Chasing His Squirrel (Big Bad Bunnies Book 2) Read online

  Now... now she was hunting and it was exhilarating even if she didn't want it to be.

  Bailey's unnatural growls filled the air as they neared the last known location of Meredith's squad - the squad Brock had been assigned to. A sickly sweet, coppery scent filled the air, one Jesse recognized immediately. It made her stomach churn, although it didn't bother her mutated squirrel one bit. Thankfully it didn't make her squirrel hungry either, she didn't think she could handle that, since she knew there was very little chance the scent was coming from animals.

  Her anxiety about what they were going to find grew as the scent thickened, and she skidded to a stop along a tree branch as they found what was obvious the ambush spot. The smell of blood was overwhelming here, along with a fouler, sicker scent... and now Jesse knew what death smelled like.

  She wanted to howl with anger and grief as she recognized the body of Meredith laying on the ground in her human form, gun still clutched in her hands. She was in the middle of several bodies, both human and shifter. Meredith's neck was a bloody ruin, her eyes open, chest unmoving, leaving no doubt as to what had happened. The shock and fury in her expression was echoed in Jesse's heart, along with a growing desire for vengeance... for justice.

  Below Jesse, Bailey growled and careened around the bodies, sniffing here and there. Jesse scanned them, but she didn't see Brock, Ana, or Joe. If the broken body of that puma was Pablo, as she suspected it was, then those three were the only ones missing from the team. Her chest tightened in pain, with just a tinge of hope that Brock still lived.

  She wanted to hope that Ana and Joe did too, but if either or both of them were the traitor... just the thought hurt. They'd traveled to Cryus Peak with her and Daniel. They'd both chatted with her. Done their best to be nice to her and her brother while they were grieving, knowing that Aunt Penny was going to die. All the while... they'd been waiting to betray them.

  It was likely the traitor had also been the one to give The Company information about the Peak's tunnels and security systems. At least, Jesse almost hoped so. One traitor was bad enough, more than one didn't bear thinking about.

  Bailey's growls were reaching fever pitch and she went up on her hind legs to look up at Jesse in the trees. Even though they couldn't speak to each other, Jesse could almost hear the thoughts in Bailey's mind.

  I'm not turning around to report back in; Brock's not here. I'm going to keep going.

  Jesse chittered, shaking her head, because she knew they should but... Fine. I'm not either.

  Allonsy!

  Okay, so that last part was her own nerdy interpretation of Bailey's little head jerk, but the momentary lightheartedness brought on by a mental joke helped her feel more even-keeled. She let her squirrel instincts take over to get her through the trees, her human side obsessing over the decision to leave their dead there... worrying they were heading into a trap... wishing anyone else but her could do this job.

  If it was a trap, she and Bailey were the best choices to check it out. No one was prepared for small shifters, much less small, predatory shifters. And Jesse didn't think there were any other larger shifters who could move through the trees like she did. They had to go on, to get to Brock, Ana, and Joe and then fetch reinforcements.

  Leaves and branches whipped by in a blur, her forelegs stretching out as she flew through the air. She'd learned a long time ago to let her squirrel handle tree jumping completely - humans overthought things like the distance (both to the next branch and to the ground) and letting herself think about it was a surefire way to cause her squirrel enough anxiety to miss the next branch and tumble to the ground. Every squirrel shifter took several falls, trying to take control when they shouldn't, until they learned to let their squirrel handle it.

  Now she was used to flying through the trees - and she moved faster than she could ever remember doing so before the Torch. She didn't know if it was a side effect of the tiger genes or if she was just older and healthier now, but it really did feel like flying.

  She kept one eye on the white blur that was Bailey, following her path. The smell of blood made the trail clear, even up in the trees. There were multiple scents, along with Ana, Joe, and Brock's, and Jesse's stomach tightened again at the thought of having to face anyone down. What made it worse was that she smelled both humans and other large shifters. At least two kinds of bear and several different wolves.

