Bears in Flight: Book Four - Supernatural Bounty Hunters Romance Novellas (16 page)

“I know,” she told him smugly.

“Minx!” he growled.

“Hmmmm,” she purred, “can rabbits be minxes?”

“You certainly can,” he breathed as his cock started behaving in the most vivacious way.
Just talking to her sent him half-wild.

“Seriously, how’s it going?”

Logan blew out a breath. “Not great. Look, sweetheart, could I ask you to do something for me?”

Mia gasped as she twittered excitedly. “The last time you asked me that on the phone…”

He chuckled, and his animal almost groaned at the memory. The last time was when he was following a skip to Reno, and they had indulged in a little phone sex.
It started with him asking her to take off all her clothes off…

Hmmm, that wasn’t a bad idea. “Alright, could I ask you to do two things for me?”

“What’s the first?” she asked with a laughing lilt.

“If I send you some pictures, could you, I don’t know, use your magic computer skills to see if you can find some details on the jewelry in the photos?”

“By magic computer skills, do you mean an internet search?” He imagined her raising an eyebrow and sporting a humorous expression.

“Spare me your techno mumbo jumbo, woman,” he said gruffly, “can you do it?”

“Of course.”

His lips curled up. “And the second thing?”

“Will have to wait until I’ve done the first thing,” she replied coquettishly.

Logan huffed. “You get me all hot and bothered and then you leave me hanging – you really are a minx.”

Mia let out a mocking, evil little laugh. “Too much for you to handle, bear?”

“Oh, I think I handle you just fine, sweetheart.”

She let out an almost inaudible groan.
Almost inaudible
. That tiny sound was enough to show him that she was affected by him, too. His bear rolled around like a puppy.

“Okay, stop, now I’m getting hot and bothered. Why don’t you send me the pictures and I’ll let you know if I find anything?”

“Screw that, I’ll be round later tonight to see you. I might be late though.” With any luck, he’d catch her in those pink bunny pajamas he liked so much. He had no idea why, but those cutsey pajamas were sexier and had a more profound effect on him than any wispy, lacy lingerie ever had.

“Hmmm, I’ll try to fit you into my hectic social schedule,” she teased.

Lord, she didn’t have to talk dirty to get him wound up; just her gentle ribbing was enough virtually to send him to orgasm. “You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”

“Minx?”
How could she make that word sound so saucy?

“Got it in one.”

“Send me the pics and please, stay safe.”

“You too, sweetheart,” he told her forcefully. “Love you.”

“You too.”

His bear was annoyed at her teasing, particularly as he was in no position to teach her why it wasn’t a good idea to torment a horny bear, but Logan was thrilled at how playful and happy his mate was. As long as she was feeling flirty, she wasn’t dwelling on how hurt she had been over the past week. Although Logan felt guilt over it, he was glad they could both move forward.

He ducked back in the car and found Maya deep in her own conversation. He ignored her and took a few snaps of the pictures with his phone and texted them to Mia. If Maya weren't there, he would have been tempted to sext Mia too. But no matter how friendly he was with his soon-to-be ex-wife, he didn’t think they were at a stage in their relationship where he could comfortably whip out his manhood and take photos of it.

Seconds later, Mia texted back a kiss and, oh,
holy hell
, a sext of her peachy, round derriere. Great minds and all that.
Or should that be horny minds?
Crap, his erection was never going to go down now. Sitting in a car, tailing someone, while nursing a massive boner was not his idea of fun. Still, he sent a message back detailing what it was exactly he would like to do to said derriere.

Maya was nodding her head into the phone and biting her nail. Logan resumed watching the rich old hawk and his trophy bride. They were having lunch, or at least he was, she didn’t seem to be eating anything. After a few minutes, Maya ended the call.

“Merrick,” she breathed in explanation.

Logan exhaled.
Fuck
. “Well?”

Every part of her tensed. “He said we have a week to get him the bracelet or… or Brock is dead.”

“How does he expect us to get it?”

“He doesn’t care,” she said tightly, “he said he’s given us more than enough information.”

