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She clung to Nora, gripping the back of her neck with two strong hands, and wound her little legs around Nora’s waist. Nora clung to her just as tightly, trying as much as she could to whisper reassurances.
“We’re going to be okay, I promise you. Hudson has got this. We will be safe soon. We will go home and have some hot chocolate…”
“I’mscared,” the little girl crooned, impossibly pulling Nora in even closer. “I’m so scared, Nora.”
The little girl buried her face into Nora’s neck. Nora felt the dampness of tears and snot soak her shirt. It added an extra layer to what she had already had to go through, and that made Nora angry.
She wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and she knew that Hudson wasn’t either.
“We will get through this. We are strong, right?”
Hannah nodded frantically, her nails digging into the back of Nora’s neck.
She hated the fact that she may be lying to the child. But hope still had wings in her heart. There had to be a way out of here.
The door flew open. Logan and Hudson, in human form, rushed in. “The air might be tainted,” Hudson’s said. “We have to get both of you out of here. We can’t find the source to turn it off.”
They gestured for the girls to follow them. But the group only got a few feet down the hall when enemy reinforcement arrived. The shifters morphed into their animal forms and slowly backed up as the doctors and soldiers closed in.
There were nearly two dozen, hell, maybe even more, men with guns pointed directly at Hannah’s head. Nora prayed that two big polar bears could easily take out the men surrounding them even if bullets were fired.
But Hannah was at risk, and they were trapped with the bad guys getting closer. Hudson backed up, his rear paws nearly pressing against Nora’s shins. He gazed back at her. The look in his gorgeous dark eyes flickered with rose-gold embers. Her heart sank, wondering if everything they had built until this point had been fruitless.
Nora pinned her back against the wall and stared at the enemy. If it were to be their fate, she would go protecting the little girl who had changed her life for the better. Then something occurred to her.
If poison was being released into the air, then why weren’t the doctors and soldiers wearing gas masks?
“They’re bluffing,” she hollered, “There’s no gas.”
The soldiers stiffened, and one of them screamed, “Raise and fire!”
Nora spun around, shielding Hannah from the bullets with her body. For a moment, she thought that the pain had silenced her hearing and that she was only a mere few seconds away from slipping into the void. She held Hannah as close as any human possibly could.
But there was nothing. Then there was everything.
A loud clamoring, like the smashing of wood and concrete, rumbled the floor. The sound of bullets rained down, which made Nora flinch and curl her body around Hannah, but she never felt a single burn.
She dared to look at the chaos that ensued. Her heart leapt into her throat, not out of fear but from excitement and hope.
Hudson and Logan sprinted forward to attack the soldiers, who had turned to shoot at the horde of majestic polar bears stampeding toward them. The soldiers aimed their guns at them and released a sea of metal and fire, giving Hudson and Logan time to come in from behind and take them down.
Nora saw everything like she was sitting in a box seat at a theater. What ensued right before her eyes was positively cinematic, surreal, and a blend of awful and magnificent.
Many of the polar bears were covered in blood, their white fur acting as a blank canvas that showcased their violence. They slashed the throats of various soldiers, along with the doctors, but more kept coming seemingly out of nowhere. Some of the bears were hit by bullets, briefly injured yet carrying on with the attack, while others were down and out.
Nora couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. However, she couldn't completely compute it at the moment, as she was in survival mode. Later, if there was a later, she would reflect upon watching a war between humans and their weapons versus incredible supernatural creatures.
“Is he okay?” Hannah inquired in her arms, looking less afraid and more exhausted from the ordeal. Nora knew she was asking about Hudson, so she scanned the pandemonium, letting out a relieved sigh when she found him.
He was just what she imagined an alpha would look like. Heroic, stealthy, and strong. He was massive in his polar bear form, thrashing his way through the bullets and humans who stood in his way. He was moving so quickly through the pandemonium of people, throttling them, mangling a few, all in the name of Hannah.
It hurt her heart to see the rage in him, but she knew where all of that fury was coming from. It was another version of love, love that he had transferred into the protection of his new daughter.
“He’s okay,” Nora said. “We’re going to make it, Hannah, don't worry …" She said that but wasn’t so sure. She and Hannah were directly in the line of fire. She had to find a safe place to hide.
Seeing a set of stairs tucked in a corner, she sprinted toward them with Hannah in her arms. The steps led up to a floor with a long hallway and doors lining each side. This must’ve been where most of the offices were.
She dove inside the first room, unfortunately, with a large window. She slammed the door shut and locked it, settling herself and Hannah behind a big, burly desk.
