Cravings (Fierce Hearts)

by Crandall, Lynn

  Kennedy pulled into a parking space and scanned the building. Her mother’s office was in there, a brief elevator ride away. She shielded her eyes and stared up at the windows on the fourth floor where her mother’s office was located. Her mother would be arriving soon. A lump in her throat made her swallow hard. Icy fingers of fear wrapped around her heart, and a silent scream sounded in her head.

  When the elevator opened on the fourth floor, she entertained the possibility that her mother would be happy to see her. That thought strengthened her steps and got her through the door.

  The receptionist looked up from the front desk area. “Kennedy. How nice to see you. Your mother isn’t in right now, but she’s on her way. Is she expecting you?”

  • • •

  His ear pressed against the interior wall of the connecting room, Asher heard the voices of TNG’s BOD discussing what they referred to as the Project Powering. A plan put in motion five years ago by nine people. This lunch was a celebration of the successful trials of a soon-to-be-implemented drug.

  The laughter and dismissal of lives of were-cats and human beings alike gripped his stomach hard, sending bile up into his throat. The magnitude of the threat these power hungry and greedy people posed to the way of nature was nearly too large to comprehend. They had to be stopped. Now. Before they unleashed the drugs onto the were-cat community.

  If only he could march into their meeting right now and stare them in their faces. Throw down the proverbial gauntlet and deflate their unbelievably depraved egos with exposure.

  He put his hand on the doorknob. Their boasting and disregard came to his ears so clearly. His pulse raced, driving him to take action right now.

  The room got quiet. He could hear his own pulse hammering in his ears. Tension tightened his body.

  Then he heard a chair move on the floor. A voice spoke.

  “Sadly, we have suffered losses along our way these past five years. We’ve lost our leader, William Carter, and are now only eight. As you know, the number nine was significant in our formation. Nine is the number in numerology of serving others for the better good. It denotes finality and a time to focus the wisdom, intellect, and powers to lead into fundamental transformation.”

  Asher’s brain fired. Did these people really think they were doing good for the community?

  “We’ve lost our leader, but what he envisioned is still alive and in process under the leadership of Kathryn. Under her leadership, we’ve already had real-time results in humans and were-cats. Soon we’ll bring to fruition Project Powering, and with it, wreak revenge on those who have harmed us and our family. We will reshape the city for our financial wealth and the betterment of society.”

  Hearty clapping made Asher cringe. This stuff was truly crazy.

  Then a voice spoke of Kennedy.

  “She’s key to proceeding forward with the Project Powering,” the voice said. “Kathryn, you promised your methods were solid and that you would thwart her escape and expedite her return. What’s preventing you from bringing her back under control? There can be no further delay. In other words, Kathryn, send your people out to grab the bitch. No more strategic moves. Get it done.”

  The voice pierced Asher’s soul. He’d never expected them to give up on retrieving what they considered as TNG property, but hearing the heartless discussion of a living and breathing Kennedy made him almost blind with rage. He suppressed a rumbling growl that demanded action.

  “Daren, I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but I don’t appreciate your tone.” Kennedy’s mother made no bones about smacking the senator down. “I know my subject, and she will return. And if she doesn’t, we won’t hesitate to grab her, as you say. Her fellow were-cats have been valiant, but they can’t stop us.”

  “I’m giving a press conference this afternoon announcing my involvement in new medical procedures. Kennedy needs to take her place as spokesperson on that topic.” Daren’s voice slid up in pitch.

  Footsteps from the dining room coming his way ended Asher’s spying session. He gently unlocked the door to the dining room and the door to the hallway and slid through into the hall. On the other side, he brought up his most casual, unobtrusive attitude and sauntered down the hall and out of the restaurant.

  On the sidewalk, he picked up his pace. Thoughts of Kennedy and the danger surrounding her treadmilled inside his head. He had to get to her. He turned the corner into the alley and sprinted to his truck. He jumped behind the wheel and took a moment to call Kennedy. Just hearing her voice would relax the tension that knotted in his chest. It went to voicemail. He disconnected without leaving a message and quickly tapped through his contacts for Lara. As he brought it up, his phone rang. It was Lara.

