Bear Next Door (Shifter Protection Agency Book 1) Read online

  “What the fuck are you?” he asked. Neither of them answered, they didn’t even look like they'd heard him. The first creature took a step forward and Sam let out a warning growl, lower than any human could produce and he felt Laura stiffen behind him. This wasn’t how he wanted to tell her but if he didn’t square up they’d both be torn to shreds in seconds.

  The thing took another step, its partner seemingly happy for them to take the lead. Sam followed the movement, stepping left as the creature stepped right until they were moving in a slow circle around each other, sizing each other up.

  The bear itched beneath his skin and Sam could feel his hands shaking from exertion. He watched the thing in front of him for any sign of attack, eyes roving over every inch of its disgusting body until…there. A twitch in the creature's right leg. Sam recognized a pounce when he saw one and, with one last deep breath in, he pushed Laura back and shifted.

  She screamed again but Sam was too busy to turn, lest he get a knifelike claw to the throat. They collided in Laura’s tiny hallway like a crack of thunder and Sam twisted, trying to get the thing under him.

  The creature was strong, almost as strong as him but he managed to get the upper hand, clawing at its face, aiming for the eyes. The creature roared, voice guttural and haunting. Sam felt its face give a little and he knew he’d hit the mark. The creature's eye fell to the ground with a wet sound and Sam prayed to god the fight was moving too fast for Laura to catch a glimpse of it. Whilst it was distracted with the pain, Sam slit its throat quickly. Blood pooled on the wooden floors and he winced. He’d offer to pay for it, he decided.

  Something collided with him, knocking the breath out of his lungs and Sam barely had time to think before he smashed into the couch with enough force to break it in two.

  He’d forgotten about the second creature. Stupid. He could hear David lecturing him now. His ribs were aching, something was definitely broken, but he couldn’t think about that now. He needed to end this fight quickly. He was starting to get tired – fighting with three of your friends meant no one got to overexert themselves and it had taken until this very moment for Sam to realize how fucking stupid that idea was.

  The one saving grace was that the second thing was smaller and much less confident, obviously the beta male of the two. Sam crouched low, snarling deep in his throat and the creature launched itself at him. Sam met him halfway, teeth gritted against the pain in his side as he ripped and bit and clawed, trading blow after blow with the monster until finally, it fell to the ground. The house was suddenly silent and Sam shifted back, lifting his shirt to look at the ugly bruises crisscrossing across his ribs. If David didn’t kill him, Stella would. Hopefully she’d at least heal him first.

  Sam huffed a laugh and instantly regretted it as pain flared down his side. He pulled himself upright and looked over at Laura. She was looking into the distance, eyes hazy. Not good. He quickly looked her over for injuries: there was a bruise on her neck from where the monster had held her off the ground but apart from that, physically, she seemed fine. Mentally though…

  “Laura?” He tried to keep his voice as soft as possible but she jumped like he’d screamed at her, arms wrapping around herself protectively.

  “Laura, breathe.” His voice seemed to startle her out of herself and she immediately scrambled backward, cutting her hands open on the splintered wood on the floor. The acrid smell of blood filled the room and Sam fought not to retch. He reached out an arm, hovering it over her trembling shoulder.

  “Be careful, you’re going to hurt yourself-”

  “Leave me alone!”

  Sam shrank back and Laura took the chance to run, sprinting up the stairs so suddenly, Sam could only watch her go dumbly. He heard the sound of the bathroom door slamming and locking followed by loud sobs that seemed to reverberate around his skull.

  What have I done?

  13

  Carmen

  Carmen had to resist the urge to shift right there in the middle of her bathroom and tear the room apart, but she’d just had new tiles fitted and they looked so pretty, so she settled for sinking down beneath the bathwater and letting out a short sharp scream before resurfacing to find the bear by the door looking three shades paler than he had before. Good. This was supposed to be her day off, running a sleuth of moronic bears and overseeing the creation of a new race of super shifters took a lot out of her. And now she had to deal with the incompetence of a sleuth who couldn’t find and kill one annoying human girl.

