by K J Carr
Erin, who had been looking out of the window, flinched. “Terry, pull over.”
The man stopped the car.
Erin tapped Baron on the shoulder and pointed. “There’s a good example. See that flash up on the light post? That is a camera. They already know we are coming. I don’t think this was the first one either. I would have started from the town line with a few cameras and put more as we get closer to the lab.”
“Shit.” Baron pushed his head closer to the window, looking around. “There are at least three cameras here.” He banged his forehead on the window and closed his eyes.
I felt him reach out to Splinter and Boomer. I knew what I would do – warn those two about their blown cover. I thought about the tunnels, looking out of my window. We were on the outskirts of town. There were a few shops and stores around here, even though it was residential.
“Shaz. Are the tunnels anywhere near that coffee shop?”
Shaz grunted. “Yep. They are everywhere.”
“Erin and Mark? Do you want some coffee? I suggest you going in, taking your time, get some coffee and perhaps something to eat. Give it at least ten minutes before you go looking for the tunnels. Shaz, show Erin how to get into them from there.”
Baron stared at me. “What are you planning?”
“If they know the Pack is already here, then he would suspect that I am here. Not sure about you, but you are our Alpha. They have already made Splinter and Boomer. So, we will give them the obvious, with a few unknowns. Let’s drop Erin and Mark off and have them come in via the tunnels. We can have Terry, Mac, and Shaz come into the lab a different way, a different tunnel. Splinter and Boomer can retreat and find a third way in, while you and I can go in the front door.”
Baron nodded and smiled. “Obvious but devious, Shane.” I felt the Alpha in my mind, picking up the rest of the plan. He threw it towards the other two. I saw Splinter lower his head, shaking it. Anyone else might have thought it was in disgust, but the man was chuckling.
There were many ways to play the game, but this one was one of the most vicious.
Chapter 17
Holden
I came awake suddenly, my eyes flying open. I looked around.
Damn! I was strapped down on the table again.
I listened carefully, not hearing anyone in the room. Slowly turning my head, I saw that the monitors on the desk were on now, numbers scrolling quickly down the screens. I wasn’t close enough to see what they said, so I ignored them.
There were tubes coming out of my arms. I wasn’t sure if this was a give-a-toxin or take-blood situation. I didn’t feel any different, but then I wasn’t sure what he was trying to prove.
When he came over to take a single vial of blood, he smirked at me. Looks like he was giving me something that he thinks will impact me then.
“I see you are finally awake.”
I thought back. I wasn’t sure what had knocked me unconscious, but knowing this man, he probably gave me a sedative or something. I blinked.
His voice sharpened. “Holden, I am doing what is best for everyone. You have this hidden talent that you are not even aware of. Well, you must unconsciously know it or else you wouldn’t have gone into the field you are in. Still, I am curious what else you might have gained from the lycanthropes.”
“You are crazy.” My throat hurt, and my voice was a rasp. I wondered how long I had been screaming. “Lycanthropes, Edward? Werewolves? Those are things of fantasy books. Werewolves are not real.”
He gave me a strange look before walking over to a window on an inside wall. When he lifted the shade, it showed a man squatting in a corner in the glass cage. The man had his head hanging down, his long stringy brown hair covering his face. His arms were wrapped around his very naked body.
Edward hit a button, activating an intercom. “Change, Mercer. Let’s show Holden what is walking in the world with us humans. Let’s show her that werewolves are real.”
He hit another button from the panel on the wall. I watched in horror as the man arched his back, his head flinging back to hit the wall behind him, his mouth opening in a silent scream. And then it wasn’t silent, but was a high-pitched scream that changed to a howl as the man sprouted fur and his face elongated into a muzzle. Claws popped from his fingertips and he hunched down, his bones cracking as his body changed into a gray and brown wolf.
Tears leaking from my eyes, I watched, giving the man… wolf…. my attention and respect. The wolf’s yellow eyes swung to me and we shared a look. Somehow, I knew he would help me if we had the opportunity. This man was…. Not Pack. No, he didn’t want to be Pack. Still, he was like Shane. He was an Alpha.
