Tried & True

by Charlie Cochet

  “Sloane,” Dex hissed quietly. “Sloane, wake up.”

  Sloane groaned, his head lolling to one side as he started to regain consciousness.

  “Come on, baby. Wake up for me.”

  Where the hell were they? How…? Everything came flooding back in a tsunami of pain and heartache. Oh God. This couldn’t be happening, and yet it all made sense. Everything finally fell into place. As if he’d had this huge jigsaw puzzle with all these pieces, but he couldn’t fit them together because there was one giant fucking asshole of a piece missing, and it had been under his nose the entire fucking time, right from the beginning, messing with them, waiting for the right moment to strike. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. All the fucking fucks!

  “Hello, Dexter.”

  Dex’s blood ran cold, and he swallowed down the bile rising in his throat. He grabbed hold of the chains attached to the cuffs around his wrists and pulled, bouncing and swinging. Nothing budged. “Fuck. Fuck.”

  “Such language.”

  Dex stopped struggling long enough to glare daggers at the man who’d shattered his reality. Really? Since when did swearing become obscener than torture, murder, and betrayal?

  “I’m sorry, did I offend your oh-so-delicate sensibilities? Good. Fuck you, you fucking traitor! You underhanded, arrogant, sociopathic son of a bitch!” Dex was so livid, he was practically vibrating with fury. For years they’d bared their souls to this man, willingly and naïvely turning over every little detail of their lives, their loved ones, sharing their deepest, darkest secrets. There was no one Dex knew whose life hadn’t been touched by this man. Cael’s, Sloane’s… Tony’s. “We trusted you. We all trusted you. How could you look us in the eye, after everything you’ve done? How could you look my father in the eye?” Then he remembered his last words before everything had gone dark. Suddenly he found himself grinning.

  Winters came to stand before him, his hands shoved in the pockets of his gray slacks as he tilted his face up to study Dex. “You seem to be rather pleased with something. Would you care to share?”

  “I’m pleased because whatever happens to me, your days are numbered.” Dex’s grin widened as he met Winters’s eyes. “He knows.”

  Realization dawned on Winters, the smugness falling from his face and making Dex laugh.

  “That’s right. He knows who you are and what you did. There’s nowhere for you to hide. He’s going to find you, and when he does, he’ll make sure you get what you deserve. That’s if I don’t get my hands on you first,” Dex hissed. He flinched as his claws pierced his skin. A swipe of his claws was all it would take, and Dex wouldn’t hesitate.

  Winters tsked. “My dear Dex. What kind of unsavory individuals have you been associating yourself with? Have you forgotten he tortured you? Tried to kill you?”

  “Believe me, I haven’t forgotten. Just like I won’t forget you’re the one who sent him after me. You paid him to torture me, to kill me. You’re the puppet master who’s been pulling everyone’s strings for decades. Shultzon, Moros, Wolf, Sparks… TIN. You’re so fucked, not even hell is going to want you.”

  Winters smiled, his eyes cold and empty, like the man’s soul. “Let’s see if we can knock that cockiness down a peg or two.”

  Good luck with that. Right now, his cockiness and anger was all Dex had. That, and the hatred he felt down to his core. Criminals he understood. Thugs like Hogan, Collins, and the Coalition he got. Hell, Dex even understood where a guy like Isaac Pearce was coming from. He might have been unhinged, but Dex could see how the guy had gotten to where he ended up, could pinpoint the exact moment the final thread of sanity snapped. Winters? The Chairman? This was why Dex had signed up to TIN, to stop monsters like him.

  Dex opened his mouth for another smartass remark when a huge Therian in black tactical uniform appeared from somewhere behind Dex, walked past him, and wheeled over a strange-looking machine with dozens of thin long wires attached to small pads.

  “What are you doing?” Dex demanded, watching in horror as the guy moved the machine to Sloane. “Get the fuck away from him!”

  The lion Therian leaned over and tore Sloane’s dress shirt open, the buttons popping and pinging as they hit the floor and the aluminum walls. He tore at Sloane’s white undershirt and rolled up Sloane’s sleeves before he began taking the pads one by one, removing the backing, and sticking them all over Sloane, at his temples, his arms, his chest. Dex fought fiercely against the chains holding him, screaming as the Therian flicked switches, then pressed a red button.

