Heath stopped. A war raged inside him. Safer not to turn around, he waited where he stood.
“You can find her and make sure she’s safe,” the fool continued, “but then let her go. Please. I—I will take her with me, and you don’t have to worry about whether she’s okay. I’ll make sure of it. I promise I’ll take care of her.”
Heath swung around and walked back toward Jake. The man shuffled backward on his feet until he hit the wall again of his own accord. Heath braced both girls on one arm and raised a hand to Jake’s face. He thrust hard, and Jake cracked the back of his head on the wall. His eyes rolled up, and he slumped to the floor unconscious.
Weariness washed over Heath. He stood where he was for long moments. Right now someone could be hurting Deja, and it killed him to think so. Yet, anger that she’d played him for a fool even before the challenge from Tina kept him from going to her. Had she lost the fight on purpose? That was the only way she could break his bond with her. He’d said as much—that he’d love her until he died but that she in a sense could choose to love whomever she wanted. Was he wrong? Did he care?
He peered down at the tiger and realized why energy appeared to drain out of him, aside from the constant fighting. Power went out without him recognizing that he did it, to control the tiger and keep his mind in check. When he reached his limit, then what?
Rather than continue the way he started, he turned back the way he’d come into the building. Black smoke clouded the air, and the acrid smell of something burning hurt his nose. The whine at his side said the tiger felt the same. He picked his way over the bodies left behind but stopped at one downed scientist to nab his lab coat. After tossing it over the girls, he continued on. When her scent and a human’s reached him above the others, he knew what he would find at the entrance.
A squat man stood in the entry holding Deja by the arm. The weapon pointed at her side gave him pause. Deja appeared dazed, but she blinked when she saw him and sighed in relief.
“You’re okay,” she murmured. “The girls?”
He lowered the lab coat to reveal Maia and Neve then pulled it back up. All the while he never stopped staring at Deja. The sight of her face tormented him, but his tiger squirmed to leave.
“I didn’t want Jake to bring you here. I never told him to go.”
He frowned. “You brought my children to this place. Why?”
Shame transformed her delicate features, enraging him all the more. She had no excuse. The dream he had where she had reclaimed him was just that—a dream. He imagined she’d done it for Jake, her lover, the man who’d been working for Spiderweb. Why should he be surprised? After the bond broke between them, maybe she didn’t see herself as their mother any longer. All she desired was Jake. Why him? He almost spoke the words aloud but caught himself. She would not see his weakness.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Heath,” the man at her side chirped. “I’ve been wanting to meet you in person for a long time.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Why I’m the director of Spiderweb, of course.”
“Of course.” Sarcasm dripped from Heath’s words, but the man didn’t appear to mind.
“I’m Jonas Stovall, and you’re Heath Hunter, a prime specimen.”
Heath cringed in disgust.
Stovall went on as if he didn’t see Heath’s reaction to his gushing. “You see, I need you, Heath. To breed for me. You will make strong shifters with strong minds, and naturally they will all have alpha blood because of you. For some reason, shifters born and raised in captivity lose their minds.” He tsked and eyed the tiger at Heath’s side. “I figure you and I can start a new town, away from the weaker, diseased shifters.”
“I don’t know or care what you’re talking about,” Heath snapped.
“Funding,” the fool blurted. “Haven’t I said? I lost the investors, but that doesn’t matter. With you I can dip into my personal savings. You breed more like you, and I can have an entire army!”
Despite his mood, Heath chuckled. “How do you think you will control these shifters? An army of them would slaughter you and your men.”
Stovall grinned. “Don’t sell yourself short.” He nodded to the tiger. “I have studied you all long enough, and I can tell you’re controlling him. He’s been with us for years, the second of his kind, bred to be bigger and better, but the mind…”
“So what if I am?”
The tiger paced, ready to attack. The beast just wanted to kill. If he didn’t already know this one wasn’t the killer because of his size and his scent, Heath would have thought so with the violence that radiated off him.
