Alpha in a Fur Coat (7 page)

Grant threw all of the weight of his body against the man who had just attacked Storm, pinning him onto the ground in under a second and sending his gun flying. The gun landed on the pavement several feet away, and the man yelped in pain as he struggled to push Grant off of him. But even though the man was strong, he was no match for Grant’s bear muscles. From the corner of his eye, Grant saw Bash running to tackle the second man, and Silver and Juno running to Storm.

A wave of uncontrollable rage passed through Grant’s body. If it wasn’t for the fact that he wanted to figure out who these two men were and why they were after Storm, he would have slit this guy’s throat right then and there. No one messed with his Storm. No one.

I’m not yours to take care of
.

Storm’s words from earlier that week came back to him, reminding him that Storm wasn’t his. Grant roared furiously, his bear within him angry and frustrated. He didn’t care that Storm insisted she didn’t want to be with him. He would find a way to convince her that they were meant to be. He would make her his.

And in the meantime, he would make this scumbag pay for daring to lay a finger on his girl.

“Who are you?” Grant bellowed out. “Why are you attacking Storm?”

“Dude, this doesn’t have anything to do with you. Let us go if you want to stay out of trouble. We’re only here for the girl.”

“If you’re here for Storm, then it has everything to do with me. Now tell me who you are!” Grant yelled the last part at the top of his lungs, putting his angry face inches away from the man’s. Grant could smell the fear starting to seep from the man’s pores.

“Computer, call backup,” the man yelled out. From the man’s hip, a series of beeps and lights went off.

“Calling backup,” the computer voice from the man’s phone responded.

Annoyed, Grant reached to grab the hidden phone, tearing the man’s shirt as he found the device and ripped it out of its holster. With all of his angry strength, Grant squeezed his fist around the phone and crushed it, easily breaking it into several pieces. Bash took notice and checked the other man for a phone, finding one in the same spot on the other man’s hip. Bash crushed that phone just as easily, but it was too late. Backup was already on the way.

Within moments, several dark hovercars came whizzing around the corner, and more men dressed in black jumped out and surrounded the group, pointing their guns on at Grant and the rest of the Fur Coats. Grant’s body tensed up, and he let out a low growl. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone peeking out of one of the windows in a nearby condo building. The person’s face was white as she put her hands over her mouth in shock, then disappeared back behind her curtains. This commotion had definitely woken up the neighbors.

“So much for making a quiet exit,” Grant muttered under his breath.

“Listen, guys, we don’t want trouble. Let our men go, and hand over Storm, and we’ll be on our way.”

“We’re not giving you Storm,” Bash growled out. “And if you want to go home tonight with all your limbs attached then I suggest you leave now.”

One of the men with guns laughed. “Listen, Punk. I have no idea who you are, but we’re from the mayor’s office. We have the most powerful man in the city behind us. If
you
want to go home with all your limbs attached, then I suggest you leave now.”

Grant’s ears perked up. “The mayor’s office?” he said in surprise, not talking to anyone in particular. But the man pinned below him heard him and spoke up.

“Yes, the mayor’s office. We have it on good authority that your friend Storm over there stole a bunch of top secret information. The mayor wants her brought in for questioning immediately. He didn’t even care that it was the middle of the night. I’ve never seen him so angry.”

Grant growled at the man, then looked over toward Storm who was starting to stir. Jack, who was a doctor, was kneeling next to Storm and checking her pulse. Juno and Silver were both holding Storm’s head up to keep it off the pavement. They both had looks of concern etched across their faces. Meanwhile, Bash looked like he was angry enough to actually break the neck of the guy he had pinned down. Out of the corner of his eye, Grant saw more faces peeking out from behind curtains in the windows above them.

In the distance, the long, low wail of sirens started up. Of course, sirens were a normal part of the background noise in a city as big as Chicago. But these sirens seemed to be getting louder and louder, and Grant had an uneasy feeling that they were coming to check on the commotion the Mayor’s men had stirred up. Grant let out another low growl. They needed to get out of here now, before any police hovers arrived.