“What exactly did he tell you?”

“He gave us the pictures and told us who owned the items he wanted.”

Logan pursed his lips. It wasn’t that much information. “How did you get the other items?”

“One through blackmail, the owner was having an affair with his tennis coach. One we actually bought; the owner had gambled his way through his inheritance, that guy was offering to sell a kidney too. And the third we stole. We, ah, mugged the woman who was wearing it.”

He gave her a disapproving glare, and she had the sense to pinken under his gaze.

“I’m not proud of any of this, but that bastard has my son!” she exclaimed heatedly.

“Whatever, we need to think of a plan and fast.”

Chapter Seventeen

Monday

Ultimately, it was luck that gave them the opportunity to get the bracelet.

Maya had been tailing the trophy wife while Logan trailed the hawk shifter. They were both constantly followed by two security goons; a selection of elephant, lion, and shark shifters. They couldn’t get close, but within a couple of days, they got what they needed.

As it turned out, the old hawk shifter was bored of wife number six and spent his free time grooming wife number seven.
Younger, blonder, fitter – she ticked all the boxes.

And, luckily for them, the old hawk really couldn’t keep it in his pants long enough to close the curtains to his mistress’ apartment. Logan managed to get a number of illicit,
and stomach-churning
, photos while perched precariously in a tree. He was both repulsed and elated at getting the photos.
He was unequivocally pissed when he fell out the tree, though.

Logan was all for storming the guy’s office and demanding that they get the bracelet in return for keeping the pictures hush-hush, but Maya had a better idea. With a little help from his friend, Stone, it was going to work out just right.

“I wish he’d hurry up,” Maya complained testily.

They were sat in the juice bar of a gym, trying not to watch as the trophy wife was flirting overtly with Stone.

Stone was a member of just about every gym in the city. He liked to rotate between gyms, waiting for new female members to join each one. After finding out which one the trophy frequented, it was easy enough to get Stone to give them guest passes and to point out which buxom woman he was supposed to flirt with.

It was also the only time when the security goons stayed away from the trophy wife; apparently other members of the trophy’s step class didn’t take too kindly to two sneering men in black suits ogling them. Plus, it was hardly a chore to get Stone to do him a favor. Or rather, it was hardly a chore to get Stone to flirt with an attractive woman. Given the fiery looks he was throwing her, he wasn’t acting either. Considering the way she was licking her plump lips, his attention was extremely welcome.

Maya clucked her tongue as the woman started fondling Stone’s considerable muscles; she muttered something about coffee and stomped away, only to return seconds later scowling.

“They don’t serve coffee here, apparently it’s a drug, and their bodies are their temples.” She didn’t bother to hide the scorn in her voice nor the contemptuous looks she was throwing the various patrons sucking on their wheatgrass concoctions.

Logan snorted; he’d dated a health food fanatic a while back, and it was not the most enjoyable three months of his life.
He was a bear who needed a lot of meat, darn it, and tofu would not cut it for him!

Mia was a vegetarian; she’d tried to eat meat over the years, but she just couldn’t stomach it. She didn’t have a problem with him eating meat though, and he didn’t have a problem with her not eating meat. No, the only problem he had was with her not eating much, she was slender as it was, and he and his bear felt that it wouldn’t hurt for her to have a little more flesh on her curves.
He thoroughly disapproved of her eating a garden salad and declaring herself full.

Maya started biting her fingernails; she was a bear with a sore head for caffeine. The two of them kind of stuck out; they might as well have been wearing neon signs that said they didn’t belong there. They were by no means unfit; as bears, they were naturally toned, but they were hardly spandex-clad gym bunnies.
Hmmm, bunnies
. This wasn’t the kind of place he really wanted his rabbit hanging out, he certainly didn’t want her losing any weight, but there were certain perks to spandex.

They looked up as the trophy wife let out a hyena-like laugh and his bear growled. Logan forced himself not to cover his sensitive ears.

Maya elbowed him as they saw Stone and the woman heading their way. Stone pressed a hand into her back and whispered something to her; she was grinning until she spotted the two shifty looking bears.

