by Rose, Renee
~.~
Sam
Layne’s frightened breathing haunts me as I propel her in front of me, one hand caging her wrists. After standing up to me to make an impassioned speech, I half expect her to try to make a run for it. But she keeps her head down and does what I order. Maybe she’s in shock. Or biding her time. She’s obviously smart.
Dr. Layne Zhao. Layne. Her name jingles through my head like a melody. She smells sweet, like jasmine. Apparently it’s been too long since I’ve hooked up with a female, because my wolf went nuts when I grabbed her, flooding my mind with images of dragging her down to her hands and knees and taking her hard from behind.
Christ. I’m losing control. I can’t let the moon madness take me again. I can’t. If I want to shut this operation down, I need to maintain my humanity. I can’t let the darkness take over.
I hustle her down the hall, swiping her badge and using it to open the door. She angles her face to the camera above it and mouths the word, help.
Too bad for her a simple hack on site has them looping the same recording over and over. Besides, I already tranquilized the two guys monitoring the entrance. Security is tight, but no system is impenetrable. It’ll be tricky to get out with a hostage, but so far so good.
Hostages aren’t really my style, but if she’s telling the truth about Smyth and Santiago, she’s my closest link to them. That, and the data drive burning a hole in my pocket.
Taking her has nothing to do with the fact that my wolf is howling for me to protect her. Afraid she won’t get out before my explosives blow the place.
The lights flicker on and my hostage comes alive, twisting her body in an attempt to free herself from my grasp.
I curse, not wanting to bruise her. She rears her head back and nails my nose with her forehead in a move both surprising and sexy.
My nose cracks, hold slips. She wrenches free, taking off down the corridor.
My wolf thinks it’s a goddamn game and before I can temper my response, launches for her. I tackle her to the ground in a skidding tumble. Her little oof makes my cock harden against the soft curve of her ass. A drop of my blood falls on her neck and I have to bite back the apology that springs to my lips.
She’s the one who broke my nose, for moon’s sake.
I throw myself off her, more afraid of losing control than I am of her getting away. I can always catch her again. Thanks to my shifter healing abilities, my nose has already stopped bleeding, bones finding their way back into place. I’m grateful for the miracle of healing every fucking time, only because I remember all too well what it’s like to be too weak for my wounds to regenerate.
Layne surges onto her hands and knees.
I grab her ankle and pull her back. She takes me by surprise again, twisting and throwing her body at mine, like she wants to tackle me to my back. Of course, I don’t go over because of my shifter strength, so she ends up straddling my lap, arms tangled around my neck.
Well, helloooo Layne, my wolf purrs. My boner presses up against the heat of her crotch. I feel her hand in my pocket, grabbing for the data drive.
Clever woman.
I catch her wrist to stay her hand, wrap one arm around her waist. I don’t mean to yank her hips tighter against mine, but it happens. Okay, maybe I did mean to.
Because I’m losing the fight with my wolf.
Fates, I wish she didn’t look so damn appealing. Her high cheeks flush with color, and fuck, are those freckles sprinkled across her nose?
My wolf pants, bringing my nose right up to her neck. It takes every ounce of my control not to flick my tongue out and taste her skin.
“Dr. Zhao, I’d love to do the horizontal mambo with you some more, but we don’t have time. We need to get out of this building before it blows.”
Tears pop into her eyes and it does something terrible to my insides.
My wolf backs down, aggression dampened.
“But my research.” She sounds absolutely broken.
Seriously?
Wow. This woman cares more about her research than her own life. Which is... fascinating.
“If you want your research preserved, you’ll have to stick with me, then, won’t you?” I wave the data drive in her face. It’s dastardly of me, since I have no intention of returning her research, but I need to get her the hell out of this building before it blows. I lift her from my lap and scramble to stand, hauling her back down the corridor.
She seems to agree with my logic because this time she hurries along beside me. “Where are we going?”
“Out of here. I’m trying to keep you safe, doctor.”
“Safe from whom? You’re the one with the gun and explosives.”
I choose not to answer. We really don’t have time for me to explain how she’s on the wrong side of ethical research right now. I don’t think she has any idea what’s really going on in these labs.
“Who are you? Why are you doing this?”
Lots of reasons, sweetheart. Justice. Rescue. Revenge.
“These men you’re working for? They’re bad guys.”
Her brow wrinkles at my cliff notes version.
“I’m an honorable man,” I tell her. If she was a shifter, she’d know by my scent I’m not lying. She peers up at me as I hustle her through another hallway. Some humans trust their instincts when judging character. I hope Dr. Zhao is one of them.
Of course, it’s also possible she has those instincts along with a predisposition to being turned. Knowing Smyth, he chose her as an employee for just that reason. Waste not, want not. Classic Smyth.
“I’ll make you a deal. You help me locate your boss, and I won’t blow this lab.”
“I told you, he’s not here anymore. He left after our meeting.”
“I mean give me any information you have to help me find him.”
Her eyes narrow. I can practically hear the gears whirring as she analyzes her options. A sharp inhale and she nods.
