Howling Mad: A paranormal wolf shifter romance (Badlands Book 2) by Rebekah Blue Page A

answers. I do have an announcement to make today, and I would appreciate it if you could keep any questions until after I’ve made my statement.”
    As the cameras rolled, Felix and Naomi slung coils of rope over their shoulders and started to scale the wall, pushing their fingers into shallow cracks between bricks and clawing their way upwards. For a leopard and a cat, even in human form, it wasn’t much of a challenge.
    Gus, Anton and Byron stood below, squinting up against the sunlight as they watched them climb. Dr. Atkins’ voice was clearly audible to shifter hearing.
    “I regret to announce that a security operation late last night resulted in the deaths of the man going by the name Byron…and of my daughter, Naomi Atkins.”
    Heavy coils of rope tumbled from the roof, unspooling as they fell and hitting the ground with muted thumps. Byron, Anton and Gus hauled themselves up hand over hand.
    Standing on the roof, it was possible to look down through the skylight and see a bird’s-eye view of the press conference. Camera flashes stuttered and strobed, and Naomi’s father was sweating in the heat of the lights. From this angle she could see the very faintest glimpse of pink scalp where his glossy, expensively styled hair had begun to thin, and it gave her a tender pang in her heart. It made him look vulnerable, somehow, despite his carefully polished public presence. But this was no time for sentimentality. He certainly wasn’t showing any as he lied through his teeth.
    “…attempted to contain the situation…”
    Gus and Anton nodded to each other. The skylight was made of reinforced glass in a heavy steel frame. They set their fingers underneath the edges and, muscles straining, heaved.
    “…resisted arrest, leading to a violent altercation. Despite medical attention at the scene…”
    The skylight began to shift. Mortar drifted down onto the people standing below. It settled on Dr. Atkins’ hair and shoulders like snow. His voice faltered. He looked up.
    As Gus and Anton wrenched the square of glass and steel away, Naomi and Byron dropped through the skylight.

Chapter Seventeen
     
    Naomi should probably have said something clever and snappy. “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” maybe. Or, “Sorry for dropping in unannounced.” But she just said, “Daddy…”
    For a long moment they stared at each other. Naomi could feel the hurt and betrayal brimming in her eyes. Her father looked like he’d seen a ghost, and in a way she supposed he had.
    Byron didn’t hesitate, though. He punched Dr. Atkins hard in the face and, as Felix dropped into the room with silent, catlike grace, pushed him into his arms. Anton seized Professor Stanhope from behind in a muscular bear hug and dumped him unceremoniously in the nearest chair, while Gus shot the bolts on the door, to the consternation of the stunned reporters.
    A couple of security guards stepped forward, but Magnus, the big bear with the ability to hear the dead, got slowly to his feet. He didn’t threaten, but a low, steady rumble came from his massive chest, and the guards stepped back.
    The room fell still.
    Then as if a switch had been flipped, the reporters realized their story had suddenly become a hundred times more interesting. A shrill babble of questions was punctuated by camera flashes.
    Byron raised his hands, gesturing for quiet, and as the cameras rolled the noise abated apart from the occasional shouted question, quickly shushed. When he started to speak, his voice was calm and confident, and Naomi was reminded that he was a showman. Her father wasn’t the only experienced spin-doctor in the room.
    “Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, you have been lied to. Naomi Atkins is alive. I am alive. And we are here to tell you what else the Dynamic Earth Corporation has been lying to you about.”
    Dr. Atkins struggled fruitlessly in Felix’s hold. “This is an outrage!” he shouted. “This man is a known criminal!”