Therian Prisoner

by Cyndi Friberg

  “I’ll take care of it.” Landon pulled down the tailgate and slid Dhane across the bed of the truck. The wolf whimpered but didn’t resist. Payne stepped forward and helped Landon load Dhane into the backseat of the car.

  Ava, Kyle’s mate, stood by Erin’s SUV, obviously trying to give the family some privacy. Devon looked at her and asked, “Who is that? Why is she here?”

  That was right. Devon had been gone when Carissa and Ava came on the scene. Hearing Devon’s comment, Ava started forward but Erin immediately waved her back.

  “She’s my mate, Dev.” Kyle supplied the answer. “She’s just worried about you. We all are.”

  Erin took a cautious step toward Devon and Devon moved closer to Ian.

  “I can’t do this,” Devon whispered, her eyes wide and unblinking.

  “How about if we all meet up at your mom’s house in a few minutes?” He tried to sound encouraging without playing into her obvious panic.

  She turned and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face against his chest. “Make them leave. Please. Just make them leave.”

  “Devon, no one is going to hurt you.” Kyle moved closer to the truck and Devon just about climbed up Ian’s body.

  Back off or she’ll bolt! She’s holding on by a thread. Ian wrapped his arms around Devon, no longer caring what any of them thought. Panic and pain radiated off her in dizzying waves. He had no idea why she’d chosen him as her protector, but he had every intention of keeping her safe. Payne, go with them. I’ll bring her home as soon as she calms down.

  With obvious reluctance, Kyle and Erin made their way back to the SUV. Ian opened the truck door and Devon climbed in without so much as a glance at her family. Payne had left the truck running, so Ian closed the back door then climbed in behind the wheel. She stared off into the distance with unseeing eyes, obviously in shock.

  “I want to go home with you.” The whispered plea stunned him. Her expression didn’t change and she didn’t look at him, but tears trailed down her cheeks.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I think you need your family.”

  “I can’t. I just can’t.” She finally turned her head and the utter misery in her expression broke his heart. “Please, I want to go with you.”

  He gripped the steering wheel until the blood left his knuckles as he struggled through the alternatives. It didn’t matter why she’d latched on to him. She was obviously not ready to face her family. If he took her to his house in Snowmass, her family would doubtlessly come get her. Ian wasn’t sure exactly what her captors had done to her, but it was going to take more than one good cry to exorcise these demons.

  The SUV idled at the far end of the parking lot, waiting for him to follow. He picked up his phone and sent Kyle a quick text telling him they’d be along in a few minutes. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath then shook his head. Payne had seen this coming. Somehow the lion had known Devon would reject her family.

  Ian turned off the engine and tucked the keys under the floor mat. Hopefully Erin would forgive him. Eventually. He sent a text to Payne and asked him to come back for the truck in half an hour. He didn’t need to say more. Payne would understand. Finally, he walked around to the passenger side and opened the door. “Last chance. Are you sure this is what you want?”

  She climbed down from the truck and closed the door. “I want to go with you.” She no longer sounded hysterical, just depleted and lost.

  After tucking his phone into his pocket, he pulled off his shirt and tossed it into the bed of the truck. “Then hold on tight, ‘cause where we’re going is most easily reached from the air.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed against his chest. He grabbed her hips and lifted her off her feet. “Wrap your legs around my waist.” After a moment’s hesitation, she complied.

  He embraced her small warm body, trying to keep his mind on the reason for his rash actions. She needed time and space away from her overprotective family. That was all this was. He was helping out a friend.

  His back burned as his wings unfurled. Devon gasped and squeezed him even tighter. He turned into the wind, testing the resistance and calculating a trajectory. “Ready?” She nodded, so he launched them skyward with a forceful flap of his wings.

  Chapter Three

  Roberto stubbornly hid his revulsion as Tias peeled back another section of Osric’s skin. The tiger-shifter screamed, his voice hoarse, body convulsing from the pain. Alloy bands restrained his arms and legs, spreading his limbs without hindering Tias’ access to his body. A wider band circled his throat, preventing him from shifting. Actually it didn’t hinder his ability to transform, it would just strangle him if he summoned his tiger shape.