  “What’s up, Lara? I was just about to call you.”

  “Asher, Kennedy’s not here. While I was in surgery she took my car keys and left.”

  His brain froze. “She left? Where did she go?”

  “I don’t know. She left me a note apologizing for taking my Subaru. That’s all she wrote.”

  “I’ll check at my house. I already tried calling her, and she didn’t answer. Maybe she just needed some alone time. We haven’t given her any time to herself.”

  “Good idea.” Calm, almost-resigned empathy colored her voice. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

  Darting through traffic, his pulse chasing his fears, Asher reined in his boiling need to find Kennedy and make sure she was safe.

  In his garage, he jumped out of the truck almost before it had completely stopped and raced to the door. It stood open. He took cautious steps inside. Unlike movie and television characters, he didn’t whip out a gun. He didn’t use guns. He relied on his keen senses and heightened agility and strength to protect himself. But that occasion rarely arrived. His daily practice of his self-defense skills was preparation for a possible need. Fighting off the recent attacks from TNG were his first at real application.

  So he walked through his house, his senses on alert, prepared to face confrontations, all the while his heart lay at the bottom of his feet. Everywhere his things lay upturned, ripped apart, thrown to the floor.

  He walked from room to room, a mixture of fear and anger churning in his belly. He sniffed for scents, carefully stepping through his home. He recognized the handlers’ scents, but there were more, unfamiliar scents that told him a team had broken into his house. Four other scents he easily identified as were-lynxes, but not any of them familiar.

  He didn’t find anyone, so he didn’t need to use his defense skills. But his life had been intruded upon, and he felt torn wide open. Worst of all, Kennedy was not here.

  Pacing, he called Lara. “She’s not here, Lara.” He blurted it out before she could say hello. “My house is in shambles, and Kennedy is not here. Neither is your Subaru.”

  “We’ll all help her, Asher. We’ll find her. Maybe it’s simple, as you suggested. That she needed some time to herself, time to think and process all that has been coming up for her. I’ll report my stolen Subaru to the LPD. That might help us locate her, or at least a location where she left the vehicle.”

  His head felt too heavy for his neck and shoulders. He drooped to the floor. “Lara, someone has torn apart my house. I don’t know why. Two of them were Kennedy’s former handlers. But four scents were of were-lynxes I didn’t recognize. Maybe they were looking for something, but I don’t know what. And she’s not here.”

  “Asher, you’ve got to grab deep inside of you and soldier on, for Kennedy’s sake. I’ll call Casey and the others. We’ll meet at your house and figure this out.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Kennedy’s head rested on her mother’s lap as she laid on the couch in her mother’s private office at Phoenix Biosciences.

  “I told you, my daughter, you don’t belong in the outside world. You’re one of us.” She stroked Kennedy’s face and caressed her head, running her hand down her hair. “You belong here with me.”

  Kennedy’s
father walked into the room, eyeing Kennedy.

  “She’s back, Jonathon. Just as I said she would be.”

  Her mother’s voice sent chills up and down her body. The eerie sweetness wasn’t convincing. In fact, it dripped cynicism. It reminded her of a cat licking its lips after capturing a bird.

  “Hello, Kennedy. You gave us all quite a scare, running off like that.”

  Formal as usual, her father offered no measure of kindness. She could counter his message. She hadn’t run off; she’d been packed off and shipped to William Carter’s research project. A caged animal. Casey’s colony had intervened and rescued her from the project, most likely saving her life. She could say all of that and more.

  But she kept quiet. She knew the consequences of asserting herself to these people, and that thought made her cringe inside.

  When she’d first surrendered to her mother, her mother had slapped her. Her cheek still stung where her mother had hit her hard. You ungrateful bitch! She’d yelled, called her names, promised her severe consequences, and then it had stopped.

