Page 25 of Hunting Isla

“That’s not a nice way to talk about Axel,” I said, slapping Vance on the back just as hard.

Axel gave a little growl of protest, but Vance gave one of his deep, full-body hoots of laughter. He walked out the door, but not before blowing Axel a kiss, which my Alpha returned with a middle finger.

CHAPTER 14

ISLA

“Bohdie! Come back here and put some clothes on,” I shouted down the tunnel that led to the common room of the den. Female bear shifters chuckled at me as the group of naked kids ran down the long hall, having just changed back from their animals. I threw my hands in the air, but I couldn’t be mad. Bohdie loved it here, making friends with the bear cubs. He’d never really had the opportunity to have friends, just going from one town to the other, and he was such a social child.

Tucking his shorts and shirt under my arm, I turned around to head back to our temporary home. I had to get used to the fact that nudity was a way of life around here. No one blinked an eye, or leered, or even paid much attention to a person’s state of dress—or undress, in this case.

We’d only been here three weeks, but the bears had accepted us like we’d been born amongst them. And honestly, I loved them for it.

Fresca came over, not even attempting to hold her laughter in. “Don’t stress it, Isla. I’m going to see if they’d like to make ice cream sundaes with me, but there’s a strict clothing policy. Here, give me Bohdie’s clothes and go relax. I saw Axel stomping around earlier, looking all broody and sexy.” She waggled her eyebrows, leaving no doubt in my mind what she was suggesting.

I couldn’t help but blush. I wished. Last night, he’d brought me to a stunning orgasm, pressed up against a wall in a dark corner of the den. There were a lot of dark corners, and he seemed determined to make me come in every single one. But still, no sex.

“Thanks, Fresca. I’m late to see my guys and Vance anyway.” I passed her the clothes and started jogging down the hall. “Good luck with the sugared-up five-year-olds,” I called over my shoulder.

I reached the simple door of Vance’s office and paused to catch my breath. Shoulders back, chin raised, I tried to walk in exuding all the confidence of a queen, rather than a bedraggled waitress who’d just been bested by a bunch of five-year-olds.

“Hello, pretty girl,” Franklin called as soon as I walked through the door. Then he and Talbot did their favorite kind of hug, squishing me between them like a sandwich. Mostly because they just enjoyed hugging, but there was also a perverse part of them that liked needling my lions. I didn’t mind. I enjoyed how openly affectionate the bears were. There was nothing sexual in the action for Franklin and Talbot. They were just wreaking havoc.

They hugged me tightly until one of my lions growled low and deep, giving them the exact response they wanted. Pavlov’s lions.

I walked over and sat on Axel’s lap, and while his outward expression didn’t change, I could feel the near soundless rumble of a purr through his chest.

“So, we are still happy with the plan?” Vance asked, and I scoffed. Happy would be an overstatement. The plan was deceptively—or some would say stupidly—simple. Franklin and Talbot would pretend to bring me and Bohdie to Bob for the reward. We’d chosen the twins because, well, they were twins. People expected them to be together. They would be far less threatening than Vance and Axel together. It was easy to overlook the fact that they were separate, and deadly, people.

The twins would say that they’d found us hiding in the mountains near the den, a truth that would prevent the Regent from smelling the acrid scent of their lies. They’d demand their money in cash, and when Bob failed to produce a million dollars in cash—because no one in their right mind would have that much cash lying around—the twins would cause a scene.

While they were raising hell, which was basically their job description, Vance would use a sniper rifle to take Bob out from a distance. Which was apparently in his skillset. They’d gotten really sketchy when I asked what they all did for a living.

When Bob was down, my guys would swoop in and clean up Bob’s main enforcer, Angus, and any other low-level lions he’d coerced into becoming enforcers. We’d purposefully left Billy out of the plan. Not because I didn’t trust him—although he was still practically a stranger to me—but because I was sure there was a leak in his organization. Archer had been right; the odds of Billy and the mercs arriving on the same day couldn’t have been a coincidence.

My lions, of course, hated this plan. Not because it was bad, but because they’d been relegated from saviors to clean-up crew. Axel particularly hated having no control over anything in the situation. He had to place all his trust in Vance and the bears not double-crossing us and just handing Bohdie over. After all, a million dollars was a cool chunk of money. Axel didn’t like Bohdie and I being on the frontline at all, but we needed to get Bob out into a particular part of the compound where Vance could get a clear shot from a disturbingly long distance away.

“No,” Axel growled, but didn’t offer up any further protest. Archer scowled on the other side of him. I missed my cheeky, smiling Archer, but since the attack, he’d been stoic and serious. He was basically Axel times ten.

Wyatt, who had always been the voice of reason, sighed. “Yes. Let’s do this.”

“Tomorrow?” Vance asked.

“Tomorrow.” The word tasted like ash in my mouth and made my heart pound. This time tomorrow, we’d either be free or dead.

I hated this. I hated that Bohdie was even here. No matter how I spun this to him, and to myself, about how there would be no danger, it felt wrong. I consoled myself by eliciting a promise from the twins as soon as we were in the car and away from the ears of my overprotective guys. At the first sign of trouble, Talbot would take Bohdie and get him to my guys. They would protect him.

It had been hard leaving Axel, Archer and Wyatt behind. They were mine, and I’d gotten so damn lucky. They hadn’t pressed me to choose between them. They just seemed content to love me, and be loved by me, in whatever form they could get.

Maybe we should have run. We’d have each other. We could be happy, right?

I looked over at Bohdie, his big eyes taking in the passing trees of what used to be my hometown through bulletproof windows. He would never be safe. He’d never be able to make friends, or go to school, or take a damn selfie. Five small minutes of courage, and then we could have a lifetime of freedom for all of us.

Bohdie, for his part, didn’t seem to care about the undercurrent of danger—perhaps because my false bravado was contagious, or perhaps because he’d inherited Kara’s lack of fear.

“Are we there yet?” he asked, turning his big yellow eyes to me.

“Soon,” I replied, falsely upbeat, before stage-whispering, “Talbot drives like a little old lady.”