by Zoe Winters
She allowed the glow to come to her eyes and her fangs to descend, then she took a deep breath and bit into the bag. She was right. It was disgusting. It was cold and dead. There wasn’t even the smallest trace of an emotion in it. This would keep her going about as well as weeds in the backyard would keep a human going.
But she persisted and drank down the other two bags in quick succession, trying not to taste the terrible swill.
She turned to find a giant platter of raw meat had been placed inside the other guy’s cell. Then the mystery of what kind of therian he was, was solved. A reddish-brown and white wolf rolled and tumbled out of the plain white clothing they wore in the cubes, then he devoured the meat. He seemed to be enjoying his food much more than Sydney had enjoyed hers. Maybe it would divert his attention away from her.
After he’d cleaned the plate, he went to a corner and curled up and promptly fell asleep. Minutes later, some lab coats came in. One drew some of his blood into a vial much like had been done earlier with her, though she suspected this was for a different purpose.
If this place was run by magic users, the therians were having their blood stolen for use in magic. The second technician snipped some fur and put it into a plastic bag. Yes, they were using it for magic. Unless he was new, too, and they were running tests on his genetic makeup. But somehow Sydney thought they weren’t as interested in a run-of-the-mill werewolf as they were in her freakish self.
A couple of hours passed. Every now and then the wolf twitched like he was having a dream. During this time, another lab coat came in and took his old clothes away, replacing them with fresh folded clothes.
Sydney watched the preternaturals in the cubes below her. A lot of them paced. Some slept while lab techs took blood. Some were agitated. Others seemed resigned to their fates. How long had they all been in here? How long would she be in here?
When the wolf woke, he prowled the cube, pacing back and forth, watching her in wolf form for several minutes. Hadn’t the raw meat been enough to take the predatory edge off? She stayed in the far corner of her cube, trying to remain as far from him as possible, but somehow she knew he could smell her through the glass. And if she were any kind of proper vampire, she would have been able to smell him, too.
She should be more distressed by the general situation, but the anxiety over the wolf had been successfully distracting her over all the possible threats to her safety here. The magical humans were the real enemy. She knew that. But it was hard to keep that thought in the forefront of her mind when the wolf kept growling and watching her like she was a bone he wanted to gnaw on.
Finally, the tension eased and he shifted back to his far-too-gorgeous human form. This guy had to be working out somehow because nature didn’t just give somebody muscles like that. Jacob had spent hours in the compound’s gym every week, and yet even he hadn’t been this delicious-looking.
Sydney’s hand flew to her mouth when she realized her fangs had popped out. Did she want to sleep with him or have him for dinner?
Yes.
He wasn’t the only predator here. Too bad nature hadn’t given her anything to back that up with.
The werewolf noticed her gawking and came to the edge of his cube, the closest he could get to her. He stood in all his naked glory staring her down until she averted her eyes. God, Syd, what is wrong with you?
If the attraction were mutual, maybe he wouldn’t try to break through the glass and maul her, but the hard look in his eyes gave her little hope of that. She glanced surreptitiously through the veil of her blonde hair to watch him turn and move to his clothes in the center of his cube. She tried unsuccessfully not to ogle his back and his ass and the back of his thighs. Stop, Syd!
She was stopped from further angering the wolf or embarrassing herself beyond repair by the too-happy robotic voice.
“Number 5857B, please prepare to exit your cell for daily exercise.”
The glass door on her cube slid open. But then, so did the door to the right of her… 5856. The wolf. His eyes glowed as he glanced over. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. There was no longer any barrier stopping him from coming into her cube. Was that how the previous occupant had gone out? It hadn’t been lost on her that the wolf was just 5856 and she was 5857B. They weren’t exactly subtle around here.
But then warm air that smelled like raspberries hit her in the face, and suddenly for some reason she felt very calm and peaceful.
The robotic voice spoke again: “Please follow the glowing arrows to the exercise yard, and remember to play nice with your friends.”
The word friends, snapped her out of the calm enough to think yeah, right. She wasn’t sure why she’d had that mental break for a second where everything was roses and chocolate hearts, but she was mostly back to normal. The tension of moving in a single file line with the rest of the preternaturals who were far stronger than her was more than enough to shake any sense of peace she’d felt.
She followed the glowing arrows and the werewolf in front of her. His white T-shirt practically glowed against his olive skin. Just underneath where the fabric ended on his arm was a black tattoo with the number 5856. Sydney guessed it hadn’t been a voluntary tattoo and was thankful she didn’t have one. Yet.
As they walked down the hallway, she couldn’t help being mesmerized by the way his muscles moved under the shirt as he walked. She wanted to lick… no bite… no stroke…
The wolf in front of her growled, startling her, and her face flamed. His back was to her. How in he hell could he know she was thinking inappropriate things about him?
Sense of smell. Oh yeah. Wow, this was mortifying. Sydney blushed even harder and was thankful when they reached the open air of the exercise yard. The moon was waxing. It would be full in just a couple of days. She wondered if she’d have to come out here with therians when that happened.
