by Jae
The food looked less than appetizing, but Kelsey wolfed it down without hesitation. She looked around as if searching for more.
“Sorry, that’s all I have.” Rue gripped the wolf’s head with both hands and looked into her eyes. “Kelsey,” she said, trying to make her voice strong. “You need to shift. Shift!”
Kelsey groaned, a sound full of agony.
Rue swallowed. Was she asking too much of Kelsey? Would she refuse?
Kelsey rolled onto her side. Her blood-crusted fur retreated, leaving behind human skin.
Rue moved to the left, blocking Kelsey’s nakedness from the two Saru. “Danny! Watch! Watch her!” She dug her fingers into his fur and made sure he kept looking at Kelsey. “This is what you need to do. Shift! Shift now!” With one hand, she repeated the signs for “watch” and “change” again and again, even though she wasn’t sure he could understand sign language in his wolf form.
Bones cracked. Paws morphed into forearms and hands. Kelsey let out a high-pitched whine.
Danny rolled onto his side, mirroring Kelsey’s position. His body trembled. He whimpered and groaned, but nothing happened. His body stayed that of a wolf.
Helplessness gripped Rue. She bent closer. “Shift! Danny, shift!”
Spasms shook Danny’s body.
“Shit, he’s not going to make it,” Glenn said from his position on the floor.
Rue wanted to whirl around and hit him, but she stayed focused on Danny, stroking his furry ears.
Another set of hands joined hers on the black fur.
Rue knew those hands. She looked up. “Kelsey!”
Her bare shoulder covered in blood, Kelsey bent over Danny. “Hold your hand in front of his nose.”
“What?” In Danny’s state, he might fight her, thinking he would suffocate.
“Just lightly. Do it!” Kelsey took one of Rue’s hands and moved it onto Danny’s muzzle, then pulled back.
Danny’s chest widened beneath a deep breath. His nostrils flared as he sucked in Rue’s scent.
“Now tell him again,” Kelsey said.
“Shift!” Rue’s other hand trembled as she formed the signs. “You need to shift, Danny!”
Danny’s muscles convulsed. His lips pulled back into a growl.
Rue stared. Were his canines retracting?
Yes!
Black fur became shorter and shorter as it absorbed into Danny’s skin. His chest broadened, and his joints reshaped to form human arms and legs. White sclera formed around his hazel irises until at last, Rue stared into the dazed eyes of a human boy.
Then his eyes fluttered shut. His head lolled to the side.
“No!” Rue reached for his wrist, but all she could feel was the hammering of her own heart. It took her a few seconds to finally feel his pulse. “Thank God.” She stumbled to her feet and gripped Danny beneath the arms. “Grab his feet,” she said to Kelsey. “We need to get out of here before the police show up or these two get loose.”
Chapter 59
Pain stabbed through Kelsey with every step as they hurried through the tunnel with Danny over her uninjured shoulder. Even shifting hadn’t been enough to heal the bullet wound.
“Are you sure he’s not too heavy?” Rue shouted over the crunching of the gravel. “I can take over.”
“I’m a Wrasa, remember?” At the moment, she was a Wrasa about to collapse, but Rue didn’t need to know that.
When Rue stopped, Kelsey almost crashed into her. Rue’s grip around her waist kept her upright.
“You okay?” Rue asked.
“Yeah. Why are you stopping?” Kelsey strained to see over Rue’s shoulder.
“The Saru left their clothes here.” Rue picked up a coat. “Let’s get you and Danny dressed.”
Kelsey helped to wrestle Danny into the coat and then put him down in a spot that seemed halfway clean and at a safe distance from the third rail. Hastily, she slid into the smaller Saru’s jeans. She struggled with his sweater for a moment but couldn’t lift her arm high enough to put it on. Damn. In her hurry to get out of the concrete chamber, she had left her coat behind with the rest of her clothes. No time to go back and get it.
Rue shrugged out of her own coat and handed it to Kelsey.
A new wave of pain flared through Kelsey’s shoulder as she tried to get her arm into the sleeve.
Without a word, Rue helped her and buttoned the coat. “There.”
“Thank you.” Kelsey turned up the collar to inhale Rue’s scent.
