Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Anna Zaires

  To find related stories, please visit www.ceblack.org

  Capturing Her Bear

  by Charlie Daye

  Captive Bear Series Book 1

  She wants her freedom, he wants her heart.

  She's no lab rat...

  Naked and caged in a lab, Apsen has no idea why she's there, and no one will talk to her. After experimenting on her, they let her go into the woods...only to hunt her with rifles. Terrified, she tries to out run her pursuers. But gunshot wounds and exhaustion take their toll, and she falls, welcoming the darkness that envelopes her.

  She's his mate...

  Bear shifter Torbin is hunting for dinner when the smell of blood permeates the air. It's not just any blood, it's the blood of his mate and she's dying. He rushes to her side and whisks her back to his cabin, where he tends her wounds and waits for her to recover.

  When Aspen wakes in the arms of the sexiest man she's ever seen, she's torn between wanting to succumb to the urge to mate him and wanting to return to the life she knew before. But when Torbin is mortally wounded by the same people who tried kill her, she makes a choice that will change both their destinies.

  Will her choice bind them, or break them?

  CHAPTER 1

  Aspen shivered. She felt like the toy monkey from the beginning of the Phantom of the Opera movie starring Gerard Butler. Only this time, there was no sexy Raul jumping in head first to save her, nor was there a half-scarred rock star singing Phantom to woo her. No, this was real life and was far scarier than any phantom ever could be.

  She glanced around the room that had been her prison for at least the last few days. Since being drugged, her mind was a little foggy on the details. She was trapped in a cage with thick aluminum bars, a stainless steel top and bottom, a small cot and only a bucket to use to relieve herself. Her clothes had been taken leaving her exposed and humiliated. She spent most of the time wrapped up in the poor excuse for a blanket provided to her.

  The room that housed her cage was one of the most sterile rooms she’d ever seen. Everything about the room was stark white – the walls, the floor and the ceiling. In the center of the room, situated in front of what she’d assumed was a one-way mirror, was a stainless steel table with shackles attached to it. Looking at the table just made her shiver harder. She’d only been attached to the table once, but it was truly an unpleasant experience.

  It was right after she’d been taken. She’d awoke groggy; her arms and legs had felt heavy and useless. It was when she’d tried to move them that she’d realized she’d been strapped down to the table, her clothes missing and men in scrubs moving around her.

  “Please…” she’d croaked. Her mouth had been dry and her throat had felt scratchy and raw.

  One of the men had approached her, his face covered in a surgical mask. “Subject is awake.” He’d pulled back her lids and flashed a light in her eyes, “Her pupils are responsive.” He’d checked her pulse and heart rate, “Pulse seems normal, breathing sounds good.”

  Another man had approached with a cotton ball in hand and had swabbed the inside of her elbow before he’d stabbed her, not so nicely, with a needle and had drawn out her blood. After filling two vials, he’d removed the needle, which had burned horribly, and covered the injection site with a Band-Aid.

  “What’s happening?” she’d asked hoarsely. “Where am I? Who are you?”

  Instead of receiving a reply, a small table had been wheeled over carrying an assortment of scary looking medical instruments. She’d fought a little harder to free herself to no avail.

  “The subject is becoming agitated.”

  “I am not a subject!” She growled. “My name is Aspen!”

  One of the men in the room had then come over with another needle and had stabbed her in the thigh with it. “OW!” Within seconds, her head had become woozy and the room had started to spin. “What did you give me?”

  Without responding, the men had continued their work. Her ankles were unshackled and placed in stirrups before being tied back down; a stool was rolled over for the man she’d presumed was the doctor in charge. He’d sat between her legs and, not so gently, had shoved a speculum into her body. Now, Aspen had never been a fan of her annual appointment, but this had been over the top and would no doubt give her nightmares for years – assuming she survived.

  While the man who’d sat below her had given her the most uncomfortable pelvic exam of her life, another had taken a scalpel to her arm and had removed slivers of skin and placed them under a microscope. Another had removed strands of hair and nail clippings and done the same. By the time they had untied her and put her back in her cage, she’d hurt everywhere.

  In her cage is where she’d remained, untouched, for the next few days.

  Aspen stared down at her arm where they’d removed the skin. It looked red and irritated but didn’t hurt anymore. As a matter of fact, nothing really hurt anymore, but then again, that probably had something to do with the fact that no one had touched her in a while.

  Wrapping the blanket a little tighter around herself, she drew her knees up to her chest. How had things gone so terribly wrong? One minute she had been a happy, single woman working as a veterinary technician. The next minute she had found herself trapped in a cell being treated like a lab rat.

  The door to the room opened with a pop, and a man walked in carrying a clipboard. It was hard to tell what he looked like because, like everyone else, he wore a surgical mask over his face. He approached the cage and studied her, “How are you feeling today? Have you noticed any changes in your body?”

  She stood, holding the blanket to her body, and walked to the bars, “Why am I here?”

  “Please answer the question.”