“Control one, control them all,” Stovall said in cheery brightness.
“You don’t know us as well as you think.”
Confusion wrinkled Stovall’s brow.
“I have no intention of controlling anyone for your sake.”
Stovall’s grin widened. “No? I have your wife right here.”
Heath studied Deja’s beautiful face and couldn’t deny the stir in his heart. Even now, he wanted to touch her and run his fingers through her hair. He ached to kiss her lips and hear her speak his name. She didn’t deserve that though. She deserved nothing but his cold shoulder. What mattered most was what lay in his arms—his daughters.
“She’s not my wife,” he said, low and steadier than he felt. “She’s just another shifter. I have my mate, and she’s waiting for me back in Siberia.”
“Heath.” The small voice tore across his being until he came close to dropping to his knees. She’d always been able to do that to him. Instead, he steeled his shoulders and kept a harsh expression on his face.
Stovall stammered. “I can’t believe you would abandon her.”
Heath started past without pausing. “I guess you’ll figure it out once I’m gone. Come after my daughters again, and I will end you.”
With those final words, Heath left the facility and walked off into the night.
Chapter Twelve
In the instant Heath walked out and left her at the Spiderweb facility in the clutches of a madman, the drug wore off in Deja’s system. Abandoned and lost, she had no reason to fight to free herself. Heath would look after the girls. Her only regret was in not telling him about the potential defect she had caused. She had looked into his eyes and seen the hatred. He had no feeling for her left at all, and what she had experienced in that dream was a fantasy born of her desperate love for him. What a fool. She should die here, deserving of no other fate. Ugh, the melodrama. Damn, I can’t do it. I feel sorry for myself, but I can’t let this fucker win.
“You must feel like garbage, Deja. Your husband left you for another woman,” Stovall chided. He poked her side with the gun, and she glared at him. One false move, and the weapon with the hair trigger would go off. Or so he’d told her. She hadn’t been willing to take the risk of him killing one of the girls earlier, since he’d admitted that they were nothing more than a fun side project. She decided to use her wits.
“You’ve lost, Stovall. Let me go. Heath has the girls, and there’s no way you’re going to get him again.”
Stovall chuckled. “Did you forget someone?”
She cast him a doubtful look over her shoulder. He frowned when she didn’t ask who.
“The one who has been killing your people. He’s still out there.”
She froze. “But you said it was Jake.”
“Did I say that?”
Cold dread rolled across her scalp, down her neck, and on to her back. She shut her eyes and took in a deep breath. He must be lying. He had to be. “I don’t believe you!”
“I hear he rips out their bowels and leaves them to die slowly,” he taunted. “Maybe he’ll do that to Heath. No, the children. What were their names—Mavis and Nevil?”
Deja screamed, her mind exploding with visuals of the image the snake painted in her head. She knocked the gun from his hand. The weapon flew through the air, hit a wall, and clattered to the floor. S
he formed claws of her fingernails and swiped them down the man’s face. He fell, and she brought her hand up ready to deliver the finishing blow. A shot rang out, and fire burned its way through her hip. She collapsed atop Stovall, who cowered on the floor.
“Damn it.” She pressed a hand to her hip to try to stem the blood gushing from the wound. Seeing it, she dipped her head. She would not pass out. Dragging herself off of Stovall proved to be a chore.
“You bitch,” Stovall spat as he held a hand to his jaw. “That’s going to leave an ugly scar.”
“It’s an improvement. Trust me.” She slid farther away from him and peered over her shoulder at the guard approaching, gun raised. So Heath hadn’t killed them all. She tried to shift, figuring she had a better chance that way, but pain sliced through her hip. Even trying to force it and ignoring the agony failed. Her bones refused to comply, and it was as if her inner tiger were unconscious. The man drew closer.
“Can’t turn?” Stovall guessed. “Shame.”