Rue grabbed the taller Saru’s clothes too. “Just in case they manage to free themselves,” she said with a hint of a grin.
Noises cut through the darkness behind them.
“Humans!” Kelsey gently put Danny back over her shoulder and raced toward the lights of the emergency exit. Running jostled her wounds. She nearly screamed but bit her lip and kept quiet. Rue’s scent wafting up from the coat dulled the pain a little.
With Rue in the lead, they rushed up the stairs.
Rue fumbled with the hatch of the emergency exit.
Footsteps echoed behind them. Walkie-talkies crackled.
“Hurry,” Kelsey whispered.
Finally, the hatch opened, and they burst through the emergency exit and onto the sidewalk.
Kelsey sucked the fresh air into her lungs. Shifting had depleted her energy, but she couldn’t rest now. Her gaze darted left and right in search of a taxi that could take them to safety.
Next to them, the sliding door of a van crashed open. Two people jumped out.
Before Kelsey could react, she looked into the muzzle of a pistol sticking out of a paperbag.
A pair of golden fox eyes loomed behind the pistol’s silencer. “Get in,” the calm voice of a woman said.
Oh, shit. Tala Peterson! Kelsey hesitated. Within seconds, she calculated her chances of disarming Tala.
The fox was half a head shorter than Kelsey, but her stance was that of an alpha. Kelsey had heard that Tala Peterson had been raised by Syak. That was part of what made her so dangerous. To keep up with the rest of the pack, Tala had to be faster, smarter, and meaner than any wolf.
And she wasn’t alone—a taller woman with the glint of hunting fever in her eyes directed a second gun at them.
“Trust me,” Tala said. “You don’t want to risk it. Now get in.”
Kelsey attempted to hand Danny over to Rue and climb into the van. If she was lucky, Tala would focus on her and Rue could escape with Danny.
“Oh, no. Not just you.” Tala waved the paperbag-covered gun. “She and the boy are coming with us too.”
Kelsey exchanged a quick glance with Rue and saw the same despair she felt reflected in Rue’s eyes. Finally, Kelsey gently bedded Danny down on some blankets in the back of the van and crawled in after him.
As soon as Rue had climbed in, Tala slid the van’s door closed and locked it. They were trapped.
* * *
Instead of starting the van, one of their captors disappeared while the other climbed behind the wheel.
Rue cradled Danny in her arms. “What are they waiting for?”
Kelsey shrugged and then clutched her shoulder as a new wave of pain washed over her.
“How bad is it?” Rue moved closer and peeled back Kelsey’s coat to look at her shoulder.
“Don’t worry about me. One more shift, and I’ll be fine. But if I do that now, I’ll pass out.” Shifting was out of the question. She couldn’t leave Rue alone in this situation, even if it meant being in pain for longer.
Rue gently prodded her shoulder around the wound. “I’m not sure if the bullet went through or is stuck in your shoulder.”
Kelsey leaned into the touch. Rue’s cool fingers felt good on her overheated skin.
The van’s sliding door opened.
The scent of anger and humiliation hit Kelsey’s nose before she looked up. Uh-oh.
Growling, the two Saru they had left tied up in the subway tunnel climbed into the van. Rafael, the smaller one, was
wearing Kelsey’s slacks and coat while Glenn was wrapped in a blanket that stank of urine.
Tala herded them into the van, jumped in too, and slammed the door shut. “Drive,” she told her assistant.
Faced with two Saru glaring at her, Kelsey crawled back until her shoulders hit metal. She groaned.
“Where to?” the woman in the driver’s seat asked.
“The safe house in Queens,” Tala said.
The blood drained from Kelsey’s face.
Rue leaned over and whispered, “Safe house?”
It sounded like a secure location, a sanctuary where they would find shelter from the Saru, but Kelsey knew that in their case, it was everything but safe. “They sometimes bring humans or rogue Wrasa there until the kill order is executed,” she whispered back.
“Christ.” Rue paled. “We need to get out of here.”
Kelsey looked around the van for a way out.
Glenn leaned against the sliding door, still glaring at her.
The quiet but intense Tala Peterson sat across from her and didn’t let them out of her sight for even a second.
No way out.