“Hey, babe,” said Stone smoothly, “let me introduce you to some friends of mine. This is Logan and, ummm, Moira. Guys, this is Helen.”

Maya rolled her eyes.

“Nice to meet you,” said Helen as if that was the furthest thought from her mind.

“No, it’s nice to meet you Helen.” Maya gave the woman her most ingratiating smile. “We really need to talk to you.”

Helen looked at them quizzically, but with a reassuring smile from Stone, she was all ears.

Chapter Eighteen

Helen was as Maya suspected, easy to persuade. They gave her the photos, which meant she was now able to get out of her marriage to the ‘a-hole, feathery-assed, old dickhead’ without being the one to break their pre-nup. In return for their generosity, she happily handed over the bracelet stating that in their two years of marriage she had always hated it and was more than happy to lie and say she lost it. It was some kind of family heirloom, but she could care less about that.

With a smirk, Stone led the furious trophy wife away to ‘work on her glutes.’ Given the lascivious look on his face, Logan figured that was some kind of euphemism, but he was too tired to care.

They had the bracelet, which meant that they could get Brock, and the whole debacle would soon be over.

Logan knew he should feel relief, and his bear was certainly ragging him for not doing so, but he couldn’t help that small, nagging feeling of worry. Something wasn’t right about the whole thing – not that kidnapping bear cubs and forcing the parents to steal things was mundane – but there was something odd about the whole thing.

He shook his head and followed Maya out to the car where Brick was waiting for them.

*

Mia fiddled and reread her menu, studiously ignoring her disapproving rabbit. The little beast jutted her buck teeth at her and wiggled her cute little butt reproachfully.

What? She wasn’t doing anything wrong.
She was allowed to have friends…

Okay. Chicken in black bean sauce, crispy chicken in lemon sauce, shredded salt and chili chicken. She wasn’t paying any attention whatsoever. Her rabbit and her conscience were conspiring to make her feel like a heel just for wanting to make a friend.

“Something wrong?” asked John in concern.

She shook her head. “No, everything’s fine.”
Yep, if she kept telling herself that maybe it would become true.

“I just wondered if there had been any movement on your stalker.” John nodded his head at her other brother Joshua, who was playing bodyguard for the day.

Oh, that!
While worrying about Logan and fending off her misplaced feelings of guilt, she had all but forgotten about that.
Probably not a good thing…

Mia took a sip of water to ease her parched throat. “No, nothing’s happened. I’m starting to think we’re overreacting.”

She was starting to think that, but judging by the death glares she got from her father and brothers the previous night, they were not in agreement.

John rearranged his cutlery, preferring his fork to be on his right. She’d seen him do that the night he came to dine at her parents’ house and thought it was odd then, too. Not odd as in weird – if someone preferred to use a fork in a different hand,
who gives a flying saucer?
– no, it was weird because it gave her a feeling of déjà vu.

“Maybe you should get away from the city for a vacation?” he suggested, seemingly placidly, however he didn’t fail to hide a dash of hope in his eyes. “I have a vacation home in Full Moon Bay in Florida; you’d be welcome to use it.”

Her rabbit snarled, as ferociously as a rabbit could.
This seemed a bit much
. “Umm, thanks, but I don’t think I should leave right now.”

“Aww, come on, you love Florida. Wouldn’t it bring back memories of visiting your grandma when you were a kid?”

Mia frowned. Yes, it would, but now she had something new to bother her. “How do you know I’ve been there? How do you know I visited my grandma there?”

John shrugged nonchalantly. “You must have mentioned it in passing.”

She bit her lip.
She was sure that she hadn’t.

“Or maybe it was your father or brothers,” he offered blandly.

Yes, maybe.
Hmmmm
.

She almost jumped as her phone started chirruping. Eager for a diversion, she grabbed it and almost cried in happiness at the caller ID.
Logan
. Her beast did a happy little hop.

“I better get this,” she mumbled as she stood up.

“Your boyfriend?”

She didn’t answer, and she could swear that a steel glint came into his eyes before it darted away again.

