Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Lucas

I was up and out of my seat the first time Imogen's mind touched mine, but something in the cameras caught my eye. Movement out the back of the building, by the fire exit…

Phil's here! she shouted, as if right in my ear. Here's here and he's trying to take…

Mary, I knew that as sure as I knew my pulse had started to thunder. Like so many of these fucks, they would do anything to get their claws back into their victims, knowing that these women, these children were psychologically vulnerable in a way only they could manipulate. Somehow Phil had got to his estranged wife, convincing her that she needed to come to him, lest he…

None of that mattered as I watched the screen, momentarily paralysed as I saw my girl go running towards the prick.

No, I thought, shaking my head over and over. Where the fuck was Kyle? But all conscious thought left me when Mary was shoved back and he…

Claws shot out so fast my fingers ached, and the seams of my shirt stretched, then popped, as I strode from the room. The bear and I raced towards the front of the building, only to find Kyle and Asher doing the exact same thing.

"Where the fuck…?"

My question for Kyle died in my throat as I saw it. Phil had his fucking hands on my mate, right when I promised he would never get within ten feet of her. His fingers closed down over the bruises he'd left before, and her breath sucked in as he wrenched her forward, and then his fist was raised. A roar that came from the depths of my soul erupted, echoing out into every corner of the foyer, only to be met by others from the outside. The shutters rolled up too damn slowly, right as I heard those fatal words.

Come find me…

He had her. He had Imogen.

I stared at Kyle and Asher, seeing the same stricken expressions as we came running out to find that chaos reigned.

Half the bear community was massed outside and more besides. Contractors and dads stood side by side with fucking wolf shifter bikers, and Rey and his crew rolled up in their sleek black car seconds later.

None of that mattered.

"The police are coming."

One of Kyle's dads pushed forward through the crowd to inform us, and the far off wail of a siren confirmed that, but it wasn't enough.

"Gimme your bike."

Asher sounded like murder. Probably because he looked the same as he marched up to the closest biker. Bjorn, that's what his name was, threw his leg over the bike and stepped free with a nod.

"It's yours, brother."

Asher didn't acknowledge the gift, revving the engine before turning to us. "Bring back up," he ordered.

My sleuth mate roared off the footpath and straight into traffic, forcing cars to stop abruptly, their hands slamming down on their horns, but he didn't care.

And neither did we.

"Keys," Kyle barked at his dad.

"Son, do you think?—"

"Keys or I take fur right fucking now," I snapped, "and follow on paws."

He handed them over reluctantly and that seemed to trigger something in the crowd.

"We found our prey?" a massive wolf shifter biker asked with a wild grin. "Then we hunt!"

I dimly wondered what the fuck our neighbours in their neat office blocks around us thought as we tore off down the road, cars and bikes quickly joining us as we sped up the streets. There was no question of which direction to take because the chaos was apparent as we passed. Cars stopped midway through intersections as we streamed forward, ignoring the traffic signals, the rules of the road, everything. We normally obeyed human rules, kept quiet, small in their presence, lest they turn on us.

But this time they crossed a fucking line.

No one, I mean no one was ever going to lay a fucking finger on my mate again and I tried to send that promise out to Imogen frantically as we raced forward.

"Rye?"

We were gaining on Phil, but the streets weren't our friends. We were on a major thoroughfare around the city, unable to get close enough to cut Phil and his dickhead mate off and end this fucking thing. Kyle muttered something to that effect as I took a call from the fox shifter.

"We've got our people moving," he told me. "Asher paid for the full participation of our colony and he's got it. We've got cars moving to intercept this cunt at every major road, but now might be the time to make contact with some of those friends you have in the police department."

"On it," I said, ending the call without another word. I tapped on my contacts, bringing up the number of a detective we had a lot of dealings with.

"Detective Lowell," he barked. "You saved me a call. Want to explain why the majority of the shifter community is careening through the city in a high-speed car chase?"

Bruce Lowell was a police detective, but like quite a few members of the force, he was also a wolf shifter.

"Phil Jackson has my mate." His silence told me everything I needed to know. "He knocked her unconscious?—"

"Got it. We'll coordinate our cars from here, stop this fuck in his tracks, but… Who's on the bike?"

I looked up through the windscreen and saw a police chopper flying overhead.

"Asher."

"The killer? Are we going to have a problem, Luc? We were able to cover up his little ‘mishap' when he was a kid, but this…"

"Just get there before he does. Do whatever the fuck you have to," I snapped back. "Otherwise you'll be explaining to your superiors why there was a polar bear rampaging through the city."

"Right."

"Hold on," Kyle ground out as I ended the call, my hand slapping down on the ‘oh fuck' handle. He wrenched the car sideways so hard the whole thing lurched to the right. For just a second, I thought he'd roll the damn thing, but he corrected swiftly, ducking around the car in front of us and hitting an empty stretch. His foot went to the floor, the car accelerating rapidly as we raced on.

As we caught up to Asher, I craned my neck. I'd apologise to Kyle's dad later, but my claws punctured the roof upholstery, shredding it as we got closer. Of course, right as Asher floored the bike, racing up on one side of the ute that had our mate in it, they veered right abruptly, barely missing several cars as they crossed an intersection without warning. Asher followed without thought and my whole body stiffened as I saw a car spin towards him. He was forced to swerve abruptly, so fast he lost control of the bike, dumping it on the ground hard.

"Fuck, is he…?"

When Asher rose up, my heart was in my throat, and when I saw him swell in size, I was right there with him. He strode through the intersection with his arms outstretched, claws at the ready. His feet moved faster and faster, his gait changing as he moved, from the sprint of a man to the lope of a polar bear on the hunt.

"He shifted. He fucking shifted…"

We had an incident a while ago with some kids doing that in a school gym, necessitating a coordinated effort to expunge the video evidence from the internet. I'd been part of that task force, but I knew we'd never hide this. Too many witnesses, that's what I thought as I stared at Kyle and he did the same to me. He was about to wrench the car sideways, the lot of us taking fur like our beasts demanded, right as black cars came streaming out of the side streets to form a blockade in front of Phil's car.

We had him right where we wanted him.

Kyle slammed his foot down on the accelerator, rocketing us forward.

When our feet hit the asphalt, I knew this was a turning point. Not just for us, our sleuth, but for all of shifter kind. More choppers thrummed overhead, the logo of the news channel whose headquarters was only a few buildings down from us emblazoned on the side.

"We can't…" Kyle stared at the sky, the lines of furious drivers, and trashed cars. "We won't…" His eyes went wide as he stared into mine, but my focus was dragged away as I heard Asher bear's roar.

"No, we can't hide anymore," I said, yanking my shirt off and tossing my glasses inside the car. "I don't know what comes next, but I know this. I'm not walking away from this until Imogen is in my arms."

"That's it, brother," Kyle said, his smile wild. "Let's go get our girl."