My eyes widened in realization. Shane was an Alpha? I was thinking like a wolf! What was Edward giving me? My eyes flew to the bag attached to the IV.
“Ah, you realized that you are not as human as you thought you were, did you?” Edward moved back into my line of sight. I had forgotten he was there for a moment, with the horror of Mercer’s forced shift. “Well, you weren’t human before this, but I am testing if Mercer’s blood will help you to shift.”
He puttered around, almost talking to himself. “Some books say that Lycanthropy is a virus, easily caught. Others say it is something in the blood or saliva. I know because of those pups that it can breed true.”
I gasped. What pups? Mine? Was this the lab my pups had escaped from? The one that had tortured Lexi, Betta, and Soren?
Bad man, Bad man, Bad man.
The chant that Lexi had screamed suddenly made sense. Edward was the one, the one who hurt my pups.
Lexi! I screamed in my mind.
Holden? A quiet, young girl’s voice came back.
Lexi? Startled, I pushed out again.
Holden! Wait a minute…. The voice faded and then came back. Mama Holden, Uncle Shane is on his way to you. Wait for him. Tell her, Uncle Shane!
Holden? This time the voice was male. It came with a feeling of safety and home.
What is going on, Shane? How can I… I shook my head, before stopping and looking around frantically for Edward. He was at the glass cage, watching Mercer change back to human, the change agonizingly slow.
Hold on, love. We are coming. His voice in my head sounded soothing, confident. I wondered if this was all a hallucination, talking to Lexi and Shane in my mind. It couldn’t be real. But in case it was….
Shane, there is another wolf caught here. Edward is torturing him, making him change from man to wolf and back slowly. He called him Mercer.
Anger flowed into my mind. We will get him out when we come for you… And then he was gone, the silence filling my mind with loneliness.
I looked back at Edward. He was staring at me, his hand on another switch.
“What were you doing, Holden? Have you developed the Pack bonds already? It is too soon. You are not wolf enough. So, what were you doing?” His voice ended in almost a scream.
“Hallucinating.” I coughed. My throat was so dry. “I just watched a person change to a wolf and back. That cannot be true.”
Edward studied me. I was telling the truth, just not the whole truth. But he shouldn’t be able to tell. Unless…. My eyes widened again. “Have you tried to infect yourself, Edward? Just like you are doing with me?”
He snorted, standing up tall. “Of course, silly hybrid. Mercer’s blood is potent. He is older than he looks. It hasn’t worked, though. Yes, I hear murmurs of words sometimes when I am around the lycanthropes. I am a little stronger, but that could be from my training. I don’t think I can be infected, unfortunately, the way those silly fantasy authors state. But no worries. I will figure it out and become a hybrid.”
He walked towards me, watching intently. “But you, Holden, are not human to start with. You already, somehow, have lycanthrope genes. Perhaps even was born a hybrid. I should be able to kick-start you and your wolf genes. Perhaps in studying you, I can find out how to change myself.”
“Why are you doing this? Why do you
want to be a wolf, Edward?” I could hardly breathe, my anxiety spiking.
“Why? Well, because I would then be a superhuman. Unstoppable. Except I wouldn’t hide like the Packs do now. No, people would listen to me. And then there is the money. There are organizations out there who would pay me millions to figure this out, Holden. Even more if I could give them a live human-wolf hybrid that could breed more like her.” His eyes glinted evilly at me.
“How do you know they won’t just capture you and use you like you are using me and Mercer? How do you know they won’t treat all of us like monsters?”
“Because I will hold all the cards. They won’t know how to change more people. They want a super-military group. They want power. Without me, they will not get it.” Edward raised an eyebrow at me.
“And Thomas? Was your brother in your way?” My voice caught, remembering how moralistic my husband had been. He would not have gone along with this plan.