  The skill with which Tias wielded her blades was awe inspiring, but Roberto had never been fond of blood. Retired General James Milliner, on the other hand, watched every move their partner made with sadistic enjoyment.

  They made a good team. With Milliner’s military connections, Roberto’s ready access to deep pockets and Tias’ Yakuza contacts, they could accomplish almost anything.

  “I can keep this up indefinitely,” she reminded their prisoner. “You’ve watched me work often enough to know it’s no idle boast.” Tias was tiny with a timeless Asian beauty that was the perfect disguise for her vicious nature.

  “I’ve told you everything I know.” Osric sobbed, a mixture of blood and snot bubbling from his nose. “Nehema’s house was deserted. They’ve gone underground.”

  “What is Nehema’s connection to Zophiel?”

  “There is no connection. I’ve told you everything!”

  “You said ‘they’ have gone underground, which indicates a connection. Lies will only bring more pain.” She used the point of her knife to outline his nipple as Osric writhed and screamed.

  “The beauty of this is all he has to do is shift and his human form resets,” Milliner said just loud enough to make sure Osric heard the comment.

  “Give us something,” Roberto encouraged. The slick tiles and floor drain made this sort of mess easy to manage. Still, the smell of blood and piss was overwhelming. “Where are they likely to go? Do they have a rescue planned for the near future?”

  “I told you…” Osric closed his eyes and gulped in air, shaking his head to complete his denial.

  Tias turned toward Roberto and Milliner with a sigh. “Well, gentlemen, shall we give him a break? This is boring.”

  With continual inundation from the same stimuli, the senses numbed. Any good interrogator was aware of the fact. “Why don’t we give Roberto a tour while Osric thinks things over,” Milliner suggested.

  Roberto had seen numerous images of the complex but this was the first time he’d been here in person. The facility wasn’t scheduled to open for another three months, but the Therian attack on their mountain lab had left them no choice but to utilize functional sections of the converted military hospital while renovations were completed on the rest.

  “Wonderful idea.” She paused long enough to clean the blood from her knives and wash her hands before they left the interrogation room.

  “You’d been at it quite a while when I arrived.” Roberto fell into step beside Tias, leaving Milliner to trail behind. “Has he said anything that might help us locate Nehema?”

  “He’s been babbling on about Zophiel,” Milliner told him. “She is the most radiant woman in the world. She’s the gods’ faithful spy and the Angel of Divine Justice. She’s his ‘mistress’ in the kiss-my-boot sense of the word. He claims to serve her through sacrifices of pleasure and pain.”

  “If pain gets him off this might be a waste of time.” They turned onto a wide corridor then took a lift to the ground floor. Buzzes and bangs from the construction crew echoed in the distance, but the main lobby and adjacent offices had required less restoration. “Is it possible that Zophiel is simply Nehema’s sexual persona?”

  Tias seemed to consider the possibility but Milliner shook his head. “Nehema is well into her fiftie
s and definitely not ‘the most radiant female on earth’.”

  “There are many mistresses you would never recognize as they walk down the street.” Tias paused and pivoted so she could see both Roberto and Milliner. “Part of the appeal of the BDSM Lifestyle is allowing yourself to be immersed in the fantasy.”

  The voice of experience? “Either way, does this bring us any closer to stopping the Abolitionists?”

  “We aren’t the only ones interested in finding Nehema,” Tias reminded them. “I say we wait her out and let the Therians take care of her as soon as she strikes again. She is a far bigger problem for them than for us.”

  “I don’t care if she’s dead or just out of commission as long as her antics stop,” Roberto agreed. “We can’t afford any more setbacks.”

  Milliner crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. “Well, I want a permanent solution to the situation.”

