by Niles, Abby
The bellow of rage from behind her had her responding with a terrified scream as she stumbled down the cement entry stairs.
She hadn’t gotten this close to freedom to be taken again. She searched …for what? Someone to help? There was no one. Nothing but dirt and trees in the distance.
Intent on getting out of the open, she darted toward the trees. In the open she had no chance. But among the trees she could hopefully weave around enough to throw her scent off. If that was even possible.
An arm wrapped around her waist from behind, lifting her off her feet. A large hand muffled the shriek that flew from her mouth. She kicked, tore, anything to break out of the iron grip that held her.
“Stop fighting.”
The masculine voice increased her terror. He had her. She’d failed. No! Liam. She had to save Liam. She bit the fingers covering her mouth. A yelp sounded from behind her. As soon as her mouth was free she screamed, hoping someone would hear. Her heel connected hard with something. When the hold on her released, she shot forward.
A hand latched onto her upper arm, then she was whipped around and grabbed by side of her head. She slapped, wrenched.
“Look at me!”
His command forced her to make eye contact with him. And she froze.
Britton!
Not the madman. Liam’s friend Britton.
“I’ve got you. It’s over.”
It took a moment for the words to penetrate, when they did, she slumped against him. It was over. She was safe. Liam was safe.
No. Not safe. Not yet.
“Liam,” she cried, pushing away from him. “He’s still in there.”
“Where?”
“Seventh floor. In a c-cage.”
Britton stiffened. “We’ll get him out. I promise. But I can’t leave you out here alone. Not until I know what we’re dealing with.”
“We can’t just sit here!” She stared at the door. “He didn’t follow me out! He’s still up there, doing God knows what to Liam because I escaped.”
Horrible images of Liam being tortured in that cage, helpless to fight back, consumed her, and she ran back toward the building.
Britton grabbed her from behind again.
“No! We can’t leave him!” She wrestled with the arms locked around her. “No! Britton. Please! We have to save him. I can’t live without him, please!”
Britton swung her around and hugged her to his chest, his embrace unbreakable even though she struggled against him, trying to beat his torso with her fists. Then the first sob erupted from deep inside her. Then another and another. Until all the terror she’d experienced poured out of her in soul-wrenching bawls. She lost the ability to stand, and Britton lowered them to the ground, holding her, swearing everything would be okay, that Liam was okay.
She had to believe him.
“Did you get him?” Britton asked.
Ava lifted her head to find a stunning woman with long blond hair holstering a gun.
“Bastard gave me the slip. I think he sensed my presence before you grabbed her. He was already gone when I went inside. Followed his trail down to a parking garage, but I didn’t find a trace of him.”
After Ava struggled to her feet, a wave of blackness assaulted her and she shook her head. “Y-you didn’t get him?”
“No. But we will,” the woman said.
“I’m going to get Liam.” Britton sprinted off.
A roar started in her ears. He was still out there. A threat. To her. To Liam.
Oh God.
To Emma.
“M-my sister? Is she okay?”
The woman froze, eyes locked on Ava. “You have a sister?”
“She lives with me.”
“Was she captured, too?”
Ava shook her head and her temples pulsed with pain. “No, she was at a friend’s house. The blood. My room. If she sees it—”
“My team cleaned it up,” the woman said. The words sounded distorted.
Everything hurt. Her face. Her body. Her ankle. Her vision swam as her stomach lurched and she held out a hand to find something to brace against. She found nothing. “I need—”
…
The silence was killing him.
Other than that horrifying scream he’d heard an eternity ago, there had been nothing but silence. The only reassurance Liam had was knowing Ava was still alive. She thrived within him, filling him with her life.
After that scream, he’d realized something he’d failed to see before. Since he’d kissed her, he hadn’t felt a spike in her emotions. His therapist had told him the Dsershon had brought on that anomaly—being able to feel what she did—and he’d also been told if he could get Ava back into his life, hold her, kiss her, that her emotions within him would subdue.
And it had happened at the worst possible time.
He cursed the reconnection. Would’ve given anything to be back in the throes of Dsershon to know how she felt right now. Was she still terrified? Or had she escaped, relief coursing through her as she left their prison far behind?
Gripping the bars of his cage, he leaned his forehead against them. When running footsteps sounded in the distance, he snapped his head up.
Too heavy for Ava’s feet.
Was the bastard returning to let him know she had escaped, or would he have her in his arms, unconscious from another beating?
A figure raced into the room.
Liam let out a startled laugh, not believing what he was seeing.
“Holy shit,” Brit breathed as he gaped at him.
“Ava?” he asked.
“Safe.”
“Thank you, Dea.” Relief erased the tension in his shoulders and he released a long breath. “Did you get him?”
“No.”
Damn. “How did you find me?”
“I wasn’t going to just let you traipse off in the condition you were in the other night. So I followed you. When you pulled up in front of Ava’s, I figured you were just trying to be close to her. I waited around, but after thirty minutes I started getting worried. Didn’t know if you were zoned out or not, so I went in.” Brit paused. “Man, that was some fucked up shit in that room. There were drag marks through the blood, and then I smelled the formaldehyde. I might not be much of a shifter anymore, but I still know what that means. So I called Val.”
