by Laura Wright
“I call him Grandfather.”
It took only a moment to register, but when it did he felt her smile in the dark.
“Gia…” he said, almost pained.
“Keep talking,” she urged, her thumb moving over his palm in small circles. “Tell me more about the lilies and the pools, and your cat, and the Wildlands. Paint me a picture, Hiss. Just until I fall asleep.”
He would. Then he would have to ease his hand from hers and return to his cot. Having the guards find them locked together in the morning would surely be their demise.
Not that he cared about himself. He was destined for death, the certain path of a Pantera traitor. But not Gia. He was going to make sure she lived…and found a way out of here…found a way home if it was the last thing he ever did.
“When I was a young cat,” he began, “I foolishly tried to consume one of those lilies.”
“Oh no,” she whispered, laughing softly.
“Quiet now, female,” he ordered gently. “Close your eyes. Let me help you sleep.”
***
Gia woke, as she often did, to the flicker of fluorescent lights and the sounds of cage doors groaning open and Pantera being hauled out. The guards always started on Side A. Taking two at a time, while Side B got fed. It had been that way every morning since she’d arrived nearly eight months ago.
Since she was snatched off the streets of Miami after visiting her cousin.
Her eyes slid to the cage beside her. He was there, standing in the very center, as he always was, waiting. No matter how weary, how blood-drained he was, he fought them. Sometimes it seemed there was more blood on the floor of his cage than left in his body. Maybe that was why he did it.
Her gaze moved over him, as curious as she was coveting. He was very tall, and though he hadn’t had much to eat since he’d come to the Sub, he retained most of his thick muscle. His head was skull shaved most days now, but she knew his hair was thick and black. His face was starkly, brutally handsome, and she often wondered what it looked like when he smiled.
He was nude. The only Pantera who was. She’d seen why a few days after he’d come. Every time he fought the guards, the standard gray sweatpants all the males wore would either get ripped up or bloody or both. Finally, they stopped giving them to him.
He didn’t seem to care.
Gia did though. There were female guards, and a few male guards, who stopped to taunt him, stare at his incredible form, threaten him with more than just looking. Though she had no right to claim him in her mind, he was her male. He’d saved her from losing what had been left of her mind. He gave her hope that maybe, just maybe, she would see her Wetlands again.
He glanced her way then and though he didn’t smile, never smiled, she felt the deep longing—the need to connect—in his stark gray gaze. He was such a tortured male. In deep pain. And she knew it hadn’t just come from being here. He’d been that way when he arrived.
“Hungry, kitty cats?” The male guard called Dax who serviced their side of the Sub moved down the row with a stack of bowls. Though choked full of supplements, the food was barely palatable. But it was all there was.
After sliding Hiss his bowl, Dax walked straight past Gia without even glancing her way. Her stomach growled, then rolled.
“Wait,” she called out, despising how desperate she sounded. “I didn’t get mine.”
Dax looked over his shoulder at her, his watery blue eyes moving from her face down her body. “Oh, you’ll get yours, sweetheart.”
She shivered in the overlarge black smock that came to just above the knee. It wasn’t all that alluring, but to socially awkward, oversexed guards it might as well be lingerie.
“Why is she not being fed?” Hiss demanded.
Gia turned and gave him a shake of the head. Don’t.
He ignored her. He was at the front of his cage, thick fingers wrapped around the bars. “If you’re short a bowl,” he ground out, “she can have mine.”
The guard had finished passing out bowls now, and was making his way back to Gia’s cage. He took out his keys.
“You’re coming with me, sweet thing,” he said, strangely not using her lab name, Ca35.
“Why?” she asked, her insides starting to hum with anxiety. They never took her blood this early.
“Save your questions for the doc,” he said. “Now, are you going to be a nice kitten? Or does Dax have to use the cuffs on you?”
He looked like he really wanted her to act up. He was such a disgusting prick. She glanced over at Hiss. He was at the bars of her cage now, looking as feral and as close to a puma as she’d ever seen him. Her heart lurched. It was glorious. She wished she could see him in his cat form.
