Unmasking the Wolf

by Gissendaner, Christy

Luke shook her offered hand, turned off by the coldness of her skin, and resisted the urge to wipe his palm on his pants leg. “We had some questions about the trials.”

  Her gaze flickered to Dominic, registering a moment of recognition, before coming back to rest on Luke. “Please, have a seat.”

  He preferred to stand, but they were drawing attention. He followed her to a tiny table. He and Dominic sat on one side, and she on the other. She motioned with her hand. “What are your concerns?”

  For one, I’m thinking you’re possibly a murderous, conniving bitch. He battled down his wolf’s strong reaction to Meredith. The animal inside raged. “There have been some inconvenient . . . events recently.”

  He had to give it to her. She was a superb actress. Her brow delicately crinkled. “What sort of events.”

  Dominic growled, but Luke put a hand on his arm to calm him. “We believe someone is trying to stop L-12 from going to trial.”

  “Who would do that? No one even knows about it but you two and me.”

  “Exactly.” Luke leaned forward and planted his hands on the top of the table. “So why are you sending your men after us?”

  Meredith’s cool expression slipped away. Calculating intensity blazed out of her blue gaze. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for.”

  So Gina had been right to suspect Meredith. Luke felt like a fool for having the wool pulled over his eyes. “What do you want?”

  Meredith drummed her fingernails on the surface of the table. “I thought when Laura died the research would end. But you two proved stubborn. Who knew the little puppy, too in love with his lab partner to see straight, actually had a brain?”

  “You bitch,” Dominic ground out.

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Perhaps.”

  God help her if she had something to do with Laura’s death. If he didn’t kill her, Dominic would. “It doesn’t matter if you get L-12. We could always go to someone else at the FDA.”

  Meredith gave him a haughty look. “With L-12, you think I can’t find a way to counteract it? No matter what you do, I’ll be able to undo it.”

  “Why? What does it matter to you? You’re not a wolf.” Dominic leaned across the table as if he would go for her throat.

  “No, but it would put a crimp in my research.” She lifted a coffee mug to her lips and sipped before setting it aside. “My men as you put it are an experiment I’ve been working on.”

  Luke was rocked with a sudden knowledge. “The vampires.”

  “Yes.” Meredith smiled. “My hybrids. It’s taken years, but I’ve finally figured out how to make a shifting vamp.”

  Dominic sucked in a breath of air. “It’s impossible.”

  “You, more than anyone, should know nothing's impossible with science.”

  “But what does any of this have to do with L-12?”

  Dominic growled again. “They’re using lunar wolves to feed on.”

  “Exactly.” Meredith applauded him. “I changed the genetics of the vampires, but the fresh blood of a wolf is the catalyst. They can’t shift without it.”

  “Laura,” Luke breathed.

  Meredith gave him a pitying look. “Unfortunately your sister provided the break-through in my research. Why not kill two birds with one stone?”

  “You . . . ” Luke surged forward. His hands went for her throat. He was millimeters from wrapping his fingers around her throat and squeezing the life out of her when she stopped him. “You may not want to do that. I have something you desire.”

  His fingers remained curved and poised. “And what is that?”

  Dominic gave voice to his biggest nightmare. “Gina.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  A groan of pain slipped past her dry, cracked lips. Gina opened her eyes and studied her surroundings. She was in a lab of some sort. Vials of different colored liquids and expensive looking equipment filled the long, narrow space. She shifted and a bolt of fresh pain shot through her. Her arms were bound behind her back, and her feet chained to the legs of the chair she’d been forced into.

  Her neck hurt where the Taser darts had struck her. A long splinter was in her left arm and it stung. She didn’t even want to know what her face looked like. Being hit in the cheek with the door probably hadn’t done her any favors.

  A vampire, the one who’d captured her, entered the room. He came to stand over her, slobbering and appearing as if he’d like to gobble her up. Fear raced up and down her spine. Whatever he’d bound her with proved to be much stronger than she was. She’d rubbed her wrists raw trying to get out of her bonds.

  “What do you want?” she asked as he crouched in front of her.