She was royally screwed. “I might not be able to shift, but I’ve got my strength.”
His eyes grew wide as he guessed her intent. He looked at the guard. “Shoot her. Shoot her now!”
Deja leaped, putting all her weight into her good leg, and dragged Stovall in front of her. The rapid succession of two bullets hit him instead of her. The pounding heart stopped, and Stovall took his last breath before she let his body fall away.
“Damn science experiment,” the guard spat, and he raised his gun once again. She’d used up the last of her energy. No way would she perform those acrobatics again, but at least she’d taken down Jonas Stovall, and by his own admission, his investors had pulled out. Tonight, Spiderweb came to an end. All she could do now was hope Heath would catch the real killer, and then the people of Siberia could live in peace.
She raised her chin and shut her eyes, waiting. The cocking of the gun sounded too loud above the rushing of blood in her ears. She forced a swallow to wet her dry throat. Something thumped, and a weight fell across her feet, wrenching her injured hip in fresh pain. She cried out and opened her eyes to find the guard sprawled on the ground.
“Jake.”
He stood above her, panting and clutching a chair with one pale, trembling hand. Lines of dried blood marred his forehead. “You’re okay now, Deja. No one’s going to hurt you.”
She didn’t move for a few seconds, hesitant at the wild look in his eyes. Was he the killer? Had he done it all for her? She licked her lips and reached a hand up to brush braids from her face. The entire time, she never took her gaze off him.
“Stop looking at me like that, Deja. You know I would never hurt you.”
“I’m sorry, Jake. I…thank you for saving me. If you hadn’t come along, I don’t know what I would have done.” She dared to glance away from him to free her feet, but the man on top of them had to be all of two hundred fifty pounds, and her strength at that point was that of a normal human woman, maybe less. “Can you help me get him off, please?”
Jake seemed to realize he still held the chair and tossed it away. He stooped and grabbed one of the man’s arms and dragged him by leaning all is weight backward. She wondered as he struggled. If he were a shifter, he would have no problem with the weight, but then he’d obviously been hurt too from the look of his head. She didn’t know what to believe.
He crawled closer to her on hands and knees, wobbling a little. “Let me help you up.”
She frowned. “Can you even help yourself? Jake, what happened? I can’t believe they would attack one of their own.”
His eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but a cry of alarm caught both their attention. Deja groaned. “For real? Is there anyone else in this damn building? Help me up, Jake. I’ve decided I’m not going down like this. I’m going to fight and live.”
The man at the other end of the room held only a knife, and he switched it from one hand to the other in a dramatic show that did what he probably hoped it would—intimidated the hell out of her. Of course the fact that it had to be over a foot long, curved, and black added to the impression.
Seeing her stare at the knife, the man grinned. “I like weapons.”
“I didn’t ask.”
At her side, Jake swore. “That’s a kukri machete. The curve gives it more force.”
“Thanks for that. Keep it to yourself!” She swallowed and nudged Jake. If she was going to fight, she needed him out from under her, and she still didn’t trust him.
Jake let the arm go he’d been holding and took a couple steps away. As soon as he let go, pain shot through her left leg and crumpled it until she landed on the floor.
“Deja!”
“No.” She held up a hand. “Back off. I can do this. Just give me space.”
Somehow, with sweat trailing down between her shoulder blades, she managed to stand. All the weight in her right leg and her left curled until she stood on tiptoe, she had one shot at beating this guy. She had to catch him off guard before he had a chance to swing the knife. A blow to the chin might do the trick if she could call up the strength of the tiger. “What are you waiting for? Let’s dance.”
The man’s grin broadened.
“Damn, I forgot,” Jake interjected, and just as he leaped toward her, she realized what he meant. The man didn’t have to wait until he reached her to do damage. In a blur of movement, he raised his arm and threw the knife with deadly speed and accuracy. She didn’t have time to do much more than blink. The knife hurtled through the air, and just when she thought she was gone, Jake stood in front of her. Deja screamed. The impact into his back pushed them both to the floor. A hiss near the door above her and then Heath streaked across the room in tiger form. The man lay dead seconds later.