They’d all have to shift under the moon; they wouldn’t be able to control or stop it. What if the wolf came after her then? Maybe if she talked to him. Maybe she could diffuse the situation somehow. Maybe when he was in wolf form he’d remember she was a friend and not food.
She followed him to the edge of the yard and tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me.”
He rounded on her and growled. “WHAT?” That dangerous glow was in his eyes again.
“I-I’m Sydney.”
“No,” he said with a nasty sneer, “You are 5857B. And you’d better get used to it.”
She couldn’t believe she’d been attracted to him just minutes ago. More than just threatening and intimidating, out here where he could talk to her, he was just plain unpleasant.
“Well, sorry,” she mumbled. “I just thought we didn’t have to hate each other.” Because I was hoping maybe then you wouldn’t go psychotic on me later.
Sydney took several steps back as he moved into her space.
“Let me be the one to educate you about things here. We are not going to be allies. You will never speak to me again. And if you have any sense in that stupid blonde head of yours, you won’t attempt to call attention to yourself with any of the others, either. You are an abomination. We smell your weakness, and everyone in this yard wants to rip you apart to undo the mistake your idiotic parents made. Stay the fuck away from all of us or learn the consequences of being what you are.”
Sydney was stunned into silence. It wasn’t as if she thought they were going to cuddle on the couch for movie night or anything, but she also hadn’t expected such acidic words from someone who didn’t even know her.
“GO!” he growled, pointing to the far end of the yard.
***
Noah watched Sydney scurry away from the other prisoners. Good. Now if she could do that for just one more night because two nights from now, he was busting them out. She hadn’t recognized him. But of course, she wouldn’t. Her sense of smell wasn’t as developed as his. And he’d changed so much from when they were kids. Then again, she had, too. She’d transformed from a child into a woman, and the loo
ks a few of the others gave her as she passed, left no doubt.
He growled. He’d never get out of here with her. And he’d chew his own arm off before he left without her.
If he hadn’t been sure before, he was sure now. Sydney was his true mate.
Just before he’d been kidnapped, Noah had asked his dad about mates. The words Cole had spoken would never leave him: “You can take anyone you want for a mate, but a true mate is determined by blood and destiny. She’s out there somewhere. You’ll be happier if you listen to the instinct and don’t try to mark anyone but her.”
It was a heavy conversation for an eight year old, but he’d taken it to heart.
He’d asked why his mom was a demon and not a werewolf like them. It had seemed strange, even though Noah had always thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Jane had become a demon when she’d died giving birth to him and had been stuck up in Heaven before the preternaturals had severed the link between that place and earth.
She’d had screens in her room in Heaven that allowed her to see what was happening with her family. She’d watched his father fall apart from losing her while Noah had been taken in by a panther therian and a witch. She’d begged to be returned to make things right. The catch was that she had to become a demon to do it. The mating bond with his father had been true, though, and they’d remained connected in the change, upgrading Noah’s dad to an immortal in the process.
But before all that, his mom had started out human with a quirk. No one knew exactly how it had come to be, but she had some vampire blood in her veins. Since the first vampire had been created by an incubus and a werewolf, that blood made it possible for his mom to be Cole’s true mate. His dad hadn’t believed in true mates until he’d met her. After that, the overwhelming compulsion that overrode every other thought in his brain had been to protect her.
It was the same way Noah had always felt about Sydney. Even as a pup he’d never wanted to let her out of his sight, in case she needed him.
His mother had just enough blood that matched with werewolves to make being the alpha’s true mate possible, but it wasn’t as if werewolves were routinely taking mates with vampire blood. Still, Noah was as sure as his father had been. Sydney was his. And he had to get her out of here in one piece or he’d never recover from it.
Noah began his nightly run around the perimeter of the exercise yard. He couldn’t afford to break routine when he was so close. They couldn’t suspect anything or he’d lose the element of surprise and his only shot at getting out. In two nights he’d be strong enough, but he’d still have to do everything right. There was no margin for error. Especially not now.
As much as he’d wanted his freedom and to try to find his parents and pack, Noah had always accepted there was a chance he’d fail and either die or be punished severely for the infraction. It was an acceptable possibility a few nights ago, but not with Sydney in the mix. There was no scenario for defeat now.
He glanced her way every now and then when the progress in his perimeter lap wouldn’t make it obvious he was watching her. She was doing as he’d suggested, staying far from everyone. Good. What he’d told her was true, except the parts about him wanting her away from him.
The others would smell and sense her weakness. It could initiate the predatory response. Why would the idiots running this place let her mix with the others? Unless that was their hope.
He’d initially been relieved they hadn’t yet marked her with one of their terrible tattoos. But if they hadn’t, it could only mean one thing. They didn’t intend for her to live long enough to waste the ink.
