Yet the enforcer was all man, and he was pissed.

Green fire crackled across his hands, and even the air around him seemed charged.

Wind whipped across her face, yet she couldn’t look away. Determination stamped hard on his rugged face, anger tightening his lips into a line. Moonlight slanted down, glinting in his furious green eyes. Yet something else lived there.

The thrill.

The thrill of a chase, the excitement of a challenge.

Her breath panted out. When was the last time she’d felt so alive? Never.

Dark anticipation crossed Daire’s face as he drew near.

She shivered and pressed closer to Lucas, who was one of the top lieutenants in the shifter organization and currently under contract to work for her. “Go faster,” she yelled.

The shifter handed back a green gun. “Shoot.”

The weapon chilled her hand. Drugging the enforcer was one thing, actually shooting him another. Yet she swung around, tightening her thighs on the seat, to point the barrel at him in warning.

His foot lashed out, and he kicked the weapon from her hand. Holy hell. How had he moved so quickly?

The bear shifter swerved to the left, and Daire followed. Adam Dunne pulled up on the right, bracketing them. A second later, a shifter drove up beside Adam and punched him in the jaw.

The bike beneath Felicity swerved, and she cried out, holding tighter to the leather. Daire reached for her, his hand enclosing her nape. She yelped and kicked out, throwing up an arm to sever his hold just as the shifter driving her kicked Daire’s bike.

Daire swerved away, both hands slamming on his handlebars to control his bike.

Felicity bunched against the shifter. “Go, go, go,” she yelled. Daire had tried to grab her, and his hold hadn’t been gentle. Not even close. For the first time, she doubted her safety, no matter her allies. “Hurry up, Lucas.”

The shifter ducked his head and opened the throttle. Felicity jerked back and then dug her fingers into his leather cut, holding on, trying to see as the wind made her eyes tear. Pine trees spun by them, their scent competing with the misty air.

Daire reached them again, and this time, he struck out and nailed Lucas in the face. The shifter’s head jerked to the side, and he let off the throttle. Then Daire reached out and grabbed Felicity’s hair, twisting his wrist until he reached her nape. She punched him, yanking her head, pain scoring her scalp. Fury roared through her and she kicked out, nailing him in the thigh.

His hold tightened.

Lucas regained control and sped up, his muscles bunching.

“Wait,” Felicity cried out as her head was yanked back. Daire wasn’t letting go.

Lucas opened the throttle, while Daire slowed down. Time ended. Felicity flew off the bike, and only Daire’s impossibly quick reflexes kept her from spinning right into the night. He shifted his shoulders, tugged, released her hair, and she landed on the seat behind him. She hit hard enough her thighs bounced, bruises instantly forming.

Pure instinct had her hands clutching his T-shirt.

Son of a bitch. “You could’ve decapitated me,” she yelled into his ear.

His chuckle only fanned her fury hotter, and she punched him in the kidney. He didn’t even flinch. She swallowed, coughed back fear, and tried to concentrate. She didn’t have any leverage or power seated behind him on the bike, and if she forced them to crash, she’d get hurt, too. The ability to attack minds had never been more necessary, but she didn’t have any way to do it. Her inadequacies settled like hard lumps of coal in her stomach.

Lucas swerved his bike in front of them, turning to face them and driving straight at them.

Daire’s entire body tensed. Anticipation popped in the air around them.

Felicity shook her head. What were they going to do?

Lucas held out a hand, and Felicity instinctively put hers out. If she could grab him, she could jump to his bike. Daire neatly countered by hitting the brakes. The bike skidded and tipped up on the front wheel. She screamed, landing on his back and then slapping back down. Lucas barreled past them.

Daire chuckled and twisted the throttle again.

Felicity smashed into his back and held on, her mind reeling. The man was crazy and having too much fun. Over to the side, Adam and two bear shifters fought full on while steering their bikes. They were all insane.

She stopped struggling and just held on. At some point, the enforcer would have to stop the bike, and then she’d fight. Right now, she needed to get her breathing under control so she could think.

Buildings appeared on the sides of the road, and suddenly, Daire swerved and stopped the bike before hitting a massive garage.

Felicity swallowed and looked around. Daire and Adam sat on their rumbling bikes, a garage behind them, a wall of shifters on bikes in front of them. Oh, this was so not good.

Massive lights clicked on, illuminating the concrete courtyard. Garages took up three sides, while the shifters blocked the only road.

Daire’s body stiffened, and his legs bunched.

A smaller door to the main garage opened, and a man prowled out. He looked like a bear. Broad and graceful at well over six feet tall, he had shaggy brown hair and honey-chocolate eyes. A primal sense of danger cascaded off him, and he moved with the ease of a wild predator. Sleep cleared from his eyes as he took in the scene, obviously having yanked on a pair of jeans so old the white creases had creases. His lightly haired chest was bare but roped with fierce muscles. “What the holy fuck?” he rumbled.

Even over the bike engines, his words were clear.

Daire glanced at him. Apparently making a decision, he cut his engine. Adam did the same.

The guy jerked his head, and the wall of shifters on bikes followed suit.

Quiet roared in on the echoes of the pipes. An owl hooted in protest through the trees.

“I thought we were allies, Bear,” Daire snapped.

Felicity peered at the leader of the bear shifters, who at the moment, no longer appeared sleepy. Instead, a slightly pissed-off curiosity glimmered in his honeyed eyes.

“We are,” he said, his gaze moving to Lucas, who sat alert on his bike. “Luke?”

Lucas jerked his head toward Felicity. “Side job.”

Bear glanced at Felicity, Daire, Lucas, and back to her. “Somebody talk,” he ordered.

Felicity started to swing her leg from the bike. Smooth as silk, Daire half turned, grabbed her waist, pivoted, and plunked her down in front of him, her back to his front. One arm banded around her rib cage with enough pressure to compress her lungs.

Bear cocked his head to the side. “The human is yours?”

Felicity winced. “Demon,” she rumbled.

Now Bear’s eyebrows lifted. “Interesting.”

She shrugged, hampered by the strength of Daire’s hold. His body, warm and solid, shielded her from the wind. Almost against her will, her body relaxed right into his strength. “Human or not, I’m not a puppy, thus I am not his. Kindly order him to release me.”

Daire stiffened.

Bear threw back his head and laughed, the low rumble echoing around the garage doors. “The Coven Nine enforcers don’t take orders from me, sweetheart, and you’re far too beautiful to be a puppy. I meant no offense.” Quicker than a thought, he sobered, his gaze hardening as he glanced at the shifters. “In contrast, they do answer to me. So I’m wondering why I have a pissed-off ally here surrounded by my own men.”

Felicity shivered. Okay. Bears could be scary. “I, ah, hired them to do a job.”

“Which was?” Bear asked silkily.

“To bomb my apartment and shoot me full of tranquilizers,” Daire barked. “You’ll receive the full bill for damages within a week.”

Bear kept his gaze on his men. “Lucas?”

Lucas shrugged. “We often take side jobs.”