An Alpha's Lightning (Water Bear Shifters 2) by Sloane Meyers Page B

share with Aubrey? She knew she could trust her with her concerns about dating a shifter—Aubrey was the only person Jade knew who would truly understand that. But, still, Jade had just met Aubrey. She felt weird about pouring her heart out to someone who was, in reality, barely more than a stranger. So she shrugged and simply said. “It’s just hard to come face to face with the reality of how much some people hate Ace.”
    Aubrey nodded. “I know. It doesn’t make sense to me that people would want to kill someone just because they can change into a bear. The guys are all so amazing. They spend their days saving lives, and yet some people still want them dead. I guess there will always be those who fear what they don’t understand.”
    Jade nodded and took a sip of her beer. “I told myself I was okay with the danger. But I don’t know how I would handle it if anything happened to Ace. I know I shouldn’t even say this, let alone think it, but sometimes I think it would be better to not be in his life. I love him so much, but I feel like his days are numbered. Mine too, maybe. The guys who are after him would love to kill me, too, to get to him.”
    Aubrey smiled sadly at Jade. “I know it’s hard to deal with Ace being in constant danger. But you can’t change the fact that you love him. Besides, if you leave him because of the danger, then the bad guys win. Don’t let them win, Jade. None of us are promised tomorrow, anyway. So enjoy the today that you do have, with the man you love.”
    Jade sighed, and looked down at her noodles. “You’re right,” she said, although she still felt unsettled. But she didn’t have the energy to discuss the situation anymore right now. She suddenly felt exhausted, and just wanted to finish her food and lie down.
    Aubrey sensed that Jade was done with the conversation, and backed off. “Come on. Let’s turn on the TV and relax for a little bit. Let the guys worry about what happened today.”
    Jade agreed, and grabbed the remote. She would lose herself in some mindless sitcoms, and deal with reality later.
     
    * * *
     
    Ace didn’t have the luxury of putting off reality until later. For three hours, he worked with his crew, and their police department contact, to get rid of the evidence of his attacker. This was easy enough to do, since a quick check of the man’s name and public records didn’t turn up any living relatives. The police officer assured Ace and his crew that he would take care of things. He said something about staging it to look like an accidental drowning, and Ace didn’t ask for further details. He didn’t want to know. The only thing he wanted to know was where the scientists where, and how he could stop them once and for all. Unless the evil men behind this attack were found, this wouldn’t be the last time Ace would be forced to defend himself to the death.
    The inside of the attacker’s car was outfitted with an impressive array of electronic devices. There were several computers, a video camera, a sound recorder, and an infrared heat sensor. The scanning gun that the man had used to determine that Ace was a bear shifter, and a panda, was new technology that Ace had never seen before. The tools for shifter detection and destruction were becoming remarkably complicated.
    The police officer let Ace and the crew have whatever they wanted from the vehicle, so they took everything back to Lance’s condo. Ben, who was something of a tech geek, managed to crack the passwords with little trouble, but the data the crew found was all written using code names for people and locations. There were precious few clues that might give the bears any new information on the scientists’ whereabouts. The information did seem to indicate, however, that this man was working alone in San Diego. He appeared to be one of hundreds of agents stationed in major cities throughout the United States whose sole purpose was to search for any signs of bear shifters. His