Judge: Mating Fever: Shifters Forever Worlds (Barely After Dark Book 3) by Elle Thorne Page B

face.
    “I know you didn’t tell on purpose.” Lani motioned for Pepper to come close. She patted the blanket next to her. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”
    Look at what torture she went through to protect me.
    Pepper sat next to her.
    “Why do they want me—you—us?”
    “We’ll be sold to the highest bidder. Anyone who wants an Intuitive.”
    “That’s… ridiculous.” Pain forced Lani’s words out in pants.
    “I’ll get us out of here. I will. Somehow.” She cocked her head. “You’re pregnant. You never told me.”
    “I didn’t know at first. And now…”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I’m AWOL. I’m pregnant with a shifter’s baby. Everything’s wrong.”
    Except this baby is the rightest thing I can imagine.
    Pepper gasped. “A shifter’s baby. AWOL. You’ll be exiled.”
    “I know.”
    “What will you do?”
    Lani glanced at their surroundings pointedly. “I think I have a different set of problems to deal with right now.” She glanced at her abdomen.

Chapter 13
    J udge waited while one of Range’s wolf shifters fiddled with the lock. He couldn’t see what the shifter was doing exactly, but within seconds the door opened without a sound.
    Range raised his hand. He indicated to his shifters, told them to head in one direction, motioned for Judge, Lance, and Griz to follow him in another. Mac and Ciara stayed behind them.
    Silently, with great stealth, they made their way inside. The warehouse was partitioned with metal and wood dividers that separated the large area into smaller rooms and cubicles.
    Where the hell are you, Lani?
    He fought to keep his growing anxiety from impacting his performance, but this was his mate and their child, goddammit.
    Judge let out a long breath with a silent whoosh.
    They made a circle, scanning every room, opening closed doors, encountering no one.
    That couldn’t be. His shifter senses picked up heart rates, but he couldn’t pin where they were.
    Then he heard it.
    Low grunts and moans, broke through the silence. Human hearing wouldn’t pick it up, but his shifter senses were supernatural, catching the soft sounds.
    “Lani,” he whispered to the rest of the team.
    “Slow down. There are more heartbeats than her and her friend. Males.” Range frowned. “Humans.”
    Judge’s bear growled deeply in his chest. The bear wanted this badly. Judge had no intention of denying his bear. He and the bear had been the best of friends since he’d joined the CU as an Enforcer. The training they’d been through had made them work in lockstep. His bear didn’t even need to think something for Judge to be onboard with it immediately.
    Judge acquiesced, yielding his body and will to the power of the bear.
    Have at it.
    Amongst the del Cruz brothers, Judge had always been the most adept at shifting.
    It took him less than five seconds and was almost completely soundless as his bear’s tendons and frame stretching, pulling itself over his own body. The bear’s sinew morphed, the muscles bulked.
    In his bear form, on all fours, Judge raised his bear head and sniffed, his black snout twitching.
    Blood.
    In his mind, he saw red, ready to seek retribution.
    His bear padded forward, silently, taking the lead. Within less than a minute, he was in front of two husky humans, both males, standing guard in front of a door. The humans’ jaws dropped at the sight of a huge grizzly stalking toward them.
    The men were definitely professional. They recovered quickly and raised weapons. Claws bared, Judge swatted his paw at the first man. Before he could raise the weapon, complete with a silencer, the man had parallel gashes across his chest, his stomach ripped open, and a horrified look on his face.
    The man looked at the gaping wounds, then collapsed against the wall.
    The second man raised his weapon and got one round out before Judge’s razor-tipped claws made short work of him. Fury and the sting of the round made Judge’s bear furious. Judge buried his canines into