A cold, clammy hand wrapped around her wrist. Dax was in her cage, behind her. He shoved her toward the door.
“Don’t touch her,” Hiss snarled, banging on the bars. “Don’t you fucking touch her.”
“It’s okay,” she called back as Dax laughed. “I’ll be okay.”
But as she was being led away, toward the elevators, Hiss’s feral cries continued. They followed her. She could hear him, slamming himself against the bars. Stop, she wanted to scream. You need your strength too. But he knew, as she knew, that this was no cavy run.
She watched as Dax hit the third button. They always went to two. Never higher than that. Her heart slammed against her ribs.
“Someone’s in heat over you, sweet thing,” Dax said when the elevator door closed. “Can’t say I blame him.”
Gia refused to look at him. He made her sick to her stomach.
“Why do you act like you’re better than any of us, sweet thing? Us guards. Who take care of you. Feed you.” He took a step toward her. “You’re not.”
He took another step. “Get away from me,” she warned.
He laughed, his crooked teeth on full display. “If I wanted to, I could keep you in here all day.” He came at her now, and didn’t stop until she was pressed against the metal wall. Then he leaned in, near her ear. “On your back. Legs spread. I love Pantera pussy. So much sweeter than the human bitches I have to make due with.”
Gia tried not to breathe him in. If this piece of human trash ever ventured into the Everglades, to her Wetlands, her cat would rip his fucking throat out and toss it to the gators.
But her cat was inside her, pacing furiously in a cage of its own.
The guard licked the shell of her ear. “And then you’ll return the favor. I may not be as hung as those males you’re used to, but I can make the back of your throat burn.”
“Oh, me too,” she growled, then without thinking, brought her knee up between his legs. Hard. “And a few other parts as well,” she ground out.
He dropped back instantly. Then doubled over, wheezing. His head came up just an inch, and his eyes were wide and tear-filled as he stared at her—like he couldn’t believe what she’d done.
Gia was having a hard time believing it too. Right now the bastard couldn’t get any air in, but what happened when he was breathing right again? Forget cuffs, he’d do something ten times more vile to her as payback. She knew it.
The elevator door opened on three, and without even a look in his direction, she scrambled out and took off down a hallway. It reminded her of the hospital ward in Miami, and was deserted, thank Goddess. But only that first one. The minute she turned the corner, she heard voices and backed the hell up. She hid behind an opened door, making herself as small as possible. Then tried to quiet her breathing. What was on the third floor? She knew some of what happened in this building. Blood draws, injections, transplants…but her ultimate fear was the rumors of forced pregnancy.
She would never allow her body to be used that way.
She’d rather die.
A woman passed by the door where she was hidden. A nurse, holding the hands of two children. They looked to be around five or six. Her insides clenched and bile rose in her throat. Were they experimenting on children?
“Br17 in surger
y,” a male said on the other side of the door. “The pregnancy didn’t take. Why do we keep bothering with these human women? A few can handle the rigors of a puma gestational period, but most cannot.”
“He wants the human/Pantera DNA,” a female explained. “And whatever our gracious benefactor wants, he gets.”
The man snorted.
“We have a puma female coming up this morning,” the woman said. “The doctor will impregnate her with human sperm.”
“And if it doesn’t take?”
“The first few times are always difficult. Like oil and water. But strangely, the female adapts.” She sighed. “And if AI doesn’t work, we can try breeding naturally.”
“The guards would be the first to volunteer,” the male tossed in with thread of disgust. “Me? I wouldn’t touch one of those animals for all the money in the world. Dax or Peter are just aching for it. Thought we might have to let them go over all the drooling they do. But maybe not. Maybe they serve a bigger purpose here.”