  “Pretty,” he murmured and ran a finger over her un-bruised cheek.

  She wrenched her head away from him, fighting the urge to spit. No need to antagonize him further. She was at his mercy, for now. Knowing her mother, she’d immediately called Tony. Her father would appear any moment now. At least, she hoped so.

  Being in a lab made her realize they’d been right. The vampires were trying to get L-12. But why? Struggling to remain calm, she caught the gaze of the vamp in front of her. There was a dead, soulless look in his eyes. Appealing to what little remained of his humanity, she gave him a pleading look. “Let me go. Please.”

  “No. Can’t. She will be mad.”

  “She?” Gina latched onto the small piece of information. “Who is she?”

  “Meredith.” The vamp continued to look at her like a tasty meal. “She said I can’t drink from you. Pity.”

  She shuddered with revulsion at being the vamp’s food source. “What are you?”

  He grinned and waggled his finger at her. “No more questions.”

  She wanted to stamp her feet with frustration. “Where am I?”

  “I said no more questions.” The vamp got to his feet. Gone was the playfulness of a few seconds before. His expression darkened. “Stay here.”

  “As if I could leave if I wanted to,” she yelled after his departing back. Damn it, she was tired of being the victim. There was no joy at knowing she’d been right about Meredith. Instead, she filled with dread. Luke and Dominic had gone to meet her. Where were they? Had she harmed them? Hopefully not. She’d abducted her for a reason, most likely as blackmail.

  Thoughts of Luke comforted her. He wouldn’t rest until she was found. Between him and her father, Meredith had no hope of succeeding.

  •●•

  Luke drove his Lexus through the city at breakneck speed. In exchange for Gina’s safety, Meredith had demanded all their files and existing L-12. He hadn’t thought twice about it. Nothing mattered if he didn’t have Gina, even achieving his sister’s dream.

  Dominic clung to the oh shit handle. “Jesus, man. Take it easy.”

  Luke’s hands clenched around the steering wheel. “That fucker has Gina. I won’t take it easy until she’s safe.”

  “We’ll get her. I promise you.”

  Luke cursed under his breath. “Damned bitch. I’m going to kill her.”

  Dominic bristled. “You’ll have to beat me to it.”

  Dominic’s love for Laura was left unspoken, but it lingered in the air. The need for revenge probably consumed him even more than it did Luke. Although he wanted to avenge his sister’s murder, concern about Gina took the forefront of his mind. Laura was gone. Nothing he could do would bring her back. But he had a chance to save Gina. He didn’t know what he would do without her.

  “Fine. You can have her as long as she doesn’t harm a hair on Gina’s head.”

  “Deal.”

  At the Mason Building, they were met by a visibly frantic Tony Moretti. Dominic had called his uncle on the ride over and filled him in on what was going on. When Luke reached him, the alpha wasted no time in going for his throat. He wrapped a beefy hand around Luke’s neck and lifted him a couple of inches above the ground. “This is your fault. My daughter would be at home safe if she hadn’t gotten tangled up with you.”

  Luke totall
y agreed with him, but now was not the time. They had to find Gina.

  He pried Tony’s hands from his throat. “Meredith only gave us an hour. Do you really want to waste time arguing?”

  Anger and frustration flashed in the older wolf’s eyes. “No.”

  “We need to gather everything and meet Meredith.” He glanced at his watch. “We only have forty minutes left.”

  Racing against time, they hurried to the lab and grabbed anything that had to do with L-12. They stuffed the pills, files, and flash drives in a bag and rushed back to the car. Dominic ducked into the backseat, leaving Tony to ride shotgun. If the ride over had been filled with tension, it was nothing to compare with Gina’s dad being in the car with them.

  Tony went right to the heart of the matter. “Why would this bitch want to create shifting vamps?”

  “No clue,” Luke answered.

  “She’s an evil genius,” Dominic piped up from the backseat. “She can change history with her research.”

  “You sound jealous,” Tony remarked.

  “I am a little. It’s brilliant what she’s done, but it’s not worth the innocent lives.”

