Their little group stepped in the elevator except for Nate and Sebastian, who took the stairs. They were positive no one knew they were coming, but better safe than sorry. This guy was the only link Ward had to find Jamie, and he couldn’t lose him.
As the doors closed, the elevator’s cheerful music filled the small space. Ward scowled at Bryce when the cougar started humming with the song, his head bobbing from side to side. When Bryce’s hips started hitching, Ward growled.
“What? It helps me relieve the tension!”
With anyone else Ward would have been offended. How could he be so carefree when Ward’s mate was in danger? Ward knew Bryce, though, and he also knew how much Keenan and therefore Jamie meant to his friend, so he let it slide. As the doors opened, Ward saw Nate waiting for them.
“It’s the door over there,” he said, pointing on their left. “I heard noises coming from the apartment, and from what I can smell, our guy is alone.”
“Okay. Let’s go and meet Mr. Smith, then,” Dominic told them.
They paused at the door and listened carefully. Once it was confirmed that the man in the apartment wasn’t anywhere near the door, Nate went to work on the lock. It clicked open after only a minute or so and the tracker slowly pushed the door open. Taking a deep breath, Nate nodded and they all walked in, as silent as their cats were when they stalked their prey. Nate inhaled again and pointed to the entrance at the other end of the small entryway in which they were standing.
Ward hurried to it, anxious to get answers. He just had the time to hear a distant click before he felt someone against his back, knocking him on the ground. Only a few seconds later a bullet passed above him, right where his head would have been had he still been standing.
Ward felt the body on his back shift and fur brushing against his nape before the cat moved through the entrance in front of them, stalking the man with the gun. Ward looked as Bryce in cougar form moved in the other room, disappearing from sight.
“I’d advise you to put the gun down, Mr. Smith. We just want to talk,” Dominic said, his voice high enough to be heard in the other room.
The only answer they got was a snort, quickly followed by another round of gun shots before the house fell silent once again. It was a miracle no one had called the cops yet. Ward could hear the kidnapper move before a low growl filled the room and John Smith swore. As a fight started between Bryce and John Smith, Ward and the others entered the room. While it was obvious the kidnapper had been trained to fight, it was also obvious that he didn’t usually fight big felines.
Mr. Smith tried to fight back, but it didn’t take long before Bryce had his teeth closed against the kidnapper’s throat, growling at him. Ward could see the guy had several bloody wounds, both from bites and claws.
“I’d stay still, if I were you,” Dominic told the man.
“Call back your beast!”
Dominic smirked. He waited until Sebastian retrieved all of the man’s weapons before saying, “Bryce, let go, but stay close, just to be sure Mr. Smith doesn’t get the weird idea he could somehow get away.”
Bryce gave a last growl before releasing John Smith and crouching down only a few steps away, his eyes never leaving the kidnapper. Ward’s cat was fighting to get to Jamie’s kidnapper and to tear through him, avenging their mate. Ward was having a hard time not shifting, so when he felt his claws lengthening and could do nothing to stop them, he wasn’t surprised. The look of horror and surprise on John’s face clearly said that he didn’t know about shifters until now. He slid backward until his back hit the wall, trying to put as much distance as he could between them, and Bryce growled at him. John’s eyes went from Ward to the cougar, unsure about which one was the bigger treat.
Ward was about to shift, and he wouldn’t be able to stop it. He stumbled backward, intent on leaving the room, when he felt a hand closing on his nape. He instantly knew that it was his Alpha touching him, calming his cat. Dominic didn’t say anything to Ward, he just turned to John and began talking.
“A week ago you kidnapped a friend of mine from his apartment. Where is he?”
John looked at Dominic, and Ward knew what he saw. Dominic was a mountain of pure muscle, six foot six of power. John seemed to think about whether or not he was going to answer the question, and Bryce’s growl helped him decide.
“I don’t know.”
Ward was the next one to growl. Dominic tightened the hold he had on Ward’s nape, helping him settle down once again.