  And the blood smell was getting worse. Someone was injured.

  ******

  There were times when being a giant bunny the size of a bear was an advantage and there were times when it was not. When fighting off a horde of shifters and humans, it was an advantage to have claws, the ability to leap over small buildings, fangs, and legs that could break a shifter's back with one kick. When trying to run through the forest, where there were low hanging branches, lots of bushes and undergrowth, and time was of the essence, being bigger was not better. Especially since he lumbered more when he moved, unlike Bethany who was a lot more agile and better at dodging branches. At least in both scenarios his turtle shell protected his body from a lot of damage.

  Eli was definitely struggling way more than Brady was, but it wasn't stopping him.

  They were both more tired than Bethany and Steele, having had significantly less rest between shifts. As much as Brady wanted to be in the lead, it quickly became clear that following in Bethany's wake made for a much easier route, as she forged a path through the brush and branches. Eli - lacking a protective shell - came behind Brady.

  In front of them, a huge grey wolf (who was still a little less than half the size of Bethany) darted ahead of his mate, leading the way with his nose and keeping a lookout. Brady was one hundred percent sure that Steele knew every inch of the woods at this point, including all the best places for hiding, ambushes, and traps. Paranoid fucker probably had some of his own traps out here.

  When they caught the scent of coppery blood on the wind, it took Brady a moment to realize it wasn't coming from him or Eli... and then all four of them started moving faster.

  The ambush site was where they finally encountered Bailey and Jesse's scents - as they'd reached it from a different direction. Jesse's was faint, which made sense since she would have been in the trees, but Bailey had scampered all around the bodies. Brady felt like howling when he saw Meredith and the others lying there... he'd trained with all of them. Chris and his wicked sense of humor, Edward's constant practical pranks on Chris, Lindy who always had a kind word despite being a vicious fighter... He wanted to throw back his head and howl.

  A furious huffing noise distracted him, and he swiveled his head around to look inquisitively at Eli, who looked even angrier than Brady would have thought. As infuriating as it was, they all went into this life knowing the risks. Meredith and the others had been willing. But Eli looked like he was about to go on a fucking rampage, he was sniffing around madly, barely even glancing at the bodies and then -

  Ah fuck, fucker was running off into the forest on the trail.

  Brady exchanged a startled look with Bethany and Steele and then they all bolted after Eli, hot on his trail. Whatever had upset the big man to that point merited concern - and Brady was even more pissed off when he realized he was still smelling Jesse and his youngest sister. They hadn't turned around and gone back to the Peak for help, which meant they were somewhere ahead.

  Little whips of branches against his face burned as he picked up speed, not even bothering to duck them anymore. Panic was burning through him as he caught up to Eli and surpassed him, following the scent of his siblings, Jesse, strangers, and blood.

  ******

  High in the trees which circled a large meadow, Jesse crouched, completely torn.

  She'd lost sight of Bailey and prayed that no one scented either of them. Jesse would be harder to, since she was above everyone's head and further away, but Bailey was on the ground... possibly in the meadow. Almost as soon as she and Bailey had come upon the meadow, Bailey had disappeared, while Jess
e bounded from branch to branch along the outskirts, trying to get the best view.

  There were only six of the enemy, including the traitor.

  Joe.

  That asshole. He'd seemed so nice. He'd been nice. Had sat in the car with her and Daniel on the way to the Peak. Smiled at them. Laughed at the Harry Potter movie. He'd been friends with his team, that much had been obvious.

  Now he was staying as far away as he could from Brock and Ana, letting the other four guards handle them. He didn't look guilty or upset though, just kind of like he was trying not to think about it. Which meant The Company must have offered him something worth betraying everyone... or maybe he just was a shallow person with shallow friendships. Whatever the case, he was an asshole.

  The leader of the team was slightly away from everyone else, on the phone, pacing slightly. He was wearing a black ski mask, which he'd pulled up to uncover his face and one ear while he talked on the phone. Jesse wasn't really paying attention to him though; she was completely focused on Brock and Ana.