A bump in the road jostled Kelsey’s shoulder. She groaned.
Danny groaned too.
Kelsey and Rue bent over him to see if he was waking up but found no signs of it. “He needs a doctor,” Rue said. “And so does Kelsey.”
“I can save the doctor the effort and put her out of her misery right here,” Glenn mumbled.
Tala’s golden eyes flashed. She straightened herself to her full five-foot-three. “That’s not how the Saru do things. No one touches her without the council’s permission.”
Glenn turned toward Tala. Their gazes locked in a silent battle. Finally, Glenn ducked his head. “I was just joking.”
His scent told Kelsey otherwise. They had humiliated Glenn by tying him up like a pig and stealing his clothes. Kelsey swallowed heavily. A humiliated alpha wolf was a dangerous enemy.
“Just joking?” Tala lifted one slender brow. “We’ll see how funny Jorie Price finds it if you slit her bodyguard’s throat.”
Glenn looked like a dog getting caught stealing the turkey from the table on Thanksgiving. “Uh, she’s part of the maharsi’s pack?”
“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Rue raised her voice. “My son needs a doctor—now! You can talk about killing Kelsey and me later.”
“Don’t give them any ideas,” Kelsey whispered.
Twenty minutes later, the van slowed and then stopped.
Kelsey exchanged a glance with Rue and tensed her muscles. Maybe she could put up a struggle that would keep the Saru busy long enough for Rue to get away with Danny. Surely Tala wouldn’t risk shooting them on a busy street full of humans.
But as the sliding door opened, Kelsey felt as if she were transported back in time. The broad street lay empty, not a car or a human in sight. Tall trees and manicured hedges blocked the view from the medieval-looking manor houses around them.
“Zoe, you take the boy,” Tala said to the driver. She pointed her gun at Rue as if she knew that Kelsey wouldn’t try to escape without her. The fox sent a warning glance in Kelsey’s direction. “If you try anything funny, she dies.”
Kelsey curled her hands into fists.
Tala led them over a cobblestone pavement toward a Tudor-style mansion.
When they entered, the high ceilings and the scent of walnut from the hardwood floors made Kelsey relax for a moment, but then the faded odor of fear and blood drifted down the spiral staircase. Someone was killed up there!
She scrambled to catch up with Zoe, who was carrying Danny upstairs.
As soon as they entered one of the bedrooms, Rue took charge and directed Zoe toward one of the twin beds in the room. “Put him down here.”
Kelsey wanted to walk over and join Rue, needing to stay close to her pack, but she had learned to suppress her needs. Humans weren’t used to the closeness between pack members, and Rue had to focus on Danny now, not on her.
“Sit down before you collapse, Kelsey.” Rue patted the edge of Danny’s bed.
Grateful, Kelsey rushed over and sank onto the bed.
Rue hurried to the bathroom and returned with a washcloth. She sat down next to Kelsey and bathed Danny’s face and neck with the washcloth. “Come on, Danny,” she whispered. “Wake up. Please, wake up.”
When Glenn walked over to see what Rue was doing, she scowled at him. “Can you give us some space?”
This is hard on her. Showing her warm, vulnerable side while she knows she’s being observed.
Rue and Glenn continued their silent stare-down until Tala said, “Glenn, go and call the closest Wrasa doctor available. Get him to come here ASAP. Rafael, get us some food.” She pulled out her wallet and slapped a few bills into Rafael’s hand.
As he hurried away, Kelsey’s stomach growled, but at the same time, her insides clenched with tension. Rafael seemed like the friendliest of the Saru, and with him gone, who knew what Tala Peterson would do to them. A Saru with the cleverness of a fox and the attitude of an alpha wolf was a dangerous opponent.
Tala waved her assistant over. “Zoe, search them. Give me their phones.”
Kelsey’s last hope vanished. If the Saru took their phones, they couldn’t call her father, Jorie, or anyone else who might be able to help them. A growl rose up her chest as she watched Zoe slide her hands over Rue.
Before she could tell Zoe to take her paws off Rue, Zoe finished and handed over Rue’s cell phone and her car keys to Tala. Then Zoe patted down Kelsey. Her hand landed on Kelsey’s injured shoulder, making her whine.