“You don’t know?”
“No. I can tell you where I delivered him, but I saw them driving away, so your friend won’t be there anymore.”
“Give me the address.”
After John wrote down everything, Ward had to ask. “Why? Why did you take him? For the money?”
John looked at him. “Of course, why else? They pay me well.”
Before Ward could grab the man and toss him across the room, Dominic ordered Sebastian to take him away.
“Take him to the cabin and organize turns to guard him. We’ll take his car and go check the other place.”
Chapter Six
It was now or never. Jamie had last been with the Mad Scientist the day before, and he had been told that today he would be operated on to see if he healed as fast as shifters from big injuries. That hadn’t stopped the man from slashing Jamie’s skin with a scalpel, though, and now his arms were full of parallel cuts from wrists to elbows. The doctor had been very careful not to cut too deep, but deep enough to leave scars, and he had bandaged Jamie’s arms afterward. It hurt like a bitch.
Jamie had a plan. He had seen the key on the doctor’s desk in the lab. Of course he was never left alone in there, but he relied on Finn and Oliver to make a diversion and distract everyone for at least a few minutes so that he could grab the key. Then he would have to pray to make it out of whatever surgery they were going to do without too many problems and without anyone finding the key on him. Once he was back in his cage he would take Finn’s collar off and the Nix would shimmer them away.
They couldn’t take Oliver with them because his cage was too far away for them to touch, but Finn had promised to come back after leaving Jamie and get him. Jamie didn’t like it, but they really didn’t have a choice. They already would have to be so lucky, first to get the key, then to manage to escape without being discovered.
Jamie looked up as a guard stopped in front of his cage.
“Come on, Dr. Kadner is waiting for you.”
Dr. Kadner? Jamie thought Mad Scientist described the doc better, but he wasn’t about to say it out loud. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Finn. The Nix nodded slightly then went back to his water bucket, slowly moving his hand in the water. Jamie stood up and waited for the guard to move. He stepped out and the guard nudged him in the back to make him start to walk.
Jamie wanted to run, but it wasn’t possible. All the doors had a fingerprint activated locks and a coded one, so it was impossible for someone without authorization to open them. The guards didn’t take lightly to any attempts at running away. Jamie had watched as they punished a wolf shifter in front of them for trying to escape. And it hadn’t been pretty. Add to it that they hadn’t seen him since then, and the doors were a no-go.
The lab’s door clicked open and Jamie was ushered inside. Turning left, they followed a corridor from which Jamie could see people dressed in lab coats working. He hadn’t met any of them, just Dr. Kadner, and he really hoped he wouldn’t have the time to get to know any more of these scientists. The guard stopped at the office door and pushed Jamie inside when the Mad Scientist answered to the knock.
“Mr. Ellis. I was waiting for you.”
“I’m sure you were. So, what are you planning for me today?” Jamie asked, hoping his voice didn’t betray the fear he felt. He had learned soon enough that showing the man in front of him that he was scared would only bring more pain. It seemed that the good doctor like being feared and it irked him that Jamie didn’t, at least
not that he could see.
The doctor stood up and walked to Jamie, but before he could say anything, someone started screaming and yelling. Jamie couldn’t say from where the noise came, but he was pretty sure it was Finn and Oliver. The doctor gave Jamie a hard look as if telling him not to move and walked to the door, asking the guard standing there what was happening. Jamie glanced at the key and slowly leaned against the desk, his hand moving behind his back until he felt cold plastic against his fingertips. Giving another peek, he checked that it was indeed the key he needed and grabbed it, his eyes never leaving the doc and the guard.
Jamie had often wondered why the key was kept in plain sight. The Mad Scientist wasn’t stupid, far from it. It could be a trap, of course, but Jamie didn’t think so. After thinking about it and talking with Finn, they had come to the conclusion that the doc was goading Finn, making him look at the key every time he was in the doc’s office and knowing that his freedom was so near he could have touched it, but couldn’t. That arrogance would be their key to freedom, literally.