I’m surprised how relieved I am to have her consent. How much I want her to trust me. Not that it matters, as long as she does what I say. But my wolf hates when I threaten her.
“Deal?”
“Deal,” she agrees, and I tuck the tranquilizer gun into the back waistband of my jeans. I stop to disable the explosives I set up earlier and take them with me. I’m reserving the right to come back and blow this place up later, after she’s told me everything she knows.
Not while she’s in it, of course.
“Come on.”
At the security check point, Dr. Zhao stops short at the sight of the two human guards I left unconscious.
“Keep moving,” I growl. I’d never hurt a woman, but she doesn’t need to know that. Hand on her back, I push her past the limp bodies. My fingers curl into fists at the worried look on her face. They don’t deserve her sympathy.
“If you knew what sort of men they are, you wouldn’t feel sorry for them,” I snap. I sound peevish, like I have something to prove, which is stupid. I don’t need to defend my case to her, I just need her to get me Smyth’s location.
She bites her lip as I use her badge again. I snuck in here, but we’re going to walk out. I stole one of the downed security guard’s badge, so it’ll look like I’m just walking Dr. Zhao to her car.
When she gives the bodies another worried glance I take her arm. “Come on. We’re wasting time.” I lock her close to me. “Be cool, and you’ll get out of this unharmed. I promise.”
We walk swiftly out together. “Which car is yours?”
She points to a small blue compact car and I guide her there. Of course she drives a hybrid vehicle—one of those touted to be better for the environment. I took her keys earlier, along with her badge. As we approach I pop the locks.
That’s when we hit trouble.
“Hey,” someone calls down from the guard tower. “Have you heard from Matthias?”
I jerk my head no, guiding Layne to the driver’s side.
“I need you to go in and ch
eck. Haven’t heard from them in a few.” He tries his walkie talkie again.
“Roger that.” I duck my head as I open the door for Dr. Zhao and gesture for her to get in. Most of the security guards are human, but a few are mercenary shifters. Wolves, mostly.
Just my luck one is on duty tonight.
“Hey, is that Dr. Zhao?” he calls out. “They’re saying she can’t leave. Something about an illegal download of data from her lab.”
I glance over to show I’m listening, trying to keep my movements natural. The wind kicks up. I see his eyes widen the moment he catches my scent.
“Stop right there.” He unslings his machine gun, just as Dr. Zhao breaks from my side.
“Help,” she cries, running towards him.
Of course, the asshole aims right for her.
“No,” I shout, putting on a burst of speed to reach her before the guard shoots. I slam into her, knocking her to the side as the gun bursts above our heads. I pull my own tranq gun out and fire. The target drops and I waste no time hoisting my hostage from the ground and shoving her into the car. Shouts from all around tell me the other guards are mobilizing to take us down.
Covering the doctor’s fragile human body with mine, I push her into the passenger seat and jump in beside her.
“Buckle up,” I order, reversing as soon as the car is on. I stay in reverse, keeping myself between my passenger and the guard tower. A spray of gunfire hits us as we pass. Bullets punch the car but it keeps going.
“He shot at me,” Dr. Zhao cries.
“No shit, sweetheart.” I swerve the car around, heading for the gate. I’ve never used an economy fuel car in a getaway before. First time for everything.
“Why would he do that?”
“They thought you were stealing research.”
“Why would I steal my own research? I’m an employee—” she lets out a scream as a guard leaps at us. I swerve to miss him and press the gas pedal to the floor.
More gunfire, and I steer with one hand, the other forcing Dr. Zhao’s head between her knees.
“Stay down,” I order. The gates are closed. Time for this economy fueled car to become a battering ram.
Shouts sound above us and machine guns blast as I gun it. The car flies forward, smashing through the fence.
The doctor shrieks.
“Stay down,” I shout. Behind us, guards rush through the broken gate, still shooting. Some run for their cars. We’re not safe yet, not by a long shot.
“Oh God, oh God,” the young scientist chants.
“Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
She turns incredulous eyes to me.
2
Layne
I sing in the shower. When I’m working, I talk to myself. Sometimes, I forget to bathe. That makes me weird.
The guy sitting next to me, racing my car through a security gate and a hail of gunfire, is fucking crazy with a capital Fuck.
“You okay?” he asks again.
“They shot at us.” I still can’t believe it. I thought the guard would help me. He didn’t even flinch as he pointed the gun at my face. I guess he thought I was colluding with Crazy Man.
My captor looks grim. “Yeah.”
I wrap my arms around myself. “Why would they do that? I work there.”
The man’s jaw clenches as he accelerates down the road. He takes a few turns at breakneck speed, and curses when the car wobbles. “Damn.”
“What?”
“They got the tires.”
I whimper. My poor Prius.
“The car is the least of our problems. I’ll replace it,” he says.
I don’t argue. Crazy Man might know how to file an insurance claim. Who knows?
“Stay calm. I’ll get you out of this,” he says, as if he wasn’t the one who got me into it in the first place. “The important thing right now is to not get killed.”
Understatement of the year.
But the way I see it, he’s the reason we’re being shot at, so staying with him would be lunacy. I need to get away and call Dr. Smyth and explain I’m not part of this data grab.