  The four assholes guarding them were obviously getting bored and taunting the prisoners. Jesse couldn't hear what they were saying, but she definitely didn't like the way they were focusing on Ana or the way they were looking at her. Blood trickling down her temple into her dark hair, Ana just ignored them. She and Brock were seated next to each other, silver manacles around their wrists and ankles, which would keep them from shifting or escaping. Both of them were obviously wounded, although Brock far more gravely than Ana.

  It was his blood Jesse had been smelling, she was sure of it. While Ana had a head wound, Brock had some kind of shoulder wound that was bleeding so profusely it had actually darkened his black shirt nearly to his waist. The fact that she could see the blood on a black shirt meant it had soaked the fibers completely through. His head was hanging and she wasn't even sure he was conscious.

  Part of her wanted to go running back through the woods to get reinforcements, but another part of her hesitated and had been hesitating ever since she and Bailey had arrived. For one, she didn't want to leave Bailey here on her own without backup and now that she didn't even know where Bailey was, it wasn't like she could force the other woman to leave. For two, she was really worried about who the Big Bad Guy was talking to on the phone and why they'd stopped here in the meadow... the only reason she could think of was they had either reinforcements or an escape coming by air.

  Jesse moved again, running along the trees, trying to get a better sense of what was happening. She forced herself to ignore the guy who kicked Brock's limp legs, keeping her eyes open for a flash of white that would indicate Bailey's presence. Leaping from branch to branch, she kept looking out over the meadow and down below the tree line, searching for the other shifter. It was the only constructive thing she could think of to do right now.

  As she moved, she circled around, bringing her towards the front of Big Bad Guy's face, and when she looked over, she nearly missed the branch she was reaching for.

  Eli!

  Eli was the bad guy? Jesse came to a halt, staring across the field. She was too far away to be certain... but that dude really, really looked like Eli... and that would also explain why he was the only one wearing a ski mask.

  But that didn't make sense at all. Eli couldn't possibly be working for The Company or she, Daniel, and the Bunsons would all already be in The Company's clutches. So this just had to be a guy that looked exactly like Eli from a bit of a distance. Eli's evil twin or something.

  Oh god... did Eli actually have an evil twin?

  Her shocked mind was babbling to itself, she realized, and she'd completely lost her focus, until one of the bad guys shouted and pointed. The thick grasses in the meadow were moving, something obviously headed right for them, but it was too small to be seen other than how it moved the stalks of tall grass.

  If Jesse's squirrel could have moaned in frustrated denial, she would have. Well, half of her would have. The other half of her was ready to roar a battle cry and join the Beast of Caerbannog in the attack.

  ******

  The faint sound of screaming sent Brady careening into panic. His muscles, which had been tiring, filled with renewed energy. The angry roar of a bear spurred him onward, especially when it was answered by an equally angry roar from the bear running along at his heels.

  The line of trees ended abruptly, spilling him out into a meadow. In the very center, a massive polar bear was standing on its hind legs, its paws flailing at its head where a squirrel was clinging to the back of its neck. Several humans and a lion were fighting... something tiny, white, and fluffy (and in so much trouble once they were out of this), ignoring the polar bear and squirrel in favor of saving their own lives.

  As he took in the sight, the whirring sound of a helicopter caught his attention and Brady bellowed as he went racing towards the center of the meadow, Eli, Steele, and Bethany hot on his heels.

  At the sound of his roar, the squirrel turned and looked across the meadow at him and hopped off the bear's neck. The polar bear hesitated only a moment before running towards the incoming helicopter, managing to shift mid-stride - and holy crap that was badass even if it was infuriating - as a rope ladder lowered was lowered from a door in the side. The others immediately followed, giving up the fight against Bethany and running after the bare-assed blond polar bear shifter.