But how were they going to do that without causing these bozos to do something stupid like shooting off one of these ridiculous guns they were holding. Grant looked over again at where Storm was lying. Jack, Silver, and Juno were all looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something. That’s when it hit him.

They were looking to him as an alpha. They couldn’t help it. He had alpha blood running through his veins, and he gave off an alpha air of authority. His friends were in a dangerous situation, and it was time for him to step up and lead.

Grant felt a swelling of pride in his chest. He had been running from the title of alpha his whole life. He had never wanted to lead a clan. He had just wanted to be left alone to live his life. But, suddenly, he realized that he wanted to lead his friends. They needed an alpha right now. They needed someone to step up and make a decision quickly. Grant was not going to let them down.

“We’re going to partial shift, guys,” Grant said, his voice strong and commanding as he spoke.

“What? Are you serious?” Bash asked. “Right here in the middle of Chicago?”

“Yes, right here,” Grant said. “This is an emergency. We need to get out of here before the police get here, and before even more people start noticing that there’s a little show going on down here. I’m sure you’ve all heard our parents say before that the best way to deal with idiots with guns is to put a little fear in them. And I’m pretty sure a partial shift will do the trick.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” one of the men with guns yelled out at Grant. “I’m not afraid of you. Now hand over Storm before we start taking some of you out.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Jack said, ignoring the comments from the man with the gun.

Silver was nodding. “Heads? Or hands?” she asked.

“Let’s do heads, so we can show off our teeth. And let’s be quick. The moment you start to smell the increase in fear, make a break for the hovers. We want to be up in the air and on our way out before they have a chance to recover from their shock and react,” Grant said.

Grant looked around at his friends, who were all nodding at him in agreement. All of them except Storm, that is. She had just opened her eyes, and looked completely confused and disoriented. They would have to catch her up later.

“On my count,” Grant said. “One…two…three…shift.”

Several loud roars rang out, echoing off the sides of the tall condo buildings surrounding the group. Then, several powerful bursts of energy filled the air, knocking the men with guns backwards. When the noise settled, one of the men screamed.

“What the hell?” he cried out.

“Oh my god. It’s true. They do exist,” said another.

Grant could already smell the fear. In place of their human heads, all of the Fur Coats except Storm now had a giant bear head. Grant had decided to tell everyone to do only a partial shift, because it was quicker and required less energy than a full shift. Besides, a partial shift wouldn’t ruin everyone’s clothes like a full shift would. Since they had all packed only the bare minimum, he didn’t want anyone to ruin a set of clothing if they could avoid it.

As he had suspected, though, the partial shift had done the trick. The men with the guns were staring in shock at the humans with bear heads. Grant and Jack had the large, white-furred heads of polar bears. Bash and Silver had the fearsome heads of grizzlies. And Storm, who had missed the instructions about shifting, was now laughing at the men with guns.

Grant could smell their fear. They had probably secretly thought that the Mayor was crazy for thinking that shifters existed. But, of course, they had been acting like loyal little minions and pretending that they believed. Now, they were shocked and horrified to discover that they were wrong. Grant hated to reinforce fear of shifters, or give the men the idea that shifters were harmful. But this was an emergency. If letting these men believe that shifters were dangerous allowed the Fur Coats to escape, then so be it.

Grant let out a low growl, indicating to the rest of the Fur Coats that it was time to move. Then he ran to where Storm was lying on the ground and scooped her up. Even though she wasn’t at all what you would consider petite or small, she felt light as a feather in his strong arms. Jack and Silver made a beeline for Bash’s hovercar, while Juno started heading for Grant’s.

Grant glanced up at the condo buildings to see that their little group down here had developed quite an audience. Several faces with shocked expressions on them dotted the windows, and dozens of people had pulled out their phones or tablets to record videos of the scene unfolding below them. Grant let out a frustrated growl. Their plan to leave in total secrecy had been completely shot. He only hoped that the videos would be too grainy and dark for anyone to truly be able to tell who they were.

“What happened?” Storm asked, bringing Grant’s attention back to the beautiful woman in his arms. Grant quickly growled and shifted his head back to human form so that he could talk to her.