“Yes, you better see what he wants from you now.” He said the words unemotionally, but Mia didn’t for one second believe he was as cool as he pretended to be.

She turned and stepped away from their table. “Hey,” she breathed into the phone.

Logan let out a long, breath that sent tingles all over her body. Just that rumbling sound, of the relief held within it, was enough to send her simpering and jumping around like a playful kit.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

Lord, her legs almost turned to pudding. She almost had to call the waiter over and ask him to scoop her up off the floor. Okay, it had been a few days since they’d been together, you know,
together-together
, and she was just one quivering, horny bunny. The expression, ‘breed like rabbits’ didn’t come about for no reason – no, it was due to the fact that bunnies were one libidinous species. Forget your predators like wolves and big cats, it was the tiny, fluffy animals who couldn’t get enough.

“I miss you,” she blurted huskily.

Logan let out another breath, but this one was more ragged and filled with longing. “Me too,” he croaked.

She shook her head, trying to clear her foggy lust. Her beast twittered in disapproval and Mia shut her down.
Lusty little furball.

“So, after a lot of research, I managed to find some info about those pieces of jewelry.”

He growled softly at the sudden change in topic but didn’t say anything.
It was the verbal equivalent of having a cold shower.

She continued, undeterred. “They’re relics; together they all form the head of a staff an old warlock used about a thousand years ago. Apparently, it could control people’s minds, and once it had control of them, the people virtually became mindless zombies. They had to do whatever the warlock told them to forever, and it enhanced their speed and strength.”

Logan listened making the occasional grunt while Mia got more and more excited over her discovery. It sure as heck hadn’t been easy to find this information.

“Numerous armies from different countries banded together to take him down. About eight knights, all shifters, managed to get past his zombies, and they killed the warlock. When they finally destroyed him, they had to, umm, stab him repeatedly, let all his blood out, and then chop his body into pieces and bury him in separate pieces.

“Anyway, they couldn’t destroy it, so the four knights who survived, all decided to chop up the head of the staff, and each take a part so that it would be safe. You’re looking at the remaining pieces. They must have been passed on through generations of shifters.”

“Jeez,” muttered Logan.

“So, ah, why do you want to know all this?” she asked, a little deflated at his lack of admiration that she had found that out for him.

He hesitated for a second or two. “It’s the items Merrick wanted Maya to steal.”

“Oh, what would Merrick want with them? Do you think he’s trying to recreate the staff?” Alarm raced through.
This could be very bad.

“I don’t know,” admitted Logan. “But I’m going to find out. Stay safe, sweetheart.”

She murmured that she would.

“And sweetheart?”

“Hmmm?”

“Thanks.”

Mia smiled in pleasure. “It was nothing,” she said modestly.

“No, it wasn’t. And I don’t mean just this. Thanks for being cool about the whole situation, thanks for being you, thanks for being the wonderful woman that you are. And, of course, thanks for being my mate. I can’t imagine living without you.”

“Oh!”

“Love you, sweetheart.”

“I…”

Darn him!
He hung up before she could make a decent reply. Why was he so chatty about everything all of a sudden? Not that she was complaining or anything.

It took her a few moments to remember where she was. The hustle and bustle of the busy restaurant soon came back to her. She flicked a glance back at John to see he was staring at her with some very worrying emotions.

Crap
. She had to nip this in the bud.

*

“What he does with the jewelry is not our problem!” Maya told them defiantly. “We don’t even know if the staff can be recreated, for heaven’s sake.”

Logan had imparted the information Mia had given him to Maya and Brick. Brick was silent in contemplation, but Maya was very loud in her opinions.

“Merrick hurts people every day, what’s the big deal if he has a new toy to do it with?”

Logan looked at Brick, and the two male bears knew they couldn’t go through with it.

“Since when did you two grow consciences?” she snarled. “After everything we’ve done, you’re not honestly telling me you can’t do this?”

“We can’t let him have it, Maya,” said Brick quietly.

“A lot of people will be hurt,” added Logan.

“But…”

“We just can’t.”

Maya’s eyes flashed to black. “What else can we do?”