back leg, drawing blood.

Hannibal had planned for that. “We both know that he’s going to show up here tonight.” General Samson always liked to come see his dead victims for himself. “We’ll take him out then.”

Thorn nodded. “And his department? What about that?”

Hannibal sighed. This was the hard sell. “It’s top secret. The president himself probably doesn’t even know about it. Destroy the building and it should all go away.”

Thorn rubbed his chin as Alexander’s bear got back to his feet. The two bears circled each other while the rest of the boys cheered them on. Alexander pounced on him, sinking his teeth into Stetson’s shoulder. The bear cried out in pain as Alexander landed on top of him.

Thorn exhaled long and hard. “Alright,” he said, holding out his open palm. “You guys take care of the general and we’ll go take care of the building.”

Hannibal shook his hand but he could have kissed him. A lightness took over him as they shook on it. Everything would be okay, if they could just take care of the general.

“Three thousand acres,” Thorn said, locking eyes with him.

“Fuck it,” Hannibal replied, letting out a huge breath. “Let’s make it four.”

Thorn slapped his shoulder with a mighty hand. “Thanks, neighbor.”

Hannibal closed his eyes and shook his head as the two polar bears tried to kill each other while the rest of the shifters cheered them on. These boys were moving in next door.
I hope I didn’t make a huge mistake
. There would be time to worry about that later. The most important thing was that their mates and cubs would be safe.

“Clawed Squad!” Thorn’s deep voice boomed. “Time to move out!”

“What?” Royal said, outraged. “Stetson’s got him on the ropes.”

“Are you blind?” Julius snapped back. “Look at all of that blood on your boy’s back.”

Both of the bear’s white fur was stained a matted pink and red. They were both getting as good as they were giving.

“Stetson!” Thorn yelled. The polar bear backed away and glanced over at his alpha. “Phase. Now!”

The bear huffed but began to shake and shrink in on itself.
Wow. That’s control.

“Alexander!” Hannibal yelled, trying to sound as impressive as Thorn. “Phase now too!”

Alexander’s bear glanced over at him with an amused look. If he could have given him the middle finger with his bear paw he would have.

“Mission has changed,” Thorn said, as Stetson completed his phase.

“I was just about to knock him down for good,” Stetson complained as he stood there naked in the night.

“That’s not what I saw,” Thorn said, turning away from him and towards Hannibal. “Four thousand acres,” he whispered. “We’ll be back to collect in a week or two.”

Hannibal nodded. “I’ll have the deed ready for you.”

“Good,” he said. “And good luck with Samson.”

Khan, Julius, Royal, and Slate all grabbed their money off the ground and stuffed it back into their pockets, all grumbling that their man would have won.

“Back to the Humvees,” Thorn said, turning to the road. The Clawed Squad groaned as they reluctantly followed their alpha off the Vega Ranch.

“This is not over!” Stetson said, pointing at Alexander’s bear who was watching him with heated eyes and a snarl on his lips.

“You forgot your panties,” Julius said, grabbing Stetson’s clothes off the ground and tossing them at him.

He caught them and held them to his chest in a ball. “Who are you kidding, Julius? You know you love staring at my ass.” He smacked his right ass cheek as he walked away into the night.

Julius shook his head as he watched them go. “I can’t believe those freaks are going to be our neighbors.”

“Forget about that for now,” Hannibal said, his mind racing. “We have to prepare for the general.”

“What’s to prepare?” Khan asked. “We snap his puny human neck.”

Hannibal shook out his sweaty hands. He knew that the general was more clever than that.

Just as the thought passed through his mind he heard four whooshes fly through the air and felt a light prick on his chest.

“What the hell?” he whispered as he looked down and saw a red dart sticking out of his left pec.

He glanced back at his brothers and they each had a dart sticking out of them as well. Alexander shrank down from his bear back into his human form. “I didn’t phase,” he said in shock as he yanked the dart out of his shoulder. He wasn’t healing either. The cut on his ribs was still bleeding heavily.