Chapter Four
Noah sat in the corner of his cell trying to ignore Sydney on the other side and running the plan for the following night in his head. It was hardest for him to ignore her when she slept. He didn’t have to worry about her discovering things that could put her in danger. It was only the cameras he had to be concerned with. And sometimes they seemed barely real. It was harder to have the self control not to look at her when only hidden electronic eyes watched.
Noah felt the surge of power building for his birth moon, and for the first time he felt certain he could do this. It wasn’t a pipe dream or a vain hope to keep him going.
If he could get her to go with him, he knew he could get them out of the building. The people in charge had gotten slack with the security, putting too much faith in how they had beaten the prisoners down over time. And they trusted too much in the canned raspberry-scented calm they sent in through the vents before they let them out for exercise each night.
The cells were secure. Noah had checked. Nobody was getting out of those. But during one of the brief windows when they were allowed outside them…
The powers that be had already slacked on the number of guards. They never needed them, so why keep them all on the payroll? Occasional fights broke out in the yard on full moons, so there would be higher security, but that still just meant one or two more guards.
There was a service elevator he’d glimpsed many times, and once five months ago, he’d had the rarest opportunity to go check it out when the only guard that day had gotten sick. The security in the elevator had major holes. He’d always been good with tech. He got that from his dad. He’d watched and absorbed all the ways the tech around him worked while he was still just a pup and not even in a human form yet. He was convinced he’d developed a photographic memory during his time in wolf form. It was a skill that served him well now.
As soon as he’d shifted to human for the first time, he’d started taking machines and computers apart and putting them back together using all the schematics his brain had been processing nearly from birth. The adults in the pack had been amazed, but machines had an internal logic if you listened to them and learned their language. He’d learned how to find bugs and holes in programs and fix them or exploit them from the moment he’d been gifted with opposable thumbs. Part of it might have been a native intelligence or something genetic from his father, but part of it had been the very nature of his earliest years.
From the moment Noah was born until the first time he shifted, he’d had nothing much to do but watch and absorb and wait. And now, inside this building for so many years waiting for his birth moon—the next time he would have the power to act—he’d once again had nothing to do but watch and learn and absorb and wait.
When he’d seen the problems with the computer in the service elevator, he prayed no one else knew about it. He doubted they did. They’d gotten too confident. Noah had quickly returned to his cell with the others after that to think about what he’d seen. He couldn’t be sure what was outside the building but the idea of getting out of it ceased being an impossible dream after that.
Sydney stirred in her corner. He sensed the lab technician before he saw her. The glass door of the cell whooshed open and the woman moved into the room. Noah felt his muscles go rigid while his internal dialogue insisted that he had to remain cool and calm. He had to keep it together. He couldn’t react. For Sydney’s sake. Whatever they did, he couldn’t react. If he reacted, they’d suspect something. It would risk her.
But the woman in the lab coat just wanted to chat. And he knew this one vaguely. Kristen. She was one of the less evil people in the facility. He hoped he was right about her.
Noah could hear their conversation through the glass, though it was muffled.
Kristen studied her clipboard. “We got the test results from the lab,” she said.
“Oh?” Sydney said. She glanced his way then quickly away from him and back to the lab tech.
“You’ve stopped aging. We double-checked to make sure your aging hadn’t just slowed, but no, you’ve stopped completely. Around six or seven years ago. Do you understand what this means?”
It meant they could keep her alive and keep her for centuries if they decided to. Though, the lack of tattoo had pointed to not letting her live long, maybe they’d change their mind on that score now that they knew she was conditionally
immortal.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Sydney said. “I’m not a real vampire. I’m too weak to survive for hundreds or thousands of years. It doesn’t matter how my cells are aging or not aging.”
“That sounds like denial to me,” Kristen said. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Don’t do it, Sydney. Don’t trust her. This particular woman might not herself be the queen of evil, but she reported to someone who likely was. Noah held his breath, hoping Sydney wouldn’t let them inside her thoughts.
As if he’d somehow managed to communicate that warning to her—or she was just smart—Sydney shook her head.
“No, that’s okay. I’m just not as optimistic about it as you seem to be.”
Kristen looked like she would argue, but two more lab techs were moving down the hallway toward Sydney’s cell. The door whooshed open again, and they tossed a badly beaten and bleeding human into the room.
Kristen seemed startled when the blood splattered her white shoes. “We observed you last night and noted that perhaps you might need to drink from a living source given your history. We know vampires can’t stay as strong with bagged blood. Ordinarily we prefer that for our own safety, but you’ve been determined to be an exception to that rule.”
Keep it together, Noah. Stay calm. Don’t react. If he’d had any doubts that they now planned to keep her alive as long as possible, in the name of “science”, those doubts had vanished. With her test results, they found her even more intriguing, which could only mean bad things.
The man groaned from the middle of the cell.
“Well,” Kristen said, “I-I’ll just leave you alone with your meal. We’ll talk again in a few days, I’m sure.” She patted Sydney awkwardly on the arm and then strode briskly out of the cell, sparing a glance at Noah while he tried to stay blank of discernible emotion.