  Tony cleared his throat. “And Laura? She was part of the research?”

  Dominic fell silent. Luke glanced over at Tony and nodded. “Yes.”

  Tony gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry.”

  Luke looked in the rearview mirror to see how Dominic was dealing with the situation. He was silent and withdrawn. He’d turned to look at the window, but seemed to notice nothing.

  “If they hurt my baby girl . . . ”

  Luke cut him off. “Don’t even think like that. We’ll get her. We have to.”

  “You really do love her, don’t you, son?”

  Was it really that obvious? He spared Tony another quick look. “She’s my mate. Even had fate not chosen her for me, she would be mine.” Much like Laura had been Dominic’s.

  “Do we have a plan or are we just going to break in there and start busting heads?” Tony flexed his fists and cracked his knuckles.

  “We’re going to follow Meredith’s instructions to the letter. Once Gina is safe, we will bust heads.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Tony agreed. He twisted in the seat to look at his nephew. “Dom, you remember those moves I taught you?”

  Dominic chuckled. “Yeah.”

  “Moves?” Luke questioned.

  Dominic leaned forward. “Tony is a master of jujutsu. He taught me when I was younger.”

  Their skills would come in handy. Luke mostly relied on his brute strength in wolf form to defend himself.

  Tony chuckled. “You should see Gina in action. Even though she complained the entire time, she soaked it up like a sponge.”

  “Gina can fight?” He didn’t know why he was amazed. She’d already defended herself more times than he cared to remember.

  Tony snorted. “She is the daughter of an alpha. What did you think I would teach her, how to knit?”

  Somehow the thought of Gina knitting was even more incongruous than the thought of her doing jujutsu. “Apparently there are things I don’t know about my mate.”

  Tony clapped him on the shoulder, the first friendly gesture he’d made since they’d met that morning. “You’ll learn, my boy, that you never stop learning. The missus and I have been together thirty years and I discover something new every day.”

  Dominic consulted the GPS on his phone. “Turn right here.”

  Luke did as Dominic instructed. They pulled into the parking lot of a two story brick building. The façade was unadorned. “Is this it?”

  “Yes.” Dominic put away his phone. “I’ve been here before. With Laura.”

  Luke studied the building before him. Gina was in there somewhere. Was she hurt? Was she scared? Unintentionally copying Tony, he cracked his knuckles. “Let’s go.”

  On the way to the door, Luke felt someone was watching him. He lifted his gaze and studied his surroundings, but couldn’t see anyone.

  Dominic eased up next to him. “You feel them too?”

  “Yeah.” Luke sniffed. The rotting meat smell made his nostrils flare with disgust. “Vamps.”

  “And dead wolves,” Dominic quietly added.

  Praying Gina was still alive, Luke opened the door and entered first. The bottom floor was a long hallway with several doors that appeared to lead into offices. A black iron staircase twisted toward the second floor. He wasted no time in approaching the stairs. Meredith had clearly stated to meet her on the top floor.

  He caught a whiff of something familiar. Gina. The closer he got to the floor, the more the scent intensified. She was okay, for now.

  “Ah, so you came.”

  He turned to the sound of a female voice and bared his teeth at Meredith. She’d changed into a black cat-suit. The outfit would seem out of place on her if not for the deadly looking knives strapped to her waist and thighs. Knee-high leather boots completed the ensemble.

  “Whoa,” Tony breathed.

  Dominic nudged him. “She’s the bad guy, Uncle Tony.”

  Tony’s dazed expression quickly faded into one of fury. “Where is my daughter?”

  Meredith lifted a slim blonde eyebrow. “Did you bring what I asked for?”

  Luke wasted no time in tossing the bag to her. She caught it one-handed and untied it to look inside. “Very nice,” she murmured.

  “You got what you wanted. Now take us to her.”

  Meredith’s heels clicked on the tiled floor as she came over to him. A whiff of expensive perfume stymied Gina’s fresh scent and he waved a hand in front of his face to clear his nose.