“They were trying to grab you and take you back to the Mayor,” Grant said. “I guess someone realized that you stole all those files, and the Mayor is pissed. Of course, we weren’t going to just let them run off with you, so we fought back. They called in backup, and we decided to shift so we could scare them and buy time to escape. Are you okay? You took a pretty nasty hit to the head.”

“I’m fine,” Storm said, reaching to touch the spot where the man had rammed his gun into her skull. “I’ll probably have a nasty little bump there tomorrow, but otherwise I’m fine.”

Grant was gingerly setting Storm down in the front passenger seat of his hovercar, while Juno climbed into the back. As soon as she had climbed in, Juno shifted her head back to human form as well.

“Looks like we might have ruined the Mayor’s chance to be the first one to tell Chicagoans that shifters exist,” Juno said. “Did you see all those people back there watching us?”

“Yup,” Grant said through gritted teeth. “This is going to be all over the news within a matter of minutes. Which is why we need to get as far away from here as we can as quickly as possible.”

He leaned over to check Storm’s safety harness and make sure she was buckled in correctly. He heard a few clicks behind him as Juno buckled in, too.

“You ready to go back there?” Grant asked over his shoulder.

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Juno said.

Grant couldn’t help but crack a smile. It was good to see that Juno was still in good spirits, even though their escape plan had run into an unexpected hiccup.

“Let’s get out of here, then,” Grant said. He fired up the hovercar, cranking the voltage on the electric engine as high as he could. He switched the computer to manual driving mode, and they quickly shot up into the air above the city of Chicago. State law strictly prohibited manual driving of vehicles, except in emergencies. But hopefully all of the scrambling Grant had done of the hovercars’ electric signals would keep the police from being alerted that there were hovers being flown in manual mode. Behind him, he saw Bash’s hovercar rising into the air as well.

Moments later, he heard a ping as a bullet hit the belly of his hover car. He looked down and saw that the men had finally overcome their shock and were shooting frantically up at the hovercars. But they were too late. Grant and Bash were already almost out of range, and the one bullet that had managed to hit Grant’s hovercar didn’t seem to have hit anything vital. All of the vehicles systems still appeared to be operating properly.

“Looks like I missed quite a bit,” Storm said, letting out a low whistle.

Grant glanced over at her, his heart skipping a beat at the way the city lights were reflecting off of her shiny dark hair. He knew she would be annoyed if he touched her, but he couldn’t resist reaching over to squeeze her shoulder.

“I’d say we got out of Chicago just in time,” he said.

To his surprise, Storm didn’t pull away from his touch like she normally did. Instead she looked over at him and grinned, her smile sending a fresh wave of desire through his body.

“Just in time,” she agreed.

Storm stared out the window of the hovercar, taking in the scenery. To her right were the wild, tree-filled forests of northern Michigan. To her left was Lake Michigan itself, its waves lit up in hues of orange and pink by the brilliantly rising sun. They had been riding for several hours, and she was more than ready to get out of this hovercar. It shouldn’t be too much longer.

If they had flown a direct route, they would have arrived at Drew’s cabin by now. But Grant had taken an erratic, zig-zagging path over the Lake, not wanting to take a chance on leaving an electronic trail that was easy to follow. The hovercars still had about an hour left before the override on their electronic signals ran out, but Grant wanted to be overly cautious. Storm didn’t really blame him. They were a little unprepared to deal with all of the law enforcement in Chicago. Or, worse, with the national guard. If the Mayor and President had some easy shifter targets to take down, they wouldn’t hesitate to do so. They were power hungry and desperate for any opportunity to show Chicago and the rest of the nation that they were capable of dealing with a shifter threat.

Storm was still trying to comprehend the fact that she had actually left behind her comfy little Chicago condo and life. Everything had happened so quickly. She had known she would have to leave, but she hadn’t expected to be escaping in the middle of the night with barely more than the clothes on her back. And with fugitive status, apparently.