“You called Val?”
“What the hell did you expect me to do? It was shifter related. Out of my jurisdiction.”
“The two of you have actually spent time together without killing each other?”
“Not from lack of wanting to, I can assure you.”
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Liam smiled, truly smiled. It felt wonderful. Light. Happy. The way a smile was supposed to feel. The way it used to before the Dsershon. Not forced, or half-hearted, but real.
Brit shook his head. “Man, I haven’t seen you smile in a long time.”
“Just get me the hell out of here. I have a woman I need to hold.”
His friend examined the room as he walked over and gave a long whistle. “Dude, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“No clue. My best guess is it’s some shifter who hasn’t dealt with his Dsershon very well. He said some odd things, knew way too much about what I was going through. Said his problems were my fault.”
“Think he snapped?”
“Seems so.”
Brit rattled the door. “Steel. He really wanted to make sure you didn’t get out.”
Dark anger settled back over Liam. “He tortured her in front of me. Kept me locked up so I couldn’t help her.”
Brit slowly lifted his head, gulping. “Fuck.”
“I’m going to hunt him down and kill him.”
His friend glanced away, cringing. Making that declaration to a cop probably wasn’t the smartest thing he’d done, but it was the truth. He’d kill this man for even thinking about laying a hand on Ava.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where this bastard kept himself
while he was in here, would you?”
“No.”
“Shit.” Brit slammed his hand against the bars then ran it through his hair, a scowl curling his nose.
“What?”
“I have to go get Val. Fucking again.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t get you out of here, and she can smell where the ass was holed up and get the key. This place is fucking huge. It’d take me forever to find it.”
Muttering under his breath, Brit stormed out of the room, hitting the wall for good measure as he passed it. At his friend’s display of anger, he grimaced Liam had never understood Brit’s attitude toward Val.
Yeah, she was a little rough around the edges, but had a good heart. Brit didn’t see it that way, though, and Val responded to his attitude with a blistering one of her own.
Despite the hostility between them, they’d somehow been able to work together to find him and Ava. He owed them for that.
A few minutes later, Brit walked back in, scratching his head, his face scrunched in confusion.
“What?” Alarm stiffened Liam’s spine.
“Val’s gone.” He lifted his hand, his car keys dangling from his index finger. “So’s my Jeep.” He grimaced. “And so’s Ava.”
Chapter 5
She had to escape. Had to save Liam. Arms kept her trapped. Pulled her back. Liam screamed her name.
Ava’s eyes popped open as she wrestled against her restraints, panic surging through her as a cold sweat broke over her skin. As she realized she wasn’t running for her life anymore and the restraint was a blanket tangled around her, her struggles ceased.
They’d been saved. Britton and that woman had helped them escape.
Sitting up slowly, she grimaced against the pulsing in her entire face. Where was she? She was lying in an oversized bed with an IV taped to the top of her hand. Someone had changed her bloodied nightshirt for a hospital gown. She lifted a hand to her face. Swollen, hurt like the dickens, but no crusty blood.
This place had to be a hospital of some sort, though the room gave a more upscale hotel vibe with its dark wood paneling, lush cream carpet, and leather furniture.
The contrast from the white padded wall of her prison was calming. The panic slowly eased out of her body. They helped people here, not tortured them.
A man in a white lab jacket walked in, flipping through a chart. When he glanced up, he smiled. “Ah. You’re awake.”
Though he didn’t hold a candle to Liam, the doctor was handsome. Late thirties, maybe, with thick, wavy, brown hair and light blue eyes. “Wh—” She licked her parched lips. “Who are you?”
He offered his hand. “Dr. Miles Bradley. Val brought you in a little over an hour ago.”
“Val?”
“The detective.”
That’s right. The woman with Britton. “Where am I?”
“The Bradley Clinic.”
He said that like it was supposed to make complete sense to her. As Dr. Bradley walked over to the bed and checked the bag hanging from an IV pole, he said, “You were suffering from dehydration. We’ve given you saline, but we can take out the IV now that you are awake.”
“My head hurts.”
“That’s not surprising considering the beating you must have taken. No concussion though, so that’s good, but you might have a headache for a while. Most of your injuries are superficial, but you did sprain your ankle pretty badly. It’ll be a little hard to get around for a couple of days.” He studied her for a moment. “We also just received your blood work back. Are you on any anti-arrhythmic medication?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. We found trace amounts of disopyramide in your system as well as etomidate.
“And what is etomidate?”
“An anesthetic agent. It’s used to sedate patients for short procedures.” He stepped toward her. “Do you know how many times he injected you with it?”
“I can’t be certain. I was conscious for at least two.” She swallowed. “Was it the drugs that made me die to Liam?’
The doctor stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
“Liam said he felt me die twice when I didn’t.”
“That’s not possible.”