  The messenger, Lucille or something – Carmen couldn’t be bothered to remember her name – bit her lip.

  “So you’re telling me that not only is the girl still alive,” Carmen seethed, but that two of our most promising test subjects are now dead?”

  The girl nodded jerkily, too afraid to speak.

  “They tracked down the girl but someone must have been posted to look out for her. They were both torn apart,” she said quietly, looking down at the floor like it would somehow save her from her alpha.

  Carmen sighed, rubbing at her temples. Delta and Gamma were the most feral of Adrian’s creations. They were wild and dangerous with just enough brainpower to follow instructions – they were the closest Carmen had gotten to her goal and now they were gone, they were back at square one. She had to fix this. The girl needed to go but now that she was protected… She stood from the bath, watching the steam rise from her skin in satisfaction and held her hand out. Lucille ran forward to help her from the tub, eyes kept firmly fixed on the ground. Carmen let a cruel smile twist at her lips – she did love making her bears uncomfortable – what better way to remind them that she was in charge? Carmen could do whatever she wanted and they had no choice but to simper and bow and obey.

  She snatched the offered towel and wrapped it tightly around herself.

  “Tell Adrian I’ll be there in a half-hour,” she snapped, walking from the room and through to her boudoir. “And then phone the others and prepare for my arrival. I need to know how you plan on making it up to me.” Lucille nodded and scampered from the room.

  Carmen sighed, looking around her brightly-lit bedroom at the gilded furniture and spotless decor, a world away from the dark, depressing laboratory. With their most promising soldiers gone, she knew she wouldn't be back in this room for a solid few days.

  I’m too pretty to spend so much time somewhere so hideous, she thought bitterly, picking up her brush and setting about taming her long dark hair.

  Mystic was by no means a poor area to live in, not that anyone would know that looking at the collection of houses where the rest of Carmen’s sleuth lived. Her lip curled in distaste at the tiny grubby houses with their overgrown gardens and ugly paint jobs. It was like they weren’t trying at all.

  When she’d taken over the sleuth they were nearly fifty-strong and still growing and Carmen had thrummed with the power it gave her to know that she was in charge of these bears and they had to do whatever she said. As time went on though, their numbers started to dwindle; territory wars and human poachers had taken most of the fighters of the sleuth, and Carmen simply didn’t have time for the ones that were left behind. They were too old or sickly to be of any use to her but they’d die without a sleuth to protect them. So the bastards wouldn’t leave.

  They were all waiting for her in the courtyard, standing clumped together and Carmen’s sour expression morphed into something powerful and encouraging; for now they were still useful.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we have encountered a minor setback to our plans for expansion.” She let her voice carry across the stones, enjoying how they flinched at the volume. “I know Lucille may have come to you today and told you I was going to be looking for excuses but honestly, I don’t care. We can get past this. Let’s all remember why we’re doing this in the first place.” A few faces in the crowd hardened and Carmen smiled sympathetically at them. “Poaching of our kind by humans has gone on for as long as this sleuth has been under my control. How many of our numb
ers have we lost to human hunters looking for a bit of fun?” Humans are weak and evil creatures and they’ve cost me everything: my power, my fancy houses, my lover… The deep, familiar ache flared in her chest and she swallowed it down, continuing her speech. “When we have an army of new shifters standing with us, we can take down the Shifter Protection Agency and then we will be the ruling species in Mystic and we can hunt humans for sport as much as we choose.” She was looking forward to that, chasing pathetic humans through the woods and ripping them to shreds.

  A chorus of happy roars and snarls went up amongst the crowd and Carmen smiled. There’s the sleuth I remember. She looked at each of them in turn, making sure they each felt the weight of her gaze as she continued. “This is an issue we can overcome with more subjects. As you know, Delta and Gamma were killed last night by a currently unknown member of the agency-” More snarls. This was too easy, they really would do anything she asked of them, anything to make sure they lived to see another day. The power felt intoxicating. “So we need to replace them. More humans are needed if we want to rise up, this is not the time to grow a fucking conscience okay? They deserve this. And so do we.”

