“Yeah, okay, just don’t hit that tree,” Buck quipped, trying hard not to laugh out loud. “I’d hate to have to tell everybody you got a bump on your noggin’ while playing George of the Jungle in the jungle.”
“Shut up,” Harry growled. “Nobody likes a back-of-the-mind paratrooper.”
Laughing despite the situation, happier than he would ever admit to his alter ego to being in the seven-foot, fur-covered body of the roughest, toughest honey badger the world had ever known, Buck focused on Freddie.
Letting his eyes slide closed, Blackthorne followed the glowing stream of light, the precious gossamer strand of magic that joined his soul to his mate's. He wouldn't let her get away. There was no way in hell the fucker who had her would be allowed to hurt her.
"Holy crap, Buck, you see that shit?” Harry snarled. “That bastard’s headin’ underground.”
Pulling the cord in his left paw, disconnecting the shoot from the line, Harry barked, “Hold on to your ass, son. The landing’s gonna be bumpy,” at precisely the same time that Buck screamed, “We’re too high!”
Holding his breath, the sound of Harry's face taking a severe beating from tree branches, stalks of bamboo, and vines thicker than his forearms, Buck refused to lose sight of Freddie. “Twist your hips to the left and your shoulders to the right,” he yelled. “It’ll turn us out of these fucking vines and away from the fangs of that snake right there.”
“What snake?” Harry yelled before immediately roaring, “Son of a bitch, that’s a big fuckin’ snaaaaaaaaaaaake!”
Laughing out loud, knowing that the only thing in the whole freakin’ world his honey badger feared was snakes, Buck had to add, “How the hell can you be scared of snakes? You eat them like queso and chips, for cripes’ sake. Don’t even need a beer to wash them down. It just makes no sense, Har. You’re so far above them on the food chain they can’t even see your ass.” Sadly, there was no time to wait for Harry’s reply, as they were suddenly close enough to count the scales on the snake’s belly.
“Turn! Turn! Turn!” Buck shouted.
Narrowly missing the open maw of a huge, bright green anaconda, Harry spat, “No shit! I’m turnin’! I’m turnin’! I’m turnin’! You just keep your eyes on Freddie and leave the falling to me. Can you still see her?”
“Yeah, but the signal is gettin’ way too faint. The son of a bitch is going deeeeeeeeep! Real deep. We’re gonna have to— Watch out!”
Grunting right along with his honey badger, Buck was suddenly in the dark as Harry closed his eyes tight, tucked his chin to his chest, and curled his massive, muscular body into a tight ball a split second after his huge back paws hit the soft mossy ground. Rolling through the jungle like a bowling ball through pins, Blackthorne held his breath while forcing every ounce of strength he possessed into his alter ego.
“Don’t you dare kill us! Why do I ever let you take the lead?”
Stopping with a thud and thunk, it was immediately followed by Harry’s whooped, "Now, that's how you jump out of a perfectly good plane!"
Buck did not share his honey badger's sentiment. He was just happy to be alive, on the ground, and that much closer to his mate.
"Whatever you say, big guy. Now get your ass off the ground and head back the way we just came."
Not needing any more encouragement, Harry sprang upward, hit the ground on the balls of his feet, and cut through the dense foliage like a knife through hot butter. “Lead the way, hotshot,” he commanded. “I’ve got the accelerator. You’ve got the steering wheel.”
Maneuvering through the jungle, following his mate’s trail, Buck could hear the sounds of water, the skittering of smaller animals through the trees and across rocks, and blessedly, the engine of Dusty’s plane making its descent. “Our girl’s found a place to land close by.”
“Good for her.” Harry barely acknowledged him. “You just worry about finding me the entrance to that asshole’s underground lair.”
“Lair?” Buck asked. "Did this dino just become a supervillain in a comic book you are never gonna write?”
“No, asshole, he’s the dick that has our mate,” Harry growled. “And what exactly would you call the place where the ugliest muthafuckin’ dino we’ve ever laid eyes on calls home?”
“Good point.”
“Yeah, I thought you’d agree.”
“Keep going. He’s in that patch of trees on the other side of that smoldering field.”
“Could you be a little more specific?” Harry growled. “There’s about ten-thousand miles of smoldering coffee fields in the immediate vicinity.”
“The one straight ahead, smartass.”
“That’s Mr. Smartass to you.”
“I’ll try to remember that.”
Needing to concentrate, his mental bond with Freddie being pulled to its tenuous limit, Buck summoned every ounce of magic he could without using any of Harry's and thought about the first time he'd recognized her scent. Holding tight to the sweet, citrusy fragrance of verbena and the crisp, clean aroma of a spring rain, their connection glowed with a renewed vigor.
Next came the picture he and Olivia had pulled up on the computer. Sure, it was only an ID photo, but even that was gorgeous. Bright green eyes with just the tiniest ring of red, fluffy black curls that he just knew would feel like silk running through his fingers, and a perfectly curvy figure his hands were itching to get ahold of.
In his younger years, that was all Buck would've needed to chase that winged tree frog, capture her with his charm, and have his wicked way with her, but this was different. This was the big time. Forever with the woman made for him by the Universe and the Great Goddess. Looks were important, but it was Freddie's heart and soul that mattered even more.
Reading her file, something he hadn't bothered to tell Chase or Miranda for fear they'd have him booted out of FUCN'A on his ass, Buck couldn't have been more impressed. Everything Freddie did, every project she worked on, every invention she thought up and brought to life, just everything she did, was for the betterment of the environment. She believed in the advancement of every paranormal race and wanted to keep humans safe. Heck, she was a superhero with webbed feet and stunning rainbow wings.
Laughing, he mumbled, “She doesn’t just want a better world. My mate is ready to make that shit happen.”
"She really is something," Harry agreed. “And she’s as warm-blooded as you and me. Not one thing to stop us from being with her forever, not one thing at all.”
“Bet I can make her hot-blooded. Wanna put a twenty on it?”
“Get your head back in the game, son. Find me an entrance ’cause the bottom of my paws are about to burn off.”
“Stop right here,” Buck snapped, the glowing bond he shared with Freddie flashing and pulsing like the neon atop an all-night tattoo parlor. “We’re right on top of her.”
“I’m gonna let that go.” Harry chuckled. “But you better revisit the whole ‘being on top of her’ as soon as you can.”
“Dude,” Buck scolded, just barely holding back his own chuckle. “Holster that libido. Weren’t you the one just raggin’ on me about the same damned thing? Pick a side, old man. Not only will a hard-on get in the way, but I know how you get when you're turned on, and I'm gonna need you focused."