  She gripped the bars of her cell and shook them, “Let me out of here!”

  He made a note on his clipboard, “The subject is becoming aggressive.”

  “My name is Aspen, not subject!” She screamed. “And stop talking about me like I’m not here.”

  Reaching through the bars, she tried to grab on to his coat, but he jumped out of the way before she could touch him. She noticed the smile that lit his eyes as he looked down at her hand. “Subject appears to have responded well to treatments.”

  Aspen stared in shock and horror at her hand. Her once normal fingers and nails were now replaced with wider, stubbier fingers and black, claw-like nails. “What have you done to me?” she wailed, drawing her hand back into her cage and hugging it to her chest.

  Without responding, the man walked out leaving Aspen to deal with her new deformity.

  Dropping to the floor of her cell, she stared at her hand and silently cried, but before she even had the time to dwell on her predicament, her hand started to return to normal. Her fingers lengthened and her nails returned to their normal pink and white.

  She touched her hand tentatively with the other, “What the hell have they done to me?”

  She didn’t have time to ponder that question before the door opened again and a gurney was wheeled into the room with an unconscious man strapped to it.

  CHAPTER 2

  Berend lie face up on the floor of his cell. He’d lost count of how many days he’d been trapped in this hellhole. It felt like years, but he was pretty sure it had only been a few months… a few really long months.

  They’d come in again trying to run more tests, but he’d fought them, and while he’d been distracted, a nurse had stabbed him in the neck with a needle injecting him with what he’d guessed was a sedative meant to calm his beast.

  It took a few minutes, but once the drugs took effect, they made him feel lethargic and sleepy. He didn’t even flinch when the group of would be doctors came back in the room with a gurney, lifted him up and strapped him to it.

  He stared mindlessly as the fluorescent lights passed overhead. This was the first time they’d taken him out of this room since he’d been brought here, so he had no idea what they had in store for him.

  With a po
p, he heard a door open before being pushed into another room. This one was relatively larger than his room. He noted the stainless steel table in the center of the room, as well as the cage in the corner. Was this to be his new home?

  ۞

  Aspen stared in shock as what little clothing the man had on was pushed down past his hips exposing his manhood.

  One of the men spoke, “Nurse, please see if subject zero is responsive.” She was the only other female Aspen had seen since she’d been there.

  “Yes, doctor,” the nurse replied sweetly.

  Aspen couldn’t help but notice that no one used names of any kind when in her presence. She wondered if it was because they were afraid that she’d escape and tell someone, or perhaps they just didn’t think it necessary.

  She watched as the nurse approached the drugged man and took hold of his penis, stroking it mechanically until it stood to attention.

  “Don’t do that to him!” Aspen raged, rattling the bars of her cage.

  “He’s responsive, doctor,” the nurse replied, ignoring Aspen’s outburst.

  “Excellent. Bring out subject one.”

  Two men moved toward Aspen. She scrambled toward the back of her cell and wrapped her arms around the bars. She had no idea what they planned on doing with her, but she in no way wanted to find out.

  One of the men opened her cell and stepped inside, quickly followed by the second man. “Don’t touch me!”

  Ignoring her, one man grabbed her legs, while the other removed her arms from the bars and carried her screaming out of her cell. They placed her on the stainless steel table where she was quickly strapped down. Once she was secure, the nurse injected her. Almost instantly, the room began to spin. Aspen closed her eyes in an attempt to regain control of her senses.

  “Nurse, will you please extract a sample?”

  “Of course, doctor.”

  Berend spared a quick glance at the woman who’d been strapped down beside him, but he was more intent on watching as the nurse moved back towards him and took his penis into her hands. This was the second time they’d done this to him. He should be used to it by now. Hell, he should be happy that a woman was jerking him off, but he wasn’t. As a matter of fact, he was pretty fucking pissed off about it. “Don’t fucking touch me,” he growled.

  The nurse ignored him and focused on her task of jacking him off till he came. She held him in a two handed grip after coating her gloved hands in lube. Once she started her up and down movements, it was all Berend could do not to thrust his hips up to meet her. Instead, he lifted his head, growled and snapped at her, though it seemed to do little more than make her jump.

  Aspen opened her eyes and turned her head to the horrid scene at her side. Every muscle in the man’s body was ridged, as if he was trying to fight off his impending climax. When he finally did come, his hips arched and a roar tore from his chest shaking the one-way window.

  With quick, practiced, efficient moves, the nurse took the semen sample, and after placing it in a plastic container, handed it over to the doctor. “Thank you, nurse.”

  The nurse nodded her head, “Happy to be of service, doctor.”

  “Prep subject one.”

  With the same efficiency that was used to capture the semen, Aspen’s leg’s were strapped into stirrups and raised, but before she could wrap her mind around what was to happen next, she was given another injection and her world slowly faded to black.