  She half-expected a round of applause although it was probably not quite the right tone, but she settled for the quick nods and scampering bears as they ran off to complete their new task. Only Lucille remained behind, holding out her phone, which was ringing, for Carmen to take.

  It was Adrian.

  “Darling, to what do I owe the pleasure? I’m already on the way.”

  “Carmen.” Adrian’s deep voice sounded uncharacteristically tired and Carmen raised one perfect eyebrow.

  “What’s happened?”

  “Nothing bad, another escape attempt.” Carmen sighed, loudly. “We caught him obviously but I wanted to warn you before you got here and let you know that everything is under control.” She blinked, a little blindsided by the kindness of the gesture.

  “Oh…well thank you, Adrian. I’ll be there soon.”

  He was there to greet her when she arrived and immediately gestured for her to follow him down one of the endless dreary corridors until they reached a set of double doors. On the other side sat a low red couch pointed toward a long bay window that looked down into what looked like a surgery room, with all kinds of stainless steel implements laid out beside a silver table. A young man, more of a boy, was laid out on the table, strapped down with thick leather belts. He was breathing heavily and Carmen could almost smell the fear rolling off of him in waves.

  “Is this him then?” she asked, watching the boy jump at the sound of her voice, eyes moving wildly as he searched for her. Carmen grinned down at him and took a seat on the plush couch, Adrian sitting beside her.

  “It is. We found him before he even left the building but it's impressive nonetheless that he managed to get that far, don’t you think?” It was impressive. The number of wards and spells, not to mention the guards posted on every other doorway being able to escape even a room was…monumental. She’d have to increase security again.

  Speaking of…

  “I need you to do something for me,” she said casually, watching the young shifter squirm on the gurney below them. “Which of your warlocks are the best at memory wipes?” Adrian understood her meaning immediately and he smiled at her out of the corner of his eye.

  “I’ll send Michelle out tonight,” he said simply. Carmen could kiss him. Finally someone that knew how to do their fucking job without making her want to rip out their spine.

  A warlock, younger than Adrian, with long dreadlocks and snake tattoos up and down his arms appeared from a side door and walked calmly toward the tied-down body wriggling in the middle of the room.

  14

  Laura

  Laura stayed in her bathroom for around three hours, spending most of it sitting in her bathtub with her arms wrapped around her knees, brain fuzzy and limbs shaking. Then she realized that her hands were still bleeding badly and decided having an actual bath might help to calm her nerves.

  As she settled into the heat of the water, she felt her brain start to catch up to what had happened and she let out a startled sob, what the fuck was that? She couldn’t even give it words – those creatures, the way their eyes were devoid of any feeling whatsoever, and then Sam had… Her insides were cold, like there was nothing inside her at all.

  She’d expected Sam to try and talk to her, kept listening for his footsteps on the stairs or a knock on the door but none came and, as the hours passed by, Laura had to conclude that he’d probably left. She climbed reluctantly out of the tub on shaky legs, wrapping a robe around her and unlocked the door as slowly as she possibly could, ears strained for the slightest sound. The hallway was empty, so was her bedroom. She crept down the stairs, pulse racing, but when she reached the bottom, she froze.

  It was like nothing had happened at all. The room was spotless, cleaner than it had been since she moved in. All of the half-unpacked boxes were stacked neatly to one side of the room, contents lined up beside them so that she could actually see what she was trying to put away. There were no bodies, no splintered furniture and she was pretty sure someone had sprayed the room with air freshener…

  What the fuck? she thought. Was it just some sort of weird dream? No, the couch was missing and Laura was certain she didn’t like to arrange furniture in her sleep. It had actually happened. Shapeshifters existed. Sam is a shapeshifter. She didn’t know how to feel, her research, her theories had all been proven in the space of thirty minutes, she should have been ecstatic, jumping for joy, phoning all the people that had called her crazy and jamming it down their throats…but the image of Sam flying through the air and smashing into her couch, that sickening crack when he landed… Laura could feel herself start to hyperventilate and shook her head, trying to clear her mind back to its manageable fuzz. She was absolutely not unpacking all of that right now.