Jamie slid the key in his underwear just as the doc turned around and came back to the desk, a frown on his face.
“Mr. Ellis, it looks like we will have to wait until tomorrow for your surgery. Sit down, I will check your arms, then you’ll go back to your cage.”
He gestured to one of the chairs on this side of the desk and Jamie sat, watching as the man took his bandages off. The cuts were nearly gone, pink lines against white skin the only reminder that they’d been there. It was amazing, really. There was no way Jamie could have healed this fast had he not been mated to Ward.
Ward…Jamie was doing his best not to think about his mate, but the man was still in every thought. Jamie felt incomplete without him, like he was missing something vital. He knew Ward was fine, he could feel him, but it didn’t mean he didn’t miss him like crazy.
Jamie felt a hand caressing one of the pink scars and shuddered in disgust, wrenching his arm away and holding it near to his body. It wasn’t the first time the doctor had done something like this, even if he never outwardly asked or said anything. It was only light touches where he shouldn’t have, caresses that were too soft to be professional. It gave Jamie the creeps and he hoped he would be out of there before the doc decided to act on his wants, because there was no way he was sleeping with the guy.
The doc looked at Jamie but didn’t say anything. After checking Jamie’s other arm and scribbling down on his notebook he called the guard and had Jamie brought back to his cage. Jamie didn’t know what to expect. He didn’t understand why he wouldn’t be operated on today, but he was grateful. He just feared that one of his friends had been taken to the operating room because of the distraction they had provided, so he was relieved when he saw that both Finn and Oliver were in their cages, carefully avoiding looking at him. They didn’t want the guards to know that they had become friends.
Once Jamie was back in his cage and sitting in a corner, they waited until the guard entered the lab’s door again before they started talking.
“What happened? What did you do?”
“Actually, nothing. We didn’t have to. For some reason the rabbits started to fight and when blood started flying we called the guards. They separated them and took the injured one in the lab. Do you have it?” Finn asked.
So that was why Jamie wasn’t in surgery right now. The Mad Scientist had to patch up the rabbit. While he didn’t mind killing the shifters for what he called progress and science, the doc didn’t like it when shifters died in fights. They weren’t useful that way, and it wasn’t easy to get other shifters to replace the dead ones.
“Yeah, I have it. How do we do this?”
“I’ll sit with my back against the bars. You just have to use the key.”
“I’ll check no one comes in,” Oliver told them.
Jamie turned to the other human. “You know we’ll come back, right? As soon as we’re safe, Finn will come back for you.”
Oliver smiled. “Hey, it’s not like I’m going anywhere. I’ll be here.”
Jamie nodded, then slowly began to slide on the floor until he was back to back with Finn, only the metal bars separating them. Carefully, he slid his hand in his underwear and took the key from where it had slid down under his balls. He wished he could have put it in his pocket, but their uniforms didn’t have pockets. Jamie supposed then he should be grateful they at least had clothes to wear, pockets or not pockets.
Turning around, he stood on his knees and quickly inserted the key in Finn’s collar. He had spent hours looking at the lock until he knew exactly where it was, so it took him only a few seconds to unlock the collar. He slowly opened it and slid it off Finn’s neck. The Nix’s hand rose to his neck and fingered the irritated skin on which the collar had been before turning around and grabbing Jamie’s hand.
“Ready?”
Jamie wasn’t sure, but he had to do it. “Yeah.”
“Think about where you want to go. Imagine the place in your head and concentrate on it.”
Jamie gave a last smile to Oliver, who nodded at him, then concentrated on Dominic’s study. It was the safest place he could think of, and he was nearly sure Dominic would be there. If he wasn’t, Jamie would go to Ward’s suite.