  Her mother ordered Thing One and Thing Two to drive her to Phoenix Biosciences’s research facility. Now these bizarre moments with her mother filled her with trepidation. Her mother’s expression and behavior seared Kennedy, provoking images of a sacrificial lamb heading to the burning altar. Only she was the lamb.

  Her father checked his watch. “Kathryn, are you aware of the time?”

  More foreboding slithered up and down her spine. Kennedy didn’t know what she was getting into, but whatever it was, it was okay. As long as her sacrifice removed Asher and the rest of Casey’s colony from the crosshairs of The Nexus Group, it would be worth it.

  “It’s time, daughter, for your procedure.” The excitement bubbling in her mother’s voice sent revulsion shuddering through Kennedy.

  Her father took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Patrick and Gordon marched into the room. “Take her to the main surgical suite.”

  Kennedy stopped, resisting the pull of the men’s grip. “Surgical suite? What’s going on?”

  Typical of her father, he gave her an aloof smile and walked out of the room.

  “Mother, what’s happening?” She tried to fight off the men, but her mother’s hand stopped her.

  “Don’t fight it, Kennedy. This is your destiny. You’ll help change the world. It’s time for Project Powering to move forward, and you will be its primary leader.” The glee in her mother’s face turned Kennedy’s stomach. “What’s wrong with you two? Take her to surgery!”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Patrick eyed Kennedy, a smug grin on his face. “Let’s go.”

  Kennedy spat in his face, struggling for escape.

  A hard hit to her face sent stars swirling in her head, pain and confusion buckling her legs, as the room went dark.

  • • •

  A bright light sliced into Kennedy’s lidded eyes. She tried to lift her hand to cover them, but couldn’t. She opened them, squinting in the light, struggling with the restraints on her hands and legs. “What the heck?” Terror pounded in her chest.

  “It’s all right, Kennedy. Stop struggling.” Her mother caressed her head, but it wasn’t soothing. It was simply the sound of her mother speaking to a pet pig or an unruly horse. “The restraints are for your safety. You’re prepped for a surgical procedure and lying on the surgical table. You’re groggy from the sedative, so it would be dangerous for you to try to walk.”

  “What are you doing to me?” Kennedy managed to ask.

  “I’ve taught you to be brave and skillful at many things. And now, once we’ve inserted the tiny implant in your neck, you’ll be everything I wanted you to be.”

  “What do you mean, implant?”

  “A tiny device that will release a designer drug targeted for DNA modifications.” Her mother’s eyes crinkled in the corners. “It will make you more powerful, more brilliant, more—”

  “Vicious. Is that the word you’re searching for, Mother?”

  “Just shut up. You don’t appreciate anything.”

  Kennedy surveyed her situation. Still dressed in her street clothes, she recognized the Phoenix Biosciences surroundings. Would she recognize herself after the procedure?

  She sunk deep inside herself. She had to remove herself from this moment. If she had a mother who would protect her and take her in her arms to soothe her sobs, this would be the moment she could imagine a comforting voice that would truly make it all better.

  But she’d never had that. Through the fog of the sedative, her defenses rose to take her away to where she felt nothing. Where she accepted her reality. Her brain couldn’t imagine what was planned for her, and she suspected when she woke up, she’d not care.

  • • •

  The mood in Asher’s home hung like thick mist, sobering the colony cats’ expressions, dampening hopes. Every cat showed up, including Shaun, along with Michelle, and Asher let their presence assure him that intrepid skills would soon be unleashed in a rescue of Kennedy.

  In the midst of the disarray that was his house, they each stood waiting for Casey to lead the strategy session. But Asher’s patience was gone. The ideas of what Kennedy could be going through tore up his inside and tortured his mind.

  He ran his fingers through his hair, fear squealing in his ears.

  Casey squeezed his shoulder. “Tell us what you know, Asher.”