Breathing heavy, Gia fought for control over her mind. A thousand thoughts were whirring around like a cyclone. Truly, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Didn’t want to believe it. Goddess, it was ten times worse than any of the nightmares she’d had in her cage. They were going to use her for breeding. And keep on using her until she conceived. And if she didn’t, they would strap her down and let the human piece of garbage touch her.
Her throat went tight and she felt faint. She gripped the wall. What did she do? What the hell did she do? She wanted to run. Escape. But how? How would she even try and get out? She had no power here. No cat to sniff her way to freedom. And leaving Hiss…
You will never see Hiss again, fool.
Suddenly, the door fell away. Gia slipped, then caught herself, looked up. The breath left her body. There they all were. The man, the woman and Dax. The latter looked furious, red-faced and breathing hard. Without a word, he grabbed her, yanked her forward and shoved her toward a gurney. She slammed into the mattress and metal, nearly colliding with a surgical tray. Pain lanced through her.
“Easy, Dax,” the woman scolded. “She’s our new breeder. Our benefactor will not be pleased if you injure one of his pumas.”
“She nearly took out my nuts in the elevator,” the guard snarled. “I might be permanently injured.”
“Hope not,” said the man, sliding his gaze to the woman. “If she doesn’t get knocked up with the turkey baster, we may just have to send you in. If you get my meaning.”
Dax’s eyes went from ice to blazing fire in seconds. He understood. All too well.
Never,Gia vowed blackly, her gaze going from the man to the woman to the surgical table, back to Dax.
The grin that touched his mouth as his gaze covetously skimmed her body made her insides wilt.
Never.
Grabbing a blade from the surgical tray, she hacked into both her wrists. No slow death. No chance of recovery. She had to destroy herself before they did it for her.
Sweet pain rushed her like an ocean wave, and just as she was going for her throat, she crumpled to the floor.
CHAPTER 2
Hiss hadn’t stopped moving, hadn’t stopped pacing his cell since Gia was taken. What the hell were they doing to her? Was it only a blood draw? Or something else?
“Fuck,” he growled, slamming his open hand against the bars. Again. He was bruised as hell. But he didn’t care.
“Easy,” came a male voice behind him. “Some of us are trying to forget about that.”
Hiss turned to the male in the cage beside him. “Forget about what?”
“Fucking.”
His name was Blade. A former Pantera Suit, who Hiss had never met before coming to the Sub. The male kept mostly to himself. Never had his blood taken. He was required to give other, more intimate samples.
The sound of the elevator descending brought Hiss’s head around. He stalked forward, clung to the bars and watched. Finally—it felt like hours—the door opened. Every cell in Hiss’s body went numb. Even his cat remained quiet as the two guards walked a very pale, very slow-moving Gia into her cell. Hiss switched to the side of the cage they shared. She looked like hell. Her long blond hair was matted to her beautiful face, the loose strands covering her large, expressive coffee-brown eyes. Her black shirt looked wet in places.
As he tried to will her to look up, look at him, they dumped her on her cot then left without a word. It was only when she let her arms fall to her sides that Hiss saw the true horror of what was done to her. The white, bloodstained bandages around her wrists.
A howl erupted from him, so loud and so fierce, the Sub started to vibrate. Or shit, maybe that was his mind, his skin, his blood. Whatever it was it had unleashed the cat inside him. The cat who had remained docile up until now. He would kill them. Every last one of them for this.
“Hiss,” Blade uttered from his cage. “You’re going to bring them back down here with dart guns.”
Hiss turned and snarled at him. “Let them come.”
“Do you want to have her hurt further?” the male returned, his black eyes both understanding and untamed. “You may be ready to fight to the death, but what about Gia?”
The male’s words penetrated and hit their mark. It will come. That time will come.
“I have to get her out of here,” he said.
Blade looked at him as if he were discussing getting to the moon with a paper airplane. But he nodded. “Hell. If you find a way, brother, please take me with you.”
Hiss didn’t answer. He turned back to Gia. She looked so small, so thin. How had he let her go with them? Not just this morning, but every goddamned day? It wouldn’t happen again. Not while he still breathed.