  Electricity crackled, and the lights flickered. A guttural cry shook Dex to his core just as a jolt of pain sparked through him. He gasped, his back arching and tears filling his eyes. No. Please God. No, no, no. Another jolt was accompanied by a scream that had Dex crying out. The lights flickered once again, and another surge of high voltage shocked his system. His body trembled involuntarily as Winters held up a hand.

  Sloane’s chest heaved with panting breaths, his eyes wide as he struggled to figure out what the hell was going on. He turned his head, the heartbreak on his face tearing at Dex’s insides. “Dex….”

  “You son of a bitch!” Angry tears welled in Dex’s eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to tear Winters apart. The man had listened to Dex pour his heart out. He’d given Dex advice on dealing with the heartache he’d faced over the years, and now he stood there as if none of it had happened? It had all been a lie. The sympathy, the gentleness, the kindness had all been bullshit. A façade to hide the disturbing truth.

  Sweat dripped down Sloane’s face, and Dex could tell his soon-to-be-husband—because screw these assholes, they were getting out of here and getting married—was trying hard to keep it together. The lion Therian reached for the red button again.

  “No! Back the fuck off!” Dex jerked at the chain to no avail. Sharp pain shot through his arms and wrists. “Don’t you fucking touch him!”

  The guy pressed the button, and Dex’s scream joined Sloane’s as the current surged through Sloane. Dex’s body convulsed, and Winters hovered near Dex.

  “Fascinating. Make a note that the hybrid feels his mate’s pain.”

  The hybrid.

  Another jolt, and Dex gritted his teeth against the nauseating agony. His insides felt like they were on fire, the smell of burning flesh stung his nostrils, and he almost gagged. He struggled to draw in air, his muscles straining as if being torn from his bones. Whatever suffering Dex was experiencing, it was far worse for Sloane, who was receiving the shocks directly. As bonded mates, they felt each other’s pain if it was significant enough, and holy fuck was this significant. Dex had never, ever felt anything like this. Not even when he’d been tortured by Wolf. He turned his head to look at Sloane, a lump forming in his throat at the tear that escaped Sloane’s beautiful amber eyes. His chest rose and fell in rapid pants, and his body shook so badly the chair rattled.

  “Baby,” Dex pleaded. “Stay with me.”

  Sloane nodded. “I… love… you.”

  “Disgusting,” Winters said with a sneer. “Do you know how painful it was to watch you two? Every time I thought one of you was going to do the right thing and walk away, you didn’t. Then I had to listen to you both babbling on about each other and your unholy affections.” Winters nodded at his companion. “Hit him again.”

  “No!” Dex jerked at his restraints over and over, putting all his strength into the movements, but nothing budged. “I’m going to tear you motherfuckers apart!”

  “You won’t.” Winters pointed up to the chain securing Dex to the ceiling. “No zip ties this time. You won’t be getting out of that.”

  “Why?”

  Winters put a hand up to pause the next shock, and Dex didn’t dare show his relief.

  “Why?” Winters leaned in, repulsion and hatred burning in his eyes. “Because you’re an abomination. It wasn’t enough to copulate with one of our kind, but to be marked, bonded, and then have the audacity to steal DNA from him? How dare you try to be like us.”
He punched Dex in the gut, and Dex gasped. He coughed and wheezed as the breath left his lungs. His body swung, and Dex gritted his teeth against the jolt to his shoulders.

  Winters smoothed a hand over his hair, calm as can be. He nodded, and another bolt of lightning crackled through Dex’s body. He shut his eyes tight to Sloane’s scream, his heart beating in his ears. Sweat dripped down Dex’s face, blood trickled from his nose, and he shivered violently. The lights in the room flickered, or it could have been his vision. They had to find a way out of this. Sloane wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

  “We can’t allow Sloane to live and infect another Human. Once he’s dead and you’re left a bereaved, weak mess of a thing, we’re going to take you apart piece by piece. Then we’ll use what we’ve learned from your tainted carcass to destroy every other abomination out there.”