  A sigh sifted through him with relief that Casey was getting right down to business. “It looks as though Kennedy was either taken or she returned willingly to her mother. She stole Lara’s vehicle and drove to her mother’s psychiatric practice, it appears. But we haven’t had contact since.”

  “What’s going on here?” Casey gestured to the room’s mess.

  “When I came here looking for Kennedy, I found it like this. Everything has been searched. I picked up scents of her handlers, Patrick and Gordon, as well as unfamiliar scents of four were-lynxes.” He stubbed his shoe on the carpeted floor. “At first I couldn’t figure out what they were looking for. But now I know. They stole our database, the hardbound information on all known were-cat lines through centuries.”

  “Good grief, Asher.” Asia shook her head, frowning. “Don’t we keep that in a secure storage?”

  Casey raised his hand to stop discussion. “Of course. Asher has done nothing wrong or neglectful. The books were hidden in a wall safe, protected by a coded electronic lock.”

  “They broke the code, apparently. I’d guess it took some time for them to locate the safe, hence the complete mess of everything I own.” He knew this sharing of information was important, but he wanted to release a piercing yelp, a growl, something to startle them into immediate action.

  Michelle raised her hand. “I’ve had a glimpse that concerns me. Kennedy may be getting an implant. I don’t know if it’s right now, but I feel it’s happening soon.”

  Asher slammed his fist into a wall. If TNG implanted a device in Kennedy, the same kind of device that the group was using to administer drugs to transform were-lynxes into ferocious warriors, she would be lost to him. And, against her will, she would lose herself.

  Tingling in his muscles warned him his adrenaline ran too high. He was about to lose control and spontaneously shimmer into his bobcat self. A rumbling growl escaped his lips.

  No one could help him. No one had the ability to nudge him into calm, controlled behavior. It was up to him to manage his emotions.

  But Michelle stepped close. “I’m sure this is hardest for you, Asher. But we all feel the urgency to free Kennedy. Just ground yourself. Breathe in, breathe out.”

  Lara put a soothing hand to his shoulder. “Listen to her, Asher. She’s right,” his sister said. “Don’t let the chaos of the enemy hinder you from doing what you need to do.”

  Inhabiting his body fully, he turned to Casey. “Kennedy is probably at the Phoenix Biosciences lab. I overheard Daren, the senator who interviewed Kennedy for an aide position, complain that things were
moving too slowly for his campaign schedule. He was pushing to get her ready, whatever that means.”

  “Okay, we’ll all go there, except you, Michelle,” Casey said. “You go home, your home. You’ll be safer there for now than my place. Shaun, I know you’re eager to take your place with us, but you’re not ready for a fight. I’d appreciate it if you’d go stay with Michelle.”

  Shaun clenched her teeth and swirled a growl in her chest, exhibiting her were-lynx traits. “You’re right. I want to contribute, but I’ll go with Michelle.”

  “Thank you, Shaun. Michelle, call Sterling, Ben, Jackson, and Lacey. Give them the heads up that we may need them.”

  Asher joined in the brief planning to enter the Phoenix building and put the research lab out of business.

  “Asher, you, Tizzy, and Conrad enter an upper floor from the outside. All of you are agile and strong, but getting up top will be easiest for you, Tizzy, with your hyperability to leap. Conrad, with your ability to see solutions, you’ll be able to coordinate the infiltration and rescue on the fly. Quinn, you, Asia, and I will create a distraction on ground level. Your spatial ability will come in handy, Quinn, as we try to work our way inside. Booker and Lara, you’ll be with us. After we’ve created a distraction, we’ll try to reach the others so you can both direct your healing powers where needed.”

  Asher nodded his head. “We’ve got a plan. Let’s go. The clock is ticking.”

  Asher led the other were-cats to the Phoenix Biosciences location, a few blocks outside of town in an area dotted with various industrial complexes. They parked their vehicles nearby but out of sight from the Phoenix building.

  It sat back from the road about half a mile and was obscured by a line of trees and bushes. Rows of tall, prairie grasses growing near the building provided more shelter as they got closer.