  “Of course you do. You’re the one who started this pissing contest in the first place.” Tias faced Milliner, her stance every bit as adversarial even though her head barely reached his chin. “If you hadn’t snatched three of her rescue puppies right out from under her nose, she wouldn’t have blown up our supply convoy.”

  “They were feline shifters, not wolves,” Milliner grumbled.

  “An irrelevant detail.” She waved away the subject with one elaborately manicured hand and looked at Roberto. “How is Devon adjusting to her new surroundings?”

  “I gave her a roommate this afternoon, so she’s not very happy with me.”

  “You did what?” Milliner preferred to be involved in every decision no matter how small. Anything that transpired without his input was unacceptable. Roberto hated his micromanaging, but his contacts were irreplaceable.

  “Delta team was watching the wolves’ clubhouse, as we agreed, to gauge the fallout of Nate’s decision.”

  “There won’t be any fallout,” Milliner argued. “Nate’s too smart for that.”

  Roberto shook his head. The alpha wolf’s leadership style was so much like Milliner’s own that Milliner idolized the ruthless wolf. “His eldest son was about to challenge him and half the pack knew it. Suddenly the son is sent on a suicide mission from which he barely escapes. None of that sounds suspicious to you?”

  “The pack hunters executed Bruce Fitzroy because he was an embarrassment to the pack. Nate had nothing to do with it.”

  Roberto scoffed. “If you say so.”

  “What does this have to do with Devon’s roommate?” Tias prompted.

  “Dhane, the youngest son, spent most of the night sulking outside the building. Delta team’s leader contacted me and asked if we had any interest in apprehending the boy because he was practically begging to be snatched.”

  “Go on.” Tias had likely guessed the ending. She was generally three steps ahead of everyone else.

  “He’s a Therian male in his sexual prime from an elite bloodline.” Roberto grinned at Milliner, knowing there was no argument for that statement.

  “So you gave him gen three and locked him in with Devon?” Tias sounded incredulous, not impressed. “They are from warring clans. They will tear each other apart.”

  “Or they’ll create an incredibly powerful child. Devon knows sex is the only thing that will keep him from shifting and she knows if he shifts she’s dead. I think she’ll spread her legs rather than offer her throat to a ravenous wolf.” Roberto shrugged with far more nonchalance than he felt.

  “What if he defines her?” Milliner’s voice rang with challenge.

  “He can’t.” Tias waved away the general’s concern. “She has to be injected with the counteragent before her body can finalize her metamorphosis.”

  Milliner was a soldier, not a scientist. He’d never fully understood the extraordinary potential Devon presented. Rather than try to explain it all to him, again, Roberto pointed out, “You’d already sanctioned her disposal. What did we have to lose?”

  “No one at the Clubhouse saw Dhane’s abduction?”

  “Of course not.” Roberto didn’t quite keep the impatience out of his tone. Milliner’s continual criticisms were starting to grate. “The last thing we need is a war with the Canine network. Nate will either think Dhane ran away to join his rebel brother or one of the cats took him out without the approval of the Alpha Council.” Thanks to Osric’s teaching, they knew far more about the inner workings of the Therian nation than humans were ever meant to know.

  “Well,” Tias let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m still convinced Osric knows more than he’s saying. Pain is clearly not sufficient motivation. Are you ready to take a crack at him?”

  Roberto couldn’t explain his success, but he had a way of reading people, of ferreting out their weaknesses and finding unexpected motivations. “I’m always willing to try.”

  They retraced their steps, but Roberto motioned to the observation booth as they approached the interrogation room. “I work best alone.” Osric would likely know the others were watching. Still, it would be less distracting if there was no one else in the room as they spoke.

  A guard opened the door for Roberto and he cringed as he stepped inside. The floor had been hosed down but the room still reeked of blood and urine. Osric opened his eyes, watching closely as Roberto moved to stand directly in front of him.

  “I’ve convinced Tias that you’ve had enough.” Charm could be as lethal a weapon as pain when wielded by a master. “I’ll allow you to shift, and when you’ve recovered, we’ll sit down like civilized men and review what you told the others.”