  CHAPTER 3

  They left Berend in the room with the woman who had just been implanted with his seed. She was beautiful with shoulder length blonde hair. He thought her eyes might have been green but wasn’t sure. It’s somewhat hard to focus on the details when you’re drugged and getting a hand job. Her belly was flat, her breasts were a little less than a handful and her skin looked as if she spent a lot of time in the sun.

  Under most circumstances, Berend probably would have approached her on the street for a quick romp in the hay, but that would have been it. She did nothing for his beast.

  He heard a groan a minute before her eyes slowly opened.

  Aspen was surprised when she woke without pain. So far, everything that had been done to her had made her hurt. She wasn’t surprised to find that she still couldn’t move, but she was slightly confused when she noticed her pelvis was higher than her head. “What the hell?” she asked softly.

  “I believe they’ve tried to impregnate you with my seed.”

  Aspen gasped and spun her head to the man at her side. His hair was shaggy and brown, and his eyes were the color of brand new copper pennies. He was ruggedly handsome with a five o’clock shadow, but he looked worn out and tired. “Excuse me?”

  “After they knocked you out, the good doctor performed an IVF on you.”

  Her eyes rounded in surprise, “Why?”

  “That would be the question of the hour, now wouldn’t it?” he remarked dryly.

  She sighed, “More like the question of the minute. Too bad it won’t take.”

  “Why’s that?” he asked, giving her his full attention now.

  “I’m on the depo shot for birth control.”

  “What does that have to do with anything? They retrieve the egg before inseminating it and placing it in the womb.”

  She smirked, “Because a woman on birth control is less likely to release a healthy egg during stimulation than a female not on birth control.”

  “So, what are you saying? That even if they successfully implanted the egg, it may abort anyways?”

  “Exactly.”

  He laughed, “I can’t wait to see their faces when that happens.”

  She smiled, “It would serve them right, but on the off-hand chance that it does work… I’m Aspen, the future mother of your child.”

  Berend nodded his greeting, “Berend, the future father.”

  “Do you find it odd that we seem to find humor in our current situation?” She asked.

  He shrugged best he could, “Well, we can either be civil or kick, scream and throw a fit, which up to this point, has done neither one of us any good. So why not make a mockery out of it?”

  “You have a point there.”

  “Thanks for trying to defend my honor earlier,” he replied, quietly.

  Aspen’s cheeks burned slightly, “I just wish I could have done more. Either way you look at it, they raped you.”

  Berend snickered, “That wasn’t rape. That was a really bad hand job.”

  She laughed, “Do you always try to find the bright side of things?”

  “For the most part.”

  They remained silent for several minutes before Aspen asked, “Do you know why we’re here? Well, I mean, other than to knock me up with your kid.”

  His eyes never left the ceiling, “I know why I’m here, but as to their plans, I can’t say.”

  “You know why you’re here?” she repeated, lifting her head to look at him.

  “I have a pretty good idea,” he remarked.

  “Why?”

  “I’m a bear shifter.”

  You could hear crickets in the room as Aspen blinked several times trying to understand what he meant. The only time she’d ever heard the word shifter before was in a paranormal romance book, and this was in no way a paranormal romance kind of situation.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that means. Do you mean that you move bears around?”

  He chuckled, “No, sweetheart, I am a man who shifts into a bear.”

  The crickets began chirping again as she stared at him unsure of what to say next. Maybe he’d become delusional from being locked up for so long. “Uh, ok.”

  He laughed, “Not a believer, eh?”

  “You have to admit that does sound pretty far fetched,” she admitted.

  “I’d love to show you exactly what I mean, but sadly, they keep my beast at bay with a daily dose of some kind of inhibitor.” He paused, “But perhaps…”

  “What?” she asked when he fell silent.

 
Berend focused on his hand, hoping he had just enough energy to force a partial change. When he felt the tingling begin, he grinned. “Watch my hand.”

  Aspen turned her gaze to his hand and watched in horrified fascination as it began to shift. His nails thickened and lengthened turning a dull black while his fingers started to sprout fur and widen.

  She gasped when she realized what she was seeing now was exactly what her hand had started to do earlier. “Oh my god!”

  “Told you.”

  She shook her head, “No, not that. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’ve just completely blown my mind, but my hand did the same exact thing earlier when I got upset.”

  Berend’s head whipped around to look at Aspen; his eyes narrowing to thin slits, “What do you mean?”

  Her brows came crashing down in confusion, “What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’? I’m saying that my hand did the exact same thing. Does that mean I’m a bear shifter too?”

  “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you were human before you came here, am I right?”

  She nodded.

  He swore, “Shit!”

  “What’s going to happen to me?” she asked softly.

  He turned his attention back to her wishing he were free to comfort her. “As far as becoming a shifter goes… nothing. Very few humans are ever turned, but the few that are seem to transition pretty well. As to the why of it, I’m not sure. As a human, you would have been more than capable of carrying my child.”

  “Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”

  He sighed, “I would like to say yes, but honestly, I have no idea.”

  CHAPTER 4

  It didn’t take long for them to find out if Aspen was pregnant because she started her period a week later.