Free Laughing at Danger by Zenina Masters Page A

shock.
    The other room had been still, but it suddenly sprang into motion as the agents started to bring their targets out into the light.
    Lima headed for the transport point, and when she had handed her burden off to the medics, she returned to help her team.
    There was a hare and a mouse deer left, so Lima scooped their trembling bodies up and carried them to the transport at a good lope.
    The holder of the menagerie wasn’t her concern. Others would have to deal with him. The fey had to take responsibility for those perversions in their society if they wanted to keep having access to shifters as potential mates. Lima felt it was a fair trade.
    She stayed with the little fluffy shifters as they were transported back to the guild hall. The mouse deer was trembling, but it appeared to be relief.
    When they arrived at the transport centre, Lima stepped out of her designated zone and carried her charges over to the healers. They would help the confined shifters ease their way back to their human shapes.
    Lima let them go and pulled herself back into her human seeming. She rubbed her face and flexed her fingers in turn.
    She saw the rescued fey being rushed into the building and nodded with satisfaction. He was in good hands, and she needed a shower.
     
    * * * *
     
    Lyros lay still as the healers worked on him, washing off the blood and sealing the wounds.
    “Who rescued me?” It was the first word that he had been able to speak in eight weeks. The wards had been strong.
    A female fey healer looked up and raised her brows. “What did the rescuer look like?”
    “Female. A dog but not.”
    “A little shorter than me? Golden brown fur?”
    “Yes.”
    The healer smiled. “Agent Lima. She is very efficient at rescues. Once she has obtained her target, they always make it out alive.”
    “And her attackers don’t.”
    The healer continued to work, but some of the others chuckled.
    The woman said, “These are shifters. They can’t communicate when they are wearing their beasts on their skin. It is pure instinct. She had accepted responsibility for your safety, and someone probably threatened it. She would take them down without hesitation and her jaws are exceedingly strong.”
    Lyros nodded. “That does explain quite a bit. I was nervous at her silence.”
    “Most don’t have a voice box that is capable of speech if they are half shifted. They are hugely strong and retain their human intelligence, but they can’t talk. It makes them good at missions where silence is a boon.”
    The healer leaned in and pressed her lips to his cleaned skin. He tensed. He had no idea that she was a mouth healer. Normally, he would have been aroused, but now, all he could think of were those claws and jaws taking down one of his tormentors. It had been a sweet moment for him, and that had shocked him.
    The other healers sealed his flesh in their own ways, but his mind was on those few minutes in the bunker. The woman with the animal features had done more for him without speaking than anyone he could remember, and he was not going to forget her. He owed her his life.
     
    * * * *
     
    Lima finished her debriefing and headed home. She had three days off to attend her brother’s wedding. She was looking forward to something a little less life or death in her immediate future. Fitting into the bridesmaid gown was going to be traumatic enough. It was pink.
    She really had her work cut out for her.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    Tammy smiled at her and nudged her. “Stop looking so nervous. I am the one getting married, not you.”
    Lima pasted a slight smile on her made-up face. “Sorry. Occupational hazard. This many folks in one place and I go on alert.”
    “Stow your alert, soon-to-be sis. I promise that if anything does happen, you are authorized to react, but only during the reception.”
    Lima grinned. “No objecting during the ceremony?”
    “Oh, please. I love you, Lima, but I would have to kill you.” Tammy grinned and her