Closing his eyes, Jamie concentrated. He felt the air around him vibrate and his stomach falling as if he was on a roller coaster, then someone yelled. He opened his eyes just in time to see Ward run to him before his mate engulfed him in a bear hug and Jamie had to drop Finn’s hand to respond. He clutched at Ward as if the leopard was his lifeline, tears streaming down his face.
“Baby, how…where…how did you get here?” Ward asked between kisses.
Jamie didn’t have the time to answer before his mate took his lips in a fierce kiss, taking his breath away. Their tongues dueled, relearning each other, and Jamie tried to pour all his emotions and feelings into the kiss, his love for Ward and his fear to not see his mate again.
He could hear people talking around them, but he didn’t care. He was back in his mate’s arms.
* * * *
Ward was in heaven. He didn’t know how it was possible, but he had his mate back.
He had been talking with Dominic, Bryce and Nate after having been at the place John Smith had indicated, but they had found nothing, and they weren’t sure what to do. They didn’t have any clues as to where to search next and Ward had been desperate when suddenly he had felt his mate’s presence in the room.
Jamie had popped out of thin air in Dominic’s study with a brown haired guy and Ward had stopped thinking, wanting only to hold Jamie and never let him go. Ward’s cat wanted to take his mate in their bedroom and claim him once again after checking every single inch of his gorgeous body for injuries before licking him from the top of his blond head to his cute little toes. But right now, he was kissing the hell out of Jamie.
“Sorry to interrupt you, but I would like to know what happened to Jamie,” Dominic asked from behind his desk.
Ward really wanted some alone time with Jamie, but he was also curious to know what had happened and he wanted to know who he had to kill for kidnapping Jamie, so he reluctantly separated their lips. He didn’t release Jamie, though. Sitting on one of the chairs, he pulled his mate in his lap and held him near.
“Jamie?” Dominic asked.
“I was kidnapped and brought to a laboratory where they experiment on shifters.”
Ward froze. “Experiments, love?”
“Yeah, they had a bunch of cages full of different types of shifters and they studied their blood and physiology before opening them up.” Jamie’s eyes were haunted, and Ward couldn’t think about what his mate must have endured. “Some of them never came back after a surgery or a beating.”
“Do you know what the experiments were exactly?” Dominic asked.
“No, at least not all of them. I got cut because they wanted to see how fast I healed, but that was mild compared to what they did to Oliver. He’
s a human, but they messed with his DNA and now he says he has a bear inside him, but he’s not able to shift.”
“Umm, Jamie, I have to go back.”
Ward turned toward the guy who had appeared with Jamie. He noticed how his eyes darted around the room, keeping all of them in his sight, especially Bryce. The guy’s eyes moved over him more than once as he watched, and Bryce sniffed the air and stiffened in his chair, his back straight as a rod as he avoided looking at the smaller man.
“Yeah, Finn, go. Bring him back here, it’s safe.”
The guy nodded at Jamie then disappeared right in front of Ward’s eyes.
“Shit! How did he do that?” Bryce yelped.
Ward wanted to laugh at the unmanly sound his best friend had made, but he was as curious as Bryce to know, so he looked at Jamie, raising an eyebrow in question.
“Finn is a Nix.”
“What’s a Nix?” Bryce asked.
“It’s a water fae,” Dominic answered.
“You know about Nix?” Jamie asked the Alpha.
“Not much. They are considered legends among shifters, so I didn’t know they actually existed.”
“Finn is a water fae, which means he has to stay near water and has a bunch of super powers, like what he just did. He shimmered us here.”
“Where did he go?”
“To get Oliver. We were the only three in the lab to stay in a human form, so we became friends. We weren’t able to take Oliver with us right away because I had to touch Finn to shimmer with him and Oliver’s cage was too far away, so we promised Finn would come back and get him. Is it okay if he brings him here?” Jamie sounded anxious, probably afraid that Dominic would turn down his friends.
“Of course. They are welcome here as long as they want. Jamie, what else can you tell us about the place you were kept in?”
Whitedell Pride 1 - Jamie Page 10