Shifters Eden

by Tia Didmon

  Tears streamed down her face. “He made me choose.”

  Ryan frowned. “Choose what honey?”

  “Between me and Jane.”

  Ryan glanced at Jane before returning to Carla. “What did you have to choose?”

  “Which one of us Kevin could have.”

  Chapter 13

  Jane felt her chest squeeze. “No, he wouldn’t do that. He loved us. Loved you.”

  Carla put her head down. Jane could feel her sister’s retreat.

  She put her hand on Carla’ leg. “I’m sorry. This... hurts.”

  Carla looked at her. Clear wariness in her eyes.

  Jane took a calming breath. “I don’t doubt you, Carla. I’m sorry. Did you just remember this?”

  Carla waited a long time to answer. No one in the room moved or made a sound. The steady tick of the old grandfather clock echoed in the room. “I wanted to forget. I wanted to go back to before it happened but she won’t let me. Not anymore.”

  Jane let the pain settle in her chest. “Your animal is forcing you to remember?”

  Carla nodded. “Yes. Sarita says it’s the only way for me to heal.”

  Jane startled. “Sarita?”

  Carla shrugged. “That’s what I named her. She’s my friend and she’s special. She’s family, Janey just like you are. She hugged Ryan’s arm. Like we are.”

  Jane’s mind whirled. “Yes, honey, she is special. You said you wanted to go back before this happened. What did you mean?”

  Carla looked embarrassed. “When he had me tested.”

  Jane tried to calm her cat. It was rising in relation to Carla’s anxiety. “Tested as in experimented on?”

  Carla nodded. “Yes, Daddy agreed to give Kevin one of us.”

  Jane’s stomach rolled. “You chose... you,” she said through an uneven breath.

  Brock rubbed her back. She appreciated his support but nothing could alleviate this form of betrayal.

  Carla touched her hand. “Do you remember what Mom used to call us?”

  Jane nodded. “The paradise twins.”

  Carla nodded. “I didn’t want to ruin your paradise. Mine was already gone.”

  Jane put both hands over her face and cried hard. Everyone gave her time to bring her tears under control. She looked at her sister. “All this time I thought I was the one protecting you.”

  Carla released Ryan’s arm. ‘I didn’t want you to know. I can’t remember what it was at the moment but something broke... inside.”

  “Trust honey. Dad broke your trust. I promise that will never happen again but Carla I need to know... was Mom aware of this?”

  “No, Janey. Mom would try to get me to talk to her about my bad behaviour. I wanted to tell her but I couldn’t.”

  Jane squeezed Carla’s leg encouragingly. “What would happen if you did?”

  “Dad said you would join me in the Lab.”

  Jane heard the low growl from Jamie. Judd put a restraining hand on his brother’s arm. The anger on his face matched that of every man in the room.

  Jane saw Carla flinch, but this was the most lucid her sister had been since the accident and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get as much information as she could. “Did Dad or anyone else at Kallan Corp. touch you?”

  Carla frowned before understanding crossed her face. “No, Janey. They took fluid from my spine. They gave me needles of different colors. That’s all.”

  Racheal leaned forward. “Carla, do you remember what effect the serums had on you?”

  Carla nodded. “Some made me sleepy. Some made me mad. I lashed out sometimes when I didn’t mean to.” She glanced at Jane. “I hit Mom once.”

  Jane shook her head. “Nothing that happened after Dad took you to Kevin Kallan is your fault. I remember you acting out. I didn’t understand. I’m sorry.”

  “It isn’t your fault either, Janey, but you still paid for it.”

  Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know if dad was having financial difficulties? I didn’t think so but now I’m not so sure.”

  Carla looked uncomfortable.

  “Carla, what is it?” Jane asked.

  “Dad had to pay for his other home. It was expensive. Nicer than ours,” she said in a low voice.

  Jane knew the answer, but she had to ask. “Did dad have a girlfriend?”

  “I’m sorry, Janey.”

  “It’s okay, Honey. Some men cheat.”

  “He didn’t just have a girlfriend. He had another wife.”