“Thomas has always been an uptight prig. Once he realized what I wanted with your blood, that it was not about your lack of fertility…” He paused, thinking. “Well, your lack of fertility with him was a factor. You were different enough from him I don’t think you could breed with him. Perhaps some humans, but I suspect you can only get pregnant from breeding with a lycanthrope. Like Mercer.”
I struggled against my bonds. Edward was crazier than I had originally thought.
“I am not having sex with a man I don’t even know, Edward!”
He laughed; the sound humorless. “You will do whatever I say you will do, Holden. I can make you want to mate with him. Once I force you into heat, you will want the closest male to you. Any lycanthrope male.”
Shane! I screamed in my mind.
Chapter 18
Shane
Uncle Shane! Lexi’s voice screamed in my mind, using the Pack bonds. Talk to Holden! Mama Holden, Uncle Shane is on his way to you. Wait for him. Tell her, Uncle Shane!
I froze. We had already dropped off Shaz, Terry and Mac to rendezvous with Splinter and Boomer in a park a little way from the coffee shop. Shaz would direct them to a tunnel to the east of the one that Mark and Erin would enter.
Somehow, Lexi had connected with Holden.
“Holden.” Wonder filled my voice. Holden? I continued via the Pack bonds.
Baron gave me a sharp glance and then tapped into my mind via a private pathway. He watched me and Lexi talk with Holden somehow.
When I finished, I stared at my Alpha.
“Holden must be wolf.” Baron stated the obvious.
I nodded and then my face tightened. “Which is even more reason to get her away from that son of a bitch.”
“Agreed.”
We pulled up at the lab and parked the SUV, hurrying towards the front door of the lab. We were going in the front, since we knew Edward would expect us.
Entering the door, we stopped short. There were two men, both dressed in black, and armed to the hilt. Tessa was standing in front of them, her arms crossed over her chest, her hip popped out on one side. Her smile when she saw us was spine-chilling and smug.
Dragged in? This didn’t look like she was here under duress.
Baron ignored the men and looked at her. “Why, Tessa?”
I knew her sister would be very disappointed in her. Miranda had sponsored Tessa, so that the woman could join the Pack. She had sheltered her sister since her parents had passed away. Yet, here she was, violating the most important law — betraying the Pack.
The men behind her had semi-automatic guns pointed at the floor. They exuded a confidence that they could shoot us first. They probably were using silver bullets, but these guns themselves shouted to me that these men either were ex-Navy Seals or mercenaries. Or want-to-be mercenaries, which could be worse.
“I was always lesser than everyone else, Baron.” The woman sneered at us. “Miranda is your mate, second only to you in the Pack. But I wasn’t good enough for anyone else. Not even you, Shane! Not even after you came back broken from the war. Heck, you even treat Maggie better than you do me, and she is so submissive she would pee if you looked at her wrong!”
I shot out a thought on a personal bond line, hoping it would get to Shaz. Tessa’s here. Working with Edward.
I had noticed that one man had pointed a device at Baron, that looked like a remote of some sort. Tessa had a similar device in her pocket. Perhaps this was how she was invisible in the Pack bonds. Which meant they knew Baron was the Alpha and could communicate with his Pack via the Pack bonds. They were making sure he wouldn’t be able to reach anyone. They got that information from Tessa.
Neither she nor they knew that I could take over as Alpha able to communicate with both Baron’s Pack and my fledgling one.
Shaz replied, Roger.
I had noticed that there were steam or wire shafts above the tunnels. I hoped that Shaz would redirect the rest to use those, since I couldn’t trust that Tessa hadn’t heard some of what we had said before we had locked down the Pack communication. We had done that so that Miranda couldn’t learn how involved in this mess her sister was. Shutting down, though, also shut out Tessa from learning what the full plan was. Which was the only thing in our favor right now.
Tessa was still venting at Baron.