  She smiled, but it lacked any true emotion. Luke looked at her, the woman he’d known for months, and hardened his heart. “Why did you do it?”

  A haughty look passed over him. “You wolves think you’re so untouchable, but you’re not.”

  “Had much experience with wolves then?”

  Anger mottled her features. “Wolves killed Owen.”

  Dominic whistled softly between his teeth. “Your husband.”

  “Yes,” she sneered and turned to the younger wolf. “Owen was a vampire. We were going to be together for eternity, but one of your mongrels killed him.”

  “But you’re not a vampire.” Luke was quite sure of it. She had no scent.

  Her blond hair tossed about wildly as she turned back to face him. “No. Owen was about to change me. We’d planned it down to the tiniest detail.”

  She laughed, the sound low and keening. “But I can avenge his death. Today I can take one of yours.”

  Gina! Luke reached out his hand. “You promised she would be unharmed.”

  Tony and Dominic flanked him on either side. Their growls and snarls indicated they were close to shifting. Luke was damned close himself. “Why punish us for something another wolf did? We had nothing to do with it.”

  She continued to laugh, her beautiful features hidden behind a mask of insanity. Sadly, he realized a brilliant mind had cracked due to excessive grief. There would be no saving her. “Let her go, Meredith.”

  She withdrew a blade and snapped the fingers of her other hand. “Make us.”

  Six overgrown vampires stepped from the shadows and encircled her. Their lupine eyes glowed with pure evil.

  Three against seven. He kinda liked those odds.

  •●•

  What in the hell was happening out there?

  Gina struggled against her bonds until something warm and wet dripped down her fingers. Blood. Her blood.

  Something heavy pounded into the door. The walls shook with the force of the impact. Vials and bottles clanked in the cabinets above her head. She’d heard voices, muted and threatening, right before the pounding had begun. Sniffing, she recognized the scents of Luke, her father, and Dominic. There was a female voice, most likely Meredith’s.

  The vampire hadn’t returned like he’d promised. He was probably involved in the fight taking place outside the doo
r. She wanted to be out there, wanted to help bash in the heads of the soulless vampires, the murderous heathens who’d taken the lives of innocent wolves.

  The door splintered and fell off its hinges. She gasped at the sight before her. A vampire, or what appeared to be a vampire, lifted its furry claw and swung it at her father’s face. Tony easily jumped out of the way and brought his fist up into a bone-crunching upper cut. The vampire stumbled backward, clearly dazed from the hit.

  A vampire and wolf mix? “What in the hell are those?” she screamed.

  “An experiment gone bad,” her father shouted back and continued fighting. He moved out of her line of view, but the sounds of fists making contact continued.

  She caught a small glimpse of Dominic. He appeared to be holding his own against one of the vamps. Where was Luke? Her pulse raced with trepidation until he finally appeared. He had a vampire in a headlock when his gaze met hers. His eyes widened and she could smell his fear for her. The brief lapse of concentration was a mistake. The vampire got out of the hold and swiped his claws across Luke’s chest.

  Gina screamed, the sound high and panicked. “Someone help him!”

  Luke ignored the ripped shirt and blood welling from the injury and kept fighting. She felt sick to her stomach. The gruesome injury was sure to be painful. She lost count of the number of punches being thrown. Caught in a mix of horror and jubilation, she watched as the vampires slowly fell. Four lay unmoving on the floor. Tony and Dominic were dealing with the last two. Tossing aside a vampire’s limp body, Luke strode toward her. His face was pale and his ruined shirt soaked with blood, yet he’d never looked better to her.

  “Are you okay?” He crouched before her and touched her bruised cheek.

  She hissed with pain. He cursed beneath his breath and looked as if he wanted to go back to fighting. “I’m fine, Luke. Honest.” Up close, the wound appeared worse than she’d imagined. “What about you?”

  Luke glanced down at his chest and shrugged. “I’ll survive.”

  She was about to ask another question, when she saw a beautiful blonde stumble into the room. She had to be Meredith. Blood splattered her arms and darkened the black material of her clothing. A cat-suit. Really? Can you be anymore stereotypical?