“Tear gas. Go to the window and open it as much as you can.”
Kale did as instructed. Aleksi slammed the door and quickly stuffed the sofa cushions into the gap under the door to form a draft excluder. It would only give them a few more minutes reprieve from the gas before it started leaking through and around the edges of the frame.
When he joined Kale at the window, he inspected the fixings that stopped the pane opening beyond a certain point—two roll blockers, easy to disengage. Aleksi put the heel of his hand against the lock and applied a quick pop of pressure like an open-handed punch, and the stopping mechanism snapped. After repeating it with the second blocker, Aleksi then pushed the window as far open as it would go.
Just as he’d hoped, there was a small ledge about nine inches wide running under the bottom of the window and around the circumference of the building. The tenth floor wasn’t exactly close to the ground but as a cat, he had no problem with heights.
“No. Absolutely not!”
Aleksi sighed, straightening from where he’d been leaning out of the window then turning back to Kale. “You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”
“I’m betting it involves going out that window,” Kale shot back.
Aleksi didn’t need his nose to tell him the man was terrified. But there wasn’t any other way out that didn’t involve going through the gas, and he couldn’t be sure there wasn’t anything nasty hissing in the smoke. After all, to get hold of that much gas in the first place implied a level of access to dangerous equipment.
“We can’t get out by the stairs, because I’d be willing to bet my stash of silk cushions he’s there waiting. Going farther into the gas to get around that corner and making a run for the elevator leaves us open for attack. I wouldn’t be able to scent him coming, so he could grab you relatively easy. We also have no idea if he has altered the gas mix to make it more dangerous. This is the only guaranteed way out of the hotel.”
He didn’t share the fact that there was no guarantee that they would get out in one piece.
I just don’t want to jinx some things.
Aleksi held his hand out. “This is the only way. I’ll keep you from falling. But we need to go
now
.”
Kale was physically shaking and Aleksi felt sorry for him. Once Not-Barry realized they weren’t going to make a run for it on the stairs or the corridor, Aleksi was sure the man would come after them in the suite.
“No. I can’t. You go.”
Talking was getting them nowhere. Kale still looked scared and Aleksi could hear the man’s heart racing so fast Aleksi was worried the guy might faint.
“I was hired to protect you and that’s what I’m going to do. Nothing is going to happen to you while I’m here. You need to trust me. Can you do that?”
Kale looked at him as if he was crazy, and if their positions were switched, Aleksi would probably think the same too.
“I…”
“If you do this, when we get to the safe house, I’ll let you pet my kitty.”
If in doubt, fall back on bribery.
Predatory shifters hardly ever let anyone touch them in their shifted forms and Aleksi knew Kale was curious after he’d announced what kind of cat he was at the studio.
“Really?” Kale gave him a stunning smile.
If it wasn’t for the slight shake in the man’s hand when he held it out, Aleksi would have been convinced he’d been played.
“Yep. Now put the bag on your back and climb out the window after me.” The straps weren’t likely to extend enough to fit across his shoulders.
For a moment, he was uncertain whether to wait in the suite in case Not-Barry came in or wait outside the window to stop Kale from falling. In the end, he opted for outside since Kale was so scared and he didn’t want the human to slip and fall.
Stepping onto the ledge was no problem and neither was keeping his balance—it was all part of being a cat—but seeing the badly concealed look of absolute terror on Kale’s face as the man gingerly climbed out of the window was awful. Kale was shaking so badly at this point that Aleksi seriously considered knocking him out and just carrying him down unconscious.
Kale narrowed his eyes. “Whatever you’re thinking—hell fucking no. Climbing out of this fucking window is bad e-fucking-nough.”
Well, that was certainly colorful.
“You do exactly what I say and we’ll get down fine. Understand?”
He knew Kale understood. However, it was psychological. If he got his protectee to say yes to a question like this, then it would create a sense of calm.
“Yes,” Kale replied.
“Do you trust me?”
“I’m out on a freaking window ledge ten floors off the ground.
Yes, I trust you!
”
Aleksi hid his smile at the expression of incredulity on Kale’s face. The curses were down to a minimum again—it was progress. “Good, now climb on my front like a monkey.”