But first I need to get my data back from the maniac.
Swerving wildly, he pulls into a fast food lot and parks behind a dumpster.
By the time I get my bearings, he’s opening my door, unclicking my seatbelt and pulling me out. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” I ask automatically, stumbling as he pushes me towards an unmarked van. The kind with no windows in the back.
“Somewhere safe.”
Shit. I should’ve fought him more back at the lab. Now I’m going to end up a prisoner in his rape van. Maybe he’s a mad scientist conducting his own kind of experiments. Hopefully not on me.
The research. My life’s work. The cure. That’s all that matters.
Still, I can’t help asking, “Can’t you just leave me?”
“No.” He holds my elbow firmly and guides me to the door of the van. “You saw those gunmen. They’re after both of us.”
Right. Or he wants me to believe that so I won’t run away.
“You want to stay alive? Buckle up. I’ll get us out of here.”
Gnawing on my lip, I do as he says. Until I see my chance to get the hell away from him.
He drives like a maniac, making sudden turns and keeping off main roads. I grip the seat edge.
He could be taking me somewhere to kill me. Or, he could be telling the truth.
I have no reason to trust him. But after hosting Smyth and Santiago with all their bodyguards today, after all the gunfire I just saw, I have to admit not all is as it seems at Data-X. What reason would they have for treating our research facility like a military compound in a war zone?
“What did you mean by all they’ve done?” I ask finally.
“You know those cells you told me about?”
“Yes…”
“Did they ever tell you the source?”
My gut tightens as I brace myself for his revelation. He’s going to say something crazy, like aliens. Or superhumans.
He flips his right forearm over to show me his tattoos. No—I look closer. The tattoos are there to cover scars. Track after track, like a junkie’s—and burns, too.
I suck in a breath. What is he showing me? I brush my fingers over the marks and he jerks away like I scalded him. “Are you telling me you were the source of the cells? And it was unwilling?”
His jaw flexes, mouth forms a grim line. “I’m saying you have no clue what’s going on back there.”
Irritation spikes. “Well, why don’t you explain it to me, then?” I snap.
His gaze slides from the road to me, assessing and cool.
When he doesn’t answer, I make my move, snatching the gun he set down in the console between us and pointing it at him. I put every bit of steel I have into my voice. “Pull over.”
Annoyance flickers across his expression and his hand flashes out.
I don’t mean to—but I don’t have time to think. I just pull the trigger. I scream at my own mistake, drowning out the sound of the shot.
No, wait. There wasn’t a deafening bang.
It’s a tranquilizer gun. The dart strikes my captor in the place where arm meets chest.
“Fuck, Layne,” he bites out and swerves the van sharply to the side of the road and throws it in park. At first I think it’s because he’s going to get out and kill me, but then he slumps over the wheel, knocked out cold.
I thank God he had the foresight to pull over so we both didn’t die. As I reach over and turn off the ignition, it strikes me that he’s smart. And capable. And so damn sexy. And why in the hell am I admiring a crazy man who just kidnapped me and stole my data?
I shove my hand in his jeans pocket and jockey the data drive out. In the glove compartment I find a cell phone. I grab it and the data drive and jump out of the vehicle. I have no clue where we are, other than the Middle of Nowhere, California. Data-X’s lab is near Alpine, California, in the
Cuyamaca Mountains of San Diego County. The van traveled higher into the mountains on a single-lane highway.
I walk a half-mile in the dark and stop, winded. I really need to get more exercise.
This is stupid. I’m taking the van. He can walk.
I head back to the van and open the driver’s side door. I guess I hoped my captor would just sort of fall out of the van so I could climb in, but no such luck. I pry his arms up off the steering wheel and pull, hard.
He hardly budges, and his arms weigh about a half-ton each. I stop to gather my strength, and find my eyes drawn to his scars again.
Was he telling me the truth? That he got those scars as a test subject for Data-X? I find it hard to believe, but after seeing the machine guns today, things aren’t adding up. I’ll have to ask Smyth about it when I call.
But first I need to get away from Crazy Man.
I put my foot on the running board and pull with all my might. He tumbles out of the van on top of me, knocking me down with his dead weight.
I giggle hysterically. This is the second time today I’ve found myself underneath his mass of solid, wiry muscle and it’s doing funny things to my libido. I wriggle out from under him and climb up into the van.
After an agonizingly slow three point turn, I race the van down the mountainside, calling information for Data-X’s main number, because I don’t have it memorized.
~.~
Sam
Fuuuuuuuck.
I wake to the headache of the century. I’m lying face down in the dirt and—
Layne!
I scramble to my feet. How long was I out? Probably a minimum of forty-five minutes, based on the dosage I had packed in those tranq darts. They’re intended to take down a shifter for up to an hour, a human for six.
There’s no sign of the van, but based on the tire tracks, she headed back the way we came.
My hands fly to my pockets. Yep, she took the data drive.
I whip my shirt off over my head and yank down my jeans and boxer briefs, rolling them into a bundle I can carry in my mouth once I’ve shifted. My wolf surges to the surface and I experience a flash of panic as he takes over.