“Jake!”
Heath appeared in human form and dragged him off her.
“Easy, Heath.” Tears flooded her eyes as her friend struggled to breathe. Blood dribbled down his chin. She reached for the knife, but Heath stopped her. “I have to help him.”
He shook his head. “It’s in his heart. If you pull it out…”
She sobbed. “No, no, no!”
“De…ja.”
“Shh.” She cradled his head as he lay on his side. “Don’t try to talk, Jake. We’re going to get you help.”
“N-no, I have to tell you.”
She used her shirt to wipe his mouth.
“I never worked…Spiderweb. Never…betray…”
The tears fell harder. She believed him. After all, he had given his life for her, knowing what he did jumping into the knife’s path. He had always, always been there for her and was the strongest human she knew. She got that now too. Jake wasn’t the killer, and he wasn’t a shifter.
“I found…”
“Stop talking, you fool,” Heath snapped.
Deja glared at him, but he clenched his jaw and fists as if he wanted to rip the knife out Jake’s back and hurry him to his death. He’d been the one to stop her. Heath had left her behind. Why had he returned?
Jake struggled to focus on Heath. “We were not lovers.”
Heath stilled.
“Cuff.”
They both looked at Jake having no idea what cuff meant. Then Deja glanced down at the jeans he wore. The ends had been rolled up, but then she noticed one small area had been sew into place, just inside the right leg. A nod to Heath set him to searching it. With ease, he ripped the seam and reached inside. The tiny vial seemed innocuous.
“I have a feeling I know what this is.” Heath held it up to the light and then looked at Jake. “You found this, didn’t you? It’s the formula Spiderweb used to mask scent. So both you and the killer used it. Where did you find it?”
A few false starts when no words came out had Deja tense. “Maybe we should take him to the hospital.”
“If we move him, he will die. If we call an ambulance…”
“Heath, we can’t let him die to cover for our existence. I know you hate him, but—”
“Leave me here,” Jake whispered. “I…keep…secret.”
“He told me you were lovers, Deja.”
“He just told you we weren’t. Besides, you’d know if we were! You would smell him on my body.”
“He used the formula, and I smelled you at his apartment.”
She fell silent.
Heath stood up and disappeared out the door. Her chest tightened, and she dipped her head crying. What he thought didn’t matter anyway. They were done, or he wouldn’t have left her there. A featherlight touch to her finger made her open her eyes, and she glanced down at Jake. His skin had gone so pale, and his eyes were glassy. At first she thought he was gone, but then he turned his head a fraction of an inch to look into her eyes.
“I…wanted…you. You belong to him. Tell him.”
She sniffed and nodded, but she stayed where she was, waiting with him until the final moment when the last breath left his body, and his heart stopped. Guilt wracked her from head to toe. He deserved more than this, but it had been his choice. From the first moment when they rescued him and took him along to Siberia, he’d been one of them, even if he could never shift. They had been the ones to do him wrong by kicking him out of Siberia, and she would never forgive herself for letting it happen.
She kissed his forehead. “Good-bye, Jake. Thank you for being my friend. I will never forget you.”
After laying his head down with gentle care, she started to rise, but Heath appeared from nowhere again and lifted her into his arms. She pushed at his chest. “I’m fine.”
“Be quiet.”
He walked outside with her tucked close to his chest, saying nothing. Deja gasped at seeing his truck parked in front of the door and her girls asleep in the back seat. As Heath tucked her in on the passenger side, she caught glimpses of other shifters arriving through the trees. They shifted from tiger form to walk on two legs, some disappearing inside the building and others combing the grounds. Something told her not one stone would be left unturned. No paperwork or computer program would exist when they were done. The building would not just be burned but razed to the dirt.
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