  Sparks had been right. There were more like him. The shock must have shown on his face, because Winters laughed.

  “Did you think you were the only one of your kind? My, but we have quite the ego. There are more out there, hiding, foolishly believing we won’t find them. We found those that came before you. We’ll find the rest of the mistakes.”

  Mistakes.

  As if reading his thoughts, Winters shrugged. “That’s what you are. Nothing more than a mistake. A freak of nature.”

  “Kind of hypocritical, don’t you think? Calling me an abomination, a freak of nature, a mistake. Everything you’ve been called since the virus made you.”

  “Only the Pre-First Gens were made. The time will come for them to be exterminated as well, leaving only the pure to inherit the earth.” Winters strolled over to Sloane and petted his head. He let out a heavy sigh. “It’s a shame we have to destroy him. I always admired him. Never understood his attraction to Humans, but that could have easily been remedied. He’d have made a fine soldier. If it weren’t for the anomalies in his blood, we could have used him. We need strong Therian specimens like Sloane to help us create a better world, a world run by Therians. Those Humans who don’t fall in line will know what it’s like to live in zoos. To live in fear, hiding in crumbling hovels like Greenpoint, fighting for scraps of food like savage beasts.” Winters ran his finger absently over the classification tattoo on Sloane’s neck. “We’ll see how Humans like being branded.”

  “Why would you kill Therians? You’re a Pre-First Gen.” The guy was older than Sloane. That made him a Pre-First Gen. Dex understood Winters’s hatred for Humans, and he’d never agreed with the marking. Hell, he’d lost his shit the day they marked Cael. The Human race, and the world’s governments, had a lot to answer for where Therians were concerned, but what the Makhai wanted to do was insane, and it sure as hell didn’t explain the genocide they had planned for their own race.

  “Pre-First Gens aren’t pure Therians. They’re diseased, sickly remnants of our Therian origins. As for me and my associates, someone needs to oversee the new world.”

  “Of course.” Typical. Genocide was always so much easier when you didn’t include yourself among the diseased.

  Winters turned to him, a smile Dex had seen dozens of times making him feel sick to his stomach. He approached Dex and spoke softly.

  “When the cleansing begins, I’m going to start with the THIRDS and all your diseased friends. That little problem you seem to think I have? He’ll be under my thumb once he sees I have his precious little brother, and then I’m going to start with your brother, until everyone you know and love becomes the casualty of a war long overdue.” He stepped back and clapped his hands together excitedly. “But first, we’re going to have a little fun.”

  “If you’re going to kill us, just do it,” Sloane grumbled, spitting out a mouthful of blood and saliva. “Don’t bore us with your bullshit.”

  Dex shook his head, his lip curled up in a sneer. “He’s probably got a couple of monologues planned. What if we do a quick-fire round instead? Liven things up a bit.”

  Sloane laughed, though his smile didn’t reach his eyes. “We could play charades. Two words, eight syllables.”

  “Egotistical maniac?”

  Sloane beamed at him. “Baby, you’re so smart.”

  “Thank you, boo.”

  “Mind you,” Winters said, rubbing his bottom lip with his finger, “and this is just my professional opinion, but it’s possible you may both suffer from several underlying psychological disorders.”

  Dex let out a bark of laughter. “Oh shit. I hope you’re not planning on charging us for that one, because let me tell you, that ain’t news. I mean, isn’t that why we came to see you?”

  Sloane let out a snort. “Of course, that’s a little bit hypocritical, Dr. Winters. I mean, you’ve got two of your former patients shackled in your—” He looked around. “Whatever the fuck this is. Box. And you’re telling us that we’re screwed-up? It’s okay to admit it. Nothing to be ashamed of. We do just fine.”

  “And seriously? The Chairman?” Dex scoffed. “That’s what you chose to name yourself? Out of everything you could have chosen, you give yourself the title of corporate douchebag? How is that scary?”

  Sloane gasped. “What if he takes away our 401(k)?”