  Jane’s cat surged. She fought for control feeling the fur ripple across her arm. It was the concerned look in Carla’s eyes that made her take the reins back from her enraged cat.

  Ryan pulled Carla toward him. His arm around her. Protecting her. The knowledge that he feared for Carla’s safety brought Jane back. The thought of accidently hurting her sister a bitter pill of reality.

  Brock turned her face to him. “Breathe her away, baby. She’s upset because you are. She can’t help you with this. Not yet.”

  Jane drew a long breath. “I’m okay.” She turned to Carla. “I’m sorry.”

  Carla shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “It’s okay but I need to talk to you alone for a minute.”

  Jane felt her cat grumble with concern. After everything that was discussed she feared what Carla would need privacy to tell her.

  Jane sensed Brock’s concern. “I will just be outside the door. Give us a minute.”

  Brock’s lips pursed, but he nodded curtly.

  Jane led Carla outside, making sure the front door was fully closed before descending the few wooden steps to the yard.

  Carla was clearly uncomfortable.

  She touched her sister’s arm. “What is it honey?”

  Carla fiddled with her hands. “It’s about Dad’s other family.”

  “Do you know what happened to Dad’s other wife?”

  Carla nodded. “Yes, she died before Dad did.”

  Jane’s anxiety spiked. “How?”

  Carla shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

  “It’s okay. What’s done is done. We can’t change the past.”

  Carla frowned. “It’s not done.”

  Jane fiddled with the locket that matched Carla’s. “Why not?”

  “Because we have a sister.”

  Jane’s breath left her gasping for more. She closed her eyes truly hating her father. “Do you know her name?”

  “Charlotte.”

  “Tell me about her.”

  “I don’t know much. Only that she is a little younger. I only met her once in the lab.”

  Jane’s eyes widened. “She’s being experimented on?”

  Carla looked down. “Yes.”

  Jane nodded. “She knows about us, then?”

  Carla shook her head. “I don’t think so. Dad told me not to say anything and pretended not to be with me that day.”

  “Fucking pig,” Jane snapped.

  Carla’s eyes went wide. “Janey!”

  Jane brought herself back under control. “Sorry, honey.”

  Carla smirked. “It’s okay. We have a good family now... I wish Mom were here to see it.”

  Jane smiled, hugging her twin. “Me too.”

  She heard a thump. Carla groaned then went slack in her arms. She pulled the dart from her sister’s back, trying to ascertain where it had come from. She was about to call out when Victor Danov stepped from the trees.

  “You call out and your sister is dead.”

  Jane quietly eased her sister to the ground as Danov approached.

  He aimed a hand gun at Carla’s head. “She can stay and live with the Cascades but if you don’t leave with me now, she dies.”

  Jane looked at her peacefully sleeping twin. She nodded as she let Victor secure her hands with zap straps. Her heart fell. Her cat cried out for its mate as she walked away.

  Brock became uneasy. He tried to focus on the surrounding discussion. Sarah was teasing Talen with shooting techniques she planned of teach
Lucy once the babies were born. Judd was flirting outrageously with Marie making both his parents and the other bears laugh. All were trying to lighten the mood of the evening. He couldn’t wait anymore he went to the door, yanking it open.

  He descended the few stairs to his parent’s home, looking for the girls as his anxiety rose. His eyes went cat searching for his mate in the dark of night. He spied a mass of red hair around the corner of the house. He sprinted over, calling out as he approached.

  He cradled Carla’s head. While every feature mimicked his mates, his cat surged in fury looking for her twin. He saw his brothers exit the house. “Over here.”

  Talen led Liam, Luca, Ryan, Judd and his two brothers over to Carla’s unconscious body.

  Ryan knelt immediately “Is she okay?” Worry thick in his voice.

  Brock put his fingers on her pulse. “Her heartbeat is strong but I can’t confirm what was used to sedate her. Get Racheal.”

  Luca ran back inside the house, returning with Racheal and Hunter.