  She went through the motions of getting ready in a trance, trusting her hands to find the things she needed and only allowed herself to look up when she closed the front door behind her. Just being outside made her feel a million times better; it was sunny and warm, easing the goosebumps prickling her arms. This was good, all she had to do was go about her day and let her brain sort itself out.

  She still needed to know what the green mist was and since staying in the house was a big no-no, Laura started toward the memorial hospital she’d seen when she and Sam had gone to the aquarium. It was a low concrete building with brick pillars and a little parking lot that was practically empty as Laura walked through the front doors and into reception.

  The man behind the desk looked up at her expectantly and she suddenly realized she had no idea what she was going to say. She couldn’t just ask if she could borrow a lab for a few hours to look at some fog… Stupid, stupid.

  “Uh, hi,” she said, feeling her voice shake. “I was just wondering if I could, uh…” the receptionist was looking at her with endless patience, bless him, and Laura contemplated turning right back round and leaving again when a voice called from the other side of the room.

  “Hey, aren’t you Sam’s girl?”

  Both Laura and the receptionist turned to the voice and a woman Laura had never seen before stopped at the desk beside her, white lab coat swishing around her legs. Laura balked, if this woman knew Sam then did that mean she was also a…

  “Ah, yes I am.” Laura didn’t quite know if she still held the title but short of explaining that she knew what Sam was and was currently freaking out about it, she figured that to be the easier response. The woman smiled at her warmly. Her eyes were rimmed with thick black eyeliner, making her eyes an almost electric blue.

  “Well then, I’m Stella, let me help however I can, this way.” She turned on her heel without another word and Laura scrambled to follow her, throwing a quick thanks to the receptionist over one shoulder.

  Stella’s office was as quirky as she was, covered in heavy metal posters and a large collection
of animal skulls and framed insects on shelves. Laura recognized almost every single species and some of them were pretty rare. Stella collapsed into her office chair, swinging herself all the way around as she did so and planting her massive platform boots up on the desk. Laura sat in the chair on the other side of the desk and sat ramrod straight. She hadn’t had a goth phase and as cool as Stella looked, with her dark makeup and tattoos, she was also intimidating as hell. Laura had never felt more like a nerd in her life.

  “So,” Stella said, still smiling at her like she knew her personally. “What can I help you with?”

  “Uh…” Fuck it, it’s worth a shot, especially if Stella was so determined to help her. She pulled her backpack into her lap and pulled out the plastic bag. She’d half-expected the mist to have escaped somehow but it was still there, swirling faintly. Stella’s eyes widened slightly but she didn’t say anything. “I found this in the woods near my house,” Laura said, putting the bag down on the table in front of her. “I tried to examine it but I literally had no clue what I was looking at so I was wondering if anyone here would be able to help me.”

  “Oooh, a spot of spectroscopy, I’d be delighted to take a look!” Stella clapped her hands together and Laura blinked in surprise. She seemed genuinely excited to have a look. Suddenly, Laura being a massive nerd didn’t bother her anymore, Stella was clearly the same.

  “So, um, how did you know I knew Sam?” Laura asked. Sam had spoken a lot about the boys before Laura had met them but she didn’t remember anything about Stella.

  “Oh, we work together,” she replied easily. “He described you to me in excruciating detail the last time we had a shift together, nothing bad I promise.” Laura flushed, reeling in the feeling that despite the fuckery of what had happened that morning, she liked the idea of him talking about her to his colleagues enough that they recognized her without ever seeing her before. She was so confused – Sam wasn’t human; he was a completely different species that Laura had been trying to prove existed ever since she was eight years old. How was a person supposed to deal with something like that?