Kale awkwardly sidled in front of him, back as flat against the building as the bag would allow while Aleksi stood perfectly balanced with only the balls of his feet on the ledge. The man put his arms around Aleksi’s neck. For a second, Aleksi contemplated stealing a kiss.
“I know that look. Stop it and concentrate. If you get us down from here in one piece, I might let you maul me, but one little bruise and I’ll shave you in your sleep,” Kale said with a glare.
This close to Kale, the scent of fear was easy to pick up despite his burned nostrils from the gas. They’d used up the time he’d estimated it would take to enter and fill the room, which meant Not-Barry would likely be coming to see where they were. They needed to move.
“Sounds like a deal. Wrap your legs around my waist, put your head in the curve of my neck and try to breathe normally. I’ll do the rest.”
Kale did as Aleksi said, carefully climbing up Aleksi’s body and hesitantly hiding his face after what looked like an involuntary glance down. “You need to work on your pick-up lines,” Kale said shakily.
“Why? They’re clearly effective.” He made sure Kale was stuck fast to his front then reached across to the insert his fingers in the grooves of the concrete. Cats loved to climb—especially his cat, when he got the chance to take a break up in the mountains.
“Asshole.”
“Yes. Don’t panic. Think about something else. Think about that charity thing, explain it to me.” Aleksi shuffled to the column of smoother brick.
“Its…it’s a group of us…models— Oh shit!”
“Easy,” he crooned, as he took their combined weight on his fingers. Aleksi strained his neck to look down.
This will be a little tricky.
“Keep talking.”
In a blink of an eye, he unsheathed his claws. His hands looked less cute pussy cat and not like the pansy shifters on
True Blood
—he still couldn’t believe Scott had made him and the guys watch that—and more like a cross between Wolverine and Edward Scissorhands. It was definitely not something he did in public often. Humans tended to freak out—or faint.
His claws were curved like a regular cat’s claws but they were so thick he had to semi-shift his hand to be able to use and control them. His fingers thickened and a strong furry webbing grew between them, supporting the stronger claws and fingers. He dug them into the concrete and grinned when they pierced it as if it was butter. It was a good thing his natural cousins had become extinct because nothing was indestructible to a saber-tooth tiger.
He curled his fingers and sank them deeper into the concrete. He toed off his shoes, unleashing his toe claws as well. As the black leather shoes plummeted to the ground, he sighed with regret. Those were great shoes. He’d picked them up from a cobbler in the Middle East.
With his claws securely dug into the wall, he carefully started to pick his way down the building, climbing the same as he would a rock cliff face. At first Kale refused to do anything but hang on for dear life and he could feel the human’s heart almost hitting through his own chest.
“What’s it for? Will you be prancing and writhing about in panties again?”
“I know what you’re doing,” Kale growled into his neck.
“I don’t…know what you mean,” he grunted as he lowered them the next five feet or so, much quicker this time to see if Kale could cope with it. Really, they could probably get back into the hotel through another level’s window, but Aleksi’s instinct was to go the whole way down like this. Thank God they were at the back of the hotel with only the almost deserted park and the lake below them. Otherwise, he’d have an ass-chewing to look forward to from Scott and the others at the office.
Shifter Equality in Life and Work—the SELW—had been burning up the pages and airwaves of the media lately, pressing the latest anti-discrimination bill that had popped into some pen pushers’ heads. Aleksi didn’t have anything against them, just their methods. More than one SELW activist had been caught breaking into some place or another in order to get arrested and complain about not being housed with human inmates.
Many of the SEWL policies were good and made a positive difference, but some were campaigning and picketing for the sake of it. Shifter criminals and prison inmates shouldn’t be housed with humans. They were potentially too dangerous and the measures required to keep them under control would kill or damage humans. Their cuffs and restraints had to be much stronger and their cells needed to be equipped to deal with the shifters’ animals. It was the same with hospitals. Sometimes a shifter was so hurt they weren’t in control of themselves, the same as humans, and they deserved a safe, secure place to heal so they could be treated by doctors prepared to keep
everyone
safe until the shifter was back in his or her right mind.