  Dex shook his head in mock horror. “What’s next? Dental?”

  “You know what that means,” Sloane told Dex somberly. “No more gummy bears.”

  “Nooooo!” Dex’s bottom lip quivered as he turned his attention to Winters. “Talk about kicking a man when he’s down.” He perked up. “Maybe he named himself after that movie.” He cringed. “That was a terrible movie. I’d go with the corporate douchebag.”

  Winters rolled his eyes at Dex. “I get the feeling neither of you is taking this situation with the amount of gravitas it merits.”

  “Yeah, I went to college too, Doc. You and your gravitas can sit on it and rotate.”

  Silent fury filled Winters’s eyes, and he nodded at his companion. Dex cried out against the pain jolting through his body, the chains noisily clinking above his head as his body shook, the sound of Sloane’s screams reverberating around them. After the third time, everything went black.

  Dex groaned and slowly opened his eyes. His ears were ringing, and his vision was sharpening. He flexed his fingers to fight the numbness creeping in.

  “Welcome back.”

  Shit. What happened?

  “You and your fiancé passed out there for a second.” Winters smiled up at him. “I gave you both a little something to perk you up. Can’t have you missing out on all the fun.”

  Sloane….

  Dex looked over at Sloane and almost choked on a sob. “Sloane….” His voice was hoarse, and his body ached all over. Sloane let out a groan, and Dex almost cried from relief.

  “Aw, look how happy you are. Don’t worry, he’s simply resting. Astounding specimen, but then, I expected no less from him. He’s a survivor. A true Therian warrior.” Winters shook his head with a tsk. “You’ve brought this on him, Dex. Sentenced him to death. You should have let him be.”

  “Fuck you,” Dex spat out, hissing at the pain of slowly unsheathing the claw from his left index finger. He discreetly tucked it close. They had to find a way out of this, and they didn’t have long. Winters intended on killing Sloane and dissecting Dex. This wasn’t a simulation; it wasn’t a training exercise. If they didn’t do something, they were dead. If they could just get themselves out of this, they could contact someone on their team. He wasn’t about to underestimate Winters and how many goons he probably had around here. There was no doubt in Dex’s mind that their family was out there searching for them. Tony was probably losing his damn mind.

  Dex’s entire body was in agony, but whatever Winters had given him provided a nice little boost of energy. Could it have been the same thing Wolf injected him with when he’d tried to keep Dex awake? That seemed to really do the trick. Whatever the case might be, Dex needed some time, and with a guy as egomaniacal as Winters, he knew just how to get that. Winters didn’t seem to be in
any particular hurry, which meant he was feeling confident Dex and Sloane were going to meet their demise at his hands.

  “Dr. Winters, please.”

  Winters chuckled. “Oh, it’s Dr. Winters now, is it?”

  “How did you do it?”

  “Do what?” Winters asked as he went about arranging surgical tools on the silver medical tray he must have placed on the cart beside Dex when he’d passed out. There were four guards with tranq rifles now posted around the room and four medical staff. Seeing as how Dex couldn’t see behind him, there was no telling how far back the room stretched or who else was there. Since he couldn’t see any kind of door, he had to assume it was behind him.

  “How did you spend day after day, month after month, year after year acting like you gave a shit? Consoling us, offering advice, spending hours talking, laughing, being our friend.”

  “I’m very good at what I do. It wasn’t so much pretending as playing a role, one I used to my advantage to gather intel. Other than Themis, who else at the THIRDS could gather as much sensitive information as I could? No covert ops needed, no sneaking about or trickery. All that was required on my part was patience, and the information would come to me. Fortunately patience is something I possess in spades.”

  “You really think you’re going to walk away from this? TIN will find the mole.”

  Winters’s laugh sent an icy chill through Dex. “Oh, sweet, naïve Dexter.” His grin curdled Dex’s blood, but not as much as the words he whispered when he leaned in. “I am the mole.”

  Dex’s heart almost stopped, and he stared down at Winters. “You… you’re TIN?”

  Winters returned to add more tools to the tray, including a bone saw. Dex swallowed hard, pretending he hadn’t seen it.