  Racheal knelt down and touched Carla’s neck. “I don’t think this is the shifter tranquilizer. I think it’s the same one Jordan used. She will burn through it quickly. She’ll be groggy for awhile and have a killer headache later.”

  Brock shook Carla gently. “Carla honey, can you wake up?”

  When she didn’t respond, Ryan moved over to rest her head on his lap. “Sweetheart. I need your help. Can you wake up for me?”

  Carla groaned low, fluttering her eyelashes. “Janey,” she whispered.

  Brock leaned toward her. “Where is Janey, Carla?”

  Carla struggled to focus. “The man took her.”

  Brock forced his furious cat under control. “Do you know this man. Have you seen him before?”

  Carla scrunched her eyes together. “My head hurts.”

  Brock touched her shoulder. “I know honey. Racheal is going to help you with that but I need you to tell me about the man. Have you ever seen him before?”

  Carla swallowed hard. “Yes, he was at that place where the dogs were. Where Ryan was.”

  “He was in Mexico.” Brock turned to Talen. “It must be Danov.”

  Talen looked back toward his parent’s house. “Judd do you mind sticking around here with me so I can send most of the boys to track.”

  Judd put his hand to his chest. “It would be my honor.”

  Talen nodded. “Racheal you and Hunter help Carla, get her back into my parent’s house. Send Nick to get anything from the lab you need,”

  They helped Carla to her feet. She reached for Ryan who guided her to Racheal.

  “I have to go get your sister but I will be back soon to check on you, okay?”

  Carla nodded and let Hunter and Racheal lead her into the house.

  Talen turned to his family. “Brock, you take Ryan, Liam, Luca and Aiden. Track in animal form.” He turned to Aiden. “You track only. You aren’t ready to fight in cougar form yet.”

  Aiden’s face hardened. “Danov isn’t a shifter.”

  Talen’s voice lowered. The tone of the lair leader prominent. “He’s enhanced. He’s almost as fast as us. This is training for you only.”

  Aiden nodded curtly. He may find it hard to accept he was back in training but he would not disrespect his lair leader.

  Talen turned to Brock. “I will have Garrett hack the traffic cams and search any vehicles leaving this area. He records the plate numbers of Kallan vehicles but Danov could be using something of his own. Shift here and track her scent. I can’t smell him so he has the scent neutralizer on him.”

  The men dropped their clothes and shifted quickly. Four cougars and one coyote ran towards the trees, entering the forest with the ground flying beneath them.

  Brock was in the lead, his mate’s scent filling his nostrils, pushing his animal farther. Faster. His cat growled as Jane’s scent began to dissipate. They were less than five miles from Galen’s house when Brock stopped, shifting to his human form. “Fuck!”

  The men shifted to join Brock and discuss their next move.

  Brock ran his hand through his hair roughly. “He gave her the scent neutralizer. I can’t track her anymore.”

  Liam glanced back the way they had come. “He isn’t headed toward any access roads. He’s good. I haven’t seen any signs in the forest for a while now.

  Liam looked at his brother. “The broken branch we saw was probably Jane trying to leave us a trail. Should we spread out and see if she leaves another?”

  Ryan was looking in the direction they were headed. “I think I know where he’s going.”

  “Where?” Brock asked.

  “My old home.”

  Brock followed his gaze. “The coyote compound? How would he…”

  “Buck told them everything. Danov knows it’s abandoned. The only question is why take her there?”

  Brock growled low. “To get her cat to accept him.”

  Liam’s eyes flickered. “You’re mated. She will never accept another now.”

  Luca’s eyes flashed. “The question is what he will do to her when he realizes that.”

  Brock shifted, running toward the coyote compound with his family running behind him.

  Jane stumbled when Victor shoved her roughly toward the dirty building that looked like a warehouse. He had been angry since he caught her shuffling her feet to leave an obvious trail. It was getting harder to focus on escape. Her mind was sluggish. Her surroundings seemed faded. “You drugged me,” she slurred.