“Gia?” Hiss called out to her. “Look at me. Please, ma chère.” My dear. My darling.
She didn’t move. Her eyes were open, but she was just staring straight ahead. Broken.
With a softer howl, Hiss slid down the bars and dropped on his bare ass. He stuck his arm through, reaching for her. He would wait all day, all night, numb limbs be damned. He didn’t give a fuck. And when they came to take his blood again, he would spill theirs instead.
***
She’d failed. And yet she wasn’t on the third floor with her feet in the stirrups or Dax on top of her, now was she? Her lip attempted to curl, but she was too tired. And her wrists ached. Not from the cuts, but from the sutures. They hadn’t been gentle.
Fuckers.
She blinked a few times, then looked around. Back in her cage. Quiet. No idea what time of day it was. She hadn’t eaten a thing, but she wasn’t hungry. What now? What would come for her now?
“Why, Gia?”
Hiss’s voice. The low, soft timbre was like a tonic for whatever ailed her. Night and day. It was her sustenance. And when she was away from it…well…bad things happened.
“Why what?” she whispered. She was so tired. She just wanted to sleep. An endless sleep.
“Why did they do that to you?” he pressed.
Her head lifted a fraction and her gaze slid to his and she forced an exhausted smile. “They didn’t.”
As her words and their meaning settled over him, his eyes grew wide with horror, and a low growl rumbled in his chest. The sound was fearsome. Strangely, even more so than the criminals that ran this hellhole.
“Come over here,” he commanded blackly. “Crawl if you have to. But come over here right now.”
He hadn’t yelled. In fact, his voice had never risen above a whisper. But it didn’t have to. It was pure animal. The male puma commanding the female. And her instincts compelled her to obey. She got down on the ground and crawled toward him until she was on her knees before the bars. Hiss took both her hands in his. Gently, but forcefully. He didn’t even glance at the bandages. His eyes were pinned to hers. They were a formidable stormy gray.
“How dare you,” he snarled, keeping his voice low. “You were going to leave me? Leave this motherfucking earth without saying
goodbye to me?”
Tears pricked her eyes. “Yes.”
His mouth, his beautiful mouth that she’d never even tasted—not even once—formed a hard line.
She forced her chin up. “And if they take me again, I’ll try even harder.”
“Stop it,” he commanded. “Stop talking.”
“I’m not going down that way, Hiss. Having some human’s semen forced into me. Making me pregnant. Making me have a child. Over and over. And if that doesn’t work, letting that piece of shit, Dax, climb on top of me.”
Hiss’s eyes turned black with rage, and for one brief second Gia thought she saw his cat. It flashed in and out of his features as he bared his teeth.
“Do you understand now?” she whispered.
He nodded. Very slowly. Very deliberately.
“I’m going to get up now,” she said. “Go to my cot and stay there. I think it’s best if you and I keep away from each other.”
“You don’t want that,” he countered, refusing to let her go.
“Of course I don’t. But if they think you mean anything to me, they’ll use it to get me on my back. And I don’t know if I have the strength to watch you suffer.”
She watched her words spear his heart, the heart he always claimed he didn’t possess anymore. But she knew what was housed and cared for by his ribs. A male of great feeling and passion and pain.
Her eyes on the bars, she pulled her hand from him. This time he let her. And she stood and slowly made her way back to her cot. She felt his eyes on her as she lay down and curled into herself. Tonight, if she had a nightmare, she would have to do everything in her power to resist the pull of Hiss’s warmth…arms…voice…
CHAPTER 3
He hadn’t slept. Not for a second. He hadn’t allowed it. Guards normally didn’t come at night, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He’d thought about what he would do if they tried to take her again before his plan could be put in motion. But his ideas weren’t very concrete. Without access to the ones taking her, he could do little. So for the rest of the night, he’d prayed it wouldn’t come to that. And when the instinctual stirring of dawn broke inside him and the fluorescents flickered on above him, he was thankful.