“Careful.” Rue glowered at her. “Don’t hurt her.”
Zoe stepped back and shook her head. “She must have lost her phone in the tunnel.”
My phone. Kelsey tried to remember where she had put it. Probably in the back pocket of her pants. And now Rafael is wearing them. If she could somehow get her hands on the pants without anyone noticing… A grim smile formed on her lips. Who knew I’d ever want to get my hands into a man’s pants.
* * *
A knock on the door interrupted their silent vigil over Danny.
“Come in,” Tala said.
The door opened to reveal Shelby Carson wearing jeans and her pajama top.
Oh, shit. Kelsey clutched the edge of the bed. Of all the doctors in New York, they had to call her. Don’t say anything stupid, Shelby, or you’ll be in a lot of trouble.
“I came as fast as I could.” Shelby stopped when her gaze fell on Rue and Kelsey. “What are you doing h—?”
“Are you the doctor?” Rue asked, interrupting Shelby. “Then please help him.” She gestured at Danny.
Shelby stiffened. Her gaze flickered to Tala, who leaned against the wall, arms folded over her chest, and was watching them. “You do know that I’m a psychiatrist, not an emergency physician, right?”
“We can’t be picky,” Tala said. “There are not too many Wrasa doctors, especially not in a city like New York. Now help the boy.”
Shelby hurried past her, set her bag onto the bed, and bent over Danny. Her face was carefully expressionless as she felt his pulse and listened to his breathing.
“What?” Rue rushed to the other side of the bed, where she could lean over Danny without getting in Shelby’s way, and stroked Danny’s pale face. “What’s wrong with him?”
Even Tala stepped closer to see what was going on.
Shelby held up one hand, indicating that she hadn’t finished her examination.
Kelsey’s tension rose another notch. Her itching skin stretched uncomfortably over her arms. No! If she shifted now, with her energy already running low, she would pass out too. She slid off the bed. Her knees felt wobbly, but she joined Rue on the other side of the bed, knowing it would calm her.
Shelby swabbed Danny’s arm and ran her fingers over the inside of his elbow, probably in search of a vein. She glanced at Tala. “Who’s his natak?”
Tala shook her
head. “His alpha isn’t—”
“I’m his alpha,” Rue said. She met Shelby’s astonished gaze until Shelby nodded.
“All right. Then I need your permission.” Shelby nodded at the needle in her hand.
“What’s that for?” Rue asked.
“Just a glucose drip,” Shelby said.
When Rue nodded, Shelby inserted the needle into Danny’s arm.
He groaned. His eyelids fluttered but didn’t open.
“Hold your hand in front of his nose. There are too many scary scents in this room.” Shelby eyed Tala and her young assistant. “His subconscious is telling him it’s not safe to wake up. Smelling you will calm him.”
Rue held her hand in front of Danny’s nose.
Shelby attached tubing to an IV bag, turned, and looked from Rue to the Saru. “Um, can someone hold this, please?”
After a quick glance to Tala, Zoe stepped forward and lifted the bag so that the fluid could run into Danny’s veins.
Kelsey stared down at the pale Danny and moved closer to Rue, soothed by her scent too. “Is there anything else you can do to help him?”
Shelby shook her head. “I don’t think he’s seriously hurt. Just a few scrapes and bruises.”
“Then why is he still unconscious?” Rue asked.
“Shifting drained his energy, but the glucose should help. I’m sure he’ll wake up soon.”
Kelsey prayed that it was true. She had heard stories of young Wrasa slipping into a coma after shifting too often and on an empty stomach.
Without looking away from Danny, Rue reached out and wrapped her free hand around Kelsey’s.
Warmth flowed through Kelsey, despite the relative coolness of Rue’s hand compared to her own. Grateful, she gripped Rue’s hand more tightly.
“Ouch. Careful,” Rue said. “I’ve got a few scrapes on my palms.”
Immediately, Kelsey eased up on her grip. She cradled Rue’s hand in both of hers and lifted it to inspect it more closely. Little cuts and abrasions covered Rue’s palm. A row of bite marks punctured her forearm. She caressed the back of Rue’s hand, trying to soothe away the pain. “Can you take a look at Rue? She probably needs a tetanus shot too.”