  The roar of gunfire filled the air, coming from the helicopter, spraying bullets at Brady and the others. They were the bigger targets, after all. Immediately they all fanned out, fighting the animal instinct to bunch together in favor of human logic which knew they'd be harder to hit if they were farther apart. There was another roar as the escaping polar bear shifter jumped onto the rope ladder, something red, white, and fuzzy clinging to his butt for a moment before it fell away, leaving a rabbit-mouth-sized red dent in the man’s left cheek.

  The covering gunfire allowed the polar bear, the lion, and one of the humans to escape, climbing up the ladder as the helicopter lifted them away.

  Behind Brady, Eli stood on his hind legs, roaring at the escaping enemy, shouting his fury at their retreat. If he'd been human, he probably would have shook his fist. Brady had no desire to do the same. He was too focused on getting to the center of the meadow where Jesse, Bethany, and Brock's scents all led.

  ******

  Seeing Brady running towards her, leading reinforcements, would have made Jesse weep with relief if she'd been in her human form.

  When she'd realized Bailey was going to attack, Jesse had immediately jumped down from the tree and started running for the center of the meadow to help. Considering how tall the grass was, she had no idea how much Bailey had been able to see of the enemy or of Brock and Ana, which meant Jesse probably had a better idea of what was going on than Bailey did. Plus... she couldn't just watch Bailey jump into danger and not go after her.

  Her squirrel had been eager to join the fray anyway, its new, vicious instincts screaming at her to attack.

  Her squirrel had delusions of grandeur.

  Her squirrel had thought it was a good idea to attack a polar bear.

  Her squirrel had gone for the polar bear's throat.

  Her squirrel hadn't thought about how thick a polar bear's fur would be compared to its tiny - if sharp and dangerous - tiger fangs.

  Jesse hadn't been able to do much more than scamper around to where the polar bear's heavy paws couldn't quite reach her and hold on for dear life, which at least distracted it from Bailey. It also surrounded her with the polar bear's scent and she was now 100% positive that it was definitely not Eli, although - as with its appearance - their scents did have similarities.

  So Bailey had started taking out the human soldiers - agilely avoiding the lion, who was hindered by its human allies and Bailey's small size - and Jesse had distracted the polar bear. Even though that wasn't her original plan. She was kind of glad though, she didn't think she could do what Bailey was doing.

  The tiny, fluffy bunny had actu
ally ripped out Joe's throat out while Jesse was watching and the spray of blood had gotten on everything and everyone. Part of Jesse had cheered the death of the traitor, but even though she wanted to fight, wanted to protect Brock and Ana, she wasn't sure she could actually rip someone's throat out (no matter what her squirrel had thought), whereas Bailey seemed to be almost reveling in it. No wonder her sister called her the Beast of Caerbannog. Jesse had thought it was a joke.

  Apparently not.

  When she saw Brady and the others coming across the meadow, Jesse had immediately jumped off the polar bear. She'd be nothing but a distraction and hindrance clinging to the bear's back - and not a hindrance to him. The others wouldn't want to hurt her and they'd have to hold back some of their force if she was clinging to the enemy.

  Of course, jumping off without a tree in sight meant she didn't have any cover and risked possibly being trampled on. Without any other options, she'd scurried over to Brock's unconscious body and jumped onto his thigh, ready to guard him and Ana through the coming fight.

  But the fight didn't materialize. Instead, the bad guys ran away. Inwardly, Jesse cheered, thoroughly relieved. The cavalry was here, the enemy was retreating... but...

  Hopping off Brock's leg she quickly shifted back to human and turned to him. He was definitely unconscious, his skin pale, and his hand was damp and clammy when she touched it. Shit, that couldn't be good.

  "Ana? Are you okay?" she asked, ignoring the roaring and growls that she could hear over the chopper as it rose.

  "I'm okay," Ana said, her voice a little faint, but determined. "Take care of Brock. His shoulder's in a bad way and I think they made it worse while they were dragging us here, although they seemed sure he wasn't going to die. That asshole wanted to make sure Brock didn't die, said they needed him, but they also didn't want him able to fight back."