Storm glanced at the clock on the hover’s dashboard. It was 5:45 a.m. In a few hours, the city of Chicago would be awake and on its way to work. No doubt, the news would be playing videos of the shifter standoff from last night on repeat. Storm wondered if her face was actually clearly visible on any of the videos, or if the news reporters would call her out by name. It was strange to think that in less than twenty-four hours, she had gone from virtually unknown to one of Chicago’s most wanted. She imagined how her coworkers at the Mayor’s office would react when they found out that shifters existed, and that Storm had known all along.

Not that it mattered much anymore what anyone thought. Everything was about to change. The Mayor would have a city full of shocked citizens to comfort, and Storm was sure he would use the footage of the standoff to point out how dangerous shifters truly were. Never mind that his men had been the aggressive ones, and the ones threatening deadly force. The Mayor would twist the story however he needed to in order to serve his own interests.

Storm glanced over at Grant, who was staring intently at the horizon. She had to admit that she was impressed with the way his alpha tendencies had come out last night. He never wanted to admit that he had the heart of a leader, but he did. When those closest to him were in danger, he stepped in to fight for them and to lead them to safety. Still, she wasn’t opening up her heart to him. He may have just helped save her life, but the middle of a war on shifters wasn’t the best time to start a romance.

Grant looked over and caught her staring. “What?” he asked. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Uh, no. But I’ve never seen you look so tense. You should relax a little. It doesn’t look like we’re being followed.”

Grant glanced over his shoulder, as if to verify whether what Storm had just said was actually true.

“No, we haven’t been followed,” he said. “But I just remembered that I know a few more shifters in the city who I should have warned.”

Storm’s eyes widened in surprise. “You know more shifters in the city?” she asked. Grant had tried to keep his circle of friends small, and had especially avoided making friends with shifters outside of their little group.

“Yeah,” Grant said slowly. “I haven’t talked to them in years. But I should have warned them.”

Storm frowned. She knew there were other shifters in Chicago. In a city that large, there were bound to be quite a few, after all. But there was no way they could have warned everyone and still made it out themselves. Sometimes you had to just save yourself and your closest friends and hope for the best for everyone else.

“You can’t save everyone, Grant,” Storm said softly.

“No, I know,” Grant said. “But I should have saved them. They were members of my clan. Their parents were good friends of my dad.”

Storm raised a shocked eyebrow in Grant’s direction. “You have more clan members in Chicago?”

Grant nodded slowly. “Yeah. They actually tried to hang out with me a few times when I first moved to Chicago for law school. But I was pretty rude to them. That was at the height of my anti-clan phase, so I didn’t want anything to do with anyone from my clan. I had Jack to hang out with, and that was enough for me. Jack actually hung out with them a few times, but they had a falling out with him because of me and my stubborn refusal to talk to them.”

Storm nodded slowly to acknowledge that she was listening. She wasn’t sure what else to say.

“I should have warned them, Storm. I know they weren’t my closest friends. But…they were my own clan members. I’m next in line to be their alpha. I’m responsible for their safety.”

Storm’s whole face must have looked shocked right now. She had never heard Grant speak so explicitly about the fact that he was in line for the title of alpha. Usually, he got angry if anyone even said the word alpha around him. Storm glanced back at Juno to see if she was listening. Juno’s face looked just as shocked as Storm’s.

“What do I say?” Storm mouthed to Juno. Juno shrugged helplessly. What could anyone say, really? It seemed Grant had finally decided to face the fact that he had been born an alpha, and would always be an alpha.

“I have to go back for them,” Grant said, staring straight ahead with a determined look on his face. Storm wasn’t even sure if he was talking to her anymore. He seemed to be having a conversation with himself.

“I have to go back,” Grant said again. “I’m going to drop you all off at Drew’s, and then I’m going back to get them before it’s really too late.”

They had almost reached Drew’s cabin at this point, and the hovercar had started descending. Storm chewed her lip nervously, trying to work up the courage to say something to Grant. She knew he wasn’t going to like what she had to say. Finally, as the hovercar slowly came to a landing right in front of Drew’s cabin, Storm decided to just spit out the words and hope for the best.