  “I told them everything.” Osric’s voice sounded gravelly and pain dulled his gaze.

  “I wasn’t here for much of the conversation. I’d like to hear it for myself.”

  Osric laughed, but the sound was thin and…maniacal? “I will tell you nothing. Your treachery will be punished. I am a faithful servant of Zophiel!” Suddenly his voice was stronger and Therian light burst within his eyes. “All for you, Mistress! I sacrifice all for you.”

  Roberto realized what Osric intended half a second too late. “Where’s the release?” he shouted to his unseen partners.

  “By the door.” Tias’ voice blared over the intercom.

  He ran for the release as golden light shimmered in his peripheral vision. Osric’s laughter ended abruptly and Roberto heard the sickening snap of bones and joints. He slammed his hand over the emergency release and spun back around in time to see a tiger fall motionless to the floor. Its front legs were hyperextended by the unnatural position in which it had been restrained and the collar was buried so deeply in the animal’s fur that it was no longer visible.

  The door was jerked open and Tias and Milliner rushed in.

  “Get the collar off him!” Milliner snapped.

  “It’s too late.” As if to support his conclusion, the tiger blurred then flowed back into Osric’s human form. His skin was whole again, his lacerations healed, his features relaxed and peaceful. The only evidence of his ordeal was the collar still circling his throat, covered with blood and tissue from the tiger.

  Milliner shook his head, clearly dumbfounded. “Why would he try to escape? He’s the one who designed the collar.”

  “He wasn’t trying to run.” Roberto shivered and dragged his gaze away from Osric’s body. “He was protecting Zophiel.” Roberto’s phone vibrated, but he ignored it as he struggled to process what he’d just seen.

  After a brief pause, Milliner’s phone rang and the general answered the call. “We’re in the middle of something. Is this important?” Milliner’s impatient tone drew Roberto’s attention. The general shifted the phone away from his ear and pressed the screen. “You’re on speaker, go ahead.”

  “This is Jarvis, sir. We came to relieve the guards at the old lab and…”

  Roberto moved closer to the phone. “Spit it out, man. None of us are in the mood for subtleties.”

  “They’re both dead, sir. Looks like the wolf got loose and mauled them or his pack came
to rescue him. I’m not sure.”

  Roberto scrubbed his hand over his eyes as tension gripped his gut. “And the girl? Is she dead too?”

  “My team is searching for her but they haven’t found anything yet.”

  “Any sign of a struggle? Were the doors forced open? Have weapons been discharged?” Milliner rattled off his questions as his hostile gaze locked on Roberto. “What about surveillance? Was any of it caught on camera?”

  “None of the above, sir. The building was unlocked when we got here, the surveillance equipment was moved to the mountain lab months ago and the prisoners were just gone.”

  “Copy.” Milliner shook his head, his disgust unmistakable.

  “What should we do with the bodies, sir?”

  The question had likely been meant for Milliner, but Roberto reasserted what was left of his authority. “Bury them a good distance from the building and continue the search. I’m on my way.”

  Without argument, Milliner ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. “Sounds like someone was watching at the Clubhouse after all.”

  Roberto ignored the defiance in Milliner’s statement and shook off his shock. “You two clean up this mess and I’ll go see if I can figure out exactly what happened.”

  * * * * *

  Devon sat before a roaring fire bundled in a down quilt and still she shivered. Ian had flown her to a tiny, rustic cabin high in the mountains. Judging from the relatively short duration of their flight, she was pretty sure they were still in Colorado. More than that she didn’t know or care. She needed to think, to make plans and changes, and that would have been impossible with her mother and brother hovering about. The pain and worry in their eyes had been more than she could take. How could she possibly allay their fears while her own emotions were still so painful?

  Ian understood. She’d instinctively known she could count on him. He was protective by nature, a true champion. And that was exactly what she needed right now. He’d stand between her and the world, holding everyone at bay while she licked her wounds.