  Victor put his palm on her back. The feeling made her cat growl and her stomach roll. She’d tried to bring her cat out but her ability to shift had also left her. “Yes, the scent neutralizer I gave you had a few additives in it. You won’t pass out. I want you lucid for what’s about to happen but you won’t be capable of running away.”

  Jane tried to calm her rolling stomach. “What do you want?”

  Victor whispered in her ear. “You know.”

  Jane smelled the faint scent of decay on his breath. Her cat recognized it for what it was. Death. “I will never be with you.”

  Victor growled. “You are MINE! I have stayed working for that scumbag specifically for you.”

  Jane’s fingers flexed. “Why?”

  Victor stopped in front of the door of the large building. “Kevin glossed over the side-effect of the enhancements. But the word is out. He’s having trouble recruiting more soldiers. He was forced to come up with a solution and he has. Death is an unacceptable outcome.”

  “So, you bought me?”

  “I chose you. Kevin has lists of women with the shifter gene. Something in us recognizes who we can bond with to halt the disease. You are that woman.”

  “Can you be sure this isn’t more propaganda from Kevin? He will do anything to keep his soldiers... until it’s too late for them of course.”

  Victor’s eyes flicked orange. The color was as unnatural as he was. “Kevin said that his research indicates that since he used shifter DNA to enhance us. Only a shifter mate can save us. Apparently, this happens to unmated shifters as well. It’s just accelerated in the soldiers.”

  “Because you’re not meant to be shifters. You’re also not meant to mate with me. You don’t even know it will work.”

  Victor’s face hardened. “I told you. I feel it. I have been protecting you since the moment I met you.

  Jane huffed. “You were assigned to me.”

  “After I insisted, I be your bodyguard, yes. But I was given a lot of... messy assignments to have that luxury.”

  “So, you have lied to me for the last three years,” Jane said in disgust.

  Victor’s eyes glowed. “I protected you. Killed every assignment you had in which you... touched your mark. I am the reason you have the nickname Red Widow.”

  Jane sucked in a breath. “You know I never slept with any of those men.”

  “Until Brock Cascade.”

  Jane rolled her shoulders. Even if this was the end she would never apolog
ize for Brock. “Yes.”

  “I don’t care. They shouldn’t have touched you and Bock was warned. He will die soon enough.”

  “No.”

  Victor’s eyes roamed her body. “Your animal won’t accept me unless he is dead.”

  Jane shook her head. “Brock will come for me and he won’t come alone. I have a family now.”

  Victor led her into the warehouse. They approached five men dressed in full tactical gear. All held the same faint smell of decay.

  Her animal struggled to escape. To protect her. But it was confined inside its human counterpart. “What are you going to do?”

  “I brought my team with me for a reason. I plan to take down the entire Cascade lair. My whole team needs mates and the Cascade lair has what we need. I even dosed the mother.” He laughed and his team laughed with him.

  Jane fell to her knees. “I beg you don’t hurt them just take me.”

  Victor pulled her back to her feet. “You had your chance. If you had stayed in Mexico, none of this would have happened. There’s only one thing these men want, and it isn’t money. The women are the price for their services.”

  Jane fought through the fog in her brain. She needed to find a way out. A way to warn the Cascades. She would never be able to live with herself if she were the reason for the fall of a family she had already come to love. “I can’t believe that Kevin condoned the destruction of the whole lair.”

  Victor shrugged. “He didn’t. But he can’t afford to give up on all of us. Not with Cortez gunning for him. He allowed that bitch to gain too much power and now he’s paying for it. Besides, the Cascades are not the only cougar shifters. He already has a backup plan in motion.

  Jane’s eyes darted to the exits, and the men stationed at them.

  Victor sneered. “There is no way out for you, Jane. You will remain here until after the Cascades attack. We will eradicate the ones here then the men will take out the remaining men at the lair before grabbing the women.”

  She spit on him. “You pig.”

  Victor calmly wiped the spit from his face. “Kevin only uses predator DNA.”

  One of the men motioned the window. “In coming.”

  Victor turned to him. “How many?”

  “I see three in cougar form.”