“You can’t go back, Grant.”

Grant gave her a sideways glance but didn’t answer, instead he grunted and then hopped out of the hovercar. Storm let out an exasperated sigh and jumped out after him. Beside her, Bash had just landed, and Jack and Silver were climbing out of the hover.

“You can’t stop me, Storm,” Grant said in retort.

Storm was a bit shocked by the sharp tone in Grant’s voice, and she paused for a moment. But only for a moment. Then she went right back to explaining to him why he couldn’t go.

“Grant, by the time you get back to Chicago, all hell will have broken loose. The place is going to be complete chaos, and it’s quite possible that your face is all over the news, depending on how clear all those phone videos were. Everything is going to be on lockdown, so there won’t be any possible way for you to sneak in unnoticed.”

Jack, Silver, and Bash, who had been talking and laughing happily moments before, fell silent. Everyone was staring at Grant with questions in their eyes. In the background, a creaking sound filled the air as the front door to Drew’s cabin opened and Drew stepped outside. Even Drew didn’t speak, though. He sensed the tension in the air and kept his mouth shut, leaning against the doorframe.

Jack was the one to finally break the silence. “You’re going back to Chicago, Grant?”

Storm saw Drew raise an eyebrow in the background, but he still said nothing.

“Yes, I’m going back. We left three of the bears from our clan behind.”

Jack’s face instantly went pale. “They’re still in Chicago? Are you sure? I thought they had moved?”

Grant shook his head. “No, they’re still there. They had planned on moving to Texas for some sort of job with a big clan down in Austin, but that fell through at the last minute.”

“What the hell is going on,” Bash asked, finally growing impatient. “Does someone want to fill me in?”

Grant glanced over at Bash. “Three of the bears from my clan back in Alaska are still in Chicago. Calum and Hope are twins, and then there’s Mia, who actually moved out to Chicago at the same time as Jack. I have to go back to the city and get them out of there.”

“Grant, that’s crazy,” Silver said, piping in. “Going back now is a suicide mission.”

A chuckle from the front porch of the cabin drew everyone’s attention to Drew, who had started laughing as he watched the conversation in front of him unfold.

“What’s so funny, dude?” Bash asked. “Silver is right. It’s a total suicide mission.

“Yeah, I’m sure it is,” Drew said. “So what? The dude is obviously an alpha, and alphas are known for their insistence on saving their clan members, even when it’s a suicide mission. It’s Grant, right?”

Grant nodded at Drew.

“Welcome back, buddy. Good to have you all here. I’m assuming you’re the alpha of this little ragtag group?”

There was a long pause as all of the Fur Coats looked around at each other, unsure of how to respond. Before last night, none of them even dared to say the word alpha around Grant. But now, it just fit. Grant had stepped up as their leader when the circumstances demanded it.

“Yeah,” Jack finally said, a big smile spreading across his face. “Yeah, you’re right. Grant’s our alpha.”

Grant looked sharply over at Jack, but didn’t protest.

“Well, then, you all should know better than to talk him out of going back to save his bears,” Drew said. “Let’s take care of destroying one of these hovers so it doesn’t attract any attention with its electronic signals. And then I’ll get Grant some decent weapons so he can take the other hover back to Chicago to rescue his other friends. Come on everyone, chop chop. We don’t have any time to waste here. Get away from the hover so I can start demolishing it. Grant, head over to that shed by the cabin. There are a lot of weapons and ammo in there. Start picking some stuff out and I’ll catch up with you in a minute to help.”

Storm watched as Grant nodded and started walking slowly toward the shed. Then she took off after him.

“What are you doing?” he asked, looking over at her in surprise.

“Picking out my weapons, too,” she said, raising her chin stubbornly.

He sighed. “Storm, you can’t come with me. It’s too dangerous.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Storm said. “I’m an alpha, too. If this is an alpha mission, then I’m coming with you.”

Grant let out an exasperated sigh, but he didn’t protest. In fact, Storm thought she saw the hint of a smile pulling at his lips as he turned to continue walking toward the shed.

It was time to go rescue some bears.