“Anti-shifting serum,” Hannibal whispered. He had heard about it but wasn’t sure if it actually existed. He tried to bring his bear forward but it was as if he was drugged and deep in hibernation mode. From what he had heard, the effects weren’t permanent. They lasted about two hours or so.

General Samson strolled out from behind the cars in the direction that the darts came from. He tucked the dart gun into its holster and aimed an assault rifle at the brothers, keeping a safe distance from them.

“Easy,” Hannibal whispered, raising his hands. “We don’t seem to have our healing abilities right now either.”

Khan let out a growl as he squeezed his hands into fists by his side.

“A growl?” General Samson said, looking amused. “Your beast is asleep.”

“That’s all me,” Khan said, glaring at him with hard eyes. “I’m the
real
beast.”

“Well, it’s time to put you down for good,” the general said, aiming the gun at Khan’s chest.

“Stop!” a familiar voice called out from behind them.

Hannibal’s stomach hardened and his heart stopped.
No
. She was supposed to be running away to safety.
What is she doing here?

All of Hannibal’s worst nightmares came true when he turned and saw Mikki standing there, walking towards General Samson.

“What are you doing?” Hannibal asked, feeling nauseous. “That’s the general!”

“Yeah,” she said, never taking her eyes off the man in uniform. “But he’s also my father.”

ten

“Michelle?!?” her father said, staring at Mikki in shock. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Mikki gritted her teeth and marched over to her Dad. “Put that gun down!”

“These are killers,” her father said, swinging the barrel of the gun from one Vega brother to the other.

“You’re the only killer here,” she snapped back.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, backing away from her as she marched forward.

“You killed my best friend, Franklin, and now you’re going to kill my fiancee and his brothers.”

“Fiancee?” her father asked with a fierce new intensity burning in his eyes. “Which one?” His face reddened as he squeezed the handle of the gun.

“Him,” Julius said, pointing at Hannibal. “Aim for his balls.”

Mikki jumped in front of the barrel. “You’re going to have to shoot through me,” she said, glaring at him.

“Move, Michelle,” he said, his eyes full of hatred. “This is for your own good. You don’t know how evil shifters are. You don’t understand the kind of cruelty that they can unleash on the world.”

“Only because you force them to,” she said, stepping towards him. The gun was in reach, pointed at her chest.

“Get out of the way, Mikki,” Hannibal pleaded with a shaky voice. “Please, just go back to the barn.”

“You’re the only evil one here,” she said, glaring at her father. “These men are sweet and kind. They’ve treated me better than you ever did.”

“I always did what was best for you,” he said. “One day you’ll understand.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re wrong. You’ve always been wrong. You’re just a bitter old lonely man who’s full of hate. That’s why mom left and that’s why I left.”

“You don’t know anything,” he said with his nostrils flaring. “You’re just a spoiled little brat.”

“Hey!” Hannibal said, stepping up beside her. Her father swung the gun, pointing it at her fiancee’s gorgeous face. Mikki’s heart nearly stopped. She knew that her father wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. He hated shifters and saw them as nothing more than irritating rats that needed to be exterminated. And a shifter engaged to her daughter deserved more than death in his cruel eyes.

“That’s my mate that you’re talking about,” Hannibal said, glaring at him. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

A movement caught the corner of Mikki’s eye. She glanced over her father’s shoulder and saw Khan sneaking up behind him. Her father had been so focused on Hannibal and her that he didn’t see the oldest Vega brother circle around.

“
I
give the orders,” her father hissed. “You’re just a
fucking
shifter.”

“That’s right he’s a fucking shifter,” Julius said. “He’s
fucking
your daughter.”

“What did you say?” he said, his eyes flying open in outrage. Mikki screamed and closed her eyes as her father swung the barrel at Julius’ head. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was going to pull the trigger this time.