He growled as he thought about his friends who had to live with the guilt of hurting someone because of ill-conceived policies. Shifters and humans were not the same, nor was one better than the other. But their differences couldn’t be ignored just because someone was desperate for a cause and five minutes of fame.
As Aleksi made the jump down to the ninth floor ledge, Kale whimpered and tucked his face into his neck. He was about to comfort the man when he felt something hard pressing into his stomach.
Aleksi growled again. The man clinging to his chest shuddered and the delicious scent of arousal spiked.
“I’m a bit busy at the moment,” Aleksi teased. “Can I take a rain check?”
“Bad kitty.”
Aleksi laughed. “You have no idea,” he said gruffly in Kale’s ear. He struggled to concentrate on the job at hand as he released his claws and slid down the wall at speed.
The next few floors whooshed by in a blur as he took advantage of Kale’s distraction to hurry their descent. He took care to growl and shamelessly purr when Kale’s lust dampened under the weight of fear.
“You’re cheating,” Kale accused, sounding annoyed. But that didn’t stop him from pulling Aleksi tighter.
It might have been Aleksi’s wishful thinking, but he swore he felt Kale’s teeth graze his shoulder through his shirt. “So are you,” he retorted breathlessly.
He felt Kale shrug. “All’s fair…”
Once Aleksi reached the fourth floor ledge, he checked the distance to the ground below. Grinning, he let go of the wall with one hand and cupped the back of Kale’s head, encouraging the man to look up at him. “Do you still trust me?”
Kale’s eyes shot wide and his heart raced. “No. I’ve changed my mind.”
If anyone asked, he would say his cat made him do it, but in reality, he thought it would do Kale good to live a little on the wild side. The man was entirely too well put together. Aleksi laughed cheerfully before letting go of the building and jumping away from the wall, curling his arms around Kale as the man screamed.
“Too late,” Aleksi said.
They landed with a solid thud, his feet claws treading the earth and grass as his knees bent to absorb the impact. “That was fun, huh?”
Kale gave him a glare, which clearly said Aleksi had a few screws loose, and tried to catch his breath. “Ass. Hole.”
Aleksi smirked, the expression turning to a wide smile when Kale made no move to get off him. Perhaps he should jump off buildings more often.
Daring his luck, Aleksi gave Kale’s firm ass a smack. They needed to get moving. It wasn’t safe here. The smack worked. Kale dropped to his feet and glowered at him before flipping off Aleksi and muttering something about bloody cats and their psychotic tendencies
.
He was sure Kale realized he could hear him. A scowl from Kale confirmed it and more muttering followed. It was good to know he was a ‘stupid, handsome, idiotic, hot shifter with muscles bigger than planets’
.
His protectee was surely in shock.
“Hey, my shoes.” They lay only a few feet away, looking none the worse for wear after the ten-story drop. At least one thing had gone right today.
The road ahead led into the park and the alley behind them led back onto the main street. The park would give them cover, but the street would give them more options for transport.
“This way.” Aleksi herded Kale into the alley.
He looked up and saw a figure leaning out of Kale’s window. Aleksi was certain that Not-Barry wasn’t going to give up on getting Kale any time soon.
* * * *
“I can’t believe you stole a car!” Kale shouted for the second time. He was now an accessory to a crime.
“Will you get over it already? I’ll call Scott and have him send someone to pick it up where we left it then return it to the owner.” Aleksi rolled his eyes as if grand theft auto wasn’t a big deal.
Kale wasn’t convinced.
His shifter bodyguard might kill him quicker than his stalker would. Jumping off a building—what was he thinking? Then slapping his ass like he had. It had been bad enough getting another inappropriate erection. Any rational person would be terrified when they were one wrong move away from plummeting to their deaths. At least
he
was. Kale was certain the saber-tooth tiger shifter would have landed on his feet, like any other cat.
The manic smile of excitement the big shifter had given him right before stepping off that last ledge would be forever burned in his memory. And the next time Aleksi asked Kale to trust him, he was answering what he should have in the first place—hell and no.