“Edward promised me I could now rise in the Pack, perhaps even become Alpha. He promised that I could breed the next super soldiers for him. That I would be greater than you all.” She spit this out at us, her hatred obvious. “I heard you, Baron. There are men waiting for your Pack in the tunnels. We will capture them, just as we have you, and cage you all like the dogs you are. You will have to fuck me if you want anything. You will want to fuck me after Edward gives you the aphrodisiac. You won’t even know it is not Miranda. And I will take pictures to show her how her precious Alpha has cheated on her.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. Tessa didn’t know how mate bonds worked. Baron wouldn’t be able to mate with anyone other than Miranda. Someone could force an artificial attraction to another female, but when he went to mate, his wolf wouldn’t allow it to happen.
A hissing sound came from over near one man and he picked up a communicator, listening to it. I strained to listen in but couldn’t hear anything because Tessa was still screaming at Baron.
“I will have your Pack. I will have your Pack bonds. And you will be a whored-out dog in a cage!”
Baron listened, a tired look crossing his face. “Is that what you think will happen, Tessa? Do you think you can trust Edward, a man who killed his own brother, just to forward his own agenda?”
Tessa stopped; her mouth gaping open and her eyes wide. “H-h-he didn’t…”
Baron nodded. “He did. He wanted Holden, whom you gave him on a platter. We don’t know why he wanted her, but I can guarantee you won’t mean as much to him now. He probably will put you into a cage along with us.”
One man next to her sighed and then slipped a syringe out of a chest pocket. He struck Tessa’s neck, pushing in the plunger with one movement. He caught her as she dropped, her eyes wide with surprise.
“I hoped that she could have just walked down to the lab before we had to do this, but you had to tell her now.” He shook his head in disgust as he threw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold. Two more men came out of a nearby door, both with their weapons drawn. “She is a pain in the ass, you know. If I were you, I would have gotten rid of her a long time ago. She was – and is – a liability. Unfortunately, she was a necessary one, in order for us to get you. We will make bank with both of your captures, let alone the extra we get for your team.”
He turned and left via the door the other two men had come out of.
One of the two men waved his gun at us. “Please follow him, gentlemen.”
Baron glanced at me, grimacing. I shrugged and walked after the mercenary with Baron following. We both heard the door lock after we all had entered the hallway, following the lead man to the elevator which was waiting and ready. Once we were all on b
oard, the doors closed and the car slid down the shaft, heading for a lower floor.
My eyes traveled over the men, assessing them. The well-trained, and highly paid, mercenaries knew their stuff. I had worked with men like these. Unfortunately, these were now working for Edward. Which meant that if I had my way, they would all die.
The elevator stopped, and the doors opened silently. This hallway was like the one above. It was hard to see anything except closed doors. The man carrying Tessa walked down the hall, stopping in front of a random door and entering it. The men that were surrounding us passed that one and entered the next one down.
It was a lab, and I saw Holden on a table, hooked up to several pieces of equipment. My heart jumped. Then Holden turned her head and met my eyes.
Holden. I reached out to her. Her eyes went wide and then narrowed.
Shane, Edward is crazy. He thinks I am a hybrid lycanthrope – werewolf and human! He wants to breed me with another lycanthrope that he has in a cage…
I wasn’t even sure if she knew she was talking to me via a mental bond, but I was glad that Edward could not hear what she said.
She glanced over to the wall where the cage was and gasped. I turned and looked. The mercenary who had led us here was placing Tessa into a glass cage next to the one holding a naked man, who was crouched in the corner. Then the mercenary left, leaving her a prisoner.
“Who is that?” Holden croaked; her voice hoarse.
I tensed until Baron touched my arm. I forced myself to relax, but I wanted to go over to my mate.
Another man, one that I hadn’t noticed before, moved. He chortled, watching us and glancing at the glass cages.
“Welcome to my lab. You must be Baron, the Alpha. See, Holden? The Alpha werewolf has come for you. I see he brought one of his wolves. I suspect it is one of his Betas. I am waiting to hear when my team has captured the others, which should be soon, but having an Alpha and Beta werewolf here in my lab right now is something I didn’t think I would get without breeding them myself.”