“I’m telling you it is. One of the times, our captor had just given me an injection.”
The doctor rubbed his mouth with his hand and gazed at the opposite wall. “That’s interesting.”
She didn’t find anything remotely interesting about it.
“The etomidate would’ve put you in an almost vegetative state. The combination of the anti-arrhythmic and anesthetic agent must have messed with the Fewshon,” he murmured, more to himself than her. He finally glanced down at her. “Your blood pressure and liver counts are normal, so I don’t think he gave you enough to cause any long term damage, but just to be cautious, I’d like to order an EKG and cardiac MRI.”
This crazy person had messed with her heart? Why did that even surprise her? Her health hadn’t been a huge worry for him.
The detective walked into the room. “I’m glad to see you awake,” she said. “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself. I’m Detective Calhoun. I’ve been working on Liam’s case.”
Liam’s case? “What happened? I don’t remember coming here.”
Dr. Bradley removed the IV from her hand, then stepped back. “I’m going to order those tests.”
The detective waited until the door closed before she spoke. “You passed out on me. Freaked me out, so I hot-wired Britton’s Jeep and drove you here.” The amused twist of her lips gave Ava the impression she got some pleasure from doing that.
“Why didn’t you call an ambulance?”
“We can’t risk any more human involvement. It was safer to just bring you here.”
Human? “And where is here exactly?”
“The Bradley Clinic.”
She gave a growl of frustration.. “And that is?”
“I keep forgetting that even though you’re marked, you don’t know the ins and outs of our community. Dr. Bradley is a shifter physician. Though we rarely get sick, wounds need to be treated on occasion. If the wound is bad enough, it takes longer to heal and we do risk infection. It’s safer going to one of our own.”
“Which means, you’re—”
“I’m a half-shifter. I moonlight as a homicide detective for Carnal Ridge PD, but my official position is the head detective for SPAC. ”
“You have your own police force?”
“We have our own everything, Miss Michaels. Doctors, therapists, police force, even our own government. My job is to keep shifter crime from the human eye.”
How could this entire separate world exist without anyone aware of it? “What does SPAC mean?”
“Shifter Protection and Concealment. And I have a lot I need to conceal. So now that you’re awake, I need to ask you a few questions.”
“Have you talked to Liam?”
“He isn’t here.”
“Wait. Where is he?”
“Like I said, I had to leave to get you help.”
“You left him in a cage?”
“Don’t worry,” Detective Calhoun quickly said. “Britton is with him and is looking for the key while they wait for one of my team to pick them up. They’ll be here soon.”
“My sister?”
“She’s at a friend’s house.” She glanced at the notepad. “Jessica Perkins?”
Relief surged over Ava, one more knot of tension dissolving. Jessica. Emma was still with Jessica. Safe. Probably scared to death wondering what had happened to Ava, but safe. “That’s her best friend.”
“We haven’t made contact yet. Unfortunately, your sister and your employees have filed a missing person’s report, so we’ll need to get our stories straight before we move you to the Carnal Ridge Hospital.”
“Stories?”
The detective gave her a patient smile. “This incident is shifter related. But since you are human, and missin
g person’s reports have been filed, the regular cops are involved. This isn’t good for us. We need them to close their case so we can continue our investigation without worry of their interference.”
Good God, the entire species was about keeping secrets. “And what kind of story am I supposed to tell?”
“You’d had a bad morning. Nothing was going right. You burned your hand making coffee, dropped your breakfast on the floor before you were able to eat it, stubbed your toe on the end of the couch. Frustrated, you went outside and started walking around. The crisp air felt good. The light breeze was soothing, so you kept walking. You hadn’t intended to go into the woods, but you did. And then you tripped over a root and rolled down into a ravine. The rocks jarred your body, and somehow in the fall you twisted your ankle and knocked yourself unconscious. When you woke, it was hard to move. And the ravine was steep. It took you two days to get out.” Detective Calhoun flipped the notepad closed. “They won’t buy it, especially with the bruises around your neck, but as long as you stick to the story they will be forced to close the case.”
Ava barely heard the last part. Two days. It had seemed like so much longer. Weeks. Months. But two damn days was all that had passed.
“Now I need to know how you’re alive, Miss Michaels. Britton followed Liam to your place after he felt you die, which was where he was taken. We’ve assumed this entire time we were only looking for him. You came as somewhat of a shock.”
That was how Liam had been captured? Because he’d sought her out after feeling her death? What had he found? Had she been in the room, lifeless? Covered in blood?
My team cleaned it up. Detective Calhoun’s words came back to her, and she covered her mouth with her hand. This entire time she’d been worried about Emma seeing all that blood. Never had she imagined that Liam had been the one to see it.
“Miss Michaels, are you okay?”
Tears welled in her eyes as she looked up. “H-he saw the room.”
The detective’s brows knitted together as she studied Ava.
“Liam,” Ava added. “The blood.”
The expression softened as understanding lit the other woman’s eyes. “Yes. He did.”
“How bad?”
“You’re alive. That’s all that matters.”